Chapter Thirteen
R ogue wasn’t sure why he’d said what he’d said, but it irritated him a lot that Wrath had denied they were involved.
But he still couldn’t believe that he had said yes. The word had popped out of his mouth before he could overthink.
Was that living life?
Being spontaneous?
Maybe it was as close to normal as he could get.
“Dude!” Echo said, turning toward him.
Rogue dodged all the sudden questions and grunted beneath the onslaught of back slaps—like they all had a bet going or something. He glanced around suspiciously for a moment and then took a bite of his breakfast, ignoring them.
After he had driven away from Wrath’s house that morning, he had wondered why the hell he’d left in the first place.
He thought to give them both space.
A breather.
From the constant hunger.
When Wrath woke up in the early morning, they had gone at it again for two more hours and shared another shower.
His fucking legs had been shaky, and he never shook.
Never.
He had chalked it up to not sleeping well, but then he never slept well so that was a lie. Nevertheless, he had hauled ass out of Wrath’s place.
Of course, looking back now, he knew leaving hadn’t been one of his smarter moves. And that was mainly because everything inside of him had wanted to stay.
And those feelings weren’t new.
It had been that way since the beginning and stayed that way for him long after they had met.
When the hot blond had first walked into Solomon’s office, Rogue had taken notice. Which at first, felt odd because he was never one to notice anyone, much less a man.
When Solomon had ordered him to tail Wrath, he hadn’t argued and after Wrath’s first job, he had checked in with Solomon.
“Did everything go good?” Solomon frowned, gazing at him over the desk as if he didn’t believe it.
“Yeah, he took care of it.” Rogue stood in the Erebus office, located in a warehouse that he hated—it reminded him of the building Solomon had caged him inside.
If it were up to Rogue, he would get his jobs over the phone and never come there, but Solomon had liked to use his power and summon him at will.
That very day, he was relieved of following Wrath and placed on other tasks, but that had not made a difference to him. Back then, Rogue tailed Wrath whenever he had the time.
Every time they met, Rogue took the opportunity to get close. He never got too close though, but a hand to the man’s bicep, or a press of their foreheads as they waited in the dark seemed okay.
There had been a few near misses when Wrath tried to kiss him, but Rogue hadn’t been ready for that.
It wasn’t until he found Wrath sick with fever and had taken him to the hospital that he’d begun to fantasize about kissing him.
Perhaps it had been carrying a naked Wrath wrapped in a sheet that had sent him into a tailspin.
And last night?
Well, they had gone to a whole other level.
“Who’s that?” Wrath murmured to Echo and shot a glance toward the pool.
Munching on a piece of bacon, Rogue glanced over. The stranger in question Rogue didn’t know at all and that had his senses on high alert. This was one of his best friend’s home.
Having been through so much together as kids captured by Solomon, Rogue considered both Fisher and Echo as his brothers. For a while, they’d been called the originals, but that was not the case. There had been many more throughout the years.
Rogue was very protective of his family and friends and lowered his hand to the inside of his jacket where he kept his weapon.
Wrath, seeing his move, pulled a weapon beneath the table. Rogue felt marginally better with his own hand wrapped around his Sig Sauer.
The stranger had to be in his late thirties or maybe just looked it. Even as heavily built as the guy was, Rogue thought he could probably take him and win in a hand-to-hand.
Rogue couldn’t figure out how the hell the guy had entered Justice and Fisher’s property without getting seen or dead.
Echo and Ice glanced over but didn’t seem to be concerned. That was fine with Rogue, he would handle the man himself. He went to rise from his chair.
“Stand down,” Stone murmured to Rogue. Having Rogue go at Winter wasn’t something he ever wanted to see. “He’s with Genesis.”
“How the hell did he get into the backyard?” Rogue growled.
“He stayed the night.” Echo patted Rogue’s arm.
“He’s pretty fucking stealthy,” Wrath muttered and tucked his weapon away.
“Win!” Stone called out and the man looked over at them.
Icy blue eyes traveled over him and Wrath, measuring them as possible threats. The guy looked and moved like an assassin even without knowing he worked for Genesis. Without answering, the guy gave Stone an up-nod and pulled off his t-shirt to reveal ripped abs, tattoos, and miles of muscle. Walking to the edge of the pool, the guy dove into the water.
“He seems…nice,” Wrath chuckled, and the rest of the table broke out in laughter.
“He’s not too friendly,” Stone agreed with some humor.
“Win is short for Winifred?” Wrath asked and Rogue snorted his coffee—the burn up his nose was instant.
Wrath laughed and reached over to pat his back and then ran his palm up and down.
“You okay there?” Wrath snickered at him and Rogue gave a squinty-eyed mocking scowl, trying not to laugh.
“Short for Winter,” Stone said with a laugh.
The man in question swam the length of the large pool, back and forth—staying clear of the three younger boys.
“If he doesn’t like people, why is he here at your house?” Wrath asked his brother.
Justice gazed at Stone instead of Wrath and Rogue squinted when several of the men seemed to suddenly find other things to focus on.
“What’s going on?’ Wrath voiced before he could. “You two dating?”
Stone gave an irritating sounding sigh and grimaced. “No. Dave thinks I need extra protection.”
“What?”
“Death threats are picking up.”
“Picking up how?” Rogue asked.
Since Dave was the former Secretary of Defense, it stood to reason that the man would receive his own amount of hate mail, but why target Stone?
Justice gazed at Stone. “You might as well tell them.”
“Picking up in the sense that some of the mail is directed at me.”
“Why is that?” Rogue frowned.
“I have no clue,” Stone growled and picked up his empty plate to disappear inside the house.
Wrath chuckled with a huff. “How long do you think Stone will deny he has feelings for Dave?”
“I don’t think that’s the issue,” Fisher said quietly. “I think they had a falling out over something.”
Rogue glanced at the closed glass door. Beyond, he could see Stone standing at the kitchen sink, gazing at nothing.
Turning back to the man constantly swimming laps, Rogue hoped Winter did a good job.
Stone and Dave had become important to him.
But shit always happened, Rogue silently reminded himself. Life wasn’t always filled with happy endings. Bad shit happened to good people and there wasn’t a fucking thing anyone could do about it.
A knot grew in his chest when he thought about taking a chance with Wrath.
Could they even be together when they were forever one step away from death?
Wrath reached beneath the table and linked their fingers.
And while everything inside of Rogue wanted to suddenly run from any sort of commitment, he squeezed his fingers back.
Just for today, he thought.
They could have today.