by Kelly Jensen
Too soon, Flick kissed his way down Zed’s chest, nuzzling the light coat of coarse hair that trailed downward to his navel and lower. Zed couldn’t stop his hips from pumping, the soft rubbing of his underwear maddening and not nearly enough. A groan tore out of his throat as Flick mouthed his cock through the smooth SFT. The fabric couldn’t battle the heat.
“Underwear...underwear off,” he managed, slipping his thumbs under the waistband. Flick took over, tugging them off, and Zed bit out another moan as his dick bounced free.
Flick hummed his approval against Zed’s groin. “I love the sounds you make.”
“Y-yeah? Good, ‘cause—Jesus fucking Christ, Flick.” Zed’s brain short-circuited as Flick took the head of his cock in his mouth and sucked. Hard. Good, so good. It took him a minute to realize he was whispering the praise over and over again. Fingers played with his balls, tugging, stroking, petting, before venturing back, dancing along his crease.
God, it felt like it had been forever since he’d taken Flick inside. He lifted his legs, opening them wide and holding on to the backs of his knees. There was no point in pretense, no reason to pretend he didn’t ache for wanting Flick’s hard cock sliding deep into him.
Flick pulled off with a dark chuckle. “That’s quite the invitation,” he said, stroking a finger over Zed’s hole.
“Need you,” Zed whispered.
Flick continued petting, the rhythmic motions both enflaming and relaxing. Zed kept his eyes closed, all the better to focus on the sensations sparking along his nerve endings, while the rustling of fabric indicated Flick was busy getting naked at the same time he was teasing Zed. A click of the lube container’s lid made Zed’s muscles tense up with anticipation.
Cold slick against his hole made Zed hiss, but it warmed up quick enough. Or maybe he just stopped caring about temperature once Flick’s fingers slipped inside him. His whole body rippled with need and want and a smidgen of desperation.
Flick’s crystal fingers—smoother than his normal ones, but no less warm—traced a soft line up Zed’s cock, from balls to tip, then circled in the precome that had already leaked out. “You want me so bad,” Flick murmured almost reverently.
“Always,” Zed managed to gasp.
“Do you know how much of a fucking turn-on that is? You lying there with your legs spread, open and eager?”
“Do you know how fucking frustrating it is to be teased like this?”
Flick laughed, a low rumble, then twisted the fingers inside Zed just right. He all but levitated off the bed at the jolt to his prostate. “You love it when I play with you.”
Zed whimpered. “M-maybe,” he admitted with a rush of breath.
“No maybe about it. I think someday soon, you and me are going to spend a day in bed, and I’m going to play with you and tease you for hours.”
“Fuck. Flick.”
“Hours and hours. Bringing you to the edge and drawing you back. Over and over.”
Zed’s cock jumped, growing harder at just the idea of being at Flick’s mercy like that.
“You like that idea, huh?”
“God, yes.”
“You like the thought of me driving you a little crazy, until you can’t do anything but beg?”
Another whimper escaped as Flick pegged his gland again. More liquid leaked from the tip of his cock, trickling into his navel. Flick leaned down and arrowed his tongue into his belly button, licking it up.
“You’re gonna make me come,” Zed heaved. “Don’t want to until you’re inside me.”
As though he’d only been waiting for the words, Flick reached down and slicked up his cock, then arranged himself over Zed. The sound that emerged from Zed’s throat at the feeling of Flick’s cock pressed up against him was something like a purr. The slight burn, the stretch—he’d missed all of it.
Flick moved forward slowly, sinking in centimeter by centimeter. His arms shook where they were braced beside Zed’s head, and Zed knew how much effort it was taking him not to thrust in hard, all at once. He’d been there himself. Flick didn’t bottom often, but when he did, it took all of Zed’s willpower to hold back.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” Flick muttered.
Zed wrapped his legs around Flick’s hips, drawing his lover—his fiancé—closer to him until Flick’s chest was pressed to his. “Like this,” he whispered, rocking his hips. “Slow, deep.”
Flick groaned but matched Zed’s movement. His arms wrapped under Zed’s arms and over his shoulders, holding him close. Tight. Any closer and they’d have to be one person.
Maybe that was the point.
They didn’t need words—only rhythm. Their love was there in the instinctive dance of their bodies. As much as Flick had teased him, talked a little dirty, this was less about the pleasure they found together and more about the connection they’d forged between them. Even the stray thoughts and emotions cascading across their link couldn’t compete with the communion of flesh against flesh.
Zed felt his balls draw up, but even then, he was so lost in Flick he didn’t realize he was close until he was there, his cock spurting between them, a helpless moan trembling from his lips. Flick held him tighter, thrust deeper—then shuddered, falling over the edge with a complete, perfect sigh.
They stayed wrapped around each other, even as the come and sweat cooled, even as Flick’s cock softened. Flick rested his head on Zed’s broad chest, Zed’s arms holding him close. Safe. Post-orgasmic rainbows colored Zed’s vision, as always, the one side effect of Project Dreamweaver that he didn’t hate. It gave afterglow a whole new meaning.
“So we’re gonna have a lifetime to do that?” Zed murmured, his voice little more than a rumble.
“Yeah,” Flick said with a contented sigh.
Zed grunted. “Dunno if that’s going to be long enough.”
“We’ll make it work. We always do.”
The love you that went back and forth wasn’t verbal, but it was no less real.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“This isn’t goodbye.” When Elias didn’t answer, Felix poked his shoulder. “Eli?”
Elias looked up from the copilot’s console. He wore a smile, but his dark brown eyes shone with emotion. “I know.”
“Hey, I’ll rot if I stay in one place for too long.”
“Not the way to start a marriage, Fix.”
“I don’t mean that. Zed is a forever deal. Alpha...” Felix glanced at the forward view screen, at the growing collection of rings and domes forming Alpha Station. A weird longing twisted through his chest. It didn’t look like home, but it didn’t look foreign, either. Not anymore. “It’s possibility,” he murmured.
“Hmm?”
“We’re going to do big things here. Important things.”
“Are you convincing me, or yourself?”
Felix narrowed his eyes at his captain. Soon to be former captain? No. That wasn’t something Felix would ever change. “Are we doing the right thing?”
“You and Zed, or us as a crew?”
“All of it.”
“You don’t need me to tell you to marry Zed. You figured that one out all on your own.”
Yeah, he had and, though his proposal had been messy, it had felt right.
“As for the rest of it,” Elias continued, “it’s not a matter of right or wrong. This new venture is necessary. It’s something we should have been doing before.” Helping people instead of taking advantage of them and/or their credits. “Going to be weird starting without you, though.”
Felix smiled. “You’re the captain of this tub. You’ll be fine.”
“We only called me captain and you engineer because we liked the idea of manning our own ship. You’re just as much captain as me, but if I ever picked up a wrench we might drop out of j-space
into a black hole.”
“You do realize you just disproved your own argument.”
“I’ll need the practice.”
Felix let his mouth slide into a smirk. “You know, Qek is pretty good at turning words upside down.”
“Don’t I know it? She’s going to miss you too. Just as much as me. And Ness.”
“It won’t be for long.” Felix raised a hand. “Don’t even. I mean, it’s not as if I’m dropping off the edge of the galaxy. I’m just...” Giving Zed what he needed.
They’d argued about staying on Alpha, which should be funny. Felix had managed two foot-stamping tantrums and Zed’s brows had nearly tangled with his eyelashes. Good times. But, deep down, he’d had to acknowledge Zed’s point, the same one he’d just so blithely reminded Elias of. He would go nuts if he stayed on Alpha Station forever. He’d probably drive Zed’s family around the proverbial everything first. He’d have tried. Felix had vowed to try because Zed’s family was an important factor in both their lives. But the Chaos was his home, and it shouldn’t have been surprising to learn Zed felt the same way. Apparently home and family did not have to live in the same place and, ironically, their need to please one another had given rise to the idea for their future.
The bridge hatch slid open and Qek stepped inside and paused. “How is the copilot lesson proceeding?”
A thin excuse to have a moment alone with Elias on the bridge. Felix looked over at his blue friend and smiled. “Think I should let him guide our baby into the dock?”
“Baby?” Qek followed her question with an inquiring click.
Felix patted the console and a wavelet of sadness rippled through him. He pressed his lips together.
“Go on, say it,” Elias said. Felix looked at him. Bastard wore one of his wide and flashy smiles. “She’s your baby.”
If Qek had brows, they’d have crossed in the middle of her forehead. Instead, she produced a perplexed wrinkle and changed the subject. Tapping her wallet, she opened a holo bright with text. “I’ve filtered the list of all known and suspected colonial endeavors to a list of five possible candidates with which to begin our enterprise. The first is Maplethorpe. An agricultural settlement in need of—”
“Let’s save it for after his honeymoon,” Elias said.
“I have also researched the term honeymoon. It has an interesting etymology. Six months is far longer than current tradition suggests and I’m not sure the term bridal tour applies any longer.”
Felix grinned. “Sure it does. We’re going to be visiting Zed’s family.” Qek wasn’t the only one capable of researching wedding stuff.
“He must have a lot of family.”
“He does and he needs to spend time with all of them, whether he wants to or not.”
Elias made a sound that might have been a chuckle.
“And we’re just going to hang out a bit,” Felix added.
“Promise me you’re not going to start researching Maplethorpe or whatever for at least a month,” Elias said.
Felix sealed his lips.
Elias grabbed one of Felix’s ears and tugged. Gently. “If you get bored and start fixing everything that isn’t broken on this station and need to make a quick getaway, I’m only a ripcomm away.”
“Fuck you, Eli.” Felix’s standard response lacked all heat.
Elias continued to grin. “Now, that I won’t miss.”
* * *
Zed had always liked the quiet serenity of the anterooms off the penthouse ballroom his family used for large, formal gatherings. This one in particular had pale gray walls, with drapes bearing subtle blue stripes, and colorful but calming holo paintings that changed every few minutes. A large window overlooked the street-like passages of Alpha, a scene he was still getting used to despite seeing it every day for the past week. He had a lot of memories of these rooms—playing in them with his brothers, taking refuge from the responsibilities that accompanied the name Anatolius.
“What are you thinking?”
Zed turned his gaze from the window to the door, to see Brennan and his wife Roz. Brennan pressed a kiss to her forehead and she left, but not before shooting Zed a quick smile. He returned it. He’d be able to get to know her better now. His sister-in-law. And Hazel, Maddox’s wife, his other sister-in-law—and their new babies.
He’d been easing back into his family over the past year, but now he’d be in the thick of it, for at least a little while. It wasn’t a bad thing, but the thought was...kind of overwhelming.
All of this was overwhelming.
Brennan stepped forward and nudged Zed to turn around fully, then fussed with the tie formed into an intricate knot at his throat. “You look really good.”
Zed glanced down at the midnight-blue suit. Like all high-quality SFT fabric, it had a slight sheen, but not enough to make it flashy. The jacket closed diagonally across his chest, leaving only a small bit of his gray shirt exposed—and that was mostly hidden by the burgundy scarf-tie-thing that Mom had insisted was the newest fashion.
“Is everything ready?” he asked.
“As ready as it’s going to be. Mom, Dad and Maddox are out front with Marnie and Ryan and the other guests. Marnie said she’d pinged you but you hadn’t responded.”
The ping had been confirmation that all Project Dreamweaver data had been destroyed—something she and Ryan had argued against, but Zed had been firm. It had to happen. Oh, and she’d added, “Don’t get cold feet!” which he didn’t really think justified a response.
“Elias, Nessa and Qek are in the other anteroom with Flick. I could barely see Qek’s eyes for all the wrinkles. She’s thrilled you’re following the ‘don’t see the groom before the wedding’ tradition.” Brennan grinned, but it faded quickly. “Seriously, what were you thinking when I walked in? You looked...”
“Lost?”
“Yeah.”
Zed huffed out a sharp breath. In some ways—major ways—he wasn’t lost. Sharing his life with Flick, making that formal commitment, was a no-brainer. He could never be truly lost with Flick at his side. But there were big questions in his head that had no answers, and yeah, it made him want to grab onto Flick as his anchor. Was that fair?
There was so much stuff he hadn’t quite dealt with yet—the Guardians, what happened on Paradise. He’d touched on it briefly with his therapist but he wasn’t ready to get into it. He didn’t want to talk about how naked his right wrist felt, or what went through his mind when he saw the Guardian cuff sitting in the safe in his and Flick’s new apartment. Did he really believe the Guardians had mastered time? He hadn’t shared that revelation with anyone—nor that he’d caught a glimpse of one of the aliens. It didn’t seem like something he should share. Maybe he’d tell Flick. Someday.
But beyond all the Guardian shit, he felt as if he was poised on a staircase, one foot suspended over nothingness in a step he was afraid to finish just in case the floor was farther away than he’d thought. What if they fucked this up?
“What am I doing, Bren?”
“Uh...” Brennan frowned. “Marrying Flick?”
“Yeah. No, I’m good with that. I’ve got that. I mean...” Zed waved a hand. “Everything else. The humanitarian outreach thing.”
Long talks with Flick had led to that idea, one that had honestly taken Zed by surprise—until Flick revealed just how much saving the people of Paradise had affected him. And Zed got it. That was why they’d joined the AEF, right? At least part of the reason. They’d each wanted to make a difference and Flick had finally had a taste of doing so. Because of them, the true colonists of Paradise had a chance to continue the life they were carving for themselves out of the planet’s unforgiving rock. Todd had sent a ripcomm—relayed through fifteen different points to make it harder to trace—that things were going well. Preston’s non-altered recruits had chosen
to remain on the planet. For now, anyway.
On the surface, the plan was simple. There were colonies out there that needed help—both legal and illegal. Stations, too, privately run outfits that had been affected by the war and largely forgotten. One thing Preston had gotten right—though it pained Zed to admit it—was that the AEF didn’t know what to do with itself in peacetime...and these colonies and stations couldn’t wait for the AEF to sort its shit out. They needed help now.
So that’s what they were going to do. Help people. Zed was the face of their little enterprise—the guy who rubbed elbows and got funding. Flick was the troubleshooter, the one who figured out the puzzles of how to get colonies what they needed even if they couldn’t always find exactly the right parts and pieces. Elias was their operations guy, the one who transported the goods to where they were needed. Qek would be more than their pilot. She, Marnie and Ryan would work together on technical solutions. Nessa would provide medical expertise. After their honeymoon, after the initial work to set everything up was done, he and Flick would rejoin the Chaos. Get their hands a little dirty instead of staying separate and apart on Alpha all the time.
So yeah, on paper, it all looked good. But could they actually do it?
“Your proposal for backing was solid,” Brennan said, his voice serious. “Dad wouldn’t have gone for it otherwise. Neither would I.”
“But—”
“Why are you freaking out about this?” Brennan’s eyes danced with laughter. “You’re getting married in a few minutes, Zed. Everything else will fall into place.”
Zed’s gaze drifted to the side. “It’s just...weird. No more superiors. Nothing hanging over my head. I feel...”
“Free,” Brennan supplied.
Free. Yeah. It was a good descriptor.
Brennan tugged on Zed’s lapels. “You’ve got an entire life ahead of you to figure it out. And an anchor waiting for you across the hall.”