25. Jake

‘Wooooooo! This is fast!' Jake squealed, the feeling of power and sheer speed as he drove Damian's Ferrari taking him aback. ‘Damian, I think I need to slow the fuck down!'

Jake looked across to Damian in the passenger seat. It didn't look too good. With blood everywhere and Damian grimacing in pain, Jake knew that even if he wanted to slow down, he really didn't have the luxury of choice in that moment.

‘Just keep driving,' Damian said, a look of determination on his face. ‘I didn't take out that scumbag to die in the passenger seat of my own car, boy.'

‘Yes, sir,' Jake said, a sense of steely determination coming over him. ‘I've got you, Damian. Don't worry about that.'

With that, Jake put his foot down and got the Ferrari going up through the gears. The mafia doctor's secret emergency room was in a warehouse on the docklands, and Jake knew that the quicker he could get there, the more chance Damian had of making it through this.

Jake pushed the car, and himself, to the limit. He was scared, and there were moments where Jake nearly lost control and sent the car careering off the road. But there was no way he was going to let Damian down. Jake may have been Damian's boy, but he was going to take responsibility in this moment and do whatever it was that needed to be done.

Damian was willing to give his life for me.

I can't let him down.

He's my Master, and I'm his loyal sub…

‘Don't worry, D,' Jake said, quickly glancing over to Damian. ‘I'm going to get us to the doctor. You can bet your Ferrari on it…'

* * *

The warehouse certainly looked different on the inside than it did from its plain, run-down outside. In fact, had Jake not known where he was, he might have assumed that he was in the operating room of a prestigious hospital.

Fortunately, Connor's knife hadn't hit any serious veins or organs. The bleeding was bad, but it was nothing that couldn't be resolved with some expertly administered stitches.

‘Boy, I owe you my life,' Damian said, sipping on a vintage whiskey. ‘And, yeah, a post-op bedside whiskey is definitely a benefit of being in the mafia.'

Jake smirked. Damian was something else - and is mafia lifestyle was too.

‘Damian, it's me who owes you the thanks!' Jake said. ‘I was so scared until you showed up. But the second I heard your voice… I knew everything was going to be okay.'

Damian took another sip on his whiskey and held his other hand out, inviting Jake to come in closer.

‘I think we probably both owe each other,' Damian said. ‘But that's what Masters and their boys do for one another. I'm proud of you, kid. You stood up and were brave when it mattered. Without you driving me here, I wouldn't have made it. I'll owe you for that for the rest of my days. I mean it.'

Jake could feel himself getting emotional.

To hear Damian speak like this, it made Jake feel terrible for ever having a bad thought about Damian. As far as Jake was concerned, Damian was a true man and the best Dom that a young man could ever wish for.

It looked like Damian was about to say something else too, but suddenly Jake noticed that Damian's eyes were looking beyond him and toward someone else.

‘Damian?' Jake said. ‘What is it?'

Jake turned around and saw the last person he expected to see. It was Jack Bouquet. But what was he doing here? And more than that… what did he want?

‘You,' Damian said. ‘How did you know I was here?'

‘I came in the car with Nico,' Jack said, a shifty look on his face. ‘I wanted to make sure my boss was okay.'

Jake could see that Damian wasn't convinced by Jack's response.

There was something going on here, but Jake didn't know precisely what it was…

This doesn't make any sense.

Jack's a chef, not a mafia man.

He shouldn't be coming to places like this…

‘Ummm, Jack?' Jake said, wanting to keep the attention off Damian so he could recuperate.

‘Yes?' Jack replied, impatient and clearly still with an axe to grind as far as Jake was concerned.

‘Shouldn't you be heading up the service back at the restaurant?' Jake said, genuinely wondering who was running things back at Damian's Den. ‘The last thing Damian needs is a ton of complaining customers.'

‘Talk about a lack of gratitude!' Jack said, rolling his eyes. ‘I thought you'd be happy to see me. After that Connor guy nearly killed you and Damian, you need all the friends you can get.'

Jake gasped.

How does Jack know it was Connor?

I don't think Nico would have shared that.

Is… Jack…

But before Jake could say anything else, it became quite clear that Damian was already two steps ahead of everyone, including Jack Bouquet.

‘Jack… how did you know I was dealing with Connor?' Damian said, sitting up straight in bed. ‘Think very carefully about how you answer that.'

Jake felt his heart begin to thump inside his chest. There was something very serious happening, and it felt dangerous too. It was the same kind of energy that he had witnessed between Damian and Connor.

‘Speak,' Damian said, a stern, cold tone in his voice. ‘I'll ask once more. How did you know I was dealing with Connor?'

Jack looked as if he was about to speak.

But in a flash, the chef turned and began to make a run for the warehouse exit door. But Jack Bouquet hadn't planned on running straight into Nico.

‘Not so fucking fast,' Nico snarled, putting Jack into a vice-like grip. ‘You were working with Connor, weren't you?'

‘I… I… I… can explain!' Jack said. ‘He… he…'

‘He paid you,' Damian said. ‘Connor paid you a big chunk of cash to find out information about me, Nico and Antonio too. And you happily took the money, not caring for one second about any notion of loyalty or honor.'

‘In other words, you're a low-down piece of shit,' Nico said, twisting Jack's arm tighter and being him in the back. ‘And there's only one outcome from this. Come on, let's go.'

‘You assholes!' Jack cried out in one last stand of defiance. ‘I'm Jack freakin' Bouquet! You dumb mafia assholes wouldn't know fine cuisine if it slapped you across the face!'

‘But we can spot a rat a hundred miles away,' Damian said, beckoning Jake over to him. ‘Get him out of my sight.'

Nico led Jack away to his painful and certain fate, shaking his head in disgust at having been betrayed by someone who had benefitted from Damian's generosity and career support.

‘Is he… going to be… killed?' Jake said, knowing full well what the answer would be.

‘As dead as dead gets,' Damian replied. ‘We don't tolerate rats. It's the code. And it doesn't matter how good a chef you are. You cross the family, you die.'

‘I understand,' Jake said. ‘I know what I've signed up for. It's cool.'

Damian smiled and then grimaced in pain as he gripped his side.

Jack's exit meant one thing. It meant that with Connor and him out of the way, Jake and Damian could focus on one thing that was more important than anything else in the world – and that was their relationship.

‘I just wanted to say,' Jake said, his voice quivering with nerves. ‘I… I love you more than anything!'

Jake felt like he might burst into tears. The high stakes and emotions of the day had caught up with him. He wanted to snuggle up to Damian but didn't know if Damian wanted that. After all, Damian might have saved him but that didn't automatically mean that everything was back on track the way it was…

‘And I love you,' Damian replied, much to Jake's total relief and joy. ‘Now get up on this bed and wriggle up to me. Just don't lean on my damn wound!'

Jake giggled with delight and clambered up onto the bed.

It felt good to be so close to Damian again. After everything they had been through, it was a miracle that both were alive. But they were alive. And as far as Jake was concerned, he wasn't going to let Damian slip away from him again.

‘Will you be my Master forever?' Jake said, nestling into the space between Damian's upper-arm and large, firm pec. ‘It would mean everything to me.'

‘Boy, of course I will be,' Damian laughed. ‘You're mine. You're all mine, in fact. And there's no number of guns, knives, killers, cops or treacherous rats who will ever separate us again.'

‘Will you train me to be the best puppy in the world?'

‘I will. And will you help me become the best Dom?'

‘Of course!' Jake replied, accidentally putting his arm onto Damian's stitched up wound. ‘Yikes! Sorry!'

‘Don't worry, I'll spank you for it later,' Damian laughed, the idea of dishing out a punishment clearly helping him forget the pain of Jake's stray arm landing on his chest.

Jake traced his finger over Damian's bare chest. Everything had worked out, and the future looked as rosy for Jake as it ever had.

‘Now how about we talk about your living arrangements,' Damian said. ‘Your apartment will be out of commission for weeks, if not months. And, you know, my place is pretty big.'

Jake smiled. He had a funny feeling he knew exactly what Damian was going to say next…