“Yes, Mr. Greystone, you are.” Damon couldn’t be happier for his friend.
“Dude, that is such an awesome last name,” Tyler laughed.
Mark glanced over at Paul, who was laughing with Angus. “Well, it comes with an amazing man.”
Mark and Paul said their goodnights amid much whistling and shouting as they left. They got to their cottage and Paul held Mark back at the door.
“I’m going to carry you in now.” Paul grinned.
“Oh, I get to be the blushing bride?” Mark chuckled and put his arm out. “Come on, hubby.”
Paul picked him up and carried him in, shutting the door with his foot. He carried Mark to the bedroom, set him on his feet and gently brushed his hair back. He undressed him, again lifted him into his arms and put him on the bed. Paul then undressed slowly, until all his glorious skin shone. He joined Mark, who ran his hand down Paul’s chest until he reached his hard cock. He pulled him in closer and he licked the tip of Paul’s shaft.
Paul ran his hand through Mark’s hair as his mouth took him deeper. His hips moved as Mark swallowed him farther into his throat. Already close to coming, Paul shifted Mark on the bed and settled between his legs. His hands stroked him slowly as he entered him. They moved together unhurriedly, whispering words of love and kissing languidly. They took their time. Paul made it last as long as he could; he loved the sight of his husband writhing in pleasure on the bed. They came within seconds of each other. Thoroughly sated, Mark draped his arm across Paul’s chest and tossed his leg over his thigh.
Paul smiled and kissed his forehead. “I love you, Mr. Greystone.”
Mark snuggled into Paul’s neck and kissed to smooth skin. “I love you, too. I’m so glad we met that night. Who would have thought we’d be married?”
“I remember thinking how sexy you were. Then when I found you outside alone —”
“You were going to take me home and fuck my brains out.”
“But I couldn’t. That’s when I started freaking out.”
“Oh, I remember! Trust me.” Mark smiled as he remembered that first night with Paul.
“We were meant to be together, Mark.”
Mark shifted so he was on top of him and ran his tongue along Paul’s bottom lip, his hard cock pushing at Paul’s opening. “You up for some more?”
“I’m up for anything you want.” Paul smiled and pushed him in.
“Mmm, Mr. Greystone, you naughty man!” Mark pushed in further.
They made love until the sun rose. Paul watched his sleeping husband and shook his head in bemusement. His mother had always told him that when he met the person meant for him, he would know. And although love was scary, it was worth it in the end.
“You were so right, Mom.”
*~~~*
Greg and Jay were in Times Square with a million of their closest friends. The mass of humanity crammed into one place at the same time stunned Greg. Greg had Jay wrapped in his arms as they waited for the crystal ball to drop and officially start the New Year. It was so damned cold, Greg’s teeth were chattering. He pulled Jay in more tightly and shoved his hands in his pant pockets.
“Baby, that’s just going to excite me,” Jay chuckled.
“The day was so sunny, I didn’t even think about gloves and heavier coats. How are you not cold?” Greg was trying his best to get some body heat. “I need to find a nice woman having a hot flash to snuggle with. Just for tonight. You understand, right, babe?” he teased.
“Come here.” Jay turned and pulled Greg against his chest, hissing a little as Greg put his cold hands on his neck.
“I’m sorry!” Greg removed his cold hands.
“Put them under my shirt.”
“What?”
“Put your hands on my skin, baby.”
Greg slid his hands onto Jay’s hot skin and sighed. He was so damned warm. “Oh God, that feels so good! Forget the menopausal woman; I have my own human furnace.” He could feel his fingers again and his chest was slowly warming. He buried his face in Jay’s neck.
The crowd counted down the seconds to the new year as the ball began its descent. All of Times Square went crazy at the stroke of midnight. Jay lifted Greg’s face and kissed him.
“Happy New Year, baby!”
“Happy New Year!”
“Let’s get you back to the apartment, okay? You’re freezing, baby.” Jay took him by the hand and they waded against the sea of people like salmon swimming upstream.
Jay found a note from his father saying he was spending the night with his boyfriend. He had left a fire in the fireplace and a bottle of sparkling cider for them. Greg sat by the fireplace, warming his hands, as Jay opened the bottle and filled two glasses. They sat down near the fireplace and made a toast.
“To many more new years together.” Jay raised his glass and tapped it against the other.
Greg finished his cider and put down his glass. His fingers then went to Jay’s shirt and he tugged it off. Greg admired the muscular chest and reached for the waistband of his pants. Jay lay back and unbuttoned his pants and Greg slid them off, gazing in awe at his naked body. He made quick work of his own clothes and covered Jay’s body with his. They made love illuminated by firelight. It was slow and sweet, and full of love.
Jay closed his eyes and felt soft kisses on his jaw, gentle sucking on his neck. His hands pulled Greg in deeper. They stayed there afterwards, wrapped up in a blanket in each other’s arms.
“I so want to stay here.” Greg smiled.
“I know, but it’s back to school time,” Jay pouted.
“Thank you so much for bringing me with you.”
“Our second New Year as a couple. Where does the time go?” Jay kissed him softly.
“I don’t care, as long as it goes by with us together.”
“I love the sound of that.”
*~~~*
Damon woke up slowly, his head pounding so hard he felt sick. He hit the bathroom and took a shower. After that, he put the coffee on and went to look in on Tyler. He was still asleep. Somehow, they had managed to undress themselves during the night and then Tyler had attacked him. Damon was going on about three hours of sleep this morning. Tyler was sprawled on his stomach, with one foot out of the sheets, his perfect round ass in perfect view.
Damon smiled and crawled on top of him. “Good morning, gorgeous husband of mine.”
“Ow. Oh, my head.” Tyler rolled over with a grimace.
“No more alcohol for you.” Damon waggled his finger at him.
“That wasn’t beer; that was a meal.”
“Why don’t you take a shower, babe? It helped my head,” he laughed. “Then we can meet the dads at the pub for breakfast.”
“Okay.” Tyler winced as he got up.
Damon went outside and admired the view; it was incredible here. He could imagine living in Ireland. He saw his dad walking around and hurried to catch up.
“Morning, Dad!”
“Morning, Damon. How’s Tyler?” Stefan asked.
“Hung over. How’s Dad?”
“The same.” Stefan took his son’s hand and they walked along the beach. He stopped and turned to face his son.
“Damon, I want you to take over for me at Santorno.”
“Oh, Dad — what about Heath?”
“Heath and Isabelle will run the foundation.” Stefan turned Damon to face him. “You’re business sense is good, Damon, really good. You have the skills to take this company far. I trust you.”
Damon hugged his dad. “I love you.”
“I hope you know how much I love you. The minute they placed you in my arms, they placed you in my heart. You will always be my heart, son.”
Damon held back his emotion and squeezed his father’s hand. When he found out he was adopted, it had been hard to accept that he wasn’t truly a Youngblood. But his fathers assured him that he was their own child in every way. He had always felt loved and never felt as if he wasn’t family.
“I would be honored, Dad.”<
br />
“Good.” Stefan squeezed his hand.
They returned to the cottages to find the whole group milling around.
Jordan had on his sunglasses and Stefan laughed. “Babe, there’s no sun yet.”
“Yeah, then why do my eyes hurt?”
Stefan laughed and took his hand. They went to breakfast, amazed to find Paul perfectly fine after a night of drinking.
“How in the hell do you do that, Paul?” Tyler shook his head and then groaned.
“I was drinking beer when I was twelve. As long as I was in Ireland, I was drinking.”
“Don’t let him fool ya,” Angus laughed. “There were nights Colin picked his arse up off the floor.” Angus winked at Paul. “Oh, and Phoebe — she would be yellin’ at him for bringin’ her son home drunk!”
Paul laughed. “I had many a pint with my pa, eh, Angus?”
“It came to the point where the three of ya’d be drinkin’ in here. I guess yer ma figured if she couldn’t beat ya, she’d join ya.”
They talked about Paul’s parents and Mark squeezed his hand. They were leaving the next day, but Paul wanted to take them to Dublin for the day.
“Everyone ready to go?” Paul eyed the group. Half of them still looked drunk.
“Let me just grab a barf bag and I’ll be right there.” Jordan stood up and Stefan chuckled.
Mark and Paul waited for everyone by the cars and Paul caught Mark smiling at him.
“What?”
“I think we should name our first son Colin.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and if we ever have a girl, we should name her Phoebe.”
“Oh, Mark!” Paul hugged him tight. “Don’t you want to name any of our kids after your side of the family?”
“Maybe we’ll have four.” Mark waggled his eyebrows.
“Holy shit, we making a basketball team?”
“It’s not like you’re hurting for money, babe. We can have an entire football team.”
“Our money.”
“No, your money,” Mark protested.
“No. We’re married. Everything I have is yours. No arguments.” Paul palmed his face.
“Fine but I’m not spending a dime unless I have your permission.” Mark smiled.
“Ooh, a dutiful wife. I love it.”
Mark smacked his ass. “That’s chauvinistic and insulting,” he sniffed. He watched the group approach. “Come on, He-Man, let’s go.”
Chapter Thirteen
They had been back in Fort Worth for a week and Jordan was already tired. Between the jet lag and the beer overload, he was dragging. Michael came in for a checkup and Jordan was very pleased with his recovery. He looked much healthier now — is hair had grown back and his color was back, as well. He had packed on quite a few pounds of muscle, too.
Jordan was walking down the hospital corridor when he noticed Kip, the perpetually teenaged-appearing pediatrician, coming from the other direction.
“Doogie.”
“Asshole,” Kip replied sweetly. “How’s the patient?”
“Doing much better.”
They fell in step together as they walked.
“Bethany talked to Jacob the other night; they want to have dinner together. You know what that means.” Jordan smiled slightly.
“Yeah, that means they have something to tell you. Please, tell me you’re not cooking. I want to live.”
Isabelle and Jacob Sanders used Kip as Lucy’s pediatrician. As such, he was family to them, which in turn made him family to Jordan.
“I haven’t killed you — yet.”
A sudden wave of nausea washed over Jordan and his body stiffened. He took out his cell phone and called Stefan.
“Babe, you okay?” Jordan asked, panicked.
“I’m fine, baby, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Something —”
They were standing by the nurses’ station when the hospital’s alarms went off. Security guards ran past and snatched a nurse along the way.
“What the hell is going on?” Jordan demanded as more security passed them.
“I have no idea.” Kip’s brows furrowed in confusion.
The lockdown alarm went off and Jordan felt another wave of nausea. He realized Stefan was still talking.
“Dammit, Jordan, what is it?!”
“The lockdown alarm just went off.”
“I’m coming right now!”
Jordan ran to Michael’s exam room and found him vomiting in a trash can.
“Jesus, what is it?” All the color had drained from Michael’s face.
“Something’s wrong,” Michael held his head. “I have a bad feeling.”
“You and me both.”
Jordan heard a commotion in the hallway and ran out, running right into Bethany.
“Jordan, you shouldn’t be here.” Bethany wiped at her eyes.
“What? Why?” Jordan turned as running medics flew by with a gurney, headed for the emergency room. Blood-soaked auburn hair hung off the back. “CHARLIE!”
Security guards held him back as the doctors rushed her into the elevator, headed for the ER. Michael tried to join them, but security restrained him.
“Let me go!”
It took six guards to control Jordan and Michael. They put them in a room near the triage area and placed guards outside. Jordan’s cell rang; it was Stefan.
“They won’t let me in the hospital, babe. I’m waiting for Trent so that I can get inside.”
“It’s Charlie, Stefan!”
“What?”
“They won’t tell me what happened, but I saw her — they rushed her in on a gurney.”
He could hear Stefan yelling at someone; the stream of profanities was loud and clear. Stefan spoke again.
“I’m inside; where are you?”
“They locked me and Michel in a room near the emergency room, babe. There are guards outside the door.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll be damned if they won’t tell us shit!”
Jordan heard Stefan yelling outside the room. He leaned into one guard’s face and lowered his voice, but Jordan could barely read his lips.
“Open the door, now,” Stefan ordered.
Stefan was finally with them, along with police officers. They took Stefan, Jordan and Michael to the hospital’s main security room.
“Look, I’m not sure if you want to see this.” Det. Trent Ridley eyed them uneasily. “When you had security cameras placed in the hospital, they were placed in the parking garage as well. A man attacked Charlie in the parking deck. The security guards watching the monitors say it’s pretty bad. Once they saw it, they hit the alarm to shut down the area. Whoever attacked her got out before the gates came down. We have the whole area secured and will keep looking. I promise.”
“Play it,” Jordan choked out.
“Jordan, please,” Trent pleaded.
“Play. It.”
Trent nodded to the head of security. They watched Charlie as she got out of her car and a large man leapt from between two cars and grabbed her from behind. She fought back hard. She raked his face with her fingernails and tried to knee his groin before the attacker slammed her into the car window, shattering it. He dragged her on the ground, put his arm across her throat, pulled up her dress, and lowered his pants. He was moving between her legs when the alarms went off. He hesitated, stood up quickly, pulled up his pants and ran off toward to the right. No camera captured his face as he fled. All they saw was Charlie’s battered, still body on the concrete.
“Did he?” Michael swallowed hard; he couldn’t get the words out.
“We’ve ordered a rape kit. I’m so sorry,” Trent said quietly. “She’s being treated in emergency now; that’s all I know. As soon as I get an update, I’ll be sure you get it quickly.”
“I feel sick.” Michael rushed from the room.
Jordan left the room as well. He entered his office and stood in the center of the room, rage boiling up like lava in a volc
ano. Stefan followed him and stood cautiously in the doorway, unsure what was about to come. Suddenly, Jordan began yelling, swept everything off his desk with his arm, and kicked it. He stormed across the office, pulling the cabinets down before he picked up the desk and pushed it over. Stefan watched without comment as his husband lost it. He wasn’t going to stop him just yet. He felt the same way, but it was Jordan’s turn. Jordan continued to tear up his office. He stopped him when he punched the wall.
“STOP IT!” Stefan grabbed his face.
“My daughter! My Charlie …”
“I know, Jordan, but you can’t break your hands. That won’t help Charlie, or any of the patients who will need your skill to save their lives.”
“I want this guy, Stefan. I want him to pay.”
“So do I.” A pale Michael stood in the doorway.
“Call your father, Stefan.”
“Are you ready to head down that road, Jordan? The one you always tell me I should stay away from? The path of no return?”
“I don’t care!”
“Well, I do. I’ll handle this.” Stefan eyed Michael. “That goes for you, too. I don’t want you anywhere near this shit. It will be handled.”
“What?” Michael’s face was shocked.
“Morgan would never forgive me if I let you anywhere near this nasty business.”
Stefan left the room and got a copy of the surveillance tape from security. He called Damon.
“I’ve got something for you. You need to come to the hospital now. Someone attacked Charlie.”
“On my way, Stefano.”
After being treated, Charlie slept in a guarded room. The right side of her head as shaved, displaying a long line of stitches. Her nose was broken, as well as her right arm; both had been set during surgery. Contusions and scrapes covered her body. The rape kit came back negative. They had scraped skin from beneath her nails and sent it to the lab for analysis. She hadn’t regained consciousness. Jordan had been studying her CT scans for hours. He called Dr. Thomas in; he couldn’t be objective.
They had been at the hospital for over forty-eight hours. Stefan had gone to get Jordan and Michael something to eat.
Michael sat on the desk, his face in his hands. “I should have been with her.”
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