FAST Balls (Balls to the Wall Book 4)

by Tara Lain

  Bill Ray hissed, “Don’t be stupid. You’ve just been subverted by this tempter. You’ll come home, marry Jezebel, and everything will be as it should be.”

  “No, sir. It won’t. I’m gay and I’m in love with Jerry.”

  Jerry stared. “You are?”

  Mick smiled. “Yeah. I know a guy like you has no reason to want a guy like me, but I guess I don’t care. I’ll be your friend and anything else you want me to be.”

  Cassidy shrieked, “Whore! Pervert!”

  Jezebel’s voice came from the bathroom door. “Good for you, Mick. Now you’re on the right track.”

  Cassidy stepped back. “No. This is not going to happen. Jezebel, get over here.”

  She walked from the bathroom to Mick’s other side. “You going to shoot me too, Brother Cassidy?” Her voice shook, but she put on a brave face.

  Mick stared at his father. “If you shoot all three of us, you’ll get the death penalty.”

  “I’ll make it look like a crime of passion. And if they do catch me, at least I can die a martyr to the cause.”

  What a screwed-up situation. One of them could rush him, but they’d likely get shot.

  Cassidy nodded toward the door. “Okay, fag, on the porch….”

  Damn. Not there again. Mick looked at Jerry. “What’s he talking about?”

  “He’s going to knock me down the stairs and try to make it look like an accident. Not sure what he plans to do with you two after that.”

  Cassidy stared at his son. “If Michael sees reason, he can be a force for good. If not, I can make it look like he killed you and shot himself. Jezebel will be locked up until her hair turns gray.” His eyes snapped to Jerry. “Now move, faggot.”

  Mick stepped in front of Jerry so the gun pressed on his own chest. “He’s not going anywhere.”

  “Don’t think I won’t kill you too, Michael.”

  Mick shrugged. “It’s okay. I already figured out I’d rather die being who I am than live being who you want me to be.”

  Now!

  In one move, Jerry grabbed Mick’s shoulder for balance, leaned around him, and smacked Cassidy hard upside the head with the crutch. The crutch was light, but Jerry put everything he had into it. Cassidy fell to the side, the gun went off with a boom as it fell to the floor, and Mick was on the preacher like a drag queen on free cosmetics. Mick grabbed a handful of gray-and-red flannel, but the dude wasn’t going anywhere with two hundred fifty plus pounds on his chest. Mick was reaching for the gun when the door opened wider.

  Jerry looked up. Well, hell, this was a damned NRA convention.

  The woman’s gun was smaller but still looked pretty mean. She was tall, close to six feet, and had Mick’s pale hair. “What’s happening here?”

  Mick’s hand had frozen about three inches from the gun. Might as well have been three miles.

  Cassidy tried to knock Mick off him, but no go. “This fag has led our son into sin, Letty. And Jezebel too.”

  She stared at Jerry, then back at the strange pile of people in front of her. “Probably not much leading involved. Michael’s always been a strange one, and you know it.”

  “But he can see the error of his ways and live a righteous life.”

  Mick didn’t move off Cassidy, but he stared at his mother over his shoulder, and she looked back at him with eyes almost the same color. She shook her head. “And how are you going to do that, Bill Ray? You’re gonna have to get the man off your belly first.” She laughed one harsh cackle. “And assuming you could, what then? You gonna lock him in the shed like you did as a kid? Beat him? He’s a pretty kind man right now, but given enough time, you should be able to make him mean. And on that day, he’ll kill you. Let him go. Let ’em all go.”

  “You want to have a son who’s a fag?”

  She sighed. “I have a son who’s a fag whether I want it or not. You failed. Let him go.”

  His voice got softer. “But this pervert will hurt him.”

  “Oh, you mean like your pervert hurt you?”

  Cassidy’s eyes got huge. “What did you say?”

  “Give it up, Bill Ray. Michael, let him up.”

  Mick shook his head. “I can’t let him hurt people I love, ma’am.”

  “He won’t. Because now he knows that I know, and I’ll tell everyone why he hates homos so much if he doesn’t leave you alone.”

  Cassidy gave a huge heave but still couldn’t lose his captor. “You will respect me, woman.”

  She shook her head and tucked the gun in her purse. Mick grabbed Cassidy’s gun on the floor.

  She folded her arms. “I wish you knew how silly that sounds in the present circumstances. I’ve been married to you since I was a young girl, and I’ve respected and supported you as I was taught a wife should. I’ve even believed you. When that man came to our house telling us that our son was a homo, I thought I’d die, but then I prayed and God showed me the facts. This man is my son, and he’s a good person. Better than either of us, Bill Ray. So that’s evidence that what I’ve believed and what you’ve taught may not be altogether true. Regardless, you’re not going to hurt him or the people he loves, no matter what they may be. You will not because they won’t let you. And neither will I. Now let him up, Michael, and we’ll leave you to your life.”

  Mick looked pretty stunned, but he slowly got off the preacher. Bill Ray leaped to his feet, and Mick held the gun pointed toward him. “I may hate guns, but as you’ll remember, I know how to use them.”

  Mick’s mother pointed to the door. “Get out of here, Bill Ray.”

  He glared at her. “You’ll pay for this.”

  “I doubt it, and if I do, it will be at God’s hands, not yours.”

  Cassidy looked furious, but he marched out the door.

  Mick looked at his mother. “I hope it isn’t too bad for you at home.”

  She smiled, but it was hard-looking. “A few things need to change around there. I’ve always had the ammunition, but I’ve never used it. I will if I have to.”

  Man, Jerry wanted to ask for details, but it wasn’t his place.

  The tall woman stared at Mick. “I hope things go well for you. Maybe call me sometimes.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  She walked out the door. It was no big family send-off, but hell, it was better than the last time Jerry left home.

  For a second, Mick stared at the door. Then he took two giant steps toward Jerry and scooped him up until only his toes touched the floor and his body was squashed against Mick’s hard chest. “Oh God, I’m so sorry to have put you in danger.”

  Jerry wrapped his arms around Mick’s neck and hugged. “You kidding, man? I’ll get threatened with death any day if it makes you admit you love me.”

  Mick grinned. “Really?”

  “Well, once is probably enough, but it did the job.”

  “You’re shaking.”

  “It’s all happiness, man.”

  Jezebel walked over and tried to wrap her arms around both of them, but she only got less than halfway. “Okay, you two, get a room.”

  Mick let Jerry’s feet plant on the floor, and they each opened one arm to pull Jezebel into their group hug. Jerry could feel her shuddering. “You okay?”

  She nodded against Mick’s shoulder. “I’ve never been so scared.”

  Jerry nodded. “I was pretty shitless myself.”

  “You didn’t seem like it.”

  “I’ve been close to death recently, so I had practice. And I kept thinking that Mick was gonna come up those stairs and save me.”

  Mick frowned. “He probably would have shot me if you hadn’t hit him with your crutch.”

  “Nah, you took him down.”

  Jezebel shook her head. “I’ve never seen two guys try so hard not to be heroes.”

  Mick touched Jerry’s face. “Jerry’s my hero. He’s the man I most want to be like.”

  Jerry stared up into those green eyes. Never in his life had anyone wanted to be lik
e him. “That’s the best thing I ever heard.”

  Mick released his hold. “Do you think we should call the police about my father?”

  Jerry looked up at Mick’s face. “Do you want to? It’ll be tough to prove he threatened us, and the police can be hard on gay guys. Besides, I think your mom may have a handle on this.”

  “Yeah. That was really a shock. Do you think…?”

  Jerry shrugged. “No telling unless she talks.”

  “I’d hate for him to hurt any more people.”

  “I’m betting he doesn’t want her telling the truth. That’s a lot of leverage, man.”

  “If she uses it.”

  “I know a couple guys in the PD. Maybe they can plant a few seeds with the Norco PD to keep an eye on your father and his people.”

  Mick smiled, and Jerry could feel his relief. “That would be great. Thank you.” He touched Jerry’s cheek.

  Jezebel tapped Mick’s shoulder. “Now that I can breathe again, I think I better plan my life. No going home. Will you take me over to the gallery? Rod says he knows somebody who might have a room for me to rent.”

  Jerry looked around at the one-room apartment. “Why don’t you stay here?”

  She frowned. “Not exactly accommodations for a roommate.”

  “Well, I was thinking how I have such a big apartment, and it’s all nicely decorated and has two bedrooms and all. Maybe Mick wants to stay with me and you could have this place?” He looked up at Mick. “I don’t want to rush you, but you could have the second bedroom.” He grinned. “Until you know for sure if you’re gay.”

  Mick’s eyes glittered. “You’d really want me?”

  “More than, man.”

  Jezebel laughed. “In that case, I’ll help you move.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  MICK STARED around the apartment. It was so much like his own place. No, wait. This was his place now. They’d agreed that Mick would pay half the rent, which turned out to be less than he was paying for his one-room. Jezebel’s one-room. She’d been nervous that Bill Ray would come back, but he and Jerry had convinced her that his father wasn’t coming near Laguna Beach again. They might not know what Letty Cassidy’s ammunition was for sure, but it wasn’t hard to guess. It kind of made him sorry for Bill Ray, but not much. The man had done a lot of evil.

  God, it had only been three hours since he’d agreed to move in with Jerry. Who could have dreamed he could change his life that much that fast?

  Jerry hobbled out of the second bedroom, where he’d stashed the last of Mick’s clothes. “That’s all for now. We can go over and get any of your furniture or dishes you want some other time.” He flopped on the big sectional.

  Mick sat by Jerry’s feet. Not quite comfortable enough to flop. “I want to leave most of that stuff for Jezebel.”

  “That’s great of you.”

  “She’s so brave. I’ll give her the computer too—once I get my porn off it.” His ears got hot.

  “Hey, my computer’s got better porn.”

  Mick nodded. “I can even afford to buy a new computer. I’ll have so much more money since I won’t be giving most of it to the church.”

  “I think we should send some money to your mom if she’ll take it.”

  Mick looked at Jerry, the beautiful soul lying next to him. “What a nice thing to think of.”

  He grinned. “Hey, she saved our bacon in so many ways. We had the preacher pinned, but what in hell would we have done with him if she hadn’t shown up? Calling the cops would have been complicated, man. You’d have been testifying against your father for a long time. Yes, he deserves it, but you don’t.”

  “Wow. I never thought of that.”

  “Speaking of cops, I talked to my friend in the police department. I told him about Norco and asked him to keep an eye on Jezebel’s place. Just to be sure nobody like Straight goes there.”

  Mick pulled the sneaker off Jerry’s castless foot and started to rub. “You’re so smart. You think of everything.”

  The world got quiet. Mick looked up. “What?”

  “Not many people think I’m smart, Mick.”

  Mick cocked his head. “No. A lot of people do think you’re smart. It’s you who doesn’t.”

  Jerry shook his head.

  “Rodney and Hunter think you’re smart. I’ll bet JJ does, even though I’ve never met him. I know the cap thinks you can do anything because he told me as much, and I think you’re brilliant, and you can’t argue with me because I’m a genius.” He grinned.

  “How smart are you, smarty-pants?”

  Mick shrugged. “Pretty smart. I went to college when I was fifteen and finished in two years. Good thing, too, since I had to work my butt off tutoring the boys in the community in math to help pay my way. Mostly I got scholarships.”

  Jerry looked wide-eyed. “You could have done anything.”

  “I wanted to be a firefighter, just like you did.”

  Jerry smiled and his dimples popped out. “I think that choice was genius.”

  Mick dug his thumbs into Jerry’s high arch.

  “Man, that feels good.”

  Speaking of feeling good. “So am I your roommate?”

  “Yep.”

  “Do I have to sleep in the second bedroom?”

  Jerry laughed as he slowly untied the drawstring on his workout pants. “Only if I sleep with you.”

  He dumped Jerry’s foot on the side of the couch, leaped up, and ran directly to Jerry’s bedroom. He heard the thumping behind him and just made it to the far side of the bed beside the floor-to-ceiling closet mirror when Jerry careened around the corner, tossed his crutches toward the chair, and dove straight for the mattress. He hit, sprang to all fours like a giant cat with one weird leg, and stalked toward Mick.

  Mick put a hand against his mouth to keep from laughing, but some leaked through.

  “I do not believe you are giggling like the world’s cutest two-hundred-pound girl.”

  “Two hundred and fifty-three.”

  “Show-off.”

  Mick giggled again.

  “And I’ve been meaning to tell you that every one of those two hundred and fifty pounds is in exactly the right place, including the barbells between your legs. I think I need to do some serious weightlifting.”

  Damn, his cock liked the sound of that so much it was trying to lift his jeans off his body.

  Jerry fell to his back, popped up his hips, and shimmied out of his pants. As usual, underneath was nothing but cock. He dragged the torn pant leg over his cast, tossed the jeans on the floor, and whipped his T-shirt over his head.

  Mick stared. “You’re so beautiful all the time, but in the nude you’re about the prettiest thing I ever saw. No wonder Rodney likes to paint you. I wish I could paint you.”

  “You can.”

  “How?”

  He grabbed his cock and stuck it straight up. “You could paint this with saliva if you felt artistic.”

  Whoa. “Would you show me how so I don’t mess it up?”

  Jerry propped himself on his elbow, still holding his dick like a flagpole. “Ah, baby, the secret is to mess it up as much as possible.”

  Mick grinned. “I’ll bet I can do that.”

  “Only if you want to.”

  “Oh yeah, I want to.”

  “Undress first. Who knows where this could lead?”

  Mick practically fell over like a tree in a windstorm trying to get his sneakers off. Jeans, briefs, shirt. In a heap. He had to force himself not to hang them up since he could probably buy some more jeans now.

  Okay, he didn’t want to screw this up. Jerry was always so good to him.

  He crawled on the bed and stared down at Jerry’s erect penis. His mouth was helping by watering. It did look good. What would it taste like? He remembered licking his and Jerry’s cum off his hands. That thought made him hot.

  Jerry chuckled. “No need to overthink it. Just give it a try.”

  Mick leaned over an
d lapped his tongue against the shiny pink head—silky smooth like syrup. It tasted a little salty, with a clean soapy smell tinged with musk. He licked again, then slid the head in farther and sucked. Oh wow, he liked the way it fit in his mouth. His tongue explored on its own.

  “Ummm.” Jerry’s hips did a little dance, and Mick had to hang on to keep hold of his cock. He pushed down farther and sucked harder. The hip dance doubled. This was fun. Making Jerry moan made Mick feel powerful, like one of those guys in the pornos.

  Jerry pointed at the mirror. “Look at you, you sexy thing.”

  Mick slid his eyes sideways. There was his big self crouched over beautiful Jerry, and his mouth was full of—he pulled up so he could see—cock. Holy shit!

  Jerry laughed. “Pretty, huh?”

  Mick nodded. Needed to concentrate. He looked down at Jerry’s long cock. He was going to try the big challenge. He swallowed hard, and the cock pressed against the back of his throat. Whoa. He gagged, coughed, and had to retreat. Total failure.

  He looked up at Jerry and got a smile. Full-on dimples. “You get big points for heroic effort. That was great.”

  Mick shook his head. “How do you do that deep-throat thing?”

  “You learn how to relax your throat. It takes lots of practice.”

  Mick’s ears burned, but he grinned. “That sounds fun.”

  “It sure does. Come up here, big guy.”

  Mick crawled up the bed and snuggled up beside Jerry. Jerry tightened his arm around him. It made him feel warm and safe. Jerry’s voice rumbled in his chest and made Mick’s ear tickle. “I hope I didn’t railroad you into this roommate thing.”

  “No. I want to.”

  “You know people will talk. Since I’m gay, they’ll figure you are too. Even if they don’t assume we’re lovers.” Jerry combed the fingers of his free hand through Mick’s hair down there. It felt good. Sexy and comforting at the same time, like when he did it himself but better.

  “They probably wouldn’t think we’re lovers since they’d never guess a guy like you would want me.” Mick chuckled.

  Jerry lifted his head. What? Mick looked up and saw his frown. “What the hell? I’d think it was the other way around. Half the gay guys I know lust after you. Probably half the straight ones too.”