Body Count (Wayward Sons #1)

by L. Eveland

“Are you going to run away from me, Theo? Because if you run, I’ll have to chase you, and if I chase you, I will catch you.”

“I’m the only one who gets to make you cry, Theo,”

I don’t want to go back. I want to stay with you.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’re only saying that because you’re afraid of me.” “I’m not. I feel safe with you. Safer than I ever have before with anyone.”

“You want to fuck me,” I said. River’s finger stilled. “I want to do more than that, little finch. I want to mark you, sink my teeth into that pretty, soft flesh and leave bruises behind. Not because I want to hurt you. Because I want everyone to see my mark on you and know that you’re mine. Especially Shepherd. I didn’t like the way he was looking at you tonight. I don’t like the way anyone looks at you. Every time they do, all I can think about is biting that pretty neck and sucking on the bruise until it blooms. I want to hold my teeth over your pulse and feel it flutter for me. I want you to ache for me. Only for me.”

“It means if I can’t have you, nobody will,” he said, looking forward again. “And I don’t know how far I’ll go to make sure that remains the case. But I won’t allow anyone to hurt you in a way you don’t want, not even me. I’ll kill anyone who tries.”

I need you to need me like an addict needs the needle. I want to be the fire burning in your veins, Theo. When you breathe, I want you drowning in your need to be with me.”

I groaned as his tongue slid over the bite, licking up the blood. “It’s red,” he said when we parted. “My favorite color is red.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, despite my tears. “Of course it is.”

“Say my name, Theo.” I licked my lips. “River.” “And who do you belong to?” “You.” His hold on me tightened. “Fuck, you’re so goddamn perfect. Do you have any idea how long I’ve needed this? Needed you?” Teeth scraped against a tendon in the back of my neck. “You’re my favorite thing, Theo. My most prized possession.”

There isn’t any line I wouldn’t cross for you. You understand that, don’t you? I’d burn this whole world to ash just to have you. I own you, but you own me too, Theo.”

Be completely mine. All of you, Theo. Even the parts you try to hide from me. Be mine, and I’ll be yours.”

But he was my killer. As twisted as that was, I felt safer with him than I’d ever felt in my entire life.

When I was with River, everything felt different. He was the exception to every rule.

“Our power exchange is consensual. That’s what makes it hot, knowing you’re fighting me because you trust me not to lose it with you. No one’s ever trusted me like that before.”

“Why do you love me?” “Just ’cause,” he said, shrugging. “You get me, and even I don’t get me. Plus, you’ve got a big dick and you know how to use it. You’re like some sort of…sexy psycho killer wizard with a big dick.”

“I knew if I climbed in this bed with you, I was going to have to hold you down and bury myself in the tight heat of your body, and I wasn’t going to care if you were awake for it or not.”

You can next time. If you want. If the urge ever strikes you again. I don’t mind. I think it’d be kind of hot to wake up with you already inside me.”

“Fuck, yes, I am. This is the hottest thing… I mean…” I cleared my throat and continued in an exaggeratedly dry tone, “Oh, no. I hope you don’t make me come against my will. That would be terrible.” He snorted and bit my earlobe. “You’re a fucking brat, you know that?”

You’re my lighthouse, Theo. No matter how far I go, as long as I can still see you, I know I can come back from the dark.”

“What I want is to see you every day for the rest of my life. I want to see you when I wake up every morning, and every night before I fall asleep. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I want to feel you next to me. I want to be the one to hold you when you cry and when you laugh. I want to sit with you on the couch downstairs and read my science articles while you watch your silly animated musicals that I hate. I want to wash your back, and taste your skin, and still be the only one to make you come.” He punctuated each sentence with a kiss along my jaw. “And that applies now, as well as when you’re eighty and your teeth are falling out.”

“And when we die, I want to be with you then, too, Theo. I want us together forever, until we’re nothing but ash and memory.”

I saw him grab a box cutter, my cock gave an excited twitch. He held it out to me. “Show me.” “How?” I already knew what he wanted me to do, but I needed to hear it from him. “Carve it into my skin,” River said, sounding breathless. “Mark me, Theo.” I stared at the box cutter, my mouth dry, then reached to take it with shaky hands. “Are you sure? This will probably scar.” River rolled his hips up against me, grinding his cock against mine. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I want you with me forever, and I want the whole world to know I’m yours.”

Loving Theo was like putting down roots in good soil. It just made sense.