Played by Cara Dee

Ten

They ran into their first problem on Saturday morning.

It was one thing to plant trackers on cars hidden away in a garage with minimal surveillance and hardly any people around. Tariq had been in and out of the garage in ten minutes while Darius distracted the staff at the rental company’s office by being a demanding customer. He’d managed to keep one of the garage guys in the office throughout the whole thing, asking questions about the vehicle they were renting.

But with Willow in his ear, they’d learned that not all of the fourteen cars they were planting trackers on were in the garage. She’d found three of the cars in the showroom right behind the office, and that was a whole other ball game. There were security cameras in every corner of the space, not to mention staff showing other customers around.

The upside was that said customers were allowed in there, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get close to the vehicles. Darius only had to wait for Tariq to come back from the garage, which was located a quarter of a mile away from here.

“I might need a second vehicle, now that I think about it,” Darius said.

It was comical how the life dimmed in the eyes of the guy on the other side of the counter. Poor kid thought they were done.

“For the duration of… I mean, two vehicles at the same time?” the guy, Mark, questioned.

Darius dipped his chin.

Mark waited further, maybe for a reason as to why Darius hadn’t brought it up sooner, or what it was going to be used for. People in general expected explanations—and offered them—way too fucking willy-nilly.

“Okay. What kind of vehicle, sir?” Mark got his shit together and repositioned himself behind the computer.

“I’m not sure.” Darius rubbed his jaw and gestured toward the showroom. “Mind if I peruse the selection in there?”

“Some of them are reserved already, but of course. Jacob is in there already—if you have any questions, he’ll be happy to help.”

“Thanks.” Darius headed toward the wide doorway and into the showroom that reminded him of a car dealership. The windows faced the interstate, and the morning traffic was in full swing. So was the air traffic. With the airport so close, literally in the city, he saw planes landing every minute.

Many of those passengers would need to rent a car.

There was a reason they’d needed to pull this off early in the day. Business was gonna pick up any moment. But for now, only two other customers were in the showroom, along with a peppy-looking guy in a black shirt and a name tag. And nine gleaming cars.

“Thirty seconds.” Tariq’s voice filtered through Darius’s earpiece.

Willow was next. “It’s the black Porsche Cayenne in the corner, the dark silver Audi Q7 two cars to the left of it, and the black Mercedes GLC right next to you.”

Darius glanced at the Mercedes to his right. Safe to say, the fourteen cars had a few things in common. The windows were as tinted as state law allowed, the cars were expensive, and they were all SUVs.

“Inbound,” Tariq said, out of breath.

“How do you want to play this, Squeezy?” Darius asked under his breath.

“To be honest, I want you to rent one of the cars we’re gonna track,” she responded. “None of them is reserved for the next forty-eight hours. That way, you can each plant a tracker at the same time on the other two, and then scrubbing that sequence won’t look suspicious. It’ll just be a brief connection error on all cameras.”

By then, Darius heard Tariq in the office, explaining he was here to meet a friend in the showroom, and Mark gave the go-ahead to enter.

“Let’s get this over with quickly,” Darius said.

Tariq came into the showroom, and they put on an act of greeting each other and shaking hands. It was how Darius received one of the trackers, and then they faked chitchat while they eyed the targets. Tariq was gonna go over to the Porsche, Darius would follow toward the Audi, leaving the Mercedes for them to bring with them back to the house. Perhaps they could get audio in it. Or a camera feed. Willow would know.

Under the guise of admiring the cars, Darius and Tariq didn’t hold back. They opened the doors, sat down behind the wheels, and discussed which one to choose.

“This one’s a beauty.” Darius reached down and attached a tracker under the gas pedal. In his periphery, he spotted Jacob approaching with the grin of a salesman. “I don’t know if you need to erase the footage, Squeezy.”

“No, I do. On the off chance the Feds wanna look into your whereabouts in Vegas, your behavior here has been a little weird.”

“I can’t possibly be the only difficult customer here today,” he replied.

“Hardly, but it’ll be enough to raise questions if they’re already suspicious of you,” Willow pointed out. “Just get out of the car and rent the Mercedes.”

Hmm.

Darius stepped out of the SUV and let out a whistle to get Tariq’s attention. The guy was stuck talking to Jacob.

“What about that one over there?” He nodded toward the Mercedes once he had Tariq’s attention.

“Let me know if you have any questions, gentlemen,” Jacob said.

Left alone again, Darius and Tariq made their way over to the Mercedes.

And Darius wasn’t satisfied with what Willow had said, on second thought. “You know what’s gonna look suspicious?” He kept his voice low. “If the Feds suspect me, look through the footage, and find a few seconds magically missing.”

That shut Willow up.

There was nothing illegal about being a demanding customer. If anything, it fit his profile. Darius had been called difficult all his goddamn life. As long as the footage didn’t show either of them planting trackers, he would prefer it if Willow left the surveillance alone.

“You have a point,” she conceded. “I’ll look things over once I’ve scrubbed the footage from the garage. I have to get into their cloud.”

Darius didn’t need the details.

It took another fifteen or twenty minutes before they were done and could walk away. Or drive away, rather, in the two vehicles they’d rented. One truck that they actually needed; it would be their transport to run general errands. Then the Mercedes, which they could hopefully equip with more than a simple tracker now that it was in their hands for the next two days.

They still needed a few other cars, but Boone was hooking them up with those. They wouldn’t have Darius’s name on any contract. No paper trail.

* * *

They barely got any rest the entire weekend. In between preparing for everyone’s arrival and spending time with Jayden and Justin, Darius and Tariq were dead on their feet. They spent four hours in the middle of the desert, casing the old brothel, installing surveillance, inspecting the entrance to the compound, and setting up motion sensors. Tariq established a tech lab in the master bedroom of the house in Henderson, which would be Alicia’s domain once she arrived. In the meantime, Darius stocked up on everything they might need. Food, beverages, first aid, towels and clothes that could be thrown away, disinfectants, cleaning supplies, batteries—the list went on for miles.

By Sunday, he was antsy to see Gray.

He went over to Aunt Erin’s house and had lunch with her and the boys, who would have their first sleepover at her place tonight. But he wasn’t worried. She’d watched them several hours every day since they’d gotten to Nevada, and there hadn’t been any problems she couldn’t fix. Jayden was a nonissue. He didn’t have a shy bone in him, and he’d already become friends with Casey and Boone’s daughter. And as long as Justin could call Gray or Darius every now and then, he relaxed pretty quickly. The boy absolutely loved being in the community pool near Erin’s house.

Less than a minute after getting off the phone with Gray—who’d called to say they were about an hour away—Darius’s phone rang again, this time from Jayden.

“Everything okay, buddy?” Darius trapped his phone between his shoulder and cheek so he could pour briquettes into the grill on the patio.

“Yeah, hi!” The laughter in Jayden’s voice loosened the tension Darius hadn’t even known he’d had in his shoulders. “Erin told me to ask you if Justin is allergic to anything. Is he?”

Darius frowned and put down the bag of charcoal. “No? Not that we know of. Why?”

“She was just wondering! She wants to take us out for shrimp and fish tacos for dinner.”

Oh. Darius let out a chuckle, relieved. “You’ve had that at my restaurant already. No allergies—but he prefers fried fish over shrimp.” He had to hold the phone away from his ear when Jayden hollered out to Aunt Erin. And Jayden avoided any kind of reference to Darius, which was curious. Not “Darius said” or “Dad said.” Just, “He said it’s fine!”

Darius wouldn’t have reacted if it’d been the first time. But yesterday, Jayden had done the same thing, only without it being obvious whom he’d referred to. And when Erin had asked, Jayden had merely pointed to Darius.

“Are y’all having fun, small fry? You sound happy.”

“Yeah, we’ve been in the pool since you left!” Jayden replied cheerfully. “Are you still sick? Can you come over?”

Darius winced. Their stay in Vegas was going to be riddled with lies and cheap excuses, one of them being feigning illness. “Afraid not, son. I got a pretty nasty headache. But I’ll see you tomorrow after I’ve looked at a couple cars.” That was another excuse. To Jayden and Justin, it was a two-birds-one-stone kind of family visit. They’d known from the beginning that they were going to spend most of their time with Erin, because Darius had plans to look at things for their home. There was an “agricultural convention” that he had tickets to, a couple of “friends” he had to visit, and so on. And even worse, according to the boys, Gray was only going to come down here for a quick two-day visit in the middle of next week. Safe enough not to coincide with anything going down in Vegas, easy enough to explain as him missing the kids and wanting to see them before he went on a fishing trip with Darius’s pop.

Jayden wasn’t too bothered by Darius not showing up anymore today, and they wrapped up their call after a promise that they’d hear from each other before bedtime.

Darius’s second retirement from his life as a PMC couldn’t come fast enough. He was sick of the lies, sick of balancing more than one reality, sick of flipping that mental switch.

Tariq came out after a while, and he brought the meat for tonight’s barbecue. He’d put on some rock music in the living room too.

It was gonna be a nice evening. It was a perfect seventy-five degrees, blue skies, not a hint of a breeze. They had a pool, albeit a small one, that Darius hoped to feel Gray up in at some point during their stay.

He went over to the table and grabbed a beer from the cooler, then returned to the grill. As requested, the marinated steaks were in a big bowl. So he twisted the cap off the beer and emptied it into the bowl.

Tariq sat down in one of the chairs at the table and sighed contentedly. “Did you talk to Gray?”

“Aye. They’ll be here within the hour.” It was nice that not everyone was arriving at the same time. Tonight, it was just Gray, Ryan, and Niko. The rest would follow tomorrow and the day after. “I have a feeling it’s gonna be a lot of barbecue and pizza this week.”

Tariq grinned and snatched up a beer. “Fine by me. I need a break from the kale and avocado toast of LA.”

Darius couldn’t even imagine. He wasn’t a fan of LA.

They would probably have to plan some minor hoopla for the boys next week, though. Darius wouldn’t put on a damn costume, but maybe they could go out for dinner and get them too much candy to celebrate Halloween. Las Vegas seemed like a good place for that. The town was already a freak show.

* * *

“I missed you, I missed you, I missed you.”

Darius smiled and tightened his hold, burying his face against Gray’s neck. Where he smelled so damn good. And a little bit like he’d been on the road for eighteen hours. “I missed you too. So fucking much.”

“Ugh. Sickening.” Ryan passed them in the living room and went out to the patio. “Oh man, that’s what we smelled from the other side of the house. These steaks look almost done, yeah?”

Shifting his hands to Gray’s cheeks, Darius dipped down and kissed him hungrily, loving the feel of Gray’s whiskers under his fingers. He must’ve trimmed it right before they left. His beard wasn’t as soft.

Forehead to forehead, they caught their breath and just smiled at each other.

“Welcome to Vegas.”

Gray grinned. “Thanks. How did you get hotter in just a few days?”

“Well, it’s seventy-five degrees here…”

“For the love of—” Gray laughed and gave Darius a shove. “The dad jokes are strong in you these days, honey.”

Darius was pleased with his joke. In fact, he couldn’t stop smirking.

“Go mix me a drink, bartender. I need a shower before I become your personal Band-Aid.” Gray snuck up for a quick kiss, then grabbed his duffel off the floor.

“Comin’ right up,” Darius promised.

They parted ways for now, and Darius went outside where everything he needed to make a drink was already waiting for him. Tariq didn’t mess around when it came to celebrating a good weekend’s work, so he’d filled the cooler with—ice, obviously—beer, gin, whiskey, and tequila. Plenty of mixers were spread out on the table too, along with condiments, a big batch of potato salad they’d picked up from Costco, and garlic bread.

Ryan stood at the grill and had shed every item of clothing except for his jeans.

“Oi. I need a word,” he said, looking up from his phone. “I’m playing Wordfeud against Angel, and she’s winning.”

“Isn’t it cheating if we help?” Niko asked. He looked like he wanted to go into the pool. He stood next to the ladder, his toes hugging the edge.

“Who’s gonna tell on me?” Ryan retorted.

“Gray,” Darius deadpanned. He and Angel had bonded; it’d taken them ten fucking minutes. Ten minutes after their initial introduction this summer.

“He’s not here—and come on,” Ry grated. “What happened to bros before h—my beautiful wife?”

Tariq and Niko cracked up.

“Nice save,” Darius said with a wry smirk. “But I’m pretty sure you’ve called her worse things than ho.”

“Well, sure, but only to her face.” He ignored everyone’s laughter and went straight to Tariq. “You’re fluent in what, nine languages? Help me out.” He showed Tariq his phone. “I’d like to use the X. Preferably with a C and no vowels.”

Darius shook his head in amusement and checked on the steaks before preparing Gray’s drink.

* * *

“Is that your second smoke today?”

“It’s my first after my first after my first, and I’m hoping you’re too lit to understand what I just said.”

“I’m not lit,” Gray laughed and leaned in to give Darius’s jaw a nip. “I’ll go easy on you this week. I know you’re under a lot of pressure.”

Thank God.

Darius leaned back and exhaled some smoke toward the night sky as sheer serenity flowed through him. There was no place like home and being with his family, but sometimes you needed something else. Sometimes you needed your man, a few close mates, some good music, and a warm summer night.

It was summer to him, anyway.

Beer was cold, his belly was full, Gray was in a good mood after three drinks…

Niko had surrendered to the pool right after the dinner. He was just floating around in it, looking as comfortable and at ease as Darius felt. And it was nice to see the kid relax. Getting away from Seattle had been exactly what he needed. Although, he would have to revisit his past sooner or later. He still refused to go to therapy, and he didn’t like talking about much of anything.

“Do you remember when we had abs like that?” Ryan asked, nodding at Gray’s stomach.

Darius chuckled lazily and took a swig of his beer.

Ryan sucked his teeth. “I feel like covering up around you two.” That would be around Gray and Niko.

Ry had probably always been more ripped than Darius, though since the birth of the twins…yeah, that changed things. They were on the same level now, Darius reckoned. Fairly fit and with memories of better times.

Gray peered down at himself and patted his stomach. “It’s a good landing strip. Or splash zone, I guess.”

Darius did a double take at him while the others barked out laughs that fucking echoed. Jesus Christ, that kid! Was no topic sacred?

“I’m so fucking glad you joined our family, Gray,” Ryan laughed. “Oh, man. A good landing strip—I gotta share that one with Greg.”

Darius shook his head and put out his smoke. He needed to take a leak. “Animals, all of you.”

Gray caught Darius’s hand and pressed his drunken smile to the top of it in a kiss. “I love you, Dare. Do you love me?”

“I’ll think about it.” He chuckled at the punk and headed inside.

It was clear that Gray had needed this night too.

After relieving himself, Darius went over to the laptops set up in the corner of their bedroom, and he pulled up the software tracking Alfred Lange’s son. It was Casey and Boone who had planted a bug on AJ’s car, and the guy apparently lived on a strict schedule.

He was a bit of a conundrum. AJ worked in the Enforcement Division of the Gaming Board here in Nevada; his job was literally to sniff out organized crime in the casino business. A field agent with a squeaky-clean suit and record. But if they knew one thing, it was that AJ was as dirty as they came. It was in his house they’d found the photos of sixty-two innocent men and women forced into human slavery.

Thanks to those pictures, they’d be able to tie AJ to the crimes of his father too. Because the guy lived an otherwise spotless life. They even had audio in his estate, and so far, nothing. Not a single incriminating word had been uttered. Barely any clues either, for that matter.

The floor creaked near the doorway, and Darius glanced back to see Gray standing there.

A tipsy Gray was a frisky Gray.

Darius smiled faintly. “Do you need something, knucklehead?”

“Maybe.” Gray walked closer and loosened the drawstrings of his sweats. “You don’t seem to notice what a fucking cocktease you can be. Like, with your hand on my leg and stuff. Or when you rub my neck.”

Darius pressed his lips together and laughed silently. To be fair, Gray didn’t require more than a cross breeze to catch a hard-on at times.

“That’s called being affectionate,” he pointed out, amused.

Gray shrugged and came to a stop when they were right in front of each other. “Your affection makes me horny too. What’re you gonna do about it?”

Hmm. The kid knew how to play Darius. Like a fucking fiddle. Because that cocked eyebrow there at the end, and the pinch of attitude in his voice, made Darius wanna put Gray in his place.

“You should be careful, sweetheart.” Darius shifted a hand to Gray’s jaw and ghosted the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip. “I may not be comfortable discussing our bedroom proclivities around other people, but you and I both know I’d have no issue bending you over for the world to see.”

Gray swallowed hard, gaze locked, his eyes darkening. “One of your enigmas. Shameless as fuck until you have to use your words.”

That was one way to put it.

Darius jerked his chin at Gray’s pants. “Drop the sweats and get on the bed.”

“Sir; yes, sir.” Gray turned around and glanced over his shoulder as he slowly revealed his sweet ass. “Like this?”

Darius unbuttoned his pants and rubbed his cock. “A bit more.” In his back pocket, he found his wallet and a single-use pack of lube. “Spread your cheeks for me.”

The teasing attitude faded, and Gray positioned himself on the bed, pushed his pants down to his knees, and tentatively parted his ass cheeks.

“Good boy.” Darius closed the distance between them and brushed a hand along the knucklehead’s spine.

Jesus Christ, he was gorgeous. All of him. Utterly fucking perfect.

Gray stuttered a breath as Darius drew a lone finger between the cheeks. “Are-are you gonna close the door?”

“No, why would I do that?” Darius revealed his cock and stroked himself, getting harder by the second. Then he dipped down and dropped an openmouthed kiss to Gray’s ass. “You’ve already made it clear that you want everyone to know our sex life.”

“That’s not true,” he protested feebly. “Fuck—oh fuck.”

Darius hummed and licked him softly, swiping the tip of his tongue over, around, and inside. It had the desired effect, every damn time. Gray unleashed his inner slut boy, and that was exactly the boy Darius wanted to fuck into oblivion right now.

“Fuck it, I don’t care,” Gray moaned. “I need it. Gimme your cock, Big Daddy.”

Darius straightened again and smirked to himself, and he rubbed the lube over his cock. “Spread your legs and drop lower.” He could fuck his boy harder if he didn’t join Gray on the bed, and fast and hard was exactly how Darius wanted to take him tonight. “You have until I come to get off. If you don’t, you don’t.”

“That’s cruel!”

“I don’t care.” Darius pushed the head of his cock against Gray’s opening, and he sank into the mind-set they were both in the mood for. The one where he took, got rough, and became filthier.

Inch by inch, he filled Gray’s little asshole. He stared at where they were connected, getting turned on by how Gray’s flesh stretched to accommodate him.

“Oh my God…” Gray dropped to his elbows and hung his head. “You feel so fucking good.”

“And you take all of me so well,” Darius murmured. He kneaded Gray’s cheeks roughly, keeping them spread. “You’re a good little whore for me.”

“Always, baby,” Gray groaned. “Anything for you.”

Darius swallowed against the dryness in his throat and gave Gray one more once-over. He soaked up the view, the arch of Gray’s back, how he expressed his neediness by pushing back and digging his fingers into the bedspread… And Darius captured the memory. He closed his eyes, pushed in deep, and found a tight grip on Gray’s hips.

“I meant what I said, boy. Get off before I come, or you don’t get off at all.”

That kicked Gray into action, and he started stroking his cock as Darius quickly increased the pace.

He didn’t need to see a damn thing right now. All he wanted to do was chase his pleasure—take his pleasure—and hear Gray get more desperate for every thrust.

Before long, the room filled with their heavy breathing and the sound of slick skin slapping together. Add Gray’s breathless whimpers, pleas, and moans, and Darius was in heaven.

Except for when the boy got quiet…

“Don’t even try to muffle those sounds, Gray.” He clenched his jaw and tightened his grip, then slammed in harder. Punishing thrusts, quick ones, that pushed Gray up the bed. “That’s what we do at home when our boys are down the hall. Not here after you’ve called your abs the splash zone to my brother.”

Gray let out a string of curses and groans that mingled together, and Darius used it. He kept going faster, ignoring the ache spreading in his thighs, and punched into Gray rapidly, forcefully, until the boy was crying out his orgasm.

The satisfaction coursed through Darius, because he knew who would be blushing when they returned to the others in a moment.

Gnashing his teeth, he redoubled his efforts and felt his own release tingle through him, dropping lower and lower, tightening his balls, and giving him more strength to finish. Then he surrendered with a low growl, rammed his cock deep into Gray, and let go.

At the same time, he lost control—and his footing. He toppled over Gray and fucked him into the mattress as he came.

“Fuck—yeah, fill me, baby,” Gray panted. “Fill me up.”

Darius couldn’t breathe. With his face buried against Gray’s neck, all he could do was obey his body.

Eventually, the high wore off, and Darius shuddered violently.

His heart kept pounding.

“Have fun facing my brother now,” he said, breathing heavily.

Gray made a squeaking sound, which was fucking cute. “I’ll hide my face in your armpit.”

Darius rumbled a chuckle, then winced as he withdrew his spent cock. “Let’s clean up your mess, baby boy.”

“Unngh, I love it when you’re all filthy.”