Mad Man - Necessary Evils #5 - Ch. 10 (Patreon)

Chapter 10FelixFelix couldn’t move. He laid there naked, held hostage, under the weight of a two hundred pound psychopath snoring into his ear and sweating like a runner who just crossed the finish line. Avi was naked, too. Naked and hard. He could feel it pressing against his hip. It left Felix conflicted. He wanted his freedom, but he also wanted Avi. Was this what relationships were like? Felix tried to wiggle himself out from under the arm and leg thrown over him, but it was no use. He elbowed Avi in the ribs, but he only gripped him tighter, snuggling even closer. He was no longer snoring. “I know you’re awake. You have to get off,” Felix said, wiggling more aggressively.Avi chuckled. “I’m always happy to get off with you, kitten. Last night should have proven that.” Felix gave an exasperated sigh, even as he blushed, his thighs and ass twinging with pain, almost like they, too, remembered. Avi had taken orders much better last night than he was now. Over and over again, he’d let Felix boss him around, doing literally anything he wanted. Bossing Avi around was a little addictive. No, it was a lot addictive, especially when the reward was orgasms. Felix tried to push Avi’s leg off him, but he refused to yield. “You have to get off me. I’m little and you’re enormous.” “I don’t know, I’d say you’re proportionate, but your definition of me is accurate. My dick is huge,” Avi said, tone teasing.His dick was huge. So was his ego. Felix refused to give him the satisfaction of confirming either. “Avi,” he whined. “I’m melting, and you’re sweaty and gross. How are you this hot?” “Genetics,” he mused. “You?” Felix huffed out another dramatic sigh. “My next ‘nudge’ is my knee into your balls.” Avi gave a delighted laugh. “You can’t move. You’re my hostage. My snuggle hostage.” “How are you a cold-blooded killer?” Felix asked, exasperated. “My love of murder doesn’t have anything to do with my capacity for cuddles. They’re not mutually exclusive.” Felix shook his head. To Avi, they were two separate things. To Felix, too, but he wasn’t a psychopath. Sometimes, he wished he was. It would be nice to not spend his days wallowing in guilt and reliving every past mistake, no matter how small. “You really are like a murderous golden retriever,” he mused.Avi barked out a laugh. “I’m a what?” “It’s something one of the guys said about you in the group chat,” Felix said, still wriggling to get out from under Avi’s limbs. “We can snuggle if you just get off me.” But Avi refused to budge. “You talk about me in your group chat?” Felix froze. “You came up,” he said hesitantly. “Oh yeah? Were you telling them that I’m ‘the one’? That you can’t live without me? That it will be a June wedding?” Avi teased. Felix rolled his eyes. “No, I was telling them you’re relentless, borderline stalkerish, and that I’m just using you for sex,” Felix said haughtily. Avi kissed behind his ear, his voice low and crooning as he said, “I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m always happy to be your sex toy, kitten.” How did he change gears that fast? One minute, joking and playful, and the next, melting off Felix’s metaphorical panties. Still, he tilted his head closer. “Do that again.” Avi complied without question, placing a kiss behind Felix’s ear, then another, his teeth nibbling Felix’s earlobe until his erection had to be obvious. “Do you talk about me to your brothers? Do you have a group chat? I bet that’s a wild thread,” Felix said breathlessly, moaning as Avi’s tongue traced the shell of his ear. Avi froze. Felix’s spidey senses started tingling, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “What? What’s wrong?”“I’m just thinking of something I texted my brother yesterday,” Avi said. “O-kay…” Felix trailed off, hoping Avi would fill the silence. When he didn’t, Felix said, “Are you not going to tell me?”When Avi’s weight suddenly disappeared, it left Felix feeling alone and untethered, all of his insecurities crashing over him once more, fear clawing its way up his throat. Avi was sitting on the side of the bed, his shoulders rigid. “What did you do?” Felix asked, voice tight. After a long moment, Avi turned, criss-crossing his legs to sit beside Felix, his expression sheepish. “You know how I just blurt stuff out and say, like, dumbass things I don’t mean?” Avi asked, holding him even tighter.Felix’s heart slammed against his ribs. “I’m aware that you’re a dumbass sometimes, yeah,” he hedged, sitting up just enough to lean his weight onto one of his hands. Avi sighed. “So, yesterday, Asa was all worked up about something, so I reached out—”“Like, mentally?” Felix interrupted, not even sure why that matters.“No, like via text. Anyway, I sort of got irritated and mentioned his reporter, who he’s decided is his one and only. And I was stressed out, and he said that he knew I was with you so he didn’t know why I was mad, and it pissed me off, so I sort of downplayed what was happening between us. By a lot.” Felix slapped Avi across the face hard enough to leave a handprint. Avi’s pupils dilated, clearly liking the reaction. “What exactly did you say?”“That I just liked teasing you and getting you riled up, and I was going to be a bachelor forever,” Avi mumbled before hurriedly adding, “But I didn’t mean it. You know, deep down, how I feel about you. I know you do. You can hit me again. You can hit me a hundred times. I deserve it, just please don’t blow this up? Please?” Felix could feel the laughter bubbling up within him, that borderline hysterical giggle he got when he was seriously close to losing it. “Bachelor? You said the word bachelor?” he managed around tearful laughter. Felix was spiraling again. Not because of what Avi had said. Weirdly, Avi telling him what he’d said took most of the sting out of it. Avi always ran his mouth without thought, and he was afraid of losing Asa, which nobody understood better than Felix. But it was taking everything in him not to use this as an excuse to end it before Avi could. To just run fast and far in the other direction to protect himself from more of this feeling. He found himself on his back, staring up at a wary Avi. “You’re kind of freaking me out. Is this a panic attack? Are you being possessed? What do you need me to do?” What did he need? What would quell the voice in his head? “You have sixty seconds to tell me why you said what you said before I relocate your balls to a jar on my side table.”Avi sighed. “I just wanted him to feel shitty for doing this without consulting me. Like, he’s making plans that affect both our lives.”“Isn’t that what you’re doing with me?” Felix asked. “Unless you didn’t mean what you said to me yesterday.” Avi looked stricken. “You know I did. I know you’re freaked out, but you know me. You know when I’m serious and when I’m not. That’s why you’re still around after all this time. Because you know when I’m just being an asshole. You get me. Right?” Felix didn’t know how this conversation had taken such a sharp turn, but he found himself giving a stilted nod. “Yeah, I get you.” “Besides, Asa didn’t believe me. He knows how I feel about you. Hell, I’m pretty sure he knew before I did.” “And how do you feel about me?” Felix asked.“Like I can’t stop smiling when I wake up and you’re there. I’m lucky I get to wake up to you every morning? You are the best part of my day. You’re the only thing that matters to me besides Asa. I’m sorry I said something that would hurt you. I don’t ever want to hurt you. Ever. Tell me you believe that?” Did he believe him? Avi had never hurt him before. If anything, Avi had gone out of his way to help him, had pissed off several interns to give him the magazine project, never made him wear Gemini’s clothes, had done everything Felix demanded…enthusiastically. Conversely, Felix had been cockblocking him for months, starting vicious rumors just to keep Avi to himself. Felix’s insides twisted at the thought. “I believe you,” Felix said, the ice around his heart melting at the relief on Avi’s face. He wondered if his comfort would be short-lived. “But I haven’t been fully honest with you. I’ve done things that I’m not proud of either.” “Like what, kitten?” Avi asked, his tone a little too smug for Felix’s liking.Felix took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m the one who has been starting all those rumors about you.” “I know,” Avi said with a grin. “I forgive you. But it would be nice if you could at least see your way to correcting people about the horse thing? I’ve never been anywhere near a horse in any capacity.” Felix frowned. “You’re not mad?” Avi shook his head. “That you’ve been staking your claim on me for months? Nah, kitten. I like you jealous.”Felix snorted. “You say that now.”“I’ll say that forever,” Avi promised, then he was leaning in close, his hips forcing Felix’s thighs apart. “And don’t get it twisted, kitten. Puppy or not, if somebody looks at you, touches you, thinks they have some kind of claim to you…I’m going to show them what a feral fucking junkyard dog looks like.” Felix’s cock stirred once more at the venom in Avi’s voice. It was probably toxic that Avi’s threats turned Felix on, but he didn’t care enough to look at it under a microscope. Avi wanted him, wanted him bad enough to kill to keep him. Didn’t care that he was jealous and a little spiteful. Maybe even liked it.Still, he couldn’t stop himself from cupping Avi’s face, forcing him to meet his gaze. “I want this to work, and I believe you when you say you’re mine.” Avi stared at him with so much heat that Felix almost didn’t continue. “Do you believe me?” Avi nodded. “Yeah, I believe you.” Felix smiled, raising his head to catch Avi’s mouth in a kiss. “Good, because I need you to believe me when I say this: If you ever break my heart, I will carve out your spleen and feed it to you piece by piece. Are we clear?” Avi growled, catching Felix’s lips in a dirty kiss that lingered before drawing back to look at him. “Fuck yeah, we’re clear.” Felix gave a delicate sniff. “I know I’m hard to deal with, too, but you’re going to have to deal with my crazy.” Avi frowned. “What are you talking about? I love your crazy. You’re so goddamn perfect. How do you not know that? I don’t fucking deserve you. I’ll message Asa and tell him the truth.” Felix shook his head. “No. Don’t. Like you said, Asa already knows the truth. He can sense it. But Jericho doesn’t know about us yet, and I want a chance to talk to him alone first. So, let’s just let it be until we get home.” “Okay, kitten. Whatever you want.” Whatever he wanted. All he wanted was to quell the tiny sliver of doubt that lived like a shard of glass embedded in his ribs, sending sharp pains every time he thought of Avi disappearing on him. Felix knew it wasn’t rational. But that didn’t make the fear any less real. But he kept all of that to himself, dragging Avi back down for another kiss.A fist pounding on the door sent a bolt of panic through Felix before Aiden’s muffled voice said, “Calliope has something.” ###“Morning, Calliope,” Felix muttered into Aiden’s phone, which sat face up on the desk in Aiden’s office. Calliope chuckled. “Sugar, it’s one o’clock in the afternoon. Did you just wake up?” Felix took a drink from his Monster energy drink. “It was a long night. Don’t judge me.” Avi smirked at him over the rim of his coffee cup, clearly thinking of exactly how they filled their night. Felix rolled his eyes, until he realized Aiden was also smirking. When had he come home? Was Aiden home last night? Had he heard them from his loft? Felix shook the thought away. “What have you got, Calliope?” Aiden asked.Calliope sighed. “Well, I’m not sure. I’ve connected our three murderers. It took going down an insane rabbit hole, but I can’t imagine why they thought this connection was worth hiding.” “What’s their connection?” Felix asked, perking up.“They were all part of a conference that took place in 2007,” Calliope said.Avi frowned. “What kind of conference?”“A group called Future for America had a young leaders conference, and all three of them attended, along with over a hundred other boys and girls.”“Well, that sounds like a real snooze fest,” Avi muttered.“I don’t know. Get a bunch of mediocre dudes in one room and convince them they’re future world leaders, that could be a recipe for disaster,” Calliope said.“Calliope’s right,” Felix said. “Can you tell us anything else? Were any of the murder victims there?”“Not as attendees of the conference. These were all teens, mostly seniors in high school. The victims would all be at least in their twenties by then.” Aiden went to his murder board and drew a line between each of the men’s pictures, noting the conference as their connection. “So, we’ve got three grown men who met as teens, but who refuse to admit they know each other, and three victims with no discernible connection to each other or these men. What the fuck is going on here?” Aiden asked. “Well, if they don’t want to talk about it, they probably did something illegal,” Felix reasoned.“What is so illegal that they’d rather go to jail than fess up to track down the mastermind behind this?” Avi asked. “They’re looking at first degree murder.” Aiden’s phone trilled, letting him know he had another text. He snatched it from the desk just as Calliope said, “Three teens in ‘07. It could be anything. They all came from money.”“Four teens,” Aiden said. “We’ve got another one. Man committed a murder on camera and then claimed he was drugged. Doesn’t remember anything. Only this one took place in Oregon.” He picked his dry erase marker back up and began to write down a name. “Calliope, was there a Thorpe McKenzie at the conference?” Aiden asked. Calliope tapped rapid-fire on her keyboard. “Yep. He was there.” The three exchanged looks, then Avi said, “You said there were over a hundred people there. What if this person is picking off random people from that conference? That leaves hundreds of potential targets.” Aiden added the sparse details of killer number four, leaving room to add details about the deceased. “If that was the case, the clients wouldn’t be hiding like this. They’d be telling us anything we asked. This has to be revenge, right? So, how do we find out more about them if they won’t tell us?” Avi paced around the room. “Calliope, you said none of the men had any prior arrests or convictions?” “Yeah,” Calliope said. “But you said they were minors? Rich minors. Could they have had their records sealed?” Avi asked. Calliope sighed. “If you’re asking me to attempt to hack sealed criminal records, that’s going to take time.”“It’s just a thought. You should also talk to your client again,” Felix told Aiden. “If he won’t tell us what they did, maybe he’ll at least tell us who else was there when it happened so we can warn the others?” Aiden tossed the marker in the air and caught it. “You two feel like taking a trip to Oregon to see if killer number four is more forthcoming with his information? I’ll go talk to my dickhead client again,” Aiden said. “You can even get a hotel room so I don’t have to listen to you getting it on all night.” Felix flushed, Calliope gasped, and Avi just grinned like an asshole. “Sounds good to me. What do you say, kitten? Wanna go test a mattress at a five star hotel?” “Kitten?” Calliope simpered. “That’s so cute.” Felix tried to glare at Avi but he couldn’t muster up anything close—he just looked so fucking pleased with himself. “Yeah, I could use a change of scenery, I guess.” “Okay, good. But, for the record, I almost don’t even care if we help your client. He sounds like an asshole,” Felix said. Aiden snorted. “Oh, he is. But I don’t even care if he spends the rest of his life in prison, I just need to know the answer for my own curiosity.” “Curiosity killed the cat,” Felix reminded Aiden. Aiden gave a rare grin that took Felix’s breath away. “But satisfaction brought it back.” Felix couldn’t even retort. Aiden was kind of hot in that dirty, mountain-man, hobo lumberjack way Felix used to pretend he was in to. He shook the thought away. One Mulvaney was more than enough. Besides, everybody knew Aiden only had eyes for Thomas. And who could blame him? Thomas was a snack. Hell, he was hot, rich, and held the leash for a handful of killers. He was the whole fucking meal.“Whacha thinking about, kitten?” Avi asked, sliding an arm across his shoulders. “That your dad’s really hot,” he said without shame. “Are you going to go all jealous boyfriend on your dad?” “No, but Aiden might,” Avi teased, keeping his voice low. “Let’s go grab some clothes before you start a war in my family.” Felix smiled. “Okay.” Avi pressed his lips against Felix’s ear. “And maybe you could pack those silky little flowered shorts again? Unless you packed something sexier?” Felix flushed. He had brought something sexier but he was loath to admit it. That would mean admitting he’d hoped something would happen between them. “I’ll see what I’ve got.” “You spoil me,” Avi purred in his ear. Aiden happened to pass them on his way to the door of his office. “Ugh, please save it for the hotel room. I’m already damaged for life after last night.” “Don’t be jealous,” Avi teased. “You’re the one living in the wilderness like some kind of sexless Buddhist monk.” Aiden flicked him off. Avi looked at Felix. “Some people are so sensitive.”Chapter 11Avi