All of the Voices

by Bailey Bradford

  “So tell me why you wouldn’t come to my room.”

  Matt had known the question was coming, but he’d hoped to put it off a little longer, at least until they reached Mrs. Hawkins’. Then again, talking about it while he was driving might not be a bad idea. He’d have to pay attention, keep his eye out for wild hogs and other critters that might dart in front of the car. So yeah, he could do this.

  “You don’t have to tell me,” Carlin said quietly. “I know I was rude when we met, and I am sorry. I can see where you wouldn’t think I was someone you’d want to confide in.”

  “It’s not that, but thank you for the apology.” Matt took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, did it again. “About four and a half months ago, I walked into a trap in that motel. Not the same room you’re in, so I didn’t think I’d have a problem, you know, going in your room. But I couldn’t even…” Matt cringed, knowing there was no way to finish that sentence where he wouldn’t come off sounding like the world’s biggest wuss.

  “What kind of trap? Something to do with your job, or was there a naked woman waiting in there trying to get in your pants?”

  Matt wished he could look at Carlin, see what the man’s expression could tell him. Probably better that he couldn’t. “No, it wasn’t a woman. We were working a case. This sick fuck had been stalking Sheriff Stenley back when Stenley was a Houston PD detective. Tortured and killed his lover, and everyone thought it was a random thing. Stenley and Conner—that was his lover’s name—were both in the closet, so no one had any reason to think someone might really have been after Stenley.”

  Now Matt glanced at Carlin long enough to catch his shocked expression. “That poor man. And Conner, oh my God. I can’t imagine. No wonder Sheriff Stenley is so…so stoic most of the time.”

  “Yeah,” Matt agreed as he focused his attention back on the drive. “Might be, but I think he’s always been the strong, silent type. Anyway, he left Houston and came out here. He’d been here a few years when Severo popped up out of the blue.” Matt chuckled as he thought about the early days of Stenley and Severo’s relationship. Severo had quickly wrapped Stenley around his pinky, and Stenley had loved every minute of it.

  “And then the guy who killed Conner found Stenley again?”

  “Well, it’s more complicated than that, but to get down to brass tacks, Stenley’s former partner at HPD, Rich Montoya, came to McKinton and, uh, I kind of felt—thought, maybe…” Matt shook his head. “But I was wrong. James McAlister, another HPD detective, was the sick bastard who’d killed Conner, all because McAlister wanted Stenley. McAlister showed up here and abducted Rich. I got worried when Rich didn’t answer his cell, or the motel phone, and I went charging in when I should have called for backup. Ended up face to face with McAlister while he shoved a knife into my gut. And, uh, that’s why I couldn’t bring myself to go into another one of those motel rooms.”

  Carlin didn’t speak so Matt finished the rest of the story. “McAlister left me there, bleeding out on the floor. Told me to call Stenley and tell him to come to Stenley’s house alone or McAlister would finish the job he’d started on Rich. Stenley went, and a few minutes later, Zeke, Brendon and Severo showed up loaded for bear. McAlister had three bullets in him—any one of them would have been fatal. So that was the end of McAlister.”

  “And Rich? What happened to him?”

  Matt pulled into the drive and wondered at the odd note in Carlin’s voice. “Rich was fucked up. McAlister had a thing for knifes, and he’d had Rich for hours. Doctors didn’t even think Rich would make it, and they were almost right. He died twice in the hospital. Took the staff a while to bring him back the last time, so there were some concerns about brain damage. I figured he didn’t have any when he told me to get my ass out of his room ’cause he couldn’t stand the sight of me. He got better, then he left. That’s all I know.”

  “He hurt you,” Carlin muttered. “Maybe he was out of it still, or he—”

  “No,” Matt bit out, cutting Carlin and the engine off at the same time. “That wasn’t all he said, and he and I hadn’t…we hadn’t done anything. Guess the sparks coming off us when we were together really were from our personalities clashing. I thought it meant something else.” But he’d been wrong, and after having spent several sleepless nights at Rich’s bedside, his head and heart aching for the man only to be so thoroughly rejected, that had shaken every bit of Matt’s confidence. It had also made him doubt his blooming attraction for men, period, or at least his judgment in choosing a man.

  “You’ve never been with a man, have you?”

  Carlin’s perceptiveness shouldn’t have surprised Matt, but it did, enough so that Matt didn’t have time to answer any way other than with blunt honesty.

  “No. I wondered, but there wasn’t anyone, any man, who interested me. I’d had sex with women, found it enjoyable but not… It didn’t rock my world, you know? I just figured I wasn’t a sexual person. Happens, or so I’ve heard.”

  “And Rich changed that? Lit you up and left you hard every time you were around him?”

  Matt thought about it for a minute. “Not to that extreme, but I was interested. I thought there could be more, but obviously I was wrong.”

  “I still think he must have been brain damaged,” Carlin said. “He’d have to be to turn you down. You’ve never done anything with a man at all?”

  Matt wanted to say he hadn’t, but he was pretty sure his cheeks were flaming, and Carlin would know, the perceptive little shit, if he lied. “Did stuff when I was a kid, jerking off with another boy. Did the same with a guy I used to work with, even sucked him off a couple of times.” And it still pissed him off that he’d been such a fool. “Fucker quit when it came out Stenley was gay. Said he wouldn’t work for or with queers.”

  “Oh.” Matt looked at Carlin as the blond unbuckled his seatbelt. “He was one of those. Closeted and hating everyone else brave enough to come out because he was too scared to do it himself. Those are the worst ones. I’m sorry he happened to you,” Carlin whispered, then Matt’s seatbelt was unbuckled and he suddenly found himself straddled by a very sexy attorney. Matt’s heart fluttered in his chest, his breathing stuttering as he looked in Carlin’s eyes, then down to his plump lips.

  “You ever kissed a man, Matt?” Carlin asked, his breath ghosting over Matt’s lips.

  Matt grunted as he watched the pink tip of Carlin’s tongue dart out to slick Carlin’s bottom lip. He couldn’t bear to look and see if there was pity in Carlin’s eyes.

  “Put your hands right here.” Carlin took Matt’s hands and guided them to the small of his back. “Feel free to reach lower and grab at any time.”

  Carlin linked his hands together behind Matt’s head and Matt had a second to panic, to wonder if he was going to fall for the wrong man again, then Carlin’s sweet lips were on his. Matt groaned as he sank his tongue into Carlin’s mouth, twining his tongue with Carlin’s. He couldn’t help but pull the smaller man closer, bringing their chests together, and grinding Carlin’s ass onto his groin.

  He wasn’t aware of moving his hands, but the denim clad globes he was cupping fit his palms perfectly. Matt squeezed the taut flesh and was rewarded with a whimper from Carlin, which Matt swallowed and claimed. Carlin wriggled against him, and Matt dimly realized Carlin was thrusting against him, shoving his hard dick against Matt’s stomach.

  This wasn’t an act of sympathy or pity, not with the way Carlin was all over him, his sharp teeth nipping at Matt’s lips, his hands sliding from Matt’s neck to his shoulders then back up again. Carlin wanted him, was even now trying to get closer as if he wanted to melt into Matt.

  The knowledge incinerated Matt. He quit thinking and lost himself in the other man, drinking in Carlin’s moans and whimpers, the feel of the man’s ass in his hands, the scent of wood and citrus, and under it, soap and sweat. Carlin shoved his hand between them and fumbled with Matt’s belt and Matt didn’t want to stop him, wanted whatever Carlin would give him.
>
  “You never had a man suck you off,” Carlin whispered against Matt’s lips. “That’s a shame, but I’m going to fix it right now. Give you a better blow job than Rich or Deputy Dumb Shit ever could have.”

  Carlin sat up and opened the door as Matt tried to keep from coming then and there. “Yes, please.” God, but he wanted to see those full lips stretched around his dick, if he could just hold on long enough to do it.

  Carlin got out of the cruiser and tugged at Matt’s arm. “You want to stand up or lean back toward the passenger seat with your legs out here?”

  Matt shifted around in the seat even as he finished unbuckling his belt. There was no way he’d be able to stand up right now, not when he was trembling with need and anticipation.

  Carlin smiled and reached for Matt’s waistband. Matt propped himself on his elbows and moaned when Carlin unfastened his pants. In short order, Matt was lifting his hips so Carlin could pull Matt’s cock free, then Carlin knelt and ran his thumb over Matt’s leaking slit.

  “Those other guys were fools, turning down a big dick like this.” Then Carlin looked at him and licked the pre-cum off his thumb, and Matt whimpered, something he’d never thought he’d do and would be plenty embarrassed about later.

  “You taste so good,” Carlin purred as his lids lowered. “Fuck, Matt, I’ve never been the biggest cum-slut, but I could drink yours every day for the rest of my life.”

  “I would—” Matt gasped as Carlin bent down and swallowed half his cock. Carlin slipped one hand under Matt’s shirt and cupped Matt’s balls with the other, and Matt made a sound without words that meant I’d be happy to let you do it every day for the rest of my life and Please, oh my fucking God, don’t stop!

  Carlin had received more blow jobs than he’d ever be able to remember, but he did remember the excellent ones and so he applied those techniques as he sucked down Matt’s cock. Thick, long and heavily veined, topped with a broad crown and a narrow slit, it really was the most perfect penis he’d ever seen or sucked. And he’d dearly love to feel it splitting his ass wide open.

  He tongued the sensitive bundle of nerves below Matt’s cockhead and was rewarded with a grunt and two big hands fisting in his hair. Yes! Fuck my mouth, Matt, do it! All the control Carlin insisted on having during sex was absent. He wanted Matt to plunge into his mouth, fuck into his throat, take the release the man so clearly needed.

  And Carlin wanted to wipe the memories of those other two idiots from Matt’s mind, but he didn’t care to examine wide. Instead he hummed around the thick stalk in his mouth and tugged at the fur on Matt’s balls. Matt bellowed and gave Carlin what he wanted, shoving his dick into Carlin’s mouth and throat, bucking his hips erratically as Carlin swallowed around the fat cap.

  Carlin sucked back up the length of Matt’s dick, tracing a vein with his tongue as he slid his other hand up Matt’s belly. He purred his approval of the thick treasure trail, then nearly lost his rhythm when he encountered the ridged scar on Matt’s stomach.

  Matt stiffened for a moment, but Carlin kept his hand moving and delved his tongue into Matt’s slit, then Matt was gasping and pulling Carlin’s head down, filling his mouth and throat. He found the dense pelt of hair on Matt’s chest and wanted the man so bad he could have screamed.

  “F-fuck, gonna…” Matt thrust hard and deep, and it was the best blow job Carlin had ever given, at least on his end. He pressed his palm against Matt’s balls and plucked at one of his nipples, and Matt’s cock spewed like a geyser into Carlin’s mouth. He swallowed the first creamy spurt, then let the second and third coat his tongue until another shot of cum made swallowing a necessity.

  Matt groaned, his trim thighs quivering. Carlin glanced up and felt smug at the dazed look on Matt’s face. He laved Matt’s cock until he’d gotten every drop of spunk off it, then placed a kiss on the tip.

  Now it was time to take care of his own dick before it burst. Carlin stood and unbuttoned his pants then fished his leaking dick out of his underwear. Matt sat up, his eyes lighting with appreciation echoed by his words.

  “Jesus, look at you. Perfect.”

  Carlin was only gripping his shaft and already he was panting, needing to come so bad his balls ached. “Look all you want, but I have to… God damn, you’ve got me so hot, I just need—”

  Matt hitched his underwear up even as he slid out of the car. “Let me, please.”

  Carlin stopped mid-stroke and tried to decipher Matt’s expression. Lust, yeah, but there was something else, a concerned look or maybe guilt. Carlin thought over what Matt had told him about his limited experiences with men. Hadn’t he said he’d blown that asswipe he worked with, but had never had a guy suck his cock in return? Carlin had a bad feeling former deputy dickwad had taken his pleasure with Matt’s mouth then left him kneeling and needing.

  And hurt, though he doubted Matt would admit it. No one liked feeling used, or at least, no one Carlin knew. Carlin let go of his cock. “You don’t have to do anything, but if there’s something you want to do, not that you feel obligated to do, then go for it.”

  Whatever ill feeling Matt had been dealing with seemed to melt away as he reached for Carlin’s waistband. He shoved Carlin’s jeans and underwear down to his knees, gripped the base of Carlin’s cock in his fist, then dropped to his knees and sucked the crown of his shaft into his mouth.

  “Fuck fuck fuck!” Carlin shouted. This was going to be over before he could enjoy it!

  Matt pulled off his tip long enough to mutter, “Unbutton my shirt. Want you to shoot on me.”

  Carlin couldn’t even shout, couldn’t get the breath to do so as he reached with trembling fingers to unbutton Matt’s shirt. The first sight of that thick dark hair appeared on Matt’s chest and Carlin couldn’t resist brushing his fingers over it. Matt’s hand fisted his dick tighter, as if he knew Carlin was about to come just from touching that fur. Carlin unbuttoned Matt’s shirt as much as he could then shoved it open.

  “Oh my God,” Carlin rasped, having found his voice, his breath, his perfect man. “I want to feel that against my back, my chest, want to rub my face in it.”

  Matt looked shocked for all of a second then he snickered. “Well, right now you’re gonna spray your spunk all over it.”

  “Fuck, yes, really soon. You make me so…”

  Matt sucked Carlin’s crown back into his mouth and began loosely fisting the rest of Carlin’s cock. Carlin started to babble. For all his verbal restraint and carefully chosen words in the courtroom, he had no such ability when it came to sex, especially not when it was this fucking good.

  “Matt, honey, yes! Take it…ah!” Carlin gasped as his dick was gripped tighter, the dry strokes almost painful and exactly what he needed at this moment. “God, just like that, teeth, need—fuck!”

  Carlin jerked as Matt scraped his teeth over the rim of Carlin’s crown. “Now! Fucking hell!”

  Carlin screamed as Matt pulled back and the first stream of cum splattered onto Matt’s dense chest hair. The creamy white string was joined by another, then a third as Carlin started to double over from the force of his climax. He hunched over Matt’s kneeling form until his balls stopped pulsing, then he stood up with one hand braced on Matt’s shoulder.

  “Let me see.”

  Matt thrust his shoulders back and his chest out. “You want to rub it in?”

  Carlin’s dick valiantly tried to rise to no avail. “Definitely. You can help, too, you kinky stud.” He rubbed a glob of semen over one of Matt’s peaked nipples. “Do the other one. I want my cum all over you.”

  That was a little raunchier than Carlin usually got. Oh shit, I sound like a bad porno. Can’t help it though. The guy is freaking amazing! Sensual, gorgeous, and willing to get a little kinky. What idiot would toss him aside? Carlin ignored the little voice pointing out he’d be going back to New York soon and therefore doing the same thing Rich and the other guy had done to Matt. Not exactly. He knows I have to go back to New York. He has to know that. I’
ll tell him just as— What was that? Carlin glanced at the trunk of the cruiser. Had he seen something behind the vehicle or was his mind playing tricks on him?

  Not tricks, he realized seconds later as a blur of red feathers and sharp claws or talons—whatever chicken toes were called—hell if he knew. Carlin would have warned Matt more efficiently if he’d been able to articulate what he was seeing. As it was, he screamed, “Look out,” right about the same time the bird dive-bombed Matt.

  Chapter Five

  “I hate that fucking rooster!” Matt hissed as Carlin cleaned the gouges left on his back from the rooster’s sneak attack.

  Carlin snorted. “And yet you insisted on taking care of them before you’d let me clean your back. I don’t know much about chickens, but I’d bet their feet are filthy.”

  “Wouldn’t have been any sense in you playing doctor then me going back out there and getting torn up again,” Matt pointed out. “I don’t understand why that chicken hates me. I’ve never done anything other than feed and water the sorry bird, and carefully try to extract myself from his presence. I just don’t get it.”

  “It’s a chicken,” Carlin pointed out, “and therefore not very smart. Or not smart at all. They probably have a brain the size of a pinhead or something.”

  “We could fact check, find out for sure.” Sounded like a grand idea to him.

  Carlin opened the tube of antibacterial cream and squeezed some onto his finger. “You mean, Google it or something like that? I don’t really care enough to bother.”

  “I was thinking more along the lines of cracking that damned rooster’s head open.”

  “That’s really…gross. I think I’m going to pass on that suggestion as well. Besides, Aunt Mary loved Robbie Red. Talked about him all the time when I called her.”

  Matt looked over his shoulder at Carlin. “You’re shitting me, right? Mrs. Hawkins didn’t really name him, did she?” Why hadn’t he known that?