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them. I didn t mean to hurt his feelings.
Dante stood to his feet and held a hand out to help Rayne up.
He s young. He ll get over it soon enough. Just give him some space
for a few days.
Taking the offered hand, Rayne pulled himself to his feet and
shrugged. Or he ll stalk me, steal my underwear, and sniff them
while he masturbates.
Dante choked, coughing into his hand. Excuse me?
Rayne shrugged again and loped over to pick up the discarded
spray gun. You said yourself. I m completely fabulous. Who could
fault the kid for falling madly in love with me? Placing the back of
his wrist to his forehead, he pretended to swoon.
Dante rolled his eyes and snorted. And so modest. You really
should give yourself more credit, baby.
* * * *
Rayne sighed as he stared at the meaningless numbers on the
computer screen. Dante s officer manager had called in sick, so the
task had been delegated to Rayne. He didn t know what the hell he
was doing, or what any of the words or numbers meant. He suspected
this was Dante s payback for the pressure washer incident the Friday
before.
While it beat the hell out of slaving away in the summer heat, he
was bored, and the clock seemed to move more slowly every time he
Devil Did Grin 103
looked at it. Stealing another glance at the offending hands of time, he
groaned. Forty more minutes until Dante arrived to take him to lunch.
Five days remaining, and no way to know what the future would
bring, he wanted to soak up as much time with his lover as possible.
The bell over the front door jingled, pulling Rayne from his
thoughts and directing his attention to the man who stood in front of
his desk. Eyeing the newcomer warily, he pushed his chair back and
rose cautiously to his feet.
Hey, man. What brings you here?
Archer glared at him. I came to pick up my final paycheck. Boss
said it would be waiting.
You got fired? Rayne gaped at the young man across from him.
Surely, Dante wouldn t fire the kid just for having a crush on his
lover.
No. I quit. Can I get my paycheck or not?
Not willing to argue with the man, Rayne let the angry words roll
off his back as he rummaged through the mess of papers on the
desktop. Coming up with a plain white envelope with Archer s name
on the front, he slid it across the table and nodded at the man.
There it is. Are you sure about this? If it s because of me, you
really should rethink. I ll be gone in a few days, and everything will
go back to how it used to be. Rayne hadn t expected how much the
words would hurt to say.
Before he could move away, Archer s long arm shot out, his hand
wrapping around Rayne s throat. What do you see in him? Moving
slowly around the desk, his fingers biting into Rayne s neck, Archer s
lip curled over his top teeth, and he snarled. What makes him better
than me?
Rayne gripped Archer s wrist, turning his head one way and then
the other, trying to break the man s hold. In his old body, he may have
succeeded, but this new, weaker frame couldn t hold up to the task.
The younger man walked him backward until his back connected
jarringly with the wall. What makes you so fucking special that you
104 Gabrielle Evans
can t give me the time of day? You re a fucking cock tease, Rayne.
Always looking at me, undressing me with those eyes.
Shaking his head as much as he could, Rayne struggled to breathe,
to think around the roaring in his ears. He couldn t even get enough
oxygen to his lungs to scream for help. Archer turned him abruptly,
mashing his face and chest into the drywall, and covering him with
his much larger body.
Rayne gulped in the much-needed air, his chest rising and falling
rapidly. Archer gripped his hips, pulling him back roughly to grind his
swollen shaft against Rayne s wiggling bottom. That s it. Fight me. I
promise he won t want you when I m finished with this ass. No one
will.
Unadulterated terror clawed at Rayne s chest, and he began
thrashing and screaming, shoving against the wall with everything he
had. Archer held him in place, leaning on him heavily as one hand
fisted in his hair, and the other fumbled with the top button on
Rayne s jeans.
Gonna fuck you til you bleed. If I get in deep enough, maybe I
can find out what makes you think you re so goddamn special.
Archer, please! Stop it! Broken sobs bubbled up in Rayne s
chest as he felt his button give way and the zipper follow quickly.
Get the fuck off of me!
Calloused fingers slipped under the waistband of his boxers, and
Rayne screamed, redoubling his efforts to free himself. Then the
massive weight covering him disappeared as a feral cry filled the
small office. Rayne slumped against the wall, sliding down it to the
floor and pulling his knees up to his chest.
Dante sat on top of Archer, his fist driving into the man s face
over and over as blood splattered over the carpet. Trying to pull
himself together, Rayne stood and rushed to his lover s side. Dante!
The man completely ignored him, and the manic gleam in his eyes
scared the shit out of Rayne. When Dante pulled his fist back to
Devil Did Grin 105
deliver another brutal blow, Rayne latched on, wrapping both his
arms around his lover s forearm. Dante! Stop!
Dante s head snapped around, and he bared his teeth. Rayne
refused to let go. Then Dante s face relaxed, his eyes softening with
recognition. Crawling off of the battered man beneath him, he knelt in
front of Rayne, touching him everywhere.
Are you okay, baby? Are you hurt?
Folding himself into the bigger man s lap, Rayne curled into his
protective embrace and buried his face in the warm flesh of Dante s
throat. Just scared. Thank you, Dante.
Dante s arms squeezed him tightly, rocking him back and forth, as
his huge body trembled. I was scared, too, baby. God, I ve never
been that scared or that& that& furious. He shuddered once. I
wanted to kill him, he whispered.
Patting his lover s chest, Rayne pushed out of his lap, and stood.
We should call the police. The adrenaline began to ebb from his
body, leaving him cold and shaking. His stomach heaved with
revulsion, and Rayne dove toward the trashcan beside his desk,
dropping to his knees and expelling the contents of his stomach.
Falling back to rest against the side of the wooden desk, he wiped
his mouth on his arm and stared blearily up at Dante. Maybe you
should call. Then his eyes drooped, the darkness closing in around
the edges, and he passed out.
106 Gabrielle Evans
Chapter Seventeen
Rayne! Dante crawled across the floor to catch his lover before
he slumped to the floor. His poor baby was having a shitty day.
Cradling the man s head in his lap, Dante stroked his hair, tapping
him lightly on the cheeks. Wake up, baby. Open your eyes, Rayne.
The bell jingled over the door, and Dante looked up to see Hudson
come strolling into the office. Hey, Dante, I thought I d swing by
and see& He trailed off, surveying the scene before him. What the
hell happened here?
Dante continued petting Rayne s hair lovingly, but rage festered
just beneath the surface of his calm façade. I came to get Rayne for
lunch and found him shoved up against the wall with Archer s hand
down his jeans.
Hudson shook his head and grimaced. I m sorry you had to see
that. I did warn you when I saw them at the club Thursday night.
After that picture I sent, how could you not see this coming?
The thin thread on Dante s self-control threatened to snap. Rayne
wasn t a willing participant. He spoke softly, his words laced with
ice and steel.
Hudson s face paled, and his eyes rounded as he looked between
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