by Lissa Kasey
He shifted in his seat again. I grinned and took his hand, leaning over to kiss him soundly. The idea of us using this thing really turned him on. I put it in the crate. “Anything else?”
He glanced over the table, but really was just too busy looking at me like I was an oddity he didn’t quite understand. “No.”
I got up and pulled him out of the chair and into my arms where I could feel his cock hard in his shorts pressed into mine. “Don’t ever be afraid to ask me to try something.”
“Unless it’s to hang you by your toes,” he reminded me.
I grinned and kissed him. He melted against me. “Now comes the hard part,” I told him when we came up for air.
“Sex is the hard part?” He was confused.
“No. Talking about Jacob’s case is the hard part. We’ll have sex later.”
He pressed his hips hard against me. “Sure I can’t convince you otherwise?”
“I promised Emily an answer tonight. Remember?”
He groaned and let me go. “It’s been like two days since we had sex.”
“A little more than twenty-four hours actually, but I promise we’ll have sex before we sleep tonight. You like the anticipation. Admit it.”
Again he looked at me sideways.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not like other guys.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” I knew what he meant. I should have been taking every opportunity I could to pound him. That’s how everyone else ever treated him. Only I wasn’t just here for the sex, though it was a perk. Maybe someday he’d get that.
“You just keep me off guard.”
I rubbed my beard against his cheek, making him shiver. “My evil plan is working.” Then I let him go to retrieve the trash can and begin throwing away the things he no longer needed. “Last chance. Any of this you want to keep?”
He shook his head. His little toy box had gone from over a dozen to fewer than five. “There’s a door swing in the closet upstairs. It’s in the big black bag that looks like a gym bag.”
“Is that a keep or throw?”
“Keep.” His gaze was all over me. Was he imagining me up in the swing? I could certainly imagine him in one. My hip might not like the suspension, but I’d be willing to try it if that’s what he wanted. Sex with Ollie was nothing if not stimulating.
Chapter Eight
I LET Ollie return his toys to his tucked away drawer while I looked through the case file information Emily had forwarded. She had scanned all the delivered threats for us, and I sent them off to a friend Ollie had who could analyze the writing—the little there was of it. I wondered if they were actually related; the articles defaming Jacob’s character and the pasted-together threats. They seemed like two very different things other than the fact that they were both aimed at Jacob.
Ollie sat down at the table across from me. “Put your thinking cap on,” I told him.
He glared at me like I was insulting his intelligence.
“No, really. I’m not teasing. I’m thinking too. What do a couple of pasted-together threats have in common with articles defaming a person’s character?”
“The intended victim is Jacob,” Ollie answered.
“Right. But is he the only thing in common? The articles hint at Jacob’s kink. The letters are more an angry reply to the loss of his brother.” I flipped through the scanned notes on my tablet. “Whoever delivered these thinks Jacob is responsible for Joshua’s death.”
Ollie shrugged. “People think a lot of not nice things about Jacob.”
I kept my comment to myself, instead focusing on the case. “Why blame the brother? Was Joshua sick? Denied care? Was he deep in debt and Jacob wouldn’t help? Maybe he saw no other way out?”
“He was genderqueer.”
“Okay.”
“Not to be confused with gender-fluid. I am comfortable being male or female for whatever the situation requires. Josh didn’t really identify as either. He was very socially awkward and had a really hard time functioning in our very black-and-white world. Jacob paid for his counseling. But I don’t think there’s really anything else you can do. He wasn’t transitioning. Didn’t plan to as far as I know. He just didn’t feel like a male or a female. He was just Josh. He would even get mad if he had to fill out a form somewhere and it required a gender. There was a big uproar about pronouns too, but he could never decide which he preferred. I think a lot of his emotional problems stemmed from how society treats people it doesn’t understand.”
“Did you know him well?” Not like Ollie needed more people in his life to die. His whole family was gone. I could do without part of mine. How was it that happened? A guy who had an accepting family lost them all, but someone like me who had pure assholes related by blood had to suffer.
“Not really. He mostly avoided me. I think he was uncomfortable because I was so comfortable being gender-fluid. We never talked about it. Though I do recall a few dinner dates out with him and Emily. Most of the time Jacob wouldn’t show up.” He sighed and opened his tablet. “Emily tried to help him, but I think he blamed her in the end. Once screamed that she’d stolen his identity while they were in the womb.”
“Sounds like he was mentally unstable.”
Ollie nodded. “And refused to take any medication. I know he was on something for bipolar disorder for a while, and he seemed okay, but he said it made him feel like a zombie. Eventually he stopped seeing any doctors at all. He said no one understood him or was willing to help him. He had a history of attempts.”
“So someone should have been watching him. Maybe Jacob?”
Ollie snorted and rolled his eyes. “Jacob didn’t have time for me and I was his boyfriend of over a year. Do you really think he made any time for his mentally ill brother?”
“Maybe that’s what the threats are about.”
Ollie shrugged. He looked tired and still stressed. Damn, I needed to get Jacob back out of his life as soon as possible. But I did have a plan. “I want you to focus on the articles. Interview the reporters. Maybe offer them a juicy secret if they hesitate to meet with you. Give them the Oliver effect and talk them out of their source.”
“Okay.” He picked up his tablet and flipped it to a full laptop. His ease with new technology still astounded me. “Let me scan everything for similarities. Words or ideas or whatever. Maybe we’re missing something.”
“Or maybe one has nothing to do with the other,” I pointed out. Which was exactly where this was leading. “I’m going to call Emily and ask her for Jacob’s schedule. Tomorrow I become his bodyguard.”
Ollie gaped at me.
I gave him my most innocent smile. “You’re going to be pounding the pavement, or at least on the phone in the office tomorrow talking to all those reporters and supposed victims. Background checks, financial records, the whole shebang. Your specialty.”
“And you’re going in as his bodyguard….”
“And investigator. See if I can find who’s close enough to deliver the threats.”
“But the stuff in the articles is pretty private too,” Ollie pointed out.
“Not if they are a past lover of any kind.” I stared at Ollie. “How many other guys do you think Jacob’s had in his playroom?”
“He likes girls too.”
“More to my point. He’s probably got hundreds of people fighting for any kind of fame they can get. Jilted maybe, or at least in the past. Maybe not everyone was kosher with the crap he did. Maybe he pushed someone too far and this is their revenge.” I shrugged. Either way this end of the case was exactly up Ollie’s alley. It was better if Ollie had as little to do with Jacob as possible. That way he could still investigate, but not see the bastard. It was a win-win as far as I was concerned.
“If we do double the work, can we charge him twice? I think I’d really like to deliver him a giant bill,” Ollie said suddenly. “Two cases instead of one….”
I laughed. That was the Ollie I’d been missing the past
few days. “Charge him as much as you want. Hundreds per cup of tea. By the hour for being an asshole. Whatever. We weren’t going to take this case to begin with. He’ll owe us big when we solve it.”
“You’re certain we should?”
“Take the case, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Yes,” I told him. If only to keep Ollie from obsessing about it while he should be focusing on something else. “We’ll start interviewing people tomorrow. You from the office, me in the field. Just like usual.”
“So we’re going in as investigators.”
“It’s what we are. I’m not an actor trying to play a role just for Jacob Elias to get his hands on you again.”
“He’s in the past,” Ollie assured me. He was typing into the computer, probably creating algorithms to search the files for similarities. If there was anyone more efficient with computer programming and searches, I had yet to meet them.
I leaned across the distance to put a hand on his knee. “Have I told you recently that I’m thrilled you use your superpowers for good instead of evil?”
He looked up, blinking at me. “Superpower? What superpower?”
“Your cyborg mind. Creating algorithms in a single bound.”
He snorted. “You said we had to talk about the case before we could have sex.” He pushed the computer aside, a dozen different searches running in the background. “I thought it best to be expedient.”
I grinned. “So we can have sex.”
“Yes. Don’t you want to have sex?”
“I always want sex when you’re involved,” I told him honestly.
“But you don’t. Like last night you gave me a massage and we slept….”
“Just because we could, doesn’t mean we have to. Holding you, giving you some peace is just as important as the physical stuff. And nothing is more important than you and me. Sometimes I just need a cuddle too, you know.” I bent my head and he leaned forward so our foreheads could touch. “You are a billion times more important to me than any case, amount of money, or history coming up. You are more than sex. I wake up every morning thrilled to find you in my arms, and fall asleep every night dreaming of you. I hope you understand that.”
“Why are you so good to me?” he whispered, his voice strained and quiet.
“Because I love you.”
He sucked in a breath like it was the first time I’d said it, but I’d told him a thousand times at least. Was it only just sinking in now, or had Jacob’s return made him doubt? “Thank you,” he said.
“No need to thank me. Loving you is not a chore.”
Now his eyes were shiny.
“Freaky smart computer shit done?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’m gonna call Emily really quick, then go jump in the shower and I’ll meet you upstairs in your room. Good?”
He nodded. “Good.”
IT SHOULDN’T have surprised me that twenty minutes into my shower, Ollie joined me. I’d never been the fast-jump-in-and-out type when it came to showering. The late hour added a stiffness to my hip that only eased with the heat and right massage of the spray. The monstrosity of a shower stall had twelve showerheads, adjustable, with more than a dozen water settings. And the room itself I’d had insulated so the heat would create an almost sauna-like space. The overhead fans worked to clear all the moisture when I was done, but when I basked, it was glorious.
I was sprawled against the stone bench to the side of the shower, with all the jets aiming at me, drowning my body in luxurious, massaging warmth, but leaving my face clear enough to breathe in the heat. The overhead lights were low, soothing, though I’d left the large vanity light on in the bathroom area. I could have napped there with the water streaming over my body.
“Are you trying to drown yourself?” Ollie asked as he stepped into the shower. He moved in front of the spray for a minute, letting it soak him in a wet wash that got me instantly hard as water poured over his sleek body.
I gave him a lazy smile. “Just massaging my hip.” I sat up and eased my way out of the seat. His hands immediately went to my sore hip and carefully stroked at the aching muscles. I hit the button to readjust the direction of the spray and pulled him into my arms. His body was warm and wet against me. Hot like a branding fire. I couldn’t help but sigh when his cock rubbed alongside mine. He thrust his hips in slow rhythm, building the friction between us. I let out a long sigh as his fingers dug into the stiff muscles of my hip, easing and making me tense all at once.
“Better?” he asked, letting his touch fade to light caresses.
I leaned into him and kissed him soundly. He tasted of toothpaste and his strawberry lip gloss. I sucked his lower lip into my mouth and teased it with my tongue until he stole my mouth back with his.
“Can we have sex now?” he asked breathily.
Hell, it was torture for me too. The sad part was I probably only had one big go in me, while Ollie I could make fly at least twice. For me it was part being older, and part the injuries I’d sustained. But I’d also never been the guy who was jumping from bed to bed. The military had made that impossible. It never bothered Ollie when I only came once but brought him off a handful of times. Mostly because I worked hard to wear him out. I’d never thought my libido was low until Jacob Elias had come into our lives waving his never-flagging sexual needs in our faces. Well, Ollie’s face. Me, he had no use for.
Ollie put a hand on my cheek, reminding me I wasn’t in the shower with the rock star. Just the model. I sighed into his lips, then grabbed a bottle of conditioner from the ledge near the table and spread some on my palm before dragging him out of the spray so I could take a slick hold of his cock.
He let out a hiss. I stroked him slowly, base to tip, watching the tension in his shoulders, and need on his face. He thrust into my grip, arm locking around my waist to pull me closer, only I kept my hips from him. I set aside the conditioner and reached around him to nudge his entrance, swirl around the opening, and dip a teasing finger in. He gasped, head falling to my shoulder as he hung on, ready to let me have my way with him.
“No intercourse in the shower,” he huffed.
It was my rule. Too many hard surfaces for a man with bad joints. I kissed the side of his face and continued to stroke him, adding pressure to my grip and thrust my finger against his hole in time to my strokes. Not breaching him completely, more just adding pressure to the muscled rim. The concentration actually helped keep me from exploding, but I planned to finish upstairs. Or maybe my room. Just somewhere other than the shower.
“Are you still thinking naughty thoughts about me?” I whispered. “Me up in a swing, that pretty clear dildo in my ass, waiting for you to slide into me. Stretch me full and pound me hard. Slap against me….”
He came with a half groan and a grip that almost hurt my hip. His heat spilled between us, pumping as I stroked him, milking him of the last bits of his relief. He panted against me, clinging like I was the only thing holding him up. And maybe I was. That was okay. It was me who made him tremble like that. Brought weakness to his knees. Me who could make him come with a little bit of stroking and some dirty images planted in his head. He was so beautiful and all mine.
I kissed the side of his face again. He turned his face toward me, eyes half lidded. I pulled him a step back into the water, careful to take the brunt of the spray since he’d still be too sensitive, but enough to let the water flow between us and wash the stickiness away.
He reached for my cock. Even stroked me halfheartedly. I pulled his hand away. “After the shower,” I promised him.
“You have weird sex rules.”
Maybe. He let me hold him awhile longer. I swayed him around in the shower, an Adele tune playing in my head though the room was silent except for the water and our breathing. He moved with me, relaxed into me, leaking away the last of the tension that had been plaguing him.
This was me bringing him back into our relationship. Casting Jacob out of Ollie’
s life. We saw hundreds of cases a year. This one would be no different. We could be professional about it, even if I had to edge Ollie to the sidelines with office work.
“You’re so good to me,” he said.
My room, I decided. Outside of Ollie’s space, he could be free for a few hours of his past. “How about we finish this in my room,” I offered to him.
He blinked at me a minute. “Kade’s lover?” It was a game we played only in my room.
I kissed his forehead and nodded before reaching over to turn off the shower. “Yep. You’re all mine tonight.” He shivered, breath coming a little faster. I grabbed a big fluffy towel and wrapped it around him before taking one for myself.
“But I should take care of you. Last night you gave me a massage, and just now I came and you didn’t.” Ollie stepped into his slippers and waited for me to retrieve mine.
“Who says you’re not going to be taking care of me? I totally plan on coming hard tonight.” After I drove him into a frenzy a few times. I dragged him across the hall to my bedroom.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You always tease me until I’m sure I’m gonna go crazy.”
I shrugged and grinned. “My room. My rules.” I rubbed him down with the towel to dry off the excess water, then tossed it aside. He stared and waited, nude, beautiful, and thoughtful. Not tense or anxious. Excited maybe. I could almost see the ideas rolling around his head. Last night I hadn’t gotten to put my mouth on him like I’d wanted to. He’d needed the sleep. Tonight I was going to remedy that. “You complaining? Would you prefer more of the wham-bam-thank-you-Sir bullshit?”
He blinked at me. “You’re so weird.”
I snorted, mimicking him perfectly. “Yet you still love me.”
He held out his arms. “Okay, then. Have at me.”
“On the bed, baby. My hip hurts, remember.”
He gave me narrowed eyes as he made his way to the bed like he was on to me. Maybe he was. I couldn’t wait to have his skin under my tongue and his soft little moans filling the room. If I did this right, he’d be thinking about me tomorrow, not whatever history he had with Jacob. The thought made me smile as I headed for the bed.