“Okay. I just have to say it sometimes because it seems so unreal that I’m here with you. That I don’t have to worry about doing anything illegal to get by. That I might be able to do something that will make my mom proud of me for a change. And, yeah, sometimes I need a pinch to know it’s all really happening.”
Angel pinched Frank’s chest, twisting the nipple.
“Hey! Ouch.”
“What? That wasn’t a call for me to pinch you? Sounded like it to me.” Angel chuckled.
“Smart ass.”
“That’s why you love me.”
“No, that’s why you think I love you.”
“So, why do you love me?”
“Oh, let me count the ways?” Frank laughed. “Where should I start? You’re loyal and would do anything for those you love. You install faith and trust in people who don’t know you. You’re sexy as fuck. Ahh—”
Angel rolled on top of Frank, sticking to his chest. They really should shower.
“You had me at sexy as fuck.” Angel laughed against Frank’s lips.
“And that there—how you can laugh and make things fun. I love that.”
“You’re loyal too, Frank.”
“I was a criminal.”
“Who was very loyal to his boss.”
“Until I turned him in.”
“He’d gone a bit off his rocker, Frank. You did what you thought was best in the situation.”
“If I was truly loyal I would have—”
Angel covered Frank’s mouth with another kiss to shut him up.
“This is my list and if I say you’re loyal, you’re loyal, damn it. Now, where was I, yes, loyal. You’re also a hero.”
“Am—”
Angel’s glare cut Frank off and he pressed his lips shut.
“You have a big heart. Don’t think I don’t know about the orphanage that gets anonymous donations. Or the fact that you fully support your mom and sister so they can do whatever they want. How about that you followed your heart, but gave it to the wrong person leading you to a life you didn’t belong in. Now all that has changed.”
“Oh it has? I supposed you’re the right person, the one my heart belongs to.”
“Yep.”
“Smug bastard.”
“But I’m right, aren’t I?” Angel nodded. “Now let’s go shower. I’m all sticky.” Angel pressed his mouth one more time to Frank’s before hopping off the bed.
“Do we really have to leave?”
Frank didn’t move off the bed. He had to be starting to itch. Angel knew he was. The shower was calling his name.
“We do. But just think, in a week it’ll be just the two of us on the Avenger.”
“Well, only until we pick up the crew.”
“There is that, but we can go wherever we want.”
“You like that, don’t you? Exploring?”
“I do, that was the only thing I really enjoyed about my undercover gigs—going to different places, but now I don’t have to sneak in. I can go all official.”
“Whatever, you’re totally going to put your ninja skills to use and you know it.” Frank laughed.
“Okay, maybe. That part can be fun too, as long as someone’s not trying to kill you.”
“I like that part too. No more laser wounds. Or ships blowing up or…anything else.”
“You shouldn’t put that out there, because now it’s totally going to happen.” Angel snorted.
“Shut it.” Frank shook his head and got off the bed.
“You know you love me, baby.”
“I’ll love you more if you shut it.”
“You love my mouth too and all the wicked things it does to you.”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll show you ‘maybe’.” Angel chased Frank into the bathroom.
* * * *
Frank had never been happier. He was afraid to jinx it. They’d left their tropical paradise and were docking on the Allora. This time he wasn’t nervous and was happy to see Robert. The guy was so much like Angel it was almost scary.
It was just him, he knew that, but the ship looked different this time. Probably because he didn’t have to be worried about being detained. Not that Angel would have let that happen. He told Frank he had a ship all ready for them to flee on if necessary.
He totally loved that man. They were there to greet Archer, but they were also there to get their first orders. Frank wasn’t technically Alliance and never would be, not with his criminal record. Angel tried to get it all expunged, but Frank told him to leave it alone. He didn’t need to be official to help.
They reached Robert’s office and Angel knocked on the door.
“Enter.”
“Hey, Dad. Where’s your secretary?” Angel shut the door behind them.
“On a break. You ready to get going?” Robert stood and held out his hand for Frank before sitting on the edge of his desk.
“I think so. Where’re you sending us?”
“Some outer rim planet that is having issues with pirates. I’d like to see what you can do to help. And you’ll be needed back here soon for my retirement party and your brother’s promotion.”
“I’m sure we can manage.”
Frank just sat back and watched the interaction. He could tell the men loved each other and it was nice to see. They finished their business and Robert walked with them to meet Archer. They’d beat him to the ship, but not by much.
“So what will Archer be training for?” Frank was curious.
The man seemed good with security issues, but Frank hadn’t really got to know him very well. Not like Angel had.
“He’s going to train under Alphonse. I’m hoping he can fill out Frost’s post. We lost him when he tried to get Alphonse killed. He’d be helping with undercover ops, be their go-to guy.”
“He should be good with that.” Angel seemed pleased.
Frank really wasn’t jealous—much. Archer was exotic—big and built to boot.
Archer entered the hall wiping his hands on his pants. He still had the air of sadness that clung to him when Frank had met him for the first time. Hopefully the Allora would be good to him.
Angel walked over and gave Archer a big hug. Frank followed.
“It’s good to see a couple of familiar faces in this vast emptiness of space.” Archer held out a hand for Robert.
“Good to see you, son. I have someone coming down to show you and the others to their quarters. They’ll give you a tour of the ship, but your duties and studies won’t start officially for a couple days so you can get acclimated to the ship. You’ll be dropping me off at Alliance headquarters and my first mate will be in charge. I don’t usually fly with the ship. I’ll leave you guys to talk. I’ll be seeing you soon, Tok.”
Robert hugged Angel and Frank. “I’ll talk to the both of you soon.”
“Yes, sir.” Angel nodded to Robert.
They’d already made plans to get together before Alphonse was sworn in.
“Frank and I will show you around before we leave.” Angel waved off the ensign who’d shown up.
“How’s Earth?” Angel kept the conversation going.
“It’s good. Your brother and his partner are making plans to vacation there.” Archer shook his head.
“Yeah, James is fascinated with the planet for some reason.” Angel shrugged.
Frank didn’t understand it either, but he guessed there was a lot of land left to explore. Voit’s people hadn’t populated the whole place, just a few spots. The Alliance was going to help by bringing in more technology and more people.
It would be fascinating to see where it would be in just a few short years, but purely from a distance. Frank had no desire to go back. He watched Angel’s ass as they walked the corridors. He really wasn’t paying attention when he ran into Archer’s back.
He looked around to see what had stopped him only to find a slim, very pale blond man in a tight uniform walk by. Angel chuckled and kept walking. Frank just shook his h
ead.
“No worries, man, there are plenty of pretty boys walking around the station.” Angel patted Archer’s back.
“Yeah—but, man, I’m so…different from everyone.”
“What? How?” Frank was confused. All he saw was an attractive man in front of him. He might have given him a go if he wasn’t with Angel.
“I’m purple.” His tone suggested he wanted to follow that with a duh.
“And?” Angel shrugged. “I’ve seen all kinds of different species. You are far from different. You’re sexy and exotic. Purple is the new white.” Angel snorted.
“Be serious,” Frank warned.
“I totally am. Listen, most people don’t care. Everyone is unique in their own way.”
“He’s right, Archer.” Frank was nodding.
“See, I can be serious.” Angel ruined it by winking.
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we.”
“You will. I think you being here will be good for you, Archer.” Angel stopped at a door. “This is your cabin. Down the hall to the left is the mess hall. Back the way we came if you follow the hall, you’ll run into the command centre. That’s where you’ll meet everyone in two days. Here is our personal com frequency. Call us. I mean it. If you need anything. Got it?”
“Got it. Thanks for this.” Archer took the paper Angel had handed him and put it in his pocket.
“Okay, we’re out of here, but my dad will take good care of you.” Angel hugged him one last time.
“You’ll be good. Like Angel said, call if you need us.” Frank took his turn to hug the big guy.
“Thanks for everything.” Archer nodded and went into the cabin, shutting the door behind him.
“He’s really sad, huh? Homesick already?” Frank asked.
“More like Voit sick.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, he has a thing for Voit, but it wasn’t returned. I think that’s why he’s here.” Angel glanced back at the door.
Frank followed his gaze. Now he really hoped the man found what he was searching for.
“Ready for our new adventure?” Angel grinned.
“Lead the way and I’ll follow.” Frank smiled back.
Also available from Total-E-Bound Publishing:
Alliance: Annihilation
Jambrea Jo Jones
Excerpt
Chapter One
‘I WANT YOU.’
The old vintage recruitment sign with the image of Uncle Sam on it mocked Ricardo Clark. The finger pointed in his direction. Someone had marked out the part that said ‘for the U.S. Army’ and written over it with ‘for the Alliance’, some new form of government that had taken over power when the old government had crumbled.
Not that he had to worry. He’d been discharged years ago because of some stupid asthma thing and now he was a hundred pounds overweight, give or take a few pounds. Who would really ‘want’ him? He should have been able to stay in, but the military was overcrowded. They’d stopped recruiting after they pulled out of the Middle East and were looking at reasons to let go soldiers. Hell, with all the advancements in medicine he could have had his asthma cleared up in no time, but he didn’t fight it. Not like he should have done. He had a place to go, others didn’t, and they needed the stability of working for the government.
Rico continued his walk to the bakery. The only thing he was good for was eating a few doughnuts before going to his boring data entry job. After the big flood in 2050 there were tons of data that needed re-entering and a lot more of it lost. With his military career he had the necessary clearances to process the sensitive data so he was pretty secure in his job, unlike some others. It sucked, but it paid the bills. The homeless population was bigger than ever. It also kept his mom off his back. She was always asking him when he was going to find a nice boy and settle down. She’d bring up the old ‘I helped fight for your right to marry whoever you want, now do something about it and make me proud. I want grandkids!’ Rico didn’t even know if he liked kids, not that it was an option now anyway. He was single and barely making ends meet. The job might have been steady, but it wasn’t high-paying.
Before he was born there had been a big fight over government involvement in same-sex marriage and his parents had been in the ‘trenches’ as it were, fighting to make changes. Finally the government had passed a bill stating that it would take no part in deciding who a person could or could not marry and that each state had to abide by this bill, allowing people to marry whoever they wanted to. Or something like that. Rico couldn’t remember the exact wording, but the gist of it was that same-sex couples could get married and have that marriage recognised wherever they went.
There had been a big outcry and some churches had taken a big stand, but, all in all, after a few years, no one really cared and it was business as usual. Still, there were the hatemongers out there, but as time passed they faded away from the spotlight. When Rico had hit puberty it was all old news and there were different things to fight over. The churches prayed over the state of the world and blamed the rest of the nation for the coming apocalypse. Turned out it was a flood, not zombies taking over. The church still took credit saying their God was bringing down the sinners of the world. They never could come up with an explanation for how their congregations weren’t spared.
Rico didn’t really care because faith didn’t really fit into what he wanted out of his life. He had big plans, like with his military career. It was supposed to be his ticket to law enforcement. He was thinking CIA or FBI. Now he was a glamorous clerk sitting behind a desk and clacking away at a keyboard all day.
He finally reached the shop and walked in.
“Rico! Your usual?” The owner winked at him.
Rico nodded and bellied up to the counter to wait for his order. It should’ve made him sad that the pastry people knew him, but he was hungry and running late. He didn’t have time to be upset about a predicament of his own making. No one let him get so out of shape. That was all on him.
There was a new guy behind the counter and Rico couldn’t stop staring. He was rugged and lean with short blond hair that stood on end and bright green eyes. He had scruff on his face and a shiner, like he’d gone a couple of rounds in a fight. But that wasn’t what caught Rico’s gaze. It was the black plugs in his ears and the tattoos running up and down each arm. They were colourful and he wanted a closer look, even leaned over the counter a bit before he caught himself. He could make out some sort of creature’s head on his right shoulder in a dark red with black horns and it looked like wisps of smoke tied everything together. There were a few other things, but he couldn’t make them out without getting closer. On the other arm were a koi fish and cherry blossoms and other small tattoos.
But a man like that wouldn’t look twice at the fat blob he’d become. Maybe when he was still in the military Rico’d have had the balls to approach him. Now he just took his sweets and left the bakery.
The city looked better than it had in years and he enjoyed his walk, taking a big bite of the gooey confection. The weather was nice, the sun shining. He was actually sweating a bit, the hazard of his extra pounds. For the first time he thought maybe he should do something about it. He thought back to the blond with those tattoos and threw his doughnuts into the next trash bin he found, but that didn’t stop him from licking his fingers.
The day was the same old, same old. The only exception was that his thoughts drifted back to the hot guy at the bakery. He knew what his spank fantasies would be about that night. It wasn’t like his job forced him to think. He looked at papers and entered information into the central system that the Alliance had hooked back up after the flood. If it wasn’t for them, the United States would probably still be in the dark.
So he’d enter some top-secret data while picturing himself licking those tattoos. He wondered what the guy’s cock looked like. Hell, he wondered what name he should be screaming.
His supervisor, Mr Jordan, walked over while he was in the middle of a daydrea
m, his cock rock-hard in his pants while he gazed off into nothingness.
“Mr Clark, is there a problem with your computer?”
“No, sir.” Rico sat up straighter.
Desk work sucked the life out of him and his boss was a prick, but he had to do something.
“Good. Back to it then.” Mr Jordan clasped him on the shoulder and walked away.
With a sigh he got back to the daily grind. His dick deflated and he wanted to keep it that way until he got home. Then all bets were off.
* * * *
Walking home cooled him down somewhat. His libido under control, he started thinking about food. Of course, that brought him back to the tattooed god from that morning. Did he really want to pig out? His usual fare was a pizza, or something equally greasy. No meat, of course. Not for him—it cost too much and was hard to find. Most of the animals had become extinct and those that were left were used for eggs or milk. People had to pay top dollar for a good steak or chicken. It was getting a little better as time went on, but prices hadn’t gone down much.
Or he could have ice cream. That sounded good too, with a candy topping. He had a cupboard full of cookies, his main food group. It couldn’t keep up or he’d be more than a little overweight. With his sedentary lifestyle he was well on his way to being morbidly obese.
Instead of going home he headed for the nearest gym. Not his best idea on an empty stomach, but he wasn’t thinking straight. If he was, he would have stopped at the store for something healthy to eat first. He was thinking that he was overweight and that he would never find a man if he felt bad about himself, so exercise would work.
Maybe he’d just sign up today and not actually do any of the work. It was a sad state of affairs that it took a hot guy to get him to this point. He had been in the Special Forces and in the top shape of his life just a few years ago. If the guys in his division could see him now, they might just cry.
This is stupid.
Rico didn’t have any gym clothes. He paused at the door and watched as fit people went in and out. Why was it that he never saw overweight people going to the gym? He shut his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers. He could do this. He walked up the stairs and saw a button and a palm scanner by the door. He pushed the button and waited. There was a buzz and the door opened.
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