Chapter 8

Picturing what Kovit must have done to Reed made his stomach flop, and Curtis bent over the sink, casting up the alcohol in gasping heaves. Done, he rinsed and cleaned the sink before continuing to hunt for the supplies his sub… Rewind that. The supplies Reed required. Pain reliever in the bathroom cabinet. A cool face cloth and an extra soft towel from the pile in the linen closet. Back in the bedroom, he left the door open so light from the living room gently flooded the space.

At the side of the bed, he looked down at Reed, who hadn’t moved from where Curtis had left him. “Hell, kid. C’mere.”

When Reed didn’t acknowledge him, he cracked open a bottle of water and set it on the nightstand. Opening the pain reliever, he dumped two of the white tablets into his palm and sat on the edge of the bed.

A darker spot on the sheet under Reed’s face said he’d been crying for a while.

Closing his eyes, Curtis swore under his breath. He knew how to threaten, command, flirt, and fuck, but hell if he knew how to coax or comfort.

Putting the pills and water on the bedside table, he reached out and pulled Reed into his lap like he’d seen Lawson do with Matt. Reed stiffened, his bruises coming into contact with Curtis’s arm. Skin feverishly hot, he shook as if chilled.

“I got ya.” Chin on the top of Reed’s head, Curtis tried to comfort him with soothing touches to his upper chest and the portions of his arms, wrists, and hands, that didn’t appear to be hurting. “Tell me if it hurts and I’ll stop.”

“Everything hurts.” Reed spoke through clenched teeth.

Curtis kissed Reed’s hair and reached for the pain reliever again. “Can you take this? Open and I’ll give you one at a time.”

Reed opened his mouth. Popping in first one tablet and then the next, Curtis brought the water bottle to his lips. Reed drank deeply, gasping when Curtis withdrew the bottle and replaced it with a lollipop. “Good boy.”

Using the cool cloth and soothing words that felt foreign on his tongue, he shored up the fragile ego of the man in his arms—how could anyone have wanted to do anything else? Reed wasn’t the kind of use-em-and-lose-em sub a man just walked away from. Which was precisely why Curtis had fought so hard to keep him out of Kovit’s clutches—and his own—in the first place. Laying the cloth aside, he plucked the lollipop stem out of Reed’s mouth. Gathered Reed in his arms and stood. Burying his nose in burnished brown curls, he breathed deep and snagged an afghan from the end of the bed to throw over Reed’s shoulders.

In the living room, he dimmed the lights and nestled into the couch. Cheeks flushed, gold-tipped lashes fanning against creamy skin, Reed appeared the picture of innocence. Curtis’s lips quirked as he recalled the outfit the sub had worn behind the bar tonight.

Who was he kidding? Every time Reed wiggled his ass in leather pants, an angel’s wings incinerated. Not that he had any great love of the feathered fuckers. He wouldn’t mind if they all turned to ash...

Just so long as he could keep Reed from getting burned.