Authors: Gabrielle Evans
“Echo?” Hex took a step toward him.
“I don’t know how to run a club,” Echo whispered. “I don’t know anything about being a business owner.” He tried to push the papers back into Vapre’s hands. “Thank you, but I can’t accept this.”
“You can and you will,” Hex said firmly. “We have managers, accountants, and all kinds of people that run the day-to-day business. Mostly, we wanted you to have this so that you would have your own source of income.” He softened his voice as he closed the distance between himself and Echo. “It seemed like a good way to give you a little independence.”
Echo continued to chew his lip for a long time before he finally released it and smiled crookedly. “So, I don’t have to do anything, right? And if I ever do, you’ll help me?”
Hex skimmed his knuckles along Echo’s soft cheek and mirrored his smile. “Correct. Happy birthday, baby.”
“Thank you”—Echo looked around the room—“all of you.”
“Okay, great.” Fiero blew out a breath, obviously uncomfortable with the gratitude. Then he grinned seductively and wiggled his eyebrows. “Can we get to the naked part now?”
Hex chuckled and turned back toward the door. “You guys go ahead. I have some stuff to do.” Hurrying out the door before anyone could call him back, Hex went directly up the stairs and to his room.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want his men. His damn dick was hard as stone, throbbing painfully behind his zipper just thinking about all the damp, naked skin writhing together. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Seven gorgeous men desired him, and he’d turned them down for what? To come to his room alone and…what?
Stripping out of his clothes, Hex fell back on the bed and threw his arm over his face. Things were changing. They’d been changing for weeks now. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but even with the impending danger lurking over their heads, his warriors seemed happier than he’d seen them in centuries.
A soft knock sounded from the door, and Hex groaned. It was probably Echo. As much as he adored his mate’s company, he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with the man. He needed to be alone and work out the strange feelings fluttering around inside his chest.
“Hex? Please let me in,” Echo said softly through the heavy wood.
Sighing in resignation, Hex called for his mate to enter. He didn’t move from his position, though. Whatever Echo had to say, he could say it and leave. Hex wasn’t in the mood for reciprocal conversation.
The door creaked open, then closed with a quiet
snick
. Echo didn’t approach him. No footsteps sounded across the carpeted floor. Apparently, he was just going to stand there and stare.
“Can I help you?” Hex asked with his arm still covering his face. He could feel the pressure building behind his eyes and the quiet ache of his temples. It wasn’t bad yet, but it was headed that way.
“Why won’t you look at me?”
Because I’ll fall apart,
Hex thought to himself. One look at Echo’s beautiful face, and everything he was fighting so hard to keep inside would come spilling out in a gush. Maybe once he’d figured out exactly what he was feeling, he’d be ready to talk, but now, with his brain so twisted and snarled, was not the time.
“Echo, I’ll come find you in a little while, okay? I just need some downtime right now.” He hoped he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt. Gods, he just needed the man out of the room.
A quiet sigh reached his ears, and Hex hoped that meant Echo was going to let him have his way. He should have known better.
There was a soft rustling sound, the shuffle of feet, then the bed dipped as Echo crawled up from the end. He didn’t say anything as he stretched out beside Hex and rested his head just over Hex’s heart. His small hand rubbed comforting circles over Hex’s abs as he nestled in closer.
Finally lifting his arm away from his face, Hex blinked to clear his blurry eyes and looked down at his lover. “What are you doing?”
“You said you needed downtime,” Echo whispered. “I’m letting you have that, but you’re not going to hide from me.” He placed a soft kiss over Hex’s heart and draped one slim leg over Hex’s thigh. “Sleep, my love. We’ll talk later.”
There was that damn endearment again that made him feel like a big, mushy pile of goo. It also made his head hurt. He couldn’t give Echo what he wanted. He’d be devoted, affectionate, and attentive, but he couldn’t love the man.
Oh, it would be so easy to fall in love with Echo. Hex had an idea he was more than halfway there already. It wasn’t something he could allow himself to do, though. It made him weak. It made him vulnerable.
And it put everyone he cared about in danger.
Ares believed Hex and the others protected Echo because he was the key to attaining victory in the war. For now, he was toying with them, playing a game like a little boy. Things would go downhill quickly if the vengeful god had even an inkling of how much Echo meant to Hex. The gloves would come off, and the things they’d faced so far would look like rides at a kiddie park.
He didn’t know why the god had such a hard-on for him, but Ares could never know how important Hex’s men were to him.
“This is supposed to be downtime,” Echo whispered drowsily. “You’re thinking too much.” He tilted his head back and popped open one eye. “And you’re not cuddling me properly.”
“Well, I apologize.” Hex smiled a real smile and curled around his mate, winding his arms around Echo and pulling him closer.
“Much better.” Echo sighed and rubbed his cheek over Hex’s chest. “Do you think it’s weird that Gage tries to hide his accent while Craze insists on making up one?”
The shift in the conversation left Hex speechless for a second as his brain tried to catch up. Then Echo laughed and patted Hex’s chest. “Never mind, big guy.” They were quiet for another minute, and Hex had almost drifted off to sleep when Echo spoke again. “Hex?”
“Yes, baby?” Mmm, Echo was so warm, and he smelled so good after his recent shower. His body conformed perfectly to Hex’s, making him sigh in contentment. Why couldn’t things always be this easy?
In the next breath, Echo answered his unspoken question, or more to the point, slapped him in the face with it. “I love you, okay? Don’t be scared. Don’t say anything. Just know I love you.”
Hex’s heart pounded wildly inside his chest, and suddenly, he couldn’t seem to get enough air. Echo had told him not to speak, and he fully intended to follow that order.
Chapter Two
Echo lay in bed for a long time after Hex fell asleep. He knew his big alpha needed the rest, and he was more than content to just snuggle close and watch his mate sleep. It was funny to him how he’d slipped right into calling his lovers that. They were his mates, though. As much as he belonged to them, they belonged to him.
They also belonged to each other. And while he’d brought most of them around to his way of thinking, he knew Hex would be the hardest to crack. Myst and Onyx, bless their hearts, were just so unassuming, Echo often felt like they were left out or shunted to the side. He’d have to see what he could do to change that.
He also needed to figure out how to get through to Hex. The man was still hiding something, still trying to keep everyone at a distance until it came to sex. Hmm, maybe Echo should cut him off.
The thought actually made him giggle a little. Oh, he could just picture Hex’s face when he found out he wasn’t getting Echo’s ass—or any other orifice for that matter. And why stop at sex?
A plan began to form, and before Echo knew it, he was slithering out of the bed, pulling on his clothes, and running down the stairs to find his other mates. Not to his surprise, they were all in the kitchen, talking and joking loudly with their houseguests. Jinx and Syn shimmied and gyrated by the stove, laughing together as they prepared dinner. Craze leaned against the counter with a beer in his hand, watching his mates intently.
Whatever, Echo still didn’t like him.
“Hey, guys, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Every one of his mates snapped their attention toward him when he spoke. They looked at each other, frowned, then moved to join him by the threshold. Echo led them into the living room and plopped down on the sofa. He motioned for everyone to sit, rolling his eyes when Eyce and Onyx began fighting over who would sit next to him.
Scooting to the middle of the sofa, he looked up at them and quirked his eyebrow. They both gave him a sheepish smile and settled down onto the cushions on either side of him.
“So, what’s up? Where’s Hex?” Myst craned his neck around the room as if it had been possible to miss the six-foot-eight alpha.
“He’s sleeping.” Echo chewed on his bottom lip while he tried to figure out exactly how to phrase his idea. “So, we all think he’s hiding something from us, right?”
His lovers nodded. “And he’s been acting more distant than ever,” Myst mumbled. He looked so sad as he spoke that Echo pushed up from his seat and hurried over to clamber up in the man’s lap. Myst sighed happily, wrapping his arms around Echo’s waist and nuzzling against his neck. “I needed this.”
“I know,” Echo whispered. He didn’t understand it, and didn’t really care, but he instinctively knew when one of his men needed him. Funny enough, when he comforted one of his mates, it seemed to ease them all. He’d have to think about that later.
“I know you have a very wicked little plot forming in that cute head of yours,” Syx said with a soft laugh. “How exactly do you plan to cause trouble for Hex?”
Echo smiled mischievously. “I don’t plan to cause trouble, per se, but I do intend to give Hex a little dose of his own medicine.”
Onyx rubbed his hands together and eased forward on the sofa. “Do tell.”
“I propose that we give Hex the same treatment he’s been showing us. Unless one of us is hurt, or he’s horny, he ignores us, or only gives us half his attention.”
Everyone nodded again, and Echo could see the understanding in their eyes and the way their lips twitched at the corners. “So, you think we should give him the cold shoulder?” Eyce asked with a sparkle in his eye. Oh, the guy liked his plan a lot.
“Yes and no.” Echo squirmed a little in Myst’s lap so he could turn and face everyone. Myst groaned, arching his hips and grinding his groin against Echo’s ass. He patted his lover on the chest and chuckled. “Down, boy. We’ll play soon, I promise.”
“Okay, so spell it out for us,” Fiero demanded, but even he was smiling.
“Well, first, I think our dear leader needs to know what it feels like to be alone. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t hurt him for anything in the world, but…”
“He’s taking us for granted,” Vapre finished for him. “We need to give him a taste of what it feels like to be kept at a distance.”
“Exactly.” Echo beamed at his lover. “We are going to be polite as punch to him, do whatever he tells us, and do it with a smile. But we’re going to do it more like employees than lovers, does that make sense?”
Eyce bobbed his head. “We act like we work for him, and we’re just doing our jobs, nothing overly affectionate or personal.”
“Right! And he’s cut off. No sex with any of us.”
“He hasn’t even really wanted that lately,” Onyx mumbled. “You saw him in the office earlier. Once the talk turned to sex, he practically bolted from the room.”
“Well, I have a little plan for that, too.”
Fiero snorted. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“Because I’m brilliant?” Echo lifted both eyebrows, daring the demon to argue with him. Fiero merely dipped his head in agreement.
Smart man.
“Anyway, we’re not going to be overly friendly to
him…
”
Everyone burst into laughter, and Myst squeezed Echo tighter. “I love the way your mind works, baby.”