Step Up with Me

by Kris Jacen

  Becky pushed into the room, holding a mask to her face. “Jack? The deputies are wondering how things are going?”

  “Just finished. I’ll go talk to Honcho’s human.”

  § § § §

  Tank woke up wrapped around Jack. He didn’t remember when Jack got home but he was here now. Leaning over Jack, Tank checked the clock. It was only 8:30 so not too early for a Saturday. He didn’t think Jack had any plans for the day so Tank wasn’t worried about waking him up. Or if he did wake him, Jack could go back to sleep after.

  “Hmm, Tank blanket. I likey,” Jack murmured. “Come up here and give me a kiss and don’t be talking about any morning breath right now. We’ve both not woken up yet so shhh.” Jack pulled Tank up and laid a kiss on him.

  Tank shifted until he was completely over Jack and started moving his hips against Jack. It didn’t take long for them to both be hard. Tank could feel moisture on the tip of his cock and was pretty sure he was feeling some from Jack, too.

  Last night he was curious to suck Jack to completion. They’d gotten off together… mutual hand jobs and bump and grind… but Tank wanted more and he didn’t think that Jack would stop him. Jack had been really patient with him. Sliding down Jack, he pulled Jack’s bottoms with him as he went causing Jack’s cock to pop out and bounce against his lower stomach.

  A trail of precum stretch across the distance between the cockhead and the stomach and Tank licked it off. He tilted his head to the side, trying to place the taste. It wasn’t bitter but not sweet either. Tank moved his mouth around the girth of Jack’s cock, running his tongue and teeth up and down.

  “Tank…” Jack gasped as Tank wrapped his lips around Jack’s cock and sucked. “Holy shit!” Jack’s hand dropped onto Tank’s shoulder, gripping hard. Tank knew that he should move his head up and down but he was enjoying just sucking on the head. He wasn’t sure how much he could take, really. Deciding that he couldn’t ignore the shaft of Jack’s cock, he wrapped his hand around it and moved it to join up with his mouth before running it down again.

  “If you keep that up, I’m going to come. You had me so hot last night that driving to the clinic was painful,” Jack said.

  If Jack could form a sentence, then Tank must not be doing something right so he refocused on Jack’s cock. He changed up his rhythm and added in some squeezing along the length. It didn’t take long before Tank could feel Jack trembling.

  “You need to pull away… Tank, shit. Soon… I need…” Tank had it right now. Jack couldn’t finish a thought.

  Tank hummed around Jack’s cock and that was all that Jack needed to release. He shot off in Tank’s mouth and Tank swallowed as much as he could before he had to pull back, wiping the rest into Jack’s stomach.

  “Oh, my… what a… I can’t…” Jack was having a hard time talking. Yeah, that made Tank feel ten feet tall. Tank laid his head on Jack’s hip and relaxed. A few minutes later, Jack flipped him on his back and dove for his crotch. “Mine!”

  There was nothing tentative in Jack’s actions and all Tank could do was try and breathe. Jack took Tank to the back of his throat and swallowed. If Jack did that again, Tank wasn’t sure he could hold back. Jack ran his hands over the muscle running from Tank’s side into his hip and made him jump. Tank felt his eyes roll back in his head. Jack must have known it would drive him crazy. One, maybe two more pumps, Tank wasn’t exactly sure because he couldn’t think, and he was coming down Jack’s throat.

  “Yum, my favorite breakfast. Tank on the sheets. Now let’s take a little nap. I don’t think we have anything to do today at all. Please tell me that’s the case?” Jack shifted up the bed and onto the pillows.

  “Not sure about you but all I’ve got is some studying to do,” Tank said as he curled around Jack’s back. “I might slip out of bed in a bit to get some done.”

  “Don’t leave?” Jack sounded a little needy with that.

  “Everything went okay last night?” Tank felt bad for not asking before but it didn’t really fit with their wake up today.

  “Yeah, but this week sucked and I didn’t get my relaxation that I wanted last night.”

  “Get some sleep and then we’ll see about getting those plans put into action.” Tank placed a kiss against Jack’s neck and closed his eyes.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jack was going to beat Randolph’s ass on the mats. This was the stupidest movie he’d ever seen and that was saying something with the “classics” that Randolph had chosen before. Seriously, who comes up with Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys? Jack would rather watch all of the Sharknado movies. He shifted to grab more popcorn from the bowl on Tank’s stomach. At least he could distract himself with Tank laying against him.

  Finally, the credits rolled and Bree hit stop. There was a moment of silence before they all belted Randolph with popcorn while ‘boo-ing’.

  “All in favor of revoking Randolph’s movie choosing privileges say ‘aye’,” Barbie said when the noise died down.

  Eight voices said, “Aye” together.

  “Wait! Neil doesn’t get a vote,” Randolph argued.

  Bree looked at him and blinked a few times before she said, “I’m sorry, do you have veto rights? Yeah, I didn’t think so besides even not counting Neil’s vote, you’ve lost privileges. You can appeal the decision in five to seven weeks.”

  Briar got up and walked over to the DVD player and pulled out his choice for the evening. “For this evening’s viewing pleasure… drum roll please… Venom. Thank you, thank you very much.” Briar tried for an Elvis impersonation and failed but bowed anyway.

  Siah shifted on the oversize chair with Carter. “Anyone need anything before we hit play?” Movie night was at their condo tonight. When no one said anything, Bree hit play.

  About half way through the movie, Jack’s cell phone rang. It wasn’t the tone for the clinic but it was Sandy’s ringtone. Jack lifted a hip and pulled out his phone. “Hey, what’s up? Aren’t you at a function?”

  “Jack! Where are you? I need you,” Sandy said in a panicked voice.

  “I’m at Siah’s. Are you okay?” Jack motioned to Bree to hit pause.

  “I need you to get over to Tom’s brother’s house as soon as you can. He just called screaming that ‘the brats’ had no discipline and he was going to take care of it. If he hurts my babies, I’ll kill him. We’re four hours away at this stupid retreat and I don’t want the triplets with him any longer than necessary. This is what I get for giving him a chance. He seemed happy to spend time with the kids. Jack, help?” By the end of her rant, Jack could tell she was on the verge of tears.

  Jack stood up and reached for his keys. “Text me the address. I’m on my way. I’ll call when I have them.”

  “Wait! Make sure you get the car seats from him. Tom gave him our extra set in case he wanted to take them out.”

  “How long has he had them?” It was a mild April but where would he take the triplets?

  “They’ve been with him and his shrew all day. They were supposed to stay the night there as this isn’t ending for another few hours then the drive back. Fucking team building.” Oh, Sandy was pissed and in mama bear mode.

  “I’ve got this covered. My bugs will be safe in the next hour and if Harry tries to stop me? I will happily put him on his ass. Let me go now and get the bugs. Love you,” Jack said as he hung up. He looked around at the crews. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got to—”

  “Breathe!” Siah yelled at him. “Pull it together and go get those babies. Do you want us to follow you?”

  Jack nodded. “Especially Bree and Barbie. Bree to stop me from hitting the shrew and Barbie, in case the bastard calls the cops.”

  “Everyone move it,” Siah said as he clapped his hands. “Randolph and Briar, head to Jack’s and get things ready for the bugs. The rest of us, rescue mission time.”

  It didn’t take long for them all to be in their cars and on the way. As they had climbed into the Jeep, Jack got the text
from Sandy with the address. It wasn’t an area he was familiar with so he handed his phone to Tank and asked him to pull up the directions. Once Tank had programmed it in, he whistled.

  “What? Which direction?” Jack demanded.

  “Head left and then in two miles get on the expressway. And what? If I remember correctly, and I could be wrong, this isn’t the greatest neighborhood. It was nice but then I guess… rotted? I’m not sure if that’s the best word but you’ll see.”

  “Wonderful. I wonder if Sandy knew that.” Jack wasn’t going to borrow trouble thinking about that. Sandy had to know where her brother-in-law lived, right?

  § § § §

  Tank watched Jack as he drove and could see he’d pulled his black belt focus out. Jack had a way of bringing forth a calm while he was on the mats that could scare his opponents. Tank said a prayer that the brother-in-law didn’t fight Jack taking the triplets or it could get ugly. He was happy that the other crew members were with them. Tank might need them to help him get Jack off the bastard.

  Jack pulled up in front of the address and Tank saw the other cars park around them. Not the best neighborhood but not the worst either. Looked like the houses were kept up. Tank followed Jack out of the car and the crews, flanked Jack.

  It only took one knock for a haggard looking woman to open the door. She sneered at Jack and didn’t even look at the rest of them. “Why are you here?”

  Tank could hear the bugs crying at the top of their little lungs. Jack just pushed the woman to the side and walked into the house.

  “You can’t just push your way in. This is our house,” she screamed.

  “You shut up or I’ll make you,” Bree commanded, as she got in the woman’s face. “And don’t think I won’t take pleasure in shutting you up. What have you done that the bugs are crying that loud? Never mind, I don’t care but if Jack tells me that there is one mark on any of them? You’ll have marks, too.”

  The triplets were on a blanket that looked like it had seen better days. Tank followed Jack and went immediately to Ethan. His little man was on the verge of hyperventilating; his face all red and blotchy. Siah grabbed Grace and Carter, Faith. Jack was pushing a man against the wall.

  “What did you do, you fucker?” Jack demanded. “Why are they crying?”

  “The little brats won’t shut the fuck up. They need to learn it’s not all about them. They don’t need to be held every fucking minute.” The man’s voice was slurred and when he heard that he thought that Jack was going to explode.

  “Are you fucking drunk? While watching our nephew and nieces?” Jack’s voice had a deadly calm to it now. Tank motioned to May and he handed Faith to Neil. May moved behind Jack to grab him if necessary.

  “My house. I can do what I want.” The guy tried to look smug but all he pulled off was to look like a fish with his lips pursed.

  Tank watched as Jack took a few deep breaths before he spoke again. “I am taking the triplets and you are going to sit on your ass and not move. Am I clear? You have endangered them and if you give me any problems, I will gladly put you in the hospital.”

  Jack turned away from the idiot who decided he was going to be stupid and swung at Jack who turned gracefully blocking the swing. He pivoted and countered with an upper cut to the guy’s jaw. Tank watched as his eyes rolled back and he hit the floor.

  “Harry!” the woman from the door came flying over and dropped next to the bastard.

  “Let’s go everyone. Where are the car seats?” Jack looked to the pair for an answer.

  “He’s out cold,” she said.

  Bree walked over, squatted next to the woman and said slowly, “Car seats?”

  The woman met Bree’s eyes and must have seen something that Tank couldn’t see from where he was holding Ethan.

  The woman pointed a finger at a hallway and May and Barbie went to check. They came back with the car seats and the diaper bags.

  Without another word, Jack turned to Neil and took Faith, cuddling her to his chest. The bugs had calmed down and were just hiccupping quietly. Jack seemed to check out Faith before nodding and heading out of the room. The rest of them just followed and Bree closed the door behind them.

  Tank was sure that Sandy was going to cut off all contact with Tom’s family when she heard about this fiasco and he didn’t blame her one bit.

  “Come on, little man. Let’s go have a bottle and a sleep.” Tank placed a kiss on Ethan’s head as he felt him sigh.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tank was sitting in the day room doing some reading for tonight’s class. He never would have thought that adolescent nutrition could hold his attention. Tank hadn’t had a lot of experience with kids until the last few years. The twins, while he still had problems following their conversations, amazed him. But their homework? Yeah, that scared him. Even after having common core math explained to him, he couldn’t figure it out. What happened to just memorizing the multiplication tables?

  Jack’s bugs had captured his heart. When they’d gotten them back to Jack’s from the brother in law’s, they’d given them baths because… let’s face it, all of the crew wanted to shower and they’d only been in the house for five minutes tops. Barbie and May had found hand wipes somewhere and wiped the car seats off before putting them in Jack’s Jeep. The bugs must have known that they were safe. They splashed a little in the tub then they took their bottles and fell right to sleep. Neil had looked them over while they were in the tub and had told Jack that at a quick look he didn’t see anything suspicious or wrong with them. Bree had taken everything out of the diaper bags and washed or scrubbed everything with Briar and Randolph helping. It had taken Jack a good twenty minutes to calm Sandy and Tom down. Tom was blaming himself for it all. He said after the ‘fam-damn-ily’ holiday, he’d wanted the babies to have a connection to their other uncle and aunt. Never again.

  Spending time with the bugs made him smile. He and Jack were going to watch them overnight for Sandy and Tom this weekend. They were thinking about trying for another baby after the triplets were walking. Tank thought they’d lost their collective minds but Jack said that Sandy had always talked about having a house full of children.

  Tank heard a noise and looked up, realizing he’d been lost in thought and not doing the assignment. Glancing at his phone told him that he still had time to get it done. Then he heard someone clearing their throat and turned. Ooops, First Sergeant Redmond was standing there.

  “Top, were you talking to me?” Tank asked as he stood up, into a relaxed version of attention.

  “Relax, Martin. And yes, I was talking to you. Sit,” Redmond pulled out a chair opposite Tank. He could feel his leg start to bounce and dropped his hand down to his lap. “Ramirez briefed me and the captain about everything he found. First, I have to apologize for my part in any stress this caused for you. I knew things weren’t the best with Love but I didn’t imagine—” Top stopped talking and looked away. Tank could tell that he was taking this personally. “I’ve contacted branch and we’re doing what we can to get this scrubbed from your record. That it was ever—”

  “Top, things got better after everything with May for a while but then… I’m not sure really what happened. I was talking with Sergeant Major Luna and—”

  “He’s still around? Of course he is. Wonder if First Sergeant Holland is still enjoying his company. What did Luna have to say?”

  “I’ve just been talking with him about my options, staying in, getting out. You know, questions. I’m just not sure what I want to do. I’ve been taking some courses at the community college and…” Tank trailed off. He thought about everything over the past ten months… Briar and Randolph, the bullies at the school, Debbie’s classes, and most importantly, Jack. “I’m just… pulling on a uniform every morning…” He wasn’t sure how to phrase what was bouncing around his mind.

  “Pulling on the uniform isn’t as exciting as it once was?” Top filled in for him. Tank started nodding before he’d even finished
his question.

  “You have a minute, Top?” When Redmond nodded, Tank preceded to tell him about what had been going on since last summer. It wasn’t short, and he left nothing out, not even his lack of full penetrative sex with Jack. After he finished, Tank felt pounds lighter.

  “It sounds to me like you know what you want to do, you just haven’t put it into words,” Redmond said, looking at Tank expectantly. “Well?”

  Tank sat there for a minute before saying, “I want to help kids that are overweight find out how fun it can be to be healthier, no matter what.”

  Redmond stood up and grasped Tank’s shoulder. “The Army’s loss is going to be a great benefit for the kids in… you’re from Chicago, right?”

  “Yes, Top, but I might just stay right here. I’ll need to figure that out. Think I’ve got a few more months on my enlistment.”

  “You let me know what I can do for you, if anything,” Top said as he walked out of the room.

  Now to tell Jack and the crews because no way, no how was he not telling them. He liked his head right where it was.

  § § § §

  Pulling the Jeep into the lot for Mama’s, Jack parked then just sat there. The clinic was nuts today. Briar was sitting next to him and let out a deep sigh.

  “Are you as hungry as I am?” Briar asked as he clicked the seat belt and reached for the door handle.

  “Did I even eat lunch?” Jack couldn’t remember. The day was a blur of vaccinations and stitches and… “Was there a dachshund that got pregnant from a rottie today?”

  “Yup, she’s going to need help delivering those bad boys… or girls,” Briar answered as he let BB out of the backseat. “Let head in. If the others aren’t here, they’ll be here soon.”

  It’d been a few weeks since the last movie night and this weekend was out so the crews were doing dinner to catch up. They all talked and messaged but it wasn’t the same as in person. When Jack and Briar walked into Mama’s, the girl at the front just directed them to the side room.