Chapter 18

Chapter

Eighteen

EZRA

T he planning session with the Vandals went late into the night, continuing well after Bodhi notified us that he and Lainey weren't returning to the penthouse. My reaction? Lucky bastard.

Adam's response surprised me more, honestly. He just lifted his chin in acknowledgement when Milo shared the info with us quietly. While I might be the more impulsive of us, Adam definitely had the worst temper. When it came to Lainey, he'd never been reasonable.

Never.

The fact neither of us experienced immediate jealousy or irritation stunned me when it sank in. Maybe he did get a twinge and was better at hiding it than I was, or maybe he didn't.

The thing was… my kotyonok was with Bodhi. No, she wasn't where I could see or touch her, but she was with someone who would not hesitate to kill in her defense. He would protect her. She was safe .

Surety in that knowledge relaxed the tension in my lower spine. Dismissing the urge to get a drink, I settled for coffee and followed it with water. Eventually, the Vandals were wrapping it up and preparing to go.

"I'm going back with them tonight," Milo said as the others left and he dragged on his jacket. "I'll be back in the morning." He glanced toward the door, and said, "I'll be out in a sec."

Liam lifted his chin then shut the door, leaving the three of us alone.

"I'd protest about heading out alone, but you're hardly going without backup. They are more than capable of keeping an eye on you." The dry comment pulled a faint smile from Milo.

"Yeah and I need to talk to Doc. With everything we're juggling, I don't want to lose sight of anything. Particularly King and his ties, this—new sibling Ivy and I apparently have, and everything else." He raked a hand through his hair. "You two good? No plans to raise hell or burn anything down tonight?"

"Not at the moment," I said, shrugging. Anything was possible. "Night's still young."

"No," Adam grunted out the word and gave me a fierce look. Oh, there went the vein in his forehead. My grin widened. "We're not going anywhere."

Oh, that was definitely an order. I almost chortled, but managed to contain it before I glanced at Milo. "Go check on your friend. I solemnly swear, I'll send you a text if we plan any riots."

"Uh huh."

Milo and Adam grunted those two syllables in the exact same tone. Try as I might, I couldn't not laugh. It was funny as fuck.

"I won't be far," Milo said to Adam. "Good luck."

Good luck? Some of my amusement drained away. The fact Milo clapped Adam on the shoulder didn't help.

I scowled as Milo strode out, closing the door behind him and leaving us in Bodhi's penthouse. Bodhi's place… I got why we were here. He wanted us in a more secure location. For Lainey…

Suddenly, it seemed too silent, too large, and far too empty. Pivoting, I glared at Adam. The desire for whiskey burned in my throat. I could practically taste it.

"Why did he wish you good luck?" The demand escaped with all the grace of an angry toddler. Irritation raced through me, slamming headlong into embarrassment and shame.

The idea that Milo knew something about Adam that I didn't? It… it grated.

"You know what," I snapped, surging to my feet. "I don't care. Keep all your secrets. I'm going to bed."

What I really wanted was a drink. Bed wasn't quite a substitute but it would have to do. The alcohol in the penthouse—what I'd seen of it—was under lock and key. The rest had been thrown out. No one trusted me.

The anger revved inside of me as my thoughts continued to collide. Pivoting on my heel, I stalked out of the living room and headed for the stairs.

"Ezra…" Adam called, aggrieved didn't begin to cover his tone. No. He didn't get to fucking do that. I was the injured party here. Him keeping secrets.

Again.

It wasn't until I hit the top step that I realized he wasn't even bothering to follow me. Pain stabbed right through the fury in my system to impale my heart. The emotional wound only made it pound more furiously.

Fuck, I would kill for a drink. I slammed the door on the bedroom that Adam and I had been sharing for the past few weeks. The fact Bodhi had given it to "us" hadn't really registered at first.

But Adam hadn't skipped out of the room or told me to sleep in here by myself. Didn't stop him from keeping secrets. I slammed the door behind me, then turned the lock.

It was petty as fuck.

At the same time, it was ridiculously satisfying. I leaned back against it and dragged in a couple of deep breaths. My eyes burned with the tears I refused to shed.

I shoved away from the door, stripping off my clothes on the way to the shower. As much as I hated cold ones, I needed to clear the cobwebs. I needed to?—

The crash of the door opening behind me jerked me around. I forgot how to breathe as Adam glared at me. His blue-violet eyes were so dark, I swallowed convulsively.

Adam was pissed.

He stalked across the room after me.

Apprehension shivered up my spine. I opened my mouth, but he raised a finger and silenced me in one motion.

My teeth clacked together when I snapped my jaw shut. Then Adam was just there, invading my space. He half-ripped the shirt from my hand and flung it away before he pinned me to a wall.

The weight of his hand on my chest burned me. Nose to nose, he locked his gaze on mine and it didn't matter how angry I was, I couldn't look away from him if I tried.

"You piss me off so fucking much," Adam snarled, the coffee on his breath teased my nostrils. It added to the rich earthy scent of him. Oak and amber, all underscored with sage.

Filling my lungs with the smell of him was a cleansing experience. It didn't even matter that he was glaring at me right now. The vein in his forehead throbbed, and a muscle in Adam's cheek jumped.

He was livid.

My dick began to pulse in time with that angry vein. I wanted to lick it.

Lick him.

More—

"You're not even listening to me." It was like I'd unlocked some new level of rage intimacy with my best friend.

"You're pissed," I said, belatedly trying to fill in the blanks. "I piss you off so much." Wonder filled me and I grinned.

His eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you smiling at?"

"I make you crazy," I said, suddenly delighted. "I do, don't I?"

Seemingly speechless, Adam just gawked at me. It was a heady sensation. I made Adam crazy.

"It's good," I whispered, then surged forward to kiss him. Shock seemed to hold Adam captive, his mouth hard and unyielding. Like the rest of him.

Where Lainey was soft and had curves I couldn't wait to fondle, Adam was a brick wall. Dense muscle, physically fit to an extreme I doubted most ever saw. But then I'd worked out with him, grappled with him, and I knew his body.

Fuck, I'd gotten to suck his cock. My dick went rock hard and the zipper of my jeans threatened to leave an imprint. I licked at Adam's lips and he went from frozen to motion.

His hand fisted in my hair as he wrapped his free hand around my throat. All those fucking control issues. We were so goddamn damaged.

It was sexy as fuck.

The pressure of his erection ground against mine as he opened his mouth. Then his tongue was staging an invasion as he took over the kiss. Every stroke of his lips to mine was a hot demand. Our tongues dueled as he thrust his hips against me.

An errant image of him going to his knees for me when I'd been in the bathroom, him sucking me off after that handjob damn near finished me had me groaning.

"I want you," I managed to get the words out in between his hot, demanding kisses. He growled when I would have pushed him back. There was just something incredibly appealing about Adam pushed to his limits.

I'd always thought he was sexy as fuck when Lainey drove him to distraction. Now I got to do it…

That lit a sparkler in me like it was the Fourth of July.

"Shut the fuck up," Adam groaned as he kissed me again. The force took all of my breath and then he jerked back before giving me a once over.

Fresh apprehension hit me. Had I gone too far? I did that.

I knew I did…

I almost fucked it up with Lainey so many times.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but Adam's hands were on my jeans. He flicked the button out and then peeled down the zipper. The relief lasted only until his hand wrapped around my cock. Then I was thrusting against his fingers.

Fuck, I was ready to come right now.

"You're going to do exactly what I tell you," Adam said and when I opened my mouth, he gave me a narrow-eyed look that had me snapping it closed again. Giving me a nod of grim satisfaction, he almost smiled. "Better. Now get naked and get on that bed. You and I are going to settle something right here, and right now."

We were?

We were going to settle?—

Adam squeezed my dick.

Right. Naked.

My hands were shaking as I pushed down my jeans. The fact he had to release my dick was frustrating. Licking my lips, I glanced at him. Naked wasn't hard to achieve when I was halfway there.

"Bed, Ezra."

Right. I forgot.

When I would have sat down, he said, "Hands and knees."

I almost fell at that comment. My legs went weak and I cut a look back at him.

"Did I stutter?" The whip crack of command in his voice had my stomach dropping and fluttering all at once. He was so damn hot like this.

While I continued to stare at him, he unbuttoned his own shirt. Each new opening to reveal more of his beautifully sculpted chest.

It wasn't until he undid his belt that I managed to drag my gaze upward. "No," I said slowly. "But…"

"But?" He raised his eyebrows, practically daring me to continue.

Did I want to discuss this?

That thought paralyzed me for all of three seconds. Why the hell was I fighting him? "Hands and knees."

It came out jerky and uncertain.

"Hands and knees." His confirmation was all the boost I needed. I turned to the bed and climbed on it. My cock stretched up toward my belly, tapping me with every motion.

There was something utterly vulnerable about being on my knees like this, facing away from him. It was also erotic as all hell because Adam lowering his zipper suddenly drowned out the sound of my racing heart.

"You're getting naked too."

"Obviously." There was just a hint of dry humor there. Like he was indulging me.

"But I don't get to watch?" Yes, I was never not gonna push him. It was who I was.

"I would have let you earlier, but then you stomped off in a tantrum." A hand landed on my ass and it was large, callused, and I almost forgot how to think with him rubbing over my hip and then back again.

He wasn't anywhere near my crack…

"I was?—"

"Having a tantrum," Adam said, cutting me off and then he was gripping my cheeks and all the air backed up in my lungs cause he was parting them. "Acting like a spoiled brat who didn't get his way because instead of asking or listening, you just assumed something nefarious."

Spit struck my anus and I shuddered. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Adam followed the spit with a thumb that traced my rim.

"Always betting you will be last. Always choosing to fight and rage at the world, rather than just ask for what you want…"

The words didn't make much sense because Adam tested his thumb against the ring of muscle and my cock jerked at the first push. I was in no way lubed up enough for this.

He spit again.

"That won?—"

"I'm talking," Adam snapped, thumb tracing that spit over my asshole even as he delivered a slap to my ass. The heat of it blazed through me.

The fuck did he think he was… I tried to choke out my inner asshole. It needed to shut the fuck up right now.

"Good boy," Adam almost crooned the words and the precum leaked out of my cock. It smeared against my belly and I dropped my chin, as my breath went ragged cause he'd pushed his thumb in. It was a little stretch. It didn't really hurt, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either.

No way to not be aware of him. Adam was fondling my ass. I thought I'd died when he let me suck him off while I fucked Lainey. I reached heaven when he finally stroked me and teased my cock.

This?

This was purgatory. Heaven. Hell. All of it rolled up into one violently sexy bastard I couldn't get enough of.

"You make me crazy, Ezra. You are such an asshole. You suck cock like it's your job, you can make our girl come with a scream, and you literally try to kill me with your mood swings."

No, I really didn't, but he was thrusting his thumb a little deeper with each word and a little more spit. If we were going bigger than the thumb…

"You were pissed at me because Milo said good luck."

Oh, it all crashed back in and the haze of pleasure drowning me, jerked back like a yanked curtain. "Secrets…" I choked that one word out. "I hate the secrets."

"I'm not keeping secrets from you, asshole." His lips were at my ear and he was bending over me. The tease of his cock against my ass was a whole new level of torment. "He said good luck because you and I were going to be alone. He was giving us the night so we wouldn't feel self-conscious."

Wait…

Adam bit me. The scrape of his teeth on my shoulder grounded me and had my cock jerking.

"You stupid asshole," he muttered as he pulled away. "Milo may be a lot of things, but a blind asshole is not one. Apparently, you got all of that in the family."

The insult could have hurt if it wasn't so accurate. Milo left to give me and Adam privacy. I didn't know how to respond.

"But no, you can't just accept that he might say something you don't understand the reference to immediately without blowing up. So, my fucked up friend," Adam continued, his voice dark with passion and anger. Passionate anger? It was hot no matter what it was.

His thumb was out and there was something warm and wet drizzling over my ass. He brought the lube.

I was wrong. I hadn't died before.

I was about to die now. I was going to die impaled on his cock and I shifted on the bed. I wanted this so goddamn much. He slapped my ass again.

"Fuck," I barked out the word. He had big hands and that fucking hurt, but then he massaged the cheek he'd struck and the heat went into my bones.

"Don't like that?" Adam taunted me. Oh, he was definitely taunting.

"Didn't say that—" I regretted my smart mouth almost immediately because he slapped my ass again. This time, the sting was far hotter and I swore. "God…"

"Adam," he corrected with another slap. It was scrambling my brains as he spanked me.

Adam fucking Reed was spanking me.

And what was I doing? Pushing my ass back at him like please sir, may I have some more?

Laughter and tears tangled up in a hysterical mess, but then I became aware of a finger in my ass… wait, no two fingers. Holy shit, he'd distracted me and he was fucking my ass with his fingers. It felt good as he stretched me.

"You don't have to be so careful—" That didn't go over well. He just slapped my ass three times in rapid succession until I was breathless from the heat of it all. His gentle massage as he scissored his fingers inside of me brought real tears to my eyes.

Not tears of pain.

Far from it.

He was adding a third finger.

"This is easier when Lainey is here," Adam said, the words filtered through the wild emotions choking me.

"Yes," I agreed.

"We focus on her." Adam was leaning over me, his hips against my hot cheek while he finger fucked my ass. All three, stretching me and when he teased my prostate, it was my hips that were bucking. "We turn all that aggression on her even as we dance around each other."

"You let me suck you off." It was a plea and an argument.

"I did and I fucking loved it," Adam's declaration threatened to destroy me. I collapsed, almost face first into the bedspread. My arms and legs wouldn't hold me up anymore. "I fucking loved it and I've never looked at a man once in my life and thought…I want to sink my dick into him. I want him to suck me. I want to kiss him until his mouth bruises and he shuts the fuck up."

Jealousy vied with shock as the flip-flopping emotions tore through me. "No?"

"No," Adam said firmly.

"But you do with me?" I didn't want to ask the question, yet I had to.

"Ezra," Adam said, all traces of the rage and exasperation with me just gone.

All at once, he was the man I'd grown up with, the best friend who'd gone to hell and back with me. The man who'd gotten in the way of my father's blows, and who'd put me back together more than once.

Real tears escaped me at the genuine emotion bleeding in his words.

"Yes, I do with you…I love you, asshole. I love your dumb fucking remarks, your crazy antics, your insane decisions, and your jackass temper." His fingers were gone but his words buried themselves in my heart. The feel of his dick against my asshole was right there. "I've never done this before… I'll never do this with anyone that isn't you or Lainey."

Yes. That was how it should be. "We love her."

"Yes, we do," he whispered as he pushed past that ring of muscle and I arched my head up to groan.

There was no patience in Adam, but there was finesse. He rocked into me and it reminded me of how he'd been buried in Lainey's ass and now he was going to be buried in mine. Every thrust took him deeper. He'd slicked himself up and I pushed back, welcoming him.

"I love you," I said in a hoarse voice. "I love you so goddamn much."

"Good," Adam grunted as he sank to the hilt. The rub against my prostate was a tantalizing tease. Fuck, I needed more. Then he ran his fingers through my hair. He wasn't moving, he was just laying there, balls deep in my ass. "This good?"

"Oh yeah," I said, then threw caution to the wind. "Could be better."

"Oh?" He dared me to keep it up and well, who was I, if not consistent?

"Moving would be good…"

His little growl pleased me enormously. Even more when he pulled out and shoved back in. I saw stars.

"Yeah, a little more… fuck me like you mean it." It was my turn to taunt and Adam dragged us both back, pulling me right to the edge of the bed and then he was thrusting into me.

My world narrowed down to the heavy thickness of him filling me with every push and the soft grunts of his breathing.

"You are such an asshole," he muttered, punctuating every syllable with another trust. More precum leaked out of me as he fucked me. I was going to come.

"But I'm your asshole," I told him.

"Yes, you are," he said, possession filling his voice. "This ass is mine. You will give it to no one else. Ever again."

That was an easy promise.

"Except my kotyonok," I reminded him, writhing with the heat he ignited. He was gripping my hips so tightly they were going to be bruised. The pound of his cock in my ass was divine. The bark of laughter twisting around his huff of irritation perfection.

We were on the same page.

Excellent.

I beat at the bed as he pushed me right up to the edge. "Right there…" I was begging. "Fuck me, Adam… right there. Fuck you feel so good."

I came against the covers and my chest. But Adam was still pulsing away in me, his orgasm following mine. The heat of him filling me, everything I'd ever wanted and then we were collapsing together.

Filthy. Hot. Sweaty.

"That was almost too quick," I muttered.

"Are you complaining?" The warning there dared me to take it further.

I mean, if he wanted me to, I could. Except… "No," I whispered. "That was perfect."

"Eh," he grunted and I twisted to find him leaning over me and then his mouth was on mine. A hot bruising kiss he ended with a bite. Pushy bastard. "Not perfect, pretty close. But we have all night to figure it out…"

We had all night to…

Struck mute, I stared up at him as a slow smile crossed his face, even his eyes softened.

"Well, I finally found a way to shut you up that didn't involve you choking on my dick." He winked, then kissed me again before he wrapped his arms around me and just held me close.

I kind of wanted to argue, but he was right. I had nothing to say to that.

"Good boy," Adam soothed and I shuddered all over again. "We need to clean up and then you're going to teach me how to suck your cock the way you like it."

Yep. I could do that.

He laughed again and I grinned. I really wasn't going to argue against any of that.

Ever.