Game Wardens: Jayme & Tripp

by Andria Large

  “To my room?”

  “No. Stay here with me.”

  “After the last time we slept in the same bed, I don’t trust myself.” He frowned. That’s all he needed was to wake up strangling Tripp again.

  “I trust you. It’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t know, Tripp...” he hedged, running a hand over his short hair.

  “Please stay with me.” Tripp pouted. He stuck his bottom lip out and everything.

  Jayme rolled his eyes. “Fine, but don’t complain when I kill you in my sleep.”

  Tripp chuckled, pulled him close, and kissed him softly on the lips. “I won’t cause I’ll be dead.”

  He snorted and tucked his face between Tripp’s and the pillow. Laying there wrapped around Tripp, he let himself pretend for a second that Tripp was more than just a fuck buddy. What was it about Tripp that made him want more? Was it just because it was new and exciting? Or did they share a real connection? How was he supposed to know for sure? Tripp was the first person he’d been with since Mallory. Should he be playing the field instead of latching onto one person? His stomach rolled nervously. No. He didn’t like that idea. He liked Tripp. More than just a friend, but he still wasn’t ready for another relationship. This was easy and uncomplicated as it was. He didn’t want to screw with that. Shit, he wasn’t even divorced yet.

  “Night,” Tripp whispered sleepily, bringing him out of his thoughts.

  “Goodnight.”

  He let his thoughts go, telling himself to live in the moment. No need to worry about the future just yet.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Jayme

  ABOUT A WEEK later, Jayme and Tripp were responding to a call about a coyote that had been terrorizing a normally quiet neighborhood. One person claimed it even snatched up her little Chihuahua, because she let the dog out to go to the bathroom and never saw it again. Jayme pulled the truck up to a slightly wooded area at the edge of the development where it was last seen.

  “It’s possible that it has rabies, be careful,” Jayme said.

  “Right,” Tripp replied.

  They both got out of the truck, and Tripp walked toward the bed to get out the pole. Jayme barely made it around to the passenger side of the truck, before the thing came darting out of the woods and was running straight for them.

  “Tripp!” he yelled as he hauled himself up onto the hood of the truck.

  “Oh shit!” Tripp yelped and swung one leg into the bed, but the coyote grabbed the other one before he could get it into the truck.

  Tripp’s pained cry made his stomach bottom out. He scrambled over the roof of the truck, and into the bed where he grabbed Tripp by his vest; making sure he wasn’t dragged completely out of the bed of the truck.

  “Shoot the fucking thing!” Tripp shouted as he clung to the edge of the truck bed.

  Jayme pulled his weapon and aimed. He was close enough that he could shoot it without worrying about hitting Tripp. He squeezed off two shots, and the animal immediately dropped. Tripp rolled into the bed of the truck with a curse.

  He holstered his weapon and turned to Tripp. “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not fucking okay, Jayme! I just got mauled by a coyote, who probably has rabies!”

  “You were not mauled. Did it get your skin or just your pants?”

  “No, Man! He had my leg in his mouth! His teeth were in my skin!” Tripp exclaimed.

  “Okay, okay. Calm down. Let me see.”

  He knelt next to Tripp’s left leg. He could see tears in the lower half of Tripp’s pant leg, right above his boot. Beyond the tears, he could see blood. Okay, it did get him.

  “Let me get my first aid kit, get you cleaned up; then I’ll take you to the hospital.”

  “Yeah, all right.”

  He called in what happened as he went and got his first aid kit from the back seat of the truck. He had just pulled off Tripp’s boot, when Brendan and Will pulled up. Jayme used the scissors in the kit to cut the bottom of his pants so he could see what he was working with.

  “Holy shit. Should we call an ambulance?” Brendan said as he came to stand at the side of the truck.

  “It’s not that bad,” Jayme said. “I’ll clean him up and take him to the hospital. Can you guys take care of the coyote? Make sure it gets tested for rabies.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Brendan answered.

  Brendan and Will took the coyote to their truck and Jayme cleaned up the puncture holes and a couple of tears on Tripp’s lower left leg. He was probably going to need some stitches and some ice, but overall, it could have been worse. He helped Tripp into the passenger seat after dressing the wounds, then took him to the hospital.

  They spent the next few hours there as Tripp got treated. He needed stitches for a few of the holes in his leg, and also a shot for the rabies. Plus, he was going to need to get four shots of the rabies vaccine over the next two weeks.

  Jayme and Tripp walked in their front door around the same time as if they had finished work. Tripp limped up the stairs mumbling about his ruined pants and needing to get changed. Jayme went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and an ice pack for him. He brought them out to the living room and set them on the coffee table. The doctor told Tripp to keep it iced and elevated for a couple of days to keep the swelling down.

  He hit his bedroom door just as Tripp stepped out of his. “Ice pack is on the coffee table for you. Go lay on the couch and put your foot up.”

  Tripp nodded and gingerly made his way down the stairs. Jayme got changed out of his work clothes, and into gym shorts and a T-shirt. He went downstairs to find Tripp on the couch with his foot propped up on a couple of pillows; with the ice pack on. He looked miserable. The doctor told him to stay out of work for the week, which he wasn’t happy about.

  Jayme walked over to him and smoothed his hair back from his forehead, then dropped a kiss on his lips. “How you feeling? Any pain?”

  “It’s throbbing, but it’s not painful really.”

  “That’s good, I guess.”

  “This sucks, Man. You’re gonna be partner-less for the whole week.”

  “I’ll survive.”

  “But what if something happens, and you need backup?”

  “That’s what I have a radio for.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Me either, but there’s nothing we can do about it. You need to heal.”

  Tripp growled and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Don’t pout. It doesn’t suit you.” He smirked and started for the kitchen. “I’m going to make dinner. How does taco’s sound?”

  “Delicious,” Tripp grumbled begrudgingly.

  He chuckled and went about making tacos for dinner.

  ~~~

  Jayme

  Jayme was sitting all alone in his truck. He’d come to realize over the past few days, that it was extremely boring without his partner sitting next to him. He drummed on the steering wheel to the beat of the music playing on the radio. He was more than halfway through his day, and it had been fairly slow.

  He had his truck sitting in a little hidey hole on the side of the road that was notorious for speeders. Most of the cars passing were doing about the speed limit, maybe a little higher, but nothing crazy. They all slowed down when they eventually saw him sitting there. Jayme was just about to leave, when a little gray Honda Civic zoomed by him. The radar on the dash had them going ninety.

  “Here we go,” he muttered to himself as he pulled onto the road, and flipped on his lights and siren.

  Jayme floored it, his big truck having some trouble catching up to the much quicker, smaller car. He eventually caught up and got them to pull over. He radioed it in, then he got out of the truck and walked over to the car.

  He stopped next to the driver’s window, one hand on the butt of his weapon; and tapped on the window with his knuckle. The driver, a young white male, looked at him, but didn’t roll down the window. He saw that there was a passenger too, another white mal
e who was a bit older than the driver.

  “Roll down the window,” Jayme said loudly.

  The kid cracked the window. Oh, this kid was going to be a problem, he could feel it.

  “I need your license and registration.”

  He watched with caution as the kid pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulled out the two things he needed; then fed them through the slit of the open window. Jayme clenched his teeth. This little fucker was pissing him off.

  “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back,” he said and walked back to his truck to run the license.

  Jayme just hopped into the driver’s seat, when that fucking asshole sped off.

  “Fuck!” he barked and slammed his truck into drive, and took off after them.

  He called it in, requesting for backup, as he floored it down the highway. They only got a few miles before there was a loud pop and one of the Civic's back tires blew out, making the driver lose control and careen off the side of the highway. The car skidded to a halt, right before smashing into the trees lining the side of the road. Jayme stopped his truck and got out. Gun drawn, he cautiously made his way to the driver’s side.

  Other units pulled up just as the driver’s side door opened and the kid stepped out. Jayme yelled at him to get on the ground and place his hands on his head. The kid hesitated, but eventually did as he was told. Knowing he had backup there with him, Jayme holstered his gun and pulled his handcuffs.

  Jayme knelt on the kid’s back and yanked one hand behind him. He was about to place the cuff on his wrist, when the kid started struggling. He twisted his body, throwing Jayme off of him. He held onto his one hand, but the guy was somehow able to swing his free arm around; catching Jayme in the right eye with his fist. He cursed and fought with the kid, trying to get that free arm under control. Matt appeared on the other side of them, and helped him get the fucker in cuffs.

  They hauled the kid to his feet, and Jayme took pleasure in slamming him face first against the side of the car. He roughly patted him down, where he found a bag of weed in his pocket. Turned out he also had a warrant out for his arrest, for missing a check in with his probation officer. The kid was in tons of trouble now. The other man in the car cooperated and was let go after they deemed that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

  Jayme handed the kid off to local police since it was their jurisdiction where the whole thing ended. He trudged back to his truck, where Brendan, Will, Matt, and Phil were standing waiting for him.

  “Oh man, look at that shiner,” Matt said.

  “Is it bad?” he asked.

  “It’s a little swollen and turning black and blue,” Will offered.

  “You should get some ice for it,” Brendan said.

  “I’ll stop back at the station and get some,” he replied with a nod.

  He looked at his reflection in the window of his truck. Shit. He definitely had a black eye. The whole area above and below his right eye was becoming discolored, and there was mild swelling above it, under his eyebrow.

  He headed back to the station and put some ice on his eye while he wrote out his report. When he was done writing his report, Sgt. Bernard told him to go home early. Jayme wasn’t complaining. His eye was throbbing, and he had a bit of a headache.

  He walked in the front door to find Tripp lounging on the couch in just a pair of gym shorts, while his bandaged leg rested on a pillow.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey, you’re home early...” Tripp replied, then glanced up from the TV. His eyes went wide, and he sprang up into a sitting position. “What the fuck happened to your eye?”

  Tripp shot to his feet and made his way over to Jayme, stopping in front of him.

  “I got punched in the face by a kid I was trying to handcuff,” he explained.

  “How the fuck did that happen? Were you alone? Was no one there to help you?” Tripp squawked.

  Jayme smirked which set Tripp off even more.

  “This isn’t fucking funny, Jayme! This is serious! You could have been seriously injured--“

  “Calm down, Tripp. I wasn’t alone. Matt came and helped me when the kid started to struggle. He just got in a good shot before Matt got there, that’s all. Relax.”

  “I should have been there,” Tripp mumbled and raked a hand through his hair.

  “It wouldn’t have made a difference.” He assured Tripp, patting him on the shoulder.

  “It might have,” Tripp argued defiantly.

  He rolled his eyes. “Okay.”

  “Go get changed, I’ll get you an ice pack,” Tripp said softly.

  He nodded and headed upstairs to get out of his work clothes. When he went back downstairs, Tripp was waiting for him on the couch with an ice pack. Tripp put a pillow in his lap and patted it. Jayme smiled and shook his head, but he went over and laid down on the couch with his head on Tripp’s lap. Tripp gently placed the ice pack on Jayme’s eye. He had to admit that he liked Tripp babying him a little bit. It wasn’t often that anyone babied him, it was kinda nice.

  “Tell me what happened?” Tripp asked.

  Jayme told him the whole story, while Tripp absentmindedly rubbed his chest. He yawned a few times while telling the story. Tripp was putting him to sleep with the rubbing. He took Tripp’s hand and laced their fingers together, otherwise he was going to fall asleep.

  Jayme took the now warm ice pack off his eye and tossed it onto the coffee table. He looked up at Tripp to find him scowling. He was pissed that he wasn’t there, and Jayme got hurt.

  “Don’t dwell on it, Tripp. It’s no big deal. It’s over and done with.”

  “What else is going to happen while I’m lying on the couch doing jack shit?”

  “You can’t worry about that. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”

  “It’s already driving me crazy and I have two more days of this shit.”

  “It’ll be over before you know it.”

  Tripp sighed in aggravation. Jayme patted his hand where it still rested on his chest, then sat up. “I’m going to make dinner.”

  “Okay.”

  He gave Tripp a quick kiss on the lips before leaving him on the couch, while he went into the kitchen to start making dinner.

  ~~~

  Tripp

  By the end of the week, Tripp was going fucking stir crazy. He couldn’t take the sitting around all day while Jayme was at work. It was Friday, July 27th. Jayme was at court having his divorce officially finalized. He planned to take Jayme out to celebrate when he got home.

  He was doing his hair when Jayme appeared behind him in the mirror, looking sexy as fuck in his suit. The only thing marring his appearance, was the fading black eye he had. Jayme blatantly looked him over. Tripp was wearing a white button down with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and faded jeans with tears in the knees.

  “You look nice. Going somewhere?” Jayme asked, and he could hear the hint of jealousy in his tone.

  “Yes. We’re going out. Go get changed.”

  “We’re going out?” Jayme replied, eyebrow cocked.

  “Yes, get moving.”

  “Any special reason?”

  “I’m fucking bored, and you’re now divorced. Is that a good reason?”

  “I guess.” Jayme smirked.

  “Yeah! Come on, let’s go celebrate.”

  He finished with his hair and washed the product off his hands. He looked at Jayme through the mirror to find him checking out his ass.

  He grinned. “I know my ass is fine, if you go get ready maybe I’ll let you fuck me later.”

  Jayme growled, gave his ass a swat, then left to go get himself ready.

  Tripp put on a pair of brown ankle boots, then headed downstairs to wait for Jayme. He planned to take Jayme to one of the gay clubs in downtown Austin. He was sure Jayme had never been to one, and he was in the mood to dance.

  His leg was doing really well. He wasn’t even limping anymore. The doctor gave him the go ahead to go back to work on Monday. He was very
fucking glad. He hated staying home while Jayme went to work without him.

  Jayme came downstairs a half hour later dressed in snug fitting black jeans, and a black V-neck T-shirt with black boots to finish off his outfit. He looked fucking sexy as hell, and Tripp fought the urge to tear the clothes off of him; and fuck him there in the living room.

  “Where are we going?” Jayme asked.

  “Rain,” he answered.

  “Rain? Isn’t that a gay club?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oookay. I’ve never been to a gay club.”

  “It’s fun. I think you’ll like it.”

  Jayme shrugged. “If you say so. I’m ready when you are.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  Jayme chuckled as he led the way to his truck. “You’re really antsy, aren’t you?”

  “Dude, you have no idea.” He scoffed as they got into the truck.

  Tripp drove them to Rain and found a parking spot. It was fairly early and there were plenty of spots open. He also figured he’d ease Jayme into it, get them started early when it wasn't super crowded. Plus, he wanted to catch the drag show that started in fifteen minutes.

  They found a table for two and ordered a drink. He was driving, so he wasn’t going to have more than two. Drunk Jayme sounded like fun though. Jayme surveyed the place as he took a sip of his beer. The dance floor in the center of the room lit up and changed colors. Tables surrounded it, and maybe about half of them had people at them. Music played in the background. He was sure it would get louder as the night went on, and the dancing started.

  “You’re gonna dance with me, right?” he asked, hooking his foot around Jayme’s calf under the table.

  Jayme chuckled quietly and shook his head. “I don’t dance.”

  “Aw, come on. For real?”

  “Nope. You will not catch me dead out on the dance floor.”

  “That’s bullshit. What about if your drunk?”

  Jayme smirked. “If I’m drunk? Then you might be able to get me to stand out there with you.”

  He snorted. “I guess I’ll take what I can get. I’ll just use you as a pole.”