Page 3 of Ex Meridian
Meridian’s voice was tortured with yearning he wasn’t supposed to possess. “Do not ask questions that require no answer, Xavier.”
A current of intense need hit Ex in the gut so hard he struggled not to double over. He gasped into Meridian’s mouth, his lips trembling.
Smoke smoldered in his partner’s onyx eyes, passion dominating his touch.
Ex removed the single rose from between the candles. He didn’t smile, didn’t fall into Meridian’s arms. It wasn’t how they showed affection.
He pressed the silky petals to his nose and inhaled the sweet, earthy fragrance.
“A black rose…fitting for my raven.”
Their eyes met, a powerful energy rippling between them.
Ex turned toward a sight that made unabashed evil thoughts pound against his temple.
Meridian removed his touch and allowed Ex to feel the full force of the rage and fury taking over his mind. He reached inside his tactical vest and extracted his butterfly blade.
“Meridian.” Ex’s wrath burned in his throat, making his voice grittier and deeper than normal. “Your generosity overwhelms me, dark angel.”
Ex stared hard at Caesar Grey, the founder and leader of the Grey Jade crime family, sitting hunched over in a high-backed chair with his wrists and ankles bound.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Xavier,” Meridian whispered.
Ex froze.
His partner was a stoically serious man of few words and even less personality. So when Meridiandidspeak…Ex reacted.
His fists shook with a warrior’s battle response.
The center of his world had done the impossible for him. Meridian had caught and gift-wrapped his current obsession for him to torture and kill…on Valentine’s Day.
Romantic motherfucker.
Ex took deliberate steps across the dusty concrete floor, closing the distance while contemplating his most sinister forms of punishment.
The crime lord shook his head, his pupils blown wide at the site of Ex’s blade.
He didn’t stop until Caesar had to tilt his head back to look at him.
Ex squatted to change the direction of his view, studying. He’d never had his enemy served up on a platter.
Meridian hadn’t beat him much, only primed him for his arrival.
Caesar mumbled some desperate nonsense behind the wads of duct tape over his mouth.
“Do you know how many families’ lives you’ve destroyed?” Ex tilted his head, his voice void of all humanity and compassion. “Hmm, do you? How many innocent daughters and sons you’ve taken from their homes in the middle of the night like the fucking boogeyman.”
Caesar’s cheeks pumped in and out in an attempt to breathe through his panic. Or perhaps he was hyperventilating.
“I was never afraid of such things,” Ex confessed, staring lovingly at his blade. “The boogeyman was afraid ofme.”
Ex snapped his hand out and sliced through the T-Rex duct tape over Caesar’s mouth, then ripped the rest of it away, taking pieces of beard and skin with it.
Caesar hollered in agony, the sounds of his pain and fear ricocheting off the steel walls.
“That’s right.” Ex closed his eyes and sighed with relief. “I wanna hear your screams.”
“I’m begging you, don’t kill me. I can make you rich beyond imagination.”