Always and Forever: An Echo Rescue Series Novella

by Daniels, Hope

  What Rico said was true. He’d fucked up. When you see the aftermath of torture as he had, it hardened you to the sweetness of home Maybe he didn’t want to taint what was left back home. Either way, he should’ve at least had the balls to tell Mrs. M, that he was alive. She understood when he finally manned up and went to see her. He’d found forgiveness when he saw his own mom and Rico wasn’t taking it away from him.

  “Yep, you’re right. Your mama is the most understanding woman I know. She called me on the carpet when I asked for forgiveness for not callin’ her. Question, what I want to know is did you have the balls to tell her you’re sorry for being such a fuck up?”

  That question didn’t sit too well with Rico, forcing Troy to tighten his hold. It wouldn’t be long before his friend would be passed out cold. Troy hated doing it, but all Rico was going to do is hurt himself. No way could Rico beat him, he was faster, stronger, and angrier. This is for Rico’s own good. For his safety.

  “I don’t give a shit about our past history, crazy motherfucker. You better sleep with one eye open, because I’m going to kill you,” Rico taunted, his voice strained.

  “I have no doubt you’ll try, my friend. Think about this though, is it really me you want to kill or is there some memory deep down that just won’t stay buried you’re after? Huh? Why don’t you sleep on it? We’ll talk about things when you wake up.”

  “Fuck you. If you hadn’t left,” Rico whispered before Troy pressed his arm against his throat just enough to cause his friend to fall limp in his arms.

  Where the fuck am I? It Was always the first question Rico asked himself when he woke from the red haze. The second was usually “Who the fuck are you”, or “Where the hell am I now?” This time he needed to ask why the hell he couldn’t move his arms. He hadn’t remembered being in an accident, but that didn’t mean a whole hell of a lot.

  Rico tried to stretch his sore muscles and confirmed that he was indeed tied up. The creak of leather confirmed it as did the clink of chains. Interesting. He didn’t remember being taken prisoner. The last thing he remembered was visiting his mama, that prick bastard Donnie was there trying to tell him what he could or couldn’t do in his own damn house. He remembered seeing the asshole again later that night putting the moves on another woman at the bar and when Rico had confronted him, the fucker threatened to poison his mama.

  It was all fuzzy after that. Next thing he knew he was sitting with Uncle Tom and in walks Troy. Somehow, he felt the other man’s presence behind the two-way mirror. Maybe not Troy’s exactly, but someone with whom he had a powerful connection. Why the fuck did it have to be the man I still can’t get out of my head? Oh yeah, ’cause uncle Tom isn’t a dumbass.

  Just because he wanted to put his fist between Troy’s eyes right now while asking him why the hell, he never answered any of his letters, or at least his own fucking mother’s letters in the last three years was a bad idea. Putting his fists anywhere near those blue gray eyes was a no go. Why didn’t you ever write to me? Or my mom or even your own fucking family? Instead of dwelling on his anger, he managed to open his peepers wide enough to take in his surroundings and acclimate himself.

  Motherfucker tied his ass to the St. Andrew’s Cross. He’d seen it stuffed in the back corner, but Troy hadn’t mentioned his new proclivities and neither did Rico. Fuck, did his mind ever fall right into the gutter imagining Troy sucking him off which made him hard. Rico slammed his eyes closed and concentrated on calming his erratic breathing and hopefully his dick at the same time. Unfortunately, that bastard had a mind of its own and dragged him along for the ride ninety percent of the time.

  With Troy though, they were both all in. Mind and body. The big asshole didn’t deserve a second chance, and he wasn’t worth all the trouble everyone was going through. He couldn’t save his relationship with the man who held his heart prisoner any more than he could save those little girls from being gang raped, or from taking their own lives. They had been promised a new life with the “Americans,” even though some of them had helped the insurgents, they looked forward to new parents and three squares daily. His superiors knew they were handing them over to fuckers who were going to use them in a child porn ring, but it didn’t matter. What mattered then was results and connections. By the time Rico discovered where those little girls really went, it was too late. Those of his team who didn’t give a fuck about the rules followed him and what they found — he will never be able to forget.

  Even now a small tear leaked from the corner of his eye just thinking of what each child had endured. If he had a little girl and someone had — just the thought quickly turned his sorrow to rage and Rico bucked against the leather bindings holding him in place. His lids flashed open and his gaze locked onto the steely gray of Troy’s eyes.

  Big fucking mistake.

  Every hurt he’d ever endured came rushing to the forefront. Every bit of pain he’d felt screamed to hurt the man in front of him because if Troy hadn’t left him to join the Navy, he in turn wouldn’t have joined the Marines. If he hadn’t been in the Marines, he wouldn’t have been…

  “I have no fucking clue where you just went in your mind, but it ain’t my fault and it ain’t yours,” Troy stated matter of factly, interrupting Rico’s mental diatribe.

  “You don’t know a fucking thing about me. Not anymore.” He eyed Troy’s confident stance. Part of him still wanted to put his fist in Troy’s face, another part of him remembered the way the younger version of him had kissed him. It was that fucked up side, appreciating the way Troy was standing now with his feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed, and a damnable smirk on his face. How will your whiskers feel against my balls?

  “You only think I don’t know you, but I know more about you than you know about yourself. I am you, Rico. You wanted to know what I owed the Sheriff. I owe him my life,” he admitted softly. “I was a mess when I got back. Even more than you are. Give your uncle a break, Marsh.” It was the first Troy had called him by his given name since he’d brought him to the complex. Rico noted the significance, but couldn’t muster two shits for the time being. “He’s been to hell and back and made it through and it was all before fancy drugs were handed out like candy.

  “Fuck you, Troy. You don’t know shit,” he said with a glare. “Think you’re so smart. All of this is your damn fault! If you hadn’t left me. I wouldn’t have joined up. I wouldn’t have been there. I wouldn’t have known what they were gonna do. Tell me, Colonel, what am I thinking now?” It had been the wrong challenge to throw out and Rico knew it the moment the words rolled passed his lips. Troy accepted the challenge, creasing his forehead and narrowing one hundred and ninety percent of his focus onto Rico. It was unnerving to have a man of power tower over him, holding all of the proverbial cards while he was tied up and left trying to figure out how to talk his ass out of this one. Just like Afghanistan. Unlike being overseas, he was growing hard at the thought of having all that intensity directed at him.

  “You’re thinking you don’t know whether or not you want to kill me or fuck me,” Troy answered for him.

  Rico couldn’t catch his breath when Troy stepped closer. The bastard was spot on, but lust took hold of his brain. If he could fight past the memories and beat the shit out of the assholes who did the hurting, he’d do it. But if not, he was okay blocking out the memories temporarily and allowing a few moments of pleasure.

  “You might be surprised at what tops the list,” he replied, never breaking eye contact. Though he sounded calm, at least to his own ears, his heart thundered in his chest. Here he was, exposed and completely at the mercy of the man standing before him and for some reason, Rico couldn’t help but taunt him.

  When Troy’s eyes flashed toward his hard pecker and back up, Rico saw the young man he’d known a long time ago. The man who was insatiable, curious and fuck, did he just move closer?

  “Be careful what you wish for. If you want me to fuck you, you’ll have to submit.” Rico casually closed his
eyes trying to hide the shiver that rolled through him as Troy dropped his tone another octave. “You like the idea of submitting to me, don’t you? Just like you want my mouth on your cock, licking and sucking until I swallow every last drop of your cum. Then you want me to fuck your ass so hard you’ll come again. But I won’t be done with you then. Not by a fucking long shot. You want to fuck out your demons? I’m game, babe. Are you ready to submit to everything I require?”

  Rico

  Secrets

  Jesus fucking Christ. Am I ready to give up control? Fuck you Troy, but no. You don’t need to see my demons. I don’t want to fucking see them. I don’t want to see the look in your eyes when you discover what I did. Will you still want me then? I don’t think so, but I will always want you.

  “Just because I still want you doesn’t mean I’m going to submit to you. It’s not the way I roll. So, if you’d just be a good BFF and un-fucking-tie me, that’d be super great.”

  Rico licked his dry lips but couldn’t stop from stealing a glance at the fullness of Troy’s mouth. He eyes wandered down to his wide shoulders, noticing how they taper into his trim waist. The man had thighs that could crack walnuts or hold a man tightly while deeply fucking him. Another unsolicited shiver rippled through Rico’s body and his dick jerked in approval. Too bad, so sad. What his dick wanted and what was going to be were two different things.

  “Oh now,” Troy whispered. “By the time I’m finished with you, not only will you tell me every secret you have, but you’ll beg me to take the pain away.”

  “In. Your. Dreams. Asshole,” he snarled.

  “Yes. Having you in my arms again is a dream. One I’m not ready to let go of yet.”

  Rico let out a rush of air when Troy stood back, only to turn and press his hand to a pressure plate on the wall. A portion of the wall slid away and he sucked in his breath. Fuck a big red duck. His eyes opened wide at the variety and number of whips, paddles, clamps, and other paraphernalia hanging in the wall. The moment Troy picked up the riding crop Rico knew he was screwed, and not in a fun way. At least not yet.

  “Some dreams aren’t meant to become reality so let me the fuck out of here,” Rico struggled against the leather bindings, even though he knew it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good.

  “No.”

  “No? Just no?” Rico glared at Troy. Troy slapped the inside of his thigh with the leather tongue hard enough for the sting to remain as he stepped away.

  “Tom didn’t say your hearing had been affected. Did you get too close to an IED? No? Then it’s all selective hearing. Okay. I can work with that. As long as I have your attention, I’ll know you’re listening. Good to know,” Troy said from the far corner before turning away again.

  “What the fuck are you talking about? Get your scrawny ass over here and untie me,” Rico shouted. What are you thinking, Troy? Quit playing around and get your ass over here and untie me. We’ll have a good hard fuck and I’ll be on my way. Being unable to see Troy was disconcerting. He couldn’t see what the bastard was doing which worried him even more.

  “You don’t want me to untie you, babe,” Troy’s deep voice suddenly sounded in his ear. “You’re curious. You want me to hurt you. To make you come and to fuck you until you can’t remember why you killed a superior officer, and an entire PMC unit.”

  It wasn’t possible to stop breathing. He’d already tried it and was still here. Now the bottle, sex, and fighting were his air. He needed one if not all three. His lungs refused to work, but his heart kicked into sixth gear and revved high RPMs waiting for him to kick out, punch, or run out of this room as fast as he could. Only they weren’t going anywhere. Endorphins pulsed through his blood as panic took hold. He bucked and struggled against the restraints. All he knew was he had to get the fuck out of there and now. No one is supposed to know. The military doesn’t know. How does he know. How the fuck does he know? The sounds of children, little girls, crying rushed back at him. Men laughing, smoking, drinking, and talking about how they’d broken that one in, slapped another around for biting. It felt like yesterday in Rico’s mind. Always just yesterday. The crying followed him everywhere.

  “Get me the fuck out of here now Troy. I mean it. Let me up you fucking bastard. How can you do this to me? How did you find out? No one knows.” Angry, panicked tears pooled in Rico’s eyes, blurring his vision. His stomach was about to rebel. Thoughts of how he’d planned his revenge after seeing those little girls flooded his mind. He didn’t feel Troy’s soothing kisses on his neck or his arms, holding him while petting his chest. No, he didn’t feel any of it just then. He couldn’t. He was lost to the scent and sounds of death inside his own head.

  When he and his unit had handed over the orphans in their care, he immediately became suspicious when they separated the boys and the girls, tearing apart families. Brothers and sisters who were all that were left of entire families were put in different areas of the encampment, no matter their age. His superior had told him it was none of his business. They were no longer the military’s problem and to quit looking for trouble. Rico’s gut wouldn’t let him give up though, and he kept digging. He still had the records to put away the bastards he’d eliminated and others still on his list, but he knew time was of the essence. If he wanted to save these girls he had to act quickly. Gathering those he trusted, he planned his attack. The guys they were going up against were trained. Many were former Marines themselves.

  He needn’t have worried though. They were too busy ‘getting the merchandise ready’ to be too concerned with added security. It hadn’t dawned on Rico that PMC soldiers would take advantage of little girls. When he realized what they had done, he closed himself down and vowed to rid the world of them. Moving in sync with his team, they went from room to room and eliminated every member of the Private Military Contract unit in the compound. By the time he returned to where they kept the girls, several of the younger ones had succumb to their injuries and those that survived were just husks of their former selves. They took the survivors to the hospital and he contacted an evangelical pastor he knew to arrange for their care. A week later, his superior officer had an accident from which he never recovered.

  His team knew about the PMC soldiers, but no one knew about the Captain. He hadn’t whispered a word. So how the fuck did Troy find out?

  Troy

  Admission

  “Shh, calm down. It’s my job to know shit other people don’t,” Troy whispered soothingly against his wet cheek. He was a bastard, there were no two-ways about it. The short time he’d been in his home, he’d decided he didn’t want him to leave. Their connection had begun to grow once more and dammit, Troy wanted his friend back. Before he hadn’t given a flying fuck, but now — now he wanted Marshall back as his friend and lover. The only way to bring that about was to confront the demons inside both of them.

  He’d liked seeing him secured to his cross. It took every ounce of control to not strip the jersey shorts off his would-be lover and lick him from root to tip. He knew damn well how delicious the man tasted; would he be able to live up to his expectations? Sex was for later though. For now, he would take care of him like he would any other sub. We had a big breakthrough, but it was enough of one, Troy thought, for one day.

  “Let me just hold you, babe,” he soothingly spoke, while his hands caressed the flesh he’d wanted to touch since he saw him at the jail. “No one knows but me and I sure as shit ain’t sharing the intel. You’re mine and I protect mine.”

  Troy didn’t wait any longer. With his left hand gripping his chin, and his right hand at his waist, he pressed his lips against Rico’s seeking his lover Marshall, buried deep inside, through his tears and all. The moment the other man gasped; Troy delved in. If he could, he would take the horror he’d seen unto himself. Anything to spare the man he’d never stopped caring about. Never stopped loving.

  Yeah, he loved Marshall aka Rico. Admitting it to himself was scary as fuck. Would he be able to trust him? Yeah, he knew if he
’d kept this secret, he’d keep all of his. Question was, could he keep him safe? That concern made him deepen the kiss and grip his chin tightly. Troy lifted his hand to pinch Rico’s nipple, swallowing the groan it elicited.

  When he lifted his head, both men were panting but Troy didn’t stop his assault. Instead he moved around the cross and removed his jeans. No need to be in such agony when he could stand in his briefs and let him see what the man did to him.

  “Fuck, Troy, let me go so I can touch you,” he growled, but Troy smirked.

  “Do you know how sexy you are? Jesus, I love those curls.” He reached out and tucked one behind his ear. “I’ll let you go when you’re ready, but not yet. I want to show you how good it can be.”

  “I know how good we can be, Troy. I remember every single moment. I wrote to you every day, so did my mom and your mom.”

  “I know.” He didn’t apologize but let the guilt reflect in his eyes and in his touch. “I wrote back, at first. Then shit happened like it happened to you. You can’t go back from it but you can move forward.” Troy stilled his movements to pierce him with his gaze, willing him to realize he understood what he’d done and there was no judgement on his part.

  “Some things are easier to come back from than others.”

  “Ain’t that the truth. Sometimes you find yourself in a position where those same mother fuckers owe you their lives and one by one, when the time is right, you expose them. You seek out the fuckers who hide in the dark and bring them into the light so they can’t play their dirty little games anymore.”