Embracing His Syn (26 page)

“
What’s going on here,
fellas?” God asked casually, not acknowledging Syn.

“
You look like you’re no
stranger to a good fight. I’ll give you five hundred dollars if
you’ll kick this idiot’s ass.” Ex-husband stood up straighter with
an evil grin on his face directed at Syn, as if he’d just come up
with the best, most diabolical plan ever. He straightened his tie
and attempted to brush some of the grime off of his too-expensive
suit as he waited for God’s answer.

Day looked Syn up and down as if he
was sizing him up, shrugged his shoulders and turned to look at
God. “What do you think?”

“
You know I’ve never been
one to turn down easy money.” God rubbed his hand over his beard
stubble, giving Syn a wicked look before turning back to ex-husband
and brother-in-law. “So both of you big motherfuckers against this
one guy and you couldn’t take him down?”

“
Don’t ask any questions.
Do you want the money or not? This piece of shit is standing
between me and something very important to me and I need him
eliminated.”

Who the fuck did this guy
think he was, fucking Tony Soprano?
Eliminated.
Syn clenched his fist
over and over desperately wanting to teach this guy a lesson, beat
it through his thick head that Furi was Syn's now and would never
be any concern of his again.

Day stepped a little closer. “Alright,
but it will be one thousand dollars each.”

Ex-husband didn’t even blink about the
two thousand dollar ante. He pulled out his wallet and quickly
counted off the right number of crisp one hundred dollar bills,
slapping them into Day’s outstretched hand. Day took the bills and
folded them in half, tucking them into his pocket. He backed up,
returning to God’s side and nodded his head at Syn. “As you
were.”

“
Hey wait just a damn
minute,” Brother-in-law piped up, but it was too late. Day had
given Syn his cue. He quickly closed the distance between him and
the Ex, giving him no time to put up his guard before he slammed
his right fist into his jaw, followed by a quick left upper-cut.
His opponent stumbled back, but just as Syn thought, the guy could
take a punch. Ex-husband swung wide right, aiming at Syn’s temple,
which he easily dodged. Desperate to gain the upper hand, Ex
thought it was a good idea to just rush Syn and knock him off his
feet, but that attempt was futile as well. Syn brought his booted
foot up and connected it with the man’s mid-section, causing him to
double over. Syn didn’t miss a breath. He quickly yanked Ex’s head
into the crook of his arm, and delivered three knees to his gut in
rapid succession. Syn loved the grunts and shouts of pain coming
from this asshole. It felt so good to kick this guy’s ass for Furi
that Syn was afraid he might not be able to stop. Ex crumpled like
a piece of paper, going down on both knees, but Syn wasn’t ready
for it to be over. He looked the man in the eye, cocked his right
hand back again and sent a crucial punch dead center in that pretty
face, fairly sure that he knocked a couple of teeth loose and
permanently re-structured his nose. Ex flew onto his back,
clutching his nose, spitting and grimacing at the pain he was
surely going to feel for the next couple months.

Syn caught movement in his peripheral,
but he’d been prepared for the brother-in-law’s cheap sneak attack.
Before he could reach Syn, Day moved like a cobra, quick and
precise, extending his arm straight out, swinging it hard, striking
the brother-in-law in the throat before he could get anywhere close
to Syn. He went down hard, grabbing at his throat, wanting to
scream from the pain but unable to. No sound was coming out. His
eyes were wide with shock as Day stared down at him, admiring his
handiwork. Day looked back at his lover, enjoying the prideful look
on God's face.

So it was true. Those two really got
off on being complete badasses.

“
This fucking city is full
of nothing but thugs, money grubbing porn-bitches, and hustlers.
I’m calling the police.” Ex fumed as he struggled to pull his cell
from his pocket.

If Syn weren't so damn angry it
would’ve been funny as shit the way the man’s jaw dropped when God
and Day both pulled their gold badges out from under their shirts.
Day smiled that sinister grin and kneeled in front of them,
speaking in an official tone, “911, what is your
emergency?”

With the brother taken care of, he was
able to focus on his real problem. “Get up,” Syn growled. The
bastard put his hand up to ward off Syn’s approach. Syn grasped the
outstretched hand and frowned at the diamond wedding band
glistening on the man’s ring finger. Syn twisted the finger,
forcing the palm up and used it to jerk him to his feet roughly,
making him cry out in agony. “Furi belongs to me. If you ever come
near him again, I won’t be as nice as I was today. He wants a
divorce, sign the papers or don’t sign the papers; I don’t give a
fuck, just stay away from him.” Syn twisted and pulled tighter. A
few more inches and he’d break the goddamn finger. Syn was reaching
behind his back for his S&W; the urge to make the guy a
permanent non-factor, strong. “Stay far, far away. Am I making
myself clear?”

“
Enough.” God’s gruff,
distinctive voice snapped Syn back to reality.

Ex spat blood on the dirty
concrete. Snot and sweat dripped down his face as he pinned Syn
with a look that seemed to say, ‘
Fine, if
you want Furi you can have him and by the way, fuck
you’.

“
That works for me.” Syn
threw the ex’s hand down and backed up a few steps, stopping
himself from doing something that would cost him his shield.
Thankfully God was there. He was relatively sure that ex-husband
and his brother wouldn’t be filing a police report since Syn had
intercepted them in the process of assault and attempted
kidnapping.

“
Leave. Now. I never want
to see your pathetic asses in this city again, or I’ll make sure
there’s no one around to stop me from doing what I really want to
do.” Syn crouched down to where Patrick had dropped as soon as Syn
released his hand and stared into those scared, gray eyes. He
pulled his badge out and flashed it at Ex, briefly enjoying the
look of disbelief on that bruised face before whispering harshly,
“I know how to hide a body. I’ll put you where no one can smell
you.”

Neither one of the men waited around
to see if Syn meant what he said. They clambered to their feet and
hobbled down the alley, halfway holding each other up, not looking
back.

Once they were gone, Syn lifted his
head to look at his Lieutenants. He knew how close he’d been to
putting a bullet in that bastard’s head, because all he kept
picturing were that man’s hands wrapped around Furi’s throat. Syn
hadn’t lost control in a long time, and he wondered what that
meant. How deep did his feelings for Furi run?

“
Go home,” Day said,
clasping him on the shoulder. “We’ll handle the rogue bitch clan at
the station.”

“
I can do my job, Day,”
Syn snapped back at his boss.

“
We know that. We’ll let
Sasha Pain; aka porn bitch sit on ice and interrogate her in the
morning see if there’s any connection with this ex-husband and
BTNS.” God gestured with his head. “Go check on your man, you know
that’s where you want to be.”

Syn was taken aback. God said nothing
about him dating a prior suspect in a case they were still working,
or about dragging them into a back alley fight while he took his
revenge. God was actually being compassionate. Well, damn. Syn was
astonished to see that side of him.

“
Besides, you won’t be
worth shit to me with a hard on all night.”

And he’s back.
Well, that compassion sure was
short-lived
.

Furi walked across Syn’s
living room carpet for what felt like the millionth time while he
waited for him to come back.
How dare he
order me to leave? Like I’m a damn kid.
Furi decided right then and there that he was going to have a
talk with Syn. Furi wouldn’t be his kept man or his
bitch.

Furi stopped mid-stride when he heard
the door open and close behind Syn. All the anger and hostility
he’d felt while alone in Syn’s place just disappeared when the
ruggedly handsome man yanked his dark coat off and threw it on the
couch, approaching Furi with a hungry look.

“
Did he hurt you?” Syn’s
voice was gravelly. He put both hands on either side of Furi’s neck
and lifted it gently, eyeing the slight redness there.

“
I’m fine. Despite the
fact you keep having to rescue me, I’m not a weakling. I can defend
myself,” Furi said with venom, pulling away from Syn’s
examination.

“
Right. That Mr. Miyagi
crash course at the Y.” Syn stifled a laugh, but Furi thought it
was anything but funny and he let Syn know it.

“
Don’t fucking mock me.”
Furi stormed past him down the hall. Syn’s footsteps sounded behind
him. He’d just caught up with him when he opened the bathroom
door.

“
Hey, hey, hey,” Syn said
in a whisper. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t mocking you, I was teasing
you.”

Furi frowned and Syn shook his head.
“Let me clarify. Joking after an intensely stressful situation
helps to calm me. I need to come down from the high of an
adrenaline rush, that’s all that was.”

Furi looked skeptical before finally
sighing. “I’m sorry too.” Furi kept his hand in Syn’s and walked
backwards down the hall to the living room. “So, did you kill
him?”

Syn’s head jerked back as if what Furi
said was completely absurd. “Never mind. Forget I said that, I
don’t want to talk about him.” Furi moved in closer, placing his
hand on Syn’s waist. “Are you okay?”

Syn closed the small space between
them, leaving only a couple inches. “I am now.”

Furi grabbed Syn’s right
hand, but recoiled slightly when he felt wetness on his own. He
looked at his hand, noticing the blood that was smeared across his
fingers.
Oh my god.
Furi picked up Syn’s hand for a closer inspection and winced
at the bruised knuckles. Each was an angry purple color, and on a
couple of surfaces skin had been broken or scraped off. Syn's
entire hand was swollen and no doubt had to be throbbing. Syn
shrugged nonchalantly, “It’s alright. It’s just a
scratch.”

“
Fuck,” Furi whispered.
“You sure you didn’t kill him?”

Syn’s coal black eyes were deadly
serious. “I wanted to. He better be thankful God was there to stop
me.”

“
It’s good you listen to
the Almighty. Patrick could use a little Jesus in his own life,”
Furi added.

Syn busted out laughing. “No, God is
my, oh never mind. It’s not important.”

Furi continued to examine Syn’s hand
while swallowing hard at the emotion in his throat. He took Syn’s
other hand and lead him to the kitchen. “Sit.” He pointed at one of
the small dinette chairs in the kitchen. He looked in a couple
cabinets before he found one with a bowl in it. He opened the
freezer, glad to see that although Syn didn’t have any food, he did
have ice trays. Furi cracked and dumped two into the bowl, pulled a
beer out the fridge and set both in front of his prizefighter.
Grinning to himself, he asked, “Where’s your first aid kit,
Champ?”

“
Under the sink.” Syn
shook his head, watching Furi intently. “So are you back to the
nick-names? Refusing to say my name again?”

Ignoring the question. Furi set a few
napkins, along with the first kit on the table and pulled out the
opposite chair, scooting it closer to Syn, his knees practically
between Syn’s parted thighs. “Give me your hand.”

Syn twisted off the top of his beer
and shoved his bloody hand into the bowl, hitting the bottom with a
thud. Not even wincing at the pain.

“
Augh! Jesus H! What the
..." Furi winced while carefully pulling Syn’s hand out the bowl of
ice. “I said to give me your hand. Geez, tough guy.”

Syn brought his beer up to his lips
and took a long gulp, finishing half the bottle before slamming it
back down. “Mmm. Good.”

Furi worked as gently as
he could on Syn’s hand, feeling the man’s powerful gaze on him the
entire time. It was eerily quiet, not even the sounds of breathing
could be heard, despite their close proximity. Furi had cleaned all
the blood off his hand and was ready to sanitize the wounds. “This
might sting a little,” he said quietly, not looking up. He poured
the anti-bacterial wash over the knuckles, and quickly began
blowing to try to ease the discomfort. After it finally registered
that Syn’s hand hadn’t even twitched, Furi looked up at the amused
smile on the man’s gorgeous face. Furi barked an embarrassed laugh,
realizing that what he just did wasn’t typical of a grown
man.
I still blow on something when it
burns.
“You’re an asshole. Stop looking at
me like that. I thought it stung.”