“I watched the trial. You were amazing,” I said.
Ethan had been forced to testify in open court about the abuse he’d suffered at the hands of his ex-boyfriend. I’d suspected the man had traumatized Ethan when I’d met the fucker after Ethan had begged me to take him to stop Cain from killing the man. We’d arrived in time for the asshole to spew his hateful shit at Ethan and threaten to keep pursuing the young doctor. Ethan had talked Cain out of killing the man, but I’d been less interested in allowing the courts to deliver a message that I could send the man just as easily.
So I’d shot him in the dick.
Message received, loud and clear.
Just before I’d blown a hole in his groin, I’d made sure the former cop knew what would happen to him in prison if he so much as even breathed Ethan’s name.
The move hadn’t stopped him from trying to come up with some lame-ass defense when he’d been arrested for beating and raping Ethan on multiple occasions. He’d been convicted, of course. And I’d seen recent reports that he’d been charged with murdering another police officer and the man’s wife, a crime that carried the death penalty.
“I’m just glad it’s finally over,” Ethan said as his fingers automatically began toying with the ring on his left hand.
“When’s the big day?” I asked.
“Next month. And now that you’re back, Cain and I expect to see you and Nathan there. No arguments,” he said as he pointed his finger at me and gave me a stern look.
I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
What was I supposed to say?
That Nathan and I would have long gone our separate ways by then? “He still with Brody?” I asked.
“Yeah. Second door on the left. Quinn and Beck went outside to get some air so Brody and Nathan could talk.”
“Thanks,” I said as I began climbing the stairs.
“Vincent.”
I looked over my shoulder at him.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice going soft.
I held his gaze for a moment and saw the seriousness there. “You’re welcome, Ethan,” I finally said. Satisfied, he turned away, and I continued up the stairs. I knocked on the door I assumed was the one Ethan had been talking about, but when there was no answer, I carefully pushed it open.
Brody was asleep in the bed, so my eyes quickly searched out Nathan. He was sitting in a chair next to the bed, but at some point, he too had fallen asleep. His hand was covering his brother’s on the bed. I was half-tempted to wake him so he could get some real rest, but decided against it. I went to the room Dom had directed me to and found both mine and Nathan’s bags sitting on the bed. Between the events of the day and the lack of sleep the night before, I was wiped out, and within minutes of lying down and closing my eyes, I was out. I didn’t wake up until a familiar weight pressed against my side.
I curled into Nathan’s body and pressed my lips against his temple. “You okay?” I asked.
He nodded against me.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“After nine. Brody, Beck, and Quinn went to bed already. Dom went home – said he’d be back in the morning. Cade’s keeping an eye on things so Cain could get some sleep.”
“Did you and Brody get to talk?” I asked.
“A little. The pain pills knocked him out pretty fast, so I told him to sleep and we’d talk more tomorrow. Ronan called Dom to give us an update. Reese is starting to wake up, but he’s still too out of it for them to determine if there’s any permanent damage. He said Everett is hanging in there.”
“He’ll be okay,” I murmured.
Nathan nodded as his hands began skimming over my body. It didn’t take much to get me going, so when Nathan pushed me to my back and covered my mouth with his, I gladly complied. There wasa certain franticness to his moves as he began tugging at my clothes. I understood where it was coming from, though, so when he grabbed his shirt and yanked it over his head and then went to work on his pants, I grabbed his wrists.
“Baby,” I said as I rolled him beneath me and ground our hips together. “Let’s change things up a bit, okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah, okay,” he said impatiently. “Just…fuck me really hard, please.”
The desperation in his voice didn’t surprise me at all. Everything had spiraled out of his control in the last twenty-four hours and he was feeling rudderless. But as badly as he needed to not feel those emotions, I knew there was something he needed even more.
