Page 28 of To Claim A King
Tired, bloodshot eyes peered back at me. “A graze, mate. Barely felt a thing.” By the shudders wracking his body with the fading adrenaline, it was a lie. Judging by the wound’s location, he would be fine, but he was going to be sore for a while.
“I’m driving. Let’s get home,” I announced instead of pressing it further. I opened the passenger door for my two injured companions to get back in. “And let’s hope tonight was worth it.”
If tonight’s events protected Hillary from further incrimination, I’d consider it a win. As it was, a documented shootout in the private garage of her condo building was going to raise a hell of a lot of questions. With our masks, unregistered vehicle and guns, and undocumented connection to this case, we were unlikely to be tied into the evidence, but it would up their scrutiny of Hillary, andthey’d put her under more surveillance. We wouldn’t be able to keep the warehouse a secret much longer.
Exhaustion leached through my bones and into my bloodstream as we pulled into the private bay of the warehouse, the light of dawn following close behind. I’d make a call to get the vehicle destroyed later today. We needed to patch Lauchlan up, recount the shitshow of a night to Killer, and shower.
I’d scrub away my failures in the hot water. Then, once my body had a moment's rest, I’d plan my exit. My time had come.
We were all showered, seated in the common space, with the gloomy haze of dawn on the horizon. Hillary had waited for us to get cleaned up before demanding the answers she was owed.
We’d rolled the hospital bed out of the bedroom and into the main area so Aaron could rest lying down. Lauchlan and Hillary sat on the couch, his arm clean and bandaged in a light sling, and I had spread out in the oversized chair at the edge of the fireplace.
I grew more heated with each explanation, exhaustion warring with the cold fury flooding through my veins, so icy it blistered hot. The lack of missions for the FBI and Antonio, and no real gym on site was messing with my need to physically release all of this pent-up frustration. The calm collectedness I dug into when adrenaline was high and my mind was clear was absent, replaced by a horde of warring emotions I didn’t have a name for.
I shouldn’t have hit Lauchlan. It was a poor reaction. The rage inside me begged to discharge, but unleashing it on my team wasn’t the way. Just another reason I was a danger to them. I was losing the grasp on my control, and I didn’t like the man I was becoming.
More so than usual.
The prickling sensation of being observed crept up my neck besides the blistering heat. My gaze rose from the floor to seek the source. Aaron. As Lauchlan regaled Hillary with how he set off the firebomb, Aaron had fixed his attention on me.
His amber eyes were neutral, as usual, but ringed with an unsettling intensity usually reserved for Killer. I stared into them, unable to maintain my neutrality. The rage, defeat, and immutable frustration bloomed to the surface and his steady presence absorbed every one without comment.
When I was about to break the silent staring contest, he opened his mouth to speak, his stare growing more penetrating instead of retreating.
“Kellan is wound very tight by tonight’s events,” he said simply, the rich tone and crisp cadence interrupting Lauchlan’s story. “As am I. It would be to all our benefit to relieve some of this pressure before we rest, yes?”
The gold in his eyes darkened to pitch. “Perhaps a punishment is in order. I believe I am still in your debt,compañero. Is tonight the time to honor it?” He uttered the words softly, smoothly, but he might as well have screamed through a megaphone with the way my adrenaline spiked and blood flowed to the crown of my cock.
I couldn’t break the hold he had on me. I heard Lauchlan’s intake of breath, and felt Hillary’s stare trained on the two of us, but they were observers of this challenge between the Colombian heir and me.
Yes, sex was a safe way to unleash the demons inside of me tonight. But I had to control the tableau of bodies—they all had to submit to me in order to complete the exorcism. For their safety, and my own.
Drawing a deep breath, I tore my gaze away from him and finally recognized the two others in the room—the two others I was deeply attracted to. I knew the landscape of their bodies, the feel of their greedy holes wrapped aroundme, how they surrendered themselves to satisfy my soul, and my dick swelled even more.
Instead of confusion, I saw only interest. Intrigue. Lust.
I welcomed the gift this man had just presented to me, and I would not look a gift horse in the mouth. Resolutely, I nodded my head and issued my first order.
“Caperucita Roja,” I commanded calmly, waving a palm in Lauchlan’s direction. “You’re going to deliver Rodriguez’s punishment. Come here.”
The Irishman’s cheeks blushed as red as his hair. “Erm—what’s that, mate?”
My Killer cocked her head at me, delicate brows curving into a confused frown. “I think he’s handled enough tonight, Viking, let’s just—”
“No.” I barked the single word out with an angry bite. “This guy went off script tonight, and even though it saved our lives, it just as well could have killed us all.Caperucita Rojais getting his punishment too.”
I glared at the man’s handsome face through narrowed eyes, letting my true feelings of fear, wrath, and resentment for my family’s decisions rise to the surface for a flicker of a moment before I swallowed them into the pit of my stomach.
I knew what it was like to want to save the people in my care. It was the silk thread I walked on every day, but I’d learned years ago the unfairness of life was not my problem. We worked with the hand we were dealt and had to let anything else go along the way. These two men had risked their lives, but I couldn’t let them risk something like this again. It would destroy Killer, and what destroyed Killer would destroy me.
Understanding bloomed in the soft brown of Aaron’s irises, and a calm smile stretched the sexy pout of his lips. He acknowledged what he was agreeing to and was submittingto my needs.
A frisson of hope hit the surface of my heart at his trust. My Killer loved Aaron, and it would have broken her to lose him, but a part of me might have fractured too.
We lived a lonely life, where few men could relate to the stress and pressures of being the groomed heir of an evil man’s son. I understood that part of Aaron’s psyche in a way Hillary could only ever have a taste of. The numb casual way we viewed the depraved parts of society as a means of survival. The constant pull between two worlds eventually destroyed your ability to care about much at all.
He was an equal. If I believed in spiritual crap, I’d call him a kindred spirit. If we had more time, I wanted to learn more about that side of him.
