“If you want me to get out to the field—”
“No. I want you to stay here and get better.” Reaching behind him, McBride grasped the doorknob. He turned it and moved outside, all without taking his gaze off Ollie. “Go back to bed and I’ll check on you later.”
Ollie nodded and looked about as relieved as McBride felt to be getting away from him. Even though it was too late to avoid him if he were indeed sick, McBride still wanted to be as far away from him as he could be.
Easton was standing on the porch, his head down. Even from a distance, McBride could tell that he was crying. Several large droplets had fallen on the boards of the porch, making circles of misery. His slender body trembled ever so slightly, making his pain even more clear.
“He didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” McBride considered what he should do with Easton. After that kind of reception from Ollie, he thought it best to give Easton to another brother. The next in line was Jared, but that pairing might not work. Easton was miserable now, but McBride had a feeling that he would quickly rebound, and he wasn’t so sure Easton’s bubbliness would mesh well with Jared’s stern nature. Rather than have Easton rejected twice, McBride decided the best thing to do was wait a day or possibly even two. None of the brothers would complain, not if they wanted to get thralls of their own. Since he’d started bringing mates to the farm, all the brothers were on their very best behavior.
“For not meaning to he did a very good job of hurting my feelings.” Easton wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands. He did this without any shame. Crying wasn’t embarrassing for thralls, not the way it was for the landed gentry or even slammers. Since thralls were the lowest on the class scale, they had far more freedom to express their emotions without fear of repercussions.
“Come on up to the big house.” McBride moved that direction, and Easton dutifully followed. “Ollie simply doesn’t feel well.”
“Really?”
“Really. He was worried if you came in, you’d get sick.” It wasn’t quite true, but it seemed to mollify Easton, and that was good. The last thing McBride needed to deal with today was an overly emotional thrall or a sick slammer. If he could just get things settled here, he would have time to catch up with work. And eventually, he might find the time to find himself a mate of his own. That thought caused his mind to consider Caleb, and just as quickly McBride pushed the inappropriate longing away. He was going to find a way to put distance between them if it was the last thing he ever did.
“So I will stay with you until he is well?” Easton eyed the imposing structure of the big house.
“You will.” McBride had a terrible image fill his head. He saw his father and Jonas sharing a thrall for blood and sex. Hastily, he assured Easton, “I will find work for you to do here until Ollie is well enough to make a bloodbond with you.” He didn’t want Easton to think that he had any untoward ideas about the two of them. With almost irritating familiarity, his mind turned to Caleb. If he was harboring inappropriate ideas about anyone, Caleb was it. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him, not even for a few minutes.
“What work will I do?” Easton stepped into the foyer and looked eagerly about.
“What do you know how to do?”
“I can read.” Easton stood a little taller.
“Well, I don’t really see how that is work.”
“Oh.” Easton looked around at the elaborately furnished hallway. “I could clean, but it all looks spotless.”
“I have a mechanical butler.” McBride had shut him off and put him away, but after learning his father’s horrible secrets, McBride had decided to keep him on and working. He’d also reactivated the valet since he was useful, too. As much as he wanted to sit the two mechanical men down and grill them for more information, he hadn’t, and he wasn’t so sure it was an issue of time. Frankly, after learning what he had, McBride simply didn’t want to know any more of his father’s dreadful secrets.
“I can cook.”
That caused a smile to transform McBride’s features. Now he knew Easton and Ollie would get along splendidly since they both liked to cook. Finding commonality was the first step in forging a strong bond.
McBride closed the door behind him and looked out through the square of window glass in the ornate door. His gaze tried to go to the field where he knew Caleb was, but he deliberately forced his attention to go toward Ollie’s house. All the drawn shades reminded him of how the big house had looked when he’d first come here after his father’s untimely death. Drawn shades made him think of death, and that was a terrifying thought.
Chapter 2
“He’s gone. You can come out.” Ollie turned away from the front door as soon as he saw McBride go into the big house with the thrall. As cute as the slave was, Ollie had no interest in him. His love had returned, which made him ecstatically happy, but the thought that he wouldn’t get to keep him for long almost broke his heart. Too soon McBride would realize something was wrong. Since he wasn’t a fool, he was bound to discover what Ollie was so desperate to hide.
“I’m sorry. I should go.” Jonas entered the living room. His blond hair was a riot of curls around his head. Even in the darkened space, the strands caught whatever light there was and gleamed. Their lovemaking had ranged from sweet to hungry and all points on the curve between. Just looking at him now aroused Ollie. He wanted to put Jonas right back into his bed and start all over again.
“I don’t want you to go.” Ollie closed the distance between them, but Jonas took a step back. “Please don’t move away from me.”
Jonas hung his head. “All I’ve ever done is mess up your life.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. You were lost.”
Jonas looked up, his worried blue eyes softening. “You saved me.”
“You saved me, too.” Ollie had been so in love with Jonas almost from the moment he saw him in the prison. He’d wanted him then and thought Jonas would certainly buy him if not all of his brothers, but Ollie hadn’t seen him again for over a month. When he and his brothers were taken to a grand home, Ollie was convinced he’d never see the man with the golden hair and big blue eyes again. But his luck had been good because the house they were taken to was Jonas Davenport’s.
Another week went by before Jonas had first come to feed. Ollie found out later that Jonas was trying to avoid him so he wouldn’t fall any further into love than he already had, but they were headed on a collision course no matter how diligently they tried to steer away. When Jonas came to feed, Ollie had luxuriated in his touch. The feel of him pulling strongly at his neck was sublime. After dozens of times, Jonas had eased his hand down Ollie’s bare chest, pushed his loose night drawers away, and cupped his cock.
“The very first time you touched me, I knew.” Ollie moved closer to Jonas.
“I never should have—”
Ollie cut him off with a kiss and eased him back into the bedroom. The covers were neatly made, making Ollie question him.
“I thought if he came back and saw the disarray and smelled the strong scent of sex he would know. So I made the bed as fast as I could.” Jonas looked down at the covers.
“Let’s mess it back up.”
A quick grin stripped the fear off of Jonas’s handsome face, but only briefly. Worry bled back into his eyes so fast it was becoming his permanent cast of features. “He’ll find me.”
“Eventually.”
“He’ll make me go.”
“Then I will go with you.”
“By law he owns you.”
“Then I will convince him to set me free.” Ollie wasn’t certain he could be so persuasive, but he would try. There was never any harm in asking.
“But I gave up everything to come here.”
Ollie nodded. Jonas had told him the scope of the tale last night. As stunned as Ollie was at the depths Jonas was willing to go to keep them together, he didn’t have the heart to tell him he had probably ruined their chances by his grand act. Still, the
gesture was a wide and sweeping one, romantic and powerful, but ultimately doomed. There was nothing either one of them could do to change the class they’d been born into. Once a slammer, always a slammer. And Jonas would always be a landed gentryman no matter how he longed to be Ollie’s thrall.
“All those times with all those men and you never enjoyed it?” Ollie wanted to take the words back as soon as they were out of his mouth. He had no idea what possessed him to ask the man he loved such a pointed and hurtful question.
“Why do you ask me this now?” Jonas turned away, his shoulders slumped. It was clear the question alone wounded him deeply.
“I never had the courage to ask until now. I simply want to know.” Ollie stroked his hand lovingly over Jonas’s back. “That night, when I saw you with that mechanical man, and the gentryman who watched you being violently used, I didn’t understand what I was seeing.”
“And his mark is always on you.” Jonas turned and traced his delicate fingers over the scar across Ollie’s belly. It was a smooth line that rode above his belly button, slightly tilted upward on the right. “I’m sorry that he hurt you.”
“I am more concerned that he hurt you.”
Jonas looked down at the floor and sighed.
“Please tell me the truth of that night. It has always plagued me.”
Clearly reluctant, Jonas nodded, then settled on the edge of the bed. “I had bought the mechanical man for myself. I thought if I had him to do my erotic bidding, I could keep my hands off you.” Jonas looked up and his tortured gaze collided with Ollie’s. “I wanted you from the moment I saw you.”
“You did?” Ollie sat down next to him and held his hand. “I didn’t know. I thought it was just me who was obsessed with you.”
“I was careful to keep my rotations of drinking very strict. I knew if I allowed myself to do as I pleased, I would drink only from you, so I had a calendar to mark off the days and who I would feed from.”
“All but Caleb.”
“All but Caleb.” Jonas shivered. Ollie realized there was another tantalizing tale there, but it would have to wait until he had his own personal curiosity sated.
“So what did the mechanical man have to do with blood?”
“Nothing.” Jonas shook his head, making his gleaming blond curls dance over his features. Ollie had always thought he looked best when he was mussed. “I got him to do to me what I wanted you to do to me.”
Long after bedtime, Ollie remembered following his twin, Gannon, down the stairs and into the parlor. Gannon had been intent on uncovering the truth behind all the furnishings disappearing in the dark of night, while Ollie just wanted to know the reason behind the curious noises. Halfway down the stairs he’d realized that his master, Jonas, was being brutally fucked by a mechanical man while the gentryman who lived next door watched.
What had riveted Ollie’s attention was the look on Jonas’s face. His head was tossed back, sweat plastering some of his curls to his forehead and others to his neck. His eyes gleamed, and his parted lips revealed his strong white teeth. At first, Ollie thought Jonas was in pain, but he quickly realized Jonas was in blissful ecstasy. The harder the robot rammed his cock into his backside, the more pleasure Jonas derived from the encounter. There was a moment where his gaze and Jonas’s had met, and they’d found their affinity. Ollie saw himself doing that to Jonas and loving every moment. He was so distracted by the sudden, shocking realization, Ollie hadn’t realized the landed gentryman was attacking Gannon until the man turned his knife on him. One vicious swipe ripped open Ollie’s belly.
Shortly after injuring them, the man had fled, and Jonas had been at Ollie’s side, comforting him until the medical personnel came. Ollie wasn’t sure what happened with the neighbor, but he’d never seen him again. Injuring two slammers wouldn’t have gotten him in much trouble, especially not if he claimed self-defense, but there was something about what he’d been doing with Jonas that he didn’t want revealed. Ollie thought the gentryman hadn’t wanted his extremely sensitive and emotional companion to know he’d been doing untoward things with Jonas.
“Why was he watching you?” That was the part that Ollie hadn’t understood. “That you should wish to fornicate with a mechanical man is one thing, but why would you have another watch?”
“To degrade me.”
“What?”
“Oh, Ollie. None of this matters now. He’s back in Curve Port.”
“Please tell me.” Ollie squeezed his hand. “I have wondered over it for so long now.”
“He was a nosey man.” Jonas made a face of pure fury, which caused his eyes to practically spark. “He came over on one pretext or another, and while I was out of the parlor, he looked at the papers in my desk. Among them was my journal.”
“You kept a record of your thoughts?”
“Foolish, I know, but I thought if I could write about you, I could distance myself from my inappropriate lust. I knew it was wrong to even have the feelings toward you, much less write them down and acknowledge them in any way, but I simply couldn’t help myself.” Jonas met Ollie’s gaze. “I swear, I did everything I could to stop myself from going any further than the wayward longings in my mind.”
“I know you did. I’m not angry with you.”
“I took advantage of you.”
“No.” Ollie cupped his chin and turned his face so they were again eye to eye. “It was I who couldn’t resist you, not the other way around.”
“I should have stopped you!” Jonas tried to stand, but Ollie held him back.
“Finish this tale before we argue that one.” Ollie tried to sound comforting, but he wasn’t so sure he had made the situation any easier for his true love by making him dredge up painful memories. As cruel as it seemed, Ollie wanted to know. They had to clear the air between them before they lost everything in their effort to be together.
“He read how I felt about you.”
“Your neighbor?”
“Yes. He was careful to tuck the journal back so I didn’t know what he was doing for the longest time. But eventually I did because he knew exactly how I felt about you. That vulgar man described back to me in detail all the things that I longed to have you do to me. The games I wished to play.”
“Oh, Jonas.” Ollie held him, determined to protect him even though the danger was long past.
“He threatened to tell the authorities.”
“But you and I hadn’t done anything.”
“He said he would say that he caught us in the act. Since I had imagined it so vividly, I knew I wouldn’t be able to pass a truth test. In my mind, I had been with you. The fact that I had yet to do so in reality was meaningless.” Jonas took a deep breath. “I was terrified of what would happen if my truth were exposed. I didn’t care about losing all my possessions since those things never matter much to me, but just the thought of losing you made me positively ill. I couldn’t bear the idea of them taking you away.”
“So you paid the neighbor off?”
“At first he just wanted a few of the finer things in my home, things that I had no attachment to. As long as I had you, I didn’t care about anything else.” And now Ollie understood the mystery of why the household items had been disappearing. It was Gannon who was obsessed with the case, not Ollie, but he realized he could never tell Gannon. In so doing, Ollie would reveal the truth of Jonas’s secret love for him. “But then those things no longer satisfied him.”
“No?”
“No.” Jonas drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. “He demanded that I act out my lusts for him.”
“He made you perform perversions for his titillation?”
“I resisted, but he had the journal.”
“I thought he was just reading it?”
“By that time he had taken it.”
“Oh, Jonas.” Ollie wrapped his arm around him, holding him tightly. “I’m so sorry.”
“I was foolish for writing it down and leaving it in a place where it could b
e found. It simply never occurred to me that anyone would care what I thought.”
“And given how trusting you are, you didn’t think a neighbor would violate your privacy so thoroughly.”
“It was still idiotic.” Jonas looked through the doorway. His eyes weren’t focused on the here and now, but almost as if he were looking back at that sequence of events. “Repeatedly, he had the mechanical man assault me in the parlor while he watched. He had me bent over the desk, then up against the wall, and then—”
“Please, those are the details I do not need.” Even though the man was a robot, he still didn’t like the idea of his mate with anyone but him.
“But I need to speak of them because I enjoyed it.” Jonas winced. “I’m sorry to be so blunt, but it’s probably best to get this all out now.”
Ollie felt a pang of regret at hearing how much Jonas had enjoyed not only what the robot had done, but that another watched. He had seen the pleasure on Jonas’s face, but to have him speak of it somehow made it far more real. “I don’t understand how you could enjoy being demeaned.”
“That is the saddest truth of them all.” Jonas let out a long sigh. “I thought if I were thoroughly humiliated, I would be somehow cleansed of my cravings for you.”
Ollie Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 2
