That was Ned’s cue. He took two strides and pushed Cole farther in. His lover let out a yelp and tried to send Ned underwater, but it was no use, and he collapsed, spraying crystalline droplets all over Ned. When he emerged, black hair hung in his face like a curtain, but he swept it back, grinding his teeth as the cold shook his body. “You’re gonna pay for this, Ned O’Leary!”
Ned laughed, running down the icy stream when Cole decided to chase him. “What’s that, Coley-pie?”
The water slowed them down, but Cole was out of the pond within seconds and sprinted after him with a low roar. “Got you,” he shouted when his cold, naked flesh collided with Ned’s, but then hot lips were on Ned’s shoulder, and teeth kneaded his skin.
Ned couldn’t call the life he now led moral, but moments like this made all the risks worthwhile. He put his arms around Cole and shut his eyes, enjoying the hug. “This is so confusing. My dick’s both shrivelling from the cold, and hardening ‘cause you’re close.”
In the warm sun, Cole’s skin would soon dry. He rubbed his chin against Ned’s flesh and hummed. “If you stay in the water long enough, maybe a certain snake comes for you again,” Cole said, and made a strange sound surely meant to imitate the characteristic rattling.
Ned sighed. Out of all the secrets he still kept from his lover, he could reveal the truth about this one. He looked into Cole’s dark eyes, so familiar by now he would have recognized them even if they stared at him from a peephole. “I never got bitten. There was no venom. I stabbed my leg with the tip of my knife to make you think I was.” He led Cole’s fingers to the tiny scars. “I just wanted you to like me again.”
Cole stalled, and then pulled on Ned’s arm so they faced one another. “You sneaky son of a bitch. I thought you might die!” He shoved at Ned’s chest, but there was no real anger behind it, and when he repeated the push, Ned’s back hit a tree with bark so rough it could’ve torn skin.
Ned laughed. “Ow! A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. I didn’t understand it back then why seeing you on your knees, flushed like a maiden, made my cock so happy.”
“Bastard,” Cole hummed and rolled his entire body against Ned’s, until it felt like not even a thread could fit in between them, and Cole nipped on Ned’s mouth, panting softly. “Shall I imagine the snake bit your prick this time?”
Ned gave Cole a dreamy smile and slipped his fingers into the wet strands of black hair. “I mean… there’s venom to suck out, and I can’t reach there myself.”
Cole’s eyes went so soft when they fucked, as if he were overwhelmed by the force of his attraction to Ned, but when he licked the seam of Ned’s lips and grabbed Ned’s cock, he was the picture of masculine energy. “Gonna carve our initials on that tree once I’m done with you,” he rasped, lowering himself in front of Ned, his lips and tongue leaving a damp trail all the way down. When he looked up and took Ned’s shaft in his mouth, it was like being cradled in moist heat.
For at least a while, only this would matter.
Chapter 25
Ned sensed the presence above him before a bell rang to rouse everyone in camp. It might have been the floor shifting under someone’s weight, or perhaps the cool air entering the tent when the folds on one side slid apart. Either way, when he opened his eyes, Zeb’s hunched figure towered over him like giant about to drag him to its lair.
Ned sucked in air, and stiffened, but the alarm rang before he could have reached for his revolver, and Cole sat up abruptly next to him, still tucked into his own bedroll. The moment of silence as he spotted Zeb was painful, but the giant man shook his head and stepped out instead of smashing his loaf-sized fists into their skulls.
“Get up. Get up. Get up. We’re riding off.”
Two days had passed since they dug a grave for Scotch, and the lack of movement on Tom’s side was somehow more unnerving than being told to sharpen their teeth and descend on the sheriff’s home like a pack of wolves. The plan, because there surely was one, involved something beyond simple retaliation, and Ned dreaded what was to come.
He glanced at Cole, who was putting on clothes at a frantic pace. “Do you know anything about this?”
“I would have told you,” Cole whispered, shivering as he sat on top of the bedroll to drag pants up his legs. It was still dark, and the chill reached them even in the tent they shared.