I smirked. “Ye better pray to God because he’s the only one who’s going to decide how long ye last this torture.”
“A towel?” He raised his sharp chin, that lovely bottom lip shaking slightly. “What are you going to do with that?”
Aspen moved quickly and grabbed one of Reed’s ears, dragging his head back to the floor. He yelped as Aspen pressed a knee into his bound hands, keeping them above his head, while Rowen moved to sit on his legs. He struggled to no avail. There was no way he was getting out of this.
Rowen was already whispering prayers, asking God for forgiveness for this sinful act.
I ignored him. Pleasure mixed with the excitement as I stared down at Reed, running my knuckles along his cheek and jaw. “I’m going to make ye scream. Ye’ll be beggin’ for yer wee ma by the time I’m done with this part, but it’s only the beginning, lad. So, settle in. If ye give us the location of the boss’s inventory, we’ll give him a call, and he might be feeling charitable about it. He might not. The choice is yers.”
He shook his head, continuing to struggle. He spat in my direction, but it fell short, landing on his T-shirt.
I laughed and covered his face with the towel. Aspen grabbed the side of his head, keeping him still, and even though Reed battled Aspen’s hold, he was no match for Aspen’s strength. I rose and headed into the next room, a small makeshift kitchen that was barely used except for water. After filling the bucket under the tap, I came back.
Reed was still trying to kick and struggle, but he was failing and growing tired. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I sat on my knees near his head. “No more chances, Reedy boy.”
With Aspen’s hands keeping his face in place, I slowly poured the water across the towel. The liquid soaked through the material, drenching it and causing it to adhere against Reed’s face. Realization obviously set in, and the struggles started again as the towel asphyxiated him, making it hard for him to breathe.
There was no way he was getting out of this.
My cock pulsed. Oh, the fun was just starting.
Three hours later,my knuckles were bruised and Reed’s pretty face was bloody. He was tied up against the heating pipes of the room, knocked unconscious. He was wet, and blood soaked every visible part of his muscled body.
I stood with Aspen in the kitchen, a bottle of cold water in my hands and a huge grin on my face. I nudged him with my arm, and he glanced at me from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter. He was drenched in sweat, moisture making a V-shape on his gray tank top undershirt. We had long since ditched our suit jackets and fancy shirts. His skin glowed with sweat, and he smelled good—masculine. There was no denying Aspen was fucking hot, built big in all the right areas, and at one time, we’d considered making something work between us before we’d brushed off the idea. We were both tops, and not even friends with benefits would succeed because of it, which was why we fucked people together.
It was easier that way.
I nudged him again, and he glared at me.
“What?” he snapped, before his face softened and he gave me a lazy smirk. “Enjoying yourself?”
I laughed and took another long swallow of water, the ice-cold liquid quenching my thirst. It was hot as balls in the house. My white undershirt was drenched, and the stickiness on my skin had me cringing. “Want to make a wee bet on how long he lasts?”
“No,” Aspen said bluntly, shrugging. “The last time we bet, you didn’t pay up.”
“Ye cheated,” I grumbled with a mock glare. “Killing the bloke when ye realized he was going to live longer than what ye said he would is cheating, mate.”
Aspen’s laughter filled the tiny room, a booming sound I treasured. When I’d first met him, he was withdrawn but ruthless, a man who had demons out to destroy him. I expected he wanted to die while out on a job for Sloan, and I became the person to pull him away from the edge. He’d been driven by anger, and if anyone could relate to that it was me. I’d become his best friend—if we wanted to get corny about it—and he was mine. As fucked-up as me, and that’s how I liked him.
“You didn’t include that in the rules,” he said with a shrug.
I snorted and shoved him a little too hard, and he went rocking to the side. “What’s the point of a fecking bet if ye can make yerself win?” I rolled my eyes and stared at the chipped yellow paint of the kitchen. The place might have been cheery once, but now it was infested with rats and had plumbing issues. Sloan didn’t keep it around to live in, though, and it was perfect for its use.
“How’s the doc?” Aspen asked, stealing the bottle from me and chugging down some of the water. His Adam’s apple bounced with every swallow, and it was hard to tear my gaze away from the way his skin gleamed.
“He’s fine.” I cocked my head toward him and smirked. “Ye should come sayheyto him. He’d like that.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I thought he belonged to you and Rowen by the sounds you were making earlier. Don’t think Rowen would want to share.”
“Doesn’t hurt to say hello, though, does it?” I waggled my eyebrows at him, and he grunted. He knew I meant more than that. Aspen and I had been sharing blokes and birds since a week after we met for the first time. We connected, like a football to a net, and I had a feeling Aspen was interested in Vail as much as I was.
“Is he good in bed?” Aspen gave me a wicked glance, and I laughed. Rowen was still in the other room with Reed, which meant Aspen was talkative as fuck. He preferred to be the guy who stayed quiet, assessed his surroundings.
“His arse is divine.” I made an hourglass shape with my hands in the air and grinned. “As ripe and juicy as a freshly picked plum.”
He shoved the bottle of water back at me and turned toward the sink, where he had his bloody knives soaking in water. Aspen had spent the last hour playing with blades on Reed, carving his chest up good and proper. But before that he’d played a game of darts with him, but instead of darts it was knives, and instead of a board it was Reed. Lucky for the fucker, Aspen was great at throwing knives, and it was only to make Reed piss himself, which to my surprise, never happened. Most guys did when Aspen was throwing his weapons at them, barely missing their eyes by inches.
