With a Kiss (6 page)

A rustle of glossy pages informed him that the other man was getting ready to read. Liam cleared his throat.

Marcus refocused his attention on the slight hum of the electrical motors in the monitors alongside his bed. The constant buzz had been annoying for the first year or so, but it had its uses. It came in very handy when he wanted to tune out voices he had no interest in hearing.

The radio that played on the nurses’ desk reported the news every damn hour on the dot. He didn’t need to hear it all over again. It would be far better for him to devote the time to his favorite hobby—that of deciding what he was going to do with Theo Wallace when he finally woke up.

Before Liam had so rudely interrupted him, Marcus had been deep in thought, trying to work out, not for the first time, if it would be better to hang the bastard out in the open where everyone would be able to see what happened to any man who was stupid enough to lash out at him without making sure he finished him off completely, or if it would be more satisfying to watch him squirm in private, when there would be nothing to distract Marcus from every detail of the other man’s agony.

“She’s getting married again!”

The vision of a gloomy, dank little cellar decorated only with a strong hook hanging from a beam, a length of rope and the object of Marcus’ revenge, shattered.

He turned his attention back to Liam.

“It says here that she’ll be getting married later this month at a secret location. A private ceremony with only a few select guests. And they’ve got exclusive access!”

Without the slightest idea who the boy was talking about or why he should care, and lacking any way of posing those questions, Marcus had little choice but to simply wait until the guy dropped the woman’s name into the conversation.

“Listen to this,” Liam ordered. “Sandra Smithson has told them that…”

Marcus would have given anything for the ability to roll his eyes right then. Sandra bloody Smithson. In that moment, any opinion he’d ever had of Liam crashed straight down. Once it hit rock bottom, it kept going, drilling its way toward the core of the earth at granite-shattering speed.

It had been bad enough when he’d had to listen to some silly teenage nursing student babble on about the latest no talent bimbo to do the rounds on the reality shows and skin mags, but in a strange way, he’d expected something a little better from Liam. For some reason, he’d actually assumed that there was some kind of intelligence hidden away behind the stammering attempts to speak.

Without further ado, Marcus turned his attention back to the hum of medical machinery and waited impatiently for Liam’s voice to fade from his notice.

“Dress designed by… Raised on a rough estate in… Rose to fame after… Talented football player fiancé…”

Signals rushed from Marcus’ brain to the muscles on his forehead, ordering them to frown. Nothing happened on his brow, but that wasn’t what surprised Marcus. The boy’s voice was unshakeable. It wasn’t that he had an appalling accent like that silly old fool who they’d sent to visit him the year before, his voice was actually rather nice—soft, but still masculine. But there was also something about it that cut through Marcus’ usual defenses against the banality of average humanity.

“Three bridesmaids… His bachelor party is going to be held in… Flowers from…”

Words rolled over Marcus and he found himself entirely unable to escape from them. The enthusiasm in the boy’s voice was strangely captivating, even if the words weren’t. Marcus could easily imagine him poring over the magazine, his eyes darting over the page, taking in every detail.

He was probably pretty, Marcus decided. He sounded pretty. From what Marcus remembered from the previous week’s babbling, he was living with some sort of sugar daddy.

No doubt about it, then. If there was a rich guy paying for the pleasure of keeping him around, he’d be cute and pretty. Big blue eyes, floppy blond hair, a tight arse and flirtatious mannerisms—Marcus had known a lot of men like that over the years. He’d have smiled at the memory if he could have.

“Two children from his previous marriage… Her ex-husband… Do you remember him? He was in all the magazines a few months ago. He had a drug habit. He went into rehab for a while, but he relapsed almost as soon as he came out.”

The boy sounded so heartbroken. As if it could really matter to him what a man he had never met and probably never would meet was idiotic enough to inject into his body.

The sympathy sounded genuine enough, but of course any gold-digger would probably be a really good actor—they’d have to be in order to get the most out of their lover. And that’s what it was always about. That was probably why Liam was visiting him too. Visiting a wealthy hospital patient had probably sounded like a good way of injecting himself into the good graces of someone who’d leave him something in his will and—

“Do you think they’ll be happy together?”

Marcus didn’t give a damn if they were or not. He was reasonably sure that Liam would be able to make him very happy though, if he weren’t stuck in that damn hospital bed. Soft pink lips wrapped around his cock, big soulful eyes staring up at him as he put his hand on the back of Liam’s head and guided the other man to take his shaft deeper into his mouth, into his throat.

Yes, Marcus would be very happy with that. And no doubt he’d be happy enough to pay for the privilege too. A nice simple little business arrangement—a willing mouth to suck his cock and a willing neck to feed from.

“I think they’ll be happy,” Liam decided.

Finally, the telltale increase of foot traffic outside Marcus’ door told him that visiting time was almost over. Liam seemed to notice it too. Clothing rustled as he no doubt checked his watch the way all the visitors did around that time. “I guess I’d better get going. Ralph will expect me to be there when he gets home. And you’re probably bored to death with me babbling on anyway…”

Paper was shuffled, the chair squeaked against the tile floor as Liam got ready to leave. “I’ll be back next week,” Liam promised. “I’ll bring that exclusive the magazine promised.”

Marcus mentally cursed. That was all he needed, another day full of tittle-tattle and stupid celebrity gossip. Yes, Marcus mentally muttered. That was going to be something special to look forward to…

* * * *

Shaking his head, Marcus made a concerted effort to pull himself out of the memory before it took hold completely, and he found himself trapped in a coma all over again.

It had seemed so real. He frowned up at the ceiling. There was pleasure to be had in being able to control the muscles in his brow well enough to do that. Any kind of voluntary movement was to be cherished.

The reason for the expression, however, diluted the bliss he could have felt. How the hell had he been stupid enough to think that Liam had been after a single penny of anyone’s money?

Focusing very hard on the man lying by his side, Marcus took stock as best he could. Liam’s breaths were slow and even now. That seemed to be a good thing. His heartbeat was no longer racing. Marcus was reasonably sure that was also a good sign among humans. He appeared to be relaxed and at peace, knowing that he was safe with his master.

Or with his soon-to-be master, at least. Even if Liam didn’t know that was what Marcus would be to him, Marcus had no doubt about it. A naturally submissive human. A naturally dominant vampire. He’d have the boy as both his prey and his pet soon enough.

Marcus smiled slightly as the sleeping boy squirmed a little and pressed himself closer to his side once more. Reaching out, Marcus summoned up the coordination to pull the blanket a little more firmly around the younger man’s shoulders.

“You do know he has a boyfriend?”

Marcus jerked his head up and turned his head to glare at the nurse in the doorway. She was tall, with long brown hair, plaited back at the nape of her neck. Jenny Trent, his memory supplied—the vaguely sensible nurse from earlier that night. She had a bag of human blood in her hand.

“Yes,” he said, taking care to keep his voice soft for Liam’s benefit. “I am aware of that.”

Jenny stepped forward until she stood right behind Liam’s chair. Resting her fingers on the back of it, she studied both Marcus and his sleeping boy very carefully.

“I fail to see what business it is of yours,” Marcus added.

Jenny didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by the snap in his words. “You know how many times he’s visited you?”

“I do,” Marcus confirmed.

“Well, you’re not the only one who’s got to know him over the last few months,” Jenny said. “He’s a good guy.”

“Yes, he is,” Marcus agreed—the kind of human who would make him a very suitable pet.

“He’s got a crush on you,” Jenny said. “Some of the nurses laugh about it.”

“You don’t,” Marcus said, with complete confidence. He’d made a point of listening to conversations were Liam’s name was mentioned.

Jenny’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then she shook her head as if dismissing the subject as unimportant. “If you heard the nurses talking, you must have heard at least some of what he said to you. You seem reasonably intelligent. Even if he didn’t tell you what kind of bastard his boyfriend is, I’ll assume you were able to put together the pieces on your own.”

Reasonably intelligent? Marcus ground his teeth together. The nerve of a human, talking to a vampire that way! “Yes,” he bit out, keeping any other response back for Liam’s benefit.

“So you know you’d have to be a real bastard to use him up and throw him away as if he were nothing more than a blood whore,” Jenny said. She met Marcus’ gaze and held it, her expression calm and serious.

Every muscle in Marcus’ body tensed. Primitive instincts rose up inside him and he wanted nothing more than to tear out the woman’s throat for even suggesting anyone would treat Liam that way.

Liam shifted uncomfortably in his sleep, as if sensing Marcus’ anger. A confused little whimper left his lips as he turned his face into Marcus’ chest.

Marcus clumsily stroked the boy’s shoulder in that way that had worked so well before. “I heard every word he’s ever said to me,” he forced out as evenly as he could.

Jenny didn’t appear impressed. “Before I worked here, I was a nurse at one of your blood banks. I saw the way the donor boys and girls were treated. I know all the sayings vampires have about being at the top of the food chain for a reason—and I know the comparisons that you make between humans and livestock. We’re little more than cattle to you.”

Marcus didn’t deny any of it.

“Liam deserves better than that,” the nurse said. “If you don’t know how to provide him with better, then leave him alone.” As she spoke, she made her way toward the hook where the IVs hung from. She nodded toward it. “Do you want this one intravenous or oral?”

Marcus clenched his jaw so tightly, his teeth ached, and not just out of the desire for blood. He turned his arm so his vein was accessible, and let that be his answer.

The nurse had the needle in his vein in seconds. Marcus stared straight ahead, ignoring her the same way he had always ignored humans who he had no interest in feeding from.

Jenny studied him in silence for several seconds as the blood made its way down the line. “If you don’t intend to treat him any better than his current boyfriend, just let him walk away in the morning. He doesn’t need another selfish prick in his life.” Turning on her heel, she walked out of the room without giving him time to say anything in response.

Anyone would be better than Ralph. Marcus growled softly under his breath as he thought about the man and what he’d put the boy through.

As soon as his strength returned, he was going to pay a very interesting visit to that man, he was going to show him exactly how it felt to be smaller and weaker than another person, how it felt to be trapped and not have any chance of escape. Marcus smiled slightly. He wasn’t usually one to condone wasting food, but in Ralph’s case he was more than willing to make an exception.