Chapter 7 Wesley #2
Oliver evidently agreed with me, already halfway across the room and moving fast.
And yet no one else followed.
Even when the wet slapping sounds started.
“You don’t have to—fuck—participate,” Dorian growled harshly, his words interspaced with grunts.
“But you’re going to sit there and watch me hurt those men.
” Loud, desperate choking noises almost drowned out Dorian’s voice.
“I support—fuck, yeah, work that throat—I support your hobbies, so you’re going to fucking support mine. ”
Lane leaned into Greyson, hiding his face in his chest, and whispered, “Will you fuck my throat later too, Daddy? Pretty please?”
Nope.
Nope, nope, nope.
God, why was I still standing here?
I hastily retreated, finding myself standing next to Oliver at the window.
“I think I’ll need to bleach my brain after tonight,” I told him, grimacing.
“Same.”
I looked down at him, reminded of what Josh had said earlier. In a hushed tone, I asked, “Are you okay with all this? I can get you set up at the TV downstairs if you want. I know my nephews can be… pushy… but you don’t have to be here if you don’t want to.”
He tilted his head up, a soft smile on his lips. “Thank you. I think I’ll be fine, though. And I don’t want to disappoint Ro.”
My brows lowered. “Hey, you wouldn’t be disappointing any of us. Especially Ro. He wouldn’t want you to be forced into anything.”
“I know,” he said, looking back out the window.
“You two have been so kind to me. But really, it’s okay.
I won’t be participating, but I want to be here with you all.
I really like it when we’re all together like this.
I would come to every family dinner, but it’s the twins who don’t want to.
In a way, Ro coming up with this helps me, since I like spending time with everyone, and Hayes and Hudson would never pass up shit like this. ” He laughed, easing my mind.
I grinned. “They really wouldn’t. Damn freaks.”
Oliver’s smile widened as he elbowed my side. “Hey, those are my freaks you’re talking about. Be nice.”
Before I could respond with another quip, Dorian stepped back into the room, looking thoroughly satisfied with himself.
Josh followed a second later, cheeks flushed a deep, vibrant red.
His lips were swollen and glistening, and his hair was slightly mussed.
Even if we hadn’t heard it, it would’ve been crystal clear what had occurred out in the hallway.
Josh refused to make eye contact with anyone.
Which, naturally, meant everyone stared. And when his eyes finally flicked up, he was mortified to see the knowing amusement painted on my nephews’ faces.
He sucked in a breath, then nervously asked, “Were you all listening?” When no one answered with anything but smirks, he had his answer. “Oh my god,” he muttered. “Oh, my god.”
Hudson shrugged. “You were loud. Although you’re obviously not the one to blame for that,” he snickered.
Dorian rested a possessive hand on the back of Josh’s neck. Josh glared at him from the corner of his eye, but was ignored. Instead, Dorian looked around the room and announced, “We’re all good. Let’s continue.”
Hayes and Hudson disappeared into the dining room before anyone else could move, let alone say anything. It was plain to see that they had been getting impatient.
A moment later, they reemerged, each dragging one of the accountants. Both of the men stumbled along, pale and shaking.
Hudson spun Jeremiah toward the foam board with cheerful efficiency, and Hayes shoved Mills beside him.
“Face the wall,” Hayes said pleasantly.
Neither man argued.
They stood there, shoulders trembling, backs facing the rest of the room.
Ronan stepped forward, eyes glittering with that look he got when he got his hands on a cool new weapon. “So, who wants to go first?” He grabbed a tail and the blindfold from the table, holding them up with excitement.
Hudson’s hand shot up immediately. “Me.”
“Me,” Hayes said at the exact same time.
Hudson turned slowly toward him. “Excuse you?”
“You’ll cheat,” Hayes replied flatly. “I should be first.”
“Fuck you.”
Greyson raised a hand without even looking at them. “Children.”
The twins fell silent.
Lane giggled into Greyson’s shoulder.
“Why don’t we let Josh go first?” Grey suggested, a slight smirk tipping up his mouth.
Josh blanched, a bead of sweat appearing on his brow. “No,” he said, voice tight and high. “No. I’m just going to watch.”
Greyson tilted his head just barely, staring into him with piercing eyes. “Oh? What a shame…”
Josh looked like a man who had just been informed he’d been selected for a firing squad. “I—no. No, I absolutely—”
Dorian tightened his grip slightly at the back of Josh’s neck, making him freeze.
Dorian leaned down slightly, murmuring something in his ear that the rest of us couldn’t hear. Whatever it was made Josh’s ears turn bright red.
“Fine,” Josh muttered weakly. “But I-I um…” He peeked at Dorian through downturned lashes, pleading with him silently.
“He’ll spin around and choose the spot, but I’ll be helping him pin the tail,” Dorian explained, looking around with a quiet authority that said he was not to be argued with on this.
Ro nodded. “I think that’s fine. Maybe Oliver would like to play that way, too? Just so we don’t leave people out?”
“I can do that,” Oliver agreed.
Hudson grinned like Christmas had come early. “Hell yes.” He approached Oliver and pulled him into an embrace, kissing the crown of his head. “Thank you, pet.”
Oliver’s ears tinged pink. “It’s nothing.”
Ro smiled happily, then approached Josh and tied the blindfold over his eyes with surprising care. “There we go,” he murmured, placing the tail-knife thing in his palm with the point facing away from its holder.
Josh’s fingers explored the knife, and once he had a tentative grip on it, said, “Okay. I’m ready, I guess.”
“Thank you for being a good sport,” Ro told him before gently gripping his biceps.
Josh blushed underneath the blindfold. “Just don’t spin me too hard, please.”
Ro laughed kindly and promised he wouldn’t, then began to count as he spun the larger man. “One… two… three!”
Josh wobbled, reaching for Ro’s hands to steady himself.
“Forward,” Ronan instructed cheerfully. “And remember, you can go for either of them.”
Josh took one cautious step, and when he didn’t wobble, took another. His hands searched the air in front of him. He ended up going slightly to the left, and with another step, his outstretched hand ran into the upper back of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah whimpered, trembling as Josh’s hand fell back.
“Wait, so since I touched him, does it have to be that spot, or do I get a better shot at it?” Josh asked, his voice sounding more confident, like he wanted to prove he could do well.
Ro answered him, “No, that didn’t count since it was just you finding him. But you’re not allowed to feel around, or it’d be too easy. So just point the knife where you think the tail should be.”
Josh nodded, looking determined. “Okay…” He thought about it for a minute, then carefully moved his knife forward until it made contact with Jeremiah’s back. “Here.”
Josh held still as Dorian approached from behind. I thought that Dorian would take the knife from Josh completely, but no. He wrapped his hand around Josh’s.
Josh squeaked, as if realizing what Dorian was about to do. “Oh—um, do I—oh, oh no—” Josh continued stammering as Dorian pushed the knife forward, grip still firmly including Josh’s hand. “Oh gosh, this is happening—Dori, please don’t get blood on my hand, please—”
Halfway embedded, Dorian paused the knife’s entry and looked over at Ro. “You don’t want them dying this round, right?”
Ro hummed, “Yep, that’s not till later.”
Dorian nodded in agreement, then let go, leaving the blade half-embedded in the man’s skin. Jeremiah had lost control of his bladder, to which Dorian turned his nose up at, a disgusted look on his face.
“Alright, now take the blindfold off to see how close you were!” Ro instructed, pleased.
Josh’s hands whipped up, ripping off the blindfold. He blinked, then smiled widely. “Oh my god! That’s so close, right?!”
I quietly chuckled at his one-eighty in attitude.
“Wow, you might actually win,” Hayes remarked, proud surprise in his voice.
Josh turned to look at him. “Really?”
Hudson agreed, “Really, dude. It’s a little off-center, but it’s right at his coccyx. Good job.”
Josh’s eyes brightened like he’d been told he’d won a million dollars. And hey, he didn’t end up with any blood on his hand.
Dorian steered him back and into a chair, all the while murmuring his own soft praises to his partner.
Lane hopped up from where he’d been sitting. “Can I go? Please!”
Ro welcomed him up with a hand, quickly putting on the blindfold and placing the knife-tail in his palm.
“One, two… three,” Ro called as he spun Lane, Lane’s dress catching the light beautifully.
When Ro had him facing the accountants, he let go. “Okay.”
Lane didn’t hesitate or wobble, but shot towards the man on the right. Mills. Oh, yeah, that made sense.
Not even feeling for him, Lane’s hand surged forward, plunging the entire length of the blade into the man’s left shoulder.
“Before anyone says anything, I just wanted to stab him anywhere,” Lane said loudly, turning around with the blindfold still on, and Mills yelling in pain behind him.
Greyson snorted—yes, snorted—and called out for his husband. “No one was going to say anything, baby boy. I think that tail looks perfect on his shoulder.”
Lane beamed beneath the blindfold. “Really?”
“Perfect form,” Greyson assured him.
Ronan clapped happily. “Take it off and admire your work!”
Lane whipped the blindfold up and gasped when he saw the knife buried to the hilt in Mills’s shoulder.
“Oh! That went in deeper than I thought.”
Greyson held out a hand, and Lane skipped back over, happily reclaiming his seat in Grey’s lap like he hadn’t just impaled someone during a party game.