Royce brushed it out of the way.
Avoiding his potent stare, Marc closed his eyes and just focused on using Royce’s body to get off. It was all pleasure now, and he rose and sank over and over, using one hand to stroke his cock. When he was close, he slammed down and rolled his hips back and forth, grinding on Royce. Royce’s hands, back on Marc’s hips, tightened, his fingers digging in so hard, there would be bruises. He pushed up with his feet, his thighs cradling Marc’s ass.
Royce’s head went back and the veins in his neck, under his beard, went taut as he groaned long and hard and began spearing up into Marc fast.
Morning sunlight spilled over Royce as he came, and that burst of color and light blinded Marc just as everything in him went hot and tight and oh, holy fuck. “Ahhhhhh!” he screamed as his release roared through him. He couldn’t breathe—it took everything he had.
And when Royce yanked him down for a kiss, Marc hoped his bleak sob sounded like a part of his orgasm, because he knew it was their last.Chapter Twenty-OneRoyce looked down at the handgun cradled between his palms, made heavier than normal by the suppressor screwed into the muzzle. He wasn’t worried about the fact that many of the men he would be facing in the house were related to him. They weren’t family. They hadn’t been family to him for most of his life. They wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger and end his life.
And he knew that Corbin was going to kill his mother. His anger and disgust toward her were too strong. He planned to get to her first.
His thoughts kept turning back to the men who had chosen to join him in the shadows on that brisk, windy night. They were risking their lives to help him save his mother. They had nothing to gain by being there. Not one of them was related by blood, but they were all family. Fear for their safety had a knot rising in his throat. God, don’t let one of them get hurt.
At least Dominic was with Marc and Richard at Marc’s house. The two brothers still had a long way to go when it came to mending the bridge between them, but they would stay safe under Dominic’s watchful eye. He didn’t want to worry about Marc’s safety right then.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Royce tightened his fingers around the weapon as fresh pain slashed through his chest. His mind played back their last night together on that chaise. The feel of Marc’s smooth, warm skin. The sound of his harsh pants played over and over again in his head. He’d tried to slow Marc down when it became clear that he’d only wanted to hurt himself, to create a pain in his body that was equal to the pain in his heart. Royce couldn’t allow it, wouldn’t allow Marc to hurt himself like he had in the past.
When it was over, he’d clung to Marc, wishing he could take away the pain, but there was nothing he could do. It was better this way.
The wind swelled, whipping through the massive maple trees, rattling their still bare branches and causing the large shrubs to sway. It wasn’t as bitterly cold as it had been recently, but the wind had him flinching. Shifting where he was crouched for cover, Royce let his knee drop to the ground, and cold water immediately seeped through his jeans. Either it had rained while they were out of town or the house had a sprinkler system that had recently run through its cycle.
It was just after midnight, but a number of lights were still glowing in the windows of the monstrous two-story house. When he’d dropped off the painting to his uncle, he’d only gotten a glimpse of the layout of the house, but Quinn had given them a sound blueprint to work from. His mother was in the bedroom on the second floor in the eastern wing…assuming that his uncle hadn’t moved her after showing Royce that she was still alive.
Gripping the gun with his right hand, Royce reached up and touched the earpiece he was wearing with his left to make sure it was secure. “Tell me you got it, Q.”
“I’ve tapped into the security system,” Quinn replied quickly, then continued at a mutter. “Cheap piece of shit. You’d think for the price of the house, the owner would spring for top-of-the-line.”
“Cheap makes your job easier,” Royce reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m making a quick sweep of the system. We’ve got motion sensors outside and in. Standard alarms on the windows and doors. A few cameras at the front and rear doors.”
“Any dogs?”
“You can’t hook dogs up to a security system,” Quinn replied.