Chapter 4 #2
He sank to his knees in front of Greer, and for a wild moment, Greer was certain Penny would reach for the fastenings of his trousers and use his mouth in a manner he’d dreamed about for a long time.
Penny must have known what Greer was thinking. He winked up at him, then lowered himself even more to lay flat against the edge of the roof. A heartbeat after that, he swung his legs over the side and shimmied down, dropping to the balcony below.
Greer’s mind took its sweet time deciphering what it saw. For one horrible moment, he feared Penny had dropped three stories to the ground to his death. The pinch of grief that gripped him was as paralyzing as it was unexpected. He couldn’t lose something he craved before he ever had it.
“Come on!” Penny shouted from below. “What are you waiting for, you big lug!”
Greer laughed out of pure relief and crouched so that he could swing himself over the edge of the roof as well. He would examine his burst of feeling later. For the moment, he and Penny were still in danger.
The building they entered after smashing through the window to undo the latch from the inside was part of an inn that sat above a dingy pub on one of the side streets.
The inn’s inhabitants seemed well aware of the chaos on the street outside.
A good few men and women were tucked into corners of the upper rooms, including the one Greer and Penny made their escape through.
More of them were pouring downstairs in the hope of escaping.
They joined that group, thundering down the stairs and into the main room of the pub.
Outside the pub’s window, Greer caught the bright burst of a torch being lit.
Sudden fear gripped his gut. If someone, either the police or one of the rioters, chose to throw that torch through some window, there was a good chance half the street would be ablaze within an hour.
“We need to get out of here,” Penny said, sharing Greer’s assessment.
Easier said than done. There was a scrum of desperate men shoving and blocking the door that led onto the street. It was quickly apparent that there was little chance they’d be able to escape that way anyhow, as Greer could see police uniforms in the crowd just outside the door.
“We’ll go out the back,” Greer said, taking Penny’s hand and cutting to the side, behind the bar and into the pub’s back room.
They were out of luck. Another scrum had formed by that door, and beyond that came the shrill sound of a police whistle.
“They’re coming in!” one of the men trying to escape shouted.
Greer growled a curse and looked around. They’d come so close to freedom only to be thwarted by a crowd of panicked bastards who wouldn’t know how to save themselves if someone gave them instruction.
“In here,” Penny hissed, tugging Greer’s hand to lead him off to the side.
The pub’s back room was a mess of crates and barrels, but somehow in the midst of all that, Penny had managed to locate a cabinet that stood in the far corner of the room.
Greer followed as he dashed toward it, threw open its door, and started pulling the various mops and brooms and other useless debris it held out onto the floor.
Once again, Greer understood what Penny was doing without the man having to explain. They worked together to empty the cabinet, and as everyone else fought to escape against the oncoming threat of the police, the two of them jumped inside the cabinet and pulled the doors closed.
It was either the cleverest or stupidest thing Greer had ever done.
He and Penny were alone in the dark of the cabinet with only the barest sliver of light peeking in through the ill-fitting seam between its two closed doors.
It wasn’t enough to see out of, so all they could do was press together, listening as the police broke through and into the storage room.
“You’re under arrest!” one of them shouted. “Deliver yourselves voluntarily or there will be—”
The sound of a fist cracking against bone ended the man’s words. A shout rose up after that, and within seconds, all was pandemonium.
Greer was already squeezed tight in the cabinet, one arm stretched over Penny’s shoulder and braced against the cabinet’s wall and the other trapped between them.
Penny had one of his arms squashed between Greer’s waist and the back of the cabinet while his other hand dangled near Greer’s, their fingers brushing.
The tight space smelled of soap and stale grease, but also of Penny’s musky, sweaty scent.
Greer breathed it in. It was madness to revel in something so carnal while the room around them descended into complete chaos, but he couldn’t help it.
He’d wanted to be close to Penny like this for so long.
He’d wanted their bodies to be entwined and to feel Penny’s breath panting against his neck.
Someone thumped hard against the cabinet, and miraculously, the door remained tightly fastened. Greer’s pulse pounded with excitement, which made him deeply reckless.
He shifted his hand that was planted against the side of the cabinet to grasp the back of Penny’s neck and pulled him close so he could kiss him.
Wildly, Penny kissed him in return, groaning deep in his throat.
That sound, likely unheard over the din in the storage room outside, went straight to Greer’s balls.
The other thing that went straight to Greer’s balls was Penny’s hand.
All it took was a twist of his wrist and Penny was cupping and stroking him through his trousers.
Greer lost his mind entirely, pressing his hips into the sensation.
He maneuvered his hand so he could not only touch Penny as well, but so he could work his way into the man’s trousers to feel his growing erection against his bare palm.
The madness of the moment grew as their kisses turned frantic and their hands rubbed harder.
Everything coalesced into pleasure that was made sweeter by danger.
The fact that Greer could hardly move didn’t matter, he’d never raced toward orgasm so fast in his life.
By the heat radiating from Penny’s body and the passionate sounds he made, Penny was right there with him, his own pleasure heightened by the insanity of what they were doing.
“Greer,” Penny said in a strangled voice as the commotion outside the cabinet reached a pitch.
Someone was slammed against the wall beside the cabinet as a police officer shouted orders at him, but Greer barely registered it or cared.
He only cared about the burst of wetness that suddenly dampened his hand and wrist as he stroked Penny off.
He cared about the blast of lightning that grabbed him by the balls and had him emptying in his trousers as Penny squeezed him.
Complete madness. Utter bliss. The sensation of floating that followed his orgasm had Greer sagging against the back of the cabinet. If they were about to be discovered and dragged off to meet their fate, at least he would go with a smile on his face.
But they weren’t discovered and dragged off. The room outside the cabinet quickly went quiet, or at least quieter. The thrust of the action that had provided the backdrop for their ludicrous display of lust moved farther away, out into the street.
A few minutes later, as Greer and Penny sagged against the back of the cabinet, fighting to catch their breaths, even the noise in the street quieted.
“I think they’re gone,” Penny whispered eventually.
Greer nodded. “We need to move.”
Penny nodded back, and with a few stiff, almost painful adjustments, they straightened and pushed on the cabinet door.
The storage room was, indeed abandoned. The rest of the pub was quiet.
The men who had tried to escape had either succeeded or been nabbed by the police.
Those who had hidden upstairs had either been taken away as well or were still hiding.
Greer and Penny were able to leave the pub through the storage room door and make their way to a quieter street adjacent to the ones where the action had taken place.
From there, they were able to run until they were far away from any kind of danger except the sort they were adept at making for themselves.
“You see?” Greer asked when they paused near a common well to wash away some of the evidence of what they’d done.
“I see what?” Penny asked, grinning at Greer in the moonlight.
“We work well together,” Greer said. “You have no reason not to come to Cornwall with me.”
As deeply against the idea of working with a partner as Greer had been before, the thought of whisking Penny away to the countryside was appealing.
He could leave the man behind in an inn or barn somewhere while he stormed Trebarral Castle and rescued Lord Fabian, but before and after that, perhaps they could have more than just hands and mouths in the dark.
Frustratingly, Penny’s mischievous grin faded. “I have a very good reason why I cannot leave London,” he said.
Impatience made Greer shorter than he intended to be. “Dammit, man, what? What could possibly keep you here?”
He didn’t truly expect an answer from Penny. Even more, he didn’t expect the calculating look that entered the man’s eyes, making him seem older than he was.
Finally, Penny nodded and sighed. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll show you.”
Greer thought perhaps he should say something, but he couldn’t think what. All he could do was follow Penny when he turned and marched off.