Chapter Thirty-Eight #2
The throwing line was at the counter, roughly fifteen feet from the board, Gage stopped around forty feet away.
He tipped his head slightly, ear toward the board, as the sounds from the booth heightened. He could hear the smallest movements, the balloons swaying with the wind, the carnie’s breathing, the crowd holding still.
He lifted the first dart.
Threw.
Pop.
Followed immediately by another dart.
Pop.
He didn’t pause to celebrate. He fed the throws in rhythm, four more in rapid succession, each one a clean release, each one landing where his memory and hearing told him it would.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The crowd erupted.
Gage held his hand.
Scar slapped six more darts into his palm.
He did it again with the same method of ease and calm. But the last two, he threw together, resulting in two simultaneous pops.
The crowd lost its mind.
A massive, furry something that was heavy and ridiculous was shoved into his arms.
A tiny voice squealed beside him, “Wow.”
Gage found her, lowered the prize, and held it out.
“Here you go, sweetheart.”
The little girl clapped her hands. “Mommy, can I have it, please?”
Gage turned toward the mom’s defeated sigh. “Ma’am, please don’t make me walk around with this thing.”
“That dinosaur is bigger than she is.” she laughed, soft and kind. “Yeah, you can have it, honey.”
The girl jumped up and down. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” Gage said, still smiling.
Scar pulled on his forearm, his voice strained and urgent in his ear. “Shadow says we gotta get the fuck outta here.”
Gage blinked. “Why?”
“They don’t like how many people are crowding us,” he murmured. “Everyone’s got their phones out taking pictures and recording.”
Gage’s stomach dipped. “Oh crap.”
“You were the one showing off,” Scar gritted, hurrying him through the throngs of people.
“Someone with perfect vision couldn’t do what you just did.
They told us to go to the haunted mansion—it’s empty—while they create a diversion to draw attention elsewhere.
Callahan’s gonna’ pull the car around the back. ”
People were calling out as they hurried through the gathering.
“Do it again!”
“Win one for me!”
Inside the haunted house, the air was cool and damp. The smell of fake fog fluid and dust was thick.
A loud clang sounded over his head before a prerecorded scream blared from a nearby speaker.
He and Scar ignored it all, going deeper inside until the crowd noise dulled behind them.
Scar put his arm around him. “Don’t be scared. I’ll protect you.”
He laughed. “Um, I’m not afraid of the dark. Besides, you’re the screamer.”
“If you tell anyone that, I’ll deny it.”
Scar guided him through a hanging curtain.
The farther they went, the quieter it got, as if the eerie silence was meant to make people more fearful.
A figure burst from an opening on their right side with a blast of cool fog. A strobe light began to flash as someone lunged and roared at them.
Gage raised one brow.
“Uh, I think we’re supposed to jump or something?” Scar droned.
The actor exhaled. “Oh, never mind.”
Gage listened as he shuffled back into whatever prop he’d leaped from.
“Maybe we should yell next time,” he said. “You know, to make ’em feel like they’re doing a good job.”
They walked around a few more corners, and no one bothered to try to scare them anymore.
Scar whispered, “It’s dark as fuck in here. I can’t see shit.”
Gage stopped, another kind of smile forming.
He eased away as he skimmed his cane across the floor, quick and silent. He read the layout by echo and texture. The room was small enough to own.
“Where’d you go?”
Gage pressed his back into the farthest corner. “Welcome to my world.”
Then he moved.
Soundless and fast.
“Gage,” Scar hissed. “I will kick your ass if you—”
He snapped his fingers near Scar’s ear and was gone before he finished flinching.
Scar cursed under his breath, “I don’t wanna play this game with you, Gage.”
“Seems as if you have no choice,” he whispered, already enjoying this.
Scar crept forward, trying to stay silent, but Gage could hear how fast and hard his heart was beating.
Gage rotated in a slow circle, making his voice sound as if it was coming from every direction—a cool trick Zorion taught him.
“I can feel you,” he taunted. “Your pulse, your heat, your scent…you smell divine.”
“You’re turning me on,” Scar rumbled.
Gage let Scar get close once, close enough to feel his breath before he was gone, silent as clouds drifting across the sky.
Scar spun, reaching and missing.
“You’re guessing where I am,” Gage said in a frightening voice. “I’m certain where you are.”
“Stop,” Scar gritted. “Enough, come here. Now.”
Gage brushed past his shoulder instead, light contact, then vanished again. Scar’s hand hit the wall with a dull slap.
“You are not in control here.”
“You’re getting off on this, aren’t you?” Scar asked.
“Immensely.” Gage licked his lips.
It sounded as though Scar was trying to calm himself as he began to inch forward. Gage could hear Scar’s palm gliding along the wall as a guide.
Scar almost caught him once, grazing his fingers along his sleeve. Gage ducked under Scar’s arm and slid away, heart kicking.
“Got you,” Scar said, voice rough.
“Almost doesn’t count,” he whispered, circling Scar slowly.
He came up behind Scar and pressed him into the wall. His exhale rushed out him before he turned and slid his arms around his waist.
Scar’s mouth was on his, hard and messy.
He kissed back with the same amount of energy, moving his hands up and down the soft material of Scar’s sweater.
“I want you,” he moaned against Scar’s mouth, honest and shaking. “So much.”
“I want you too,” Scar said roughly.
Gage confessed the one thing that’d been on his mind for weeks. “I want to satisfy you. I keep thinking about it. I keep…worrying that…you know…”
Scar touched his forehead to his.
“Gage, I’m okay if we don’t…have sex.” Scar swallowed. “I’m not doing that to you. I’m not letting you compromise what you believe, for me.”
Gage pulled back.
“Where is this coming from?” he asked softly. “You don’t want me?”
Scar’s breath hitched as he reached for Gage’s hand and laced their fingers together.
“No,” he said firmly. “It’s not that. It’s…”
Gage’s heart thudded, confused, hurt.
Scar tugged him. “Come on. We need to go.”
“Go where?”
Scar stroked his thumb over his knuckles. “Home.”
White Ravens
Scar
Scar walked Gage down their hall with his hand on his lower back.
He knew Gage could feel something was off by the way he kept turning toward him, and he was right.
Things had changed.
Roz’s words kept replaying in his head. Honor his beliefs. Don’t make him compromise no matter what.
Gage had been willing to give him all of himself. The most beautiful parts of him. And Scar was about to be a selfish bastard and take it.
Roz was right, he’d always been a taker. Taking didn’t require patience, control, care…or love.
He didn’t want to be that man anymore. It’s why he’d become a Raven. It was time he gave back. It was time he gave Gage the best he had.
He stopped at Gage’s door.
“Do you wanna come in?”
Scar’s chest thudded.
He wanted to say yes so badly his throat tightened.
Instead, he forced the right words out. “Not tonight.”
Gage’s smile slipped, hope draining from his posture.
“I have some business to handle,” he added, trying to make it sound normal.
Gage nodded slowly.
He caught Gage’s face with both hands and kissed him deeply, trying to force the truth inside him.
He pulled back just enough to speak against his lips.
“You’re all I want, I swear it,” he said. “You’ve been all I’ve wanted since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Gage traced his fingers along his jaw, gentle and searching, as he listened.
Scar kept his arms around him. “But I’m trying to do right by you.”
“Right by me?” Gage’s brows pinched. “What does that mean?”
“Will you trust me?” Scar pleaded.
Gage was silent for a long moment before he gave him a small, reluctant dip of his chin.
Scar kissed him slower putting every emotion he had into it—reassurance, promise, dedication…and love.
I love him.
Within the kiss, the truth landed like a blade turned inward. He’d not only kill for Gage—but like Roz had been willing to do for Shannon—he’d live differently for him.
He pulled back and brushed his thumb along Gage’s cheek.
“Go inside,” he murmured. “And please, just trust me.”
Gage nodded again, and Scar forced himself to step away before he changed his mind.
He waited until Gage was inside before he walked into his own quarters. He shut the door and went straight to his phone.
Meridian answered on the first ring.
“What part of anonymity do you not understand?” he gritted, voice already mean and cutting.
Scar froze, caught off guard. “What?”
“You leave for three hours and become fuckin’ Instagram stars.” Meridian growled. “Yours and Gage’s video has over sixteen thousand views already. You and the goddamn ‘blind sensation.’ Really?”
Scar dug his thumbs into his eyes. He didn’t give a single goddamn fuck about that balloon game right then. He only cared about making Gage the happiest assassin in the world.
“Can’t the IT team wipe it?” Scar snapped. “Just take it down for fuck’s sake!”
“That’s not the point,” Meridian hissed.
Scar exhaled slowly, forcing himself not to go off.
“Meridian, I have something serious to discuss. I need to ask the biggest favor I ever will in my life. And I’m about to ask you.”
“Name it.”
Scar spoke with the finality of a trigger pull.
“I going to marry Gage,” he said. “And I need you to make that happen for me.”
Silence.
“I will make that happen for you.” Meridian’s tone was flat but confident. “Come to my place. Now.”
The line went dead.