When the Dead Speak

by Bailey Bradford

  It was an intimacy Sev hadn’t often experienced, yet he could deny Laine nothing—and denying himself this sensual torment was out of the question. As Laine’s tongue fucked him, twirling and curling around the rim of his entrance, Sev’s inner muscles rippled, his dick responding by filling in a dizzying rush. Laine worked Sev’s ring until Sev was near mindless, a babbling and incoherent pile of burning need. He might have begged, pleaded even, but Sev didn’t care, and when Laine finally rose up and pulled off his own clothes, the grateful sob that slipped past Sev’s lips didn’t embarrass him at all.

  Sev gripped the backs of his thighs and pulled his legs to his chest, then Laine was rolling a condom down his thick dick. A smearing of lube followed before Laine dropped down over Sev and lined his cock up to Sev’s hole. Another strangled sound burst free, telling of Sev’s aching need, as Laine began to fill him. Laine took his time, working his length in so slowly Sev wanted to shout in frustration, except it felt too good to change it.

  Once he was fully buried inside Sev, Laine brought a hand to Sev’s cheek and forced Sev to meet his molten gaze.

  “You need to understand something, Sev.” Laine’s eyes seemed to see into Sev’s soul, and he couldn’t stop the shudder that worked through him. “I think you believe that I still love Conner—ah, not a word. I will always love him, that’s true, but Conner is dead. I know that, I accepted it a long time ago. But you—”

  Laine moved his hips, small movements from side to side that completely stole Sev’s ability to speak.

  “You are right here, right now, and I want you more than I have ever wanted anybody. Anybody, Sev.” Laine’s eyes seemed to flash, something showing in them that Sev couldn’t comprehend, then it was gone and Laine began pounding into him. He pushed Sev’s hands away and held his thighs, leaving Sev to scramble for something to grasp.

  Laine’s forearms bulged with restrained strength, and Sev gripped them, holding on as the force of Laine’s thrusts increased. Sev’s orgasm slammed into him, the intensity of it whiting out his vision as bursts of semen hit his stomach and chest. Laine groaned then roared, the sound exploding in the room as he rammed his shaft home, filling Sev as he filled the condom.

  The sounds of completion—heavy breaths and sweat-slick bodies pressing against each other—seemed amplified to Sev, but not nearly as loud as his heartbeat drumming in his ears. As his vision cleared, so did Sev’s mind, and he knew that he’d just been claimed, his body owned and tamed by this one man. No one else would ever make him feel what this man could. Sev didn’t even want to consider letting anyone else try—and that scared the pleasurably sated feeling right out of him.

  * * * *

  Darkness had long fallen over McKinton by the time he pulled his car around the back of an abandoned gas station at the edge of town. Not that anyone was out and about, but he’d learned over the years that paranoia paid off. Good thing none of the toys ever figured that out, though it would make the game so much more interesting. Interesting was fine and good, but Laine Stenley’s three-year disappearing act, that was unforgivable.

  Not that he’d been worried. He’d never doubted that Laine’s escape would be anything other than a brief respite for the man. Actively looking for Laine had been a risk he hadn’t been willing to take. Besides, he knew Laine was his, had never doubted that someday Laine would find a way back to him. His patience had paid off, and now he was eager to claim what belonged to him.

  As he opened the door and slid out of his car, the dome light disabled because he wasn’t a careless idiot, he thought about all the ways he would make Laine pay for breaking the rules of the game.

  Chapter Six

  Laine was still fretting over that look he’d seen flit across Sev’s face last night when he’d walked through the door of the Sheriff’s Department. As usual, Doreen was already at her desk, phone pressed to her ear. Laine tipped his head in greeting and started to walk past her, stopping at the side of her desk when he heard Doreen’s part of the conversation.

  “Edward, you know how small-town gossips are. Rumors are the life’s blood of places like McKinton!” Doreen’s face pinched in disapproval over whatever the voice on the other side of the line was saying and Laine’s stomach took a sharp dive. Edward could only be Mayor Edward Jeffries, Laine’s boss. The man also happened to be Doreen’s brother-in-law, having been married to Doreen’s sister Mona for several years now. Doreen’s link to the mayor had benefited Laine at times when he and Edward didn’t see eye to eye. Doreen had always staunchly supported him, but whether that was because Laine was her boss or her friend, he didn’t know.

  “No, you will not jump to any conclusions based on innuendo! I don’t care who contributes to your campaign or how much they contribute, if you do something rash…” Doreen’s eyes took on an evil gleam. “Did you know Mona used to date Chad Easton, the news anchor for channel six in Dallas, before she married you? I bet a story on small-town bigotry would get a lot of coverage—”

  Laine felt frozen in place, though his legs seemed curiously gelatinous. He’d known the risks when he’d decided to take Sev home with him, but the reality of his fears coming to fruition, and in less than twenty-four hours, was still a shock.

  Doreen jerked the phone away from her ear at the mayor’s retort then hung the phone up. She turned to Laine and shook her head. “My sister married an idiot.”

  “Doreen…”

  “Now, now, Sheriff, why don’t you go sit down and I’ll bring you a cup of coffee and then we’ll talk.” Doreen was already stepping away from her desk when she spun around and grabbed a stack of pink messages. “Oh! You might want to go through these, but this one, the one on top, it’s from a Detective Montoya out of Houston PD. He called early this morning, said it wasn’t urgent, but since we’ve never gotten a call from Houston PD, I kind of wondered, you know? Isn’t that where you came to us from?”

  Laine managed a nod and forced his legs to carry him to his office. He heard the front door opening, and a few seconds later, Deputy Matt Nixon stepped into Laine’s office.

  “Morning, Sheriff, everything okay?” Nixon’s eyes were serious, his normally jovial demeanor absent as he studied Laine.

  “I guess so, Matt, why?” Laine stopped himself from tapping his fingers on the desk, his nerves spiking the longer Nixon kept up his inspection.

  “Well, there seems to be some talk.” He shrugged and gave Laine a slight grin, a bare tip of his lips. “I just thought that, I don’t know, you should know there are people who support you whether the rumors flying around are true or not. You’re a great sheriff.” The last sentence came out gruff and tinted Nixon’s cheeks pink. Laine let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.

  “Thank you, Matt. That…that means a lot.” Laine felt his own cheeks heat. The resulting awkward silence was broken by Doreen’s entrance, two steaming mugs of coffee in her hands.

  “All right, boys, here’s your coffee.” Doreen sat Laine’s on his desk then turned back to hand Nixon his cup of coffee. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

  Nixon was used to Doreen’s blunt nature. He smiled, bringing up dimples on his cheeks, and winked at her. “Well, I had to hang around here to see you first, now, didn’t I, Doreen?”

  Doreen snorted and swatted at him. “Go on and take your flirting butt off. See if you can find someone that stuff works on!”

  “Now, Doreen—”

  “Now, Deputy Nixon! Go uphold the law before I take your coffee away!”

  Nixon laughed and gave Doreen a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am. Sheriff, if there’s anything I can do…”

  “I’ll let you know. Thanks again, Matt.” The knowledge that one of his deputies had his back made Laine feel a little better, until Doreen returned from shutting the door and pulled the chair closer to Laine’s desk. A quiver of fear spread through him at the serious look on Doreen’s face.

  “You know that was Edward.”

  It wasn’t a question, but Lain
e nodded anyway.

  “Well, I guess there are rumors going around that you took some man home with you last night—”

  Laine put up his hand to stop her. “Those aren’t rumors, Doreen. I did bring Severo Robledo to my place last night, but I didn’t know what else to do with him.” This was partially true—Laine hadn’t thought leaving Sev at the hotel was a good idea, and he didn’t want to endanger anyone else. Doreen didn’t need to know that Laine had wanted the man more than his next breath.

  “He’s the man who was attacked at the hotel? I thought that was who it might be.” Doreen studied her nails for a moment before she looked up again. “He told me yesterday that he’s gay. Just tossed it right out there. You think that has anything to do with what happened to him?”

  Sev had told Doreen? Oh. Probably when he was telling on Irma. Least I hope that’s why. “We don’t know what happened at the hotel, which is why I couldn’t let him go back there, and the only friends I have are Zeke and Brendon. I wasn’t going to ask them to put up someone who might bring trouble to them. They’ve had more than enough trouble as it is.”

  Doreen clucked her tongue at him and reached over the desk to pat his hand. “Sheriff, you don’t have any idea just how many friends you have, do you?”

  Well, he thought he did, but Doreen was intimating he was wrong.

  “Laine, there are more people in this town who’d help you out than not, and that’s something I am going to make sure Edward is aware of. That man’s a fool, and if there was any other reason for you taking that man home, it isn’t anybody’s business but yours and his.”

  The kindness showing in Doreen’s eyes was his undoing. Laine slumped in his chair and placed his hands in his lap, studying his fingers intently. “I don’t think… I don’t think I’d have many supporters if people found out I’m gay, Doreen.”

  Laine heard Doreen’s chair slide back and figured he’d just lost one of said supporters, but instead, she came to his side and squatted down, her hands reaching into his lap to hold his trembling ones.

  “Look at me, Laine.” She waited until Laine met her gaze. “You think people haven’t talked before? Haven’t suspected, especially with how close you are to Zeke and Brendon?” Doreen shushed him when he opened his mouth to speak. “Now, I ain’t saying a straight man can’t have gay friends, but this is McKinton, and sure, Zeke and Brendon have more friends than they’d ever thought, but no one as close as you. There ain’t anyone who would defend them two like you would and everyone knows it, and most people accept it. Just because you haven’t said the words doesn’t mean a lot of people don’t know, whether they’ve admitted it or not.”

  Doreen’s words and the sincerity with which she spoke them eased some of the tension coiling Laine’s body. He squeezed her hands briefly, an unspoken thank you, then Doreen let go of him and rose.

  “You deserve to be happy, Sheriff. I think you can do that and keep your job, though I won’t tell you there won’t be problems. People like me and Nixon, and of course Zeke and Brendon, along with a whole passel of other folks, will do everything we can to help you out.”

  Laine felt the bizarre urge to laugh at the choice of words as Doreen left his office. He had the feeling people were going to help him out in more ways than one.

  The note from Detective Montoya fluttered across Laine’s desk at the same moment he felt the presence in the room. Feeling a little foolish, Laine glanced around then watched the paper swishing back and forth in the air right in front of his face.

  “Is that you, Conner? You trying to tell me something? I really don’t think I need the information on Sev that I asked Montoya for, ya know.”

  The pink slip started spinning furiously, a mind-boggling sight at one time but Laine was not as thrown by it as he had been at first.

  “All right, then.” Laine stuck out his hand, palm up. “Let me have it.” The paper floated down into his hand and a silly thought struck him. “You know, if I could just get you to bring me coffee when I need it, now…”

  His hat was tipped off backwards and his hair ruffled, then Laine was left alone. He wondered briefly at the sudden departure then reached for the phone. He had one quick, he hoped, call to make then he would tell Montoya he knew what he needed to about Severo Robledo.

  “Good morning, Sherry. Can you put me through to Mayor Jeffries?” Laine tapped the desktop as he waited for the mayor to pick up the call. No matter what, he was determined not to lose his temper with the man.

  “Stenley? What’s with the gossip I’ve been hearing about you…you being, you know?”

  Laine felt his lip curl at the mayor’s tone, and his apparent inability to say the word gay. Far be it from him to help the fool out. “No, I don’t know, Mayor Jeffries, but—”

  “Like your friends! Zeke Mathers and his, uh, partner.” The relief at finding a suitably unsexual word was evident in the mayor’s gleeful tone. Something about that tone had a feeling of calm filling Laine. He eased back in his chair and propped his booted feet up on the desk, crossing his legs at the ankles.

  “Well, now, I don’t see as how anything about my personal life is your business, Jeffries, and if I were to listen to the town gossips about you, I might think you’re screwing around on your wife with one of the waitresses at Virginia’s. Lotta gossip about that, rumors and such, but my momma raised me better than that, you know?” It wasn’t a threat, and it also wasn’t a rumor that Laine had paid particular attention to, but he had heard it. The fact that Doreen hadn’t gone after Jeffries meant either she hadn’t heard the rumor, or she knew Jeffries was innocent. If the mayor wanted to keep his privates intact, he’d best be innocent.

  Indignant sputtering was the only reply Laine got before Jeffries got off the phone. He couldn’t help smirking a bit. Let the man see what it felt like to have someone pry into his private life. At least what Laine and Sev were doing wasn’t going to hurt anyone else. Laine had no other lovers, and he was certain that Sev wasn’t in a relationship, either.

  The matter settled for now, Laine dropped his feet back to the floor and stretched his arms, arching his back to work out the kinks. As comfortable as he was going to get for now, Laine went ahead and called his former partner at the Houston PD. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or not when he got Rich’s voicemail.

  * * * *

  Warm sheets and a comfortable mattress were all the encouragement Sev needed to stay in bed, dozing off shortly after Laine left for work. His body pleasantly sore, Sev pushed away thoughts and worries over what was happening between him and the sheriff, choosing instead to replay numerous erotic memories of their shared loving. Images of Laine’s big dick, glistening beads of pre-cum coating the bulbous head, had Sev’s dick hard and straining for relief. He’d just reached down and fisted his shaft when the buzzing started in his head, the plea for him to listen.

  If he didn’t know better, he’d swear Conner was deliberately interrupting. But he’d learned through the years that ghosts couldn’t see, not physically. They seemed to exist on an emotional plane, reacting to deep-rooted emotions and needs. But it sure had seemed like Conner had been looking at him yesterday, and Sev had never known a ghost to take on a form like Conner had, either. Not to mention the whole freeze-Sev’s-balls-off incident. Maybe he didn’t know quite as much about ghosts as he’d thought. Then again, since they were so responsive to strong emotions, maybe that was why Conner was making such intense appearances. Sev and Laine had to have been sending out some decidedly strong and horny emotions, at the hotel and here in this house.

  The buzzing intensified and Sev let down his guard enough that Conner could speak to him. Ignoring him wasn’t an option, not after nearly freezing to death yesterday. Sev had no doubt it was an accident, but the urgency he sensed in Conner at this moment was tantamount to what it had been in the motel room. There was no sense in risking a desperate bid for attention from an impetuous ghost.

  “What is it, Conner?” Sev started to sit
up in the bed only to find himself held down by an invisible force. Panic kicked in and Sev began to struggle. “What the hell? What are you doing?” A prickle of cold brushed across his forehead and Sev stilled, closing his eyes and reaching out with his senses. The warning from Conner slammed into his mind, clear and stark. Danger. He’s here—outside!

  With a sudden clarity, Sev knew who ‘he’ was. The man who’d come for Laine wasn’t some ex-con with a grudge—he was the same man who had killed Conner. Terror unlike anything he had known filled Sev. He damn sure didn’t want to die, and especially not like that. Even more so, though, he didn’t want Laine to ever have to experience such a thing again. Finding his new lover dead and butchered would surely push the man over the edge.

  “What do I do? Help me, Conner, please, don’t let this happen to Laine again!” Sev’s hair was pushed off his forehead then he felt a nudge. A quick glance informed him that the curtains over the window were drawn, but there was an inch or so where the material gaped open, certainly enough for someone to see into the room. Sev scooted to the edge of the bed, never looking away from that gap until he quietly tumbled to the floor.

  Uncaring of his nudity, he crawled to the door and, with one last look backward, turned the knob and hurried into the hallway. Back braced against the wall and his knees pulled up to his chest, Sev considered his options. The guest room was almost directly across from him, but were the curtains pulled? Would he open that door only to find a sociopath peering in at him? Sev shuddered at the thought, sure his heart would just up and stop right then if that happened. There was another door that Sev suspected was a linen closet—not a good spot for him to hide. A tug on his hair had him looking up, and Sev spied a panel in the ceiling. Of course Conner would suggest the attic, but there’s no way that wouldn’t make a lot of noise!