Slowly over the next few days and weeks, Brian moved his things over to Jack’s house. Or it was more like Jack drove Brian over to his house to collect more things to bring back to Jack’s house. Bret had been right. He was rarely away from Jack’s side. The community center was closed temporarily for repairs and to reorganize staff as victims recuperated and made decisions whether to go back to work there or not. Jack was teaching a CPR recertification class at the local hospital, and Brian found himself appointed as Jack’s assistant. They also spent a lot of time at Cade and Bret’s house in work and play. A very close friendship was growing with Bret. Brian was also getting to know the rest of the team. They totally accepted him into the group even though he was so much smaller than all of them. He didn’t know what to do the first time Tony had called him Pip. It turned out that it stood for pip-squeak. Soon all the members of the team called him Pip. He wondered if he should be insulted, then he realized it was their way of bringing him into the team family. Brian had never been willingly accepted onto a team before.
The only dark cloud in his relationship with Jack was Sherry’s constant calling. She left dozens of texts and voice mails. Twice, Jack had called her and point blank told her that they were over. She just wouldn’t listen or give up her pursuit of Jack.
* * * *
The call came in the middle of the night. Jack reached over Brian to grab the cell phone off the end table, seeing Cade’s name on the screen. “Yes, boss,” Jack answered.
“Gear up. A young couple out hiking is lost somewhere in the north woods and it’s up to the team to find them.”
“Be here in ten,” Cade ordered and hung up.
“Baby, get dressed. We have to get to Cade’s.” Jack kissed the side of Brian’s neck.
“What’s up?” Brian asked, still half asleep.
“I have to go on a rescue. Get dressed. We have to go,” he answered, leaving the bed, and started dressing.
Sitting in the middle of the huge bed with all of the warm cozy covers wrapped around him, Brian asked, “Why can’t I stay here? Why do I have to go to Cade and Bret’s house?”
Jack put both hands on the mattress, leaning over and putting his face close to Brian’s. “I want you to stay with Bret, sweetheart. I know you could stay by yourself. I just would feel better if I know you two are together. Please, sweets, for me?” He then brought their lips together in a soft kiss.
When Jack raised his head, Brian could do nothing but get out of bed and get dressed. As Jack was getting his gear together, Brian took a duffle bag out and put a few days’ worth of clothes and toiletries into it. If Jack asked him to walk naked down Main Street, Brian knew he probably would.
They arrived at the log house to a flurry of activity. Jack went immediately over to Cade and got the basic information on the rescue. With that, he headed out to a huge side shed with the rest of the team to gather what equipment they would need for a missing persons rescue.
Brian had just turned to Bret, who was carrying a folder full of papers, when a huge dog bowled him over right onto his back. The dog proceeded to slobber and lick all over his face while crushing the breath right out of him. He heard Bret yell something and then Alex hauled the dog off Brian by his collar.
“Oh my gosh, are you okay? Bud is bigger than you. Did he squish you? Someone get Jack. Shit, he’s turning blue.” Bret was in a complete panic.
Then Jack was leaning over him, asking him to breathe and running his hands over his arms and legs, checking for damage. Painfully he sucked in the breath that had been knocked out by the massive dog. Jack helped him sit up and supported him while he worked on taking a few more painful breaths. Once the black dots stopped dancing before his eyes, he looked up at Jack and said, “I’m okay. Just wasn’t expecting an elephant to wipe me out.”
“I’m sorry, Pip. Bud has never reacted to someone like that before. Are you okay?” Alex asked, concerned at what damage his dog may have done.
Brian looked over Jack’s shoulder. There was a massive blood hound straining against the hold on his collar, tail wagging to beat the band as he tried to get back to Brian. “I’m all right, Alex. He just took me by surprise. I’ve always been one of those people dogs and children are attracted to. This isn’t the first time a dog has knocked me down to say hi.”
Jack helped Brian to his feet and looked over at Alex. “You keep him under control,” he told Alex, clearly agitated. Small hands rubbed up and down his chest. “It’s okay, Jack. When there’s time, Bud and I will get together and it’ll be fine. Now kiss me good-bye. You guys have to go.”
Jack kissed Brian, trying to let him know everything he felt for the man. Finally he gave up. Lifting his lips, he looked deep into those gorgeous baby blues and said, “I love you.”
Brian’s eyes filled with tears at the depth of love looking at him. “I love you, too,” he answered.
And then Jack had to leave.
Chapter Five
The next two days Bret and Brian purposely kept busy. They drove forty miles to the city to go shopping at the mall. Brian’s sister always said retail therapy fixed everything. While they were at the food court laughing over some of the fashions they had seen people wearing, Brian could have sworn he saw Sherry at the far end of the court. But then he dismissed it because whomever he had seen was a lot bigger around than the Sherry he had met over a month before.
The evening of day two found both men on each end of the big sofa with bowls of popcorn and a glass each of rum and Coke.
Neither were big drinkers and they were both feeling very relaxed after only drinking half of the glass of the liquid refreshment. Somehow they had got on the subject of family. Bret had just described growing up in an average family with a brother and a sister. There had been no drama at the fact that he was gay. Bret was one of the lucky ones with what most would describe as a normal loving family life. “What about you?” he asked.
Brian had told Jack about his family, but if Bret wasn’t fast becoming his best friend, there was no way he would have ever opened up about his past. “Well, I have a mom and dad and two brothers and a sister,” he started. He could see Bret could tell what he was about to say was important. “My brothers are older and my sister younger. I was born two months premature. They didn’t expect me to live because my lungs weren’t fully developed and male premature babies seem to have a harder time. But I did. It was a struggle but on my original due date, I came home from the hospital. The problem is my lungs are weak. I can’t run very far so sports are out of the question. When I get a cold, there is a real chance it will turn into pneumonia. I also bruise and break stuff easily. You saw the bruises Bud left on my chest and back.
“Then there’s my size,” Brian continued. “My brothers are both almost six feet tall like my dad. But I am the same height as my sister. In fact we both weigh about the same. One Halloween we dressed up as each other. You should have seen it, me in a mini skirt and Stephanie in an old torn up pair of jeans and a tee shirt. People didn’t realize we were each other and kept asking us why we didn’t dress up. Stephanie is always saying I act more like her than she does.”
“What about your parents?” Bret asked quietly.
“Well, that was the hardest for me. They were and are the ultimate sports parents. My mom is the PTA mom who organized the candy bar sales to raise money for uniforms. My dad had us out in the lawn when we were three years old, throwing a ball to teach us how to catch. Unfortunately, I ended up breaking fingers. They both went to every football, basketball, and baseball game my brothers played in high school. My sister was in track so they had to split up between the baseball games and track meets during the spring. They love me. Don’t get me wrong. They just didn’t know what to do with me.” Brian took a large swallow of his drink.
“Are your parents still alive?” Bret didn’t want to push, but he was really curious. After the center incident, he didn’t recall Brian mentioning if his parents had called or something to see if he
was okay.
“Oh yeah,” Brian answered. There may have been a little tiny bit of pain in his voice. He couldn’t help it. “They’re retired. They spend their time flying around the country going to as many ball games as they can. You see, one of my brothers is a professional baseball player.”
“Your brother is Tyler Hayward?” Bret couldn’t keep the awe out of his voice. “He’s a phenomenal player and I heard he’s really a nice guy, too. I watch the games just to ogle his ass in that baseball uniform.”
“He is nice, although I don’t know anything about his ass. He’s my brother. Yuck. Actually my whole family is really nice. My other brother played college football and now is married with three kids. Stephanie is engaged and we still talk on the phone once a week. I just have always felt like a misfit in that family. I never was really accepted for myself until I met Jack, you, and the whole team. For the first time in my life, you all have made me feel like one of you.”
Brian’s drink was taken out of his hand and with his popcorn both were set on the floor. Bret budged his way onto the couch next to him and squeezed him in a tight hug.
“I love you, Brian. You’re my best friend and between Jack, the team, and me you will never feel left out again. I promise you.”
They both shed a few tears as they embraced and then they went back to each end of the sofa. They ate their popcorn and finished their drinks, letting the alcoholic buzz take over. Then the two small men proceeded to discuss how together, they would save the world.
* * * *
It was late evening on the second day when they finally found the young couple lost deep in the woods of a national forest. Apparently the couple was canoeing down a river and went exploring down an off shoot until it run out. Completely turned around by this time, they had abandoned the canoe and thought they would just walk out of the forest. Instead they had found themselves in a swamp. North wood’s swamps were smelly with water and muck that could suck a person’s feet in up to their knees. The only way to walk through them is to step on branches or roots of trees. It was hard and exhausting work. Jack had swamp mud up to his knees and he smelled like a sewer system. They had finally tracked the couple down, finding them clinging to small trees, standing on the top of their roots just above the green algae-covered water. At this point they all were sweaty, covered in mosquito bites, and he was sure there were ticks in places that none of them wanted to discuss. But, most important, they had found the couple alive.
Bud had done his job slowly and methodically, following the scent trail to the stranded couple. Jack could almost forgive him for jumping on Brian. He had called Brian every morning and evening over the last couple of days. This evening it was a tipsy Brian that had ended the call with “I love you.” Jack was a happy man. Now, all he had to do was get out of this forest and go home.
Brian woke up to the feel of soft kisses along his neck and on his lips. He felt a cold draft as the blankets were taken away. Then a very warm, hard body was pressed down on top of him. He loved the feel of Jack’s skin sliding against his. He brought his knees up and wrapped his legs around Jack’s waist. His lips were taken in a kiss that started off soft and deepened, sweeping away everything but the world of Jack. A wet finger breached his hole, followed by another. No words were spoken. None were needed. He relaxed his muscles as the third finger worked to open him up. Then they were gone and he was empty for just a moment until he felt the blunt head of Jack’s cock pushing its way in. He was glad that when the tests came back clean they had decided to forgo condoms, as he felt that bare cock breach him. Brian pushed out, letting it slide in more easily and then together they were moving in a dance as old as time.
Jack broke the kiss as his body took over and he began pounding into that tight hole. Their tender loving quickly turned to hot steamy raw sex. Brian’s nails were digging into his sides, adding to the burn. Jack loved the whimpers and moans of passion his love made. And then, as it seemed almost every time they made love, they both stiffened together as cum sprayed across his chest and Jack exploded when tight muscles started milking every drop from him.
The moon shining through the window gave Jack just enough light to see his beloved’s face as he smiled down at him. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Brian smiled back. He was so happy Jack was here.
“I suppose we should go and clean up.”
“Yeah, I suppose we should.”
Brian flexed his hips and squeezed his muscles. Jack’s cock instantly was rock hard again. One more flex and that was all that was needed to start the loving all over again. The sun’s first rays were coming through the window before they finally made it to the bathroom to clean up.
Chapter Six
“Would you like to come with me to get gas for the truck and fill up some gas cans, sweets?” Jack asked.
They were in the kitchen a couple of mornings later and had just finished breakfast. Jack wanted to mow the lawn and trim some of the hedges around the house. He didn’t have anything scheduled for the next few days and thought it was a good time to catch up on yard work. Unless another emergency call came in, he had plans that included a lot of time naked with his sweets.
“Sure. Maybe we can stop by the store and pick up a few groceries.” Brian actually needed more than a few. But Jack was like most men, he didn’t have a lot of patience in a grocery store. In and out was about all he could handle without becoming quite grumpy. Secretly Brian thought it was cute.
“No problem.” Jack was feeling quite happy with life at the moment and even the grocery store couldn’t rain on his parade.
At the gas station, Jack filled his truck with gas and had just finished filling up one gas can when he felt a presence behind him. Turning his head, he looked over his shoulder to find a very nervous Sam, Sherry’s brother, standing there.
“Hey, Sam,” Jack greeted the man.
“Jack.” The man didn’t say anything else. He just stood there with a determined, uncomfortable look on his face.
“You need something, Sam?” Now it was starting to feel like he was pulling teeth getting the man to say what he obviously wanted to.
“You need to go and see Sherry.” The man raised his hand to stop Jack’s objection. “I know you ended things with her. I also know you’re in a new relationship.” Sam gestured toward the truck cab where Brian was trying not to look obvious as he strained to read their lips. “But you need to go and see her.”
“Sam, it’s over. We had fun, but as I’ve told Sherry, we are done. There is no us. If she’s trying to pull something by getting you involved, it’s not going to work.” Jack’s temper was starting to spike. He had had enough of this bull.
“She’s not trying to pull anything. This is serious, Jack. You need to go over to her house and see her.”
Now Jack was becoming concerned. For Sam to become so insistent, there had to be more to the situation than Sherry not being able to let go. “All right, I’ll go over there.”
“Thanks, Jack. If you need to talk after you see her, call me.” Sam reached out and the two men shook hands.
Jack finished filling the remaining gas can, went in, and paid for it, all the while thinking about the troubling conversation with Sherry’s brother. His first instinct was to tell Brian he had an errand to run to spare the man any worry, but they had agreed to truth at all times. He had a feeling keeping that vow was going to be harder than he thought concerning this situation. All he wanted to do was protect his lover from any hurt his past actions may cause. The only thing he could do now was reassure him they were solid as a couple.
When he got into the truck, Brian grabbed his hand. “That was about Sherry, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Sam seems to think it’s important I go see her. I might as well get it over with. How about I drop you off at the grocery store and go see what this is all about. By the time you’re done I should be back to pick you up. Some way, somehow, I am going to get it through her head once and for all that we are done.�
�� Jack raised the small hand in his and kissed the palm. Looking into those concerned blue eyes, he told him what was in his heart. “I love you.”
Brian knew this wasn’t good. Sam was a cop and wouldn’t come to Jack unless it was serious. Unfortunately there was very little he could do about it. So he did the only thing he could. He smiled at Jack and said, “I love you, too.”
* * * *
Jack walked up to the door of Sherry’s apartment. A year ago he had thought he had found someone that was fun to hang out and party wild with. They had, had some good times, both in and out of bed. After a few months he found himself feeling like a piece of arm candy. She started parading him around her friends, telling him where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. Looking back he could now see she was manipulating him to get everything her own way.
When he started to object and try to distance himself from her, she would cry and make him feel guilty for being mean to her. One night, after an argument and a week of him avoiding her, Sherry showed up at his apartment with a bottle of booze and wearing nothing but a pout and a coat. That night passed in a no-holds-barred drunken sexual haze. It had taken him two days to recover from the hangover. Later, he wondered if the bottle had been spiked with something. But he passed it off, thinking Sherry would never do that to him.
Ringing the doorbell, he waited for Sherry to open the door. When it opened, Jack got the shock of his life. There stood the usually immaculate, always in high fashion Sherry with dirty, messy hair and a swollen red nose. Her face was blotchy and puffy. And her breasts must have doubled in size. But it was the huge stomach straining the seams of the old oversized sweatshirt she was wearing that had his heart stop beating.
Jack's Sweets [Rescue for Hire 2] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 4
