Aftermath

by Bailey Bradford

  Lee held up the ring. “Just thinking about things. Wondering if Johnny Chapman hurt Stefan, and if he did, if justice will ever be done.”

  Darren scooted to the edge of the bed then stood and walked over to Lee. He held his hand out for the ring. “Justice? Or revenge? Vengeance?”

  “Justice.” Lee looked up at him as he gave Darren the ring. “That’s all. I saw so much death and hatred in some of the places the government sent me when I was in the military. I didn’t see much justice, though, so…”

  Darren wished he could reassure Lee, tell him Johnny would reap what he sowed and all that, but Darren didn’t know that Johnny would. All Darren could do was offer Lee comfort.

  “Come to bed with me.” Darren set the ring down and held his hand out for Lee’s.

  “I have a better idea,” Lee said, his green eyes going dark with arousal, “why don’t you fuck me until I can’t think?”

  Darren’s lungs constricted and his breath whooshed out as blood rushed to his cock. “I can do that.”

  He led Lee to the bed. “How are your knees?”

  “Sore,” Lee answered bluntly. “But this mattress is pretty soft, and I like the idea of getting on my hands and knees for you. Stuff’s in one of the bags.” Lee crawled onto the bed and peered over his shoulder. “You might want to get it so you can fuck me.”

  Lee’s thighs were spread wide, his balls hanging low and heavy, his cock dripping on the blanket.

  “Yeah, just give me a minute.” He’d get the condoms and lube in just a minute…

  Lee shuddered at the hungry look in Darren’s eyes. That look promised pleasure so intense Lee would burn with it. Lee bent his arms and lowered his shoulders until he rested his heads on his forearms. He felt the dip of the mattress, then his ass cheeks were parted and a puff of warm moist air wafted over his hole.

  Goosebumps pebbled his skin as soon as Darren licked him from the top of his crack to his balls. Lee fisted his hands in the blanket and arched his back in a silent plea.

  “That’s it,” Darren crooned then a sharp sting blossomed on his ass cheek when Darren bit him. “I know you like this, just like I did when you smacked my butt.”

  Lee didn’t know if it was the pain of the bite or the possessiveness Darren displayed by marking him, it just did it for him. He pushed into the scrape of Darren’s teeth, reveling in the pleasure-pain that zipped from his ass to his head.

  “You love it when I bite your nipples, too, so let’s see what happens when I do this—”

  Lee’s cheeks were pried open wider then sharp teeth nipped his pucker. “Dar, Christ, baby, I can’t think!”

  “That was the plan,” Darren said. “That, and to make you scream. Love hearing you scream when you come.”

  Lee figured he’d be screaming pretty damn soon with the way Darren was going at his hole, tonguing it with bold deep thrusts, Darren’s teeth scraping over the wrinkled furls time and again. Lee reached for his dick, intending to clamp his fingers around the base to stave off his orgasm for as long as he could.

  As soon as Lee’s hand started to close around his hot, hard cock, he felt a combination assault to his hole—teeth, tongue, lips that then sealed tight as kiss around his opening, and suction. Lee screamed, he whimpered, he went mindless as his climax tore up from his balls and seared a path through his nerve endings. He hadn’t even got in a stroke or much of a hold on his dick yet but it throbbed and sprayed ribbons of spunk on his stomach and hand.

  Lee’s legs gave out and he collapsed on the bed as he panted heavily. He’d almost managed to get his breathing somewhere in the range of normal when his ankles were grabbed and tugged.

  “Can you get your legs under you? Just curl up for me—yeah, like that.” Darren traced a spot on Lee’s ass then pushed. Heat flared out from the spot, coiling around the base of Lee’s spine as he folded his knees under him. Slick fingers penetrated him, stretching his hole.

  “I don’t think you need as much of this”—Darren twisted his fingers deep into Lee’s ass—“since I worked this little hole over so well.”

  Lee tried to see Darren’s face but his position made it impossible. He wanted Darren to see his expression so his lover wouldn’t doubt he meant what he was going to say. “Dar, just fuck me already!”

  “I’m gonna, just let me find…” Those fingers wriggled and tickled Lee’s gland, warming him from the inside out. “That’s what I was looking for.”

  The slight pressure to his prostate was making Lee’s dick hard again, his balls tingle and tighten. He shoved back as Darren pushed his fingers in deep, stretching Lee’s ring until it burned. Lee tried to beg but the garbled sound that sprung from his lips was wordless.

  Darren tapped a finger against Lee’s gland and asked, “You’re ready, aren’t you? Begging for my cock?” Then his fingers were gone and the blunt head of his dick speared Lee as Darren gripped his hips and filled Lee’s ass in one fierce thrust.

  Lee rocked back into each stroke, desperate for the ecstasy he could almost taste, he was so close. When Darren reached under and palmed Lee’s dick, Lee howled and bucked, grinding his ass against Darren’s groin. Darren grunted and fucked him like a beast, pounding into him, dropping onto Lee’s back and biting his neck and shoulders as he jerked Lee’s rod.

  Lee tried to bring his legs further under him, craving the feel of Darren splitting him deep. Darren flicked the slit of Lee’s cock then pinched it and Lee wailed, clenching his ass and thighs, his stomach going rock hard as he came. Darren bit him where neck and shoulder joined and rammed his dick in Lee’s ass one last time before shuddering and moaning as he came.

  “God, Lee,” Darren rasped, “it just keeps getting better.”

  Lee thought he nodded but wasn’t sure. Darren was right, every time they touched each other it was more intense, the sex more meaningful, more powerful—more everything. And Lee didn’t think that would ever change.

  * * * *

  Stefan checked the cave. The ring was gone. That was good, that was what he’d wanted Lee and Darren to find. He would have tried to tell them sooner, like, as soon as he realized he was dead and still here, but he hadn’t known how—and he’d been scared, because this, like he was, was better than being dead and gone. He’d fretted about the ring, but had been too chicken he’d just poof into nothingness if his murderer was caught. Stefan had seen movies like that, where a ghost had to hang around until their killer was caught and stuff.

  But…Conner was here, and his killer had been caught—or killed, and that hadn’t been a good thing for that poor detective with the scars. Conner had told Stefan about Rich Montoya being haunted by the man who’d cut him up. Stefan thought that had to be the worst thing he’d ever heard, even worse than being dead.

  Well, what should he do now? Stefan wished he could sit and talk to Darren like he used to. He missed Darren so much, more than Lee, even though Lee was his brother. Darren had been there for Stefan, until Stefan had screwed up and trusted the wrong person. He’d been stupid for spending any time with Johnny, and stupider still for not telling anyone.

  Stefan curled up like Conner had shown him, making himself small even though he was nothing. The pangs of loneliness weren’t new, but they still hurt and Stefan didn’t think he’d ever get used to them.

  “You don’t have to, Stefan. You have friends here, like me.”

  Stefan focused really hard and managed to make out a shimmering form. He still couldn’t focus right!

  “You’ll get there. Now scoot over and make some room for me.”

  Stefan laughed at Conner’s silly comment because they didn’t have a…a corporeal body, that’s what Conner had called it. But Stefan moved a little anyway, because Conner was here and he was Stefan’s friend, which meant Stefan wasn’t alone anymore.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Johnny Chapman didn’t look any different than he had in high school, Darren decided once Johnny finally opened his front door. Well, his mother’s front do
or, since Johnny still lived at home. Darren didn’t miss the slight widening of Johnny’s eyes or the panicked flare of his nostrils as he found Darren and Lee on his doorstep.

  “What do you want?” Johnny didn’t ask rudely, but like a timid child who wanted to know so they could do as you ask then go hide.

  “Just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes, if possible,” Lee said in a deceptively friendly voice. “I guess we can come back when your mom’s home, that way we can ask her about Stefan, too.”

  Johnny’s head jerked back like he’d been slapped. The fear in his eyes showed as the pupils expanded and chased the blue until it was a thin ring around the black. “I don’t know why you think I know anything about Stefan!”

  Lee stepped up to the door and pulled Johnny’s ring from his shirt pocket. “Because Stefan had this. Now you can either let us come inside and talk, or we can stand out here and let all your neighbors hear us asking you why you killed Stefan.”

  Johnny gasped and stumbled but threw his hand up as if to hold Lee and Darren back. Lee grabbed Johnny’s wrist and barreled inside the house as he twisted Johnny around and pinned his hand up between his shoulder blades.

  Darren opened his mouth to protest the use of force but pressed his lips together when Lee looked at him. Lee’s face was a mask of calmness Darren really hoped his lover felt, at least a little. They’d agreed to confront Johnny and, if his behavior seemed suspicious, accuse him of killing Stefan and see how he reacted. They hadn’t got any further than that with the plan, though, and Darren wasn’t sure he could handle the direction this whole inquisition might be headed in, even if he did think Johnny was guilty.

  “Hold this,” Lee said, tucking the ring in the front pocket of Darren’s jeans. “Now let’s go inside and chat.”

  Darren followed Lee, who still had a whimpering Johnny in whatever kind of hold that was, into the living room. “Sit. If you get up I will nail your ass to the floor.”

  Lee wasn’t as calm as he appeared, not if he was cussing. He really had meant it when he’d said he’d cut back except for when they were having sex. Darren didn’t blame Lee for slipping now—he just hoped it wasn’t a sign his control was snapping.

  Johnny dropped to the couch when Lee let go of him. Darren hovered behind the couch, not sure where he should be sitting or standing, or which of those he should be doing. Lee must have noticed his indecision because he waved Darren over to his side where Lee stood in front of Lee.

  Lee crossed his arms over his chest and looked impassively at Johnny who was, in Darren’s opinion, a beady-eyed, pug-nosed prick. “Now, you can and will tell me why you killed Stefan.”

  Johnny’s eyes seemed to shrink to even smaller beads as he glared back at Lee. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t even talk to Stefan.”

  Darren saw Lee’s arm tense, the biceps and triceps rippling, and Darren decided now was a good time to lie. He did just that as he stared into Johnny eyes. “I know you’re lying. He was my best friend and he told me everything. Why do you think I left Jackson? I was afraid you’d figure out I knew and kill me, too.”

  Johnny’s grin told Darren the prick had thought of that himself once or twice. Lee growled and took a step forward and Johnny’s grin turned into a wavering frown as his chin quivered. “I didn’t kill him! All I did was fuck him once or twice ’cause he wanted it so bad and he knew you wouldn’t touch him! But you knew that already.”

  Darren thought he was going to be sick. Johnny had touched Stefan, sweet, innocent Stefan who probably hadn’t known what the sick bastard was going to do to him. Before Darren could stop himself he was leaning down and his hand cracked loud against Johnny’s cheek. “You bastard! Get up so I can beat the crap out of you!” Darren grabbed at Johnny but found himself jerked back and held against Lee’s chest.

  “Shh, calm down, baby. I want to kill him, too,” Lee whispered loud enough for Johnny to hear, then quieter just for Darren, “But we can’t, and we shouldn’t. It isn’t our place to mete out vengeance.”

  Darren nodded as he glared at Johnny. “Right, but we can try for justice.”

  “Hope for it,” Lee corrected softly before slowly loosening his hold on Darren. “Why did you give Stefan your ring, since it doesn’t sound like you cared about him at all?”

  Johnny rolled his eyes or he might have just blinked, Darren couldn’t be sure. “Because I wanted to fuck him. I don’t care if he was retarded, he was legal and he was hot. But he kept babbling about love and all that crap.”

  Darren understood vengeance, revenge and everything else that made someone punish another person when Lee growled, “So you gave him the ring to make him think you cared,” and Johnny nodded. “Then you killed Stefan when he wouldn’t give the ring back.”

  Johnny smiled but shook his head. “I didn’t kill him. He fell.”

  “Off a cliff he’d never have gone near!” Darren shouted, diving at Stefan’s murderer.

  Johnny stood and slammed his palms against Darren’s chest, knocking him back into Lee, who wrapped his arms around Darren. “Maybe he was eager enough to get fucked he got over being scared!”

  “No,” Darren said, trembling so hard his teeth chattered. “Stefan wanted to be loved.” His anger was like a cold thing inside him, spreading through his veins and leeching out of his pores. Lee must have been every bit as furious. Darren could feel his lover shaking. “That’s all Stefan wanted, and you used him like some cheap—”

  Darren stopped as Johnny’s little eyes grew wide with fear. “Why’s it so cold in here?” Johnny’s breath came out in a white puff of air and it was then Darren noticed his was doing the same.

  “Tell me how Stefan died,” Lee demanded, his breath warm on the chilled skin of Darren’s neck. “Tell me the truth or else…”

  On cue the temperature plummeted further, dropping so low it was painful. Johnny’s lips were blue as he jerked his head from side to side, his gaze darting around as if to find the source of the chill. “I dragged him up there,” Johnny blurted, stuttering every word as he shook so hard he looked like he was seizing. “I was afraid he’d tell someone what I did to him so I told him to meet me on the cliff! But he wouldn’t come up so I dragged him! Then I let him go and pushed—”

  If Lee hadn’t been holding him, Darren didn’t know what he’d have done, but it would have been bad. He knew the frigid air wasn’t natural, knew Conner had come to him and Lee at the motel and brought the temperature down to scare them into doing what they really wanted. But what good was that doing now? They knew Johnny had murdered Stefan but they couldn’t prove it. No one else had witnessed his reluctant confession. Johnny wouldn’t turn himself in for his crime.

  Lee seemed to think Johnny would. “You know why it’s so cold? Stefan’s here, and he’s going to let me and Darren leave, but you…”

  Darren tipped his head back so he could tell Lee he was wrong, it wasn’t Stefan, but Lee nodded at something in front of them. Darren looked and saw the sheets—Conner’s hint to them? Or was there another purpose? The fabric floated behind Johnny then began winding around his body. Johnny’s scream was stifled when he opened his mouth and the sheet gagged him.

  “I think you can either die today,” Lee said slowly, his voice thick and low, “or you can call the police and make a confession—a truthful one. Let’s go, Dar.”

  Darren glanced at Johnny, his face streaked with tears turned to ice, then let Lee guide him out of the unnaturally cold house into the warm morning sun.

  “Will Conner kill him?” Darren couldn’t decide if that would be a bad thing or not.

  Lee glanced back at the house, his eyes narrowing as if he could see through the brick wall. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. For Conner’s sake, I hope not. Laine and Severo would probably find some way to exorcize Conner or something, and that would destroy them in a way they might not recover from.”

  Darren grabbed Lee’s wrist and tugged, trying to get him to move. “W
e should go inside and drag Johnny out or—”

  “Listen,” Lee hissed.

  Darren frowned at first then smiled so big it hurt his cheeks. “Sirens!” Darren hadn’t cared for the racket before, but the wail of the sirens had to be one of the best sounds he’d ever heard. He let go of Lee’s wrist and threw his arms around the man instead, happy to his soul when Lee hugged him back.

  “I think, this time, you’ll see justice done.”

  Epilogue

  “Virginia, I’m heading home,” Darren called out as he stepped into the kitchen. “Lee’s here!”

  Virginia turned from the grill and waved the spatula at him. “Did he get the floors stripped like he said he would?”

  “Yes, ma’am, and he brought pictures to show you. I think he’s hoping you’ll look at them and see how beautiful the wood is and decide to chuck your plan to carpet over it.” Darren agreed with Lee. Carpet would be harder to keep clean and wouldn’t be nearly as pretty as hardwood floors.

  “Well, he either needs to come back here or you need to man the grill since Mark called in sick. Again.” Virginia scowled and flipped a burger. “Just bring him back here.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Darren went back into the diner part of the café and waved Lee over. “I think she might cave if we nag her the right way—how much money would be saved now and in the long run what with the expense of keeping the carpet clean.”

  Lee laughed and kissed Darren quickly, a bare touch of lips. “Glad you cleared up what you meant by nagging Virginia the right way. I was just going to beg, though.”

  Darren took Lee’s hand in his and led him into the hall instead of the kitchen. Virginia could wait just a minute.

  “Are you taking me to the office?” Lee asked so hopefully Darren snickered.