Ascension

by Bailey Bradford

  “Here we are,” Ro corrected.

  “Yeah, that too,” Conner agreed, his lips curling up in a smile that brought out those dimples.

  Ro wondered if he should suggest they get up. There were things he needed to do, like check on his dad and learn how to be a proper spirit—or at least how to do that popping in and out thing. But Ro didn’t want to think about any of that now. He wanted to stay there beside Conner, studying that chiseled profile for at least a week.

  What did he really have to do? Ro thought about it. He didn’t want to go to the funeral home—that was more than he felt capable of handling. Seeing his own body hadn’t fazed him last night, but he’d been confused and discombobulated. Today, however, he cringed just thinking about seeing his corpse. Checking in on his dad was something he did need to take care of. Even though Conner had said Roger was still walled off from them being able to get too close, Ro still wanted to see him for himself.

  “Can we go see Dad?”

  “We can do whatever you want to.” Conner ran a hand through his thick blond hair, pulling the ends of it at his crown before letting go. “Adela and Martin are with him, or they were when I checked on Roger a few minutes ago.”

  “So he’s not alone.” A knot of worry in his chest loosened a little knowing that his sister and brother were there. He didn’t feel as pressing a need to go now that he knew his dad wasn’t alone. “How were they?”

  Conner startled him by lifting him and settling Ro between his legs. With an arm around his middle, Conner pulled Ro until his back was pressed to Conner’s chest. It felt good, right. Safe, though Ro didn’t know what he might be unsafe from at this point.

  “They were sad, Ro, I’m not going to lie to you.” Conner kissed the side of his head, his ear, down to his neck where he inhaled, rubbing his nose on Ro’s skin. “You smell so good.”

  Ro’s cock perked up but he twisted his head around to frown at Conner. “Are you trying to distract me?”

  Conner grinned crookedly, making Ro’s heart flutter. “Maybe. Sometimes you have to let the living grieve and give them a little time. I learned that from popping in on people more than I should have.”

  Ro frowned harder, until his forehead kind of ached with it. “What would I be hurting, going in and checking on him?”

  Conner licked his lips and glanced away.

  The man was sexy as fuck but Ro wasn’t going to be put off. He had the distinct impression Conner knew something he didn’t. “Where did you go earlier? Just to see how my dad was?”

  “I went to see Laine, too.” Conner still wouldn’t look at him, and for the first time, Ro wondered if Conner was still in love with Laine, if there was something going on between the two. He didn’t think Laine would ever cheat on Sev, but if it was with a spirit, would it count?

  “Rogelio, I don’t know where your mind went to but get it out of there, because that ain’t good thoughts you’re having.”

  Ro squirmed and moved until he had himself turned around, kneeling and facing Conner. “Are you still in love with Laine?” Even asking made him want to cry, a stupid reaction for a man his age, but he’d wanted Conner for so long—

  “I’ll always love him,” Conner said slowly, caution clear in his pretty blue eyes. “But not like that kind of love, Ro. I don’t pine after him anymore, or fantasize that he’s mine.” Conner’s cheeks went ruddy and he looked down at his hands, folded on his belly. “I won’t lie and say I didn’t do that for some time, because I sure enough did. Even after he and Sev fell in love, sometimes I’d let myself imagine me and Laine together again, in life or in death. But…” Conner raised his gaze back to Ro’s. “But one morning I peeked in on them, and they were making love.”

  He smiled cheekily, looking for all the world like a mischievous kid. “I’ve never had an issue with how nosy I am, and Laine and Sev didn’t really seem to mind most of the time. Usually I’d goose one of them or throw sheets over them, just mess with them and throw ’em off stride.”

  Ro wasn’t sure what to make of that. He had no desire to see Laine and Sev having sex. The very thought of it made him shudder.

  “Well it probably grosses you out because they’re your family,” Conner said, having obviously figured out Ro’s ick factor with the whole thing. “But they aren’t mine, and I’ve always been a prankster. But anyway, I stayed hovering, stunned by the way Laine was touching Sev. There was such…” Conner hummed for a second then nodded. “Reverence, that’s the word. Laine touched Sev with such reverence, like he was the most precious thing in the world. And Sev was the same way with Laine. It was beautiful, and I learned then that I could still cry, that my heart could break even though I was so happy for them both. That’s when I stopped letting my loneliness dictate my behavior so much.”

  “I’ve seen them touch and look at each other like there’s no one else in the world,” Ro said, scooting closer to Conner. “My parents were like that. I don’t think I ever heard either of them ever say a truly harsh word to the other. They didn’t let Mom’s parents divide them when it came down to the nitty-gritty. Instead they brought us here, to McKinton, and raised us away from the toxic people we’d been around before then.”

  “You ever heard from your grandparents on your mom’s side, or any of your aunts and uncles in San Antonio?”

  “No.” And Ro didn’t care to. That side of the family had disowned Sev for being gay, for being psychic—just for not being someone they could control. When Alma had taken a stand as well, her parents had reacted with hate and that was something Ro couldn’t forget. “My family is here, in McKinton, and wherever Adela and Martin are. We aren’t as close as we used to be, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other. We just have different lives—I mean—”

  Conner stopped him from babbling by leaning forward and brushing a soft kiss over Ro’s lips. “I know what you mean.”

  Ro moved closer, chasing Conner’s lips when Conner sat back again, but Conner stopped him with a gentle hand to his chest. “Are you done asking questions about where I was?”

  How the hell was he supposed to think with Conner touching him? Ro took a moment to gather his thoughts then he rocked back onto his heels. “Why don’t you just tell me?”

  Conner hitched up a shoulder and winked at him. “Thought you were enjoying grilling me.”

  Was Conner trying to distract him? Was he hiding something from Ro? It seemed best to just ask and be direct. “Where were you, and are you trying to mess with me, confuse me?”

  Conner immediately looked contrite, the amusement vanishing from his expression. “I’m sorry. I was just teasing. I never know when to stop, I guess.”

  “Shit.” Ro rubbed his forehead. “Can we get headaches? I swear I’ve got a mother of one building up right here.”

  “I dunno, I never had them when I was alive.” Conner nudged his hand aside. “Let me try, okay?”

  “Okay,” Ro agreed. “I’m sorry. I guess we don’t know each other well, really.” He moaned softly as Conner used his thumbs to massage Ro’s forehead, chasing away even the memory of pain there. “God, that feels good.”

  “I’m glad it helps,” Conner murmured. “As for knowing each other, I think I know you, Ro. I’ve watched you for years, even though I didn’t interact with you. I think some part of me knew that I’d fall toes over tits for you.”

  Ro huffed then snickered and peered at Conner as best he could with the man’s hands on his head. “That’s somehow not as romantic as head over heels, but you get points for being original.”

  “I’ll take it. I strive to be an original.” Another wink, and that delightful spark was back in Conner’s expression. “But okay, you don’t really know me, maybe. I’m just a man, Ro, who’s been lonely for a long time. A man who lost part of himself, or hid it away, whatever. You’ve given me back the sexual desire I’d buried, but more than that, you make me happy, deep down inside. I’m sorry it hurts your dad and siblings, I’m sorry it hurts Sev and Lai
ne and the people who knew you in McKinton. But I’m so fuckin’ glad to have you here, in my arms.”

  Ro moved, putting himself in Conner’s arms. Everything about Conner felt right. “Figures I’d have to die to find the perfect man.” The irony of it made him want to giggle, but he held it in.

  “Same goes, Ro.” Conner’s chest heaved with silent laughter, his breath puffing out against Ro’s temple. “And before you get distracted again, let me just tell you. I went to see Laine because he’d been able to communicate with you last night, just like Sev had. I’ve never seen anything like that before, and I’ve been in this world for a long time.”

  Ro didn’t know what to make of that, so he just murmured an encouraging sound.

  “Well, I wanted to know why you could do that. I’m curious like that,” Conner said, sounding proud of himself. Ro smiled and rested his head on Conner’s chest as the man continued talking. “Laine was in his office, and he looked—well, he looked old and tired. It hurts seeing him and Sev grow old. I worry about what will happen when they die, you know.”

  “You don’t want them separated in death,” Ro said, realizing how awful that would be for his uncles. “God, is there any way to make sure they aren’t?”

  He felt more than saw Conner shake his head. “Not that I know of, but maybe one of the curanderos or someone like that would know.”

  “They aren’t really anyone to mess with.” Ro didn’t know any of the Hispanic folk healers that many called witches, but he did know they could be dangerous if they weren’t good people. “Surely God or Fate or whatever there is after life wouldn’t be so cruel as to keep Laine and Sev apart. That’d be hell. Literally.”

  “I think so too. I just have to believe they’ll be together, and try my best to be there when they pass. It’s gonna hurt like a mother, even if they might get to become spirits.” Conner sighed. He cupped Ro’s nape and thumbed the sensitive skin there. “They should always be alive, you know. I wonder if reincarnation is real.”

  “Maybe people go up like you said Mom did, and are sent back down as a new soul?” No, that didn’t fit in his brain. “Or, not a new soul, but like a cleaned-up version, all the bad taken out and the memories dulled down before they can go into a new body. Someone said once, and it really struck me as a beautiful saying…” Ro closed his eyes, remembering. “I had a friend in high school here, and her grandpa died of cancer. She told me she hadn’t said goodbye to him, because she believed that when his eyes closed in his old body, he was just blinking. He’d open them again in his new body, and I just thought that was such an amazing way to think of death.”

  “It really is,” Conner agreed. “I think I’ll adopt her theory. That makes me feel better, somehow, about those who go up. Thank you for sharing that with me.” Conner brushed another of those sweet kisses over Ro’s lips. “Now, I was telling you about visiting Laine this morning. He knew I was there before I even tried to tell him, and he started in about hearing you. Laine and I have this way of communicating. He’ll ask me a question and I tap his shoulder or hand once for yes, twice for no, three times if he has to ask something else. It’s not perfect, but it sure beats not being able to talk at all. Anyway, he said Sev thinks maybe you’ve always been psychic, it’s just the reverse of Sev’s abilities.”

  There went that potential headache again, trying to build up right between Ro’s eyes. “So I’m only psychic when I’m dead? That’s fucked up in more ways than I can count.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. You can communicate with the living, Sev can speak with the dead. Y’all are the flipside of each other’s coin, or something like that.”

  Ro didn’t know quite what to think of that.

  Chapter Ten

  Now that Conner had filled Ro in on his morning whereabouts, a distraction seemed like a damned good thing. Conner brushed away their clothes with a thought, delighting in Ro’s startled gasp. He waggled his eyebrows and smirked. “What, you don’t want all the other dead guys seeing us?”

  “They can?” Ro asked, his face turning dark with a flush. “Really?” he squeaked.

  Conner did love to tease, but Ro was looking a little too distressed for teasing to be fun so Conner let him off the hook. “Only if we want them to. I don’t mind some exhibitionism, but right now I want you all to myself.” And he didn’t want Ro thinking about anything but him and the way they were together. “Fuck me?” he asked, hoping his blunt words would do the trick. “I stole some lube from Sev and Laine. They won’t mind.” They’d probably give him hell then pick on him mercilessly. Conner was looking forward to it, once everything settled down.

  Ro pushed away from him, and Conner thought Ro was going to say no or scold him or something. Instead Ro grabbed Conner’s ankles and pulled. For such a little guy, Ro was strong enough. Conner yelped as he was jerked onto his back. It was a good thing he wasn’t really leaning on the tree behind him or he’d have been scratched all to hell and back. Ro gave him a wicked look before pouncing on him.

  “You haven’t had a cock up your ass in over two decades,” he said, and damn it, Conner quivered like a bowl of Jell-O in an earthquake. His mouth went dry and he couldn’t squeak an answer past his lips. Ro didn’t need one, apparently, because he just licked the seam of Conner’s lips.

  Conner parted his lips as he reached up to run his hands through Ro’s glorious hair. Ro crushed his mouth to Conner’s almost painfully hard. Desire burned through Conner, bringing his cock to aching fullness. He spread his legs, settling Ro’s body between his thighs. Ro’s slight weight felt good against his shaft, but Conner needed more. His hole clenched as he anticipated being fucked, and he let go of Ro’s hair to cup his rounded ass instead.

  “Soon, Con, I swear I can’t wait long to be in you.” Ro dropped desperate little kisses over Conner’s face before delving back into his mouth. When Conner was scrambled from the kiss, Ro raised his head and stared down at him with determination and what looked like nervousness mixed together. “I’ve never topped, though. You’ll have to tell me if I do something wrong.”

  Conner held back a shout of glee at being Ro’s first in this way. Instead he squeezed Ro’s butt, urging him on. “Just do what feels good to you. You know how to fuck.”

  “Well, when you put it like that…” Ro took Conner by the chin and turned his head. Conner moaned and kneaded the firm flesh in his hands while Ro sucked and licked down his neck. Conner’s cock was already leaking by the time Ro pinched at his nipples, and Conner knew he wasn’t going to last long at all. He tried to warn Ro, but he couldn’t speak past the tightness in his chest.

  Ro tweaked his nipples one last time then he slid right on down and took Conner’s cock into his mouth. Conner got words out then, ones like “Fuck yeah,” and “Oh my God!” The wet heat of Ro’s mouth was unlike any blow job Conner could remember. He grabbed Ro’s head, needing to thrust, and Ro tapped his hip. Conner took that for the okay it was and he began pumping in and out of Ro’s mouth. It didn’t take long with the way Ro sucked him so hard or swirled that tongue around Conner’s cock. Before Conner could even work his length into Ro’s throat, he was coming, groaning as his climax slammed into him and spurted out his cock.

  Ro drank him down then moved lower, nuzzling Conner’s sac. Conner was a melted puddle of satiation, at least for a short while. Slowly his breathing returned to normal, and he became aware of the fact that Ro was pushing on the backs of his thighs. Conner rolled his legs up, grunting from the effort of it. He still felt like he was made out of wet cotton at that point.

  Then Ro tongued his asshole, and Conner’s lethargy vanished under a bolt of need. “More,” he begged as he tried to spread his own cheeks apart.

  Ro pushed at his hip and Conner rolled to his side. He hitched his top leg up and Ro opened him up, licking and tonguing his pucker. Conner clutched at the ground, even though he couldn’t concentrate on making himself dense enough to feel it. He didn’t care. He could feel Ro sliding that slick tongue into
his opening over and over again.

  Conner heard the pop of the lube cap, then one slick digit was pushed into his ass. Sparks danced before his eyes. He closed them, unable not to as pleasure washed over him like a wave of tingling warmth. Ro had found his gland, gently touching it before withdrawing and pushing in again.

  The second finger stretched his ring enough that it burned, but Conner pushed back eagerly, wanting to feel Ro inside him. He moaned and begged, rocked and panted as Ro fingered him. Conner’s cock filled again, harder now than it’d been possibly ever. He reached down for it, needing a touch there.

  “No, let me do that.”

  Conner peeked at Ro, saw the intense look on his face. He left off trying to jack himself and instead reached for Ro.

  Ro straddled Conner’s lower leg and lined his dick up to Conner’s hole. As he leaned down to meet Conner’s one-armed embrace, he thrust, sinking in deep and hard.

  Conner jolted with the penetration, damn near coming from the sudden fullness, the rub of cock over his prostate. His shout was muffled by the awkward but sweet kiss Ro gave him before sitting up and pounding away at Conner’s ass.

  After so many years of not being fucked, Conner craved a deep, hard claiming that would leave him feeling it. He moaned and keened as Ro slammed into him. Every time Ro’s hips met his ass, Conner urged him to move harder, faster.

  Ro’s eyes gleamed and he growled. He took a hold of Conner’s leg and held it up, opening Conner’s ass more. With his other hand, Ro fisted Conner’s dick, and Conner’s body went into meltdown, ecstasy spiraling through him at warp speed. He barely had time to gasp before his climax hit him.

  Ro cursed and drove into him again. Conner’s dick spurted as Ro’s shaft painted his inner walls with cum. Conner felt marked, owned, all the clichéd romantic things he’d kind of thought were just made up. Ro had him, heart and soul, that was all there was to it.