Page 87 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘There’s always a way.’

‘Not always, baby.’

‘Yes, always,’ Kade snarls, maddened in the moment by the mere concept of inevitability. Every cell of his being seeks to refuse, deny, rebel. ‘Stay with me. Help me remember. Guard me. Guard me because you love me.’ His heart twists painfully. ‘Love me, Bodyguard. No one ever loved me like you, and I can’t... I won’t live without it.’ Kade’s hips roll of their own accord, desire and arousal bleeding into his typically crystalline mind, making a merry mess of his senses. ‘You’re mine, aren’t you?’

‘Always, but—’

‘No buts, no contracts, no going away,’ Kade pants desperately. ‘You don’t get to just show me how good it can get and then take it away.’

Lachlan makes a low sound, a kind of grunt, still holding Kade, who feels every inch of his answering arousal beneath him. It’s so tempting to look down and see it, but that would probably mean looking at the gross water too. Lachlan will need to use the shower after this. So will Kade.

Probably not together.

Lachlan gathers himself for a while, and as he waits, Kade presses smaller, curious kisses across his face, idly learning textures and mapping scents. This close, Kade has the most vivid impression of Lachlan Tanner’s blood; not rose red or deep-water blue, but glittering, star-strewn black. Rippling outer space reflected on the surface of the ocean at night.

Disconnected from himself in ways he’s never felt before, Kade exhales and hides his face in Lachlan’s neck, buries himself there, safe.

Some crazy part of him wants to say I love you, even though he doesn’t even know if it’s true, if it’s real.

It would feel good to say.

It would make Lachlan feel good.

But it might not be real, and more than anything else, Kade cannot bear the thought of lying to Lachlan.

So he hides there, slowly catching his breath while Lachlan’s death-dealing fingers make lazy ovals at the base of Kade’s spine until the older man kisses his hair.

‘You should shower,’ he tells Kade.

‘I know.’

Kade doesn’t let go, though. Not yet.

‘Sweetheart.’

‘Just thirty seconds more?’

‘OK.’ Lachlan’s arms settle around his middle. ‘Thirty seconds more.’

CHAPTER TEN

Lachlan takes a shower after Kade, who trails a sodden path to his own bedroom to get clean clothes for them both. He chooses standard black and dark grey for himself and the same for Lachlan. So few pieces of clothing he owns have any colour whatsoever. There’s an old red T-shirt stuffed somewhere in the back of the drawer, ignored for years now.

Kade considers giving it to Lachlan but ultimately decides against it.

If Cole and Finn think it’s weird that he left a wet trail going back and forth from Riley’s room, they tactfully make no comment about it.

When he returns, Lachlan is already done.

Towel around his waist, he is unashamedly exploring Riley’s room. Before Kade can chastise him, he asks, ‘This is where he was locked up?’

‘Yeah,’ Kade says, frowning to himself. ‘Don’t snoop.’

‘Why does he stay in here?’

‘I don’t know. He’s very private.’

‘Why?’