Chapter 31

The Butcher yelped and fell over, clutching his left ear as the resounding gunshot reverberated throughout the room.

Madden held the weapon steady, slightly off to the side where he’d aimed it just before pulling the trigger.

On the gun Berga had brought so he could shoot him to death with it.

To say he was pissed off would be an understatement.

Berga groaned and shifted, eyes finding Madden’s heated gaze as he uncurled himself from the huddled ball and lifted back into a seated position. He stared at him, mouth slightly open, eyes wide.

“The urge to hit you is strong,” Madden stated. “But then, you’d probably like that, seeing as how you’re turned on by pain.”

“You remember.”

He heaved a sigh and finally dropped the gun. “You’re so dense. Aren’t you a medical student? Shouldn’t you know it’s not that easy to lose your memory? Especially not two months’ worth. Good Light. Why are you so easily fooled?”

“What…” He clearly floundered for what to say, so Madden took pity on him and filled the silence himself.

“In your defense, everyone else was fooled too. Although,” he shook the gun, “maybe not Kelevra. He seemed to have caught on rather early, but he never said anything, so I could be wrong.”

“How,” Berga swallowed and tried again, “Why?”

“Why? Later. First,” he held up his bound wrists, “undo this. Now.”

He expected at least a little hesitation, but the Butcher surprised him, practically darting into action. His hands were freed in less than a minute, and before Berga could retreat from him, Madden pounced.

He slammed the other man onto his back on the ground and pinned him down with his body, tossing the gun into the corner of the room, far away from either of their reach, in the process. When Berga struggled beneath him, he clicked his tongue chidingly, capturing his wrists and held them down over Berga’s head until he could find the discarded belt nearby and use it.

“I can’t believe you tied me up with this thing instead of bringing handcuffs,” he said as he secured the Butcher. “Next time, just borrow a pair from me.”

“Madden.” Berga sucked in a sharp breath when he ground his hard on into him.

“Oh no, you’re done talking, baby,” Madden told him. “Now it’s my turn. Do you have any idea how furious I am with you right now? I’m so angry I could…” He purposefully let his sentence trail off, knowing it would drive Berga crazy, and then he flipped him over onto his stomach. “Keep your hands right there.”

He waited, but when Berga didn’t reply, took a chance and let go of his wrists long enough to lift onto his knees. When he jerked the Butcher’s pants and underwear down, his body slid an inch or so with them, but the man kept position and didn’t struggle or attempt to escape.

“Good boy.” Madden slapped him across the ass, watching the plush cheek vibrate after the hit, and tore off the towel wrapped around his waist. “I really wanted to talk with you first,” he informed him, adding a series of satisfying spanks that had his cock dripping all over those swollen cheeks. “But you just had to drug me. Again.”

“Sorry,” Berga’s voice was muffled because his face was buried between his arms, and Madden grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him back.

“What was that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” He shoved him back down and then forced his legs apart with his knees. Madden hooked his thumbs between his cheeks and spread them, taking a second to inspect the Butcher’s tight hole. “Have you touched yourself at all since our last time together?”

Berga shook his head, but that wasn’t good enough for Madden.

“Words,” he demanded. “Answer the question. Has anything else been inside here besides me?”

“No,” Berga said.

That meant it’d been a while. He should really be opened up and stretched out first, but…

Madden settled more closely to him and ran his leaking cock up and down his seam before settling into position. The first cry the Butcher made beneath him had him wincing, but he kept at it, feeding him inch after inch slowly, watching as that hole was forced to take him, the color already darkening a bright, angry shade of red.

He actually didn’t like hurting him, never had, not even now, as angry as he was. But Madden knew that’s how Berga liked it, understood that with each sob of pain, there was also a sigh of pure pleasure.

“You’re so fucked up, Butcher,” he stated, moaning when he finally bottomed out and stilled so they could both adjust to the overwhelming sensations. It’d been hell going without this for a month, but he’d been determined to win this thing between them. Determined to make the Butcher crawl back to him. After the stunt he’d pulled, Madden was being downright merciful by only setting him up.

Yet this was how he repaid him?

A blaster to the head?

A death wish?

Hell no.

“Tell me,” he demanded, dragging his cock free to the tip and then hammering back in all the way with all the force he could muster. As soon as he was buried deep, he rolled his hips, grunting when Berga mewled. “Tell me why you’re sorry. List it off. Start from the beginning.”

“I—” He hiccupped but immediately started again. “I’m sorry for drugging you that first night.”

Madden tore into him. “Are you really?”

“No!” Berga shuddered beneath him. “No, I’m not.”

“Only apologize for the things you’re truly sorry for,” he ordered. “I don’t want to second guess when you’re being honest with me and when you aren’t. You want forgiveness? Then give it to me straight, baby. What did you do wrong?”

“I lied to you,” his voice shook and his words came out breathy and between moans, but he got them out. “I should have told you what I wanted from the beginning.”

“Which was?” He didn’t ease up, pumping into him brutally even though he was being good and doing as he was told. That didn’t make up for the things he’d already done. His Butcher needed to be thoroughly punished for all of his transgressions. No exceptions.

“You,” Berga admitted. “I wanted to be close to you.”

“Liar.”

“No,” he vehemently denied it. “It’s the truth! I just didn’t realize. You know I’m bad at understanding things like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like emotions. Wants. Needs. I thought I was fascinated by your hair and your eyes and that was it. But I was wrong. I had you once and I wanted more.”

“Then why’d you play so hard to get?”

“Because I was afraid.”

“Of?”

Berga hesitated, and Madden met his refusal to answer with a rapid-fire pounding, only easing up once the man started to wildly sob.

“I was afraid you’d eventually see me for what I am and leave,” he confessed, and it so obviously pained him to do so, Madden almost took pity on him after all.

Almost.

“I’m a monster,” Berga continued. “I’m disgusting. I’m— ”

“Don’t say unlovable,” Madden stopped him, but he didn’t say the words he’d been dying to say, not yet. There was still too much air to clear up first. “Explain why you thought having me shoot you was a good idea.”

Back at Vail, Madden hadn’t given Berga the chance to, he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

“Well, come on,” he drove in and out of his tight body, fighting off the urge to come too soon by recalling why they were here, like this, getting rug burn, instead of on the bed. “What made you think I’d ever shoot you, Butcher?”

“I thought you didn’t remember me!”

“So? Why would that make me want to kill you?”

“I figured if I told you what happened, you’d be upset enough to do it. You couldn’t remember you ever cared for me anyway. I was nothing to you.”

“Listen closely, baby.” He settled himself firmly over top of him, arms caging in Berga’s head as he continued to fuck him with all the pent-up anger and frustration the other man had forced upon him. “You’ve never, not once, meant nothing to me.”

Even when they’d hardly known one another, Madden had respected him. Sure, maybe he hadn’t wanted to sleep with him or own him then, but that didn’t mean he’d ever thought lightly of the Butcher.

“Apologize.” He angled his hips differently, sure to hit deeper spots within Berga on the next inward thrust. “Apologize.”

“I’m sorry,” he blubbered, hands clawing at the ground mindlessly. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“What are you sorry for?”

“For…” His hesitation cost him again and he wailed when Madden bent and clamped down on the meaty spot between his neck and shoulder.

Madden tasted blood.

“Tell me,” Berga begged. “Tell me what you want to hear me say and I’ll say it!”

“That’s not how this works, baby.” He licked the wound, trailing his tongue up the curve of Berga’s neck and then nipped at his earlobe. “Think. It’s not a tricky question. What are you sorry for?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. Please.”

Madden chuckled darkly, knowing full well he wasn’t begging for him to stop.

He was begging to be bitten again. To be hurt.

To climax.

“What am I most angry about?” he reiterated. “My boyfriend lying to me? My boyfriend abandoning me while I was sick in the hospital—”

“I didn’t! You—”

Madden growled warningly in his ear.

“I thought you wouldn’t want to see me,” Berga altered course and said.

“You were wrong.”

“I’m sorry.”

“As if that wasn’t bad enough, the next time I see him, my boyfriend is wielding a gun trying to get me to murder him. You’ve lost people, Berga. How did that feel? You remember?”

“Awful.” Something seemed to shift and click into place for him. Madden could sense it in the way he tensed. “Dying was the only way.”

“The only way for what?” Madden asked, and this time he really wanted to know the answer, because he was stumped.

His plan had been to wear the other man down, figuring that eventually, Berga wouldn’t be able to take it any longer and would show up on his doorstep. When it’d taken too long, he’d gotten Zane to invite him to Vail, where the Butcher’s reaction to his presence had only bolstered his idea that this would work.

The only backup he’d come up with was going to him first if he didn’t come around within another week or so. Never in a million years did he imagine the Butcher just…giving up.

“I couldn’t live without you,” Berga said, his words causing Madden to fumble and still.

“What?”

“I’d rather die,” he turned his head on the floor so he could meet his gaze over his shoulder, face covered in tear tracks, “than live in a world where you were disgusted by me.”

“Baby.” He shook his head, heart cracking and splintering in his chest. Just like that, all of the revenge he had wanted vanished in a puff of smoke. Madden slipped out of him and picked him up off the ground, turning Berga in his arms .

He settled with his back against the end of the bed and lowered the Butcher onto his lap, cock impaling him. Madden kept his hands on Berga’s hips, holding him down, keeping him stuck, skin to skin.

“I have never once been disgusted by you,” he promised, holding Berga’s watery gaze. “Never.”

“That’s not true. The way you looked at me before the explosion—”

“I wasn’t disgusted,” he insisted. “I was hurt and angry, yes, and I said some things in the heat of the moment I now regret, but whatever you say, you misinterpreted it. It wasn’t disgust.”

Berga looked like he wanted to believe him, but wasn’t fully convinced. “Why did you pretend to forget me then?”

“I was being petty.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. In my defense, I thought you’d rage and insist we find a way to get my memories back. But you left, and then you never returned for me. The longer you stayed away, the more annoyed with you I became. I was determined to make you come to me first. Why didn’t you?”

“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said. “I thought letting you live the way you had before was what was best for you.”

“You were wrong.”

“Was I?”

“Absolutely.” Madden eased his hold on his waist and rested his head back against the bed. “Kiss me.”

Berga leaned in slowly, still unsure, but when Madden didn’t push him away, he seemed to tap into that confidence he was known for. His lips pressed against Madden’s, tongue darting out to urge him to part, and as soon as he did, he flicked into Madden’s mouth with no further hesitation.

Madden cupped the base of his skull and held him close, fucking up into him with renewed vigor as they nipped and licked and bite at one another in a frenzy. Things had only ever been like this with Berga, all-consuming and electric.

Real and raw and meaningful.

“Everything in my life before you was monotonous,” he said, separating their mouths just enough to get the words out. “It was easy being carefree because there was very little I cared about. When I overheard you talking with Sila, I was terrified you meant it. That you were planning on leaving me.”

“No,” Berga shook his head. “When he asked me that, I was still talking about in the beginning. I planned on drugging us both, having sex with you, and then that being it. That’s what I meant. I want you.” He brought his bound wrists over Madden’s head, holding onto him. “I want you forever.”

Madden moved forward, dropping Berga onto his back. The move forced his arms away, but he made up for it by resting his hands on Madden’s stomach, urging him on with his moans.

“Tell me you’re mine,” Madden ordered .

“I’m yours.”

“Tell me you love me.”

“I—” Berga’s cheeks flushed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He pinched one of his nipples and laughed when that had Berga arching his back. “Neither of us are leaving here until you’re covered in my bites and bruises.” He’d give it to him just how he liked and ensure the Butcher never forgot how Madden was the only one who could make him feel this good.

“And come?” he teased, grinning ear to ear like a loon.

“Yeah,” Madden confirmed, wrapping his fingers around Berga’s dick. “And that. I love when you’re dirty, baby.”

“Only for you.”

“Promise?”

Berga lifted and captured Madden’s bottom lip between his teeth, nipping at him before laughing and laying back down. “Only you, Mad King. You’re the only thing I need haunting me. Past, present, and future.”

They both came together, reality popping and crackling into oblivion until there were only the two of them left in the entire universe.

The Mad King and his Mad Scientist.