Falling In (Only You Book 2)

by J. S. Finley

  Once he could breathe again, he realized Thomas had come in his own hand. Next time, he would be the one doing the sucking.

  16

  Thomas and Clay loaded the ladders into the back of Thomas’ truck. He didn’t like the reason Clay was back, but he was excited to start their life together. Two weeks ago, he’d never have imagined his life would be like this. He had Clay, and he wasn’t going to lose him.

  They pulled up in front of Amy’s house and the door opened. Amy and her husband stepped out and waved.

  “I didn’t know you hired a helper,” Amy called out.

  “Do you remember Clay? He’s living with me,” Thomas said.

  Clem came close and stuck out his hand to shake with Clay. “I remember you. Nice to see you again.”

  “Thank you. Nice to see you too. Amy, how are you doing?” Clay asked as he shook her hand.

  “Good. So you liked it so much here you had to move?” Amy winked then turned to head inside.

  “I need my gutters cleaned today,” Clem said.

  “Sure thing. We’ll get to work.” Thomas grabbed one ladder and Clay grabbed the other. They started on opposite sides of the house and worked their way around. Clay finished his part a little before him and moved over to help him. After they finished, they put up the ladders then met beside the garage.

  He gave Clay a little peck on the cheek before heading to the back yard where Clem was waiting for them. They’d discussed trimming a tree a few weeks ago, but Clem wasn’t prepared to move on cutting the limbs yet.

  “We finished the gutters. Would you like us to do anything else?” Thomas asked.

  Amy stepped out and moved to stand beside her husband. Her lips were pinched as she stared at the grass.

  “You need to go,” Amy said.

  “I’m sorry, what?” Thomas had no clue what had gotten into Amy. She wasn’t acting like herself.

  She kept her head down, but her voice was firm. “Leave. We don’t need your kind on our property.”

  Thomas heated, and he was about to say something when Clay grabbed his wrist.

  “Let’s go,” Clay said.

  “Now hold on…” Clem said.

  “No, they need to leave.” Amy looked Thomas in the eye and huffed out a breath. “Get out of here.”

  “What has gotten into you?” Clem took Amy by the arm and turned her to face him.

  “They are fornicators, sinners. We can’t have them here.”

  Humiliation washed over Thomas. She’d seen him kiss Clay, and now she was telling them to leave. He couldn’t believe he was being kicked off their property.

  “What do you mean?” Clem asked.

  “I saw them…ugh, they were kissing.”

  Clay had turned white. Thomas met Clay’s gaze. He didn’t like the emptiness he saw in Clay’s depths. Hurting his lover wasn’t acceptable.

  Thomas turned to Amy to speak but he stopped when he saw the look on Clem’s face. He shook his head then let go of his wife’s hand.

  “I’m sorry, Thomas. I’ll call you later about the tree.”

  “But you can’t be serious. You won’t hire him again. He can’t be on our property.” Amy spoke fast, her words clipped.

  “I am serious. He is cutting our tree,” Clem said.

  Amy’s lips were so thin they were white. “But—”

  “No, I’m not going to stop using Thomas for a handyman. He’s a good person, and I’m sorry if you don’t like who he sleeps with. It’s none of our business.”

  “But—”

  Clem held up his hand, stopping Amy’s words. “No. I’m not going to stop using him. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  Clem shook his and Clay’s hands before he walked them to the front of the house. Thomas felt strange, like he’d messed up, but he hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “I’m sorry. She’s going to this new church. They’re a little overzealous.” Clem stared off in the distance as he scratched the top of his head. “I’ll get with you on the tree.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “No, Thomas, I do.”

  “Okay. Thank you,” Thomas said.

  Clay hopped into the truck, and neither of them said anything until they were almost back to Thomas’ house.

  “That was awkward,” Clay said.

  “Very.”

  They put up the ladders in silence before heading inside. Numbness had set in. Clay pulled him into a hug, and Thomas leaned against him, drinking in his sweetness.

  “I don’t even know what to say.” Clay hugged him tighter.

  He shook his head, feeling empty. “I had no clue she felt that way.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Thomas met Clay’s gaze. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. She’s the one who needs to be sorry.”

  “Do you think Clem will hire you for the tree trimming?”

  “No clue.”

  Thomas still felt weird and wasn’t sure what to do. Clay stepped away first.

  “I need to finish unpacking my things.”

  “I’ll help. I have some space in my closet, and a few drawers I can combine.”

  Clay moved in close and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “It’s weird moving in. We’re combining our lives, and it just seems so strange.”

  The words from Clay twisted through him. What if Clay didn’t really want to move in with him? They were taking things fast.

  “You want this, right?” Thomas asked.

  “Yeah, I really do.”

  Thomas cupped Clay’s cheeks. “I know this is new, and it’s not the relationship either of us ever thought we’d have, but it’s the relationship I want. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Clay leaned his forehead against Thomas’. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t know how to deal with people like Amy.”

  “Neither do I, but she doesn’t matter. What matters is us. At the end of the day, when I need someone to support me, it’s going to be you.”

  Clay stood straight and smiled. Moisture filled his eyes. “I’ll be there for you, I swear.”

  “Good, because I’ll need all the love I can get from you.”

  They unpacked Clay’s bags, storing his clothes and setting up his TV in the spare bedroom. When they emptied the last of his bags, Clay grabbed Thomas’ hand and held him close.

  “Want to go to the beach?”

  He nodded. “You know exactly what I need.”

  They didn’t take a car; instead, they walked over, using a pedestrian stairway that led to the beach. Before descending to the sand, they stood on the top step, staring out at the ocean.

  “It looks calm out there today,” Clay said.

  “It was this morning. Next week, a storm is supposed to move through. It’ll be rough. Good fishing but I’ll have to pay more attention. Hopefully, my clients won’t be jerks.”

  They walked to the beach and strolled for a little while. The sun started to sink, turning the sky to the west beautiful shades of pink and purple.

  “Looks like some clouds,” Clay said.

  “It’s a small set of storms moving through. They’ll be clear by morning.”

  Clay nodded then met Thomas’ gaze. They shared a slow smile, and he warmed. They climbed the stairs and strolled back to his place where they spent the evening in the backyard. He pulled together some leftovers, which Clay seemed to enjoy. The night finished with them trading blowjobs on the edge of the hot tub. It was the perfect end to a disastrous day.

  17

  The next morning, he headed out again, and Clay stayed behind. He had a long day with two charters going out. Dave needed the day to tend to some personal things and would take the one short charter they had the next day. He hated being away from Clay all day, but his man was resourceful and could handle himself.

  This time, on both trips, his clients were well behaved and went out of their way to be nice. It was a stark contrast to the day before. They also left him a hefty tip.<
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  Once he finished, he headed home. At first, he couldn’t find Clay and assumed he’d gone out for run, but then he heard something above him. He moved to his garage and found the attic entrance open. He climbed up the stairs and called out.

  “Hey, Clay, what’s up?”

  “Hey, I’m glad you’re home. I missed you.” Clay made his way over, careful where he stepped. “I wanted to see what kind of storage you had up here since I’ll eventually be moving my stuff here—well most of it or at least some of it. After a quick look around, I decided to do a little project. I bought a few pieces of plywood and some insulation. I made a floor, which extends over the den. I was checking out the rest of the insulation.”

  “Wow, you didn’t have to do this.” Thomas turned to stare at the progress Clay had made. His boxes and other items looked organized.

  “It wasn’t hard. And now you have room to get to the air conditioner unit up here.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I also noticed you have some fresh rat poop so I went to the hardware store and bought some poison. I’ve spread it in the corner and where I found the rat evidence. I need to get a little more insulation; otherwise, I’m almost done.”

  “We can finish it tomorrow if you like.”

  “You have the day off, right?”

  Thomas nodded. “Yep, all day.”

  “I’d rather spend the day in your arms. I can take care of this while you’re working.”

  “I don’t want to leave you to do all the hard work.”

  Clay shook his head. “I’m happy doing this. Keeps me busy.”

  Desperation filtered over Clay’s features, and Thomas understood why Clay was up here in this hot attic. His life was crazy, and if he didn’t do something, he’d probably go insane.

  “Are you almost done?”

  “Enough I can call it quitting time. I need to shower.”

  “Aren’t we lucky. I need to shower too.”

  Thomas chuckled before he climbed out of the attic. Clay followed and pinched his ass as they stripped out of their clothes in the garage. They made their way inside, tickling each other as they went.

  Every minute spent with Clay was like a gift. He felt like the luckiest man in the world. He couldn’t imagine anyone else who would love him as much as Clay did. Though he’d never really thought about being in a relationship with a guy, Clay was the best person for him.

  18

  Almost a week had passed and Clay felt like he was starting to go stir crazy. He had done a year’s worth of projects for Thomas and was bored. The FBI had nothing new for him but said the case against the department was running smoothly. He’d tried going to talk to Amy and Clem, but the two times he’d been over there, neither one of them was home. He didn’t want Thomas to lose friends because of him. Maybe in a week or so, he and Thomas could go and sort things out with Amy.

  Thomas had an early charter and was getting ready for bed. Clay wandered into their room and stood in the doorway as Thomas laid out his clothes.

  “You doing okay?” Thomas asked.

  “Just bored. I need to find something to do.”

  “Come with me in the morning. It’s a small group, only three of them. I’ll tell them you’re training.”

  “You won’t mind having me tag along?”

  “Not at all. It’ll be fun. We head out early, so we need to get some sleep.”

  “Sure.” Clay pulled out his clothes for the next day and got ready for bed. He was excited to be going out with Thomas in the morning. Having something to do made all the difference in the world. It was hard not going to work. He was a man of action, and this last week had been anything but action packed. Sure, he’d accomplished a lot, but he needed something else to keep him busy.

  The next morning, they arrived about thirty minutes before they were to set sail. The sun was coming up, and the docks were empty. He helped Thomas prepare the boat for departure.

  When the customers arrived, they were ready to take off. After going over the safety information and having the men sign waivers, they headed out to the river, which would lead to the open ocean. The day was enjoyable, and he learned so much from Thomas. It was cool working with him again.

  Clay helped the men with their lines a few times, but otherwise stayed out of the way. Thomas seemed pleased when they docked, and the guys gave a tip. After the clients were gone, he helped Thomas clean the boat and set up for Dave’s excursion, which would leave in about an hour.

  Dave showed up before they left the marina. Unlike Amy, Dave was happy for them. He congratulated them on finding each other and having a relationship. Before they got in the truck, Thomas handed him seventy-five dollars.

  “What’s this for?”

  “Tips. They liked us as captain and skipper. Said they had fun.”

  “Cool. That’s awesome.” He stared at the money, wondering if he could find something that would allow him to help out on the boat every once in a while. He still had his salary coming in from the department, but that wouldn’t last long since he was planning on resigning. He’d made up his mind, but he hadn’t talked to Thomas about it. Soon, he would tell him how he felt.

  After showering, they headed to the beach for a quick jog. Tourists dotted the white sand, baking like bread left in an oven too long. It wasn’t high season, so the number of tourists wasn’t daunting. One thing he was sure of: Living on the island was different than visiting. He started to feel like he belonged here.

  Ten days after he left Virginia, he heard from Howard that three of the men from the department had made bail. They were supposed to stay in the city. Clay felt safe even though the men were out. It wasn’t like anyone from the department knew where he was.

  Thomas still hadn’t heard from Amy and Clem. It made Clay sad, but there wasn’t much he could do to change their minds. Some people couldn’t handle gay folks. He helped Thomas a few more times on the boat, and he enjoyed the outings. He still hadn’t figured out what he wanted to do for a job. Although he was at loose ends, he wasn’t unhappy with his life. He and Thomas had worked out a deal where he would help where he could and not pay rent, at least until he knew what was going to happen with his job situation. Clay didn’t feel right living with Thomas without paying something. Thomas agreed to let him start paying at the beginning of the next month. Clay was happy Thomas hadn’t put up too much of an argument about the matter.

  “Hey, tomorrow, I have a small group going out,” Thomas said as he stepped into their bedroom.

  At some point, Clay had started thinking of things as theirs. Their couch, their food, their bed. It was nice to have someone in his life he cared about and who cared about him.

  “Want me to join you?”

  “Sure. I like spending the day with you. It’s fun, even if we’re working.”

  Clay laid out his clothes for the next day. He felt hopeful and was happy. Maybe being a cop wasn’t for him, but eventually, he would find something that was right and he would love doing.

  19

  They woke early and prepared the boat like they had on other days. The sun rose behind clouds, making the spectacle even more vivid than normal. Purple mixed with oranges and reds, which blended into pinks. He loved waking to the beauty each morning. Everything seemed more vibrant down here. The sky was deeper blue, the stars brighter, the air cleaner.

  They were ready with the boat fully prepared, when a car pulled into the lot. Clay didn’t pay much attention to the people getting out of the car and was shocked when he recognized a voice. His heart thundered and his head roared with confusion. How had Newman and Banks found him?

  He spun and found a gun pointed at him. Thomas was standing about six feet away, his hands in the air.

  “Simmons, you’re lucky this place is empty. Get in the boat. We’re headed out to sea. You pull anything funny, and we’ll shoot your lover first then you.”

  Clay said nothing as they moved onto the boat. Fear pumped through h
im. He’d put Thomas’ life at risk. He knew these men were dangerous, but he didn’t think they would go to these lengths.

  Thomas started the boat’s engine and pulled away from the dock like nothing was wrong. The time to do something never seemed to materialize. If he decked Newman, then Banks would come after him, or worse, hurt Thomas.

  They were moving slowly, Thomas taking his time. Usually they moved a little faster to get out to the open ocean, but this time, heading out was different. They weren’t going the same way as they usually went. What was Thomas up to? Perhaps once they got out in the open waters, they could figure out something to get free from these two.

  Thomas met his gaze and narrowed his eyes before glancing at the rail. Clay’s heart sped up as he reached out, wrapping his fingers around the sun warmed metal. Thomas gunned the motor and made a sharp left, plowing through the brush and down the waterway they’d found while they’d been out kayaking. Newman and Banks were flung to their knees, one of their guns lost on the deck of the boat.

  The boat turned to the left, and Clay almost lost his grip and flew over the edge, but he held on, clinging tight to the rail. Once Thomas turned down the small waterway, he was prepared. When they edged up against the dock and Thomas jumped off, Clay was on his feet, following close behind. They ran fast, heading deep into the trees. Clay kept up as they raced to the picnic area, stopping behind the fireplace. Both of them were breathing hard. Thomas’ eyes were wide, and Clay knew he looked panicked too.

  “Holy shit,” Thomas said.

  Clay pulled out his phone and dialed nine-one-one. It didn’t go through. “Crap, no service.”

  “We need to make a plan.” Thomas drew in air slowly, blowing it out through his nose.

  “They are going to kill us.”

  Thomas nodded. “I know. You don’t have a gun on you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Hell.”