Page 53 of A Shared Mind

“He deserves something, right?”

My beautiful Clay chuckled before he began stroking me. He spat into his hand and worked the saliva over the tip, making my eyes roll back in my head.

“Oh, fuck.” Nico slurred a bit.

My eyes snapped open to see Nico fading fast. I didn’t want him to get hurt if he fell on the floor. It was definitely time for the inquisition to end.

I stilled Clay’s hand. “He’s about to pass out. Let’s lower him to the floor. It seems the sleep aid is kicking in.”

Clay pulled up my briefs and chinos before helping me carry Nico to the rug in Betsy’s dining room, and then we moved back into the kitchen.

“Okay, now what?” Clay asked.

I inhaled and released a worried breath. “Can you call Steve and tell him we didn’t need to stay here? We can leave Nico here, and either call the cops and report him as a burglar, or we could just let him pass out and wake up alone. He can leave the house without any fanfare at all.”

Clay grinned. “I’ll let him know. For the record, you don’t need to go around showing your dick to anyone, darlin’. That’s only for me.” His protest at me exposing myself was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard. He kissed me again before we cleaned up the mess.

We left Nico asleep on the dining room rug, and we called 9-1-1 to report that we saw someone messing with the lock on Betsy Korr’s back door, saying Clay was a concerned neighbor.

Clay returned the key to the back patio and sent Steve a text that he’d been able to get a new battery for his truck, so he was going to go ahead and drive to Arkansas with the hay he was hauling instead of staying in St. Louis.

We drove down the street and parked until the police arrived to be sure Betsy’s house wasn’t damaged. “Okay, there’s a Marriott near the beauty salon. I figure if we stay close by, I can walk in at the salon and get Mary Jane to trim my hair first thing. I’ll get us a room,” I suggested.

“Mary Jane and not Marcy?” Clay started the truck as we continued to observe the police with flashlights as they searched Betsy’s yard.

“If Mary Jane was married to Tino Gallo, I’m going to guess she’d know for sure if he killed Ramon and Mr. DeLuca. Besides, I have a feeling Marcy will be late for work after she goes to bail out Nico.” We both laughed as we drove to the Marriott.

We stopped at the same store we’d visited earlier in the day and picked up a six-pack of beer before we went to the hotel. Once we were in the room, Clay turned on the news. “I wanna see if Nico became a story for breaking into a dead woman’s house.” He put four of the beers into the small fridge before opening the other two and handing one to me.

“Cheers. I think you have an answer for Ramon regarding who killed him, but I’m not sure anything we found out makes him redeemable in any sense of the word.” Clay touched the neck of his bottle to mine before taking a drink.

“I agree. Let’s write down what we know so we’re ready for tomorrow morning.” I reached for the pad and pen on the table by the phone.

I wrote down everything I remembered—Sonny’s tongue being cut out to keep him from saying that Tino killed Ramon, Johnny DeLuca being mad at Tino because of it, and Sonny being in love with Marcella.

I handed the pad to Clay. “Did I remember everything?”

After a sip of his beer, Clay put the bottle on the nightstand and took mine from me. He sat next to me on the side of the bed and glanced at the list. “Looks like you hit the highlights. Let’s forget this shit for the night, okay? I’ve got other things I wanna do. I left you hanging earlier because there was no way I was gonna let Nico see the look on your face when you come. That’s also only for me.”

I laughed. “You’re a little possessive, aren’t you, Daddy?” I joked.

“I’ll be your Daddy for tonight if you want.” Clay kissed my neck as he tossed the pad and pen onto the table before pushing me back onto the bed.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I gave him my sexiest grin. “I want you to make love to me. I wanna yell your name when I come, not Daddy.”

“That’s what I wanna hear. You wanna shower?” Clay waggled his eyebrows at me.

I chuckled. “Yeah, but don’t get any funny ideas about fucking in the shower. It’s hazardous, I’d imagine.”

“Hey, you don’t need to worry about that. No way do I want either of us getting injured. Come on.” Clay took my hand and we stood, undressing before heading into the bathroom. He grabbed the lube out of his garment bag on the way through. I was looking forward to what was to come—the two of us at the same time, I hoped.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Clay

After finding the lube in my garment bag, I followed Justin’s gorgeous bare ass into the bathroom. I put the lube on the ledge in the shower and started the water before I turned to him. “Who do you think killed Ramon?”

It was clearly on his mind, so we might as well talk it out before we made love. I wanted nothing to taint the first time I got to find my home inside Justin. Though I’d already made up my mind that if he didn’t like bottoming, I wouldn’t mind doing it for the rest of our lives.