Unhinged (Necessary Evils #1)(34)

But now, there was Adam, a literal killer masquerading as a spoiled rich kid. Neither of those things should be attractive. But Adam’s dominating personality was just what Noah needed when things got to be too much. When he was talking dirty and pushing Noah to his limits, his brain just went soft in the best ways.

Yeah, Noah was gone on Adam and it had only been two fucking days. Was that a problem? He was surprised to realize…it wasn’t. Not yet.





*



Noah watched as Adam pulled into the parking lot at ten after ten, driving the white Rover from the other night. He seemed to have an endless supply of vehicles at his disposal. But given Adam’s net worth, he probably rarely had to worry about things like car payments or insurance.

Noah popped open the door and hopped up into the passenger seat, desperately hoping their destination was Adam’s place so he could use his fancy shower with the awesome water pressure and massaging jets. He almost felt bad putting his sweaty self on Adam’s leather seats.

When Adam leaned towards him, Noah said, “I’m warning you, I smell like French fries and—”

Adam snagged him by the shirt, dragging him in for a kiss that made Noah’s whole body tingle, murmuring, “I love French fries,” against his lips.

Noah let himself get swept up in the kiss but was unable to shake the feeling he was being watched.

“Wow, dinner and a show,” a low voice drawled, filled with humor.

Noah jumped at the unfamiliar voice in the backseat, jerking around to see two strangers, mirror images of each other. “There’s two of you,” he mumbled.

They were eerily identical, even the expressions on their faces. They both wore jeans, boots, and t-shirts that showed off their colorful sleeve tattoos. The casual outfits still somehow seemed trendy and reeked of money, especially their trendy thousand-dollar haircuts.

“Well, he can count,” one said.

“That’s a step up from your last hook up,” laughed the other.

Adam huffed out a breath through his nose like he’d been dealing with them for too long. “Fuck off. This is why I didn’t want to bring you two with me.”

The one on the left snickered, making his eyes comically innocent. “Come on, we just want to meet your new special friend. It’s all over the ‘gram.”

Adam cut his eyes to Noah, who had gathered by now that these were two of his brothers. He racked his brain, thinking back to his research. The twins. Adi and Avi or something like that. One was a clothing designer and the other an architect. Wildly successful, just like all of the other Mulvaneys.

“These are my brothers, Asa and Avi. They’re assholes, but you’ll get used to it. Eventually.”

They pulled from the lot, and Noah was relieved to see them head towards the highway and Adam’s loft.

“We’ll drop you at your place,” Adam said, not sounding like it was a suggestion.

“No. We want to hear about your little side project.”

Noah watched as Adam glanced in the rear-view mirror, scowling at his brother. “What side project?”

“Whatever side project you have Calliope working on.”

Noah shot a startled glance at Adam, who placed his hand on the console, palm up. Noah took it, threading their fingers together. Had he ever held hands with a boy? No, definitely not.

“Calliope runs her mouth too much,” Adam muttered.

Asa’s laugh was deep and rich, almost melodic somehow. “I mean, technically, she only mentioned it to Dad, who mentioned it to Atticus, who told August, who then told me, and I told Avi, obviously. The only one not in the know is Aiden, but you know him. He’s always a lone wolf.”

Adam shook his head, seemingly irritated. This clearly wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with this level of…whatever this was. Noah didn’t understand the whole brotherly love thing and wondered how his life would have worked out if he had a big family, somebody who could have protected him. But that would have just created a larger victim pool for his father.

“It's none of your business.”

“Well, you letting your boyfriend walk free after he tried to kill you, even though he knows our secret, is our business. But we haven’t held that against you. Even if it could get us all thrown in prison.”

Noah’s mouth ran dry. “I’d never tell anybody anything. I didn’t know what my father was. I didn’t remember...” He trailed off.

“Remember what?” Avi asked.

Adam looked like he was about to rupture a blood vessel. He was clearly furious about his brothers’ prodding, but they were right. Noah did know their secrets. It was only fair he shared his. He sighed. “I was one of my father’s victims. I blocked it out, I guess. After Adam showed me the video, it all started rushing back in weird flashes. There were others. More than a few of them. They watched. Participated. Filmed.”

“They filmed?” Adam asked, sounding surprised by that information.

Truthfully, Noah was surprised, too. He hadn’t meant to say it, but as soon as Adam pointed it out, he realized it was true. They’d definitely filmed it. “Yeah, I think they did.”

“You want some help?” Avi asked, his jovial personality replaced in an instant by that same lifeless stare Adam got when he didn’t have to pretend to be somebody he wasn’t.