by Luna, David
Sebastian launched himself into Gideon’s arms, interrupting his thoughts. Pulling his head down, Sebastian began to kiss his face all over. Gideon clasped his shoulders and held him back so he could look at him. Sebastian’s smile set his heart to pounding and he whispered, “We’re okay?”
Sebastian chuckled and nodded, whispering, “More than okay. Thank you. This is the best gift I’ve ever gotten. I’ve always wanted… Oh fuck, can I even have a dog at my place?”
“Yes. You can. I checked.”
Sebastian touched his cheek, gently. “You thought of everything.”
Gideon smiled and nodded. “I thought of everything.”
Sebastian turned towards Lola and grinned, opening his arms. She made herself comfortable there again, wagging her tail, her tongue lolling out. They were both surprised by a hissing sound behind them, and when they turned, they saw Slap and Tickle had apparently awoken from a nap and were prancing sideways, their fur puffed out. Sebastian laughed and held his hand out to them. “Knock it off, you two. This is your sister, Lola. Make nice.”
The cats prowled around, fur still sticking out, but the hissing had stopped. They’d wander close and then run off, approach and then skitter away again. This went on for a good five minutes until Slap, at least he thought it was Slap, approached and pawed at Lola’s tail. When the dog responded by yawning, loudly, and wagging her tail, Slap jumped, fur puffing up again, backing up. When the tail kept thumping, Slap was back again, batting at it with his paws, trying to trap it under them.
Sebastian laughed when Lola reached her paw out and gently patted at Slap who batted at her paw. Tickle approached from the rear and suddenly he was on top of Lola’s back. Lola lay down all the way on her side as if trying to make it easier for the cats to climb on, and they took advantage immediately. Sebastian and Gideon watched as felines and canine made friends. A friendship based on kittens jumping, pawing, gnawing, and rolling around on top of Lola, who just sat patiently and allowed it.
They spent the rest of the evening welcoming their newcomer to the family. The following morning, Sebastian seemed content, and much to Gideon’s dismay, excited to get home. Deep down Gideon knew it wasn’t because he was glad to be away from him, hell, he’d asked Gideon to stay with him the first night, it was that he was ready to get back to work and start living his life again, hopefully free of the seizures that plagued him for so long.
Gideon loaded his SUV with the repacked boxes of stuff that Sebastian would be taking back home with him. He’d actually be leaving quite a bit at Gideon’s as well so that he wouldn’t have to pack when he was over. They drove the twenty minutes to his new two-bedroom apartment.
When they pulled up to the building, Gideon handed Sebastian a wrapped box. Sebastian looked down at it and back up at him. “What’s this?”
“A gift. Got it from my dad the other day. We wanted you to have it.”
Sebastian tore off the wrapping and opened the box. Gideon watched as his boy’s jaw dropped. “Sir.”
Gideon smiled. “Boy.”
Sebastian’s head shot up and then back down again as he pulled the Imperator McCade Military Watch from its box. Since Braden had demonstrated a while back, that wide leather bands looked great with their watches, they’d come out with several options as add-ons to their watch lines and he’d chosen one for Sebastian. The Imperator was only for direct family, so when his dad had handed it to him, though it hadn’t been too unexpected, he was still grateful at his family’s official acceptance of Sebastian.
“It’s gorgeous.”
Gideon nodded, agreeing. “It’s the line made only for direct family. And as you’re now family, you needed to have one.”
Sebastian just stared at him and then back down to the watch. Seconds ticked by, and then Sebastian quickly leaned over and hugged him, kissing him thoroughly. Pulling back, he looked down at it again and shook his head. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say. This means so much. Thank you, Sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
He put the watch on and admired it on his wrist. It looked great on him, like it had always been there. They looked at each other, kissed again, and opened their doors to step out of the SUV.
Sebastian looked around in confusion. Stared at the car in his parking spot and looked around again. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Someone stole my car!”
Gideon shoved his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. “No. Your car was gonna fall apart. I know you can’t drive for a while, but when you can, I want you to be safe.”
“Gideon…”
“I got you a new one. You told me about the seizure you had on your way home from the party. Jesus, Sebastian, you could have died in that rat trap you called a car!”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes on his Dom. “If I hadn’t told you that, would you have still gotten me a new car?”
The look of sheer stubbornness was his answer. Sebastian crossed his arms over his chest and said, “This makes me uncomfortable, Gideon.”
Gideon shrugged. “I’m not sorry I did it. You need a safe and reliable car, Sebastian. I won’t have my boy getting in an accident because he’s driving a piece of junk. Not when I can so easily fix the issue.”
“Where’s my car?”
“I got it fixed up and donated it.”
“If it could be fixed up, why not just fix it and let me keep it?”
“I saw something in the paper about a local women’s shelter’s car being stolen. Two birds, one stone.”
Sebastian just stared at him for several drawn-out seconds. “Dammit, Gideon. You know I can’t hold on to my anger when you do shit like that.”
“That’s what I was counting on.”
Sebastian heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head. Hooking a finger into one of Gideon’s belt loops, he stepped into him. Laying his head down on the arms Gideon had crossed over his chest prompted Gideon to loosen them and wrap them around him instead. “Are you taking care of your boy, Sir?”
Gideon’s voice was gruff when he replied, “I am.”
When Sebastian looked up at him, love and amusement in his smile, he said, “I suppose you can afford it, all that watch money you’ve got, and all.”
Gideon smirked. “I suppose I can.”
When Sebastian’s face grew serious, so did Gideon’s. He reached up to cup Gideon’s cheek and whispered, “Thank you, Sir.”
Gideon let out a sigh and nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Sebastian turned and looked at his assigned parking spot, his eyes popping wide at the BMW X1. “You got me a BMW?”
“It’s a top safety pick.”
Sebastian snickered, “Of course it is. You can take us for a drive later.”
Gideon smiled, glad he’d made his boy happy. “Sounds like a plan. Uh, full disclosure, I have an app on my phone to locate the car. I just want to know where to find you if you have a seizure and need my help. The watch also has a button you can hit. It’ll let me know you need help or are hurt.”
Sebastian burst out laughing and apparently couldn’t stop. His voice went high-pitched as he yelled out, “Help! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!”
Gideon started laughing himself, realizing he wasn’t far off. “How the fuck do you even know about Lifecall? You’re too young! And Jesus, now I feel old!”
Sebastian snorted and admitted, “I think I saw it on some funny commercial compilation, years ago.”
Gideon shook his head. “All joking aside, I’m hoping we’ll never need either, but I just need a way to try to see to your safety. I’m sorry it’s a bit over the top.”
Sebastian raised a brow. “A bit?”
Gideon shrugged and Sebastian shook his head in response, let Lola out of the SUV and grabbed the kittens in their travel crate. Gideon grabbed a few boxes and they headed up to Sebastian’s place. As he unlocked the door there was a beep and then a woman’s mechanical voice telling them to enter the security code. Sebastian raised an eyebrow and snicker
ed again. “You’re out of control.”
Gideon grumbled at his boy’s apparent amusement at his safety precautions. “I protect and take care of what’s mine.”
Sebastian chuckled and maneuvered around him. “Oh, that’s definitely sinking in. It’s… What the… Gideon!”
But Gideon was busy turning off the alarm system, adding in his fingerprints and grabbing Sebastian’s hand to do the same. His boy’s gaping mouth and dumbfounded expression at the state of his apartment remained on his face the whole time Gideon had his hand up against the security pad, putting a smile on his face.
Once he had their prints logged in, he went about setting the rest of it. He’d have to teach Sebastian later, when he wasn’t having an aneurism over his family unpacking his place. When he turned around he took it in. It looked great, and Sebastian’s furnishings looked perfect in the space, his art already hung on the walls, the decorations put out.
The only things they’d left alone were his personal items that were left in boxes in his bedroom to unpack when he was ready. He turned back to look at Sebastian, saw him surveying the place, hands on his hips. “When did you get this done?”
“I didn’t do it. My family did it, with some help from Zoe. They said they can come over and change anything that doesn’t work.”
“I can never repay them for this. As much as I was looking forward to getting back to my daily life, I actually have been dreading unpacking.”
“There’s no repaying family. It’s just what they do.”
Sebastian looked up at him and Gideon saw that he was finally getting it. It would take a while for him to fully understand and be comfortable with it, but he was coming to grasp that he truly was no longer alone. When Sebastian wrapped his arms around him and held him tight, he relaxed as much as he could. They walked around the apartment, showing the animals around, and then went into the bedroom so that Sebastian could unpack the things.
When they were in bed that night, he pulled out the collar Sebastian had given back to him. He held it in his palm and asked, “Does it have too many bad memories?”
His boy tucked his face into Gideon’s chest and shook his head. “No.”
Gideon put the collar back on, murmuring apologies again for what he’d done. Sebastian had shushed him and they’d made love before falling asleep, exhausted from the day’s events and the emotional toll they took.
They made plans to see each other Wednesday and then again Saturday evening when Sebastian was done with his tattoo appointments. The week seemed to drag by for him and he began a more regimented workout schedule and actually began to consult at Custos on several cases to stay occupied and keep himself from stopping by and checking on his boy. He hated the separation.
When Saturday morning rolled around, he was downstairs taking care of some paperwork at the club while everything was quiet. Someone buzzed the front club entrance and he got up to check the monitors behind the front desk. His hands immediately curled into fists as he hit the button to open the door. As it slid open, revealing Boone, he turned and headed towards his office without saying a word.
When he got to his office he turned and faced the man down. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Boone crossed his arms over his chest. “You know damned well what I’m doing here, Gideon.”
“Actually, I don’t, so why don’t you spell it out.”
“You should have contacted me. We had a bead on him. We were waiting to contact you because he was under surveillance.”
“Yeah, I saw the surveillance. It’s dealt with.”
Boone growled and strode forward, his anger bringing him within striking distance. “What the fuck does that even mean, dealt with?”
“It means those agencies got what they needed.”
“That answer isn’t good enough for my superiors.”
“Boone, when is it going to sink in? All you can see is what your superiors need and want, but I’m not bound by that particular burden. I don’t give a fuck what your superiors deem good enough. They are not my responsibility. And he wasn’t even an official part of your investigation!”
“You can’t be serious, Gideon. He’s on our books, like you asked, he was part of the investigation because of you. And you fucking murdered him! A man who was under surveillance with ATF and the FBI! All for some vendetta from something so far in the past it’s ridiculous!”
“You’ll have a very hard time proving anything.”
“I don’t need to prove it, I know you! You fucking murdered the guy in cold blood. You didn’t give a shit that he was part of a huge operation, that he was being used to get the bigger fish.”
“What the fuck do I care about the bigger fish? And why the fuck are you so worried about the kill? I did it on your payroll for years!”
“That’s hardly the same thing! Jesus Christ, listen to yourself. Do you think you’re the only one that matters in this goddamned world?”
Gideon huffed out an incredulous breath. “In the grand scheme of things, I don’t matter at all. The agencies involved got what they needed and were very happy with the info provided. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“And I said my superiors don’t give a fuck about that! They want to know where Lars went! What the hell am I supposed to tell them?”
“I don’t give a fuck what you tell them. Tell them he left town, tell them he grew a conscience, hell, tell them he’s chum.”
“Chum? So, what… You dumped his fucking body in the ocean?”
Gideon was about to respond when he heard a noise in the hallway then saw Lola’s tail and his heart plummeted. No! No, no, no, no, no. Fuck! He ran to the hallway and saw his worst nightmare. His boy, surrounded by spilled coffee and a box of pastries on the floor, Lola dancing around, doing her best to stay out of the mess. Sebastian had raised both hands to cover his mouth and he shook his head frantically, as he slowly backed away.
All color leached from his face and Gideon moved towards him, hoping to keep him from running. He gently but firmly clasped Sebastian around the wrist but his boy pulled his arm back, as if his grip scalded him. He couldn’t let go though. He couldn’t let him leave.
Sebastian’s voice was full of panic when he cried out, “Let go! Let go of me, Gideon!”
Lola whined and then growled, unhappy with Sebastian’s anxiety. It was like his mind wasn’t connected to his body, though, because no matter what it told him to do, he couldn’t loosen his grip. “Sebastian, wait. Please. Let me ex—”
Sebastian was frantically yanking his arm hard and finally he stopped completely, his gaze reflected how scared he was—of him, breaking Gideon’s heart. Lola’s growling continued, followed by a snap of her jaws in warning to Gideon, but he still couldn’t bring himself to release his boy.
“Red! Red, red, red!”
Gideon let go immediately, raising his hands in the air and stepping back, his mind tuned to obey that word over all others. And it brought it all home as nothing else could, letting him know just how badly he’d fucked up. He watched as Sebastian backed away from him and backed into the wall in his frantic search for the exit door behind him. Gideon stepped forward to help and Sebastian cried out no.
Lola had had enough by that point and stood in front of her charge, barking loudly and snapping her jaws. Gideon knew the only reason she hadn’t attacked him already was because Killian had called him friend. He stepped back and away again, calming Lola, and watched, helpless, as Sebastian turned and ran out the exit door, Lola on his heels.
Gideon couldn’t remember ever having been angrier than he was at that moment. He vibrated with it as he stalked back towards his office. When he entered, and saw the object of his anger he stopped in his tracks. Boone looked like a frightened, trapped animal and the only thing keeping Gideon from beating him half to death was the fact that he was the one at fault for not coming clean to Sebastian to begin with.
Well, that and the fact that Boone was an analyst and not an ope
rative. He couldn’t have defended himself against Gideon if he’d tried, and as angry and soulless as he knew himself to be, Gideon wasn’t cruel for cruelness sake, especially not to a submissive. That wasn’t to say that he wouldn’t put the fear of God in the man before he left, but in the end, more blame fell on him than on Boone.
He’d never wanted to admit the kind of man he was to his boy. Hell, he’d done his best to end it between them because of it, but in the end, what Sebastian needed from him and from their relationship outweighed what Gideon was trying to save him from. He’d have to come clean and share as much of his previous life with Sebastian as he could, if he’d agree to see him. If he wanted to save what they had, for both their sakes, he had to tell him the truth and let the chips fall where they may.
He prowled threateningly over to Boone, who backed up so fast he nearly fell and didn’t stop until he was backed up against the wall. Gideon gripped him by the throat and leaned in menacingly, growling in Boone’s ear, “We’re done, you and me. You’ve burned whatever bridges we may have had at one time. Do you understand me?”
Gideon pulled him away from the wall and then shoved his head back again, causing a satisfying thunk, bringing about a grimace from his quarry, who nodded desperately as his face began to turn a mottled red.
“I’m going to do your job for you and handle this situation, Boone, but understand that I don’t ever want to see your fucking face again. Do you hear me? And if you’ve fucked up the best thing that ever happened to me in my entire fucking life because you can’t seem to handle your professional responsibilities, I might still hunt you down and beat you within an inch of your fucking life.”
After slamming his head back into the wall one more time for good measure, he growled and stalked to the phone, leaning over his desk and putting it on speaker, he dialed a number he never thought he’d have to call again. It rang twice before the man answered, “Hello?”
“There’s an issue that needs to be dealt with.”
