Page 94 of Primal Urges

“Cade. You came after me.” Lucas lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Cade. He clung to him firmly, like he was afraid Cade would disappear.

“Of course I did,” Caden whispered into his ear, holding him tight and never wanting to let go. Then he remembered. “Where’s your ex?” Cade asked, quickly pulling away and glancing around the area.

“Dude! His face! It’s like popcorn! Like, seriously. What the fuck did that to him?” Ace shouted from somewhere off to their right.

“A snake bite. Three of them. Over and over,” Lucas muttered without showing much emotion.

The eerie calmness to his voice had Caden a little worried.

“Are you okay?” Caden asked, hoping for a little more than just a generic response.

Lucas stared up into his eyes and slowly smiled.

“Yes, I’m great.” He reached over and took Caden’s hand. “Have I ever told you that I love you?”

Caden laughed.

"Yeah, I kind of remember you saying that… right after you drugged me."

Lucas chuckled. "Nothing says 'I love you' quite like slipping something into your boyfriend's drink to protect his sexy ass."

“I think next time, I’d prefer not to be drugged. Messes with my macho-man ego.”

They both chuckled. Lucas leaned forward and gently kissed Cade on his lips.

“Like seriously. This dude’s face is fuckingdisgusting. Remind me never to piss you off, Lucas. Cade, your boyfriend is a fucking nutjob.”

“I wouldn’t have him any other way.”

“You may have to promote him from busboy to enforcer, boss,” Blade added, bending down next to Ace, looking on with fascination.

“Are we seriously going to ignore the fact that Lucas just called Cade his boyfriend?” Marcus joked. “I think I may have to get you both to sign a disclosure or something.”

“Yeah, no fucking on the job,” Ace chirped, glancing up at Caden while poking Lucas’s ex with a stick.

“Hey, I wasn’t the one getting railed by that daddy in the back of his truck,” Caden defended.

Marcus turned his judging eyes toward his younger brother and crossed his arms against his chest.

“You were getting what?” Marcus asked, in that big-brother tone that he liked to use to piss off his little bro.

Blade stepped back and away from Ace.

“Hey, this isn’t about me or my ass. This is about Caden violating Lucas’s ass whenever he feels like it,” Ace chirped back.

“Hey, who’s to say that it’s not me violating Caden’s ass whenever I want?” Lucas spoke up from under Cade’s arm.

The group turned and gave a judging eye to Luc. It was clear that no one believed a word coming from the boy’s mouth.

“What? It could happen,” Lucas tried to defend.

“Sure it could, love,” Ace said, returning to poking the popcorn man lying in front of him. “Just like I could suddenly become an aggressive top and pop Blade’s cherry when he’s had a few drinks.”

Blade’s head snapped toward Marcus’s younger brother, eyes going wide at the suggestion.

“Umm, would you guys mind stepping away from my crime scene?” Sheriff Burke said, stepping out of his vehicle and making his way toward the dead body. “It’s hard to work up a story with you adding to the physical evidence.”

The sheriff used his foot to kick dirt over the footprints surrounding the body.

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