Chapter 13 Marcus
MARCUS
All through dinner, Marcus watched Gavin fawn over the dog. He held the mutt on his lap, trying to feed him scraps from the table—not leftover veggies that Gavin was eating, but bits and pieces of cow flesh that kept magically disappearing off Marcus’s plate.
It appeared that their four-legged friend did not follow in Daddy’s footsteps, but instead preferred to follow in “Big Daddy’s” steps, as Gavin so eloquently put it.
Marcus liked the “big” part, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about the “Daddy” reference. For some reason, he felt that made him seem old and irrelevant.
He was only thirty-nine, healthy as an ox, and built like a beast. He wouldn’t say that he was smoking hot, but women seemed to fall all over themselves trying to get him to take them out back.
Whether it was because they wanted to get fucked by the leader of the Shadow Vipers, or because they just couldn’t stand his smoldering good looks, Marcus liked to believe it was because of the latter.
After washing the dishes and watching a few episodes of mindless TV, Marcus excused himself for the night and left Gavin sitting on the floor, playing with his new buddy.
Back in his bedroom, he closed the door behind him—something he hadn’t done since the night Gavin moved in—and stripped down to his underwear.
“Ahh, that’s much better.” Marcus moaned as he lay on his bed, spreading his arms and legs wide, enjoying the coolness of his satin sheets against his warm, mostly naked body.
It didn’t take him long to drift off to sleep, only to be woken up by a gentle knock at his door.
The knock was so quiet that at first, he thought he had imagined it.
Hearing the knock again, he opened his eyes and looked at the clock on his nightstand.
It was just after midnight.
Somehow, he had managed to get at least an hour’s sleep.
“Marcus?” Gavin’s voice called ever so quietly from behind his door.
At least the boy was knocking. He half expected him to barge right in and make himself at home.
“Yeah?” Marcus asked, counting down the seconds until… yup, right on schedule.
The door slowly opened, letting in the soft light from the living room.
“What is it, Gavin?” Marcus asked, turning his head toward the door.
Gavin stood in the doorway, holding his new friend in nothing but his underwear.
“So, I was trying to sleep, but this little guy keeps whining. I think he misses his big daddy.”
Marcus tried not to laugh. The excuses this kid was coming up with.
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yup. I told him that you needed your beauty rest and that a man of a certain age needed to go to bed early so his brittle bones and muscles could rest, but puppy here refuses to listen. He says that he misses his daddy and wants to cuddle with him… just for a bit.” Gavin held up the little runt, who whined and looked at him with sad puppy eyes that strangely matched the ones that little daddy was giving him as well.
Like daddy, like son.
“Just for a bit?” Marcus asked, like he actually believed the kid.
“Yup. Ten, fifteen minutes tops.”
“And then, puppy will go back to his room?”
Gavin nodded enthusiastically.
“That includes puppy’s daddy, as well?”
This time, Gavin just stared at him. He played with his fingers as he cradled the pup in his arms.
Letting out a huff, Marcus tossed open the sheet next to him and waited for Gavin to slide in.
“But the puppy stays on top of the covers. I don’t want dog smell rubbing up against my junk and stuff,” Marcus growled, watching as Gavin slid in next to him and dropped the puppy on the outer side of the bed.
Gavin slid his back up against Marcus’s side and turned to face his puppy, who was quickly snuggling into the warm sheet around him.
Rolling his eyes, Marcus turned onto his side so he was facing Gavin’s back and wrapped his arm around Gavin’s naked body.
Marcus had hoped that getting Gavin a puppy might help him sleep better at night, but it appeared that the little furball hadn’t worked his magic yet.
Fine. One more night in his bed wouldn’t hurt, and perhaps it might help Gavin to relax and learn to trust him a bit more.
Pulling Gavin into his body, Marcus laid his head down next to the boy and breathed in the smell of his shampoo. It was the same lavender scent that Marcus had on his head—which made sense considering it was his shampoo in the shower.
A satisfied exhale came from the boy lying next to him as he placed his hand over Marcus’s and pulled it tighter against his chest.
Okay, fine. This was probably not what Sheriff Burke had in mind when he said to watch over his witness, but it was what was best for the boy in the end.
People often overlook the psychological impact of trauma—the memories and nightmares they endure, especially when alone late at night. If Marcus could help reduce that pain in any way, he was damn well going to.
Closing his eyes, he let the sound of Gavin’s soft breathing lull him off to sleep.
Cold wetness on his face pulled Marcus from a wonderful dream he was having in which he was riding down the I-90, shooting bullets at Blade as he ran alongside the road in nothing but his boxers and bunny ears.
Hearing the man yelp every time a bullet hit his feet, and watching him jump, brought a warm, fuzzy feeling to the pit of his stomach and a huge smile to the front of his face.
There was nothing more satisfying than dreaming he was humiliating that dumbass fuck-twad who had defiled his little brother.
Husband or not, it was his dream, and he could do whatever he wanted to that cunt of a man.
Another swipe of wetness across his cheek, followed by a soft chuckle beside him, had Marcus slowly opening one eye.
If Gavin was licking his face, the boy was a dead man.
Bright blue eyes set against a head of jet-black hair beamed down at him as an excited puppy practically attacked his face.
Marcus jumped back.
“What the fuck?” he growled.
Gavin let go of the hyperactive puppy, who immediately dropped onto Marcus’s face and began rubbing its ass all over Marcus’s mouth and cheek as it searched for dry surfaces it had not yet licked.
Marcus grabbed the puppy with one giant paw and lifted the whimpering creature off his face.
He tossed the puppy at Gavin, who immediately caught his baby with a terrified gasp.
“Next time that thing sits on my face, I’m locking it outside with a mama eagle.”
Gavin’s mouth dropped open in horror.
“But—you wouldn’t! Not to our baby!” He clutched the whiny puppy to his chest, who was still making every attempt possible to leap out of Gavin’s arms and lick-attack Marcus’s face.
Stubborn dog.
Marcus gave Gavin a look.
“Please tell me you’re not one of those people.”
“What people?” Gavin asked, caressing his baby while holding him protectively against his chest.
“Those, ‘my pet is my baby’ freaks.” Marcus couldn’t stand those people who walked around acting like a four-legged creature that licks its own balls and humps every surface in their home was an actual human being.
No, he wasn’t coming to Pongo’s birthday, and he didn’t care whether your goldfish had anxiety. As far as he was concerned, living with someone like that was permission to commit murder.
“Wow, someone is a grumpy-puss when they first wake up in the morning,” Gavin muttered, turning his attention back to his baby.
“Just when I wake up to something wet licking my face.”
“What about waking up to something wet licking you somewhere else?” Gavin asked in one of his flirty tones.
He walked right into that one.
He turned and gave Gavin a face.
Speaking of which, he reached for the sheet and pulled it up over his morning wood.
“Don’t worry. I barely peeked.”
“Sure you didn’t.”
“Well, well, what is this?” a voice asked from their bedroom doorway, startling both Marcus and Gavin.
Their guard dog/hyperactive ADHD furball lunged from Gavin’s arms and dove toward the two men standing in Marcus’s doorway.
Glad to see that the little pup has a keen sense of survival skills, leaping over the edge of the bed in an attempt to share more doggy-breath kisses—he assumed, of course.
Ace barely caught the flying pup in his arms before he, too, got attacked by love and kisses.
“I don’t know what’s more shocking, finding out the boss is boning the new kid? Or knowing that big, bad Daddy sleeps with a puppy in bed?” Blade mocked, smirking at Marcus before turning to the excited furball to show it some love.
“Ace, pass me my gun. I need to shoot your husband in the face,” Marcus deadpanned, resting his head against his pillow once again.
“Always with the violence,” Blade responded without even looking in Marcus’s direction.
“So, who’s this little guy?” Ace asked, dropping down on the bed between Marcus and Gavin’s feet.
“I still haven’t thought of a name yet. But Marcus surprised me with him last night,” Gavin gushed, moving closer so he could pet his baby as well.
“Oh, isn’t that sweet of him?” Blade mocked, getting dangerously close to catching a bullet with his teeth.
“That’s me, all sweet and cuddly,” Marcus growled.
“Well, you are nice and cuddly,” Gavin responded, “Sweet? Only when you’re not being licked first thing in the morning.”
Ace and Blade looked over at Marcus.
Fuckin’ kid.
“He was talking about the dog,” Marcus corrected.
“Sure,” Ace teased, turning his attention back to the dog.
Letting out a breath, Marcus looked over at the time. “Remind me again why you assholes broke into my house?”
“We came to have breakfast with you. We knocked, but nobody answered,” Ace explained.
“So, you decided to walk in,” Marcus concluded.
“Yup. We didn’t think that you’d be in here, balls deep in the kid you're supposed to be protecting,” Blade noted. “Well, I guess it is hard to get to someone when Marcus’s big-ass body is wrapped around their target. Smart thinking, boss.”
A growl escaped Marcus’s lips.
“Perhaps we should go get breakfast started,” Ace offered, standing and walking out of the room with the puppy in his hands.
“I’ll give you two a few minutes to… finish up in here,” Blade offered, backing out of the bedroom and closing the door behind him. “Say, twenty minutes?”
Marcus tossed the bottle of lotion at his bedroom door.
Blade chuckled as he walked down the hallway.
“Well, we do have a bit of time before breakfast is ready?” Gavin offered, reaching under the sheet and grabbing Marcus’s quickly thickening cock.
Marcus let out another growl before throwing the sheet off his body.
“Get dressed. We’re not boning.”