by BA Tortuga
“They have, yes. He’s…. Well, they were not kind to him, Nan, but he made it.” There was no sense sugarcoating things.
“Good.” Nan looked at him but didn’t question him. “Good. The little one is setting fires in the bathroom. You might get evicted.”
Then she patted his cheek, wandered away. Poor Nan. She was the one becoming a ghost. She had simply given up.
Neil shook off his sadness and turned on his heel, setting his tea down in favor of the giant water bottle Duncan had used to help swallow all of his vitamins. Hopefully it was the kind of fire one might put out with water.
There wasn’t a smell, which was, honestly, quite worrisome. Neil was of the opinion that fires ought to smell of something burning.
He peered into the bathroom, hoping all was well. They really didn’t need another disaster.
Paddy was sitting on the floor with a tiny burner, a piece of metal, and a pair of tongs.
“Love? What are you doing?”
“Trying to make a weapon. It’s easier with the cold, but we don’t have the facilities.” Those lovely eyes met his, and they were devastatingly sad. “That’s what I do, you know? I make things to kill people.”
“You make things to amuse yourself.” Neil tried a smile, but he knew it was tremulous at best.
“Boomer’s going to come for me and take me away. Will you stay here and take care of his mom?”
“No.” No, there would be no need to care for Nan. She wasn’t going to be around that long. Neil felt it. There was something broken in her, something that felt like an aneurysm, ready to burst. “I’m coming with you.”
“You probably shouldn’t, but I’m glad you are.” Paddy’s finger was blistering, the metal heating up.
“I am too. Love, you’re going to melt.” Neil moved closer, gently nudging Paddy with his knee.
“Oh. I think I need more heat, something less stable. I’m thinking incendiary explosions….” Paddy’s thoughts slid into letters and numbers, equations and possibilities.
“Yes, but not here, in the WC of a rented home, hmm?” Strange, how he’d become more practical than ever of late.
“Not here….” Paddy’s eyes met his. “Do you know that you talk in your sleep now? All the time?”
Deep inside Padraic, there was a blackness, a crushing something that he kept hidden. Neil could just sense it, on the edges.
Unlike Nan, however, Neil was not ready to let Paddy go peacefully into whatever darkness he held inside him. Neil would fight for his sweet love with everything in him.
Paddy turned the flame off, the scorched fingers reaching for him.
Yes. Neil smiled, taking Padraic in his arms. Yes, come back to me, love.
I’m so scared. The simple words echoed between them.
“I know.” He said it aloud just before his lips met Paddy’s.
He was flooded with his love, with something pure and light. Hope. There was hope for them.
Neil let the pleasure that gave him spill over, let it fill up all of the spaces between them. He needed to believe.
“Neil.” Padraic’s smile made the lines beside the lovely eyes crinkle. He forgot, sometimes, that Paddy wasn’t a young, young man anymore.
“Mmm-hmm. I need to stay with you, love. No matter what.” He could hear the echoes of how important it was.
“Yes.” Paddy let him lead them out of the bathroom, away from the fire, the worry.
The bed called to him again, and he let it, taking Paddy there and sinking down. He was so tired.
“You should sleep. I’ll keep the bad dreams away.” Wasn’t that his line?
“I love you.” He wanted to do more to comfort Padraic, but now that they were touching, he was so sleepy.
“I know.” Paddy’s fingers stroked his hair.
“Promise me you won’t go without me, sweet.” He knew it now, but he needed to hear it aloud.
“I won’t. I won’t. Sleep.”
“Thank you, love.” Sleep was really no refuge, but he knew he had to rest his body and get as strong as he could. They would need every resource to get out of this alive.
And they were going to get out alive.
IT TOOK three days to get weapons, twelve hours to get the computer system that he needed set up. The explosives were going to be more tricky, not to mention the massive shitstorm they were going to have to get through to move all this shit in and out of the state. Not fun to the nth degree. Still, Cowboy had his shit together better than any operator MJ had ever met. Ever. MJ worked old contacts, using Paula’s information, shifting money that not even Sonny knew about into accounts to fund him. Sonny had done a good job—bringing information, moving the main accounts. Hiding things.
Now, though. Now it was time to dig into the dusty pockets and bring the dead back to life.
Paula would be so proud.
Of course, she was dead as a doornail, so who knew if she could be?
Cowboy had been doing his thing, quietly moving shit around for him, making things move like, as he put it, shit through a goose. Chemical grenades. Launchers. Nitromine.
They were going to have a fucking war. It sounded fun.
He checked an email account, then set to hacking around, looking for locations. He knew where they’d been, where they….
Wait.
Wait.
“Sonny!” He stood up, headed onto the porch. “They’d want me to check in. They’d need me to check in.”
Sonny was swinging in the hammock they’d tied up, and for a moment the déjà vu was practically overwhelming. “What, Precious?”
“They’d need me to check in. That’s one of the first few things. A kill switch. The need to check in. Did I call them?”
Had he given them away?
“You dialed. Good thing you were smart enough to tear out the receiver and shit first.” Sonny swung one foot lazily.
“Go me.” Fucking A. “Do we have the number?”
“Yeah. Between me and Cowboy, we got it. You planning on doing yoga anytime soon?”
“What?” Yoga? “I need that number. I’ll see what I can find.”
He liked yoga.
Yoga was relaxing.
“You need it right now? Because I’m comfy.” That foot kicked a little slower, toes curling.
“Are you talking about yoga or the number?” He was a little fucked-up. Mostly tired, but the reds were helping that.
“The number. The yoga would just be for my benefit. I like to watch you bend.”
“I don’t know if I’m still bendable.” He leaned down, put his hands on the floor, folded in half.
“Uh-huh. I would say you are.” Sonny sounded way more interested than he had about the number.
“I have a lot of work to do and a red to ride out.” His legs came up, moving slow as he tested his balance.
“You’ve been working nonstop, Precious. Blow off some steam.” Sonny chuckled. “Blow me.”
He straightened his arms, legs spreading, hips stretching. He did love Sonny’s cock, and the man had come to find him.
“Mmm.” There was a tiny rustle of cloth, and suddenly he could smell Sonny, heavy musk in the air.
“Sunshine.” He licked his lips, arms weakening a little.
“Yeah? Need a little help with the balance, Precious?” The porch creaked, and Sonny’s big body pressed against his, hips to ass.
“Yeah….” He moved, rocking a little, moving his hips.
“Hot, Precious.” Sonny’s hands slid up and down his bare back. “Skin is so hot.”
“Mm-hmm.” He let his legs bend, let Sonny hold him up.
One hand pushed under his belly to hold him steady; the other peeled his shorts off.
His cock bounced on his bare skin. The stubble was coming back—blond and raspy—but there wasn’t enough to hardly see.
Sonny liked it, though. The man touched him there every chance they got.
Somehow, he’d bet he’d get used to having a na
ked cock. He looked up at his prick. Made him look longer.
How cool was it that he could remember that now?
“You’re not paying attention, Precious.”
“I am. I really am.”
Sort of.
Mostly.
“Nope.” One of Sonny’s fingers tapped his hole. “You’re wandering.”
“I’m upside down.”
It was hard to wander, upside down.
“I mean in your head, Precious.” Sonny pulled him up so fast his head spun, which made the kiss he got even better.
Oh, fuck. Yeah. Yeah. His fingers dug into Sonny’s scalp, holding on as the world went crazy.
“Mmm.” Sonny humped against him, cock against his belly.
“In my head. Sonny. Fuck….” He was fucking buzzing.
“God, you feel good. Right.” He could hear the unspoken “finally” like Sonny had said it.
“I had to hide away, man. There was some serious shit going down.”
“I know.” That big body bent over his as he went for another downward dog, skin hot as fire. Sonny kissed the back of his neck. “I missed you.”
“You came for me, though. You fucking found me.” He started to shake a little bit.
“Always.” Sonny straightened up and pulled him back to standing. Up, down, up, down. Damn. Sonny was solid as a rock, though.
“They had me in a cage.” The words pushed out of him, like he couldn’t stop them.
Those arms were like steel bands around him for a moment, Sonny growling. “I’m going to help you kill them, MJ. Every one.”
He nodded, his chest so tight he couldn’t breathe. “I fought them. I didn’t let them have me.”
He ran, but he fought.
“You’re a stud, Precious. You hear me?” Sonny’s hand cupped his cock, which should be wilting at the thought of that cage.
“Did you see what those motherfuckers did to my dad?” He bit his tongue when he gritted his teeth against the wave of memory, of nausea, of horror.
Sonny staggered a little, a low rumble sounding. “Yeah. Yeah, Precious. I swear….” Sonny’s water-over-stone voice went so rough it was hard to hear.
“I….” He couldn’t fucking do this. He couldn’t. “I’m going to make him burn. I’m going to stand there and listen to them scream, and I’m going to love every fucking second.”
“Good.” He thought maybe Sonny was shaking a little, but they didn’t go down. The man was like a tree trunk or a boulder or something.
He had to get out of here. He had to. “Don’t you fucking let me go.”
“Nope. I got you.” Sonny pulled him up so he dangled a little, but the kiss was amazing.
Yes.
Yes.
His brain was rabbiting around, screaming at him to run, to go, to do, but his fucking body knew where it belonged.
Sonny squeezed his ass with one huge hand, the other rubbing up and down his back. Soothing and exciting.
The sun was pounding down on them, the sky blue and open and right there. MJ wasn’t fucking sure what was keeping him from freaking—the sky or those amazing fucking hands.
Maybe both. Then Sonny broke the kiss and started talking. That gravel voice told him everything. Everything. How Sonny had him. Sonny was his hero.
Sonny was home.
He met those eyes, managed a breath. Then another one. “Sorry you kidnapped me yet?”
“Fuck, no.” Sonny kissed him again, then again. “Sorry you let me?”
He shook his head. “I let you all the way in, man. All the way.”
“Only me.” There was a sure sense of triumph there, a huge satisfaction. Sonny still wanted him, no matter what happened.
“Only you. Ever.” In every way that counted.
Hell, Sonny had held him in one hand. Inside. No one else had ever had that part of him.
The clouds started to roll in; MJ could see them.
He mentally flipped them off.
“Take me inside and fuck me.”
“Yes. Now.” Sonny didn’t sling him over one shoulder, which was probably good. His belly still felt tender.
The man carried him, though. Like he weighed no more than a sack of potatoes.
This was what he needed. His Sunshine, right now.
Fuck the coming storm.
MJ WAS fixing to go. Sonny could tell it as surely as he could that first time, on the boat back to the Keys. He was restless, tossing and turning when he slept, and he was getting that cold glimmer in his eyes that meant he was the man with the plan.
Of course, Sonny was actually tickled about that, because there were two major differences between that first time and now. This time Sonny was going with him, and that work mode meant MJ was in the house, not Jaime.
Thank God.
“You still need that number, Precious?”
“I do. I’m going to call it.”
“Huh?” Wait. Wasn’t that dangerous? Like maybe stupid? They didn’t need anyone pinpointing their location.
“I’m going to call them, check in. I need them to stay put and not run, man. I need them standing still so I can burn them.”
“Okay. Okay, I get that.” He did. He didn’t want to, but he did. Maybe it even made sense, except for the whole finding them thing.
“Don’t worry, I’ll route it through a number of substations. I don’t need much time. I just need you to make sure I don’t fuck up. They’ve fucked with things in my head. Tweaked shit….” MJ started moving again, heading for the weapons.
“Yeah, but you’re back now, yeah?” Like he didn’t know about the fucking-with.
“That’s the assumption. You’re the one more likely to know the answer to that question, Sunshine.”
“You’re back.” Sonny grinned. “Here.” He handed over the number, knowing he had to.
“Well, then.” MJ took the number, turned from the pistols to the little bank of computers, and started typing, fast and furious.
“It’s a little unnatural, how fast he does that.” Cowboy looked over the setup, one eyebrow quirked. “The boat’s ready to sail whenever. You sure you don’t want to fly?”
Sonny raised a brow. “You seen him try to fly? I don’t want to drug him and take a chance on….”
“Ah. Yeah. That could be problematic. You want me and the Doc to fetch the other two?”
“Yeah. I think storming in there with MJ is gonna make Red defensive.”
“Defensive. Homicidal. Six of one, half dozen of the other. What the fuck is he doing?”
Sonny snorted. “Calling in.”
That eyebrow climbed higher. “And you think this is a good idea?”
“I think we have to let him.” Sonny rolled his shoulders, his neck like frozen rope. “They have to think he’s coming in as planned.”
“Uh-huh.” Cowboy’s lips twisted. “Jay-Jay, I find you’re ratting us out, I will make your last six months seem like a spa vacation.”
MJ’s gaze flashed up to Cowboy’s. “I’m impressed, babe. I thought you’d go for Dad’s torture as the comparison.”
Cowboy’s mouth hardened. “I’m a shit, Jay, but I wouldn’t do that to anyone.”
“No? I would. In fact, I intend to do far worse. Are you and the Professor coming to play?”
A slice of ice took up residence in Sonny’s spine. He hated this working shit.
“Yeah, Jay-Jay. We’re in.” Cowboy looked relaxed, but Sonny could read the tension in the lean body.
“Okay. You two fly up, get the other two, and meet us in Houston; we’ll move from there.”
“Got it.” Cowboy was off like his ass was on fire, and Sonny figured they’d be lucky to see him again.
MJ nodded once, like that was that. “He’s fucking amazing to work with.”
“And I’m not?” Sonny tried for a grin, but failed.
Blue eyes met him head-on. “You’re my motherfucking hero and the only person on earth I’d trade my weapon for. Amazing isn’t even
a start.”
“Well, there is that.” That put a fire in his belly, enough that he bent to kiss MJ hard. “What do you need me to do next?”
“We have a three-day cruise ahead of us, then a week of pure hell that will probably end in a fiery blaze. We need chocolate and Valium.”
“You got it, Gilligan. Don’t leave without me.” Sonny had to have faith. MJ would wait for him.
As he headed out the door, he heard, “Does that make you Ginger or Mary Ann?”
Chapter Sixteen
“GET READY to go, Rick.”
Paddy nodded, sighed, refusing to look at Neil, because these days, when Neil was sleeping, Neil wasn’t Neil; he was Boomer. It had been better for a while. Now it was worse. Boomer seemed… stronger.
He’d packed. He’d organized. He had the information Boomer’d asked for, the weapons, incendiary devices. Pop-Tarts.
He was ready.
“Leave me alone, Boomer. We’re ready.”
“You’d better be. You have to be there. Full out.”
“Fuck you. Leave me alone. I have everything.” He could feel wetness on his cheeks, his shoulders were so heavy.
“Stop bawling, Rick. You should have paid attention when I left the first time.” Boomer was so mean.
“I’m not crying! You leave me the fuck alone!”
“I’m coming. We have business to finish.”
Paddy turned to the bed, ready to give Boomer what for, but Neil was looking at him now. Awake.
“I….” He looked at Neil and shook his head. “Shower. I’m going to take a shower.”
Then he turned and ran from the room.
He hit the bathroom, spinning the water on and dry heaving. He wanted to find a screwdriver and jam it in his ears, make all the sounds go away.
Neil slid quietly into the room, standing there naked and scarred, staring at him. “I’m sorry, Padraic.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m going to take a shower.”
“Yes. Of course.” So formal. So sad.
They should have killed him. They were going to kill him anyway; he knew that now, but if they’d killed him earlier, Neil wouldn’t be hurt, and everybody else thought he was dead anyway.
