Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
He’d been so very at peace with his temper in check, but now fury hurt Cole’s insides with every passing second. “You’ll stay like this until you tell me what I want to know. You understand that, right?”
It was a bark more than any sound that belonged on a man’s lips, but Cole was beyond caring.
Lars shrugged and grabbed the poker from beside the fireplace. He stuck it into the fire and glanced back at Cole with a smug smile. “He’s sober enough, isn’t he? Say the word, and I’ll get you the answers you need.”
Cole shuddered, as if Lars had poured icy water all over him and extinguished the fire raging inside him. On the bed of blankets, Ned pulled his knees to his chest, and his nostrils flared, but instead of begging for mercy, his mouth formed a whisper that sounded suspiciously like “Just bear it.”
Cole liked Lars and trusted him more than he had anyone in years, even if that trust was tentative and could be withdrawn at any moment, but the man had a vicious side to him that he would not like to see unleashed on Ned. Lars would strip him down and poke the burning iron at his unprotected flesh, smiling at the marks it left behind.
Cole knew what burning hot metal felt like, and nausea got to him every time he allowed himself to think back to the smell of his own forehead charring while five men had held him down.
“No.”
Lars growled. “Why not? Can I not get any entertainment out of this? I’m sick of waiting while he’s being bathed, fed, and fattened up like a Christmas goose!”
“It’s his food we’re eating, and there’s more than enough to last us months. No point in starving him,” Cole said, even though he’d been irrationally happy with Ned’s improved appetite, as if he were nursing an ill horse. Ned would soon fill out and lose the boniness that had worried Cole only days before.
“But it’s fine to starve me?”
Cole raised his eyebrows. “You eat.”
Lars gave a dry laugh and spread his arms as soon as he tossed the poker to the floor. “We haven’t fucked for weeks, Cole! I’m sick of this drought!”
Cole opened his mouth, struck by the realization that in recent days he’d chosen to stay up late with Ned rather than go to bed with his partner.
It was embarrassing.
Cole could have used the nature of his and Lars’s relationship to torment the truth out of Ned, but that ruse was now out of his hands.
“Goddamn it, Lars! He shouldn’t hear any of this!”
“Who cares? We both know he’s not walking out of this cabin alive. It’s only a question of how much pain he’ll have to endure before we put him down. And you’re dodging my question!”
Dog barked in warning, but they all ignored him.
“I do, I care! These things should stay between you and me,” Cole said, rising from the chair, which earned him a snort from Lars, who licked his lips and challenged Cole with a glare of crystalline blue eyes.
“Oh really? Then come to bed and drain my balls before I decide you’ve turned into a eunuch.”
Cole was so livid he couldn’t speak around the lump in his throat. Before he could have dashed at Lars to let his fists do the talking, a raspy growl echoed through the room, rendering them both speechless. Ned rose to his knees and lifted his upper lip in a wolf-like snarl before making the terrible sound again. Even Dog, who knew this new Ned better than anyone else, tapped his paws against the floor and sank next to him with ears flattened in submission.
“I—” Cole cleared his throat, face hot as if the poker resting on the floor was about to touch it. “I’m not on your beck and call. Have Dog lick your balls if you like him so much!”
Lars huffed and patted his thigh. “Come, Coley-boy, let’s go. I need a drink, and I’m not allowed to have any inside,” he complained, sending a poisonous glare Cole’s way.
Ned growled again, like a dog trying to protect its master, but Lars paid him no mind and left, slamming the door behind him with so much force even the window panes shook in warning.
Cole’s throat felt raw as he pinched the bridge of his nose, listening to the quiet left behind by Lars’s rowdy presence. The crackling of the fire sounded like someone stomping over dry twigs, but while Ned’s breathing was reminiscent of wind howling through a deep valley, it didn’t blow with enough force to tear through the sticky web of awkwardness which filled the entire cabin.
“Why don’t you fuck him?” Ned asked, sitting back on his heels and watching him with brand new attention. His eyes were a bright green shade, like the ones belonging to the old Ned, both curious and knowing, like that time Ned had entered Cole’s tent with the intention of sealing their relationship by sucking Cole’s prick.