by Morgan Brice
Ben drew back, taking in Erik’s injuries. “We need to get you to a hospital,” he said, releasing his hold. “And get those zip ties cut.” He looked around and spotted an old set of pruning shears. “Hold steady.” The blades snipped through the plastic ties, and Erik shook out his hands to get the blood flowing. Ben reached for him and twined their fingers together as they walked toward Hendricks and the rest of the team.
Captain Hendricks looked Erik over as they approached. “Mr. Mitchell. Looks like you had a rough night. An ambulance is on the way. Let’s let the medics have a go at you, and then I’ll need statements from both of you.”
“Thank you,” Erik said, addressing Hendricks and giving Ben’s hand a squeeze. “How did you know I’d been taken?”
“My mother reported it,” Hendricks replied in a droll tone. “She was watching out the window to make sure you got home safely. Seems she thinks a lot of you.”
Erik smiled. “I think a lot of her, too.”
Ben walked Erik out to the ambulance that was pulling up in the parking lot. Erik’s lip was split, his cheeks were red where he’d been struck, and one eye would likely be black by morning.
“Have I managed, at least, to get that roughed-up action hero look?” Erik asked when the medics were through with him.
“Definitely,” Ben assured him. “Not that you weren’t already perfect just the way you are.”
Sixteen
Ben
After a trip to the ER where Erik was treated and released, Ben and Erik spent the next three hours at the police station giving their statements. Police coffee was just as bad as Ben remembered it, worse without a doughnut chaser.
Hendricks waited until the formal statements were finished to call them into his office. “Part of me is pissed at both of you,” he said, glaring first at Ben and then at Erik. “Especially you, Nolan, because you should have known better.”
For once, Ben kept his mouth shut.
“On the other hand, you cracked open three cold cases and helped us get enough evidence to put away a bad cop and a murderer. You each have unique skills that may be useful from time to time, considering Cape May’s ‘special circumstances.’ If you’re willing, I’d like to be able to call on your expertise on a case-by-case basis. Unofficially, of course.”
Ben and Erik exchanged a glance, then both men nodded.
“Thank you,” Erik said.
“I’m in,” Ben replied. He looked at Erik. “Since I’ll be staying on permanently in Cape May, with the rental business.” Erik’s smile and the glow in his eyes gave Ben confirmation that he’d made the right choice.
They still needed to talk. Ben knew he owed Erik an explanation and an apology, and intended to earn back his trust. But for now, it was enough that Erik was alive, that he still wanted Ben, that he returned Ben’s feelings.
“This is not an open invitation to stick your nose into police business,” Hendricks cautioned. “I feel I need to say that for Nolan’s benefit.” He added a stern look in Ben’s direction.
Ben did his best to look the picture of innocence. “Understood, Captain,” Ben said. Hendricks’ eyes narrowed suspiciously, and then he rolled them skyward.
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Hendricks muttered. He turned to Erik. “This television show you’re considering…given your prior work, have you thought about the consequences?”
Ben glanced at Erik, unsure of his boyfriend’s reaction. He’d had similar reservations once he realized just how dangerous Erik’s old job used to be. And while he didn’t want to stop Erik from pursuing a project that could boost his business, he also didn’t want to do anything to attract Erik’s old enemies.
“I’m going to ask my agent to table the idea, for now,” Erik replied. “If there’s a way to revisit it without putting me in the spotlight, I might consider it. But I think I’ll have my hands full with getting the store open and my blog running in time for the start of the season.”
Ben gave Erik’s hand a squeeze, silently showing his support.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Hendricks replied. “Now go on. Get out of here. Get some rest. You’ve been through the wringer.”
They walked out of the station toward Ben’s Mustang, still holding hands. Ben had expected to get the side eye from some of the cops—that certainly would have been the case back in Newark—but to his surprise, no one seemed to care.
A dark-haired woman stood next to Ben’s car. He tensed, but Erik shook his head. “It’s okay,” Erik said quietly. “Alessia,” he greeted the woman. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
Alessia Mason. Ben recognized the name. The witch. She smiled at Ben, as if she guessed his thoughts.
“I came to make sure you were all right,” she replied. “I got your message.”
Erik looked confused, then his brows furrowed and he looked down at his right arm. “Message? You mean that ‘connection’ you mentioned?”
Alessia’s smile broadened. “I told you we watch out for each other here. I gathered our folk when I knew you were in trouble. Monty rallied his troops, so to speak. We handled the little problem with the lights,” she added. “And added a distraction spell to help you hide.”
The witch’s comments didn’t make sense to Ben, but Erik seemed to understand immediately. “Thank you. That made all the difference.” He dropped Ben’s hand for a moment and ran his left palm up and down his right forearm. “I felt it,” Erik told Alessia. “I just didn’t know what it was.”
“Just return the favor when the time comes,” she told Erik. “I’ll let Monty know you’re okay. And I’ll count on your help dealing with our local genius loci. But for now, enjoy the win and recover. Don’t be a stranger.” She walked back to where she’d parked a black Yamaha motorcycle at the edge of the lot. A moment later, she roared off.
His phone buzzed, and Erik looked down, then chuckled. “Better late than never, I guess. Simon Kincaide, getting back to me about genius loci, and one of my old contacts from the FBI saying nobody I busted got out recently.” Erik took Ben’s hand again. “I promise, I’ll explain.”
“I’m the one who owes you an explanation,” Ben said.
Erik lifted a hand to touch Ben’s cheek. “We’ll talk. Tomorrow. I think it’s the adrenaline crash, but I’m ready to fall over.”
“And the fact that it’s nearly four in the morning,” Ben pointed out.
“That, too.”
“I’ll drive you home,” Ben said, opening the car door for Erik. He didn’t presume that included an invitation to spend the night. Not after the crap he’d pulled earlier.
“Stay?” Erik asked as Ben got behind the wheel.
“I wasn’t sure you’d still want me to,” Ben admitted, looking down. He didn’t want to see disappointment in Erik’s eyes.
Erik reached out and gently turned Ben to face him. “I was angry and hurt about dinner, but I don’t think you just blew me off. You had a reason, and I’m betting it had to do with the case. Cooper said he lied to you to make you think I was a criminal. I’m guessing you needed to check that out. You can tell me later. Right now, I want to fall asleep beside you, knowing we’re both safe and alive.”
“There’s nothing I’d like better,” Ben told him, pressing a kiss to Erik’s palm before he put the car in gear and headed out.
When they got back to Erik’s apartment, Ben refilled the ice bag the medic had given them and dug out more Advil. “It’ll help the swelling,” he coaxed.
Erik accepted the bag and the pills with a sigh of resignation. “I’m not looking too good tonight. Sorry about that.”
“Are you kidding?” Ben echoed, gently taking Erik by the shoulders and turning him so they were facing each other. “You’re alive. The damage is superficial. That’s the best thing I could have hoped for.”
Ben tried to find a middle ground between hovering and being attentive. No one had ever brought out his protective streak the way Erik did, and Ben decided he liked that. Not that
Erik wasn’t a total badass, capable of taking care of himself. He’d already proven that. But protecting each other—that’s what people in a relationship did, wasn’t it? Ben could get used to that.
When the lights were out and they had both slipped into bed together, Erik turned to face Ben. “Thank you for coming after me. And thank you even more for bringing backup, so you didn’t get yourself killed.”
“Of course I came after you,” Ben replied. The moon’s glow through the window shades gave him just enough light to make out Erik’s profile. “As for bringing backup, thank Susan. She had already called the cops before she told me you’d been taken.”
“Still, thanks.” The note of wonder in Erik’s voice made Ben’s heart ache. Did he really doubt that Ben cared enough to save him? Or had that bastard Josh and Erik’s upbringing just taught him that he wasn’t important enough to notice? Either way, Ben resolved to make sure Erik never doubted him again.
“We keep having rain checks,” Erik murmured, barely awake.
“We’re together. That’s good enough for tonight,” Ben assured him. Erik rested his head on Ben’s chest, and Ben wrapped an arm around him, gently stroking his hair. “Tomorrow’s another day.” As he drifted off, he thanked whoever was listening for keeping Erik safe and giving them another chance to make this thing between them work.
Ben woke up from the sexiest dream he’d had in a long time. He dreamed he was in bed with Erik, and Erik was giving Ben’s morning wood a slow, delicious handjob—
When he opened his eyes, he saw Erik watching him with a mixture of mischief and lust, his very real hand gently stroking Ben’s achingly hard cock.
“I’m done with rain checks,” Erik declared, looking beautifully disheveled in the morning sun. “I want to make love to you. That is, if you want me to.”
“Oh, there’s really no doubt about that,” Ben said, with a glance at his stiff and leaking cock. Erik’s grip and the friction of his palm against Ben’s most sensitive skin felt amazing.
“Then fuck me,” Erik said, meeting Ben’s gaze. “I almost died last night. I need to feel you, everywhere. Need you to make me yours. Make this real.”
Multitasking wasn’t Ben’s strongest suit, especially when that meant talking while being jerked off. “You’re hurt,” he managed in a breathy voice that had to let Erik know how much he got to Ben.
“Like you said last night, the damage is superficial. I might be too sore to ride you right now, like I want to,” he said with an extra tug that made Ben arch off the bed, “And I’d rather not be on my hands and knees. Blowing you is also, unfortunately, off the table until my jaw stops aching. But that leaves us plenty of other options.”
Erik let his thumb catch a bead of pre-come and swirl it over the head of Ben’s cock, making Ben catch his breath. “You sure know how to negotiate.” Ben’s voice sounded husky and sexed-out, even to his own ears.
“I promise to only use my superpower for good instead of evil,” Erik replied, and this time, he let his thumb slide through Ben’s slit, evoking a desperate moan.
“Yes. God, yes. You’re okay with me topping?” They’d never really discussed that, though Ben’s fantasies had given him plenty of inspired ideas.
“I like to switch it up. But right now, I want you in me. We have lots of time to try all the variations.” Erik’s voice was low and seductive, and Ben loved seeing this side of his boyfriend.
“I think that can be arranged. You have supplies?”
Erik nodded toward the nightstand. “I kept hoping we’d get lucky. Didn’t count on all the rain checks.”
“We’ll start cashing those in, right now,” Ben promised.
Erik reached over and opened a drawer, then dropped some lube and a string of foil-wrapped condoms on the bed.
“Ambitious, aren’t you?” Ben joked. “I’m not a teenager anymore.”
“Consider it incentive,” Erik said with a naughty smile. “Let me get you started.” He opened one of the packets, took out the condom, and rolled it onto Ben’s stiff dick. Then he flipped onto his back and drew his knees up with his feet flat on the bed, baring himself to Ben. “Your turn.”
Ben leaned forward, kissing Erik gently, careful of his swollen lip. He worked his way down Erik’s body, stopping at the hollow of his throat, enjoying the gasps and moans that his mouth and tongue elicited as he explored. Ben noted the bruises and scrapes, carefully avoiding them, trusting Erik to let him know if anything hurt. Erik’s nipples were already hard, but as Ben sucked and licked at them, Erik bucked beneath him.
“Keep that up, and I won’t last,” Erik panted.
“Mm. Then I’d just have to get you off again, wouldn’t I?” Ben murmured. He mouthed his way down the sprinkle of reddish-blond hair that ran from Erik’s navel to his trimmed pubes and flicked his tongue along the creases where thigh met groin.
“Ben—” Erik growled.
Ben spared a swipe of his tongue against the head of Erik’s cock before swallowing him down, and Erik cried out, grabbing fistfuls of the sheet to keep himself on the bed. Ben bobbed once, twice, then pulled off, knowing how close Erik was. Ben used both hands to spread Erik wide and kept exploring, running the tip of his tongue down Erik’s sensitive taint, then flicking it ever so lightly against his exposed hole.
“Oh my God! Ben—”
In response, Ben redoubled his efforts, licking and sucking as Erik trembled and moaned, loving the tremors his attentions sent through Erik’s body, lost in the scent of his musk and the taste of his lover. As Erik’s tight furl unclenched, Ben eased a spit-slick finger past the ring of muscle, still licking the tender skin.
“Come on. I want you inside me.”
“Not going to hurt you.” Ben’s own painful erection rubbed against the comforter, reminding him that foreplay had a time limit before they both spent. He added a second finger, working Erik open, guessing it had been a while. That makes two of us. The idea that he was ending a long dry spell made Ben happy. They couldn’t be each other’s firsts, but first-in-a-long-while was maybe even better.
“Please, Ben. Fuck me now. I need to feel you.”
Ben knew when he’d reached the breaking point for both of them. He slicked up his cock and lifted Erik’s calves, placing them on his shoulders, then lined himself up with Erik’s entrance and eased in.
“Yes. Please. Ben. More.”
Ben felt just as desperate as his lover, but he forced himself to go slowly, giving Erik time to adjust. There would be other times for fast and hard. But not now. Now, Ben wanted to say with his body what he’d tried to convey with his words.
I was worried about you. I’m glad you’re safe. I love you. You can trust me.
When he was finally fully seated and felt his balls slap against Erik’s ass, Ben leaned forward to kiss him. Then he met Erik’s gaze, gripped both hips, and started to thrust.
Erik bucked up to meet him, hungry to take all of Ben, over and over. Desire made Erik’s pale skin flush beautifully, and the look of sheer, naked want on Erik’s face, the open mouth and blown pupils, nearly pushed Ben over the brink.
As much as he wanted this first time for them to last forever, Ben knew he didn’t have that much self-control. Not with Erik’s hot, tight channel clamped around his own aching cock, or the sexy, incoherent sounds Erik made as he twisted and writhed, or the sight of Erik’s own engorged prick leaking a steady, sticky stream of pre-come onto his belly.
“Together,” Ben rasped, moving one hand to grip Erik’s cock, matching his strokes to the rhythm of his hips. Once, twice, and he felt Erik stiffen and clench beneath him, even as his own orgasm closed in like a freight train and his thrusts grew quick and hard, chasing release. Erik shot white ropes of come, spattering his own belly and cascading over Ben’s fist. Ben’s climax followed seconds later, ripping through him and whiting out his vision.
He fell to the side, still inside Erik, who turned with him to keep them connected. Ben couldn’t find his words
yet, and neither could Erik, but the look in Erik’s eyes told Ben everything he needed to know.
“Best rain check ever,” Erik said when he could catch his breath. “Mighty fine painkiller, too.”
“Definitely going to enjoy cashing in the rest of those rain checks—and earning some more,” Ben replied. He kissed Erik again, a gentle touch after the wave of passion that had swept through them. Erik responded with fervor, promising a repeat performance.
Ben reached between them and held the condom in place as he pulled out, knotting it and tossing it into the garbage can by the bed. “That was…”
“Yeah. It definitely was,” Erik agreed.
“Let me get us cleaned up, and we can rest before round two,” he said. Ben padded to the bathroom and returned with a warm, wet cloth, wiping down Erik’s belly and then gently cleaning off the spunk between his legs. Making eye contact as he did it almost seemed more intimate than the act itself, and Ben knew, as if he ever doubted, that he was truly and thoroughly besotted.
He tossed the cloth onto the floor and gathered Erik into his arms. “Just so you know, I intend to be exclusive.”
Erik smiled. “Just so you know, so do I.”
“Good. Very good,” Ben said, feeling another layer of insecurity dissolve. He and Erik still had a lot to learn about each other, but as Erik snuggled into him and he pulled his lover into his arms, Ben thought they were getting off to a great start.
When they finally got out of bed, after dozing in a post-orgasmic haze, Ben and Erik showered and headed to the kitchen. “So does that mean you’re part of their coven?” Ben asked, lingering at the table over coffee and the last of the frozen waffles. “I’m new to witchy stuff.”
“So am I,” Erik replied. “Part of the coven? No. But there appears to be a loose confederation of people in town who have certain talents. Alessia and Monty helped save my life back there. I’ll have to give back when the need arises.”