Pick Up the Pieces

by Tinnean

  “Hmm? Oh, it’s pretty big.”

  “Bigger than your dad’s house?”

  “Oh, yeah. He’s got a few acres with a couple of guest houses on the property, and Ben and Steve”—two of Harry’s brothers—“both have houses just down the road.”

  “Holy….” I was dazed by the size of his family, although I supposed I shouldn’t have been, considering the size of my own.

  “Theo?”

  “Huh?”

  He patted the mattress beside him. “Care to join me?”

  “Oh, yeah, you bet!” I pushed all thought of family out of my mind and climbed onto the bed.

  Wills grinned and reached over to turn out the lamp, then settled down and pulled me on top of him. His legs parted to make a space for me, and it was as natural as coming home.

  Chapter 24

  WILLS CAME home from work one evening a little tense.

  “What’s up, babe?”

  “You mean besides me?” His grin looked forced, and I became worried.

  “Wills?”

  He ran a hand over his hair. “Okay, look. The thing is I have to go out of town for a couple of weeks.”

  This was the first time since he’d been living with me that this had come up. I took a deep breath. I was a big boy, and I didn’t need him tied to me. Besides, if I kept him too close, I was afraid I would lose him.

  “Okay. Can I help you pack?”

  “I have it down to a science.” He seemed relieved, and I felt like a prick. My behavior had made him uncertain how I would accept what he had to do for his job, made him feel he had to tiptoe around my feelings. “You can keep me company while I pack, though.”

  “Sure.” I followed him into the bedroom. He took out a suitcase, opened it, and began to place articles of clothing on the bed. Underwear, suit, shirts, and ties. Shoes. “Where are you going?”

  “Seattle.” He frowned a little.

  “Do you need rain gear?”

  “If I do, I’ll buy it there.”

  “Uh… Wills?” I swallowed and studied the toiletry kit he had just put in the suitcase. He’d have an electric shaver in there, preshave, aftershave, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, dental floss… and I swallowed again. I was putting off the inevitable. “If… if you see some cute guy while you’re in Seattle….”

  “Yeah?”

  “I…. It’s… it’sokayifyoufuckhim,” I finished in a rush.

  Every line in his body became stiff, and he stopped packing. “What?” His voice was very quiet.

  “I said….” Oh, God, he was going to make me repeat it? “I said if you….”

  “I heard what you said.” The heel of his hand hit my shoulder, causing me to rock backward. “And while I’m in Seattle, ‘fucking some cute guy,’ what will you be doing, Bascopolis?”

  “What?”

  “Will you be fucking some guy also?”

  I stared at him, my mouth opening and closing but unable to get a word out.

  “Is that the kind of relationship you want?”

  I shook my head.

  “Is that the kind of relationship you think I want?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve… I’ve never been in a relationship before.”

  “Theo….”

  “I… I don’t want to lose you, Wills. I’m afraid if I hold on to you as tight as I want to, I will.”

  He came to stand in front of me. He took my arms and put them around him, then put his arms around me. “Hold me.” I held him. “Is that as tight as you want?”

  “No.” I could barely choke out the word.

  “Then hold me as tight as you want.”

  I tightened my grip, waiting for him to protest, but he just stepped closer to me. “I’ll leave bruises on you.”

  “I don’t care. You’re my lover and my partner, just as I’m yours. Baby, I’ve had sex with no strings—”

  “Oh, yeah? Who with?”

  He gave me a look. Oh, he meant girls. I blew out a breath.

  “And if that was what I wanted, do you think I would have brought you to meet my family or moved in with you? I love you.”

  I still wasn’t holding him as tightly as I wanted to, but I leaned my forehead against his forehead. “There are strings involved?”

  “In what we have? You’d better believe it, and not just strings but ropes, cables. Chains, even.”

  “I like that idea.” I liked it more than I could tell him, probably more than I should. I brushed my lips across his. “Can I… can I call you while you’re gone?”

  “I was hoping you would. In the evening, okay?”

  “Around bedtime?”

  “Yeah.” He rocked his hips, and I could feel his cock nudging me.

  “Phone sex, Wills?”

  “Oh, yeah. I’d like that.”

  “When….” I cleared my throat. “When do you have to leave?”

  “As soon as I’m done packing.”

  “Okay.” That was short notice, but I guessed computers could break down anytime, day or night. I blew out another breath. “But promise me one thing?”

  “I’ll come back.”

  “Think you can read my mind?”

  “Can’t I?”

  “Yeah.” I slid my hand around his neck and brought his mouth to mine. “Take care of yourself, all right?”

  “You bet. Look what I’ll be coming home to.”

  WE SPOKE every night except for a forty-eight-hour period when he told me he’d be working nonstop and would be unable to call, and thirteen days, nine hours, and twenty-seven minutes after he left—not that I was counting—he walked back in the door.

  “God, I’m glad to be home.” He dropped his suitcase on the floor and walked into my arms. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you too, baby.” I was surprised at how tight his grip on me was. “How did the job go?”

  “It went. I hate this type of job.” His face was etched in lines of exhaustion. “It turned into something else, and….”

  “I would have met you at the airport.”

  “I know.” He let me go and stepped back. I couldn’t remember ever seeing him look so wiped out. “I had to stop at work to file my report.”

  “Why don’t you go take a shower? I wasn’t sure what time you’d get in, so I didn’t make anything, but I have some leftover Chinese. Pepper steak.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “I’ll nuke you a plate.”

  “Thanks, Theo.” He swayed for a second.

  “Go on, shower. I’ll get your suitcase.”

  “Thanks,” he mumbled again.

  I went into the bathroom ahead of him and turned on the shower, making sure the water was as hot as he liked it, but not hot enough that it would scald him.

  In the bedroom, he’d already shed his suit jacket and was putting a box on a shelf in the closet. “You’re gonna find a bag of condoms in my suitcase. Just so you know, they’re for us.”

  “Okay.”

  He stripped off his clothes, letting them fall to the floor, and made his way into the bathroom. I admired the pale curves of his ass.

  “Don’t fall asleep and drown in there,” I called after him, smiling.

  My smile faded as I stared at the clothes on the floor. Leaving them lying in a heap was something Wills never did. I hoped this job at least got him a bonus.

  I shook my head and emptied his suitcase, sorting the clothes that needed to be washed or sent to the cleaners, including that suit. There was a bag with the words “Rubber Rainbow Condom Company, Seattle, WA” on it, and I emptied it onto the bed. Packets of condoms, all different colors, all different textures, all different flavors. I grinned and put them back in the bag, and put the bag aside for the time being.

  I reached for a pair of jeans he must have bought in Seattle, because I knew he hadn’t packed jeans. There was a dark stain on the thigh, and I frowned at it. It almost looked like…. No, I hadn’t been so enthralled with my lover’s ass that I wouldn’t have no
ticed a bandage on his leg. Not paint…. It was probably oil. Or whatever he used to fix computers.

  My hand brushed against something in a pocket of the suitcase. It was hard and square, and curious, I pulled it out—a jeweler’s box. I pressed the catch. The lid popped open to reveal a pair of gold stud earrings with red stones shaped like… hearts. Surrounding the hearts were diamond chips.

  I knew a little something about jewelry, and yeah, those chips were diamonds. These earrings hadn’t been cheap.

  You are not going to question who these are for, I ordered myself, forgetting about the stain on the jeans. They could be for Jill, or for Alice, or even Marti. Her ears are pierced. Now stop being so paranoid and go get the man you love some food. I closed the box and set it down on the dresser, then put the suitcase away and went to the kitchen.

  When Wills didn’t turn up after twenty minutes, I became concerned. He never took that long in the shower unless I was in there with him. I went looking for him.

  He was sprawled across the bed, naked, his cock nestled on his thigh and his shorts in one hand, out cold. Neither thigh bore a fresh injury.

  “Oh, babe.” I took the shorts from his hand and wrestled him around until I could get him under the covers.

  “Theo?”

  “Yeah, Wills.”

  “Sorry….”

  “It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”

  His breath whispered out in a sigh.

  I went to the kitchen, covered his dinner in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, then turned off all the lights in the apartment, stripped off my own clothes, and got into bed beside him.

  For the first time in almost fourteen days, I anticipated a good night’s sleep.

  A COUPLE of hours later, I woke up to what sounded like castanets rattling. “What the…?”

  Wills must have kicked off the coverlet and sheet, which was odd, because he wasn’t usually a restless sleeper, and he was shivering violently.

  “Easy, babe. Take it easy.” I drew the covers back up around the two of us and pulled him against me.

  “Theo?”

  “Yeah.”

  He sighed. “I’m home.”

  “You’re home, babe. That must have been a rough job.”

  “Had to get done. Set the alarm?” He rubbed his cheek against my arm.

  “You won’t need an alarm. I plan on waking you up with a Bascopolis special—blow job or fuck, whatever is your pleasure.”

  “Either one is special, Theo.”

  I kissed the hinge of his jaw. “You sweet-talker, you. Go back to sleep.”

  I PRETREATED the stain on the jeans. It must have been some kind of water-soluble oil or something, because it came right out. Once they came out of the dryer, I folded them and put them away and didn’t think about them again.

  However, as much as I’d determined not to worry about those earrings, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I worried about them while I was at the butcher, picking up a couple of thick T-bones that I planned to broil for dinner, while I was at the florist, picking up an arrangement of summer flowers for the dining room table, while I was at the local pharmacy, picking up a supply of lube. We didn’t need condoms. Wills had brought plenty back with him.

  It would be nice to stop having that barrier between us, I thought wistfully. What would Wills think if I broached the subject? I hadn’t slept with anyone but him since the night I’d met him, and he….

  I hated it, but I just didn’t know.

  I knew from Vince that Wills’s job could call him away frequently. How could he not fuck his way across the United States? After all, we had sex two and sometimes three times a night. He couldn’t just stop while he was away from me, could he? Any good-looking guy….

  And it didn’t have to be guys. He had fucked girls at one point. He could go back to fucking girls. Maybe that was who those earrings were for, some girl who had caught his eye.

  I scrubbed two Idaho potatoes raw, punctured their skins with vicious jabs, and put them in the oven to bake. I tore lettuce leaves to shreds and chopped olives, radishes, onions, and Greek peppers into miniscule bits for a salad.

  I went still when I heard his key in the door.

  “Hey, babe….”

  I wasn’t going to ask. I wasn’t going to ask.

  “Who are those earrings for?” Oh, fuck. I cleared my throat.

  “Oh, you saw them?” He didn’t look uncomfortable or guilty. I hadn’t thought he was such a good actor.

  “Yeah, I saw them.” I scowled at him.

  “What did you think of them?”

  “Very pretty.”

  “Pretty? Are they too girlie?”

  “I hadn’t given it much thought,” I lied. My nails bit into my palms to keep from slugging him. “Now, who the fuck are they for?”

  He blinked. “Who do you think?”

  “Matheson!”

  “Geez, babe, they’re for you.”

  “What? For me?”

  “Yeah. I saw them in this little shop on Broadway in Capitol Hill in Seattle, and I thought of you. I’m sorry. I should have given them to you sooner. I’ve been a little distracted by work.”

  Fuck work. “You thought of me?” He’d brought a present back for me?

  “Hold on a sec.” He disappeared, then returned almost immediately. He pressed the catch of the jeweler’s case and held it out to me. “I’d have gotten you rubies—they would have gone really well with your coloring—but they aren’t your birthstone.”

  “So these are garnets.”

  “Yeah. You can wear one in your right ear and keep the other as a spare.” He removed the platinum stud I wore and replaced it with the garnet and diamond heart.

  “Oh, babe. I didn’t expect….” I touched my ear. “Thank you.” I pulled him into my arms, and whatever he was going to say in reply was muffled by my mouth.

  Chapter 25

  I WAS driving into Wills’s snug, willing passage when the house phone rang. “Let the answering machine pick up,” I panted.

  We’d been getting a lot of telemarketers lately, and it had made me so absolutely crazy that Wills had taken the matter in hand. He’d let them introduce themselves and start their spiel, and then he would repeat their name and run with it.

  “How have you been? This is such an awesome coincidence. Don’t you remember me? We went to high school together, and you promised to go to prom with me, but at the last minute you canceled. Was it because we’re both guys? Jeff/Dave/Jim, you broke my heart! Never mind, I forgive you. Now that you’ve gotten back in touch with me again, let’s make a date. Sweetheart, I’m free for the evening. We can start with drinks and dinner, and then we can go someplace special. I happen to know a cozy inn with a fireplace in every bedroom—” And then he would give me a mournful look. “Jeff/Dave/Jim hung up on me. I think he broke my heart again.”

  “God, you’re bad!”

  “Well, it serves them right for interrupting us,” he’d growl, but it wouldn’t take too long for us to get back into the rhythm of our lovemaking.

  This time, though, instead of siding or a charity or something political, we heard, “Wills, it’s Dad. Call me when you get this. Something’s happened. We’re okay, but…. Call me, okay?”

  Jack Matheson had hung up before I could roll off Wills and reach for the phone. Wills was sheet white, and I got off him in a hurry.

  He picked up the phone and speed-dialed the house in Cambridge.

  “Dad, what’s wrong?” I could only hear his side of the conversation, but it didn’t sound good. “Jasmine? The little calico?” The kitten Wills was getting for his birthday? “Jesus. How bad, Dad? Dammit.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and then met my gaze. “The Herendon’s pit bull got into the yard and attacked the kitten. She didn’t make it.”

  “Oh, Jesus, Wills.”

  He spoke into the phone again. “How is Marti taking it? Yeah, I was afraid of that.” There was a grim line around his mouth as he turned to me. “Ma
rti saw the whole thing, and if Princess Kimba and Jad-bal-Ja hadn’t been outside as well, Dad thinks that damned dog would have gone after her too. Jill took her to the pediatrician. She had to be sedated, and the doctor gave Jill a referral to a psychologist.” He turned back to the phone. “How’s Jar? Is he there? Can I talk to him?”

  “Babe?” I touched his arm.

  “Let me get all the intel on this, Theo.”

  “Okay.” I sat cross-legged on the bed and waited while Wills talked with his brother.

  “Jar, listen to me. If you want to talk to me, call me on my cell anytime. If I’m at work, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

  I touched his arm again, and when I had his attention, I pointed to my chest.

  “Or you can talk to Theo. Yeah, I think so too. Jar. I love you. Put Dad back on, okay?” He waited a second, apparently listening, and then began speaking again. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. Give my love to Jill and Marti and Alice. And to you too. Bye, Dad.” He hung up.

  “I… uh… I didn’t know the Herendons had a dog.”

  “Yeah. General Custer. They keep him in the house when we have family over because he goes nuts and tries to chew the fence to pieces.”

  It sounded like this time he’d done it. “How did he manage to get into the yard?”

  “Dad didn’t say. All they could think of was getting Marti to the doctor and Jasmine to the vet.”

  “I’m so sorry, babe. What’s going to happen with the dog?”

  “Dad said Animal Care and Control is dealing with it. He’ll keep us posted.”

  “What can I do to make you feel better?”

  “I appreciate the offer, Theo, but nothing right now. That damned dog is a menace, but you know who’s really at fault? His owner, who’s ruined what might have been a good dog. I’d like to—” He cut off his words, ran his fingers through his hair again, and began to get dressed. “There’s no point in becoming rabid about it now. What do you say we take a walk to the Sweet Shoppe? I could use one of their mile-high sundaes.”

  “Sure, Wills.” I pulled on the clothes I’d torn off only half an hour earlier.