Chapter 21

It turnedout I couldn't run.

I tried, but after St. Loren and the attack on my knee, I was a damaged man again. I'd tried to take the brace off, hoping it would help, but the agony in my knee was a pressure bomb of pain, and it nearly had me collapsing on the ground. There was no way in hell I was going to catch up with Erickson and Olberg like this. I was deadweight, and the massive gun I was carrying didn't help. It was really fucking heavy.

Cursing, I power walked as fast as I could, ignoring the agony that shot up my thigh like a streak of lightning. It certainly felt as if I would be electrocuted. Yet, I kept going. There was no way in hell I would let Oisín down.

Fuck.Since when did it become about him? This should've been for me. They'd killed my mother, and despite not having any real grief about her loss—she hadn't been the best mom—it was my revenge. But here I was, doing something potentially dangerous because Oisín wanted to impress Mr. Killough, who he clearly had a thing for.

But he'd said he loved me. What was that about? Was he trying to mess with my head? Mission accomplished.

Now all I could think about was his mouth forming around those words and how easily they rolled off his tongue, like he meant it. Maybe he did, and I wasn't entirely angry about it. A warmth spread across my chest. I'd never been in love—not even with Marcie—wouldn't know how it felt if I had fallen for someone, but this was certainly something. Oisín had shocked me back to life when I hadn't realized I'd stopped living, and it wasn't about the torture I'd endured.

I'd been dead long before that.

A rustle in the bush to my right made me pause, and I raised the Zeliska toward it, but a rabbit scurried out instead of one of the men trying to kill me. Sighing, I shook my head and kept moving as fast as I could in the direction of the farmhouse Oisín had pointed out on the map.

"Fuck this," I muttered, sweat beading on my forehead from the pure exhaustion and pain that concurrently ran through me. I swiped my face with the back of my arm and cursed these fuckers. This would be so much easier if I didn't have a fucked-up knee.

"Beastie!"

I stumbled at the sharp word whispered in my ear from behind before I spun around, glaring at a chuckling Oisín. "What was that for?"

"They already made it to the farmhouse." In the darkness of the brewing night, I couldn't see his face well, but the amusement was thick in his voice.

"Fuck." I exhaled. "Sorry, Master. My knee's still fucked."

The wet swipe of his tongue against my cheek had me cringing, and his laughter tickled my ear. "Come on. Let's go visit them in the house."

"How are we getting in there now? I'm sure they planned for someone trying to get inside." I turned toward him and reached out in the darkness, finding his shoulder. He grabbed my hand and raised it to his lips, sucking a finger into his mouth and humming. A zing of pleasure zipped its way through me, and I shivered.

"Getting into places I'm not allowed is how I make a highly profitable living. Allow me to handle it. Come along." He curled his slim fingers around my wrist and dragged me in the direction of the farmhouse, and I went without argument. I gripped the gun more firmly in my hand and limped beside him until we came to an outcropping of trees around the house.

The lamps in the house bled light through the windows and across the lawn in front, and I frowned. Either they were dumb or confident in their protection, and I wasn't sure which one I'd rather deal with. The contact I'd had with them from before was minimal because I hadn't trusted roaming eyes or eavesdropping ears, scared that my plan to rip off Mr. Killough would get back to him. That might've been a mistake.

"So, how do we get in without setting off any traps?" I scrunched up my nose as I stared at the innocent-looking home, which was probably anything but. "Their specialty is explosives. That's why I was working with them. They blew up a train bridge for me so I could steal the drugs."

"We go knock on the front door." Oisín's grin was downright manic, and a warning bell echoed in my head.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" I stared at him. "Because if you're trying to kill me after telling me you love me, then this is the perfect way to do it."

The corner of his mouth quirked and he tapped me on the nose. "Don't you trust me, Beastie?"

"I should never trust you." I shook my head and glanced toward the house again. "So what? I go to the front door and actually knock?"

"No." He laughed quietly. "There are probably traps all the way up the path. We'll step out of the bushes, and you can call out for them."

"And then they'll come and get us and take our guns and we'll be unarmed and they'll put a bullet in my head," I finished unceremoniously. If this was what we were doing, that's exactly what would happen.

He cooed at me, puckering his lips, and I rolled my eyes. "I'll protect you, Beastie. Go on."

For some ungodly reason, despite my words, I did trust Oisín, and that would either get me killed or save my life. Each day I spent with him was a completely new experience. I grimaced as I moved the massive gun from my right hand to the left—it wasn't easy carrying such a heavy piece of weaponry when I had part of two fingers missing—and carefully stepped out of the line of trees. In the darkness, I couldn't see if there were any traps, but I trusted Oisín to have my back as I stopped right outside of where we'd been hiding.

"Olberg! Erickson!" I waited, and a few moments later, the door opened slightly, and a sliver of Olberg's face appeared as he stared out toward me.

"Olsson? Is that you?" Olberg was the timid one of the two, but he was also dumb as rocks, too. He followed whatever orders Erickson gave him, and I wasn't surprised that it was Olberg who answered the call. He was expendable to Erickson, even though they were cousins.

"Yeah, it's me. I heard you were looking for me." I swallowed and straightened. My knee gave a painful thrum from all the walking, but I ignored it because it would mean nothing if I was dead. "I got those drugs from Killough's stash like I promised."

Oisín chuckled behind me, still hidden by the trees. "Smart, Beastie. Get on their good side. Make them think you're still their friend."

"What happened to you?" The yell came from Erickson, but he still hadn't shown his face. "We heard you got captured."

"I did," I yelled back. "But I got away. The Shaughnessys and Kavanagh trusted their new prodigy, that Maher kid, and he fucked up and I got loose."

Oisín snorted. "Oh, sweet little Fallon wouldn't like it if he heard you say that."

"Shh, Master." I sent a glare over my shoulder at him even though I couldn't see him.

"Anyone else with you?" Olberg demanded more than asked.

"They probably know there are two of us," Oisín murmured. "Tell them about me. I've been working with you this whole time. Maybe mention what a great ass I have."

I grunted and held in the urge to roll my eyes again. "Yeah, my partner. He's been hiding the drugs for me."

Oisín stepped out from the shadows and held up the hand that wasn't holding his gun. "Hey, he forgot to mention I have a great ass, too."

"Really, Master?" I asked, incredulous. "They're straight. They don't care."

He chuckled. "An ass is an ass, Beastie. Everyone loves a great ass."

"Fuck, maybe I am in love with this insane man," I murmured, shaking my head.

"Oh really? In love with me?" I couldn't see him well in the darkness, but the amusement in his voice softened to something deeper. My chest clenched.

"Come over here, Olsson. Follow the path straight up to the front door," Olberg yelled, breaking the moment.

I sighed. "We won't step on anything that'll blow us into pieces, will we?"

"Can't promise that." Erickson's laughter filled the night. I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him.

"Come on." Oisín rested a hand on my lower back, but instead of pushing me forward and making me bomb fodder like I'd expected, he took the lead. The act did something to my stomach, making it all wobbly and warm and shit, and it was weird but nice.

We didn't bother taking our time. If something was going to explode, then there was no way of getting around it, so we walked the path at the usual pace. Thankfully, nothing went boom and we reached the door as it opened wider.

Olberg stuck out his hand. "Give me those guns. Now."

Oisín laughed but did as he'd been instructed, placing his shiny red handgun in Olberg's palm. Olberg reached behind himself to pass the gun off to Erickson before he held his hand out for mine, too, and I gave it up. Olberg grunted and nearly dropped it.

"What the fuck is this? Are you dinosaur hunting, Olsson?"

"He's certainly not compensating for anything. I know that from personal experience," Oisín teased.

Olberg's eyes widened. "Wait. When you said partner?—"

"He meant in business and in bed." Oisín held up his hands. "Now, can we please get the pat down out of the way so we can talk? And you better watch those wandering fingers. I'm a taken man."

Olberg grunted and mumbled something I couldn't hear. He opened the door wider, and Oisín and I stepped over the threshold to where they both waited. While they were cousins, they looked like complete opposites. Olberg had dark hair and brown eyes, and he was short, barely reaching the middle of my chest. Erickson, on the other hand, was about as tall as me and had blond hair and blue eyes, and he was the solo brain of the operation.

Erickson came straight over to me and began a body search, his gaze narrowed in a scowl of distrust as he patted down my legs to make sure I wasn't hiding another weapon. Olberg was doing the same to Oisín, but from the corner of my eye, I noticed he wasn't as thorough as his cousin, and I assumed it was because they thought I was the biggest threat. That, in itself, was the stupidest thing they could ever do. I was huge, but Oisín was the craziest son of a bitch I'd ever met, and they assumed he wasn't dangerous because he was smaller.

"He's clean," Olberg said.

By the secret smirk Oisín sent me, I didn't think that was entirely true.

Erickson grunted and turned to storm toward a dining room, and Olberg waved his hand impatiently, directing us to follow Erickson, so we did. The house was a mess inside, full of wooden boxes and crates. The few that were open had what appeared to be shelf-stable food, though one was full of dynamite. Cobwebs spread out across the ceiling, the floor was caked in dirt, and the walls were full of grime.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I should be asking you how you found us," Erickson sneered as he dropped our guns onto a table and spun around to look at us. "Were you the ones following us?"

"Yes," Oisín answered without missing a beat. He smirked. "You're difficult gentlemen to find and you made a deal with Reed." He nodded at me. "We wanted to follow through with it. Promises are promises."

Erickson's icy blue eyes narrowed on him. "Olsson never told us there was someone else in on it."

"He didn't want you to know he was fucking a man." Oisín flashed his teeth at them. "I don't know why. I'm fucking gorgeous."

Olberg chuckled.

Oisín sent him a wink. "See. You get it, don't you?"

"Enough," Erickson snapped, and I tensed, stepping half in front of Oisín. Erickson was known to have a temper, and while I wasn't afraid of Olberg, Erickson was someone to be wary of. He stalked forward and pointed at me. "You failed to drop off the stash."

"I was being fucking tortured. You're lucky I didn't give up the location to Killough's men." I glared at him and stepped forward, meeting him head-to-head. "You killed my mother."

His face relaxed and he chuckled. "Hear about that, did you? Guess I don't blame you for ramming us off the road."

"We're square," I drawled, even as the anger crackled in my chest. She might have been a shitty mom, but she was still my mother and the only parent my brothers had left. "Is the deal back on or not?"

Olberg grinned and stepped forward, and it happened so fast that I didn't see it coming. Oisín raised his leg and yanked a knife from a sheath at his ankle. He spun and slammed the blade into Olberg's neck, right in his jugular, and a sick gurgle came from Olberg. His eyes widened and blood sprayed like a hose as soon as Oisín yanked the blade out.

Erickson moved toward the table to grab my gun. I dragged Oisín behind a stack of thick crates. Erickson spun back around toward us and fired off a shot at the same time as Olberg finally collapsed to the floor, eyes hollow as his dying body slumped.

I blanketed Oisín, curling my arms above his head to stop any of the debris from coming down on him.

"You motherfucker!" Erickson shouted, anger resonating in his voice as more shots popped off. The force behind the Zeliska had the whole house shaking every time it shattered a piece of the old-fashioned wooden wall.

"We need to move," Oisín whispered urgently as he pointed straight in front of us. "Go around those crates and come around from behind him. I'll come in from the front."

"No," I snapped quietly. "That's too dangerous. You go behind."

Oisín rolled his eyes and stroked my cheek. "We don't have time to argue, Beastie. I'm smaller and more agile than you, and I don't have an injured knee."

As if my body acknowledged his words, my knee began to ache again now that my attention was focused on it. Fuck. "Master?—"

"Move, Beastie. Remember who's in charge." He waved his hand impatiently, and I growled at him, but I did as he asked. I crawled off him. Ignoring the pounding in my knee, I crouched and crept my way past the crates.

Erickson was still shouting and shooting in our general direction, and the wall behind me exploded from a heavy bullet. I ducked, covering my head as splinters sprayed around me.

"You're both going to fucking die for that." His heavy footsteps filled the room, and I cursed, jumping up to catch his attention because he was heading straight for Oisín.

"Hey, Erickson!"

He spun toward me and raised the gun again, jerking the trigger, and I fell behind the crates just in time for the wall to shudder. When he was done, there wasn't going to be a house.

"You!"

I peeked around a crate because it didn't sound like he was aiming the word at me, and I was right. Oisín had bobbed out from behind the crates at his end, and while he moved with light footfalls, Erickson still managed to see him.

"Fuck," I muttered as Erickson squeezed the trigger with more concentration.

Oisín dropped to the floor, but he must've rattled the baseboard because a massive grandfather wall clock crashed right down onto his back, eliciting a pained curse from him. I had no idea how they'd even gotten that monster in the house to begin with, let alone anchored it in place, but it was clearly an antique from the time the house was a real home. Oisín's legs were pinned, and he tried to struggle out from underneath it.

"I'm going to fucking kill you slowly for what you did to my cousin." Erickson stomped toward Oisín.

Oisín glanced up from where he strained to get out from under the clock, and despite death heading straight toward him, he grinned. "Go easy. This is my first time dying."

I noticed the expression in his eyes, fear so subtle that only someone who knew him well could see it—and I did. Regardless of his joking and constantly living on the edge, death scared him, too, or at least, it did now. What had changed?

Me, I thought, but that was stupid, right?

He glanced in my direction, lips quirking in a sorrowful smile, and it all made sense. Fuck. He loves me. He'd said so himself.

Fury like I'd never felt before flooded me and adrenaline pumped through my body, forcing me to my feet. Rage fueled me as I ran across the room, the wild beast Oisín claimed I was. I tackled Erickson with the force of a lovesick and furious man saving the person who'd won his devotion. The gun went sliding over the dirty floor, but I wasn't after the weapon. Instead, I grabbed Erickson's head between my hands and slammed it onto the wood below him.

He grappled at my wrists, but between the anger and adrenaline, I was too powerful for him. I was an animal protecting my Master, a wild beast defending my man. I rammed his skull into the floor over and over again, my skin burning with the pure, unadulterated wrath that had taken control of me. Blood rained around us, his head splitting open and his limbs going limp, but I didn't stop. I couldn't.

No one hurt Oisín. No one but me.

"Reed...."

The small voice resonated in my rage-soaked mind. Slowly, it broke the haze that bled through me, and I blinked, taking in the shattered body beneath me. Erickson's head was cracked open, blood and what I assumed were brains splattered around us. Oisín was still stuck beneath the clock, staring at me with the kind of lust that nearly ripped my heart out.

"Reed, enough. He's dead. Help me."

I exhaled, my breath coming out roughly as I eased down from my high. I shifted, my legs wobbly as I rose and walked over to Oisín. I grabbed the heavy old clock and strained with my teeth gritted, sliding it off him.

"Are you hurt?" I grabbed his hands and kissed them carefully, studying him for any injuries.

"No. I was pinned." He cupped my face and brought me into a rough kiss. Nipping at my bottom lip, he laughed breathlessly. "Fuck, that was hot. You were a fucking beast, Reed."

Reed.I liked my real name out of his mouth as much as my nickname. I brushed my nose against his. "No one but me gets to hurt you, Master. I.... Fuck. I do love you, too. You're mine as much as I'm yours."

"Yes, I am." He grinned as I helped him stand, gripping his hands tightly. It was him who saved me from collapsing when, again, the feeling returned to my knee, worse than it had been since we'd gotten back from St. Loren.

"Fuck. I hurt it again." I glared at the braced limb. "I'm going to cut the motherfucker off."

Oisín laughed and kissed me, mouth eating at mine with a hunger that had my cock filling. "We'll rest for a few months. Let it heal again. We deserve it."

I grinned. "That sounds good, Master."

"Hmm. First...." His gaze slid to the box of dynamite. "Let's blow this joint."

I snorted out a laugh.

We didn't watch the house go up in an explosion of fire and loud bangs.

Instead, Oisín was on his knees in front of me. I leaned back against a thick tree trunk, my pants and underwear around my knees while he worked his mouth down the length of my cock. Pleasant spikes of pain resonated from my body, and between the hurt and the pleasure that came from his mouth, I was riding a high.

He cupped my balls and rolled them in his palm while he used his other hand to stroke my taint, eliciting a whole fuck load of feelings that had me on the edge of an orgasm. He worked the tip of my cock with his mouth, sucking and licking, darting his tongue into my slit, and I was ready to let it all go and come deep into his throat. Oisín was an expert at blowjobs, but this was the first time he'd pulled out all his tricks to make my head—both of them—ready to explode.

"Fuck, Master." I carded my fingers through his hair and grasped a handful, tugging, and we both groaned. "Your mouth is so good."

He hummed, the vibration making its way straight to my balls, which he squeezed experimentally.

I jerked forward, a shout escaping me, and he made a sound as close to a laugh as he could get with my cock in his mouth. "Fuck. Right there."

He gripped my asscheeks and hauled me closer until my length slipped entirely down his throat, and that was all it took. At the same time as I burst into his mouth, the house had its final detonation, the ground rumbling under our feet. I arched my back and yanked his hair, cursing and calling him all the sinful names I could think of.

He groaned, nose pushed into my pubic hair, and I glanced down to see his hand in his pants and the look of ecstasy on his face as he came, too.

I laughed despite my legs feeling weak and my bad knee aching. "Fuck, Master. That was amazing."

He grinned smugly up at me. "I know. I have talent." He glanced toward the house and tsked. "Our work here is done." He stood and buttoned his pants before patting me on the cheek with the palm full of his spunk. "Come on, Beastie, time to go."

If I grabbed his hand and licked off his nut, I'd never tell anyone. The only two people who knew were me and Oisín.