by Leta Blake
Grant tugged at the button and zipper of Leo’s jeans, getting his hand around Leo’s fat cock. He pumped it hard as they kissed, going immediately to the rhythm that he now knew Leo liked best. He murmured against Leo’s mouth, “That’s good, Leo, come on, I’ve got you, come on now.”
Just as Leo tensed, and Grant knew he was about to come, Grant ducked down and covered Leo’s cockhead with his mouth, sucking and swallowing as Leo pumped out thick spurts. Leo’s fingers curled and pulled at Grant’s hair, and his stomach clenched under Grant’s hand.
“Oh, God,” Leo panted, flopping back against the table.
Grant crawled up, kissed his mouth, sharing his taste, and then straddled Leo’s chest.
“Suck me,” he murmured, unzipping his pants, and shoving them down on his hips. His cock bounced against his stomach, but Grant gripped it in his right hand, twined his left in Leo’s hair, and lifted Leo’s head up from the table a little.
“Open,” he said, and Leo’s wide eyes went hot again. He opened his lips and let Grant nudge his cock inside his hot, wet mouth.
Leo sucked cock so well that Grant wasn’t sure he’d ever had it as good. And Grant had plenty of men’s mouths to compare Leo’s to, but no one had ever sucked cock like Leo. H moaned and groaned like he was on the verge of coming himself, just from the taste of Grant’s dick on his tongue.
As Grant leaned up and forward, pushing back and down. Leo’s throat opened around him and squeezed against the head of his dick as Leo swallowed. Leo’s hard-won breath sucked past the tip of his cock, and Leo’s eyes rolled up as he held Grant so deep.
“Yes, baby. That’s it.”
Leo pressed his tongue out until the tip of it brushed Grant’s balls, tantalizing and slow. Grant bit down on his lip, trying to rein in the need to slam into Leo’s mouth hard and fast. He held Leo’s hair as he fucked his throat, backing off when Leo gagged, and then slowly easing in again, dragging it out, making it last because it was so fucking good when Leo took him this way, when Leo opened up and let him in.
The table beneath them creaked with their movements. Leo’s hands grabbed Grant’s ass, pulling him in deeper. His fingers dipped into Grant’s crack to run over his hole in tantalizing brushes that only made it better.
Grant pulled back, let Leo suck on the head of his cock, and then slid all the way in, throwing his head back and giving himself up to the feeling.
“I’m gonna come,” Grant said, grabbing a napkin from where it was about to fall off the edge of the table. He thrust into Leo’s mouth hard and then pulled back to fuck the tip of his cock through Leo’s tightened lips quickly. The suction was amazing and Leo’s tongue flicked over the head at each thrust in.
Grant panted and fought hard to last just a little longer, but Leo’s eager groans were just too fucking hot.
“I love you,” Grant said, surprised that he wanted to say it with Leo’s mouth working him over.
Leo’s eyes were so hot, dark, and wide that Grant felt like he was falling into them. He pumped again and again, the head of his cock slamming through Leo’s lips. He pulled Leo’s hair as the orgasm built, using his grip to jerk Leo’s face away from his cock. Grant covered himself with the rough napkin as he came and came, shaking and grunting, his eyes rolled back and his hand still buried in Leo’s hair.
“Holy hell,” Grant muttered, rocking down from the high to collapse against Leo’s chest, rubbing his cheek against Leo’s soft T-shirt. “That was so good.”
Leo kissed the top of Grant’s head softly.
Grant sighed, pulled away, got his pants back up and Leo’s, too, before collapsing back down on the table, rattling the mugs and plate that were barely hanging on to the edge. It was a good thing the table was so big and strong, or they might have broken it in their enthusiasm.
“I wanted to swallow it.” Leo pouted, his lips red and bruised looking. “You never let me swallow it anymore.”
“You already know why. It’s high in phosphorus,” Grant said, slipping a hand under Leo’s T-shirt to finger his chest hair and draw rings around his nipples. “And thus not on your special diet.”
Leo groaned and closed his eyes, muttering, “Some day.”
Grant kissed Leo’s eyelids. “Yeah, some day.”
“When are we going to get up?” Leo asked.
“When I can breathe again?” Grant said. “Why? Are you uncomfortable?”
“My doctor’s going to wonder where I got all these bruises,” Leo said, holding Grant as they panted together. “My spine must be covered with them.”
“Just tell him that you like it rough.”
Leo chuckled. “Yeah, I can just imagine that conversation now.”
Leo’s cell phone rang, a ring tone that Grant recognized as Meryl calling. “Don’t get it,” Grant said. “Let it go to voicemail.”
“It’s my mother. It might be important. I have to take it.”
“Oh, hell,” Grant muttered, moving out of Leo’s way so that he could get up. His hips and elbows ached from the quickie on the table, and he stood up creakily.
Leo got his pants zipped up and got to his cell phone just in time. He grabbed Grant’s hand, though, and kissed Grant’s fingers, before turning his attention away. “Mom? Hey, what’s up?”
During the long pause, Leo’s expression lifted from blissed-out mellow to something like shining joy. “Really? Where was she? I can’t believe it. When was this?”
Leo turned to Grant and said, “This is important. I’m going to take this out on the porch, okay?”
Grant nodded, cracking his back, and waving him off with his hand. He’d just had a mind-blowing orgasm, plus he had cookies and cold tea that he could heat up. He knew where Leo kept the milk and the pie if he wanted some. He was good to go.
Grant wiped down the table with an antibacterial wipe as he warmed up his mug. He got five more cookies from the jar, leaving three for Lucky. She was small. She didn’t need as many cookies as he did.
He bit into one and moaned softly. They were so soft and delicious. He wished he knew how Leo had the power to make them taste this way. These were Leo’s Memaw’s recipe, as was the pie. It was something that Grant admired, how the Garners seemed to really value food and family.
“Hey,” Lucky’s voice came from the stairway separating the kitchen from the living room.
Grant turned toward her. “Shouldn’t you be in bed, carrot?” He hoped she hadn’t been there long, because if she had, then Leo was going to be facing some awkward questions. Assuming she saved them for Leo.
Grant cleared his throat, feeling a little anxious and sweaty at the thought of having to explain why he’d been shoving his penis into her daddy’s mouth. Now that he thought about it, that had been pretty reckless. They should have kept it behind closed doors—with a lock.
Lucky asked, “Dr. Grant, will I ever see my Papa again?”
“Your—oh, well, I don’t—it’s, I…” Grant ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. “How long has it—I mean, I think you should ask Leo that, don’t you?”
Lucky fiddled with the edge of her nightgown. “It makes him sad. I don’t like to make Daddy sad. He used to always look sad.” She sat down on the steps, not coming to join him at the table. “Did you know that when he was in LA, he cried sometimes? He’d hold me and cry.”
Grant felt a low simmer of rage begin again; the idea of Leo in LA crying alone, while poor Lucky was in the middle of it? It was more than he could stand.
“I didn’t know,” Grant said.
“Papa was gone a lot. It scared me.”
“It sounds…scary.”
“Daddy hasn’t cried since he met you,” Lucky said. “And I like how you make him laugh by being mean. When Papa was mean, it never made him laugh.”
“You know too much for a five-year-old,” Grant said.
“I know. Mrs. Franklin says that all the time.”
“No,” Grant said, standing up and going to sit next to
her on the stair, squeezing in beside her so that she was half on his lap. “Mrs. Franklin is an idiot. And that’s not what I meant. I just mean that you’re a little girl, and you should think about little girl things.”
“Okay. Like wanna pretend I’m Medusa and you’re Perseus, and you’ve come to cut off my head, but this time I freeze you and turn you into stone?”
Grant sighed, put his hand on Lucky’s head, and said, “But then who will save Andromeda?”
Lucky puckered her lips, thinking. “Sometimes good people die. That’s just the way it is.”
• • •
Present
Leo was seizing on the table, and he was still open, they hadn’t even had time to get him closed. They pushed meds faster than Grant could begin to understand what was going on.
“Let me go,” Grant said, and he didn’t recognize his own voice.
“No, Grant, you’ve got to calm down first. They’ll get it under control. He’s going to be—”
“Shut up!” Grant said. “He’s not having a reaction to the anesthesia; it’s a CNS infection, the immunosuppressant, it’s—do they not understand what’s going on?”
“Grant, calm down, or I’ll have you put down with a sedative.”
Grant shoved Dennis hard, nearly toppling him over. “Just you try.”
“Grant!” Alec’s voice cut through, high pitched and sharp. “What is going on in here?”
And then Alec made a strange noise, and he was in Grant’s arms, holding him, squeezing him so tight Grant hoped he could keep him from turning inside out. He clenched Alec hard enough to hear him gasp, but he didn’t let go.
“It’s going to be okay,” Alec murmured breathlessly.
“Don’t lie to me,” Grant said, starting to push him away. He didn’t want that. He needed better than a lie to keep himself from going into that OR and taking over himself.
Alec clung to him. “Okay, okay. Just, shh. You can’t help him this way. Calm down. Grant, he’s gonna need you to stay sane, all right? Breathe for me. Breathe.”
Grant looked into Alec’s glitter-dusted eyes and took a long breath in, and then let it out; it sounded embarrassingly like a sob.
“That’s it, that’s good,” Alec said, running his hands up and down Grant’s arms. “Just look at you. Such a wreck. Welcome to the human race, Grant. It’s tough stuff.”
If this was the human race, if this was love and weakness, Grant really didn’t think he was built for it. All of these emotions, all of this fear, it was too much for him. He hated it. He wanted it gone. But he wanted Leo more.
“What if he—”
Alec shook his head firmly and clenched Grant’s forearms. “Don’t. Stop right there, mister. You can’t think those kinds of things.”
But he couldn’t stop his mind from finishing the thought. His chest grew so tight with fear that he started hyperventilating again. He recognized the symptom, knew he needed to get it under control, but he couldn’t regulate his breathing.
“Oh, baby,” Alec said, putting his arms around him again. “Shhhh. Breathe. Breathe. He’s in excellent hands.”
Muresan was a hack. Grant knew that now; he should never have trusted him. He should have insisted that they bring in someone else. Someone better. He tried to turn toward the glass again, to look down at Leo, but Alec jerked his arms, making him face him. “Don’t,” he said. “Just stay focused on me right now.”
“Is it still bad?” Grant asked.
“He’s stopped seizing,” Dennis said, glancing over his shoulder. “They’re getting him closed up now. Once they get him out of the OR, we’ll see what’s what. He’s going to be—”
“Say it again, and I’ll kill you myself.”
Chapter Thirteen
Six Months Ago
“Hannah’s a match?” Leo said. He sounded uncertain, like he couldn’t even believe it. “And you’re sure?”
“Yes, sugar-butt. Of course I’m sure. Your mother and father have her at the hospital now, detoxing and getting well enough for the surgery,” Marie said, patting her gun like a habit. “And after all of that mess with that woman in Connecticut and her damaged kidneys, it’s good to not get our hopes up in vain this time.”
Little Apron was bustling with patrons and Grant glanced around to see who all was listening. He knew Blountville, and everything they talked about tonight would be fodder for gossip tomorrow. He could hear it now: Leo Garner’s little sister was giving him a kidney in exchange for him raising her kid. Grant didn’t want that version of the story getting back to Lucky.
“Can you believe she was living in that hovel in New York? It was disgusting, let me tell you. I wouldn’t have even believed it, if I hadn’t seen it for my own self,” Marie said, resting her hand on her sidearm.
“It’s a good thing Dad and Mom got there,” Leo said. “It sounds like it was just in time.”
“There was a pig living in the apartment, sugar-butt. An actual pig. It was one of her roommate’s pets. I use both the words ‘roommate’ and ‘pet’ loosely, if you get what I’m saying.”
“Gives Hell’s Kitchen a whole new meaning,” Grant said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“Grant,” Leo said softly.
“But the real question is, are her kidneys of any use?” Grant asked. “Drugs and healthy organs don’t always go hand in hand.”
Leo sounded sick when he interjected, “Grant, please. I don’t want to even talk about that. I don’t care about me right now. I’m just scared for Hannah. Is she okay? Is this completely voluntary, Memaw? Because I won’t take her kidney if she doesn’t want to give it to me.”
Grant interrupted, “You might not care about yourself right now, but that’s all I care about. I don’t give a rat’s ass about your sister’s state of mind, or even about the validity of her consent. You will take this kidney and you will not think twice about that, do you understand?”
Leo’s eyes took on a rare, angry glow.
Grant leaned forward, ready to press the point more if need be. It was essential that Leo accept the kidney.
“Well said,” Marie said. “I agree wholeheartedly, Doc.”
“How can you say that?” Leo asked, looking around, probably gauging how many people were eavesdropping, too. It had to be the entire restaurant at this point. “You’re a doctor, Grant. You know what’s at stake here if there’s been coercion—”
“There’s been no coercion,” Marie said. “Hannah is very willing—eager even—to give her brother the help he needs. She wants to see you to tell you so herself.”
Leo shook his head, breathing in through his nose. His mouth was set in a sad line. “Why do I doubt that? It’s all my fault,” he said. “I should have looked out for her better in LA; I should have known what was going on, made her get help, made her get clean.”
Grant scoffed. “No one gets clean unless they’re both determined and damned lucky.”
Leo’s jaw set tightly, and he glared at Grant. “You don’t even know her. She’s my baby sister, and I love her.”
Grant cleared his throat and glanced at Marie, who was obviously very curious about just how Grant planned to handle Leo’s anger.
“Yes, yes, of course. I understand. She’s your sister. And you should love her. I get that. I just don’t get why that means I have to think she’s not exactly what she is: a drug addict who left her kid with you, went missing for a few years, worried her family sick, including you, and now suddenly wants to buy back everyone’s affection and trust with a kidney for her big brother. Love her all you want, Leo. It doesn’t change who she is.”
“Grant. You know nothing about her. You have no idea what she’s been through, or—”
“Oh, I think I do, pretty much the same as what you’ve been through, sans being, oh, gay and undergoing a heart transplant, and losing function of both kidneys, too, so I don’t see what excuse—”
“You! You are such a jerk!” Leo tossed his napkin on the table
and stormed out of the restaurant, leaving everyone gaping in his wake, and walking out into the rain without his umbrella.
Grant got up to go after him, but Marie grabbed his hand. “Well, you made a mess of that one, Doc. But give him a minute or twenty to cool off. You’ll just make it worse right now. He needs to deal with this. On his own.”
Grant was skeptical. Leo might interpret Grant not coming after him to mean that Grant didn’t care, but he sank down into the chair, feeling the stares in the room boring into him.
“Well, I guess there is more than one way to announce that Leo Garner and I are a serious item. Personally, I’d just planned on holding his hand through thick and thin, for all the world to see, going to all the local weddings together, and maybe marrying him one day, but I guess having him throw a fit on me in public is just as good.”
“That’s right, Doc. There is more than one way to skin that cat,” Marie whispered conspiratorially. “If you wanted to make for even more rumors, you could begin to sob into your wine glass while I console you. It would be the talk of the hospital tomorrow. Just imagine how much money will exchange hands if they see you cry.”
Grant couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, I already know there’s a pool for how long it will be before Leo dumps me.”
“Oh, well, don’t worry. Tonight doesn’t count. I’m sure you’ll have it made up by morning.” Marie patted Grant’s shoulder with a firm hand.
“And if we don’t?” Grant said.
Marie smiled and patted her gun again. Her accent was a bit thicker as she laid it out. “Tonight you’ll go to him and you tell him that you’re sorry, that of course his sister is an amazing, generous, loving girl, and that you’re ever so thankful for her gift to him. And you’ll try not to sound as sarcastic as I just did when you say it.”
Grant harrumphed and took a sip of his wine. He hoped when he got back to his apartment Leo would be there waiting for him ready to make up. If he wasn’t, then he supposed he’d have to drive over to the farm in the rainstorm and pound on the door until Leo let him in. Very dramatic, but, hell, he’d pull a Say Anything if he had to. He’d yell his love from the so-called pasture, while blasting that Peter Gabriel song from his car stereo. Leo could never say he lacked in the romance department again.
