Call the Coroner (Staniel, #1)

by Avril Ashton

“How long do you plan on keeping me here?” he asked, mostly to cut through the bullshit quiet that grew thicker by the second. Daniel’s expression—as animated as a blank piece of paper—didn’t change. “How long do you think it will take for you to do penance? What length of time will make up for you invading my home and taking my wife from me?” “You realize none of that was personal, right?” Stavros frowned. “You do know I was hired to do a job.” “I have dealt with the people behind the scene who issued the order.” Daniel’s lips quirked, but his eyes remained iceberg cold. “It is now your turn. I left the best for last.” “I am flattered.” “Deberías de estarlo.” You should be.

Daniel’s mouth curved. It was a cruel mouth, set in a harsh face. Stavros always admired cruelty. That didn’t change, not even in this moment, and out of all the things that should have had him despairing of his tenuous grasp on sanity, his admiration of Daniel Nieto’s mouth was nowhere on that list.

“I like to keep an eye on my captives.” He stood and went to the opening of the cage, switching on the overhead light before retaking his seat in the corner. “Besides, you sound like you needed company.” Stavros scoffed. “Is that what you think I am, your captive?” He positioned himself, movements abbreviated, until they were facing each other. “Hardly.” “What do you think you are?” Daniel asked him evenly. “Share.” “I think I’m your mirror image.” He held Daniel’s gaze. “Like knows like, yes?” Stavros licked his chapped lips. “The monster in you recognizes the monster in me,” he whispered. “And it wants to play.”

“I want to kiss you, and I want to kill you.” Mindless. Directionless—or was he? Because his every focus was on Stavros’ face. His destination. A sound left Stavros. A moan. His unshackled hand, the right, slid up Daniel’s shoulder and grasped him by the nape as they stared at each other. They panted together. Stavros looked like Daniel felt. Feverish. “And I want to bleed you.” “Do it. Any one of it,” Stavros whispered against Daniel’s chin. “All of it.”

“I’ve never felt so fucking alive, do you know that? This time with you I’ve never felt so fucking much.” Daniel watched him closely. Stavros traced Daniel’s top lip. Then the bottom. “Estás loco.” You’re crazy. “And I fucking like it.” “You swear a lot,” Daniel said roughly. He chuckled. “I’ve got a filthy mouth.” Daniel’s gaze dropped to Stavros’ lips. “Maybe it will go away,” Stavros said softly. “What you feel. When I’m gone, it will go away.” He dropped his hand and stood. “I want it to go away.” For Daniel’s sake. But what Stavros felt, it wouldn’t go away. He already knew and accepted it.

Feelings. He didn’t do feelings. He didn’t do emotion. Yet everything about his interactions with Daniel was about feelings. About emotion. Hate. Anger. Want. Lust. Hate and anger went deeper, but the others… He couldn’t be sure. Did he just want to fuck Daniel? Did he just want to submit and watch the other man do the same? Was it all about the war between them? Another thought pushed forward in his brain, widening his eyes. Was it guilt, this thing inside him? Was he feeling guilty for killing Petra Nieto and trying to find a way to make up for it? That thought, more than the others, horrified him. He didn’t do guilt. Anything but guilt.

“Good for you, because I don’t know who I am. I don’t know who I am, and you’re the reason.” He bent slightly, letting his lips touch Daniel’s. “You get to run away from it whenever you chose,” he whispered. “But I’m stuck trying to figure it out. Then you show up.” His fingers tightened on Daniel’s skin. “And that’s when I know.” Daniel caught him then, yanking him close until they were pressed together. Fingers on Stavros’ chin, he tipped his face up. “What do you know?” He shook him. “Stavros, what do you know?” “I am yours. To fuck. To torture. To kill. I am yours.” For some reason, the truth of those words were the saddest thing Stavros ever experienced.

“Are you leaving?” The forced nonchalance in Stavros’ voice didn’t suit him. Daniel paused in the process of pulling on his pants. “Still in a hurry for me to go?” He lifted an eyebrow, and Stavros turned away from him, quickly stepping back into his pants. “Just a question.” But it wasn’t. Daniel put back on only his underwear. “Unless you’re kicking me out,” he said softly. “I’m not leaving.”

“This is crazy, you know that right?” Daniel nodded. “I know.” He took a deep breath and put his forehead to Stavros’. “I have to go.” The Greek tensed slightly. “Is this you running from me?” “Yes.” Daniel gave him the truth, rubbing his nose over Stavros’. “But I’ll always end up back here, next to you.” “Do you want to be here?” Stavros asked against his lips. “I could chase you, hunt you down, but I don’t do that ‘for sport’ shit.” He touched Daniel’s chin. “I’m not the catch and release type.” Daniel grinned and under his touch, Stavros’ pulse answered. Speeding up. “I want to be here.” He brushed his lips over Stavros’. “You should know that by now,” he murmured.

“Her absence created this deep black hole inside me.” Hand on his chest, he told Levi, “But his presence makes that hole not so big. Or deep. Or dark.” A small smile touched Levi’s face. “You love him.” Did he? “He is—” His voice broke and he glanced away, failing at an attempt to compose himself. “He is my want, and my need, and my danger.” “Yet you want to walk away.” He met Levi’s gaze again. Whispered, “Yes.” “Why?” “Because it’s easier.” The cold coil of dread in his gut put doubt to those words, but he knew better. He’d experienced it before. “Because I cannot lose again.”

“I forgive you.” Daniel closed his eyes, and the sensation of being closed off made Stavros dig his fingers into Daniel’s back. “Why?” His voice broke, and that had Daniel’s eyes flying open. “Why do I get forgiveness?” His touch gentled in Stavros’ hair. His eyes, where they rested on Stavros’ face, they were soft too. Softer than any touch he’d given Stavros before this moment. “Because I needed you, and to have you I had to forgive you.”

“You want to share a life.” “I do.” Daniel licked his lips. “I know commitment and monogamy aren’t things you’re familiar with.” His fingers tightened on Stavros’ face. “I don’t expect—” “Expect.” Stavros grabbed Daniel’s hand, bringing it to the middle of his chest. Holding him there in the tightest grip. “You brought me here. You let me see you. You damn well better expect things from me,” he said fiercely, gaze hot and heavy as the midday sun. “Expect things from me.” “Diablo.” “Expect me to love you like you love me.” He shifted closer, settling between Daniel’s legs. “Expect me to respect you enough to do right by you,” he said hoarsely. “For once, fucking expect me to take care of your heart.”