by RJ Scott
Jack helped Riley from the car. Grumpy Riley had long since been replaced by thank-fuck-I'm-out-of-the-hospital Riley. It was with smiles that he climbed the steps to the Campbell home, Jack refusing to take him to the Hayes mansion this side of hell freezing over. He took the younger man to the back rooms, Jack's rooms, all the while listening to Riley muttering about how he could damn well walk himself.
The next day, grumpy Riley came back with a vengeance.
"I am having a freakin' shower."
"Stand up by yourself for more than thirty seconds and the shower is all yours."
"Fuck you, Campbell," Riley spat out, trying to stand and failing miserably.
"Campbell-Hayes," Jack reminded him with a grin, kind of enjoying the whole poor-Riley thing.
"And I say again, fuck you."
Jack took pity on him, locking the bedroom door, crossing to the bathroom and coming back with a basin, soap, a cloth and a towel. "Sponge bath," he said with a smirk.
"No freakin' way," Riley shouted, loud enough to be heard through the house, pulling his covers up around his neck and, for all the world, looking like a five year old.
"Bed bath and blow job or nothing."
Riley slit his eyes. "Blow job?" he asked carefully.
"No shower. You let me clean you up, you get a hand job or a blow job. Depends how clean I get ya. I mean I'm cleaning you anyway, no biggie." Jack shrugged.
"Jeez, Campbell. Hayes," he added the other name quickly as Jack opened his mouth to correct his husband.
Smirking again —enough with the smirking— Jack pulled off his jeans and half climbed on the bed to straddle Riley, lifting off his shirt and exposing acres of hospital-pale skin.
"Ready?" he asked softly.
"Shouldn't I be the one gettin' naked?" Riley pointed out.
"It's more fun this way, and I tell you what, don't hurt yourself but where I touch you… you touch me back." He ghosted a finger over Riley's T-shirt-covered chest, scratching at the material across his nipple, and pulling his hand back. "Now it's your turn, Het-boy."
Carefully he placed Riley's hand against his bare chest, directly over his heart, and waited. Riley had a frown of concentration on his face that would rival a pre-schooler in a spelling bee. But he moved his fingers slowly, across heated skin and away from Jack's steady heartbeat, to focus on the left nipple, skimming it gently before applying pressure. Jack pushed into just the simple touch of the fingers to his nipple, and he swore. Riley smirked. He moved his fingers to touch the other nipple, the look of concentration replaced by one of uncovered lust.
With the damp cloth, Jack touched shoulders, arm muscles, fingers to fingers, eyes, cheekbones, and each time Riley repeated every motion. The heat pooling in Jack's groin at just exchanging these touches was so hot it was burning him. He pulled back the covers, pushing and pulling at material until finally Riley lay completely naked beneath him, his long limbs stretched out on pristine white sheets, his dick hard and weeping.
"Stop staring," Riley breathed, moving his hips as Jack settled himself between his legs.
"Freak," Jack pointed out, leaning down and gently blowing onto damp skin, watching as the hairs stood tall and the shiver ran through his lover's body. "You are gorgeous," he said, his voice little more than a growl. "Beautiful. I just want to stare."
Riley groaned at the words, then Jack bent and licked a broad strip from root to tip of Riley's sex, looking up directly into Riley's eyes. He dipped his head, touching the tip of his tongue to the collecting pre-cum, taking Riley in as far as he could before pulling back and off.
"What?" Riley forced out, arching up in a silent plea.
"Last time we could chalk it up to drink, timing, the storm, stress. This time, Riley, it should be because we choose it. There's a big difference."
"Jeez, you have your mouth on my dick!"
"Your choice, Het-boy."
Riley managed to tell Jack everything he wanted by simply curling his fingers in Jack's hair and pulling him back down on his dick. "Keep going, cowboy."
Jack smiled even as he concentrated on laving at the pearls of pre-cum collected at the tip.
* * * *
Jack spent ages just kissing, licking, and biting on his inner thigh, before Riley's whines became more forceful, his hands guiding and pushing Jack down and then up, until Jack got with the freaking plan.
His chest hurt, and the bandages pulled as he twisted his head, but he swallowed the pain, the heat inside him pushing at his spine. He was so close. He wanted Jack to touch him like he had before.
"Touch me," he ordered, his voice broken in the demands of lust.
He felt Jack chuckle, felt the vibrations in his dick, keening as Jack moved his fingers, just circling, not pushing, just applying pressure, until every single inch of Riley was on fire. The pleasure-pain was too much, and he couldn't stop himself even if he tried, trying to tell Jack in amongst the whimpers of pain to warn he was about to—
He opened his mouth in a silent scream as orgasm hit him, and he pumped into Jack's mouth, helpless in his needs. Jack was swallowing and sucking, catching him as he fell to earth, still chuckling as he pulled his mouth off and climbed his lover to exchange a heated kiss.
"Your turn," Jack whispered quietly, taking Riley's hand and placing it on his dick.
Riley's eyes widened, even in the afterglow, as he closed his hand firmly and started to move it like he would on his own dick, just this side of rough, his thumb trailing through pre-cum every other stroke, twisting and touching and feeling. He watched Jack try to form words for this experience —Riley's first time with him— but he didn't last long, obviously close after taking Riley to the edge. With his free hand, Riley reached out to twist Jack's hair, pulling his face down for kisses. Sealing his mouth to Jack, he tongue-fucked his mouth, exchanging heated breaths and feeling Jack still as he came over Riley's hand.
Breathing hard, Jack slumped down next to Riley. Talking could wait.
* * * *
It was the first time Gerald had ever raised a hand to her, a slap that sent her reeling against the wall and to the floor.
"You told him. And told him to go the hospital. You stupid bitch. We could have let Riley die naturally, and we could have stopped having to worry about Riley if you'd just kept quiet."
He walked away, leaving her dry-eyed and shocked on the floor. She hated herself for the deal she'd made, and he clearly hated that for a short time she'd found comfort in another man's arms, but their relationship had always been civil at least. A mutually beneficial marriage, her old money, his new money, how could it go wrong?
Still, she was a mother, with a mother's instincts. Deeply hidden maybe, but still there. Inside somewhere, she had love for her son. How could she not save his life? For Sandra Hayes, this was the point at which she finally died inside, because no part of the old Sandra remained. Nothing. The last piece of that civility in her marriage wrenched away from her heart, leaving her empty.
The pills were easy to find. The doctor had been happy to prescribe sleeping pills over the last few years. They sat in her bathroom, steady and welcoming, and the warnings on the bottle were always very clear. Don't mix with alcohol.
The whisky, gin and brandy… Well, they were also very easy to find.
Sandra stared for a long time at the amber liquid in the glass, at the high sun filtering through the crystal and casting rainbows of design on the marble top of her dressing table. The pills lay in her hand. She had counted them, and there were twenty-nine of them sitting in a small pile, the chalkiness of them strange against her soft skin. She looked at them carefully and then lifted her eyes to look at her face in the mirror. Nearly unlined, with full makeup, her hair just so, diamonds sparking at her ears, a necklace flat against her graceful neck. None of it was real. Cosmetics and a surgeon's knife had held back the years, just so she could be what others expected, what she had wanted to be, what she tried so hard to be.
She had never had Ge
rald's love, not really, nor that of her eldest son. She had driven away Riley and had failed Eden. Still, this wasn't the way to deal with these mistakes or with her despair. She was a strong woman, and generations of women in her family had been in worse situations than this. Carefully, she placed the tablets back in the bottle and replaced the stopper on the decanter, a stronger determination in her shaking hands. She had things to do. Gerald needed to know some things. Lisa needed help. Her daughter needed saving. And, as for her middle child, her beautiful strong man who held so much weight on his shoulders, well, he needed to know the whole truth. She needed to place another call to Jim. It was long overdue.
She wasn't ready to die today.
Chapter 26
Jeff sat in the car for a long time, considering every word he was going to say, looking at the shell of the burned barn and cursing his idiot brother and that fag Campbell for what they'd managed to do. With the horses surviving, with Campbell able to carry on with his half-bitten excuse for a farm, Jeff was left with weaker leverage. Still, he had what Jack needed, money, and he intended to just go on in and ask. It was Campbell himself who climbed down the steps from the front door, meeting Jeff as he got out of the car.
"Hayes."
"I came to visit my brother," Jeff replied. Enough with the pleasantries.
"He's sleeping at the moment; if you wanna wait in the house then you're welcome."
"Well, I have a small piece of business that we could maybe discuss while I'm waiting on him." Jack's eyes narrowed, and the cowboy folded his arms and planted his feet in his Texas dirt, his face carefully blank. Obviously the cowboy wasn't going to let this be taken into the house.
"Go on," he prompted.
Jeff tried to call the bluff, moving towards the house and then stopping when Jack didn't move a muscle. Well, Jeff decided inwardly, that was a good thing really, wouldn't want his little brother to find out just yet.
"I have an offer for you," he started, pulling himself tall as he attempted to loom over Jack, who merely blinked at him in return. "I heard about your unfortunate… incident… with the barn and your horses. Damn shame, heard they were good horses an' all."
"They're still good horses. One has foaled, and momma and baby are doing fine," Jack pointed out.
* * * *
Jack thought back to the telephone conversation he'd just had with the fire investigator, who had categorically stated the fire was arson and not the fault of a lightning strike. Jeff seemed mighty nervous for all his blustering dominance, and something somewhere in Jack's mind started to connect.
"As I said, I am very pleased y'all are okay."
Jack narrowed his eyes. Was it just his imagination or were the man's words slurring with his Texas accent, pushing through the clipped vowels of his expensive education? A sure sign Jeff was struggling with the wording of what he was saying. Jack knew it because Riley did that too.
"I wanted to thank you for what you've done for my little brother, helping him the way you did with the whole arranged marriage business, and I want you to know that the Hayeses always make good on favors. I want to make you an offer on both horses in exchange for something that won't be a hardship."
"My horses?" Jack chose to ignore the reference to arranged marriage. He was so not going to rise to subtle innuendo and devious guesswork.
"Ten million dollars for the foals, outright, passing them to me immediately, in exchange for the money. It's more than enough I imagine to breed again. All I want from you is proof of annulment."
Jack considered every word Jeff had just thrown at him, then sighed, exaggerating the movement, his fists clenching and unclenching as his anger pushed to the fore. "An annulment? Do they even do those anymore?" he finally asked, pasting an innocent and curious look on his face.
Jeff obviously didn't register the change in Jack's demeanor, or hear the sarcasm in his voice because he just pushed on. "I know you can't have consummated the marriage." This he spat out like a nasty taste in his mouth. "And I understand why you did it. You probably only entered into the marriage for money for the ranch. I'm more than willing to match and double whatever Riley agreed to pay you if ten million isn't enough. It won't be any loss to you. You sign the papers that I'll get written up, and there it is. End of the marriage. Then you can leave my little brother to me. He won't be your problem anymore."
"Well, I'm kinda enjoying having him around," Jack responded, trying his best to appear calm. "You may have to offer more'n ten to buy me out of this one."
Jeff nodded eagerly. "I can do that; I can push it to fifteen if it's a done deal by the end of the week."
Jack sensed Jeff's hidden glee that he almost had a deal, the billion-dollar oil company would easily swallow fifteen million in a day.
"Tell you what, then." Jack moved one step closer, not at all intimidated by the tall hard-nosed businessman standing in front of him with the smirk on his face. "I have a one-time only offer for you." Jeff leaned in, expectation on his features. "You take your millions and get the hell off my land, and I don't shoot you in the ass."
Jeff's eyes widened. "Campbell, what the—"
"Campbell-Hayes," Jack snapped back, some of his control slipping. "Campbell-freakin'-Hayes, and I'll thank you to remember that from now on." He took a small step closer, and in an unconscious movement, Jeff stepped backward. And so it went until he had his back against the car, and Jack stood toe-to-toe with him.
Jeff blustered, "He's not even gay! He's not a fucking fag, and it's not real." More words tumbled out of Jeff's mouth in a sudden torrent of anger. "I'll take this to court. You won't get away with it. It's a lie, and I'll prove it."
Jack leaned even farther towards the tall man, trying damn hard not to hit him. His voice was a low contained growl, heavy with intention to make his point.
"If you do, then I will bring photographic evidence of me and your brother making love on every single surface at the Hayes Mansion, including the bed in your apartment." Jeff pushed him away, open disgust and disbelief on his face, and climbed into the car. "Fuck you, Campbell," were his parting words before he gunned the engine and drove off with a squeal of tires and a cloud of dust and debris.
Jack stood for a while, watching the cloud of dust dissipate. Campbell-Hayes. He sighed.
* * * *
Riley was standing at the side window, a spectator to the end of the confrontation. Jack didn't realize he was being watched, and Riley wished he could have helped except he was too doped up to do anything except lean weakly against the sink. The glass of water he had come for was cold in his hand.
Riley moved away as Jack looked back at the window. He stumbled to the table and sat, waiting for Jack to come back in, his heart in his throat. He had heard part of it, just some of the conversation near the house before Jack crowded his brother towards the car and out of earshot. It was the kind of stunt he expected his brother to pull, to try and buy Jack's support, but it still cut him to the core. They'd never really been close; there had always been an edge to Jeff that Riley felt uncomfortable with. He'd seen a few too many deals fall into Hayes Oil's lap against all odds, and he wasn't a stupid man; Jeff or Gerald was clearly paying off parties to obtain contracts. To offer Jack that much money though? It was more than he would make staying with Riley. Jack may well have thrown Jeff off of the Double D, but once he had thought Jeff's offer over he would see it was more financially viable than keeping Riley around. His throat was tight with emotion, and he searched for reasons why Jack should stay with him.
He looked up as Jack entered the kitchen, and he waited for the storm.
"Fifteen million," Riley stated finally as Jack grabbed a beer and slid in the chair opposite. No other reasons for Jack to stay had presented themselves, and he didn't want to have to resort to upping his own monetary offer because he didn't want to sink any further than he already had. "You should take the money." Jack shook his head.
"I don't want the money, and I won't pull out now. A deal is a de
al, and you stand to lose a lot of money if you don't get your percentage."
Riley sighed quietly. "Jack, do you have any idea how much I'm worth? Even with just the percentage I have?"
"How far past obscene are we talking?" Jack asked with a laugh. "I'm guessin' maybe I should've asked you for more for the D?"
Riley just nodded, deadly serious. "I can give you more, if you agree to stay married." He was anxious to hear Jack's response, his stomach churning. He didn't even know what he was saying. He wasn't sure he even wanted more of Hayes Oil any longer. How could so much have changed in such a short time, with so many new doubts circling in his head? Was he actually considering buying the rest of the year with Jack, just to keep him in his life? Jesus. How sad did that make him?
"I'm gonna forget you said that," Jack replied, tipping back to swallow down half the beer in one go.
Chapter 27
Beth slid further into Steve's hug as they talked softly, his left hand over hers, feeling her daughter kick back at the touch. His right hand was curled into her long hair, stroking and soothing gently.
"Beth, can I ask you something?"
"Mmm hmm."
"And you promise me not to get angry in return?" Steve felt a full body sigh go through Beth as she burrowed into his shirt with a soft murmur of agreement. "The father of your baby… Do you love him?"
Beth stilled, lifting her head, blue eyes wide with shock. "No, I hate him."
Steve closed his eyes, dropping a small kiss on the top of her head, inhaling the smell of apple and feeling every muscle in his body relax.
"Can I ask you something else?"
"You're pushing it, Murray," she said softly, a smile on her face, a smile that gave him strength.
"Elizabeth, you know I love you, and I hope, in my heart, that one day you could come to love me too. Or at least… Jeez… Beth, will you marry me?" He waited, and the seconds grew to a minute, but he didn't push it. He just waited, imagining the reasons, each slightly wilder than the last, that Beth would give for saying no.
