Page 80 of Headcase
He had no idea how long they laid there, but as the haze of pleasure wore away, Zane ached everywhere. With the scene ended, Asa was dropping soft kisses on Zane’s back, his shoulders, his hair. “You did so good, Lois. So fucking good. Are you okay?”
“No. I think you broke me,” Zane murmured, wiggling his ass beneath Asa, muscles contracting around his cock. Yeah, he ached literally everywhere.
Asa stood, slipping free of Zane before spreading him open, running fingers around his rim and then inside in a way that felt almost clinical. “You’re good, Lois. I didn’t break anything. You’ll just feel like I did for a few days.”
He undid Zane’s wrists and ankles and then helped him off the bench, catching him when his knees gave out then swinging him into his arms. “I think we should take a bath together. What do you say?”
Zane rested his cheek against Asa’s chest. “I can’t lift my…anything.”
“That’s alright. I’ll take care of you.”
“You better,” Zane said, voice barely above a whisper.
Asa stopped and looked down at him. “You can trust me, Lois. I promise.”
Zane swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “Yeah. I know.”
The war room was crowded, with everybody in attendance except Avi, who was still out of town, and Archer, who’d left town for another poker tournament. Asa stared at his brother’s empty seat—the one closest to the bar. Was he really at another tournament, or did Thomas send Archer out on secret gigs the others weren’t aware of? Maybe it was a combination of both. Archer was an enigma.
August and Lucas had left their squishy angelic-faced distractions with their mother, ensuring the handler would have Thomas’s undivided attention. Well, as much attention as he could manage, anyway. He was often present but never truly all there, as if his thoughts were split. He sat in his chair at the head of the table, his silver hair perfect and a drink dangling from his manicured fingers.
Asa shook his head. He was far too introspective today. He made a point of ignoring the others in the room before he started musing about their lives when he truly didn’t give a shit why they did what they did. The only person whose private life mattered to Asa was Zane, and he was right there beside him, gripping his thigh hard enough for Asa to have bruises in the morning.
“We’re all here, Calliope. What did you find on those DVDs?” Thomas asked.
Calliope let out a shaky breath but said nothing for a long moment. Asa’s gaze darted to Thomas. Calliope rarely hesitated, no matter how bad the details.
“Calliope? Did you find anything?” Asa asked.
“Enough to keep me in therapy for another three years,” she muttered.
“Let’s hear it,” Atticus said, his hand threaded with his husband’s.
“This is more of an audio-visual thing,” Calliope said reluctantly.
“What does that mean?” Zane asked, voice sharp.
“Maybe… Maybe I should just tell you what I found?” Calliope said.
Asa looked at his brothers. They also seemed confused. The others—those with the ability to feel human emotions—looked concerned and a little apprehensive. They’d seen a lot of horrific shit in this room. Stuff most normal people could never cope with.
Noah had confronted photos of the men who had traded him for sex as a child. Lucas had learned just how depraved a fellow agent was when they learned he wasn’t only a murderer but that he tortured women for the entertainment of others. Jericho had learned how much his sister had suffered before she died. Calliope had never attempted to shield them from any of it. Or maybe she had and Asa never noticed.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine,” Zane amended when he realized the others were staring at him.
Asa knew that wasn’t true. Zane’s sweaty palm now rested on his, his leg bouncing double-time beneath the table, and Asa could practically hear his teeth grinding. But that was nobody else’s business.
“Okay. But, honestly, everybody should prepare themselves. This shit is… It’s fucking awful.”
The color blanched from Zane’s cheeks, but he said nothing.
A video appeared on the screen. A man—presumably Jerry—sat at the desk they’d seen at his house. A different image appeared on each of the monitors before him, but they were all similar. People clearly in the throes of death. When Calliope hit play, it soon became clear why she’d been so nervous.
“Is he—” Noah started.
“Yeah,” Adam said, cutting him off, as if he couldn’t bear to hear him say it out loud.
Noah’s nose crinkled. “Gross. What the fuck?”
