13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Prince was called to Dex's cabin that Tuesday after parent weekend. Silvio covered for him and he got there just as the sun was going down.

Dex was waiting outside, smiling as he was balancing on the two back legs of the metal porch chair. "Hey, handsome."

"Hey," Prince called and felt his face heating like the sun.

Dex righted his chair before jumping out of it and grabbing Prince's arms, pulling him close. "You look good," he said before he planted a bruising kiss on Prince's lips.

When he pulled back, his eyes sparkling, Prince knew the news was good. "I got my demands?"

"All of them and more. See, I told my bosses that you were worth all of it."

"But…you don't know that," Prince whispered. "You're…you're judging what I can do because you like me."

He pulled away from Dex, who didn't say a word to deny it.

Well, he didn't need to say a word. Not when he grabbed Prince in his arms, throwing him over his shoulder and bringing him into the house.

Prince was too shocked to react at first, but when Dex slammed the front door, it snapped him out of it and Prince kicked his feet and slap at Dex's back with his hand. "Let me down!"

Dex tossed him onto the sofa, which wasn't all that soft, and growled, "Done?"

"How dare you! You can't just throw me around!"

Dex sat on the sofa and when Prince tried to jump back to his feet, he threw a big, muscled arm in front of him, stopping him cold. "Don't."

"You can't keep me here like a captive."

"Oh, yeah, I actually could," Dex said with a laugh. "It would be easy, but I just want you to hear me out, you prick."

Prince wasn't used to being spoken to that way, but it was getting a little more commonplace. "Prick? Because I don't want you to recommend me for a job before you even see if I'm any good?"

He struggled against Dex's arm, but even with his whole body pushing, Dex didn't budge. That was humiliating enough, but it was just the topper to a humiliating day. When he stopped trying to get free, Dex lowered his arm.

"I am not going off my feelings for you. I didn't base my rec on them, I swear. I looked into you long before I asked to come here and feel you out for the job."

Pouting, Prince mumbled, "Looked into me?"

"Yeah. We have a computer genius on the payroll still, you know, the one you'll be replacing if you take the job. He looked at some things that you're developing. All those programs and software you rattle off when you're bored are better than ninety-nine percent of the stuff that's waiting for patents right now."

Feeling offended, stupidly, he wriggled on the couch and asked, "Ninety-nine percent? What about the one left over?"

"Oh, you're one of those."

"One of what?"

"Perfectionists. You're the best, Prince. That's why we want you for the job, but it's not why I want you for myself."

Cautiously, he glanced over to Dex, then mumbled again. "Yourself?"

"Yeah. I'm not proposing, but I would like to explore a relationship with you if you're interested. And thank you, by the way, for making me put it like that; like I'm negotiating a contract."

His nerves were softer, and he felt better by far. Prince, however, knew how to negotiate any deal except for relationships with men. "They accepted all my demands? Really?"

"Yeah, and I added one. That, for now, I work where you are. If we decide this thing between us isn't a thing, I can go wherever they want to send me."

That perk alone made him want to jump in blindly, but he knew that was asking for trouble. "The…people I'm going to be working for, if I take the job, their names are Carrillo, right?"

He thought Dex would be angry, but instead, he smiled as if he'd known all along that Prince would figure it out, and, well, he'd been right.

"You knew I'd look."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't. Very. So would they. That was not to piss you off again, but it was one test."

Instead of being upset, he actually laughed. The tension left him, and all the suspicion left him. "They don't mind me knowing?"

"Why would they? All corporations want great IT personnel. They are a large corporation with several big interests. Like I told you, Prince, they are mostly legitimate."

" Ninety-nine percent , mostly . You know these are ways of saying things to make things look brighter than they are. In other words, there will be illegal things going on, and I'll be involved."

"Yes. I won't lie to you. I'm sorry if I was sugar-coating."

"Thank you. I appreciate that," Prince said. "And I want the job. Illegalities are a concern. Yes. But I will expect a cushion. Either I won't be implicated, or I am…sent off to live where they can't find me."

Dex smiled wider. "You…you'd be okay with that?"

"Why not?"

"Come here."

Prince blinked over at him innocently, feigning that he didn't understand. "What?"

"Come. Here."

Prince moved a couple inches closer, then another inch as Dex waited there, less than patiently. "You're gonna get such a spanking." Prince's jaw dropped as he stared at Dex. "Yeah, I said that. I will spank you."

He'd never been into anything kinky, not even something as seemingly tame as a spanking. In that moment, he felt his entire body heat and his cock stood at attention. "Dex!"

"I know you don't know me well yet, but I will give you a hint. That's not an empty threat."

Prince wanted to smile, wanted to laugh, but he had a little voice in his head that told him what a bad idea that would be. He'd never felt so aroused in his life, and those fierce eyes staring into his told Prince what a serious, totally sexual man was next to him.

Moving closer, Prince felt the heat coming off him and the heat coming from Dex crashing into a storm that made it hard to breathe. Dex turned to him, hooking a leg up on the couch, taking some of the heat with him. Prince was practically panting, but he found it hard to look away from the man. "I like you, Prince." His finger brushed Prince's cheek. "I think you're handsome, sexy and uber smart. When I was getting ready to come here, and I studied your picture, I saw a lot, and not one thing I thought I saw was wrong. I think you could use a family. I've got a great one, and if you work through the Kings for Carrillo, well, it's even better."

"You guys get the credit."

"Yes. When we tied in with them, we didn't want to get lost in all the rest of the families and groups."

"There are more than mob guys?"

Dex nodded and whispered, "Biker gangs, street gangs, and families. It's a very wide network."

That worried him, but not enough to turn down the job. "I guess I'll have to get used to people like that, like…"

"Like me?"

He was smiling, but Prince could tell Dex was waiting for his response. "If they're all like you, I'm in a lot of trouble."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'd have a bunch of really gorgeous men trying to spank me? That might start hurting a lot after a while."

"Come here to me."

Prince didn't hesitate that time, moving over him, sitting in his lap easily before his head was tilted back and he was kissed, slowly, like he was being made love to, but only their mouths were connected. Dex could kiss, Prince thought, like no one he'd ever kissed. It was soft and sultry one second then brutal the next, keeping Prince on a balance that threatened to toss him right over the edge of arousal and sanity.

Being cradled in Dex's arms as he was kissed like that, by a man, a real, tough, sexy, darkly beautiful man, it was life. With Dex, he felt like he could be vulnerable, that he didn't have to pretend to be stronger than he felt. With Dex, he felt good.

Dex ended the kiss with a series of pecks all over Prince's face, making him giggle. "Stop!"

"No," he said and moved to Prince's neck and the kisses were no longer pecks on his skin but nips and licks and open-lipped suckling that threw his arousal so far over the edge, he knew if it didn't stop, he'd come in his pants like an adolescent experiencing his first dirty movie.

"Dex," he groaned. "Please!"

"What?" he asked, smiling as his forefinger traced over Prince's lips. "This is the perk of coming here to recruit you. I have wanted to kiss you since I first saw your picture."

"You did? My picture?"

He could barely believe that. He'd never thought he was handsome, let alone sexy. He was overly thin, short, pale, and looked sickly most of the time, even if his health was fine. Knowing someone like Dex could be attracted to him. Sometimes he still didn't believe it.

"Yeah. See, many people get their…types? I guess that's what it would be. They get them from some of the first people they date or crush on. I had a guy in middle school that I was over the moon for. He was sweet, shy, sexy, and I liked him very much."

"Did you date him?"

"He was straight. We became friends. I crushed on him until I started dating a guy that looked just like him, and he called me on it."

"He did?"

Dex nodded slowly. "Oh yeah. He didn't want me to have a surrogate that would end up hurting me. And he was right. He hurt me. Broke my heart into pieces."

That did more than shock Prince. Dex? A guy like that getting his heart broken? It made him want to cradle him, to hold his heart tenderly and protect it. His hands held Dex's face, and he whispered, "I'm sorry. I'd never do that."

"You'd never break my heart?"

"No! I'd never!"

Dex held him a little tighter then, kissed his chin, licking a line up the delicate cleft, moving to his lips next and Prince closed his eyes as he was once again kissed with that same, brutal/sweet way that Dex had.

When the kiss ended, Dex groaned, "You should get back. I don't want to keep you and get you into trouble."

As much as he wanted to stay, he knew if he didn't leave right then, he wouldn't leave all night. "I should, yeah, but…soon, I…want to stay."

"I'd like that. More than you can know."

They kissed a while longer, and Prince felt Dex's arms around him like a shield against the inhospitable world. Each and every time he'd felt bad since he'd met the man, a simple picture in his mind of Dex's smile raised his spirits and gave him strength.

"Be careful, Prince. If you need me, I'm not going anywhere until you do."

Prince nodded and whispered, "What if I just wanted to leave with you after the camp is finished?"

"To start your new job?"

"To start my new life."

Dex's knuckles brushed down Prince's face. "Yeah. We can do that."

Prince moved in to hold him, right there in the doorway, and Dex cradled him, somehow, while they were both standing. It was the best day of his life so far.

The rest of the week saw him too busy to spend the night with Dex. They caught moments together in the woods or at his cabin when he could get away for a little while. They were both feeling their lust being denied and grew frustrated, but they understood the camp and the kids came first.

Silvio and Anton teased him mercilessly, but kept it to themselves, how he was seeing Dex. Monnie and Nat knew too, and they wanted to hang out with the three of them more than the group activities. Each had to be pushed to join in on campfire songs and stories, hikes and boating.

After a day of boating, where Prince kept glimpsing Dex watching, Monnie complained, "Can't we go looking for something again? All this here is boring."

"Boring? Boating?" Silvio asked her.

"Yeah! Sitting in a boat, floating around the water. Bor -ing!"

Prince laughed as Anton nodded in agreement with Monnie. "She's right. We started the summer with a bang, mystery, adventure, and now we're stuck in this rom-com."

Monnie laughed at him, then Silvio joined her while Prince and Nat stared around at them. "Rom-com?"

"Yeah, Princey," Anton said, laughing. "You sneaking to meet your mobster. Sometimes you come back from seeing him goofy-smiling, other times looking like a kicked puppy because you can't see him that day. Your face is like a text message with no words, just emojis."

Silvio laughed and didn't apologize. "It's true. Sorry, vato , but it's so true."

"Am I doing this wrong?"

Monnie rolled her eyes, and Prince had seen her do that so often, it was almost her only expression. "You ain't doing it wrong."

"No. We miss the adventure, but you're in that new love phase. It's cool, we're just bored," Anton explained.

They walked from the mess hall to the hiking trail, where Prince was saying goodbye to them while they took their two cabins on hike and Prince was sneaking over to Dex's cabin. "I'm not in love. I mean, I don't think so, anyway. Not yet, but we are in a good place for being, well, what it is."

Silvio lowered his voice and said, "A mafia guy chasing after a computer nerd, catching him and now they're…courting?"

"Courting? Is this Little House on the Prairie or something?"

Silvio scoffed, "How do you know about a show, like forty years older than you are?"

"Hey! I have a grandma!"

Prince stopped them. "I'm sure we'll have more adventures this summer. It's just not going to revolve around me. And I'm grateful for that."

"Why does that reek of BS?" Silvio asked.

"What?"

Anton stepped in to explain. "Okay, again, you're a rich trust funder in…in like , with a mobster who was headhunting you for a job that would make you even richer than your trust fund. Your dad is pissed at you, and I'm sure he's got some powerful allies, and then there is the big mob family."

Silvio laughed through Anton's entire speech, and Nat and Monnie didn't hide their smiles.

Prince, though, realized too that any adventure would likely be centered on him. "Fine. But, really, it's almost a done deal now."

"Which, the job or the man?" Monnie asked before the rest of the kids started running their way.

"Both. I hope."

As soon as the two cabins started up the hiking trail, Prince rushed around the lake to the cabin that held the guy he was crazy for. Once he got there, however, he saw Dex wasn't alone, and that worried him.

He heard Dex and his guest talking before he could knock, so his hand slid into his pocket. He backed away from the door and moved around behind the cabin to see a small black Maserati parked with Oregon plates. "Oregon?"

When he got back to the front, he debated if he should knock. He wanted to know who could be in the cabin with Dex, but would he be intruding? Was he being a jealous ass?

Before he could answer himself, Dex came out of the cabin. "There you are."

He felt guilty, but moved to Dex, nodded and asked, "Should I go? I wouldn't want to interrupt."

"You're not. In fact, we were waiting for you."

He pulled Dex away from the door and whispered, "Who's we?"

Dex tipped up Prince's face so he could tenderly kiss him. With his knees weak from that, Prince barely heard the man's voice when he came to the door. "Is this him?"

"Yeah. Sure is." Prince peeked around Dex and waved.

"Babe, this is my cousin, Marius Monarco. Mar, this is Prince Rose."

Marius was almost as handsome as his cousin, Dex, dark hair and eyes, that luscious olive skin. "It's very nice to meet you, Marius."

"Call me Dimples."

Prince looked at the smiling face and didn't see a hint of a dimple.

"He's looking," Marius said, elbowing Dex in the ribs playfully.

"Stop it, Mar. Prince Marius has the nickname from getting a shotgun blast in his backside, where they made…"

"Dimples," Prince said, his eyes wide enough to hurt.

Marius laughed as he clapped Prince on the back. "Come on in here. Dex can't stop talking about you. He's in love or something."

"Mar! Fuck!"

Prince looked at Dex, smiled, and told Marius, "I'm rather fond of him too."

He sat next to Dex on the couch while Marius took the chair, staring at their clasped hands. "You two really are a thing?"

"Mar, I told you before he came we were."

"Still. Until a person sees it…"

Prince was confused. "Is this a big deal or something?"

"Marius has recently discovered that he's batting for our team."

Prince stared over at Marius, a guy that didn't look gay in the least, in awe right before his eyes moved to Dex, who was more butch than Marius. "I'm like one of those people."

"He's cute as hell," Marius said with a wink to Prince.

Prince was embarrassed, but he pushed it aside. "Did you come here to find out if I've taken the job?"

"No, I knew you wanted it. I came here to tell my cousin about his new place up north and to ask if he wanted to go up with me to talk to the resident architect."

"Architect?"

Prince's heart was in his throat, thinking Dex would leave before Prince could.

"Baby, don't freak out, okay? I'm not leaving you."

Marius leaned over his lap and whispered, "He already told me he couldn't leave without you. That's fine. So, the next question was, one house or two?"

Again, Prince felt his heart jump into his throat, but Dex was there to save him again. "Two. We haven't gotten far enough in the relationship that we have even had talks about that stuff. Don't push, man."

"I wasn't pushing! I'm just excited to get up to the land of the big sky and high mountains. It's an almost completely untouched place for a new start. I'm about sick of Ohio."

Prince calmed a little. "Oh. Okay."

Dex looked over at Prince with concern. "Honey, I'm not pushing for anything. We need to know each other before we take big steps like that."

"Stop. You two are cute, but I get to go home alone tonight. Home being a motel room wherever I stop on the way to Montana."

The sound of it made Prince feel like purring. Out of the cities and tourist towns, space and air, it sounded like heaven. To be there with a guy he cared about was the cherry on top.

"Tell Prince about the place, and about the job. You know more than me, being one of the capos."

Marius kicked his legs out straight and cross his ankles together as he took in a noisy breath. "Well, well, well, you both are going to love the place. I've taken three trips up there so far, and it's rough. There's no place to stay really except the farmhouse that was there already. It needs some work, but it's closer to the acreage that will stay as a cattle ranch. The other part of the property that will be used for the resort is nothing but land right now. Dante's got some RVs up there for folks to stay for now."

"Dante Carrillo," Prince said, and both looked over at him, Marius more shocked than Dex.

"He is a computer guy. It probably didn't take a hacker to find that information, cousin."

"Yeah, right. He knows to keep it quiet, right?"

"He, being me," Prince started, then finished with a simple, "does."

"Sorry. It's not even like it's a secret so much. It will be called Carrillo Ranch, after all."

Prince was getting more curious. "You said part was a cattle ranch and part resort?"

Marius nodded while his smile spread. "See, one of the two bosses, Dante, and his husband, want to get away from the business world. His hubby likes the mountains, being from Oregon originally."

"Is that why your car is from there?"

"This guy doesn't miss a beat!"

Dex proudly proclaimed, "He is a fucking genius, after all."

"I'm not a genius. I just pay attention."

"Whatever, it's fine. You're a part of us now, but you won't know everything right away. Anyway, no, I got the car from a friend. Mine was acting up when I got to Colorado from Ohio. So, Dante's husband started looking for big tracts of land to buy for them, and then Dante came across this little club in the mountains, actually not all that far from here. It's a leather club for kinky fuckers. After finding the land, Dante decided to make a huge resort on part of the land, a private spot for him and his man, plus the other members of the family and adjacent families, like us. Then the cattle ranch will be the third. All on like four hundred thousand acres or some shit."

"Wow! That's huge! This camp is a hundred acres."

"Ours is bigger," Marius bragged, adding, "but ours is always bigger."

Prince and Dex both rolled their eyes as Dex groaned, "Jesus, cousin."