He intercepted a false signal that one of the Romanos was coming after Kane’s father, Darragh. He decided to take matters into his own hands, but it was a trap. He realized it almost immediately, but before he could get away, a bullet crashed through his temple. It was a clean exit, but it ripped apart his optic nerves on the way.
And then an IED went off.
The explosion had scarred his right arm and most of his torso, but he had no idea about the burns until weeks later when he woke up from his coma. He was seared and scarred and blinded for life, and everything he’d once known had been ripped away because Romano took a shot at one of Kane’s weak spots.
Kane immediately brought Phoenix to the manor to heal, but he hadn’t realized just how badly his lover would be affected. He found him in the tub of red-tinged water, and that was it. He lost it.
Phoenix never finished the story beyond that, but according to Ari, Kane locked Phoenix in a small room for months, and it took him agreeing that he would remain under constant surveillance for Kane to let go of a few feet of his leash.
Now, Phoenix has the run of the house, and of the grounds, and of every bit of tech in our operation, but Kane’s fear of what he might do to himself keeps him trapped behind the property walls.
I know it kills him, but I also know that Phoenix loves Kane too much to run.
Like I said, we’re all fucked-up.
Reaching the door to the playroom, I pass my hand over the scanner. It clicks softly, and when I enter, all I hear is quiet sobs. The place is dimly lit, and when I pass through the door to the main room, I find Ari sitting on the top of a sturdy table while the man from before is tied to a chair, sobbing behind a blindfold. I’m surprised he’s still alive, and I think Ari reads that off my face.
Ari quirks his brows at me and lifts his hands. ‘You didn’t hear? Was he too loud?’
I scoff. ‘No,’ I sign back, knowing part of this man’s torture is that no one is saying a word. ‘Nothing was on. Phoenix must be asleep.’
Ari shrugs. He doesn’t really care either way, but only because I don’t think he can. Ari survives off his baser instincts—hunger, lust, need, self-preservation. Anything he can sate with physical acts. Very little penetrates beyond that, but it doesn’t change how much I fucking adore him.
I cross the room and take him by the chin, lifting his head so I can kiss along his throat. His scars there—the ones that destroyed his ability to speak—are thick. The act damn near killed him, and I still wonder if there was some sort of god—or maybe devil—looking out for him because he probably shouldn’t have survived having his throat hacked open.
But he did. And I’d worship anything who took credit for keeping him breathing.
He lets out a soft hiss of air as I make my way up to his mouth, and he rubs over my aching cock with his palm.
“Come to bed with me,” I whisper in his ear. “Unless you need to finish this guy off?”
Ari pulls back and glances over my shoulder before looking me in the eye. ‘He’s not a student,’ he signs with one hand.
I lift a brow. That was unexpected. We usually know when someone’s being sent after Alice. We’ve intercepted no less than two dozen attempted hits and kidnappings over the years. ‘Who is he?’
‘Not sure. I have his phone. I’ll give it to Phoenix later.’ Ari grips my hair and kisses me one more time before shoving me away.
“Asshole,” I say aloud.
The guy in the chair jumps and starts to beg for help, so Ari walks over and shoves a rag in his mouth before turning back to me. ‘Why are they always badass when they want to drug and rape an unarmed woman, but you put them in my chair for five minutes and they start crying for their mommy?’
I laugh and tug him close. ‘Soon?’
‘Twenty minutes,’ he tells me, which means he’s not going to play. He’s just going to get as much information as he can out of this dead man walking and then end it.
I glance around the room, realizing Alice might be in here sooner rather than later, but I don’t let myself think about it for long. Instead, I turn on my heel and head for the main house, knowing that I’m going to have a gorgeous, worked-up man that will make sure by the end of the night, I’m not thinking about anything else but him.
* * *
The water is alwayshot first thing in the morning, but nothing compares to the molten feeling in my veins as Ari holds me open on his cock. For a short, lean man, his cock is fucking massive, and it’s hard to get enough. He wore me out the night before, but morning sex in the shower is even better.
There are no real sounds apart from the way his breath rushes from his lungs and my soft grunts and the way his skin slaps mine, but even those slight noises echo off the tiles.
I’m braced on my arm and stump against the cool wall as Ari’s arm wraps around my waist. Then his fingers curl over my dick, and it’s not long before I’m busting a nut all over the shower wall. I let out a sharp cry as he holds me by the hips and finishes himself off. His orgasm comes with a sharp bite against the back of my arm that I know broke the skin, and it makes me smile when I turn back and see blood on his lips.
“Fucking sadist.”
He grins in response before giving my sore ass a pat. With Ari, there’s no pillow talk or sweet nothings. He rinses the last of his hair, then steps out and lets me finish washing myself. Our bathroom sits between both of our bedrooms, so I walk through the opposite door and grab the clothes from my bed.