pressed their bodies together. He jerked his hips against Blake’s, rubbing their hard pricks together. It felt powerful and perfect, and it made Niall’s chest ache with misery.
He shifted his mouth to Blake’s neck, kissing and biting him and doing everything he could to leave a mark. He didn’t care how awkward it would be for Blake to explain to his precious family or his wealthy fiancée what the marks were or how he’d gotten them. If he could have, Niall would have marked Blake permanently as his. He would have marked him as a coward.
“I love you,” he growled, shifting lower and teasing one of Blake’s nipples with his tongue. He gripped Blake’s hip hard with one hand while balancing himself with the other. “You can’t tell me you don’t want this, you don’t want me.”
“I want you,” Blake groaned, then gasped as Niall reached between his spread legs to grip his balls possessively. The sound Blake made was half pain, half pleasure, but Niall couldn’t bring himself to feel a shred of remorse for being too rough. He wanted Blake to feel him in a way he would never forget.
There was no way it could be entirely adequate, but Niall spit on his hand, slicking himself as best he could, then grabbed Blake’s hips and tilted them up. He thrust into Blake’s arse, wincing at the resistance and at the cry that ripped from Blake.
“You’re mine,” he hissed, panting with frustration and pleasure as he fucked Blake hard and fast. “You will always be mine.”
Blake answered with a sound of pleasure that was so erotic Niall nearly came right then and there. He forced himself not to and slowed down, intent on enjoying the bittersweet, painful moment for as long as he could. It was the last time he would ever feel Blake’s skin against his, after all, the last time he would ever hear his lover’s sensual cries as their bodies joined. In spite of everything, in spite of what Niall knew full well was cruelty on his part, Blake was clearly consumed with pleasure as they rocked together, tangled and twisted. His cock was hot in Niall’s hand when he reached for it, in spite of the awkward angle of their joining. Blake’s desperate sounds reached a higher and higher pitch until he erupted in Niall’s hand, the jolt in his body throbbing through Niall.
Niall couldn’t hold out any longer. With a guttural cry of his own, he came hard, deep inside of Blake. It was a victory that faded much too fast as the passion of the moment waned and he sagged over Blake. He wanted to stay inside of Blake forever, but it was too much, too awkward. He shifted so that he covered Blake’s overheated, sweating body with his own, and they lay in each other’s arms, catching their breaths, until the hopelessness of the situation settled over them like a shroud.
“I love you,” Niall panted, all energy leaving him. Tears stung his eyes. He nestled his forehead against the side of Blake’s head.
“God, I love you,” Blake echoed with a sob. His arms closed around Niall’s damp back.
Niall lifted himself with the last of his energy to gaze down at Blake. “Then run away with me.”
Blake’s face twisted with guilt and grief, and he turned his head to the side. Tears squeezed out of his eyes when he closed them.
Niall pushed back farther. “You won’t,” he said, then sat up between Blake’s spread legs. “You won’t give up your so-called destiny for me.”
“I can’t,” Blake wept. He covered his face with his hands for a moment as his shoulders shook. Then he took a deep, sharp breath and moved his hands away, staring up at Niall with a new spark of bitterness. “You don’t understand what it’s like. You’ve never had this kind of responsibility on your shoulders.”
“You have a brother,” Niall argued, though his heart wasn’t in it anymore. “If it’s the Cannon money you need, let Montague marry her.”
“I can’t abide what people would think of me, Niall. I’m not as strong as you are.”
Blake’s words left a bitter taste in Niall’s mouth. He jerked away, swallowing hard. “I love you,” he growled, as if it were a curse, and stood. Every part of him felt as though it were turning to cold stone as he stared down at Blake, splayed, naked and defenseless, slick with sweat and sex. “I will never love anyone other than you,” he managed to