Twenty

Two Months Later

THE ALARM Gus set on his phone was some electronic dance tune Rey now heard in his nightmares. Notoriously impossible to dislodge from sleep, Gus mumbled and burrowed deeper under the mounds of pillows he’d stacked against the wall, claiming nearly three-quarters of the bed in a lanky sprawl of muscular, long limbs and fluffy feathery cushions. Rey scrambled to find the damned phone, knocking a handful of drawing pencils and a sketchpad off the nightstand in his attempt to stop the incessant thumping beat. Finally he found the right button to push, and a relative silence descended on the attic loft again.

“Like fucking punching in a Konami code to get that damned thing to shut up.” Rey slid the phone back on the stand, then lay back on the bed. “Stay here. Don’t get up. I’ll go get us some coffee. Look at that. Perfectly good sarcasm wasted on the insensible.”

The house was quiet and still. Morning hadn’t fully cracked open the sky, but it hovered on its edge, gilding the trees outside of the kitchen windows. Earl slunk down the stairs, drooling slightly when he pressed his nose to the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard. After letting the dog out to do his business, Rey shoveled a mound of coffee grounds into the machine and waited for it to brew enough for a couple of cups, rubbing at his eyes to get the sleep out of them.

It didn’t work. Neither did yawning, but his jaw popped back into place, and he realized he still had a bit of toothpaste on his lips when he licked at them.

Last night’s fire hung around his thoughts, a smoky mess of tumbling walls and soaked-through buildings. He and Mace pulled out six by themselves, all frightened, ash-smeared people who’d gone to bed not imagining they’d wake up a little after midnight to find their lives torn apart by roaring flames. They’d clocked overtime pulling down doors and shattering windows, but other than the lingering ache of well-used muscles, Rey felt like he could go another few hours more if he got some coffee in him.

“Trick’s going to be getting coffee into Gus,” he grumbled at the dog when Earl finally gamboled his way back in. The clock on the wall chimed its opinion of the time, and Rey frowned, comparing its face to the flashing alarm he’d seen on Gus’s phone. “What the hell? It’s not even six o’clock. Why the fuck did he set the alarm so early if we don’t have to be in court until eleven? Swear to God, dog, I’d kill him if I didn’t love him. Aaand…I’m talking to myself. Earl’s gone back to bed. Great.”

Juggling two cups of coffee up the stairs and through the brothers’ house was tricky, mostly around the front hall where shoes seemed to lie in reckless abandon, waiting to trip an unsuspecting fireman hoping for a couple of hours of lounge time. The door to Gus’s room was partially open, and for a brief, panicky moment he wondered if Earl beat him upstairs to take over his side of the bed, but the room was empty except for Gus, lying on his back, sheets hugging his hips and staring up at the ceiling.

“Check the time on your settings or something,” Rey grumbled playfully at his lover, handing Gus one of the cups. “You set your alarm for way too early, and that was a good half an hour ago.”

“Yeah, it’s so I actually get up for work. It’s habit.” He waited until Rey was on the bed before giving him a cinnamon-scented kiss. “Thanks for the coffee. You could have just turned the alarm off and slept.”

“Nah, by the time I got my brain fired up to turn the damned thing off, I was already too awake.” Rey sipped at his coffee, shock hitting his tongue at the sugar in it. “Wrong one. This is yours. Switch.”

“Shit, we’re up too early.” Gus turned the cup, finding the spot Rey’d drank from, then sipped at the steaming brew. “I’m squirrely. I know it’s just walking in today so the judge can see us, then sign the papers but… I’m fucking nervous. Suppose—”

“Thought we agreed we were going to not say suppose or what-if about this?”

“It’s like you don’t even know me,” he retorted. Leaning over Rey, Gus put his cup down on the nightstand.

“That would be easier if this wasn’t against the wall.” It was a long-standing discussion, one they had again when Gus shoved the bed over in Rey’s apartment, tucking it up against the long side of the room. “We could each have a nightstand.”

“I like sleeping against a wall. ’Sides, you mind me bending across you?” The sheets shifted, exposing Gus’s naked hip. “You doing okay? You said last night was rough when you came in.”

“Yeah, I’ll check in later to see how things went. It was out by the time we left, and I think we got a firm head count of everyone who was inside, but you never know.” He took a long swig of coffee, then set his cup next to Gus’s. “Look at what happened to Jules. She wasn’t supposed to be there. Probably our biggest nightmare is clearing out a place and then finding out we’ve missed someone.”

“Well, thank you for not missing Jules.” Gus’s hands were moving, roaming over Rey’s hips. “I don’t think I’m ready to become a single parent. I mean sure, Lynn and Doug would be there but… no way I could do this without her.”

“I’m here,” he murmured. Raking his fingers into Gus’s sun-streaked dirty blond hair, Rey guided his lover closer, until their mouths were nearly touching. “Actually, I’m kind of glad you woke up early. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Something good?” Gus’s fingers found Rey’s cock through his sweats. “Or something bad? What? Don’t look at me like that. I’m awake way too fucking early and I’m squirrely. Did you miss that part?”

“No, I didn’t.” He’d dropped his gear by the door, a knapsack full of supplies he carted to the station on every shift, as well as his wallet. Coming in at five pounds, it was something he’d grown used to carrying, but it was a white envelope his father’d given him before he’d started his shift that weighed on his mind. “I need you to be serious for a bit. Like, five minutes. I’ve got to talk to you, and I didn’t want to do it last night because I was dead tired and it was really late. Just… sit down and hear me out.”

Gus sat on the bed by Rey’s side, crossing his legs in front of him. The sun was out, or at least was making an effort to breach the tree canopy swaddling the brothers’ house. Streams of light from the dormer window picked up the gold in Gus’s hair and saturating the blue folds in his eyes. A bit of scruff dusted his chin, a hint of red in the glistening pale strands, and the sparse freckles on his shoulders were dappled brown kisses on his tanned skin. He intimately knew Gus’s mouth, plundered its fullness to the sweet darkness past his playful smile, yet Rey never grew tired of exploring, of delving into Gus’s depths to draw out soft, lingering moans from his lover.

Rey tried breathing around the punch of emotion hitting him square in the chest, but it was difficult. “Randy, my—”

“Your dad,” Gus interjected. “I know who Randy is. He’s your dad.”

Leveling a look at Gus, Rey asked, “You going to let me get through this, or are you going to MST3K your way through the conversation?”

“No, no. Go ahead. Take your time. I don’t have to be anywhere until eleven.”

“So Randy’s brother—yeah, my uncle, shut up—he buys commercial properties. Usually really shitty ones he fixes up, but there was a house over on Buena Vista that was bundled up in a foreclosure deal.” The tilt of Gus’s head worried him, as did the frown on his expressive face, but Rey forged forward. “It’s on the other side of the hill, opposite end of the park from here but… they gave it to me… to us… if we want it. Place isn’t pretty. I mean, it’s got good bones, but the inside is shit. Worse than this place was, and hell, it might be a while before we can even live in it. It’s going to be a shit-ton of work and—”

“Wait, hold up. You’re asking me to move into your house and help you fix it up?” Gus looked both incredulous and skeptical. “And they just gave you this house because what? Places around here are fucking expensive. People don’t just hand over houses, Rey.”

“They do when they’re family and after you’ve told your dad you’re going to ask your boyfriend to marry him.” Rey reached for the envelope he’d placed on the bedside stand before he’d crawled into bed the night before. It was a bit grimy from where he’d handled it after the fire, but the gold rings nestled in the cloth were as bright as Gus’s smile. “So, August Scott, will you do the one thing we should have done years ago? Marry me and go into debt fixing up a broken-down house that doesn’t have termites, air conditioning, or a working fireplace?”

“Well shit, dude.” Gus started laughing, a big, booming hearty burst loud enough to wake the birds nesting in the tree outside the attic window. “Yeah. I’d love to go fucking broke with you. Any time. Any where.”

THEY ENDED up naked, but to be fair, Gus slept that way, so other than unwrapping the bed linens, he was ready when Rey reached for him. He was struggling not to dive into the happiness welling up inside of him. It was too bright, too shiny and sharp-edged to be trusted, but when Rey’s mouth closed down on his cockhead, Gus let himself fall into the light waiting for him. Under the eaves of the first home he’d ever known, his hands on the man he loved, Gus didn’t think his heart could hold everything and everyone now in it.

He’d felt odd when Rey slid the ring onto him. It was so soon, so heavy to have on his hand. Then something in his soul shifted and the metal became a kiss from Rey wrapped around his finger. They weren’t joined, not in a church or in front of a judge, but the damned thing felt right… as right as anything ever had. As right as Rey’s slicked-up fingers around the base of his cock.

“Keep doing that and I’m going to lose it in your mouth, babe,” Gus muttered, tugging at Rey’s hair. “Shit… your tongue….”

He was losing his mind, tangled in the threads of pleasure Rey wove around him. His balls ached, and Rey’s lips traveled down his shaft to suckle at their heft. They curled in Rey’s palm, churning with a need strong enough to make Gus’s nipples ache. He reached for Rey’s hand, and the clink of metal hitting metal wrapped a stupid grin over his face. His eyes were wet, burning when he blinked, and he tried sitting up, but Rey’s weight on his hips shifted, and Gus gasped when Rey suckled him once more, then pulled off, leaving him throbbing and needy.

The sheets were a mess under his back, their folds digging into his skin when Rey climbed up his body and straddled his hips. His cock was slick with spit and lube, and Rey was staring down at him, his warm brown eyes thoughtful and soft.

“Make love to me.” Rey’s voice poured out of him, a velvet stroke over Gus’s rattled nerves.

“Isn’t that what we’re doing here?” Gus lifted his head off of the pillows. “Because I sure as fuck ain’t making an omelet.”

“No, I mean….” Rey’s kiss was hesitant, as sweet and gentle as the ones they’d shared on the pier so many years ago. “I want you in me. I want to feel you… in me. I need that from you, babe. I need you to know… to be with me like I’m with you.”

“We haven’t….” Their history stretched out behind them, a path they’d trod by habit for the most part, and Rey was asking him to step away from that, needing him to be… different. “I mean we have, but that was… hell, years ago.”

“Unless there’s something you’re not… if you don’t want to, it’s okay—”

“No, that’s… I just never thought….” Gus stopped and sorted through his racing thoughts. “I guess I never thought you’d want me that way again. Isn’t that stupid? It’s like me putting Ivo into these boxes because that’s where I think he should fit, and he keeps stepping out of them because they’re my boxes, not his.”

“Boxes work.” Rey chuckled, then kissed the tip of Gus’s nose. “But let’s leave Ivo out of it. Right now, just you and me. Boxes or no boxes.”

“Just… tell me if I’m hurting you, okay?” His stomach clenched with new worries. He’d always been able to blow Rey’s mind. He knew his body well enough… knew Rey’s well enough to bring them both to the brink and leave them there, hovering on the sharp edge of a razor he’d forged with the heat of their bodies. “It’s just been a hell of a long time.”

They went slowly, carefully even. There was laughter and, most of all, a lot of touching. The shift in their positions brought a new awareness of Rey’s body, of how he shivered when Gus licked at his belly button and the odd noises he let out when Gus slid a finger into his entrance. He’d had to chase down the lube when it squirted out of his hand and landed somewhere in the cushions he slept in. But when he finally opened Rey up enough to make him gasp, Gus’s ardor ran high, flushing a heat through him he knew he wouldn’t be able to quench anywhere else but in Rey’s body.

The slide of Rey’s heat, of the tightness of his flesh around Gus’s cock was almost too much to stand—too unbearable—and Gus had to pull out a bit, allowing his mind to adjust to the sensations flooding him. With Rey’s calves hooked over his hips, Gus worked back in. His chest grew tight, his lungs straining with the effort of holding his breath. Rey hooked a hand around the back of his neck, drawing Gus down, and he sank in farther, nestling into Rey’s heat.

“Breathe, baby.” Rey suckled on Gus’s lower lip. “You and me? We’re going to have a fantastic life together.”

Moving was flying through a field of stars while sipping champagne, a bubbly mixture tasting of coffee and Rey. It was sweaty, caught under the sun coming through the windows, and their skin grew slick. His focus tightened around the man embracing him, his hips slowing when Rey’s gasps grew frantic. It was all Gus could do to keep from pushing deep down into Rey’s body, and when his lover’s fingers dug into his hips, Gus drove in harder, spurred on by the hint of pleasurable pain along his skin.

The friction overwhelmed him, and Gus reached for Rey’s cock, running his palm over his length. A few strokes, then his shaft pulsed and Rey’s stomach clenched, his abs rippling and tightening. Poised over Rey’s climax-stiffening body, Gus was caught in the beauty of the man he’d spend the rest of his life with. His dragon was still unfinished, but most of the base color was there, promising to be as vibrant and fierce as the tiger riding his other hip. There were scars, small ones from doing stupid boy things and darker patches where fire kissed and bubbled Rey’s skin. His dark hair was nearly black from sweat, and his beautiful, long-lashed eyes were unfocused, a deep sienna with amber and sable slivers at their centers.

But it was Rey’s smile—that gorgeous, white, sweet smile—that both broke and healed Gus’s heart every time he saw it. Just as it did now when Rey cupped Gus’s face, his fingers damp with sweat and scented oil, to give him a brief, blinding smile before pulling Gus over the edge with a tight, hard clench around Gus’s cock.

He lost himself. Somewhere in between Rey taking his hand, entwining their fingers, and the moment he felt Rey close down on him, Gus lost all sense of himself. The rings anchored him before he spun out into the ether. The hard ribbon of metal Rey’d asked him to wear pulled him back down, reminding Gus of his place at Rey’s side… and of Rey’s at his. His body sang, catching up the quiet hopeful hum he’d nursed in his heart and breaking the restraints he’d soldered on his own dreams.

Rey’s arms held him tight, his legs hugging Gus’s waist as they released, the gush of power from their cores pouring through them, then slowly turning, softening until the brush of skin on their cocks grew too intense to bear.

A few instinctive rocking motions of his hips and Gus emptied his well of need, satiated past being able to talk. His brain struggled to maintain even the smallest of functions and he shut down everything he didn’t need to survive, choosing only to breathe… and to hold Rey close.

They parted but still touched, fingers against mouths and cheeks, sometimes a brush against a still-hard nipple or lips on a collarbone salty with sweat. He’d bitten Rey at some point during their lovemaking, and he kissed the purpling welt on Rey’s shoulder, secretly smug he’d marked his lover in a spot no one else would see.

Sighing, Rey brushed Gus’s tangled, wet hair from his face and said, “I love you, Gus. Very much. I can’t imagine a future without you.”

“I love you too.” Pressing his mouth onto Rey’s, Gus savored their kiss. Then he grinned, realizing what lay ahead of them. “Hey, so now that we’ve got a house, you think I can get my own dog?”

IT WAS final.

A done deal. He’d signed on enough lines to do an entire back piece filled only with his autograph, and even after being conditioned to spending hours guiding a vibrating tattoo machine across someone’s skin, Gus’s hand hurt, but it was worth it.

The little boy he carried into 415 Ink’s front room was officially, unequivocally his son.

Chris wriggled, a slightly grimy, mostly sweet-smelling bundle of energy and blond curls, and Gus mocked nearly dropping him, to the boy’s squealing delight. Gus heard Lynn’s sharp gasp, and he winked at her when he pulled Chris back up onto his shoulder.

“Boy can walk, you know,” Bear informed him from behind the counter. “Just in case you forgot, they probably worked really hard to teach him.”

“Earl! Let me down.” Chris wiggled across his father’s shoulder. “Please. There’s a dog.”

“God, like father, like son,” Rey grumbled. “Ask the asshole to marry me and he’s all… I want a dog.”

Setting Chris down, Gus grinned up at his lover. “Hey, I say yes. I just want you and a dog.”

“Okay, someone flip the sign to closed and let’s get this party going.” Bear snagged Chris as he ran by, lifting him into the air with a swoop. “You, little man, you can help me get the cake.”

An hour later, 415 Ink was packed to the rafters with people, a worrisome amount of chattering, warm bodies numerous enough to make Mace wonder out loud if the fire marshals would be shutting them down before the night was over. A long banquet table trembled under the weight of food brought in, and outside behind the building, Mace kept Randy’s spare grill going with hamburgers and carne asada. A couple of musicians from a local rock band stopped by, and Ivo coaxed them into doing an acoustic set, his brother providing fairly decent backup vocals to the singer’s throaty, powerful rasp while Bear drew a New School forearm piece on Chris with Magic Markers.

The shop’s interior grew louder as the night wore on, and by nine, a drunk-from-attention Chris stumbled over to the reception area then collapsed onto Earl’s bed to curl up around the snoozing shaggy dog.

“And that’s our cue to go.” Jules chuckled, tugging on Gus’s sleeve. “Give me a kiss, and call me tomorrow when you wake up.”

“I work tomorrow, so it’ll be before noon,” he promised, then kissed her on the cheek. “Want me to carry him out?”

“Nah, Dad’s got him.” She moved out of her father’s way, and Doug stopped long enough for Gus to press a kiss onto his son’s forehead. Giving Gus a brief hug, she murmured, “Thanks for being his dad. You didn’t have to step up, but I’m glad you did.”

“I had to. He’s my kid,” Gus reminded her. “I’m going to do right by him. All of us are.”

“I know.” Jules smiled. “Tomorrow, Mr. Scott, we shall do this again.”

He watched them go, and for the first time in forever, he didn’t feel a twinge of jealousy at the sight of their tightly knit family. His threads ran to other directions, from Donna and Randy, who’d come to the party armed with sheet cakes and fried chicken, and to the four men who’d held him up during the darkest times of his life.

His baby brother was dancing barefoot, a knee-length pleated black leather skirt swirling around his long legs, encased in fishnet stockings. His Hizoku Ink tank top sparkled where Rey’s sister’s glittered hands had touched it, and his hair was back to a shade Gus could only call flamingo. Ivo’s dark blue eyes were thick with kohl, his elegant masculine face sleek with makeup. His Japanese cat shoulder tattoo slid in and out of view when he raised his arms above his head, moving his body in time to the beat of the music playing through the shop’s sound system.

Mace was somewhere in the back, keeping an eye on the dwindling fire, but he was there when Gus needed him, the older brother who’d stepped into the space Puck left behind and picked up the mantle of beloved asshole. He depended on Mace in ways he couldn’t begin to count, but mostly for yanking Rey out of a burning building and being his lover’s best friend ever since.

But if Mace was his personal pitchfork-wielding devil, Luke was the angel who’d save his sanity. The man who he called his sane twin looked up from his discussion with Bear’s apprentice and winked, but the lightness in his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, and Gus sighed, wishing he could do more than watch Luke work his way through life.

“It’s good to see Luke socializing,” Bear said, hooking an arm over Gus’s shoulders. “He’s having fun tonight.”

The weight was companionable, familiar and comforting. His brother’s scruffed chin tickled Gus’s cheek, and he leaned into Bear, the weight on his finger changing everything, but no matter what happened, he would always have Bear.

“I don’t know if you can call it socializing. He’s talking to the Noob,” he pointed out. “I mean, if he was talking to Rob the new guy, we could call that socializing, but the apprentice? Kid hasn’t even worked up to tattooing fruit yet.”

“Kid’s name is David, and he’s older than you, Goose,” Bear teased, clenching his arm into a hold across Gus’s neck. They tussled for a brief moment; then Earl barked at them to break it up. “See? You don’t need a new dog. Earl loves you.”

“Earl probably thought I was attacking you, so don’t give me that shit.” Gus gave Bear a light push. The older man didn’t even budge or lock his knees, and Gus sighed. “Dude, you could at least make it look like you had to work a little bit there. You’re not good for a guy’s ego.”

“I think the only guy you need for your ego is coming in with another plate of carne asada.” Bear jerked his head toward the back door. “And you know, for what it’s worth, kiddo, I’m proud of you. You’ve turned out great.”

“’Cause of you, man.” He shook his head when it looked like Bear was going to argue. “Fuck off, Barrett, and just take the compliment.”

“Yeah, you’re lucky Rey likes that pretty face of yours or it’d look a lot different right now.” Bear ruffled Gus’s hair, then lightly slapped the back of his head. “Behave or you’re going to be pulling up those floors in that house you guys got all by yourself.”

“Hey, sexy.” Gus quirked a grin when Rey wrapped his arms around Gus’s waist, then pushed him up against the reception counter. “Watch the dog. He’s already pissed off at me for wrinkling Bear’s shirt. Asshole’ll probably rip my socks off because I’m touching you or something. Mace about done out there?”

“Yeah, he’s making sure the grill’s off. Said he’ll be inside in a bit.” Rey hooked his fingers into the back loops of Gus’s jeans. “How are you feeling? Okay?”

“Shiny as… a shiny thing,” he replied with a laugh, then sobered. “You?”

“Better than I’ve ever been before,” Rey said softly. “And if I haven’t told you in the past few hours, I love you, and I’m glad you’re making an honest man of me.”

The music faded when Rey pulled him in for a kiss, or at least it did in Gus’s mind. They kissed like they had sex… a long, powerful joining with a sweet gentleness at the edges, their love softening the sear of their passion, banking it to preserve its heat. Gus couldn’t get enough of Rey’s touch, of his mouth and the thrust of Rey’s strong body against his own, but when Rey held him, Gus fell in love all over again. He came up for air with a hard cock and a deep longing to find a dark corner to scratch the itch Rey always seemed to bring out in him.

“Fuck, I love you,” Gus muttered into Rey’s mouth. “You drive me nuts.”

“Right back at you, babe,” Rey replied softly. “Now, how about if we see if Bear can cover for you tomorrow? Because I think I’m going to spend all night making sure you can’t walk straight in the morning, and maybe if you ever do crawl out of bed, you can start putting your art on my back… where it belongs.”

ROB’S MOUTH was like swallowing cinnamon whiskey and fire, heady and dangerous enough to be a health risk… especially if Bear caught Mace with his hands down the back of the young tattoo artist’s jeans. He kept trying to walk away, but no matter how far he got, Mace found himself turned around and right back where he started, either on his knees with his lips wrapped around Rob’s dick or vice versa.

The alley behind the tattoo shop was dark, a shadowy sliver of space blocked off by their cars and the cooling grill Randy brought over from his house, so the chances of them being discovered with their pants down around their ankles was slim, but there still was a chance… especially since his entire too-damned-nosy family was only a door away.

“Jesus…. God, what you can do with your fingers,” Rob gasped. “Fuck… me.”

“Not only don’t I have time, but if Bear finds us, we’re dead.” Mace reluctantly let Rob go, struggling for air after losing himself in Rob’s kisses. “We’ve got to stop doing this. It’s… nuts. I don’t even like you.”

“Yeah, you’re no fucking treat either,” the inker grumbled back. Rob tried straightening his hair, but the shock wave of blue-tipped ebony strands wasn’t willing to be subdued. “I was crazy for doing this once, much less….”

“Don’t count. I don’t want to know,” he ordered. “That’s it. Tonight’s… we’re done. No more.”

He tried to ignore the disgust surging up in him at the thought of walking away from Rob, but it was for the best. Mace couldn’t afford to have Rob attached to him. He didn’t trust himself, not with knowing where he’d come from… the animals who’d given him life and probably their cruelty. It would start small, a bit of anger at something done wrong, and the next thing he would know, his hands would be painted with hot blood and he’d be standing over Rob’s broken body. It was too much of a risk. He had too much to lose… his family, his job, and his sanity.

Walking away now was the best thing for both of them—he knew that… so why did it hurt so much when Rob’s gaze dropped away and his raspy voice finally whispered, “Yeah, you’re right. This is nothing but a quick fuck we like because we shouldn’t be doing it. So yeah, from right now, you and I are done.”