“Come up here.”
Kane reluctantly obeyed, moving to sit on the edge of the bed alongside the raven. He didn’t even try to look toward Everet, he stared at the floor between his feet instead.
“You want me to help you get comfortable?” he eventually blurted out. He tried not to feel too pathetic for wanting any excuse, even one involving menial labor, that allowed him to break the silence.
“Yeah, thanks,” Everet said.
Kane clumsily helped Everet out of the tangle of material around his ankles and tossed it in a heap at the base of the bed. Picking up the pillow he’d knelt on, Kane pitched that toward the top of the bed.
The bed…
There was no way in hell Everet would get a wink of sleep on the sofa. Kane looked once more at the beautiful, big bed he’d slept in so comfortably the previous night. He glanced at the whip marks on Everet’s back as the other man moved the pot of ointment onto the nightstand. If the raven had taken a whipping for him, then…
“I’ll take the sofa tonight,” Kane said, as levelly as he could.
Still perched on the edge of the bed, Everet looked up at Kane, a slight frown furrowing the skin between his brows. “Take off your clothes.”
Kane pursed his lips. The other man obviously thought that he’d take the opportunity to escape from the flat. Well, if he thought that being stark bollock naked would keep him there, he was about to have another thought coming pretty bloody quickly. Nothing could keep Kane there now. Nudity would only help him find another master!
Making no attempt to hide his anger, Kane tore off his clothes and threw them on the floor next to Everet’s. The seam on his shirt ripped. He didn’t care. Kane didn’t care about anything or anyone. That’s the way it had always been, and that’s the way it would to stay.
“Come here.”
Kane stomped forward, maybe he’d only remained in the room this long because he fully planned to give Everet a piece of his mind before he strode out of there, but he could just as easily do that up close.
When he stopped directly in front of Everet, the other man lifted his hands and set them to either side of Kane’s hips. Kane was ready for the forthcoming lecture, and was determined not to listen to a word of it. What he wasn’t so ready for was the way Everet dipped his head and took the tip of his cock into his mouth.
Kane grabbed hold of Everet’s shoulders. It had been so long since anyone had cared if he came, too, that it hadn’t even occurred to him that Everet would want to get him off, let alone on today of all days.
It was impossible for Kane to hold back a surprised little cry. Once that first sound was freed, others followed hot on its heels. Kane clawed at the tops of Everet’s arms as he fought for some sort of self-control.
Everet deftly caught hold of Kane’s wrists. A moment later he had them both pinned behind the small of Kane’s back.
Squirming was out of the question. It might make Everet stop, and that wasn’t the kind of thing that could ever be allowed to happen. Kane stared down as Everet dipped his head and took him all the way to the base in one smooth motion.
Long strands of dark hair obscured Kane’s view of Everet’s eyes, but they didn’t stop him from seeing how beautiful Everet’s lips looked while they were thinned out around his shaft.
The raven’s tongue caressed along the underside of Kane’s shaft as he pulled back. Then, just in case Kane hadn’t been able to believe his eyes the first time, Everet repeated the action several more times, letting him take in every wonderful detail. A few extra flicks of his tongue against the sensitive spot just where the head joined the length of his shaft and Kane came into Everet’s mouth.
Sparklers burst into life behind his eyelids. His knees shook. His hands clenched into fists behind his back as if there were some way he could hold onto ecstasy and make it last a little longer.
Despite his every effort, it slipped through his fingers, intangible and oh-so fleeting. The bliss that had extended all the way to his fingertips faded gradually away, leaving a strange emptiness in its wake.
Kane groaned. There was no way he could stay on his feet a moment longer. He slumped forward until his knees and rested against the mattress between Everet’s legs. The raven’s grip on his wrists didn’t falter as Kane collapsed against him.
“That’s right,” Everet whispered, as Kane bowed his head down to rest it upon Everet’s shoulder.
While Kane was still mussy-headed with afterglow, Everet carefully rearranged them on the bed. Kane couldn’t bring himself to protest being nudged and prodded right then. No suitably sarcastic thoughts rose up inside him. The idea of sharing a bed with Everet was curiously appealing—and not only because it gave him a good excuse to avoid making do with the sofa after all.
Within a few short minutes, Kane spooned in front of Everet, all wrapped up under the blankets with the heat of the other man’s whole body pressed against him at every point. Everet’s chest moved against his back each time either of them took a breath. His knees fitted neatly against the back of Kane’s knees. Even Everet’s feet followed the line of Kane’s feet. Their toes rested against each other.
Kane smiled against the pillow. It would be easy to get used to this safe, cozy feeling. Sleep claimed him the moment he closed his eyes. He didn’t move again until he suddenly felt Everet pull away from him.
Kane had no idea how much time had passed. He could have been asleep for moments or hours, but he still knew for a fact that Everet shouldn’t be leaving him.
“Where are you going?” he demanded, pushing himself up onto one elbow and glaring at the shadowy outline moving toward the edge of the bed.
“Bathroom,” came the sleepy reply.
“Oh.” Kane supposed he couldn’t complain too much about that.
He lay down and waited impatiently for his raven-shaped hot water bottle to return. The bed was cold without Everet to keep it warm.
Kane hadn’t noticed before, but the bed was far too large for one man to sleep in on his own. He pulled the blankets up around his neck and grumbled under his breath. Everet had been gone for ages.
Kane turned over, even when he felt grumpy at being temporarily left in the bed on his own, he couldn’t help but smile at the fact Everet had invited him to share the bed with him. He’d never want to leave the soft comfortable confines of the bed now that…
Kane’s smile died an agonizingly slow death. A frown spread across his forehead at much the same pace.
The bastard.
A bitter taste filled Kane’s mouth. All of a sudden it was obvious that the only reason Everet had let him sleep there was because it was the easiest way to make sure he didn’t sneak off in the middle of the night.
No wonder Everet had wrapped himself around Kane and held him so tight. He was playing the bloody guard dog again.
The door swung open. Everet stepped back into the bedroom. In the half-light, Kane saw that the raven’s hair was disordered. His movements lacked their usual fluidity. The magic cream had obviously worn off. The pain from the whipping showed in every move Everet made.
Kane refused to feel any sympathy, or any responsibility for that. Everet had chosen to take the whipping. It wasn’t Kane’s fault the other man was in agony. Everything was Everet’s fault. He deserved to hurt.
The raven slipped between the sheets and immediately moved across the mattress to trap Kane in there with him.
It took everything Kane had learned when he’d whored himself out, to force his body to relax and accept an embrace he no longer had any interest in receiving. He lay meekly within Everet’s arms, even as his anger burned all the more viciously inside him.
He listened carefully to the rhythm of Everet’s breaths. By the time fifteen minutes had ticked past, he was sure the raven was fast asleep. Moving slowly, doing his best to make it seem like he just wanted to be considerate and to not wake his lover unnecessarily, he tried to extract himself from Everet’s hold.
He didn’t even make it to the edge of the bed.
One moment Everet was sound asleep. The next, his hand encircled Kane wrist.
“I’m just going to the bathroom,” Kane said. Not one iota of his fury infected his tone. Damn, but whoring made a man a good actor.
“Go ahead.” Everet let go of his wrist.
Kane left the bed and moved toward the door. Two paces later, he glanced back. Everet already appeared to have fallen asleep. He blatantly didn’t give a damn.
He was just like all the other guys who’d screwed Kane in the past. The fact Everet’s back wasn’t covered by the sheets, because even thin cotton probably pressed down too painfully against his whipped skin, was irrelevant. Kane still hated him.
Picking up his clothes from the bottom of the bed en route, Kane moved into the living room. He was dressed within seconds. Never once looking at the bathroom door, Kane headed straight to the apartment’s exit.
He tried the handle. It turned easily. Everet hadn’t even cared enough to lock him in. Kane closed his eyes for a moment, wondering why he had ever thought Everet might be different.
Shaking his head at his own stupidity, Kane opened the door. It wouldn’t take him long to find someone with a little bit of quicksilver. At least he knew where he was with that. Quicksilver never let a man down.
Everet launched himself out of bed. The response was purely instinctive and physical. His brain was still fast asleep when he left the bedroom. It was barely any more awake when he sprinted through the open front door of his apartment and out into the corridor.
Eyes open wide, adrenaline pumping, unaware of anything except a few very basic facts about the world, he threw himself down the corridor after the figure racing away from him.
Predatory predispositions were everything in that moment. Everet couldn’t have stopped to think if he’d wanted to, and he didn’t want to. He wanted Kane. The magpie filled his whole world.
Everet’s legs were longer. Kane might have recovered his health, but his fitness still lagged way behind Everet’s. Kane was less than ten yards ahead of him by the time he reached the top of the stairs leading down to the main part of the nest.
As Everet stepped onto the first tread, Kane had just made it down to the first landing. An expanse of carpet covered a flat area leading to a ninety-degree turn and the next flight of stairs.
Everet leaped.
Clearing all twelve stairs in one swoop, he landed just behind Kane. His momentum carried first himself, then both of them, forward, tumbling onto the floor.
The carpet did little to cushion the fall. They landed heavily, knocking the breath out of their lungs. Everet caught hold of Kane, before the magpie could roll away in the direction of the next flight of stairs. He fought for a better grip on the squirming figure but Kane seemed to have more limbs than any one man had a right to.
“Get off me! Help! Someone help! He’s trying to kill me!”
Everet finally caught hold of him, making use of fistfuls of fabric to keep him under control until he finally managed to wedge the magpie beneath the weight of his body.
He pressed his hand over Kane’s mouth. He didn’t know what the hell was going on, or what had prompted the other man to completely lose his mind, but Everet was pretty sure an audience wouldn’t help either of them sort it all out.
Kane bit down hard. Everet cursed. Blood seeped from the deep bite marks on his index finger, but he didn’t try to pull his hand away. A little bit of pain wasn’t important.
Everet’s body had already started to remind him that he’d have far more pain to deal with once he allowed his mind a second to process it. He didn’t care about that either. He’d deal with it when he had time.