Chapter Thirty-Five
At the end of the second week, Sam and Drew sat together on the couch, Drew lying sideways, his legs across Sam’s lap, as he read a magazine.
“Can I ask you something?” Sam said.
“Anything,” Drew replied with a distracted smile.
“It’s about Diego.”
Drew put the magazine down, giving Sam his full attention.
“What about him?”
“It’s been bothering me for a while, how the whole thing about who he is doesn’t make any sense. You said you met as teenagers on a message board.”
“I said I was a teenager when I met him on a message board. I never said he was.” Drew made a face. “I might have implied it, though.”
“Because, from his voice and his manner, I got the sense he was older.”
Drew was starting to look uncomfortable. “Sam, I get that you’re curious but Diego’s my friend and there are things I’ve promised not to tell.”
“What can you tell me?”
“I guess he was like a mentor to me. He guided me to the right path and helped me not make the same mistakes he had.”
“So he was a hacker.”
“If he was, it was a long time ago.”
“That house he had. That kind of thing wouldn’t come cheap.”
Drew waved that off. “He made his money a long time ago. Legitimately.”
“So what’s his deal with you? When Russell was making plans to pick you up, he went out of his way, took risks, to make sure we knew about it. And then he sends you Cora. That’s a lot of effort to go to, not to mention expense and risk, even if someone is your friend.”
Drew was quiet, staring down at his hands. “The whole thing that landed me the job in Russell’s company was his idea. And he encouraged me to take the position. He only found out later what Russ was really like. And he didn’t realize about the personal side of things, I kept that quiet.”
Sam relaxed, the situation finally making sense to him. “He felt guilty.”
“I guess. It wasn’t his fault but maybe he felt responsible for encouraging me and not doing his usual diligent checks on Russ. Though I’m not sure he’d have found anything even if he had.”
The second two weeks seem to rush by, the days falling on top of one another. Drew couldn’t remember a time when he felt so content. He and Sam talked, and worked, and played until he felt like he knew the other man like the back of his hand. Sam liked to teach, showing Drew some self-defense techniques. Drew liked to derail him now and then with a well-placed kiss or the press of their bodies together.
When Drew had pulled that trick one time too many, Sam picked him up and carried him across the room.
“You’re a brat, you know that? And I know just how to deal with brats.”
Sam put him over the back of the couch, his hands braced against the cushions, his feet a few inches off the floor. “Stay there, don’t move.”
With a huff of amusement, Drew pushed himself up on arms and turned to watch as Sam disappeared towards the bedrooms.
When he came back and caught sight of Drew, he shook his head. “I told you not to move.”
With a grumble, Drew laid himself back down. “You’re not going to spank me, are you? Because I’m so not into that.”
“Nope, just going to get your focus where it needs to be,” Sam replied.
“I don’t get it.”
“We’re never going to get anywhere if you keep getting distracted.”
“So how does putting me over the back of the couch help?”
“I thought it might get your attention.”
Sam’s hand rested against his lower back, slipping under his T-shirt and Drew all but sighed, feeling like his skin almost burned at the touch.
“You’ve got it.”
“Good. Here’s the deal. Each time you learn a new move, we get to have some fun. How’s that sound?”
“Fair. But how about now?” He wiggled a little, and Sam’s hand on his back slipped lower, stilling him.
“Now, we see if we can’t burn off some of that boundless energy you’ve got.”
“Not more jumping jacks,” he complained.
Sam’s hands on Drew’s waistband promised otherwise, drawing his sweats and boxers down. Drew barely had time to adjust to the cool air on his skin before a slick finger pressed against him, pushing inside.
He stopped squirming and held still.
“Do I have your attention again?”
“Oh, yeah. Don’t stop, please.”
Sam laughed and kept going, preparing him with strong fingers, pumping them in and out slowly while Drew held still, just feeling.
“Ready?” Sam asked finally, slipping his fingers free.
“I thought you’d never ask,” he replied, teasing Sam with another wiggle of his hips. There was the crinkle of a wrapper and then Sam’s broad, callused hands settled on Drew’s waist, holding him firmly in place as he pushed inside with a shallow thrust of his hips. Drew braced himself against the couch as Sam worked his way in, inch by inch, before stopping.
Drew had lifted his head, ready to complain again, when Sam pulled out and pushed back in, burying himself to the root in one thrust. Drew dropped his head with a gasp, his hands grabbed for purchase on the couch as Sam started up a fast, powerful rhythm, giving Drew everything he had.
Drew’s position over the back of the couch gave him no leverage, all he could do was take it, Sam’s body slapping against his, his hands tight against Drew’s hips.
Sam’s name slipped from his lips, again and again, as each thrust heightened the sensations, the need. Now that he had Sam, he wanted him every moment, his body craving all that power and strength wrapped up in a gentle caress and whispered words of love.
“Sam, I’m close,” he called, feeling from the change in rhythm that Sam was too. He needed something more to bring him over the edge, just one touch, one stroke.
Sam’s strong hands lifted his hips, shoving him forward so his thighs resting on the back of the couch, half his weight now on his arms where they pressed into the cushions. Then Sam’s hand was on him, callused palm stroking him in time with the next thrust. He did it again and again, and Drew was lost, coming with an incoherent cry as Sam thrust inside him. A squeeze of his body around Sam had him following a moment later, his hand flexing against Drew’s hip as he stilled.
They stayed like that for another few moments before Sam took a step back, slipping out of him. He was lifted up and set on his feet, bracing his hands against the back of the couch to hold him steady. Sam’s arms wrapped around him, holding him tight to Sam’s chest as he pressed hot kisses along his shoulder and neck.
“There,” Sam rumbled into his ear. “Maybe now we can get some work done.”
Drew huffed. “That wasn’t enough of a workout for you?”
They broke for lunch before Sam insisted they go back to their self-defense practice, despite Drew groaning and making faces at the prospect. It took two hours of trying the same move over and over again before Sam was happy Drew knew it.
“Okay, now it’s your turn.”
Drew paused, looking over at him. “My turn for what?”
“I said if you learned a move, we could have some fun. You’ve got the move down, so...”
He waited as Drew contemplated his offer before smiling back at him.
“Okay.”
“You know what you want to do?”
Drew nodded. “I want to kneel for you.”
Before Sam could ask what he meant, Drew was walking him back to stand against the wall and sinking to his knees on the floor, his hands on Sam’s pants, tugging them and his boxers down.
Sam could only watch, mesmerized, as Drew leaned in and peppered kisses along his shaft until he reached the tip. He glanced upward, his gaze meeting Sam’s for a moment, before he opened his mouth and took Sam inside.
Sam swallowed hard, bracing himself against the wall as the heat of Drew’s mouth settled around him. He knew what he was doing, taking Sam deeper within seconds, his tongue teasing Sam as his hands found Sam’s hips and held on.
It took all of Sam’s control not to thrust into that heat but he held firm, looking down at Drew’s head and watching as he pulled back and pushed closer, taking a little Sam deeper each time. He wasn’t going to last long, not with the way Drew’s talented mouth was working him.
One hand wrapped around him, as Drew pulled back, sealing his lips around Sam’s shaft and sucking with a quiet hum.
Sam let a hand leave the wall, his fingers reaching down to card through Drew’s hair, not pulling or pushing, just touching.
“Drew, I’m close,” he warned. If anything, it spurred Drew on, taking Sam deeper again, lips and tongue tight to him, until he came with a gasp, hips jerking rhythmically. Drew swallowed around him, not letting go or letting up as Sam sagged against the wall.
“Fuck, you’re amazing,” he whispered when he got his voice back.
Drew pulled away slowly, grinning up at him and wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve. You’re not the only one who read the manual.”
On their last day together, the last day for who knew how long, Sam appeared in the doorway to the bedroom, a pleased smile on his face. The first thing Drew noticed, after the smile, was the small wrapped package in his hand.
“I got something for you,” Sam said, adding, “close your eyes.”
Drew let them fall closed with a smile, hearing Sam move over to the window, where thin blinds filtered out the sunlight except for a broken one near the top.
“You can look now,” Sam said. Opening his eyes, he saw something glint in the air. Squinting and moving to the side, he realized what it was. A prism, dangling from the curtain rail. It sat at just the right height to catch the ray of sun that escaped in through the broken blind, painting a rainbow of color across the room’s plain walls.
His surprise became a smile, then a grin, then a laugh, when he pictured Morton’s face were he ever to return.
“It’s perfect,” he said, wrapping his arms around Sam. “I love it. I love you.”
The words slipped out unplanned, his feelings bursting through the shield he’d built to hold them down.
Sam laced the fingers of their hands together, lifting them high into the air. The light from the prism fell on them, dappling their skin with a riot of color. Drew felt like the burst of light and color mimicked his own feelings, doing their best to escape from his chest.
“I’ll wait for you,” Sam said, taking Drew’s other hand and placing it over his heart. “As long as it takes.”
“I’ll wait for you, too.” He was getting good at waiting.
Sam’s heart was beating away beneath his palm and he sighed, resting his head on Sam’s shoulder.
“I’m going to miss you, but I’m not sorry you’re going. Saving people is part of who you are. I don’t want to be the person you’re always rescuing. I want to be the person you come home to after. I want to be the constant, like the beat of your heart. When you need someone to be there for you, I want that to be me.”
He couldn’t be any clearer, the words falling easily from him.
Sam kissed his lips, his cheek, then, with his mouth pressed to Drew’s ear, he whispered to him, “I want that, too.”