“In me or on me.” Rick’s temperature ticked up as he said the words.
Excitement filled the air as the room faded around him. All he saw was Seth and that stomach and the way his erection jutted out.
“How do you keep getting hotter?” Seth moved up higher on the bed. His thighs fell on either side of Rick’s head now.
He leaned down, trapping Rick’s wrists in his hands. Anchoring them to the bed. The move put his erection right by Rick’s mouth.
He didn’t wait. He turned and took Seth inside. His length slipped down until the tip touched the start of Rick’s throat. Seth’s hips moved back and forth. His cock slipped in and out as Rick sucked on him and licked. Let Seth use his mouth. His body rocked and Rick took it all.
Seconds blended into minutes. Rick’s fingers curled and his wrists ached from the pressure of Seth’s weight. Exactly as he wanted it.
Seth changed the tempo. Slowly pulled in and out. He moaned as tension snapped across his shoulders and drips of sweat beaded on his chest.
Rick had a front-row seat to it all. He relaxed his throat and applied just the right pressure with his lips to make Seth gasp.
“Rick.” The strained sound of Seth’s voice echoed through the quiet room.
But Rick didn’t stop. He enticed. Used his tongue to caress and his teeth to bring Seth to the edge. Then he was coming. His body bucked and his fingers tightened on Rick’s hands.
He said something but Rick didn’t hear him. He hummed to get Seth to repeat the words.
Seth switched his gaze from Rick’s mouth to his face. Their eyes met. “It’s my choice?”
Rick smiled. “Yep.”
“On you.”
—
Seth kicked off the covers. They’d been in bed for hours…at least he thought so. A strange restlessness stole over him. He hovered in that state between dreaming and awake. The memories of Rick’s face filled his head. The way he pumped into that open mouth, then on his face.
He turned to his side and reached for Rick. His hand landed on Rick’s chest. Seth let the contact soothe him until he started to drift off again. Then the wrongness hit him again and he jerked awake.
He flipped to his back and opened his eyes. The ceiling came into focus. The squares outlined in molding. All that light blue.
Something tickled his nose. An odd smell. Then he heard a whooshing sound.
Still exhausted from the move and the worry and the planning and the sex, Seth wanted to slip back into unconsciousness. Let the darkness fold over him so he could wake ready to slide into Rick again.
But that strange scent grew stronger. It was out of place.
Was it…gasoline?
This time he forced his eyes to stay open. He leaned up on one elbow and looked around the shadowed room. Conducted a quick scan in every direction before something pulled at him to glance at the door again. That was when he saw the smoke. The sirens hadn’t gone off but the gray puffs floated under the door and hung in the air.
The house was on fire.
That realization settled in Seth’s head and fueled his muscles. He jackknifed into a sitting position.
“Fuck.” He reached over and shook Rick’s body through the covers. “Get up.”
Rick rolled onto his back with his arm balanced over his eyes. “What are you doing?”
They didn’t have time for this. “We need to get out of here.”
Seth touched his foot against the floor. He felt heat but it was bearable. A loud roar stormed through the house. Glass crashed and a series of loud thuds sounded in the hall.
Seth jumped to the floor and shook Rick harder this time. “Move!”
“I don’t…” Rick’s arm dropped behind his head and his eyes opened. He sat up a second later. “Holy shit.”
The crackling grew louder as the door to the bedroom burst into a fiery orange and red mass. Flames raced inside and licked up the door. The trail continued to the ceiling and Seth waited for the entire floor above them to explode.
This fire didn’t meander. It burned with a vengeance, maybe from an accelerant. That meant they had even less time than usual.
He pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed for a T-shirt. A quick look across the mattress eased some of the panic coursing through him. Rick was up and shoving on a pair of sneakers.
But it might not be enough.
The door to the hall disintegrated and flames covered every inch of floor outside the door. He could almost make out the top of the staircase. He didn’t see people or furniture. Just a wall of fire and it was bearing down on him.
He reached for the tablet and finally found it on the floor. Smoke crashed into the room in waves now. It curled up toward the ceiling. They had minutes only, maybe not even that much time.
Rick started hacking. He doubled over as coughs shook his body.
It was getting harder to see from one side of the large room to the other. The fire was loud and out of control. It raged as it blanketed and cut off the sound of anything else.
Ducking low, Seth made his way to Rick. Shoved him to the floor and joined him there on his knees. Seth tried to turn on the tablet but the screen blurred in front of him.
“The window.” He yelled the words but he couldn’t even hear his own voice.
Rick must have gotten the message because his gaze shot to the far wall and the rest of the color left his face. But he nodded.
Seth didn’t have time to ask about heights and fears. Fire spread up the walls and into the corners of the ceiling. They were seconds from being burned alive now.
They crawled, low and on their stomachs. Seth strained to remember the blueprints and the outside of the building but his brain kept shorting out on him. He tried to move his legs, then his arms, but his muscles weighed a ton. He kept pushing Rick from behind as he slowed down, then stopped.
This could not happen.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Seth thought he heard voices but that had to be a trick. Drawing all his concentration and his energy he reached for the windowsill and pulled his body up to his knees. He shoved at the window, slammed the heel of his hand against it, but it wouldn’t budge. It had been open earlier…or was that another window?
“Here.” Rick reached around him. Struggling to a half crouch he looked at Seth and closed his eyes as he smashed his elbow into the glass.
The window shattered and glass fell around them. Seth didn’t feel a thing but the rush of cool fresh air revived him. He put Rick’s face in the open space and they both took a deep inhale.
Fire raced across the floor now and engulfed the bed. Two stories up or not, they needed to be outside. Seth threw a leg over the sill, ignoring the slice of glass into his skin. His bare foot landed on the wooden beam cutting across the outside of the house. They had maybe two inches of space out there to step on. Not more. The climb would be treacherous, but it was better than burning to death.
He pulled on Rick’s arm and tugged his body until his legs slipped outside. “Climb down.”
“What?”
Seth glanced behind him. The heat was close enough to scald now but he tried to keep his voice steady. “Face the building and start dropping. There are beams on the outside. It’s a pattern and not meant for escape. It’s a style thing and not perfect, but it’s all we have.”
Rick hesitated for a second then his eyes grew wide. Seth didn’t have to turn around. He could all but see the fire mirrored on Rick’s face. “Move.”
“Right.” Rick snapped to life then. His fingers held on to the sill in a death grip before he started to go down.
Hand then foot. He went from beam to beam. Sometimes he had to move up before he could reach another one below him.
It was a climb that occurred by slow inches. Seth waited as long as he could to start but his body was almost on top of Rick’s. The wood could loosen or the fire could punch through the wall. So many possibilities and all of them sucked. But still they climbed.
Two storie
s and what felt like thirty feet to the ground. A fall might not kill them depending on the landing, but it would definitely cause damage. Seth tried not to think about that as his foot slipped and when Rick flattened his body against the building wall as he tried to find a better grip.
Fire poured out of the window above them now. From this vantage point Seth could see the whole top floor trapped in a fiery orange glow. Still, they kept easing down.
Seth thought he heard voices. That could be anyone, including the firestarter. “Hold on.”
This had to be close enough. Seth would make it so. He pushed off from the wall in his bare feet and dropped. Air rushed around him and he tried to keep his knees from stiffening, just as he’d practiced so many times.
The world blurred and the fall felt like it lasted forever. His feet finally touched the ground and he fell to the side. Rolled across the damp grass.
He twisted an ankle and it immediately started throbbing. Ignoring it, he sprang to his feet and moved right under Rick. “Jump.”
Rick didn’t take any time to debate. He pushed off just as Seth had and went into a freefall of maybe fifteen feet. Seth didn’t try to catch him, but he reached up and tried to guide him down.
Rick hit his knees and stayed there. His whole body seemed to thud into the grass. Panic raced through Seth. This time so much worse than the fire. “Rick, talk to me.”
When he didn’t say anything, Seth lifted him and dragged him away from the building. They got about fifteen feet away when Rick started moving his legs. They kept going, getting to clearer air and breaking free of the immediate range of the flames.
They made it thirty feet when Seth heard the sound.
“Mr. Fine?”
He looked around until his gaze landed on the figure standing right by the fence to the outside of the property. His first thought was for his gun up in the fiery bedroom. The next was about how fast he needed to move to get the jump on this guy.
“Owen?” Seth calculated the distance between them and how easy it would be to get off that shot. “What are you doing?”
The man stood there with his weapon out. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Chapter 25
The haze refused to clear from Rick’s head. With Seth’s help he’d run for a few feet then sat down again. Nothing more than a lump in the grass. He couldn’t remember how he got there.
The dark night flashed with orange over his head and bright pieces of…what was that? They fell from the sky. He scratched his arm when one touched his skin and it felt hot.
He looked up to see Seth standing beside him. Then the memory slammed into his brain.
Fire.
Rick scrambled to his feet but stopped when he saw Owen standing a few yards away. A section of the fence behind him stood open. Rick couldn’t make sense of any of it.
“Why are you here?” It was a dumb question. So many others, more relevant ones, filled his head. Owen should be at home or the consulate. Not in this yard. Finding out the answer to that took priority.
Seth shifted his body until he stood slightly in front of Rick. “Answer your boss, Owen.”
The protective move registered. Little else got through Rick’s scrambled brain, but when he tried to step out from behind the human shield, Seth’s grip on his arm only tightened.
“I need you both to come with me.” Owen’s voice sounded shaky but the gun in his hand was steady.
Disbelief warred with a boiling anger inside Rick. “What did you do?”
“What?” Owen frowned then his eyes widened.
“The fire, Owen. The way you disappear. The money issues.” Rick unloaded now.
“How do you know about that?”
Rick watched Seth move. It was a slight shift, but it put him closer to Owen, and Rick knew that meant an attack was imminent. His job was to provide cover. “You lied about the door.”
“Ed needed space.” Owen shook his head. “He wasn’t like you. The strict protocol of the job was tough on him. He blew off steam.”
“He could do that by leaving through the front door.”
“He didn’t want anyone to know he was restless. It got better after the engagement, for a time anyway. Then he wanted to be with her.” Owen glanced at Seth and blinked. He took a step back. “Look, we don’t have time for this now.”
“Then you shouldn’t have set such a big fire.” The low angry rumble of Seth’s voice matched the roar of the nearby fire.
“What the hell? This wasn’t me.”
A voice called from behind Rick. “No, it was me.”
The footsteps thudded on the grass. Rick turned but not fast enough. A gunshot rang out and clipped Owen’s arm. He dropped the gun, but the second shot had him sprawling into the grass on his side. He moaned and squirmed as Ben walked into view.
Ben stopped, barely sparing Owen a glance. There was not one ounce of remorse or sympathy on Ben’s face. The mild, smooth-talking foreign service officer showed another side of himself. Cold and calculating.
But this made sense. Or part of it did. Rick didn’t know what to think anymore.
“We are out of time.” Ben reached down and scooped up Owen’s discarded weapon. His voice sounded different. Snappier, more in control and like he was the one giving orders. He looked at Seth. “Move or I shoot your boyfriend in the face.”
“Fine.” Seth gestured for Rick to join him. “Where are we going, boss?”
“Through the door.”
“Let’s go.”
Rick didn’t know how to read Seth’s agreement or the lighter tone. But something in the way he carried himself and how he studied Ben made Rick think Seth had a plan. At least he sure as hell hoped so.
They coughed as they walked. Seth didn’t make a move, but Rick figured that had something to do with the gun Ben had pressed to his head. Rick knew Seth wouldn’t make a move if it meant he’d be shot. He’d sacrifice himself, but never Rick.
With slow steps, and through the growing haze of smoke, they made it to the gate and into the field beyond. Rick could make out a car and someone standing beside it. Something on the ground. It wasn’t until they got closer that he saw Tim sitting on the ground, rocking. The blood. The way he cradled his arm as the deep red soaked through his fingers.
That made two seriously injured players. They needed assistance, and if the paleness of Tim’s face was any indication they needed it fast.
As they reached the car a woman stepped away from it. She looked familiar but Rick couldn’t place her.
“The woman Ben met up with at the art show.” Seth made a tsk-tsking sound. “I guess you have more than one career.”
The pieces came together in Rick’s head. She was the one Ben talked to in front of the bird mural. She’d helped put the art show together and they’d acted like friends. One of Ben’s contacts in the city.
A woman who liked weapons.
“Is this the new and improved version of Ben?” Seth asked.
Ben laughed as he shook his head. “You are a gigantic pain in the ass.”
“So I’ve been told.” Seth still hadn’t moved. He kept his body angled half in front of Rick’s. His gaze kept bouncing down to Tim.
Rick tried to follow the verbal volleys. He sensed he needed to keep Ben talking so that he’d refrain from shooting. Fire and ambulance vehicles were scattered at the front of the house. Rick could hear the sirens and see the flashing lights. But a property this size put them at a disadvantage. Yelling would never carry far enough, especially with all of the attention centered on the fire eating away at the front and second floor of the property.
“You need to die in this fire.” Ben motioned to the house as he spoke.
There was a strange lightness to his tone. A sort of bragging, half sing-songy quality.
“Too late.” It was all Rick could think to say but it made sense to him.
The woman looked at her watch. “In about two minutes you’re going to hear a big bang. Everyone will rush
to the explosion over there. Consider it a diversion so we can wrap this up.”
Seth glanced in the direction of the first responders and the lights. All the cars. “You have people over there?”
“Everywhere.”
Seth rolled his eyes. “Sure. Right.”
“An explosion?” That didn’t make sense to Rick. A fire they could explain and cover. Anything bigger meant repeated problems at the consulate, which would raise alarms. The weapons transfers would get harder. “Seems like overkill, don’t you think?”
Seth nodded to Tim and where he huddled on the grass. “What about him?”
“He’s our insurance,” the woman said.
The pieces still wouldn’t come together in Rick’s head. He kept taking them apart and rearranging them. “Against what?”
Ben pointed the gun at Seth. “Your boyfriend acting stupid.”
“About that.” Seth glanced up at the second story of the house. “I just climbed down from up there, so clearly I don’t have a problem doing stupid things.”
Fire engulfed the entire front half of house now. Heat radiated off the burning mass. Rick was desperate to get away but Ben wasn’t moving. He was too busy threatening.
Rick tried to drag Ben’s attention away from Seth. “Your work, I take it?”
“Relocating here was very helpful.” Ben nodded. “I thought the car accident would take care of you and your questions about doors and the snooping through Ed’s things, but no.”
The bullet wound at the back of Rick’s head started to throb. “That was you.”
“People we work with.” The woman nodded in the direction of the lights and fire equipment. “They’re nearby.”
“Who?” Seth asked.
“Nice try. I thought I could shut everything down and move the operation before anyone came poking around, but then you showed up.” Ben stared at Seth. “And your friend Nathan for no logical reason.”
Seth shook his head. “Ruined your plans.”
“Actually, Ed did that.”
The final confirmation. This was a group project with individuals at the consulate and others outside. A scheme to make money at the expense of people who needed medicine. Heedless to the weapons and whose hands they fell into.
Guarding Mr. Fine (Tough Love #2) Page 21