Unhinged (Necessary Evils #1)(61)

“That’s not all. Paul Anderson was also there that summer, as was Conan Greevey. All under the watchful eye of Father O’Hara, the program director.” A series of pictures began to fill the screen, ten total, all men who were around the same age Holt was when Noah lived with him. His stomach rolled. “Noah, do any of these men look familiar?”

“Yeah.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “One, six, seven, nine and ten.”

“Raphael Nunez, Judd Dunnigan, Julian Keys, David Krebs, and Phil Armstrong. All part of the program. All with expunged records. All went on to have jobs that allowed them to work closely with children,” Calliope said. “I’ll send you everything I have on them, but I think we’ve found our major players.”

“Not all of them,” August said. “I have at least three more names that you didn’t list who are somehow tied to this. They were selling the content. VHS tapes, then DVDs. There’s payment information, emails, IP addresses. Many of them are overseas but most are right here in the US. This is a much bigger operation than we imagined but, from what I can gather, it’s all run by those men you mentioned, all under the direction of Father O’Hara.”

“Yeah, curiously, nothing to incriminate Gary or Holt, except maybe the use of the cabin.”

Noah frowned, trying to put the pieces together. “That’s why he sent this to Gary. He was handing over the keys to the kingdom. He wanted to be able to burn it all down once Gary died. Why?”

“Who knows? We’re never going to understand whatever twisted bond these two shared. But I think we have more than enough to agree these men all need to be eliminated, no?” August asked his father.

Thomas nodded. “Yeah, but once we kill one, the others are going to go to ground.”

Adam met Noah’s gaze and gave him a gentle smile before he looked at his brothers. “Then let’s take them out all at once.”





Noah gazed out the window the whole way home, humming along to the radio but making no attempt at conversation. Adam was learning that Noah needed time to process things, to chew on them before he could fully digest whatever horror appeared in their lives. Even though Noah didn’t engage Adam in conversation, he held his hand, fingers threaded together, palms touching, letting Adam know it wasn’t anything he’d done.

In the elevator, Noah wrapped his arms around him and rested his head just under Adam’s chin. But, just like the last time they’d been to Adam’s father’s house, Noah turned on him almost immediately, his hands sliding up Adam’s chest, beginning to unbutton his shirt. “I want you. Now.”

It wasn’t a question. Adam didn’t protest, letting Noah shove his shirt off his shoulders to pool at their feet. He was already hardening behind his zipper. “Yeah, baby? Tell me.”

Noah’s gaze flicked to his, his tongue darting out to lick over his lower lip. “I want you to fuck me.”

Adam’s grin was feral, his hand clamping around Noah’s throat, walking him backwards until his back hit the banister. “You always want me to fuck you,” Adam said, leaning forward to lick over the seam of Noah’s lips. “I want you to open your mouth and tell me exactly how you want it. I want to hear the words.” He leaned down, trailing his tongue along the path of his jaw. “You want it nice and slow and deep? Or you want me to fuck you until you forget your own name?”

Noah moaned. “Definitely that one. I want it hard. Rough.”

Adam growled low in his throat. “How rough?”

“Make it hurt,” Noah begged.

“That’s a very dangerous ask,” Adam teased against the shell of Noah’s ear. “Because I love the way you sound when you’re choking on my cock, your nails clawing at my thighs as you grow desperate for air.” Adam kept his hand firmly around Noah’s neck as he pulled back to look at him. “And you’re just so goddamn pretty when you cry.”

Noah’s pupils blew wide, swallowing hard beneath Adam’s palm. “I trust you. Do it. I want to feel you every time I sit down. I want it to look like a crime scene when you’re done with me. Please, Adam.”

Christ. The sound of his name on Noah’s lips was hotter than any touch. He really was perfect in every possible way. And he was all Adam’s…in every possible way. He loved that, no matter how brutal it got, Noah always knew Adam would take care of him, knew he would always give him what he needed.

He gently kissed Noah’s cheeks, his nose, his eyelids, grazing their lips together before pulling away to clamp his teeth onto the shell of his ear. “Say it again,” he rasped.

“Please…”

“My name, say it,” Adam demanded.

His name was a sigh on Noah’s lips, like he was the answer to every one of Noah’s questions about life. It made Adam crazy, made him want to do evil things to the people who harmed Noah. Things so depraved most people wouldn’t utter them out loud. “You know I’d fucking tear the world down for you, don’t you?”

Noah smiled sweetly, crooning, “I know, baby.” Adam’s cock throbbed as much from the endearment as the way Noah’s smile turned bloodthirsty. “But, right now, the only thing I want you to tear apart…is me.”

Adam was never letting Noah go. Never. He couldn’t. He knew that now. He couldn’t live without him, and he knew—in that deep, dark ugly part of himself he wasn’t supposed to ever acknowledge out loud—that he’d never let Noah live without him either. But that was the thing of it. Noah didn’t want to leave. Adam knew that on a cellular level. Noah felt safe, protected, loved. Even if that love was dangerous.