Unhinged by Onley James

Adam’s blood boiled at his brother’s casual threat. Were they trying to intimidate Noah? Scare him? Make him leave? Noah’s thumb began to lazily stroke the side of Adam’s hand, as if he could sense his agitation and wanted him to relax. Maybe he could. Maybe that was Noah’s superpower. He had too much empathy and Adam had none at all. Was that a bad thing? To Adam, it felt like balance. Did Noah feel the same?

“I think you’re making our baby brother mad,” Avi said, amused. “He doesn’t like when you threaten his new toy.”

Asa snickered. “Atticus said this one is different.”

“Well, we know that. When have you ever known Adam to bring home any of his playthings? Hell, when was the last time he even saw the same boy twice? Yet here he is, all tied up in knots over this one in just…what? A week?”

Two days. Just two days. But it felt like more. It felt like he’d met Noah a million years ago and they’d been separated all this time. And now, he was back. Back where he belonged. With Adam. And that was how it would stay, no matter who tried to get in their way. But Adam kept that to himself. He wasn’t allowed to threaten his brothers.

One of his father’s many rules. Never turn on family. What if they turned on him first? It felt like they were threatening Noah, like they wanted to make Noah so scared of them that he wasn’t willing to risk life with Adam. His jaw clenched and relaxed, clenched and relaxed, his whole body flushed with…something…at the thought of Noah leaving him. Noah could never leave him. Never. He belonged to Adam. No matter how wrong it was. Or crazy. Or possessive. Noah was his.

Noah’s thumb stopped stroking and his hand squeezed Adam’s hard, pulling him out of the rage spiral currently consuming him. Asa and Avi had their creepy twin thing, so they were only talking out loud to piss Adam off and to make Noah uncomfortable. Brother stuff. That was what his father called it. He said it made them seem normal. Siblings teased each other. Siblings had banter.

His siblings were going to need a ride the rest of the way home if they didn’t shut the fuck up because he was going to dump them on the side of the highway. They had it coming. Even his father would see that, once he explained it. They could call an Uber.

Noah craned his head around to give Adam’s brothers a hard look. “I don’t know if this is, like, your attempt at intimidating me, or if you’re just trying to piss him off, but if I tell you I’m suitably terrified, can we please move past whatever the fuck this is?” he asked, gesturing between them.

The twins blinked at each other, then at Noah, their confusion obvious. Adam squeezed Noah’s hand this time, giving him a smile he hoped conveyed how…proud of Noah he was. He was so soft in some ways. His skin, his features, the way he melted into Adam’s arms and his brown eyes went hazy when he let Adam take control. But he wasn’t a pushover. He wasn’t one to back down, even if it killed him. That was a necessary trait to navigate a life with Adam.

“What do you know about Noah’s case? Get us up to speed,” Avi finally said.

Adam’s shoulders sagged, all the tension leaving his body. He gave them what background he had before adding, “One of the men Noah remembered hurting him was his father’s best friend, Gary. He owns the strip club where Noah works.”

“You work for the man who molested you?” Asa asked.

Noah nodded. “I didn’t know he molested me when I started working there. I needed a job and a place to park my trailer. He seemed surprised to see me. It had been a long time. Looking back, he definitely tested me to see if I remembered anything about when I was a kid. Since I didn’t, he eventually caved.”

“That’s smart. Getting in with him like that. That takes balls,” Avi said, sounding impressed, though begrudgingly. “Have you learned anything about this Gary guy since you started working there?”

Adam glanced at Noah, his face half obscured in shadow. When he didn’t seem interested in answering, Adam did it for him. “We broke into his house last night and scored a key and half of an encrypted hard drive Calliope’s trying to crack. But that’s it. She’s trying to track down where the key came from, but it’s most likely a dead end.”

“Why half a hard drive?” Asa asked.

“We were interrupted while I was cloning it. It was an almost three hour download,” Adam said, eyes flicking to his brothers in the rear view mirror.

“Christ, that’s a lot of kiddie porn. Sick fuck,” Avi noted. “Who or what interrupted you?”

“A stranger,” Noah said. “I’d never seen him before.”

“Conan Greevey,” Adam explained, squeezing Noah’s hand. “Calliope ran him down quickly. He wasn’t trying to hide. Runs the city’s youth programs, which means, given his association with Gary, he’s definitely ending up on our list.”

Adam didn’t feel the need to clarify for anybody which list he referred to.

“These pieces of shit really are everywhere,” Noah said, voice sounding a bit hollow.

“Did Gary seem suspicious tonight?” Adam finally thought to ask.

Noah shook his head. “No more than usual. He interrogated me about the backpack again. I asked him about the cabin.”

Adam cut his eyes to Noah, mouth forming a hard line as his pulse picked up. “That was dangerous.”

Noah shrugged. “I was subtle about it. He claims he sold it years ago, that it belonged to his father. But I think he’s fucking lying. I think he still owns it.”

“How many of them do you remember?” Avi asked Noah.

“What?” Noah mumbled, turning to glance at Avi once more.

“The men. How many do you remember? Four? Ten? Thirty?”

Adam heard Noah swallow audibly and wanted to tell his brother to back off and shut the hell up, but Noah needed to decide if he wanted to answer or not. He made the rules outside the bedroom, that was what Adam had promised.

When Noah did finally speak, his voice was strained. “I don’t remember exactly. I don’t want to,” he clarified, as if he thought they might suggest he dig deeper into his memories. “My father and Gary definitely…touched me…but there were also men who watched. Two or three of them. I have nightmares about hands on me. Voices giving instructions. I think if I see their faces, I can probably tell you who…participated.”

“Besides, even if these men didn’t touch Noah, they definitely touched somebody else’s kids. They deserve whatever happens next,” Adam said.

“Did Calliope have anything helpful to add?” Asa asked, voice droll.

Only that Noah might not be Wayne’s son and could potentially have a whole other family out there. Part of Adam wanted to forget all about that. To just pretend he didn’t know it. If Noah had a real family out there, he might leave Adam behind. But he wasn’t that selfish. He wouldn’t deny Noah a chance to know a real family. But he also wasn’t going to get his hopes up. He’d get the DNA sample from him first, then tell him if there was something to tell.

“We’ll figure out who did this and we’ll make them pay,” Adam promised.

“Yeah, I know,” Noah said, turning to give him a reassuring smile.

“Well, when you do figure it out, we want in,” Asa said.

Adam didn’t answer. He had no problem with his brothers helping and would likely need them if there were several child abusers as Noah suspected.

* * *

They dropped the twins at their place before heading to Adam’s. Noah didn’t talk much once they were gone, just fidgeted in the passenger seat, seemingly tense with the twins no longer controlling the conversation. Had they said something that made Noah question this thing between them? The idea of Noah leaving, changing his mind about Adam, was like a knife in his throat, making it hard to swallow. Noah was his. Just his. If Noah didn’t feel the same, Adam didn’t know what he’d do.

Asa had called Noah Adam’s new favorite toy, but that wasn’t true. Adam had never had a favorite anything, didn’t form attachments to people or objects. He held a connection to his family because that was what society expected and they had a common goal. Their union kept all of them safe and allowed their father’s experiment to continue. He’d always imagined if he could form attachments it would be to them. He’d protect them, would mourn the loss of their absence, but losing them didn’t cut into him like the idea of no longer having Noah in his life.

Societal conventions said Adam shouldn’t tell Noah any of these things, shouldn’t tell anybody that he’d somehow fallen for a boy he’d only known for a few days, unless one counted the two weeks of stalking he’d done post death threat. But Adam had already told him, had already made his intentions clear, right? Noah understood what he was to him. He had to know. He had to feel it, too. Maybe this was all too intense for Noah. Maybe meeting his brothers had finally made Noah understand who Adam was deep down inside.

He white-knuckled the steering wheel the whole way back to the loft, casting furtive glances at Noah, who had abandoned Adam’s hand to tangle his fingers together in his lap, watching the world go by through the passenger side window. He didn’t seem afraid or even bothered, but there was a tension in the car that hadn’t been there just moments ago, a thickness to the air between them that almost felt like he could reach out and touch it. It kicked up his baser instincts, the ones responsible for his survival, and Noah was now a thing necessary for Adam’s survival.

Once parked in the garage, Adam opened Noah’s door. He took Adam’s hand and gave him a hesitant, almost nervous smile. The knot in Adam’s stomach loosened somewhat. When they stepped onto the elevator, Noah slipped his hand back into Adam’s, and the wave of relief was so overwhelming, it took his breath away. But that relief quickly turned to a need to claim, to make Noah understand who he was to Adam.

As the doors closed, Adam shoved Noah up against the wall, gripping his face in his hands and kissing him as the car lurched into motion. He swallowed Noah’s surprised squeak, some feral part of him wondering what other kinds of sounds he could pull from Noah if he applied just the right amount of pressure. He felt the moment the tension left Noah, his whole body relaxing against Adam, letting him kiss him any way he wanted.

That was the thing about Noah; he wasn’t weak or frail. He wasn’t some meek little timid mouse who was too afraid to speak up. And that made his total submission just so much hotter. It made Adam want to do dirty things to him, made him want to pin him down and make him scream or whimper or moan. It made Adam want to invade him, every fucking part of him, until there was no telling where he stopped and Noah started.

“I want you so fucking bad,” he growled, releasing Noah’s face so he could bite along the shell of his ear.

“Let me shower and you can do anything you want to me,” Noah promised breathlessly before his tongue plunged back into Adam’s mouth, giving as good as he got.

They tumbled from the elevator, into the hallway, Adam shoving him up against every available surface to kiss and lick and tease over whatever bit of Noah he could get to, only stopping to fish his key from his pocket. Once inside, he trapped Noah up against the door. “I want to be inside you. Now.”

Noah moaned. “Shower…”

Adam wrapped his hand around Noah’s throat. “Now.”

Noah shoved Adam away. “No. No. No. Shower first. Then sex. That’s not up for debate.” When he saw Adam’s sullen expression, he rolled his eyes and smiled. “You can shower with me,” he coaxed, giving him another lingering kiss. “You can even wash my back.”

Before Adam could reply, Noah began stripping, leaving a trail of clothing behind him in a way that shouldn’t have been sexy but somehow was. Adam picked up the fallen pieces like breadcrumbs, dumping them in his hamper, entering the bathroom just as Noah stepped under the shower head, eyes closed, face tipped into the spray.

Adam slowly peeled off his own clothes, not in any attempt to seduce but just because he was loath to take his eyes off Noah long enough to complete the task. Once naked, Adam just stood there, bottom lip trapped between his teeth, his eyes following the water as it ran over Noah’s skin, clinging to every muscular curve. Noah was fit but without the washboard abs and bulging biceps of the rich kids Adam usually partied with. Noah’s body had been carved from labor, not the gym, and he couldn’t get enough of it.

Adam stepped in behind Noah, who glanced up over his shoulder. Droplets of water clung to his lashes, and his tongue darted out to taste the water on his lips. Adam wanted a taste, too. He cupped Noah’s face, giving in to temptation.

The thought had him groaning into Noah’s mouth, his hands sliding around to grip his ass and pull him close enough to feel his hard cock press against his hip.

Noah broke the kiss, grabbing the washcloth and holding it out to Adam. “Help me?”

Adam’s nostrils flared at Noah’s breathless tone. “Seems a waste when I’m just going to dirty you up again.” Adam sulked before catching his mouth once more, nipping hard enough to draw blood, then sucking on Noah’s wounded lip.

Noah tilted his head to give Adam access to his throat. “Promises. Promises.”

Adam laughed, spinning Noah back around and dragging him up against him. Noah dropped his head against Adam’s shoulder, eyes floating closed as he began to wash him.

He took his time, using the soapy cloth to explore Noah’s body, drawing the rough cotton material over one nipple while his fingers teased the other, floating lower over his belly, wrapping his cloth-covered fist over Noah’s cock, jerking him slowly. “Adam…” he groaned, face tipped just right for him to watch Noah fall apart.

He pressed his lips to Noah’s ear, even as he let the cloth work along his body, scrubbing every fold and crevice before pressing his erection against the curve of Noah’s ass. “This was your idea. I would’ve had you bent over the mattress by now, my fingers already deep inside you, working you open so you’re nice and ready for me.” Noah’s eyelids fluttered, lips parting as his breaths quickened. Noah was always so responsive. “Do you feel how hard you make me? I want to be inside you so fucking bad right now. I want to breed you, mark you… I want my scent on your skin. People need to know…”

“Know what?” Noah whispered.

Adam’s hand closed around his throat, gripping just tight enough to pull a shuddery sob from him. “That you’re mine. Just mine. That you fucking belong to me.” Adam dropped the washcloth, encircling Noah’s cock with his soapy hand. “You like that, don’t you? Like being mine?”

Adam needed the words, too, needed Noah’s confession, but his only response was a stilted nod and a broken sob. The sound shot straight to Adam’s dick. He wanted to tease Noah, make it good for him, but he was two seconds away from just pushing him up against the shower wall and impaling him right there.

“You want me inside you?” Adam crooned as he licked the water from the shell of his ear. “You want me to fuck you? Fill you up? Make you take it? All of it? All of me?”

Noah’s hips flexed as he tried to work himself into Adam’s loosened fist, giving another little whine of frustration when Adam didn’t give him what he wanted. He tightened the hand at Noah’s throat until he could feel his pulse thrumming beneath his fingertips.

“I asked you a fucking question,” he growled into his ear, tone menacing.

Noah shivered against him. “Fuck. Yes. You know I want that, too. Stop teasing me and fuck me already.”

Adam blew out a breath at Noah’s panting words, fingers squeezing his throat just a tiny bit tighter. “I need to hear it. I need to hear you say it. Tell me.”

“I want you to fuck me. Fill me up,” Noah promised, still trying to work his way in and out of Adam’s clenched fist. “Make me beg.”

Adam’s teeth sank into Noah’s throat. “Is that what you want? To beg?”

Noah didn’t answer, just whimpered.

Adam couldn’t take it anymore, he dropped to his knees on the tile, biting Noah’s ass cheek hard enough to make him hiss in pain. Adam tongued over the imprints from his teeth. “Open your legs.”

He made a low rumbling noise in his chest when Noah did as he was told without hesitation. Adam skimmed his fingertips over his balls before trying to spread him open. Noah was too tense. Adam bit him once more, then soothed over the spot. “Open up for me, baby. I want to taste you.”

This time, when Adam touched him, he opened easily. Adam took advantage, burying his face in the heart of Noah, teasing his entrance, licking and sucking at it until Noah’s legs were shaking.

When Adam pressed his fingertip into Noah, he moaned. “Fuck.”

When Noah tried to push back, Adam pulled free, standing once more. Noah gave another frustrated sob, but Adam just wrenched the water off and pulled Noah out of the shower. He used a towel to roughly dry them both before he slapped Noah’s ass hard enough to leave his handprint on his skin. Noah moaned.

That was something Adam would definitely need to explore more later. “Bedroom. Now. And you better run because I plan to fuck you wherever I catch you.”

Noah grinned then took off running. Adam counted to five before taking off after him at a dead run, catching him just as he reached the bed and tackling him, pinning him to the mattress. He kept a hand on Noah’s chest while he reached for the lube still sitting on the bedside table. He spread Noah’s legs, sitting back on his heels to look at him before slicking up two fingers and pressing them to Noah’s hole.

He didn’t know what he wanted to see more—the way Noah’s body made room for him or Noah’s reaction to the invasion. Adam moved over him, weight braced on his palm just beside Noah’s head. He tried to turn away, to look at the wall, but Adam wasn’t having it. “Look at me.” Noah slowly dragged his gaze back to Adam’s, his expression so vulnerable it took Adam’s breath away. “You feel so good.”

Noah shivered, pushing himself down on Adam’s fingers, his hands fisting in the comforter beneath him. He couldn’t wait anymore. He needed to be inside him. He sat up, then froze. Noah frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Condom?”

Noah’s tongue darted out to lick over his lower lip. “I’m negative. On PrEP. You?”

Adam nodded, voice strained as he said, “Same.”

“I don’t want anything between us,” Noah finally said.

“Thank fuck. Me neither.” He moved to the edge of the bed, slicking up his cock before crooking his finger. “Come here.”

Noah’s eyes widened as he realized what Adam wanted, but he didn’t protest, just stood and slid a leg over until they were face to face, gripping Adam’s cock and pressing it to his hole. Adam groaned as he was enveloped in the tight heat of Noah’s body.