The Protector

by Jessie G.

  On the way back with Miguel in tow, Saul looked at him questioningly and jerked his head toward Kyle. That was a clear command to get up and go to their lover. Kyle was standing there looking at the woman’s face, his hands balled into tight fists. Everything about Kyle screamed pain, a pain he should shoulder with him, yet he felt nothing. So he did nothing. When Tory took his place at Kyle’s side, he was only relieved to be free of that burden.

  “Saul will tell you, we’re only privy to what Durango wants us to know,” Miguel said without prompting and Javier flinched back as if he’d been slapped. Durango. That was the name of his nightmares, of his day terrors, of pain and sorrow and...Javier looked at Kyle again. Had Durango hurt Kyle? No, no, Saul wouldn’t let that happen. Saul was their protector; he would rather die than let Durango near them.

  Trick and Miguel were still talking and he forced himself to tune back in. If Durango hurt Kyle, he needed to know that, needed to dig his way out of the fog. Trick’s face remained impassive through whatever Miguel was telling him. When Saul refused to show any emotion or reaction, that’s when Javier knew things were at their worst. Miguel finally stopped talking and Trick walked away, and if he said anything, Javier missed it. After glancing back at Marisol in concern, Miguel asked, “What’s the plan, brother?”

  “Is it just dislocated?” Saul asked, not bothering to answer the question. Nodding, Miguel shifted to present Saul with his injured arm. Saul looked at his brother for a long time before he took the offered arm. Without giving him any warning, Saul forced the shoulder back into place, the pain of which nearly dropping Miguel to his knees. “Get Marisol. Your ride will be here in two minutes.”

  Before Miguel could say anything else, Trick called Saul and Kyle away. Liam and Billy came over to talk to Alaric and he had to strain around them to see what was going on. Whatever Trick was saying didn’t take long, and then Trick and Kyle were following Jared behind the curtain. As soon as they disappeared, Saul turned and looked directly at him.

  Lost in the intense focus of that gaze, he barely registered everyone scattering around him and didn’t even realize that Saul had closed the distance until he was slamming a chair down in front of him. Saul didn’t speak right away, just sat and stared until he squirmed. Continued to stare until the feeling of dread churned his stomach. Didn’t stop staring until he thought he might cry from the overwhelming emotions coming off Saul. Only then did Saul say, “I can’t let you hide from this, Javier. You asked me to trust that you are stronger and I wasn’t sure I believed you. What I do believe is that Kyle needs you right now, not when it’s comfortable enough for you to face this. So I need you to find that strength you promised me.”

  Usually Saul spoke softly, encouraging him to store the hurtful memories and lock the box before bringing him into the present. The unexpected words scared him enough that when Saul reached for his hands, Javier jerked away. There was a flash of regret in that unrelenting gaze before strong hands gripped his hard. In a rush, the fog lifted and everything came into focus. Sight, sound, smell...blood everywhere...he gagged and gagged again. Saul pushed his head down between his legs, urging him to breathe, promising he was safe.

  “Kyle...Kyle…?” Tears blinded him, clogged his throat, and he felt like he was drowning. Fighting his way out, he begged, “Please, where’s Kyle?”

  Saul helped him stand and took a moment to look him over. With a gentle kiss, Saul turned and led him toward the bathroom. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and I’ll take you to him.”

  Chapter 38

  Kyle

  Kyle couldn’t get clean. The doctors had been confident when they came out to talk to Trick, but were worried about the amount of blood Chase lost. It didn’t take a second to remember that he and his cousin were both the same blood type and he’d been grateful for the opportunity to do something helpful. When Saul led him out of the triage area again, Javier was there with a change of clothes. Javier led him into the bathroom and helped him change, those tender hands soothing as he tried to get the blood off. Kyle didn’t know what Saul did, but he’d seen the nearly comatose state Javier had wallowed in and almost hated his ability to detach. Now, seeing Javier thrust back into the nightmare, Kyle only felt guilty.

  Clay and Evan finally showed up, looking more than a little worse for wear, and while Evan sat with Tory, Clay had taken Saul and Trick to speak with Alaric. Clean, or as clean as he could get in the small bathroom, Javier nudged him toward a table and Red brought him some food. Just looking at it made him want to hurl, but Javier insisted. “You have to eat something, baby, please.”

  So he ate and watched, half listening to Red and Javier whispering, half listening to the steady beep beep of the monitors attached to Chase. As long as it beeped, Chase was alive, so Kyle didn’t care how annoying the sound was echoing off the cavernous space. Eventually Saul came to sit with them, telling him quietly that arrangements were being made to transport Chase someplace safe. He’d jumped up immediately, ready to go along, but Saul tugged him back. Of course he understood all the logic Saul presented. Wherever Chase was going, the doctors would need to set up again and they’d just be in the way. Trick needed time alone with Chase, deserved it. All good, logical arguments.

  “He’s alive and he’s going to stay that way.” That was the argument that convinced him to go home with Saul and Javier. That and the promise that Saul would take him to this undisclosed location in the morning to see for himself that Chase was staying that way.

  He honestly had no idea what time it was when they trudged into the house. Javier tried to feed him again, but all he wanted was a shower. With the water set to boiling, Kyle scrubbed himself raw, only stopping when Saul physically removed him from the shower stall. They huddled around him in bed and he fell asleep to their whispered assurances and affectionate promises. But sleep didn’t last nearly long enough and Kyle crept out of bed a few hours later, heading straight for the shower.

  Saul’s strong arms came around him. “This isn’t going to help you and it’s certainly not going to help Chase.”

  “Why was it him and not me? I went in there prepared...he wasn’t prepared!”

  “Prepared for what?” Saul turned him and forced his chin up. “Prepared for some psycho bitch to stab you? How could any of us have predicted that Alicia would be there or that she was Durango’s wife? How could any of us have been prepared for her to go after Chase like that? Trick has been looking for years...she hid from him for years. No one was prepared for this, but now we have to be prepared to deal with the aftermath. They need us to be strong for them, to help them get through this. Think about what Trick must be going through now that the sister he devoted his entire life to saving nearly killed the man he loves. Trick told me he doesn’t allow Chase to express his feelings out loud because he couldn’t be distracted from his mission. A year together and he almost lost the chance today, because of that bitch.”

  Kyle sagged against Saul. “I didn’t know...I...why did she do it?”

  “I don’t know. What I do know is that none of you should have been there today. You say you went in prepared. Do you have any idea what I would have done had it been you who got hurt today?” Saul shook him a little. “Look at me. Trick isn’t going to stop until she’s dead. I know this, Kyle, because I wouldn’t. There will be no more chances for Durango or that bitch to hurt any of you. No more.”

  Kyle really looked at Saul then. Saw the anger, the regret and self-recrimination, the hate, the pain, the promise of death...saw it all and knew that a shower wasn’t what either of them needed. “You and Trick need to end this. I get it, I really do, but promise me you’ll come back...that you’ll both come back. Make love to me. Make me feel alive. Make me believe we have a lifetime. Promise me…please, promise me…”

  Saul pulled him from the shower and helped him dry off, all the while kissing away his tears. Before Kyle could guess his intent, Saul lifted him right off his feet and headed for the door. At that mom
ent he didn’t care that they were both naked when Saul continued out to the hall and ascended the stairs. Kyle just wrapped his arms around his lover and took all the strength Saul was willing to give.

  The roof door banged shut behind them and then he was sliding down Saul’s body, feeling every glorious muscle ripple and bunch as Saul controlled his descent. It was a message, that every little movement he made for the foreseeable future would be controlled and he should let go of any past experience, trick or tease. Saul wanted everything else that he was, the real Kyle, to be completely submissive and obedient and controlled. Wasn’t it handy that he needed the exact same thing?

  By the time his feet hit the floor, Kyle was so ready to explode he saw stars. Of course Saul knew. “So close already?”

  “Yes.” The hiss stuttered from him when Saul’s tongue snaked around his ear and he pressed closer, desperate to be surrounded by the strength he knew Saul would provide. When that wasn’t enough, Kyle gripped handfuls of dark hair and pulled Saul’s mouth to his in a frantic meeting of lips and tongue and teeth, and it still didn’t feel like enough. Not until a big hand fisted in his hair and another banded around his waist, pulling him off his feet. Only then did his mind empty and his body melt, secure in the knowledge that Saul would take care of both.

  The cushion at his back barely registered as Saul eased him to the lounge chair. Not until the lifeline that was Saul’s mouth was taken away, leaving him panting and whimpering. “More.”

  “Open.” When his lips parted, Saul painted them with the tip of his cock, smearing drops of precum. “Wider.”

  There was no slow teasing slide. Saul drove in hard and deep, bringing tears to his eyes. Afraid Saul would pull away, Kyle quickly swallowed and opened his throat, pushing up to take him deeper. Saul was bigger than Javier, long and wide and thick, and on the first pass Kyle couldn’t take all of him.

  One hand gripped the back of his neck and the other cupped under his chin, tilting his head as Saul slid back almost all the way before thrusting forward again. Yes, that was the way. With his mouth full, Kyle lifted his gaze, encouraging Saul to use him. Long, sure strokes filled him and he took every one. His lover read him perfectly, used him perfectly, and knew exactly when to let him breathe and when to take him hard.

  “Lick my balls.” With a last desperate swipe of his tongue, Saul’s cock fell from his lips and he ducked down to comply, licking and sucking like a starving man. The pleasure of Saul’s response, the heavy grunts and raspy orders, erased all the painful places inside him. This was an affirmation of life, of their commitment, of the love they hadn’t yet declared. It was crazy soon, but he would not wait a year to say the words, to gift them to Saul who needed them as a reason to come back.

  “Fuck, Kyle.” A strong hand pushed his head away until he landed with a thud on the flat chaise. Then Saul was leaning over him, forcing his hands up until they were shackled in a tight grip over his head. Stronger legs pinned his, holding him still as Saul began to lick every extremity except the ones he desperately needed him to lick. The tease was unbearable, but Kyle could only take the torture and beg...and beg. Saul just laughed darkly and continued on.

  Between one plea and the next he was flipped, his arms shackled behind his back in one big hand and the assault started again. When he tried to twist around, Saul gripped his hair and held him down, ordering him silently to lay there and take it. So he struggled, knowing that would only tighten the bonds holding him down.

  “Beg for what you want.” The dark order thrilled every part of him, filled every craving.

  Everything, he wanted everything. Sharp teeth worked a mark on his ass cheek and he pushed up into it. “Your tongue in my ass… please, please put your tongue in my ass.” Please, please, please…

  The begging stretched out between them until finally Saul was there, diving in, lapping and tongue fucking him and still he begged for more. Saul was relentlessly spearing his tongue into him, opening him, preparing him, pinning him down to take it. More, don’t stop, oh god noooo…sharp teeth took another bite of his ass cheek, hard enough to leave marks and stilling his desperate writhing.

  “Are you trying to push me off?” Saul demanded.

  Never, oh fuck no, never, I need you closer, please, please, please…. “No, no...please, I need more of you, need to feel you…everywhere...”

  Even that dark laugh thrilled him, filled him, and made him feel so amazingly alive. “More of my tongue or shall I leave more bite marks on this gorgeous ass?”

  Were those his only two options? “Yes, yes, all of the fucking above...more, everything, my cock and balls, my nipples, my ass...I need...more…everywhere...please…”

  Another bite on his ass made him stutter, but it didn’t stop the begging. “I don’t think you want it badly enough.”

  The words continued to tumble out of his mouth, mindless and desperate. When he was flipped again, that shackle kept his hands behind his back, forcing him to arch high. Saul went for his nipples, raking them with sharp, vicious teeth until he cried and screamed. That must have been the right response because Saul did it again and again, uncaring that he was leaving marks behind.

  Saul surged up, taking his mouth in another searing kiss as he lay over him, rubbing their bodies together. With his cock trapped between them, Kyle felt every movement along his length, edging him so close to the precipice he feared he’d climax from that alone. Even as his mind fought for control, he arched higher, desperate for every little bit of friction that pushed him so close...so close…

  Saul jerked away and laughed. “Did you think it would be that easy?”

  Fucking teasing bastard! “Oh god, please…”

  “I’m still not convinced you want it badly enough.” His cry of frustration turned into a scream when Saul dove down on his cock, taking every dripping inch in. Kyle thrashed beneath that expert mouth, needing to come, needing to wait, and never wanting it to end. Saul dragged him right to the very edge, dangled him over that peak, and then he was gone.

  “NO!” The frustrated scream only made his lover laugh again. The dark sound was his only warning before Saul flipped him to his knees and forced his head down by pushing on his shackled arms. That first push of Saul’s cock into him stole his breath and not just from the invasion. They were skin to skin. No condom, just enough lube to ease his entry. He couldn’t even wonder where Saul was hiding the lube. Kyle wasn’t sure he believed that going bare made that big of a difference until just this moment. The combination of heat and silk and strength was without equal. Saul forced his ass higher and drove down deeper until they were completely one.

  “Fuck...that feels...fuck, Saul. Shit...never again, no condoms ever again...fuck…” The answer came as Saul planted his feet on either side of the lounge chair, pressed down on his restrained arms and pounded him as if his life depended on it. There was no tempering, no varying degree of intensity; once they were joined, Saul was on a mission. Beneath them the chaise scraped across the roof with every thrust, leaving more marks of his possession.

  When his arms were released abruptly, he floundered, but Saul was right there, wrapping him up and lifting him off the chaise without ever separating their bodies. Saul sat on the edge of the chaise, leaned back on his elbows and stretched out his legs. “Ride me...earn that orgasm you’ve been begging for.”

  Feet and hands braced, Kyle alternated between a deep grinding, gyrating tease and working himself up and down that length in hard strokes. Each produced a different growl, grunt and curse, and when he looked over his shoulder, Saul’s eyes were fixated on his constantly moving ass. “Is this what you want?”

  Those dark eyes snapped to his. “Free me.”

  There was no misunderstanding that demand and Kyle hastily lifted himself to turn. This was Saul unrestrained and he intended to keep him that way. Immediately Saul surged up, taking him up along the way until he was completely wrapped around that hard body and impaled on an even harder cock. With fistful
s of ink black hair, he pulled Saul’s head back, raking his throat and ears and jaw with teeth and tongue, and then angled him for a kiss as brutal as any he’d been given.

  “Free me,” Saul rasped again, tearing his mouth away.

  Kyle dragged him back, pouring everything he was into it as Saul continued to relentlessly pound his ass. It was Kyle’s promise that he was the man Saul could trust with every part of him and that he would stand as the buffer between the whole of him and Javier’s fears.

  “I’ve got you. I’ll never let go,” Kyle promised. Saul slammed him down on the chaise and dragged his legs up until they were pressed against his chest. “I love you, Saul. I’ll never let go.”

  “Then take me.” Saul gave and he took the hard, demanding, punishing ride. In the frenzy of it, Saul gave him everything he was and more—the dominant lover, the gentle lover and every iteration in between. “Take all of me.”

  “Please...please...” It didn’t seem possible that there was more to give, but Saul met his demand until Kyle felt his balls draw up painfully tight. “Saul, come with me…come with me...”

  It shattered them both, and when he finally became aware, he was sprawled on top of Saul. If he had any functioning brain cells he might have questioned the how of it, but all that came out was, “Just...fucking...wow...”

  The man just laughed at him because he was funny like that. Then Saul shifted enough to look him in the eye. “Say it again.”

  Kyle smiled softly. “I love you, Saul.”

  Chapter 39

  Saul

  “So you thought my plan was convoluted and risky,” Alaric started and stopped, considered and shook his head. “You can’t seriously think this is better.”

  “You can’t seriously think it’s not,” Saul fired back. “Your plan put everyone we all care about at risk. Not just my family, but yours, Clay’s and Trick’s. How many people were moving around that little chess board of yours?”