Avenger

by Jambrea Jo Jones

  Think about your people—the families—and do this.

  “I want to petition the Alliance to join them.”

  What had he just done? He wanted to take the words back, but it was too late.

  “Okay, not my department, but we can get that ball rolling.” Angel shrugged.

  “That’s it?” Voit looked at him in disbelief. All of his worry and he had got an…okay? Un-fucking-believable.

  “What more is there? We need to start finding people we can trust to make sure the Alliance stays uncorrupted. As long as you don’t plan on some sort of takeover…” Angel glared at him and Voit had the decency to blush. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Angel snorted, but continued. “I don’t see an issue with you and your people staying here and going on like you have been. The Alliance isn’t a bully—you’ve established this part of the galaxy as yours fair and square. It was empty and you settled on it. Done deal in my opinion. Now that we have that all situated and we aren’t enemies, I’d really like a warm place for Frank and I to spend the night and I need to see if I can get my ship fixed. As well as check in—my family is going to be worried. Plus, Frank is still injured and this could can’t be good for him. And maybe drugs for the pain.”

  Voit plopped down on the bed. That had been too easy. All his fears—they had been pointless. Tok had been right. Shit, he totally didn’t want to tell him that, but there was no other choice.

  “Ah, yeah, go wait in my office and I’ll get you some keys. You can stay at my folks’ old place for the night and we can talk more in the morning. As for the meds, we’ll have to make a pit stop on the way to the house.”

  Angel looked him up and down before walking out of his room. Yeah, he totally wasn’t going there. Voit rushed to find clothes so he could dress and get Angel settled. The morning couldn’t arrive soon enough for him. He wanted to put his mind at ease and have things put together in the official channels. When he’d contacted Patric he’d said the Alliance was doing a big crackdown on corruption and some people had already been arrested.

  He wondered if that had anything to do with the problems Angel had alluded to. That wasn’t his issue to deal with. He had his own worries just as Angel did. Earth came first as well as the people under his command. He’d have to contact with his people in other parts of the world to let them know what was going on.

  Lost in thought, he almost ran right into Angel. He was sat on the edge of Voit’s desk.

  “Get off my desk.”

  Angel just grinned at him. Voit shook his head and pushed at Angel until he moved, then rummaged in his desk to find what he was searching for.

  “Where did you stash your partner?” Voit didn’t even glance up.

  “Other side of town in an abandoned shack.”

  “Oh yeah, the old Thomas homestead. Not the best place to hole up. Follow me.” Voit walked out of the door and didn’t turn to see if Angel followed. He wondered just who Frank was to him.

  Voit had been alone a long time and Angel was a very attractive, if smug, man. He’d tap that, and Angel had to like men with the way he’d studied Voit.

  Not. Going. To Happen. He might tap that, but he hadn’t got where he was by thinking with his cock and he wasn’t about to start now. Angel would probably be gone as soon as they got his ship fixed and Voit needed him to smooth the way with the Alliance. He had to take in the bigger picture.

  It didn’t take long to get to the hospital. Voit checked in at the front desk.

  “Hey, Merrill, I have a guy that one of the medics tended to earlier and I need to see about getting some pain meds for him. Can you help me out?”

  The nice things about living in one of the smaller communities on the planet was how everyone knew everyone else. They kept most of the colonisation that way. It was easier, but every year they were expanding.

  “Do you remember which medic, sir?” Merrill didn’t glance up from his paperwork.

  “I think it was Dawn.” Voit tapped his finger on the desk.

  “I’ll page her to the front.”

  “Thanks, Merrill.”

  Voit turned to see Angel checking the place out. It wasn’t a big building, not like the hospital in the next town over. A lot of folks had said he should move his offices to one of the bigger cities, but he was happy where he was, and who would suspect that the whole planet was run in this little town?

  He’d studied history, and the larger places were the first ones targeted. With all the department heads spread out it would make it harder to take down their infrastructure. Or at least he hoped it would. It helped him sleep better at night.

  Angel had his back to the wall and was watching the door.

  “Everything okay?” Voit asked.

  Angel glanced over at Voit. God, they needed to hurry. The temperature was dropping and he wondered if Frank would think to start a fire—he probably wouldn’t because he’d have no clue that they had no need to hide the evidence of their whereabouts any longer. They should have gone to Frank first, but the medicine was important. Neither one of them were dressed for the colder weather and Frank had nothing but what he was wearing. Angel wasn’t sure if any of his clothes would fit him. He’d have to see if he could get some things from his ship after they’d settled for the night. Not like Voit had to worry about him flying off.

  “Yeah, I’m good. Just want to make sure Frank is okay. The temperature seems to be dropping pretty fast. I know his wound is better, but I just want to be on the safe side.”

  “We’ll be done in a second and we can get him before we head to the house.”

  He knew he was being silly. It wasn’t like him, but he had no point of reference on how he should act. He was starting—fuck he didn’t even want to think it—to have feelings for Frank. Somehow the criminal had wormed his way under Angel’s skin. Fucking bastard. Didn’t he know Angel didn’t have time for this shit?

  The medic from earlier came up and talked to Voit, but Angel wasn’t really paying attention. He was thinking two steps ahead. He was wondering how soon they could get his ship fixed. He hated seeing the Avenger so torn apart. It had been his home for so many years.

  Not even the pirates had dared to try to take it away. They knew better. But it was time to retire. Really retire. A pleasure planet was looking awful nice right about now. He closed his eyes. He felt safe enough in the hospital now that he knew Voit wasn’t going to try to ransom him off or something worse.

  He could see himself on a lounger by the pool, lying down with his shades on, listening to a book and sipping an ice-cold beer. It would be so hot that when Frank stood over him and dripped water from the pool onto his skin he’d jump…

  And he really did jump because Voit put a hand on his shoulder, breaking him out of his daydream. Shit, he was getting soft. It really was time to get out of this job. Too many people could get hurt if he pulled a stunt like that on a mission.

  “Hold onto that instakill there, slugger. I’ve got what we need, let’s go.” Voit slapped his back and walked out of the door.

  Angel followed Voit from the hospital. He couldn’t even get away from Frank in his fantasies. He was so screwed—maybe he could make that in a good way if Frank was feeling better.

  If he could, he’d slap himself in the head. His dick didn’t control him. He was above that. Maybe.

  The shack was a bit of a walk from the hospital. Angel had picked it because it was on the edge of town and looked like it hadn’t been lived in for a very long time. When they opened the door, Frank was fast asleep on the floor and shivering. Angel had no idea how he could sleep like that.

  He rushed over to make sure it wasn’t fever induced. If it was, they were going back to the hospital. His wound shouldn’t still be affecting him this way. Was there something else wrong with him?

  Frank wasn’t hot to the touch and the second Angel touched him, he bolted upright and clutched at his side.

  “Motherfucker!” Frank all but screamed.

  “Well
, I was going to ask you how you feel, but I think I got it.” Angel chuckled.

  “You scared me, damn it.” Frank pushed Angel’s hand away.

  “You shouldn’t have been sleeping. What if I was someone else?” Angel stood and held out a hand to help Frank up.

  “Like me.” Voit peeped up from behind Angel.

  Angel shook his head and Frank scrambled to his feet.

  “Nice going there, Voit.” Angel turned to glare at the man. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood firm. He didn’t like to see Frank hurt and that little stunt hadn’t helped.

  Voit held up his hand, but he was laughing.

  “Sorry.” Voit tossed something to Frank. “Here’s a pain killer to help with your side. We should get headed out now so we can get the heat going in the house. It’ll be cold there too.” Voit turned and strode to the door.

  “Come on, Frank. Time to move. Think bed and heat.” Angel winked at him.

  “What the fuck, man? You leave and I’m supposed to hide out and then you come back with the enemy?” Frank wasn’t budging and Voit was still leaving.

  “I’ll explain on the way. He’s going to help us, okay? In return I’m going to help him. And tonight we sleep in a real bed and have some heat instead of bunking here on the floor in the cold.”

  Frank didn’t say anything, just followed the commander. Angel brought up the rear and closed the door. He was happy to see the last of that cabin. They’d only been in it for a couple of hours, but it left much to be desired. There were holes in the wall and rats crawling around. Angel shuddered. Not much got to him, but he hated those rodents.

  As he was walking he noticed what a nice round ass Frank had. He wanted to see it without the pants. He’d been waiting for that for a few months. He’d thought Frank wanted the same thing, but now he wasn’t so sure. Tonight he was going to find out.

  Chapter Six

  Frank was shivering harder by the time they had reached a little ranch-style house. He hadn’t seen one of those except on ancient vids he’d perused at the black market. Most of his time had been spent in warehouses or apartments. He could picture himself living in a place like this—doing what, he had no idea. He wasn’t trained for much of anything.

  His side ached like a bitch, but he didn’t want to complain too much. It had settled down until he had been scared shitless with Angel touching him. He’d been having a really vivid dream about dancing naked through flowers—with Angel. It was a silly dream, but he’d felt peaceful for the first time in…forever. He hadn’t felt that content since he was a young boy sharing the day with his mom. They were all each other had and he really needed to contact her soon before she freaked out. No one wanted to get in the way of Ally Morgan when she went on a rampage.

  Of course, he’d never told Angel about his mom—hadn’t really told Angel much in the way of anything except that he’d testify or do whatever was necessary to stay out of jail. He had some cash put away. The life of crime wasn’t too glamorous, but it did tend to pay well, and no matter what happened, he wasn’t giving that money up.

  “All right, gentlemen, I’m going to leave you to get rest. We’ll talk in the morning. There are blankets in the hall closet, the bathroom is down the hall and to your left, and there is still some food left in the fridge. My folks haven’t been gone that long and it should still be good. There is wood by the fireplace and the thermostat is by the hall closet.” Voit handed Angel what looked like a communicator. “If you need anything before morning, here is my com. It’ll go straight to me. Good evening.”

  Frank was trying to process everything, but this was so different from being in a jail cell. And a fireplace? He didn’t think houses had those anymore. He wondered what else might be different, but he was having trouble concentrating because Angel was moving around the room checking it out.

  “What are you doing?” Frank really was curious.

  “Just making sure everything is on the up and up.” He was turning things over and running his hands along the walls—knocking every now and again. He made Frank tired just watching him.

  “I’m going to take one of these and go to bed.” Frank shook the bottle Voit had tossed his way at the shack and turned to look for the kitchen.

  The space wasn’t very big so it wasn’t hard to find. The water still ran and there were cups in the cupboard. He tossed back just one pill. He didn’t want to feel groggy and one would take the edge off enough so that he could have a deep sleep instead of the restless tossing and turning.

  He wondered how many bedrooms there were. Angel had followed him into the kitchen. He must have been satisfied with the living room area. Frank held the glass to his mouth and paused. Angel was giving him an odd look, one that he wasn’t sure about—was that lust in his eyes? Frank licked his lips and Angel groaned. Frank put the glass down before he dropped it. This wasn’t really unexpected. The sexual tension between them had been through the roof for a long time.

  Frank used to get pissed when Vincent would make some cavalier remark about taking Angel’s ass. God, he’d never wanted to hurt someone so bad as he had in that moment.

  “Angel?” He had to clear his throat.

  His cock was hard and he wanted to kiss Angel. Fuck, he wanted more than a kiss, he wanted inside Angel’s ass. Hell, he’d even take Angel’s dick up his ass. He really didn’t care.

  “I want to fuck you, Frank.” Angel hadn’t moved. “Tell me ‘no’ now, or this is happening.”

  Frank didn’t answer. He pushed away from the sink and got into Angel’s face. He had to look up a bit and stand on his tiptoes but he was so close he could taste Angel. He brushed their lips together and whispered against Angel’s mouth, “Then fuck me.”

  Angel grabbed his head and Frank forgot about any pain. Angel kissed him like he was the last sweet on the planet, nipping at his lips and licking his way inside Frank’s mouth. Frank wrapped his arms around Angel to bring him closer. He winced a bit at the pressure, but there was no way he was going to stop this. He wanted Angel. They were both panting when Angel pulled back.

  “We need a bed.”

  Frank nodded at Angel. That would make things a bit easier. He didn’t want the pain stopping him from feeling Angel. He took the hand Angel had offered and they stumbled through the house until they found a room. Frank didn’t wait for Angel. He peeled his clothes off as he headed for the bed so he could lay down, not caring where they landed. The pill was kicking in and the pain was a dull throb. By the time Angel’s dick was in his hole he wanted that to be the only thing he was feeling.

  Frank sprawled on the bed—on his hands and knees with his butt in the air. Angel tapped it.

  “Not this way. You’re going to ride me.”

  He gulped. He was used to the slam-bams where they just got off—riding would be more…intimate. But he wanted that so bad with Angel. He nodded and moved to the head of the bed, giving Angel room to lie down. His gaze wondered over Angel’s body. He was perfect, right down to the angel tattoo on his shoulder. Frank would have to explore that later. He wished he’d watched Angel strip off his clothes, but that would be a next time thing too.

  Angel opened his arms and Frank positioned himself over Angel’s body so he could reach his lips. They kissed lazily for a while like they had all the time in the world. Well, they did have all night. Frank was beginning to warm up, but he still shivered as Angel ran his hands down his body and squeezed his cheeks. Frank spread his legs so they were far enough apart that Angel could play with his ass.

  Damn, they didn’t have any lube. Not like Frank had been thinking of sex when he’d been carried off the last planet they’d been on. They didn’t have any gear either and he didn’t think Angel was that prepared. The cold liquid coated his hole took him by surprise. Frank lifted up and looked down at Angel. He waved a bottle of oil at him. When had he…? Frank shook his head and continued to kiss Angel. He moved on to his throat, scraping his teeth over the tendons and soothing it with his to
ngue. He nipped at Angel’s chin before he squatted over Angel.

  “Angel, do something,” Frank murmured against Angel’s chest.

  “Patience.”

  “We can do that next time. Get in my ass.”

  Angel rewarded him by sliding his finger in Frank’s hole and rubbing on his gland. A second finger soon followed and Frank rocked back and forth.

  “Frank…”

  He pushed at Angel’s fingers and got into position. He had Angel’s cock in one hand and held out the other hand for some oil. Angel put some in his palm and Frank coated Angel’s dick, taking long slow strokes.

  “God, you’re going to feel so good inside me.”

  Angel’s hips bucked and Frank eased Angel’s shaft into his hole. It burned, but it was so good. It had been a long time for him and he couldn’t remember it ever feeling this intense. He wasn’t going to last too long. Damn it. He wanted it to go on all night. He paused when he had Angel’s balls resting against him. Frank was fully seated with his hands on Angel’s chest to steady himself. The pain from his ribs was a thing of the past. All of his nerve endings were on fire—the hairs on his arms were even standing up. Every inch of his body belonged to Angel at that moment.

  “Frank, move.”

  “Wasn’t it you who said ‘patience’?” Frank chuckled and clenched his ass.

  Angel moaned and thrust upward. “Do”—he gasped—“as I say—not…oh shit…not…so good…fuck—as I do.” Angel gripped his hips.

  Frank leaned over to kiss Angel, almost letting Angel’s cock slip out of his hole.

  Angel whimpered and sat up. He had one hand on the bed and one around Frank’s body, holding him steady. Frank moved up and down on Angel’s dick, each stroke tapping his prostate. Angel finally wrapped him tight in his arms, helping him shift.

  “Angel…close…”

  “Too soon. Too soon,” Angel chanted.

  Frank agreed, but he wasn’t going to be able to stop himself.