Chapter 10
Carnage
I can’t stop looking at him.
Rue is dancing with Colson just a few feet away from me so I can keep a close eye on him, but honestly, I couldn’t look at anyone else if I tried.
I’m flanked by Specter and Whisper. The other guys are working or chose to stay home.
“You should go dance with him,” Whisper says, nudging my arm.
“I don’t dance,” I grunt.
“No shit, but you can put your hands on his hips and get close.”
“That’s a bad idea. It’s not like that with us. He’s just a guest. Almost like a job.”
“Speaking of,” Specter says. “Did you talk to Shadow about it yet?”
“Nope. He hasn’t exactly been in a good mood the last couple of days.”
“If you’re waiting for that, you might be stuck for a while,” Whisper adds. “Bellamy’s appearance turned the poor guy inside out.”
“I noticed.”
A smile tugs at my lips as I watch Rue lift his arms above his head, a pretty smile on his lips as he sways his hips.
He’s beautiful in his natural state, but glammed up a little?
Fuck me. How am I supposed to be cool and keep my hands to myself?
I’ve never even been into feminine men, but something about Rue just does it for me.
“You don’t find him attractive?” Specter asks, poking at my silence.
“Of course he’s attractive. I have eyes.”
“So why aren’t you closing the deal?”
I shrug, lifting my cocktail to my lips for a sip. “It seems wrong. He came from a dude sexually exploiting him, and that’s not me.”
“No shit, bro. Maybe it would be consensual? Have you seen how he looks at you?”
Whisper chuckles. “Spec has a point.”
“Maybe, but we all know desperation can make you do things you might not do normally.”
“Dude.” Whisper drags the word out. “Your manners are commendable and I’m into consent as much as the next guy, but there’s nothing desperate about wanting to fuck a guy who looks like you. Get real.”
I chuckle, focusing on Rue again. He leans in close to Colson and whispers in his ear, and then they laugh together.
The guys don’t know Rue is a virgin, and it’s not my place to tell them, but it does hold me back. Do I really want to be his first experience? Shouldn’t he want to wait for love or some shit?
The song changes to something far sexier, and Specter smacks my arm. “I’m going to get my man.”
Rue’s eyes flit to me and he smiles, doing another body shimmy that does things to me. Whisper takes my glass out of my hand and nudges me forward.
“Go dance with him.”
“Yeah, okay.”
I push through the few people between us and stop in front of Rue. He’s not much shorter than me; just enough that he has to tilt his head slightly as I move in close.
“Mind if I dance with you?”
He smiles brightly. “I was hoping you would.”
I have no idea what to do, so I just slide my hands onto his hips and let him take it from there.
And he does.
Rue grinds against me, draping his arms around my neck and brushing his body to mine.
He smells incredible—soft and musky, with a hint of sweat from dancing, but it’s addictive on him.
His eye color pops even in the dim light of the club, and every time he licks his lips, I want to do the same thing.
“You are gorgeous, you know that?”
“Thanks to Colson.”
“No. He’s not a magician. All that beauty was already there. I thought the same thing when you cried.”
He scrunches his nose. “No one’s pretty when they cry.”
“You are.”
“Thank you.” His hand moves up to tickle my hair at the nape of my neck. “Does that mean…” His teeth graze his plump bottom lip. “Do you find me attractive?”
“Of course.”
“I mean… are you attracted to me?”
I should definitely lie and put some safe distance between us, but tell that to my quickly swelling cock as I gaze into the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.
“If you are,” Rue continues, “You should know that I’m attracted to you too.
You’re the hottest man I’ve ever seen. I get why you might not want to go there with me—I don’t have any experience and I’m sure you could get anyone you want in bed, but…
” He drags his hands down my chest. “I’d try really hard to please you.
I want to. Not to pay you back or to pay my way, but because I want to. ”
Rue brushes his lips against my jaw and my breath hitches. Jesus. I’m only human.
“Rue.” I close my eyes for a moment. “I don’t want you to regret it.”
“That’s nice and all, but I am an adult and I’ve thought about this a lot.
The whole point of moving to Mistone was to finally be free and experience life.
If Leon wasn’t such a horrible person it would’ve been him, but now I’m actually really glad it wasn’t.
I’d rather it be you. I want it to be you, Carnage. ”
Gazing into his eyes, I can’t find a single reason why I’d want to say no. Like he said, he’s an adult and he does seem to know what he wants. He seems confident now, unlike the desperate offer from before. Maybe the time with Colson was good for him.
Rue’s fingers curl around the hem of my t-shirt and he kisses my jaw again until I take control and close my mouth over his.
He gasps softly, but quickly melts into me, supported by my arms around him. The kiss starts slowly, tentatively, but when I lick the crease of his lips, he opens for me, allowing me to explore and fully taste his delicious mouth.
Rue digs his fingers into my shoulders, tilting his head to deepen the kiss, and my cock hardens so quickly that I sway slightly. Pulling his body to mine, I rub our hips together, smiling into the kiss when I feel his answering erection.
“Oh god,” Rue whispers before sucking lightly on my tongue.
I think I expected a little less experience with the kiss, maybe even some sloppiness if I remember my teen years well, but Rue is controlled, following my lead, and it’s one hell of a kiss.
I break away slowly, because continuing this in public isn’t a good idea for either of us.
“Wow,” he says, his cheeks flushed. “That was incredible.”
“Yes.” I brush my thumb across his chin. “You are delicious.”
He smiles, searching my eyes. “You’re a fantasy come to life.”
“Have you been kissed before?”
“Not like that. I kissed a girl once, and it was awkward and not fun at all. She was really pretty and I liked her, so I thought maybe I could like her that way too, but no.”
“That’s the only kiss before this one?”
He shrugs. “Sometimes Leon kissed me, but it wasn’t nice or romantic. It was rough and showing off to his friends. As far as I’m concerned, this was my first real kiss.”
The mention of Leon sets me off again and my body heats with rage. “I’m gonna talk to Shadow tomorrow and then I’m going looking for that piece of shit. He’ll beg for death before I’m done with him.”
Rue smiles at me. “Good. He deserves only bad things.”
“He’ll get them.”
Two hours later, we’re ready to leave the club and I can barely stand still while we wait for the valet to bring the car around. Rue and Colson are huddled together talking, and Rue just looks so vibrant, not at all like the scared man I snatched just yesterday.
While we wait, a group of men appear across the street and Whisper stiffens. Specter notices as much as I do.
“What’s up, man?” Specter asks.
“Fucking trouble, right there.” He lifts his chin in the direction of the men. “The guy in the middle doesn’t look like he wants to be there.”
I focus on the group, spotting the source of Whisper’s concern. Out of the five men, one of them, a short guy with a petite frame, is being sort of dragged along, like he’s not entirely aware of his surroundings.
“We should leave it,” Specter says, but I already know from his tone what’s coming next. “But I’m nosy. Shall we?”
“Fuck yeah,” Whisper says.
“Stay here with Colson,” I say to Rue.
Colson pulls him close, nodding, and the three of us cross the busy street, darting around cars who honk at us. Like we give a fuck.
The group of men have disappeared down an alley, and it’s pretty easy to find them.
It’s hard to see in the dark what’s happening, but as my eyes focus, I see the guy they had with them being pushed around the group, roughed up.
One guy is pulling the man’s jeans to his knees as we come up on them.
He’s holding a stick in his hand and rage spills through me.
The taller one turns and looks at us, pulling his head back. “This ain’t none of your business. Get the fuck out of here.”
Specter chuckles. “Hear that, boys? We should get the fuck out of here,” he mimics.
“What if we don’t want to?” Whisper asks. “What if we like it here?”
“You want to join in?” another guy asks. “The fag won’t know.”
I crack my neck. It could’ve been anything—a drug deal, a hookup. But I have a sneaking suspicion it’s about to be a hate crime if we don’t intervene. I swear to fucking hell, this shit is getting old.
The guy they have on his knees looks up and sways, but I see the moment clarity hits for a few seconds and fear saturates his features.
“Where the fuck am I?”
One of the guy’s backhands the victim hard enough that he topples over. That’s it. That’s fucking it.
“Now you fucking did it,” Whisper says, stepping out of my way as I descend on the guys.
The man drops the stick and pulls a knife from his pocket, which makes me laugh.
“Look, Specter, dude brought a knife to a Carnage fight.”
Specter chuckles. “Poor bastard won’t even know what hit him.”
I grab the guy with the knife by the neck and immediately force him toward the building behind him, slamming him against the craggy brick.
“Fuck.” He coughs, gripping my hand.
I can hear the other guys being terrorized by Specter and Whisper, but I pretty much black out with rage at this point, pummeling the guy until his blood splashes on my face.
Specter likes his guns, Whisper too, but I like to get my hands dirty.
I want them to feel it. I want them to know what’s happening and fear it.
I want them to think about their goddamn souls as they slowly slip away.
I bash the guy’s head against the wall one more time, then let him slump to the ground. I swing around to see if anyone else is left, but Whisper is helping the victim to his feet, and Specter is dragging the other bodies behind a dumpster.
My breathing is harsh, and it takes several minutes for me to calm down and get my head on straight again. That’s when I focus on the two figures standing at the entrance to the alleyway, my gaze sucked in by the beautiful man watching me.
Rue.
I expect disgust or even fear on his face. What I don’t expect is pure, unadulterated lust—his lips parted, pupils blown, and cheeks flushed as a streetlight shines down on him.
“Here, brother.” Whisper hands me a handkerchief.
I wipe the blood off my face and hands, then shove the stained cloth into my pocket. I approach Rue slowly, giving him space to panic or avoid me, but he stands firm.
“Why are you here?”
“Some guys were talking shit to us,” Colson explains. “I thought it was safer here.”
Nodding, I blow out a breath. “Sorry you had to see this.”
“I’m not.” Rue drags his teeth over his bottom lip again. “That was…” His words trail off as he shakes his head.
“I would never hurt you.”
“I know. You hurt bad guys.”
“They were gonna do things to him. Hurt him.”
Rue nods while Whisper and Specter walk by, their arms around the victim as they help him over to our car.
“We should go, Carn,” Specter says.
I go to walk past Rue, but he grabs my arm and loops his through it.
We duck into the back seat quickly to avoid me being seen by the club staff and patrons while the rest of the guys join me.
We sit the victim in the front seat next to Specter, while Whisper drives, and Rue and Colson sit in the back with me.
We’ll drop the victim at the city hospital so he can get some help.
No telling what those losers drugged him with.
He’s semi-coherent as Specter asks him if he knows what happened.
“Gang,” he mutters. “Initiation tonight.”
“You want to join the gang?” Whisper asks, clearly annoyed.
“Nooooo,” the man groans. “Grabbed me.” He coughs and leans forward. “Club. What… Gave me something.”
“We’re taking you to the hospital,” Whisper says. “They can help.”
The man just nods, leaning against the car door. “Thanks.”
“Do you know the name of the gang?” Specter asks.
“No. New here. Fight with Italians.”
Specter looks back at me and frowns. Lately, every time we’ve heard of more problems in this city, they sound less like a gang and more like a Mafia still in its early stages, which could cause us some trouble in the long run depending on what kinds of crime they like to run.
“Shamrock,” he mutters. “Tattoo.”
“They all have a shamrock tattoo?” I ask.
He nods, his eyes closing. “So tired.”
“We’re almost there,” Whisper says.
Ten minutes later, we deposit the victim in the ER and take off before anyone can ask questions. Rue takes my hands in his, checking for damage.
“You scraped your knuckles.”
“You should get used to that,” Specter says, now sitting next to Colson in the front seat. “He could use any number of weapons, but he’s more lethal than anything else I’ve ever seen.”
“Messier,” Whisper says with a slight chuckle. “But lethal.”
“I use a knife sometimes. Not guns. Too noisy and too efficient. I like them to know what’s happening to them.”
Rue gazes at me like I just invented the sun. “You’re so strong. You’re never afraid?”
“Not yet.”
“He’s like… I don’t fucking know. He turns into something else when he’s triggered,” Specter says. “It’s like he leaves his body and some kind of beast takes over that doesn’t go away again until he’s done what he set out to do.”
Rue studies my face. “But you don’t get mad at your brothers or other people?”
“Not that kind of mad, no. I promise you’re safe. There’s nothing you could do—or I should say, that you would do, to piss me off like that. It’s not who you are.”
He nods, leaning in a little bit. “I’ve never felt so safe in my life.”
“You are safe.” I brush my thumb across his cheek. “So safe.”
“And when you find Leon, that’s what you’re gonna do to him?”
I nod. “Something like that.”
Rue grins, sliding his hand up my thigh. “Hot.”
Colson chuckles.
Rue presses against my side, brushing his lips over my ear. “I want your cock in my mouth when we get back to your house.”
And just like that, my boner is back. “That can be arranged.”