“Ralph?”
He doesn’t raise his head, adding to my belief that he might be asleep, so I decide without him about what needs to happen. He can’t sit here the rest of the night, so no matter what, I'm going to drive him someplace where he can stay. I'm sure there's a friend that can take him in or even a local hotel where he can stay until he sorts something out.
I head over to the black bags and pick two of them up, taking them to the car and putting them in the boot. I continue with my packing until the front grass is clear and the car is filled to capacity. I've loaded the back seat with his belongings so when we drive away, he's going to have to sit in the passenger seat next to me. Now just to get the big guy himself in the car and find out where I'm taking him.
I kneel in front of him, getting my face level with his. “Ralph?” This time he opens his eyes, and he looks shocked that I'm still there. His eyes are a little unfocused and he looks worse than exhausted. “Come get in the car.”
He nods and stands but I'm pretty sure he's moving on autopilot now. I can only imagine what’s going on in his head, the confusion he must be feeling about all this. I lead him over to the passenger side of the car and open the door, holding it open while he folds his massive body into the seat. When I close the door, he leans back and closes his eyes, so I just make my way around to the driver's seat.
“Where are you going?” I ask the question as soon as I'm in the driver's seat but he's gone quiet again. I stare at his chest as it moves up and down slowly, his face at peace for the first time since I met him. To confirm my suspicions that he's fallen asleep he lets out a small snort that's quite cute. As sweet as he looks now, it doesn’t help me work out where to take him, and I hate the thought of waking him up. Fuck it. I put the car in drive and pull away from the kerb.
Thirty minutes later I pull into the driveway in front of my house. I put the car in park and turn off the engine. I turn to look at Ralph and for the hundredth time, I wonder what the hell I'm doing. This whole idea is insane, but here I am, taking a complete stranger home. Maybe I should rethink this, I mean there is perhaps a reason he got dumped by his boyfriend the way he did, he could be dangerous to be around, and it was safer for his ex just to kick him out.
Before I have a chance to change my mind and drive away, Ralph stirs in his seat and opens his eyes. He blinks several times while he tries to wake up fully. He looks like my nephew when you wake him up from a nap, those first few minutes where he’s confused about everything. Eventually, Ralph looks out the windscreen and then back to me, but there's still confusion on his face.
“Where are we?”
“You fell asleep and I didn’t know where to take you, so I brought you to my place. I thought you could maybe have some sleep and then sort out what you're gonna do.”
His eyes go wide for a few seconds before they fill with anger. “You brought me to your place? Shit, you don’t even know me. I could be a complete danger to you and you have led me someplace that I could do a lot of harm to you. Please tell me you don’t do this all the time.”
I try not to laugh but it bursts out of me without warning. “Holy crap, you sound just like my dad.”
The look on his face tells me that I've said the wrong thing so I get out of the car quickly before he can yell at me again. I feel more relaxed about bringing him here now that he's told me off for doing it. I'm pretty sure if he were a real danger to me he wouldn’t be warning me about it. Most attackers don’t yell at you for letting them get close before they hurt you. I open the back door of the car and grab the bag that he brought off the plane with him. I try to throw it over the shoulder but the thing is so freaking heavy. The weight of it over my shoulder knocks my balance off centre and I take a step backwards trying to stop the inevitable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help and I end up landing on my arse on the grass next to the drive.
Laughter catches my attention and I look up to finally see a smile on Ralph’s face. I would be pissed that he was laughing at me, but the sight of that smile on his face takes my breath away. He's been intense since I picked him up from the airport like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, but now he looks a lot younger than I thought he was. Humour is dancing in Ralph's eyes, and it’s a little sexy. Okay, it’s a lot sexy, but I try not to think about that since his long-term boyfriend has just dumped him.
Ralph holds a hand out to me and I take it, letting him pull me off the grass until I'm standing. I don’t attempt to lift his bag again, leaving it on the ground until Ralph picks it up. “I’ll take this shall I?”
I can hear the laughter in his voice and I stick my tongue out at him before heading to the front door. I don’t bother telling him to follow me, just expecting him to do it. I unlock the door and walk inside, throwing my car keys in the bowl next to the door. I kick my shoes off, sighing as soon as the tight leather slips from my feet. The door closes behind me and I see Ralph standing just inside the door. The smile is gone but he looks more relaxed now, even if he still looks tired. I'm taking it a half hour nap isn't enough to make up for the hours of travelling he's endured. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
He doesn’t say anything as he follows me up the stairs. I lead him along the hall where I point out the bathroom before opening the door to my spare room. My house isn't huge, but with my spare room, it's big enough that I won't have to move, possibly ever. I stand to the side and let Ralph step inside.
“Make yourself at home. There will be plenty of hot water so feel free to grab a shower, and there are towels in the cupboard in the bathroom. Help yourself to anything you need. I’m gonna go make some dinner, is there anything you won't eat?”
He shakes his head as he drops his bag to the floor. I stand a little awkwardly, not sure what to say, and he doesn’t help my internal struggle when he slips off his uniform jacket. If I thought he looked muscly before, I now know for sure, and I'm showing my approval of his arms by practically drooling down my t-shirt.
“Okay … um …I’ll go and … shit … food. Yeah, food. I'm going to make food.” I turn abruptly and walk out of the room.
“Aiden.” I stop instantly at the sound of his voice, looking back over my shoulder to where he's still standing. “Thank you for this. It's more than I can ever repay.”
“It's completely fine. I'm happy to help.” I give him a final smile before closing the door behind myself.
I make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. I'm halfway through searching the fridge when my phone rings. I close the door and answer it. “Hello?”
“Hi, son. How did the job go today?” Uncle Eddie sounds cheery, and I can't help but smile.
“It went well, a bit of a domestic drama but it was all sorted.”
“I hope there wasn’t too much of a problem?” Uncle always worries about my safety when I'm out on a call, even though every one of his clients are aggressively vetted before we take their job. We aren’t a taxi firm, and due to Uncle being in the business for over ten years, he can pick and choose who he works for.
“No trouble, well not for me. The client didn’t have the best of days though.”
“I'm sorry, son. Is that why you didn’t return the car?”
Shit. It's not the first time I've finished a job late and not gone back to exchange cars, but I forgot to text Uncle to tell him. “I'm sorry, I completely forgot to let you know I would bring it back tomorrow. The thing is, well, it's full of the client's belongings.”
“What?”
“When I picked the guy up at the airport and took him home, his boyfriend had dumped all his stuff on the front lawn. He had nowhere to go and had been travelling all day. He's in the military and was coming home from deployment, so I couldn’t just leave him there. I’m going to take him wherever he wants to go tomorrow and then drop off the car.”
“Tomorrow? So where is he now, I don’t understand?”
Okay, so he doesn’t sound so happy now. “Um, well …” I close my eyes and l
ean against the fridge, preparing to get chewed out by my overprotective uncle.
Chapter Four
Ralph
The water feels amazing on the back of my neck. Aiden’s house looks older from the outside, but he's fitted a modern bathroom, and the shower is fantastic. After deployment any fitted bathroom is an improvement, so the fact that this is a top of the range power shower is just a bonus. I feel the jets of water massaging the tension out of all my muscles, and I just want to dry off and climb into bed.
I think of the strange situation I'm in, showering in a stranger’s home when I should be at home making love to my boyfriend, or I suppose I should get used to calling him my ex-boyfriend. I still can't quite get my mind around what’s happened today. I had no clue that William was unhappy, so for him not just to leave me, but kick me out of my home, well I'm at a loss. I need to try and get a hold of William, find out what’s wrong and see if it's something we can move past. I can’t stay here at Aiden’s house, no matter how sweet the offer is. I don’t want to impose on a complete stranger.
I reluctantly turn off the hot water and grab the towel I left on the edge of the sink. The softness feels fantastic against my skin as I rub it over me. It’s the small things that I miss while away on deployment, things like fabric softener and soft mattresses. Thinking about soft mattresses leads me across the short hall and into the bedroom where all my belongings are. I lean down and grab my mobile from my bag, searching through my holdall for my charger. There's a socket next to the bed, so I plug in the charger and connect my phone. It doesn’t light up straight away, but the charge symbol appears letting me know it's working.
Hoping the mobile won't take long to turn on so I can call William, I lie back on the soft bed and stare at the ceiling. I can't do anything until I speak to him because maybe this whole thing is a mistake. Okay, so I'm not sure how it could be a mistake, it's not like he forgot to buy my favourite type of coffee, but still, I need to speak to him. I yawn so widely that my jaw cracks. Holy shit I'm tired. I slept in the car but it feels like I barely closed my eyes, and even after my nap on the plane, it feels like I've been awake for about a week. I close my eyes, planning on resting until my phone buzzes back to life.
* * * *
A hand on my leg pulls me from my slumber. I smile when I feel Williams’s warmth on my skin after so long. God, I missed him so much. Five months is far too long to go without the man I love. I can feel myself harden just thinking about being inside him again. He is the hottest guy I've ever seen. His body rivals mine in size and his shoulder-length hair so soft and shiny. Falling for him went against my usual type, but he stole my breath the first time I met him. I never thought he would want to be with a jarhead like me and for the first month he wouldn’t even look in my direction, but one night when we met in a nightclub he finally spoke to me and there was no going back from that. I know a lot of people think he's a dickhead, but to me, he's just William. Sarcastic, a little judgmental, but once you get past all that he is a good guy.
I groan in pleasure and roll towards the heat that's trying to leave my body. I feel a tickle against my waist but I ignore it on my quest to get closer to William.
“Holy shit. Ralph!”
My eyes fly open when the voice I hear isn’t William. I'm so fucking confused as I look around the dark room, the single bedside lamp not helping me see clearly. When I meet Aiden’s eyes, the shock in them very clear to see, and like the rushing tide, everything that's happened in the last twenty-four hours comes rushing back. Flying back, finding out I'm homeless, and the fact I'm staying at a stranger’s house.
All that pales into insignificance when I see where Aiden is staring. I follow his gaze and find myself hard, which in itself probably isn’t a problem, but the fact that I'm naked is. I remember the tickling against my waist and realise that it must have been the towel coming undone that I felt. I stare at my erection for far too long. I should be covering it and getting the fuck out of here, but I can't seem to get my mind to come together to make it happen. Too little sleep and my head just doesn’t seem to be able to make my body do what it needs to.
Aiden finally looks away, his cheeks bright red, and it spurs me into action. I sit up quickly, grabbing the towel and covering myself with it, even though it's about five minutes too late to hide my modesty.
“I… uh … brought you something to eat. I know you’re tired but I didn’t know when you ate last.”
The thought is really sweet. I’ve never had someone who thought of me like this, not even William. He's very much a look after yourself type of guy, but it works out well since we don't see each other all that often due to our work. “Thank you, but I'm not that hungry.” I laugh when my stomach makes a complete liar out of me by rumbling louder than I thought possible. We both look at it and Aiden bursts out laughing along with me.
“Want to try again?”
“Thanks, Aiden. I'm ravenous so I think I should eat.”
We both laugh as Aiden grabs a tray from the dresser and brings it over to the bed. He places it down and my stomach does a very unflattering growl when I smell the food. There isn’t a tremendous amount but it’s enough to battle my hunger before I go to sleep. There is a BLT, with what looks like hand cut bread, a bowl of coleslaw and a bowl of crisps. The bacon smells terrific and I can’t wait to actually eat now, but I wait, noticing that there is only one meal here. “Are you not eating?”
“I had something downstairs. I'll leave you in peace and let you rest. If you need anything just help yourself, the kitchen is … well obviously downstairs. I'm up early tomorrow so I'm heading to bed. Goodnight.”
He doesn’t even wait for a reply before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. It doesn’t take a genius to know that he felt awkward after seeing me naked. After being in the army for so long, seeing another guy nude becomes second nature. When you are living in close quarters with hundreds of other men, there aren’t always facilities to hide your modesty, and some guys just don't give a shit about walking around naked. Murray is the worst on the team, walking around like no one has invented clothes. I will apologise to Aiden in the morning because I just want to eat and then actually have more than a nap.
My first bite elicits a deep moan from me. Holy shit this sandwich is fantastic, and not just because I haven’t had decent food in a long time. No, this would be the best BLT I’ve tasted even if I’d spent my life eating nothing but BLT's. The bacon is crispy and the tomato fresh, adding a bit of bite to the texture of the sandwich. The bread is the winner though, thick and crusty, making it hard to bite through but worth the hassle. I finish the whole thing in record time and I decide it was a good thing I didn’t eat with Aiden because I would have looked even more like a greedy fucker than usual. I eat fast at best of times, a point that been picked up more than once by William, but today I devoured my supper like someone was planning on stealing it.
Ignoring the rest of the food I lift the tray and put it on the dresser before heading over to my bags. I know I have a pair of sleep shorts in there and after Aiden already getting an eyeful of what he shouldn’t, I think it’s probably best I wear them tonight. I pull them on while heading to bed. I'd planned on calling William tonight and sorting this whole thing out so I could go home, but I'm just too fucking tired. I don't know what's going to happen between us, but it's probably not going to be the misunderstanding that I'm hoping it is, so a good nights sleep is probably a good thing. Give me a chance to understand everything fully.
I slip under the duvet, enjoying the comfort of a proper bed. First night home after a deployment is usually tricky for me, the sudden comfort playing havoc with my body, but tonight I don't think I'll have that problem. Not only am I physically exhausted but I am mentally as well. I just want to hide for the rest of the night, finally get some sleep, so when the morning comes, I can fight whatever battle is on its way. I am under no illusion that it’s going to be a battle, and I have a feeling it might be one of t
he hardest of my life.
Chapter Five
Aiden
I throw the last black bag into my small garage and close the door as quietly as possible. The morning is still dark, and I don't want to run the risk of waking half the street so early. I need to get the car back to Uncle before the office opens so he can have his regular drivers take it. I only jumped in to help out since Bobby had called in ill at short notice. Working from home as a graphic designer means that I can help Uncle even at such short notice. He doesn’t ask often so I don't mind giving up a day for him, even if this time I got an extra houseguest out of my kind offer.
The thought of my houseguest brings heat to my cheeks, the image of waking him up so he could eat burned deeply in my memory. I don't think I will ever forget what Ralph looks like without clothes on, that hard body is something I’ve only ever seen in porn. I honestly didn’t think men like that existed, but apparently, I’ve been looking in the wrong place all this time. I need to get myself a military man because holy hell, they are built. His cock was pretty impressive too, not that I want to admit to staring at it like I did. It was like as soon as my eyes hit it I couldn’t look away. That led to a very unfortunate boner and I couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. I told Ralph it was because I was going to bed, but I needed to use his image to get off. Am I proud? Not really, but the intense orgasm told me my conscience wasn’t all that bothered.
Getting into the car, I turn the heating up full and reverse out of the drive. I think again that maybe I should have woken Ralph to tell him I was leaving but he looked so exhausted yesterday that I just left him, convinced I'll be back before he surfaces.
Help Our Heroes: A Military Charity Anthology Page 11