Chapter Nine
It was hard for Niko to believe how far the two of them had come in a few short days.
He had gone from confused ex-lover, not knowing why Ethan left him, longing to touch, to kiss, to love the man that held his heart for the past three and a half years, but not able to do so, to this.
A true partner in every sense of the word.
There was no moment of the day that he did not want to be with Ethan, and there was no future in his mind that existed without Ethan in his life. And wasn’t that just the damnedest thing.
Ethan tilted his head back as Niko crowded him, giving him more access without even realizing it. Niko took full advantage, mouth open against the sensitive skin of Ethan’s throat, teeth grazing just enough to make him gasp.
“Jesus, Niko,” Ethan breathed, hips rocking forward instinctively when he felt Niko hard against him. “You don’t even try, and you’ve already got me wrecked.”
Niko huffed a quiet laugh against his neck. “That goes both ways, love. You breathe near me, and I’m done for.”
He turned Ethan in his arms to pull his back against his chest, reached around and tugged Ethan’s t-shirt free from his jeans, hands sliding under fabric like he’d been starving for the right to touch him.
Because he had been. Then his fingers dipped lower, past the waistband, closing around Ethan’s cock.
“Fuck—” Ethan jerked forward, breath breaking as Niko’s grip tightened. “Yeah, okay. You win. I’m not pretending I can think straight anymore.”
Niko groaned at the feel of him—hard, warm, already slick—and turned them toward the bed without letting even an inch of space form between them. “We can talk later,” he muttered. “Right now, I need you.”
Ethan laughed softly, a sound that was half disbelief and half relief. “Well, as it so happens, I need you too.”
“That does work out perfectly,” Niko said, teeth back at his neck, already leaving marks. “You feel so good in my arms.”
By the time they hit the edge of the bed, they were both breathing hard. Niko pulled his hand away, both of them groaning at the loss.
“I want you in my mouth,” Niko said, voice low and rough. “I cannot tell you how many times I imagined this over these last three damn years.”
Ethan didn’t bother with a reply—he just started stripping, movements fluid, controlled even now. Niko, as always, was faster, clothes discarded without grace or dignity, eyes locked on Ethan like he might disappear if he blinked.
Ethan was half naked when Niko dropped to his knees in front of him and took him in without warning, swallowing him down until his lips pressed tight to his skin.
“Oh, fuck—Niko.” Ethan’s hands flew to his hair, fingers tangling hard. “You have no idea how good this feels—”
Niko looked up at him, eyes dark, wicked, absolutely focused, tongue flattening against the sensitive underside of Ethan’s cock. Ethan’s knees nearly gave out.
“Keep looking at me,” Niko murmured around him. “Don’t you dare close your eyes.”
Ethan tried. He really did. But when Niko used his teeth, just a little, his entire body shuddered, and he saw his eyes slide closed.
“Christ—yeah, like that. You’re going to kill me.”
Niko smiled and took him deeper, tongue and suction working him until Ethan’s hands were shaking, breath coming in broken gasps. When Ethan finally lost control, Niko swallowed everything, hands gripping his hips like he meant to hold him upright through it.
Ethan slumped forward, breathless, stunned. “I don’t think I’ve ever come like that in my life.”
Niko stood, pulling him into his arms. “Good. I was aiming for memorable.”
Ethan laughed, still wrecked, and kissed him hard, tasting himself on Niko’s mouth. “You’re dangerous.”
“And I’m not done yet,” Niko said, already reaching for the bedside drawer like he’d memorized its contents months ago.
He sat back on the edge of the bed, legs spread, slicking himself up slowly while Ethan watched, pupils blown, chest rising and falling.
“Come here,” Niko said softly. “Let me have you.”
Ethan moved without hesitation, straddling him, one hand already wrapping around Niko’s cock. Niko groaned when he felt himself pressed against Ethan’s heat, every muscle in his body tensing as Ethan slowly sank down on him.
The first real thrust stole the breath from both of them.
“Fuck,” Ethan whispered. “You feel ... unreal.”
Niko leaned back, hands gripping Ethan’s thighs, watching him move—the way his face softened, the way his body opened, the way he trusted him completely.
“I waited,” Niko said through clenched teeth. “For so long I thought it was going to kill me.”
Ethan rode him harder, one hand between them, the other braced on Niko’s shoulder. “I know, baby. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. But I am here now, and I’m never letting you go.”
Niko’s control shattered at that. He reached up, wrapped his hand around Ethan, and that was all it took for both of them to break.
Ethan came with a shout, body arching, and Niko followed seconds later, holding him tight as he emptied himself inside him, every nerve ending on fire.
They collapsed together, tangled, breathing hard.
Niko pressed his forehead to Ethan’s, both of them still catching their breath.
When they could finally draw breath easily, Niko shifted them together on the bed, limbs tangling naturally, the kind of closeness that didn’t need instructions. Ethan pulled Niko in against his chest, one arm wrapped around him, the other tracing lazy patterns along his back.
For a long moment, they just lay there, breathing each other in.
“I forgot what this felt like,” Niko said softly. “Just ... being held. Not having to be on.”
Ethan tightened his arms around him. “You don’t have to be anything in here. You’re safe. With me.”
Niko went still at that, then relaxed completely, cheek settling over Ethan’s heart. He could feel it—steady, real, alive.
“God,” he muttered. “If teenage me could see this, he’d pass out on the spot.”
Ethan smiled into his hair. “He’d probably just be relieved you found someone to love who loved you back.”
They lay like that for a while, no urgency, just warmth and the quiet kind of intimacy that came from years of unfinished sentences.
Eventually, Niko shifted slightly, his tone changing—not heavy, just thoughtful.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
“Anything.”
Niko hesitated, fingers tightening just a little in Ethan’s shirt.
“How was it with your father ... really? Not the polite answer. The real one.”
And just like that, the world narrowed to the two of them again—not bodies this time, but truths.
****
The quiet after their lovemaking was different.
Not empty. Not fragile. It was the kind of quiet that settled in your bones, earned the hard way, after bodies had stilled and truths had cracked open enough to let air through.
Ethan lay on his back, staring at the ceiling he’d memorized years ago, one arm around Niko, the other bent awkwardly beneath his head.
Niko was half draped over him, warm and solid, breath brushing his chest in slow, even pulls.
For a moment—just a moment—Ethan let himself believe that this was all there was.
That the world had narrowed the way it sometimes did in the air, when nothing existed except instruments and instinct and trust.
Then Niko shifted.
Not pulling away. Just enough to look at him.
Ethan felt it immediately. The change. The weight behind the question before it was asked.
“How was it,” Niko said quietly, “with your father ... really? Not the polite answer. The real one.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
There it was. The line he’d spent years skirting. The thing he’d dismantled syndicates to avoid naming out loud.
He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes again, turning his head so he could see Niko properly. See the way his brow furrowed—not with judgment, but concern. Readiness. The man who would hear him, whether the story was ugly or not.
“It was ... constant,” Ethan said finally. “That’s the word people don’t understand. They think abuse is moments. Explosions. Bruises. But with him, it was constant. Pressure. Control. Surveillance disguised as concern.”
Niko didn’t interrupt. Just tightened his arm slightly, a quiet anchor.
“He never raised his voice unless he meant to make a point,” Ethan continued. “He didn’t need to. He liked being calm. Made it harder to argue. Harder to point at him and say, this is wrong.”
Ethan swallowed.
“When Cleo got sick, it got worse. He used it against me. Used her vulnerability. Used my fear. Made it very clear that if I didn’t keep him happy, the people around me would pay for it.”
Niko’s jaw clenched. “You stayed because of her.”
“And for Marcus and for Poppy,” Ethan said. “I stayed because every time I thought about leaving, I pictured what he’d do to the three of them if I wasn’t there to absorb it.”
He stared up at the ceiling again, the memory sharp enough to sting. “He liked to remind me that I was replaceable. That my usefulness came from obedience. And that the only thing worse than losing power was losing face.”
Niko shifted, propping himself up on one elbow so he could look down at Ethan properly. “Tell me about Poppy.”
Ethan hesitated.
He hadn’t planned to say it yet. Hadn’t figured out the cleanest way to do it. There was no clean way.
“She’s not mine,” he said quietly. “Not biologically.”
Niko went very still. “I know. I believed you when you said you hadn’t been with anyone since me.”
“Cleo had a lover,” Ethan went on. “Before me. During ... everything. A man she loved. The only person who ever made her feel safe.”
He let out a bitter, humorless breath. “Her father found out.”
Niko’s hand tightened on his chest. “Ethan...”
“He killed him,” Ethan said flatly. “Right in front of her. Made sure she understood exactly why. That our two families had to come together, and our marriage was the only way to make that happen.”
Silence fell heavy between them.
“It wasn’t love, Niko,” Ethan said after a moment. “What Cleo and I had. It was two people with monsters for fathers, trapped in a reality designed to grind us down, trying to survive without losing what was left of ourselves.”
Niko’s voice was rough. “And Poppy?”
“Poppy was the best thing that came out of it,” Ethan said, no hesitation there. “She was proof that something good could exist in the middle of all that evil. And when Cleo died ... she was all I had left to fight for.”
Niko slid fully onto his side, facing him, foreheads nearly touching. “You didn’t leave because you didn’t love me.”
“No,” Ethan said fiercely. “I left because loving you made you vulnerable. And my father knew it.”
The words finally cracked something open.
“He threatened you,” Ethan continued. “Threatened Marcus. Told me I could either come home and do what I was told, or watch the people I loved disappear.”
Niko’s breath hitched. “You should have told me.”
“I know,” Ethan said, voice breaking despite himself. “God, I know. But I thought if I stayed away—if I cut myself off completely—you’d be safer. I didn’t realize how much it would destroy both of us.”
Niko rested his forehead against Ethan’s. “You don’t get to decide alone anymore. You don’t get to be a self-sacrificing asshole.”
Ethan nodded with a smile. “I don’t want even to.”
For a moment, they just breathed together, the truth sitting between them—not healed, but named. Real.
Ethan reached out and brushed his thumb along Niko’s jaw. “Everything I’ve done since ... every route I burned, every account I collapsed—it wasn’t just about taking away his power. It was about erasing him. About making sure he couldn’t hurt anyone else.”
Niko’s eyes were dark, resolute. “We’ll finish it together.”
Ethan believed him.
The sound of his phone vibrating shattered the moment.
He froze.
The device lay tangled in discarded clothes on the floor, and when he scrambled and pulled it into his hand, the screen lit up with a name that made his stomach drop.
Vermont Preparatory Academy.
Ethan sat up so fast Niko barely had time to follow.
He grabbed the phone, fingers numb, and answered.
“Mr. Payne,” a trembling voice said. “There’s been ... an incident.”
Ethan felt the room tilt.
“Your brother,” the voice continued. “Your father arrived this afternoon. He took him. There was ... violence.”
Ethan couldn’t breathe.
“Two teachers,” the woman said, barely holding it together. “And the hostel manager. They—their dead, they tried to intervene.”
The phone slipped from Ethan’s fingers, clattering onto the floor.
Niko caught his face in both hands instantly. “Ethan. Look at me. What happened?”
Ethan swallowed hard, every muscle locking as reality crashed in.
“He’s taken Marcus,” he said hoarsely. “And he killed to do it.”
The past wasn’t just knocking anymore.
It had kicked the door in.