by Zoey Marcel
Stetson grew hot with unbidden lust and cold with nausea and horror as Doc stepped closer.
“I want you to say it back to me,” Doc murmured.
Stetson’s soul burned with ardor and he felt a lump in his throat. More than anything he wanted to, but his words mirrored the confession of another man, and he tasted bile in his mouth over the parallel.
“Say it!” he’d demanded. “Say you love me or I’ll kill them. You’re mine. Now say it!”
Could he say the words Doc needed to hear without remembering? Not likely.
“I thought you were straight,” Doc said in an awed voice as he stood in front of him.
“I am straight,” Stetson growled.
Doc dared to brush his cheek with his callused hand. “You want me.”
The simple touch set his soul on fire and summoned the past back from beyond the grave.
“I’m going to fuck you, baby. I know you want this. Deny it and I’ll hurt you again.”
Doc’s breath feathered over his skin in a warm, sensual breeze before his petal-soft lips brushed against his own. Stetson’s passions were riled to uncontrollable highs at the sound of their heavy breaths and the way their lips came together and parted. Doc’s tongue trespassed through the division of Stetson’s lips to play with his tongue. Heat and saliva mingled as their tongues tangled slowly and then went ballistic when Doc pulled their bodies together. The rough, maddening kiss sent Stetson’s body to a fever pitch, and both men moaned when their erections compressed against one another through their jeans.
Years of celibacy suddenly went haywire, and Stetson’s system was on sensory overload. He’d probably come if Doc touched him.
“Trust me,” Doc whispered against his lips as he rubbed Stetson’s chest through his shirt.
But he’d made the mistake of trusting a different man once, and then everything had blown up in his face and destroyed him.
“Doc,” Stetson whispered, unsure if it was a protest or a plea for more contact.
That priceless name echoed in his mind, and he was back in the dungeon, crying out that same name.
Soulless chuckles mocked him. “I think our toy has some latent homosexual feelings for that dentist. Good thing we got it on tape. If you do everything we tell you to, maybe we’ll keep it to ourselves instead of mailing it to him someday.”
Stetson snapped out of his state of erotic drunkenness as dark, vile memories came rushing back to the forefront of his mind when Doc began to rub and grope Stetson’s stiff penis through his jeans while undoing his fly with the other hand.
Sex used to make him feel strong and powerful, manly. Now it made him feel weak and vanquished, like a victim instead of a man. No fucking way would he let Doc do that to him.
Rage thundered inside of him, and Stetson shoved Doc away from him with more force than was probably necessary. “Get your dirty fucking hands off of me! If you ever touch me again, I swear to God I will kill you, you son of a bitch! Do you understand me?”
Doc appeared shocked and then hurt before a hard anger darkened his features. “Perfectly.”
He stormed out of the room and slammed the door, leaving Stetson alone in emotional turmoil. He fell to his knees on the floor as voices taunted and commanded him while invisible bodies defiled him. He grabbed his head, trying to silence the voices, and dug his nails into his arms until he bled to erase the feel of their perverted hands, but it didn’t work.
Somewhere in the agonizing storm of confusion and torture his aching chest whispered a devastating truth to him. He’d just lost his chance with the one who meant the most to him. He knew exactly what Jade was going through.
* * * *
Doc’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking as he drove through the blackened desert. Opening up to Stetson like that had been the biggest mistake of his life. Doc had seen that amorous look in his eyes, that laying down of arms and admission of truth. He’d dared to hope that the look meant Stetson felt the same way he did and would be receptive to a romantic relationship.
Doc banged the dashboard in frustration, cursing at himself for fucking up in such a grand, epic way. He wished he could take it back and restore their friendship, but that ship had already sailed. Stetson would probably never talk to him again.
Doc was certain he hadn’t imagined the ardent look in Stetson’s eyes. Why had he resisted? He’d threatened to kill Doc if he touched him. What the fuck was that about? A simple no would have sufficed.
Doc didn’t stop driving until he reached the apartment complex he was looking for. He went to his sub’s apartment number and banged on the door.
He knew he had a lot of nerve showing up here after the way he fought and parted ways with Patrick, but on the other hand one could argue that the donkey shifter was the one with gall for kicking his Dom in the crotch and claiming him without asking. Looking at it that way, Patrick owed him big time.
Patrick opened the door, and his mouth dropped halfway to Australia. “Boss, what are you doing here?”
Doc backed him into the studio apartment and yanked him into an openmouthed kiss. The surprised squeal that emanated from his sub fired Doc’s libido as he kicked the door shut and locked it without looking. Patrick kissed him back, and his aggressive enthusiasm said he was on cloud nine.
They stripped each other in between making out.
“Where’s your lube?” Doc growled.
Patrick blinked as he struggled to breathe and think. “In my nightstand drawer.”
Doc yanked the door open, channeling his anger into the damned thing, and grabbed the tube of lubricant. He exorcised all thoughts of Stetson from his mind. His refusal had been the ultimate rejection. It killed Doc and pissed him off. Why did Stetson have to be so homophobic? Why couldn’t he embrace his bisexuality the way Patrick did?
Patrick swept Doc’s nude body with his mouth open as if in awe of him, which was sweet considering Doc was wasting away a little more every day. “Boss, you’re a beaut.”
Doc forced a smile, still hurting from the pain of earlier. He grabbed Patrick by the nape and coerced their mouths back together. The kiss was sweet and ravaging. Patrick might have been a virgin, but the little guy sure knew how to kiss.
Doc came down on top of him and continued to maul and feel up his sub as he dry humped him. Patrick’s whimpers and tortured groans thrilled Doc. Why couldn’t Stetson respond this way instead of acting like a dick?
Anger fired his sex drive, and Doc broke the kiss and grabbed Patrick roughly by the arm, enjoying his startled gasp. Doc flipped him onto his stomach and slammed him down against the mattress.
“Oh boss, I can’t take it.” Patrick trembled and mewled. “Are you going to make me a man?”
His cock throbbed and ached over those words. “Yes, Patrick. I’m going to make you a man.”
“Oh God,” his sub breathed and shivered in arousal as Doc worked the lube into his anus. “Oh Doc, I’ve wanted this for so long.”
His balls firmed at the man writhing beneath him, wanting him, adoring him. This was what he needed, not to be cussed out and rejected.
He’d wanted this for a long time, too. Fear of Patrick growing attached to him had held him back, but it was already too late. They were both too fond of each other and deeply attached even without having penetrated one another. They may as well consummate their feelings before Doc’s eyes closed forever.
“So have I,” Doc agreed and tossed the tube aside. “I want you to take a deep breath and—”
“I know what to do. I read up on it so I’d be prepared for you.”
He was glad they could dispense with the barrier of preparation. Doc split Patrick’s buns and aligned his cockhead to the relaxed anus. He nudged the hole, feeling it give slightly, and then he drove his erection forward and lodged his dick up into the virgin ass.
Patrick cried out in shock and what sounded like pleasure as he shook beneath Doc. “Oh God, you’re so big.”
Doc tried to take it easy,
but his anger and the horny sounds of need his sub made threw caution to the wind. He throttled into his passage hard and deep with swift strokes, pounding the smaller man into the mattress.
Patrick moaned and squirmed, trying to hump the covers for relief. His hand went under his body to fist his own cock, but Doc wouldn’t leave him hanging. He lifted his sub’s hips and wrapped his hand around the hot, throbbing shaft. Patrick let out a defeated cry and his penis grew in Doc’s hand as he worked it up and down for the young man’s pleasure.
The snug, sizzling heat cradling Doc’s own boner as he drove hard and deep into Patrick smote him with savage impulses. So this was what it felt like to pummel a man’s ass. His dick brushed a gland inside Patrick, and Doc figured it must be his prostate. He positioned his cock so it hit the nugget at what he was sure must be a good angle and made his strokes deliberate.
“Oh God!” Patrick gasped and cried out at the frantic rubbing on his prostate.
Doc felt the gland swell the more he stimulated it. The longer he went the crazier it seemed to drive the little guy.
“Oh boss, I’m coming!” Patrick’s outcry was so loud and devastated it came out more like an impassioned scream.
His ass locked onto Doc’s erection, and he grunted at the tight squeeze on his painfully hard dick. Patrick yelled in agony and started to sob his elation. Doc felt the man’s cock swell in his hand just before he pulsed his release and erupted his cum all over the comforter. His butt released its death grip on Doc’s dick, and he gave a few more thrusts into the tight asshole.
Patrick whimpered as he lay there boneless against the bed and took the beating up his ass. Doc roared and his cock exploded.
“Oh God, it feels so good,” Patrick moaned softly. “Your cum feels so hot and wet.”
The words spurred Doc on, and he spurted several more times into Patrick’s hole before his arms gave out and he came down on top of him. Patrick’s heavy breathing was a turn-on, but Doc’s desperate panting made his lungs feel like they were on fire. His chest felt heavy, like he had an elephant sitting on it.
“Boss, that was wonderful,” Patrick said in a gentle voice. “Thank you.”
Doc smiled, trying to take deep, controlled breaths. It hurt like hell, but he was desperate to get air back into his lungs. “Thank you. That was phenomenal.”
Patrick sounded choked up as his fingers threaded with Doc’s. “Please stay with me. I need to be with you. I don’t care if we only get a year together or a day. I love you, Val. Don’t leave me.”
Doc’s heart moved with a depth and an ache he recognized, but the ache was bittersweet. “I love you, too, Patrick, more than you know.”
He nuzzled his sub’s cheek and held him close, feeling his cock go flaccid. He loitered in the treasured passage he couldn’t bear to part from.
He’d love to share his life with Patrick. More than that, he’d love to bring him to the ranch and share him with Stetson and Jade. But his dreams didn’t matter. Doc was dying, and judging by his sudden inability to swallow he’d say his time was running out.
Chapter Twelve
Sawyer opened his eyes, noticing the glowing light of midmorning streaming in through the window. He and Kellan had held Jade through most of the night while she cried and then again when she fell asleep in their arms.
They’d shared women in the past, but never had they had one cradled between them while they all slept. This was sweet and moving, though. Jade had her arm draped across his torso and her head rested on his chest as her soft breaths fanned his skin while she slumbered.
Kellan slept on her other side and one of his hands loosely cupped her breast through her top. Sawyer grinned at this. Even in his sleep his little brother couldn’t resist grabbing a woman’s tit.
Sawyer whispered a barely there trail on her arm with his fingertips, watching their sensual journey as he did so. She smelled and felt amazing. The salacious tangle of her legs entwined with his ensured that his groin was as awake as he was. Her soft, warm flesh against his touched his soul. The smoothness of her legs when he ran his own up one of hers made him want to sex her awake.
But she looked peaceful sleeping there and she’d had a horrible night. Best to let her remain in the escape of slumber as long as possible.
Her cell phone rang and she jerked awake.
Well, so much for that.
He handed it to her and she answered it, sounding groggy. “Bane? Oh Ivy, it’s you. What’s wrong? You sound hysterical.”
Kellan grunted and mumbled as he rolled over onto his stomach and yanked the pillow down onto his head. Sawyer smiled at this. His brother definitely wasn’t a morning person.
Every trace of color drained from Jade’s face. “What?”
Sawyer heard a faint, muffled version of Ivy’s voice in the background. Surely he imagined that she’d just said the word “cyborg.” He clearly heard her mention Bane’s name, though, and Jade looked empty and lifeless like she was under the spell of hypnosis.
“It’s not your fault, Ivy.” Jade barely got the words out as her eyes welled. “Thank you for calling me.”
She hung up, and Sawyer set the phone back on the nightstand for her. “Is it about Bane?”
Jade nodded, looking miserable, and her voice cracked with grief when she attempted to speak. “The man that was trying to kill me, Brutus, was a cyborg.”
Kellan lifted the pillow off his head, and although he looked dazed, his interest was clearly piqued. “Cyborg, you say?”
Sawyer would have laughed at his brother’s sci-fi addiction if not for the magnitude of the moment. “Why the hell was a cyborg after you?”
Tears dribbled down Jade’s cheeks, and Sawyer handed her a tissue. “Thank you. I guess he was angry that I hurt Ivy by leaving her, and he was jealous that she had feelings for me. Brutus attacked her, and Bane saved her. He died a hero.”
She started bawling into the tissue, and Sawyer held her. Kellan sat up and rubbed her back, lulling her, but Sawyer kept quiet. He just couldn’t find the right words.
* * * *
“Since when do we own a fat donkey?” Kellan asked.
Doc looked up and saw the chubby gray donkey grazing in the pasture in between sneaking glances at him. He nearly laughed his ass off when he realized who it really was, but Patrick’s impromptu presence on their ranch had him nervous.
“We don’t. It must belong to one of the neighbors. I’ll take him back. You should go check on Jade and see if she’s all right.” Doc grabbed some rope and hopped the fence.
“Good idea,” Kellan agreed as he turned and headed back toward the house. “Cute little donkey.”
Doc grinned as he made his way over to the mischievous little animal. “He is indeed.”
The donkey looked up at him and swished a fly away with his tasseled tail. He made a gleeful braying noise and waddled his fat little self over to Doc.
“Into the stable with you, chubby.” Doc made a lasso and slipped it around the imp’s neck.
The donkey’s ears flattened and he nipped at Doc’s leg.
Doc swatted the little ass on his rump. “Watch yourself.”
The donkey nuzzled him this time as they walked. When they were alone in the stable Doc leaned up against a wall and folded his arms in expectation.
“Give it up, Patrick. I know it’s you.” He watched the animal use his nose to bump Doc’s crotch. He shook his head and shoved the fatty back. “There is no way in hell I’m playing with you in that form. Now either shift back or I’ll hogtie you.”
The donkey made a saucy retort before shifting back into slender, muscled Patrick. “Howdy, boss. Guess what we did last night?”
Doc grinned at the naughty way his sub beamed at him. “I’m aware of our tryst. Now why are you here?”
“I missed you, and somebody broke into my apartment this morning and stole all my money.”
Doc boiled with anger that anyone would rip off the poor guy like that. “Everything?”
>
“Yeah, all my cash is gone,” Patrick said glumly, “and my landlord keeps raising my rent.”
Doc didn’t miss the way he shuddered. “I told you to put your money in a bank instead of storing it all up at home.”
“Well, I don’t like the idea of somebody else handling my money for me. What if the economy completely went to crap and the banks said, ‘Oops, we don’t have your money. Sucks to be you.’ I work hard for my wages, and I don’t intend to lose them.”
“You just did to some low-down criminal.”
Patrick sighed. “I know. That’s why I’m here. I need another job to help pay for my rent. I could work for you, and I won’t complain none. I’ll be a good boy, Sir.”
Doc shook his head with a little smirk. “Oh sure, you call me boss in Swifty’s and Sir on the ranch. You’re a bit confused in the head, sub.”
Patrick chuckled. “Whatever you say, boss. So do I have a job or don’t I? Please don’t say no. I’m desperate for money.”
“I’ll pay this month’s rent for you, and you can do some chores and tasks around here for wages. Wait here and let me get my checkbook.” Doc headed toward the door. “Just enjoy your day off and you can start work tomorrow. Let me know what works for your schedule so it doesn’t interfere with your work at the saloon.”
“Thanks, boss. I’ll just go with you.” Patrick took some bouncy, happy-go-lucky steps toward him.
Doc sharpened his tone. “You’ll wait here.”
Patrick halted and sighed heavily. “It’s because of him, isn’t it? Stetson or whatever his name is. You don’t want him to know we slept together.”
Doc stiffened, surprised by the little guy’s insight.
“I know, Doc. I saw how you looked at him when he came into Swifty’s a few times.” Patrick’s eyes shimmered with mist and his countenance turned droopy. “You want him the way I want you.”
Doc’s chest hurt either from the effects of his disease or the ramifications of unrequited love. “Mind your own business, sub. I’ll be back in a minute.”
