Mason's Run

by Mellanie Rourke

  I blushed. There’d been a lot of congratulations following the speech, more handshakes and fist bumps than I could count, but “thank you” was new.

  “My name is Ella Greene,” she said at my obvious confusion. “I’m a friend of Addie’s… Adelaide Conyers.”

  Adelaide Conyers was Bill’s wife. I paled at the name and went to step back, but she reached her hand toward me.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not saying this well,” she said, twisting a tissue in her hands. “Please, Mr. Malone, I just wanted to say thank you for what you did today. Bill…he is an evil man,” she said, her voice taking on harsh overtones. “You… you weren’t the only one he hurt.”

  I thought I understood what she meant.

  “Addie…?” I asked.

  Ella nodded. “Addie. Addie and… and others,” she continued, dropping her gaze, her cheeks flushing in shame.

  Before I could think twice, I was reaching out, my arms were wrapped around the soft-looking woman who held more strength in her soul than Bill Conyers ever would. Conyers had held a reign of terror over his entire household, his wife included.

  We talked for a long time, but the longer we talked, the more others showed up. Women. Men. Christ, even some young kids. I was so thankful that Lizzie had recommended that we have counselors available on site, because every single one of them was busy that night.

  The outpouring of love and support from these people who emerged from the shadows had been soul wrenching. Person after person came up to me, so many of them had their own stories of pain and abuse, yet they were brave enough to step up and share with me. I thought I went through a whole year’s worth of tears that night and the next day.

  Now, just a few weeks later, Dreyven’s church was shut down, sued by several of the businesses, including Twin Peeks, that had been targeted at the convention. Tobi’s parents were under arrest and had been charged with child abuse. Jeri had been helping him document his abuse, even though he couldn’t go to the hospital. Mama K and Mama D had decided they needed a new addition to the Devereaux clan and were currently fostering him, but the plan was that eventually he would live with his aunt. He had moved into the Den where he helped the moms take care of the twins as they recovered.

  Both Sonny and Hicks were improving, but it was going to be a long road to recovery. Hicks was struggling to deal with his continuing memory problems and Sonny was in intensive physical therapy to help him recover the use of his leg.

  I’d essentially moved in with Lee from the night of the convention. We no longer talked about me moving back to Seattle, and Lizzie and Everett were considering a move to the East coast.

  Jarreau and his team had put me in contact with Zem at the safe house where she’d been moved. She hadn’t known anything about my relationship with Lee, or that I’d even gone to Ohio, so the events all came as a surprise to her. She was still giving me plenty of grief over not telling her about the new man in my life. She was surprised that I'd agreed to even talk to the police, much less testify.

  My newfound faith in the justice system was briefly put to the test when it came time for Conyers and his two buddies to have their bail hearing. I’d stood watching the proceedings from a private conference room, too wired to sit in one of the plastic chairs provided by the District Attorney’s office.

  I literally couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the defense team try to argue that the events of that night were consensual. I had to turn to Lee for confirmation that they were really trying to say I'd asked for it.

  The defense argument was that that the rape had been staged, a fantasy, a sexy role play that I'd asked—no, begged—for. According to Conyers, it was all just an act.

  They had come close to convincing the judge to release him on bail, until I remembered the clothes I’d stuffed under the sink in Lee’s bathroom. The variety of bodily fluids on the clothes, along with my blood, was enough proof to convince the judge that the events hadn’t been consensual and he withheld bail.

  We would still have to go to trial, but between the physical evidence, on top of the video, the prosecutor’s office was certain Conyers and his friends would be going to jail for a long, long time, if not for life.

  I relaxed into the feel of Lee’s arms around me, enjoying a comfort that was more than physical. Lee had been a rock throughout everything. He had stood by my side the entire way. He supported me when my resolve wavered and my fear became too much to handle. He comforted me when the tears came. He truly was my angel.

  “You tired?” he asked, looking down at me.

  I leaned my head back and looked up at him, the firelight playing across his face.

  “Not really. Take me to bed anyway?” I asked, looking up at him flirtatiously. I licked my lips slowly and let him see the desire that was building inside me. I saw the heat kindle in his gaze as he understood the direction of my thoughts.

  The world suddenly turned topsy-turvy as he quickly, shifted my weight up and over his shoulder.

  “What— Hey!” I yelped, trying to brace myself against his body as he charged toward the bedroom.

  “What, what?” He asked, turning in circles around the room. Each time he turned the room whirled around me and I had to close my eyes.

  “You better knock that off, or I’m going to barf all over you,” I warned.

  Laughing, I felt him upend me and flop me on my back onto the bed. I bounced once on the mattress, arms spread out to either side to absorb the impact, then felt him land on top of me.

  I opened my eyes and glared at him.

  “You are so losing points for that maneuver, bucko,” I complained. Lee didn’t seem worried as he leaned forward and brushed his lips across mine.

  “You sure?” he purred, his hot breath teasing my ear. “I thought I was doing a good job of distracting you.”

  “You’re not distracting me…” I reiterated, then felt his lips slide across my neck, down to my clavicle. “…so, sooo many points are going to be lost…” I continued, rapidly losing IQ points as all the blood in my body began rushing to my cock. “…uh…”

  “What was that, sir?” Lee whispered in my ear. “Bonus points, you say?” he teased, grinding our hips together, sending delicious bolts of pleasure up and down my spine.

  “…points…” I tried again, but Lee slipped his hands under my t-shirt and tugged it up and over my head. I took a breath to try and reorient myself, only to feel all the air in my lungs escape in a gasp as his lips centered around a nipple and sucked. “Gah!”

  “Mmmm…” he hummed, alternating biting and sucking one nipple, then the other.

  I groaned, feeling my balls draw up tight against my body. God, I wasn’t even naked yet. That thought reminded me of what I'd planned for this evening and the cold wash of nerves brought me back to myself.

  “Hold up, cowboy,” I muttered, but Lee paused, then deliberately took another lick of my nipple, a weighted challenge clear in his eyes. He wants to be like that about it, does he?

  Curling my arms around his shoulders, I took a moment to just enjoy the feel of the man pressed up against my chest. I’d had fewer and fewer panic episodes during sex, and my counselor in Seattle had agreed to continue our sessions via Skype for the time being. I was nervous about what I’d planned for this evening, but she and I had talked through all the potential outcomes and I think I was as prepared as I was ever going to be.

  In a move that would have made Mama K proud, I wrapped my legs around Lee’s waist and heaved, rolling our combined weight up and off the bed, only to twist and come back down with our positions reversed. The hours I was spending in the dojo with the moms was paying off. I wasn’t a superhero, but I was learning some cool moves.

  I perched on top of Lee and grinned down at his surprised face. He looked utterly dumbfounded for a moment, then laughed in delight.

  “I was so not expecting that!” he exclaimed. I grinned down at him in triumph. “Who taught you that?” he demanded.

  “I
may or may not have learned a thing or two from your parents,” I purred back into his ear, taking the opportunity to nibble on his earlobe.

  “Ugh, Mason… You talk about my parents during sex?” he groaned and fell back against the bed. “Major boner killer,” he muttered at me in mock horror. I laughed at him, because I could feel the hardness of his cock through his jeans. He was still every bit as interested in sexy-naked-time as I was.

  “Well, that’s really too bad,” I murmured, running my hands down his chest to the top of his jeans. “Because I might have one or two more things planned for tonight that you weren’t expecting…” I teased, waggling my eyebrows at him salaciously as I rocked my hips back and forth, taking time to grind our cocks together.

  Lee’s eyes had turned a deep, mossy green, a color I was starting to equate with passion and heat. Who knew green could be so hot?

  “Oh really?” he asked, his hands resting on my hips. “Like what?”

  “I think that’s for me to know, and you to find out…” I grinned saucily at him.

  “Oh! A game… I like games… Is this Twenty Questions?” he asked.

  I smirked. We had turned just about every other game you could think of into sexy time fun. Why not Twenty Questions?

  “Maybe. You won’t know until you ask,” I winked at him, then let my hands slide down his chest to rest at his waist.

  “What are the rules?” he growled, running one of his hands up and down my naked chest. He’d wised up to my antics and started demanding to know the rules to any game we played. My mind raced, but in a good way. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead for tonight, but it was Twenty Questions, for fuck’s sake. How complicated did it have to be? Got it. Only as complicated as I wanted it.

  “Straightforward. You get to ask twenty questions about what I’m planning for tonight,” I said. “If you get it right, you win!”

  “And what happens if I lose—?” he asked, his voice dropping deeper.

  I grinned.

  34

  Lee

  Mason looked so damned adorable seated on top of me, grinning like he was a damn Cheshire cat, my heart felt like it was bursting.

  Since news of Dreyven’s death, his panic attacks had lessened significantly. He hadn’t had one in almost two weeks now, and the one he’d had before that, I’d been able to bring him out of with a few calm words and a reassuring touch. He wasn’t cured, not by a long shot, but he was definitely moving in the right direction.

  “Well, I suppose if you lose… Then neither of us gets the surprise…” he answered, the corners of his lips pulled down into a fake pout.

  I almost laughed out loud at the sight. Mason didn’t pout. He was probably one of the most stoic people I’d ever met in my life. He just absorbed emotional pain and locked it inside. He never reflected it or tried to make others feel bad for him, but he looked so damn cute with his lower lip stuck out, the corners of his mouth pulled down and his dark hair curling around his head, I’d let it slide.

  “Does that mean you’ll help me cheat?” I asked mischievously.

  “Cheaters never win!” He cried in mock horror. “How dare you suggest I help you cheat…” he answered, nodding vigorously in the affirmative.

  “Okay… I will take that as a yes,” I said, winking at him. “So… Question number one… Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” I asked.

  “Boooooring,” he whined, “but, animal.”

  “Hmmmm… Question number two… Is it a puppy?” I asked, half wondering if that might not be the real answer.

  Since Mason had met Anna and Brannon’s dog, Gracie, Mason had been gone on any animal he came across. I’d even caught him in the back yard trying to convince Jabba to eat some raspberries out of his hand. Jabba had been smart enough to ignore his initial attempts, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find his tubby body on the porch some morning, begging for food.

  “No… but that’s not a bad idea…” He said, his head cocked sideways, looking at me questioningly.

  I grinned up at him. Little did he know I'd already put in an order with the same folks who had bred and trained Gracie. Unfortunately, the waiting list was pretty long, and it could be two years or more before they had an animal that would meet his needs. In the meantime, I had a feeling we might be making a trip to the humane society “just to look around” soon. The animals there wouldn’t be service animals, but a pet to love and care for wasn’t a bad thing, either.

  “Ha! Only if you house train it,” I answered, taking his hand in mine and pressing kisses to it teasingly and filing the plans for a pet away for a future date.

  “Hmm… okay, so question number three… it’s an animal… Does it have fur?” I asked.

  “You could say that, yes,” he answered after considering for a moment, then nodded vigorously. “Definitely furry, on certain parts…”

  “‘Certain parts’, eh? okay, so an animal with fur. Is it alive or dead?” I asked suspiciously. We’d visited the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland the week before, and Mason had been creepily interested in the stuffed animals. The last thing I needed was a stuffed meerkat or something on the mantle.

  “Ewwwww, well… part of it was dead, but someone brought it back to life,” he muttered, dropping his lips down to place a searing kiss to my own.

  “Mmmmmm…” I moaned into his mouth. “And exactly what part of it did this miracle worker bring back to life?” I asked, pretty much guessing where we were heading now.

  Mason just looked at me for a moment and grinned, then he covered my hand with his, gently moving it from his waist to his crotch, then slowly grinding his cock against my fingers. “Guess…” he breathed.

  The feel of his length, hot and hard inside his jeans, was making it hard for me to think straight.

  “Do you have more questions,” he asked, his long, talented fingers stroking both of us through our clothing.

  Wait. Clothing?

  “That was a bunch of questions, why aren’t we naked?” I demanded out loud.

  Mason laughed at me again and scooted to one side, quickly divesting himself of his remaining clothes. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him, his long, lean body so beautiful, his arms and shoulders starting to show more definition as his hours in the dojo paid off. His blue-black curls brushing his shoulders, his blue-gold eyes bright with lust.

  “Looks like I win…” He smiled impishly at me.

  “Win? What? Huh?” I asked dumbly, still caught in my fog of desire.

  Mason took pity on me and reached over to me, sliding my shirt over my head and helping me slide my jeans and underwear off. As the last of the clothes slid off, I couldn’t keep my hands to myself any longer, and I reached out to pull him close to me. The feel of our cocks sliding together made me groan more, and I felt pre-cum bubble from my cock, my hole clenching in anticipation. We’d pretty much been having as many mind-blowing, heart-pounding, orgasm-inducing sex sessions as possible over the last few weeks and I couldn’t get enough of the feeling of Mason sliding home inside me. While I hoped that, one day, I’d be able to return the favor, I was completely happy with our mind-blowingly awesome sex life.

  We tumbled backward onto the bed, a writhing pair of hot, wet mouths and searing flesh stroking against each other.

  “Wait! I almost forgot something!” Mason said suddenly, pulling away from my embrace.

  “What? No! Whatever it is can wait…” I said, trying to pull him back toward me, but he was a slippery little sucker and evaded my grasp. I sighed in exasperation as he leaned over the bed and retrieved a large box from behind the bedside table.

  The table was the same one that I used to keep Mack’s picture on. I’d kept the pictures in the drawer after I’d met Mason, but a few days after the con had ended, I’d felt like it wasn’t fair to him to have Mack’s ghost hanging around, especially in our bedroom. One day while he was at the dojo, I'd gone through the house and taken down all my photos of Mack and packed them away. I had
n’t said anything to Mason about it, and I could only assume he either hadn’t noticed, or didn’t want to make a big deal about it.

  I looked down at the blue and gold wrapped box and thought how much the color matched Mason’s eyes.

  “Um, did I forget an anniversary?” I asked, unsure what to make of it. “I didn’t get you anything…” I began guiltily.

  “No, silly. It’s part of your ‘prize’,” he said, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Just one part of it, though,” he said huskily, winking sexily at me. I could see the hunger in his eyes as he ran his gaze down my naked body. His eyes didn’t skip over my scars or avoid my gaze. To Mason, they were just another part of me, and he liked the whole package.

  “Um, okay,” I began, turning my focus back to this package. I was oddly nervous as I began to unwrap the gift. The box itself was large and heavy, a couple feet across and wide. When I opened it, I saw there were a couple of wrapped squarish items, along with a little gift bag. A small card was tucked inside the gold ribbon that kept the packages together. I opened the card and read, “To Lee, My Love, My Warrior, My Angel. We share a past, a present, and a future. All my love, Mason.”

  It was damn dusty in here, I thought as my sight got a little blurry around the edges. I looked at Mason, who darted forward to place a sweet, gentle kiss on my lips before sitting back to watch me open the gifts. I slid my fingers beneath the wrapping paper and slowly opened the larger package.

  When I first unwrapped the present, I could tell it was something that had been framed and I was guessing it was going to be some piece of Mason’s art. But when I flipped it over, the tears that had threatened earlier started flowing freely, because I'd never expected this.

  It was a framed black and white drawing of me, Mason, and Mack. Mason and I were seated and had our arms around each other, while Mack stood behind us, his arms around us both, as if drawing us together. Around the framed print there were smaller photos of Mack and I. Some I recognized, but others I didn’t remember seeing before. There was a small bronze plaque attached to the frame. It said “Love— Past, Present, Future.” I looked up at Mason, shaking my head in disbelief.