Page 406 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Kade finds the floor, shoves himself upright and breaks the surface. His flashlight rolls beneath the water, its beam turning slowly across the room to show Roman still strapped to the chair. The water is level with his chin, yet he watches Kade without any visible concern.

‘Someone leave a bath running?’

Kade wades towards him.

‘If you don’t want to drown, you’re going to co-operate.’

Roman looks at the broken door, the water and then Kade.

Blank. Calculating.

‘Sounds good.’

Kade pulls free his own belt. He has no cuffs, but this will do. He holds it between his teeth and takes a deep breath before going under to release his foot straps first. He can open his eyes underwater without issue and the flashlight makes everything more or less visible.

Again, the water sings to him.

You have been dry too long, locked away from us. Come home, love.

He surfaces, roughly shaking hair from his eyes and then grips Roman’s wrist in an iron grip as he undoes the first strap. He loops the belt around the one free wrist and cinches it painfully. Roman makes no effort to stand. His mouth is below water, dark eyes watching Kade.

Unstrapping the second wrist frees him entirely. Kade binds it the same way as the other, squeezing hard. ‘Up.’

Roman stands obediently.

Up close, in the water together, the smell of him is heightened. Kade can almost hear that same frequency whine in him as the water.

Kade turns him towards the door.

Roman twists too fast to even see it.

His shoulder dislocates with a wet crack and his bound arms whip beneath his body to the front. He drives both fists into Kade’s chest at the same time, the impact setting every rib alight.

Kade blocks the next strike, takes an elbow across the mouth and crashes Roman into the wall but almost stumbles.

There are no kicks. The water destroys their footing.

Roman headbutts him and Kade answers with a short hook to the jaw, then Roman buries a fist beneath his sternum and sends him staggering. Kade catches the next blow on his forearm, traps Roman’s bound wrists and drives him face-first against the wall again.

‘You fucking—’

Roman throws his head back. Kade dodges away just in time.

‘Kade!’

Lachlan wades inside and helps him crush Roman against the wall. He catches the dislocated arm, controls it without hesitation and locks a pair of handcuffs around Roman’s wrists behind his back.

Roman is laughing softly to himself, nose streaming blood.

‘Are you OK?’ Lachlan asks, touching Kade’s bleeding mouth.

‘That was…’ Kade pants. ‘More than a minute, babe.’

Lachlan gives an incredulous little laugh. ‘It was, I’m sorry.’

He delivers the apology with a kiss.

Kade doesn’t care that Roman sees. Just being near Lachlan makes his heart swell until it hurts. Soaked through and breathless, he makes Kade so fucking warm. He puts a hand on his cheek, holds the kiss as long as he can afford to and then just one moment longer.