Chapter Seven
Deke had two days left before he had to be back at the base. Though he wanted to spend as much of them with Bryan as he could, he had to talk to Jake. So he slipped out of bed when Bryan was napping, and headed across to Shae’s house. He hoped they weren’t busy fucking.
Jake was sitting in the open kitchen, two cups of coffee poured like his brother had been waiting for him.
“Three sugars?”
Jake rolled his eyes. “You should choose another drink if you hate coffee so much.” Jake pushed the cup toward him. “Three heaping spoons of the stuff.”
“Good man.” He sat and took a sip.
“You think you’re bonding with him.” That was his older brother, no questions, no bullshit.
“He had our family crest tattooed on his hip, Jake.” He didn’t know why that was the first thing he’d said, but it seemed significant.
“Fucking Corryn. I swear I’m going to have him killed.” Jake shook his head. “He did it to Shae, too. Maybe the ink is misleading you. Shae’s tattoo had my name with it, along with the crest.”
“You think I’m imagining we have a connection because of the tattoo? Did you imagine your connection?” He knew what Shae and Jake had was real; he could see it in every line of their bodies when they were together. The rest of the world faded away when they saw each other, he could tell. “What makes you think this isn’t the same?” But was it? Maybe it wasn’t? Hell, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he and Bryan had a hell of a connection, with chemistry for days.
“I don’t, but how? What are the chances that we find them, together, side-by-side?” Jake looked worried for a moment.
“I don’t know.” Deke got up and began pacing. Jake’s passing worry for him didn’t feel like big-brother teasing. And now that he’d mentioned it, it was quite a coincidence that their soul mates would be neighbors. But Bryan was special, Deke could tell. And it was about more than simply the ink. In fact he’d have felt it ink or no ink, he was convinced of that. The ink was...icing on the cake? He’d come to Jake for clarity, and now he was more confused than ever.
“Maybe it’s the guys.” Jake looked much happier now.
“What?”
“Maybe that’s why they’re neighbors. They were drawn to each other because they were made to be ours.”
“So should we look to the neighbors to either side for our brothers’ soul mates, then?” He took a deep breath and sat, feeling better now. He took another sip of his sweetened coffee. “I’m worried, Jake. He has no clue what’s going on. If it’s going on. Maybe it’s just really intense sex. How do you even tell the difference?” He hadn’t come inside Bryan, not once. He’d been careful. He had to leave, and to start a bonding with Bryan and then leave with it incomplete would be cruel. Better to go and know he would come back, than to do that.
“Maybe it is. You’re still going, then? Going back to the base?” Jake asked.
He bit his bottom lip. “I didn’t do anything to make him change or to tie him to me. But having to go, it’s nagging at me. If I could take more time, I would, but I can’t, not without at least going back to base. There are consequences to going AWOL and it would be a bad scene all around. I’m less worried about myself than I am about him, though. Should I warn him? There may not even be anything to warn him about. But if I do, how do I warn him? How did you tell Shae the truth?” You didn’t just come out and tell someone you were a dragon, and they were your soul mate and once you accepted the bond you’d be together forever. That was crazy.
“I showed him.” Jake put his coffee cup on the table. “Look, we’ll stick around, and if something happens, I’ll let you know.”
“I appreciate you keeping an eye on him, bro. Of course, I’m not going for another two days. I’ll make sure he doesn’t forget me.” Was that all this intensity was? A desire to be etched into Bryan’s consciousness? No, he was pretty sure this was his soul mate. That was the main reason he’d been so careful with the condoms. He wouldn’t join them permanently until Bryan knew what he was.
“How was it at the first?” he asked.
“For me?” Jake shrugged. “My part was easy. When Shae wasn’t sleeping or eating, we were fucking.”
That pretty much was what was going on with him and Bryan. Maybe they were both really sexed up. Even as he thought it, he knew it wasn’t true. This was the deepest sex he’d ever had. He’d always been able to happily go his own way after his other relationships had ended, whether they’d been for one night or for longer. Now the thought of Bryan missing him, feeling sad that he was gone—that was killing him, even more than how much he was going to miss Bryan himself.
“If it’s the bond, he’ll need you. If it’s just amazing sex, he’ll want you all the same,” Jake pointed out.
Deke got the distinction, he totally did. He couldn’t simply quit, though. “He could come to me.” Mechanics could work anywhere.
“And what? You’ll pop in from the job to fuck him, feed him and put him back to sleep?”
“I don’t know! What do you want from me, Jake? It’s not like you have all the answers—this is new to you, too.” And damn it, he’d been good—they weren’t officially bonded. This was...pre-bonding. It would be easier to hold the bond off because he hadn’t come inside Bryan, hadn’t set off the change.
“I have none of the answers. Zero. I... I want to have them for you.”
It warmed him inside, that did. They might fight and bicker a lot, but Deke always knew that he had four big brothers who would be there to back him up if he required it. “Danke, Jakob.”
Jake nodded and sipped his coffee. “You’re welcome. I tell you what, you go back to base, I’ll watch your boy. If he starts to lose his shit, I’ll call you with a family emergency.”
Relief flooded him at that. He could get leave for an emergency, and if he had to, he could roll it into an extended leave somehow. He loved his job, but Bryan was more important. Okay, if that didn’t prove that he was hooked, he wasn’t sure what would.
“And if I text you that I recommend the new Point Break because it was a faboo movie, you can assume that I want you to go ahead and call me with that family emergency,” Deke suggested. Because Jake couldn’t know how he was doing if he was here keeping an eye on Bryan.
“That’s fair.”
“So have you got any advice on how to explain the whole dragon and soul mate thing to Bryan should it come to that?” Like it wasn’t going to come to that. He pushed that thought away. He wasn’t ready to consider the how yet. “You know what? Never mind. I’m going to go back and fuck him into tomorrow.”
“Cross that bridge when you come to it, huh?”
“Exactly.” He was leaving in two days, and this was not the time.
“Go. I’m sure he’s waiting for you.”
“I think he’s still fast asleep. I’ve exhausted him.” He gave Jake a wink and got up.
“That’s how Shae was for a couple of weeks after we bonded.”
“Isn’t bonding something you do deliberately? I mean, it doesn’t just happen?” He and Bryan could decide not to ever take the next step, after all. Okay, Bryan could decide that, but Deke would be there to talk him into it as hard as he could. Still, it was within the realm of possibility even if it was a million to one.
“I bit him. I filled him with my seed. It happened.”
“Oh.” He’d bitten Bryan. He hadn’t filled Bryan with his seed yet, though. Which had been deliberate. He would have to talk to Bryan, they would both need to be on board before he did that. And he’d have to explain the whole dragon thing, the soul mates thing... He shook his head. He didn’t want to lay it out for Bryan and then leave—that wouldn’t be fair. It made far more sense for them not to take that deliberate step yet. He’d go and he’d come back on his next leave and hopefully he’d have figured out how to tell Bryan everything by then. Hopefully Bryan would have missed him enough to welcome him back with open arms and an open mind.
“Yeah. Yeah, exactly.” Jake rolled his eyes. “I feel a little like I passed on a disease.”
“One that makes you live forever and want to have sex all the time? Yeah, that sounds like a really horrible disease.”
Jake grinned, the look hungry and wicked. “And mine, he likes to play, brother. He has a room.”
“TMI, Jake. TMI.” Except now he was curious and his brain was coming up with pictures, damn it.
“I’m not giving you details or anything, just...he’s what I need.”
“Yeah? I’m happy for you, Jake. Seriously.”
Of course, Bryan had all the instinct and none of the practice and Deke could admit that excited him unbearably. He waved at Jake and headed back to Bryan’s place, looking for his boy. Bryan. Looking for Bryan.
Bryan was in the kitchen cooking bacon and looking at his phone.
“Bacon. Yum.” He went right over.
“I know, right? I was hungry. You want eggs, too?”
“Sure thing.” He went up to Bryan and wrapped his arms around him from behind. “Mmm. Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Bryan lifted his face for a kiss. “How’re Shae and Jake?”
“Shae was sleeping, but Jake and I hung out for a bit. He’s great. Still in love.”
“Good. That’s good, right?”
“It’s fantastic. He deserves someone special.” He kissed the back of Bryan’s neck, and went to sit at the table, but not before sliding his hand along Bryan’s ass.
“He does. Are... Are you looking forward to getting back to work?” Bryan’s tone was carefully neutral.
“Not particularly. I’m enjoying my time here. With you.”
“I am, too. I’m going to miss you terribly.”
“We still have two days. There’s no point in wasting them worrying about when I have to go back to work.” He really didn’t want to think about leaving. If he thought too much about it, his stomach churned alarmingly.
“You know it. I took a few days of vacation, just because.”
“I know. And we’re making good use of them.” Very good use.
“Are we? Making bacon and hanging out at the pool?”
“There’s more to it than making bacon and hanging out at the pool, isn’t there?” Deke smiled, hiding his worry. He hated that he had to go. He wanted to be done with secrets, wanted to spill everything out to Bryan now. He couldn’t see what good telling Bryan about soul mates and dragons and the bond would do now. It wouldn’t give them enough time to deal with anything and that seemed cruel.
For now he was going to have breakfast, then he was going to enjoy the pool and make every last moment with Bryan count.