He reached for Avery’s hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed his palm.
Such a simple gesture, but his lips against Avery’s flesh sent sparks throughout Jonah’s body. Mirroring his fantasy, Jonah pressed a kiss against the inside of Avery’s wrist, licking his tongue over his racing pulse. Avery rewarded Jonah with one of his whimpers, so he gave Avery’s arm a gentle tug, urging him to cross the space separating them. Avery came willingly, crawling the few feet and settling in Jonah’s lap. He slid his hands into Jonah’s hair and massaged his scalp.
Jonah nuzzled the sensitive skin beneath Avery’s ear. “I’m so glad you climbed through my window last night.”
“Skills I learned from family picnics.” Avery rocked his hips forward, grinding his groin against Jonah’s. “Maybe the landing wasn’t the best. I can work on it.”
Gripping Avery’s hips, Jonah stilled him. “I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“Too soon for your head?” Avery asked.
“I meant that I’d prefer for you to come through the front door,” Jonah replied. He snagged a pizza slice and held it to Avery’s lips. “No mushrooms.”
Avery took a bite and chewed thoroughly. “This is much better than a restaurant. They wouldn’t like me sitting on your lap while you fed me.”
Jonah took a bite before offering the slice to Avery once more. “Probably not,” he agreed.
Jonah moved the pizza box so he could remove two bottles of Avery’s favorite cream soda. It looked enough like beer that Jonah had teased him about drinking on the job.
Avery smiled at Jonah as if he’d presented him a chest of jewels. “You remembered.”
“I remember the look on your face after you took the first sip. Later at home, I thought of all the ways I could put that blissful expression on your face.”
“Oh,” Avery said breathlessly. “Were you naked?”
Jonah winked. “And I was touching myself.”
Avery swallowed hard, setting his and Jonah’s drinks down before scooting off Jonah’s lap.
“Where are you going?” Jonah asked.
“We’re going upstairs. Right now,” Avery said, rising to his feet. “I want a demonstration.”
“Why, Avery,” Jonah said with a mock gasp. “I’m stunned by your audacity.”
Avery slipped his T-shirt off over his head and tossed it to the ground, then pivoted and headed up to Jonah’s room without waiting to see if Jonah followed. Of course, he fucking followed. “You better not be wearing underwear,” Avery called from the stairs. “You’re not the only one who has fantasies.”
“I guess you’ll find out.”
Avery was sitting on the edge of the bed when Jonah entered his bedroom. He hadn’t removed his shoes or jeans yet, which was fine because Jonah loved stripping him bare. Jonah kept walking forward until he reached the bed. Placing his palm in the center of Avery’s chest, Jonah gently pushed the star of his fantasies on to his back. He removed Avery’s shoes, dropping them with a loud thunk against the floor, before divesting him of his jeans and underwear.
Avery gripped his dripping cock and started stroking it, then reached down to fondle his balls with the other. “Tell me about your favorite fantasy.”
“I’m fucking living it right now,” Jonah replied huskily, removing his shirt before reaching for the buttons on his jeans.
“Go slow,” Avery demanded, making Jonah smile.
“I can’t dance without a brain injury, so don’t expect me to now.”
“Got it. Unbutton your jeans and start telling me how you’ve imagined me naked and wanting in your bed.”
“Bed, in the car, on top of the car, in the shower, stretched out on a picnic blanket—”
“Picnic blanket, huh? I didn’t know I’d stepped right into one of your fantasies. Do tell.”
Jonah slowly opened the buttons on his jeans, loving the hunger in Avery’s eyes as he talked about trailing kisses up Avery’s arm and neck. Avery moaned and released his balls to circle his puckered rim.
Jonah shucked his jeans and stepped fully naked between Avery’s parted thighs. “I fell asleep before I got to the sexiest parts. Why don’t I start here?” Jonah asked, capturing the hand Avery used to stroke his cock. He lifted Avery’s wrist to his mouth and demonstrated the kisses until he reached Avery’s mouth. “And see how it plays out.”
Avery scooted back on the bed to make room for Jonah, who joined him. They lay on their sides, touching and kissing as desire built inside them. Jonah resented his limitations, but they were only temporary. Fisting both their cocks in his hand, Jonah stroked them off together.
“What about your fantasies?” Jonah asked.
Avery blushed, and Jonah found it utterly endearing. “How can you expect me to think right now?”
“Tell me. I want to know.”
“Bent over your desk,” Avery blurted out. “Hard and f-f-fast.” His eyes rolled back in his head as Jonah increased the tempo. “S-sometimes I straddle your lap or blow you under the desk while you’re on a conference call.”
Jonah’s balls drew up as he shuttled his fist up and down. He wasn’t going to last much longer and wanted to make sure Avery was right there with him. “Good thing I have a home office downstairs. I will put your legs over my shoulders and hammer that sweet spot until—”
“Oh! Oh, God!” Avery called out. Hot cum covered Jonah’s hand and dribbled down his shaft.
Rolling Avery to his back, Jonah straddled his hips and began jacking himself off as if his life depended on it. Jonah braced one hand on the bed next to Avery’s head to steady himself. “Look what you do to me,” Jonah growled. “Only you.” He painted Avery’s chest and abdomen, and it felt more significant than just a sexual release. He was marking his territory. “Mine,” Jonah said, smearing his cum with his dick.
Jonah lay beside Avery and pulled him into his arms. They kissed lazily for a long time. Neither seemed to be in a hurry to clean up the sticky mess that would soon act as a binding agent if they weren’t careful.
Jonah finally released Avery’s lips and eased apart from him. “If you want me to keep the chest hair you seem to love so much, then I better get cleaned up.”
They kept the mood playful and fun when they got in the shower. Avery wanted the honors of washing him, and Jonah couldn’t find a legitimate reason to tell him no. Avery’s deft fingers moved boldly and confidently until Jonah presented his back to him.
He could feel Avery’s fingers trembling as he traced sections of the beast tattooed on his back. “This is stunning artwork, Jonah. The artist has wicked talent.”
Jonah took a steadying breath. “His name was Danny Valdez, but we called him Dragon. He was the first friend I made at boot camp. The man was never in a bad mood, but he was fiercely loyal and protective like a dragon. There was no one else you wanted by your side in a firefight.” Avery’s fingers continued to move, finding the parts of the tattoo that represented the dragon. “Then came Evan Deluca, but we called him Eagle because he had the sharpest vision. He never missed anything. Eagle was Italian through and through. He held nothing back.” Jonah waited while Avery located the inked feathers representing Evan.
“Who’s the cobra for?” Avery asked softly, tracing over the snake fangs coming from the lion’s mouth as well as the eyes above the jaguar nose.
“Cody Walker,” Jonah said. “Texan. Everything is bigger in Texas, you know. In Cody’s case, it was his ego, but he set it aside for the good of the team. Lyle Leonetti is the lion. Lyle came from Boston and had a thick accent. God, we ribbed him endlessly for dropping the R in words. Cah? What’s a cah? No, man. We want to go to a bar, not a bah.” Jonah chuckled at the memory even as pain welled in his chest.
Avery slid his arms around Jonah’s waist and pressed his lips to his back. “You’re the jaguar, right?”
“I am,” he said. Jonah felt so far removed from the powerful predator they’d dubbed him. He turned around and faced Avery. “The four of them d
ied when the Humvee in front of ours ran over an IED. Our Humvee avoided most of the blast, but it rolled, and we came under fire.” He pointed to the scar on his face. “That’s how I really got this scar.”
Avery bit his lip and nodded as tears filled his eyes. He reached up and traced his finger over the silver diagonal slash marring Jonah’s face.
“Danny drew this design on our final leave, and I asked his mother if I could borrow it after I woke up from my coma. She’d already removed his belongings from our place. She mailed it to me and told me to keep it. Once I recovered enough, I sat through several sessions until it was complete.”
“Did it hurt?” Avery asked.
“Yeah, but that was the point. I was looking for physical pain to relieve the emotional trauma. It only worked for a little while, and I kept adding tattoos.”
“They’re beautiful,” Avery whispered, running his finger along the intricate designs of his sleeve tat. Then he rose on his tiptoes and kissed Jonah. “I’ve always known you and tragedy were familiar friends.”
“That’s just the tip of the tragic iceberg,” Jonah said, holding Avery tighter.
“We don’t need to talk about it,” Avery said. “Let’s get dried off so we can eat pizza, drink cream soda, and watch our movie.”
“Can we finish the picnic in my bed? It would be more comfortable.”
“Absolutely.”
He’d chosen the movie Blackhat because it was about a convicted hacker who had to work with authorities to save the day. Jonah’s favorite part was listening to Avery pick the technical stuff apart.
“I thought you’d just enjoy watching Chris Hemsworth,” Jonah said playfully.
“He’s okay,” Avery said with a shrug.
Jonah fell asleep before Chris could save the day. When he awoke hours later, Avery was sitting up beside him in bed, typing away on a laptop Jonah had never seen at the office before.
“What are you doing?” Jonah asked groggily.
Avery smiled sheepishly. “Online banking.”
“Uh-huh. Are you having any luck?”
Avery grimaced, and Jonah knew he wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “Initially, I thought I hit the jackpot. I’m surprised I didn’t wake you up when I fist-pumped the air in victory. Once I started digging deeper, a troubling pattern emerged.”
Jonah sat up and looked at him. “What is it?”
“I traced the listening and tracking devices to Trexler,” Avery said somberly.
“Okay. What’s the bad news?”
“They were signed out at times he wasn’t in the office. I think someone is framing Trexler to be the fall guy for whatever they’re planning for you.”
Avery’s ominous words made Jonah shiver. “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” Avery replied. “Things were slow and dull when you were gone, which gave me plenty of time for office gossip. When I see his assistant cubicle hopping for the latest scoops, I know Trexler is out of the office. Trexler ducked out early, and he wasn’t the only one who got a head start on their weekend.”
“Who?” Jonah asked.
“Trexler left at twelve, and Desiree followed at twelve thirty, so there were tons of nooner jokes.” But Avery wasn’t laughing, and neither was Jonah. “Anyway, look at the time Trexler supposedly signed for the listening and tracking devices.” Avery turned the laptop for him to see it.
“Fourteen thirty,” Jonah said. Trexler couldn’t have signed for them at two thirty if he left at noon. “Are you sure he didn’t come back?”
“Positive,” Avery said. “And it gets worse.”
How could it get worse? “Go on,” Jonah said.
Avery turned the laptop around and started typing. “Do you remember me telling you Trexler used his remote laptop to change your clearance access?”
“Yes.”
“Except Trexler reported his laptop stolen the prior week,” Avery said.
Jonah’s heart sunk. “I was certain Trexler was the one behind it all.” This was why investigators couldn’t afford to put all their eggs in one suspect’s basket. He’d been blinded by his dislike of his supervisor and allowed it to poison his investigation. Jonah had made it personal.
Avery turned the laptop toward him again. “I found the incident report in Trexler’s outgoing email. He claimed he left it in his car overnight and must’ve forgotten to lock the doors. With enough time, I could probably track its location if it hasn’t been destroyed.”
“You can try. If we find the laptop, we’ll find who’s behind it all,” Jonah absently said as he stared off into space.
Avery slipped his fingers between Jonah’s. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m trying to figure out which guy at the bureau hates me more than Trexler.”
“Did you ever consider it could be a woman?” Avery asked. “Slashing your tires and clubbing you upside the head doesn’t require a lot of strength. So far, your nemesis is cunning and has stayed one step ahead of you. There’s no physical evidence pointing to a man as the perpetrator.”
“You’re right,” Jonah said. “I’ve been making too many assumptions. Maybe I should stick with analyzing data and writing code instead of investigating crimes.”
“Stop being so hard on yourself. You’ve obviously touched a nerve with your work so far.”
Jonah chuckled. “And got my brains scrambled as a result.”
Avery winced. “So, what do we do next?”
Jonah looked at the time and grimaced. “I need to call Rocky and Felix and bring them up to speed.”
“At midnight?” Avery asked.
Jonah didn’t really want to call them so late, but he knew they’d be upset if he didn’t apprise them of the latest information. The person was stepping up their attacks to avoid getting caught, and Marla… He couldn’t finish the thought. Jonah’s phone rang on his nightstand, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Fuck,” Avery said, covering his heart. “That scared me to death.”
Jonah squeezed his hand to reassure him, then picked up his phone. “It’s Rocky and Felix on FaceTime,” he told Avery, who tugged the sheet up higher. “Audio only.” He accepted the call, and said, “You must be psychic. I was just talking about you.”
“That’s the reason for the sudden pain in my ass. Do you have a voodoo doll and a stick pin?” Rocky asked.
“Try washing your ass once in a while, and you won’t get pimples, you big nasty,” Felix said.
Jonah snickered. “Hey, guys. What’s up?”
“We have a break in the case,” Felix said.
“We?” Rocky asked him.
“Fine. Major has a break in the case,” Felix amended.
“You’re such an asshole. Why do I like you?” Rocky asked Felix.
“I’m irresistible,” Felix replied.
“Guys, I have big news too,” Jonah said. Avery cleared his throat. “Avery has big news.”
“We,” Avery amended.
Jonah put his phone on speaker. “Okay, we have news too.”
“See how teamwork goes, Felix?” Rocky asked.
Felix snickered. “Fuck you, Major.”
Jonah knew from experience the two men could bicker forever, so he cleared his throat. “Someone is framing Trexler to take the fall.”
“Whoa,” Felix and Rocky said at the same time.
Jonah caught them up on what Avery had found.
“It aligns with my news,” Rocky said. “I can’t connect Trexler to anyone at the state prison, but I discovered Bird’s real name is Vincent Malcolm.”
Jonah felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. “Malcolm? As in related to Charles Malcolm, a deputy director with the GBI?” The man Jonah respected and admired?
“Vinnie is his older cousin,” Rocky said. “He’s retired now and living in Boca Raton.”
Unlike Trexler, Malcolm was the right age to know Earl. How? Were they lovers? Friends? Had Malcolm been a dirty cop, and Earl witnessed
something he shouldn’t have? All Jonah’s trouble had started after he talked to the deputy director. As much as he wanted to rationalize away the evidence, he couldn’t.
“Breathe, Jonah,” Avery whispered, nudging him out of his trance.
“We know what we have to do,” Rocky said.
“Tomorrow, we begin setting the first trap,” Felix added. “Be at my house at noon to record the podcast. I’ll edit and upload it on Sunday.”
Even though it felt like his universe had shifted drastically, Jonah was grateful to have his friends and Avery by his side. Jonah smiled at Avery and said, “See, I told you Felix was Fred. He’s all about setting the traps.”
Avery laughed, while Rocky and Felix talked to each other.
“Fred who?” Felix asked.
“Flintstone?” Rocky guessed.
Felix snorted. “What traps did Fred Flintstone set?”
“It was just a guess,” Rocky replied. “What’s put you in a bad mood? You think The Straight Shooter is going to solve this investigation before we do?”
“I hate you, Major,” Felix groused.
“Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo,” Jonah said.
Rocky laughed for several moments. “Fuck me. That’s hilarious,” he said once he calmed down. “Who am I, then?”
“Daphne,” Jonah, Avery, and Felix all said at the same time.
Rocky promptly disconnected the call.
“I like your friends,” Avery said.
“I do too. Not many people can make me laugh this late at night,” Jonah said. Or under these circumstances. Charlie Malcolm? Could it be?
“Or this early in the morning,” Avery countered. “Depends on how you view it.”
“It is morning,” Jonah said, tipping his head to the side. “Saturday morning.”
“So, you want to watch cartoons now?”
Jonah removed the computer from Avery’s lap and set it on the nightstand. “It means my restrictions are lifted. I can drive, among other things.”
“Other things?” Avery asked. “Such as?”
Ride the Lightning : Sinister in Savannah Book 1 Page 23