by CC Bridges
The feeling swelled until he didn’t know what to do, couldn’t express his gratitude with mere words. So Gabe leaned forward and pressed his lips against Jeff’s, loving how the other man’s beard scraped against his chin as he pulled away.
Jeff’s eyes were wide and his mouth parted. Gabe’s heart beat wildly, and he realized he might have made a terrible mistake. How did he know if Jeff even liked men? He might be friends with Hank and Ian, but… oh and there was Kayla to consider.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, taking a step backward. “I don’t even know if you do that with men. I mean, I know you like women, Kayla must have had a mother, and oh, Michael’s nuts, I’m an idiot.”
A slow smile spread across Jeff’s face. He reached out and pulled Gabe toward him by his shoulders. Gabe was too startled to move, to do anything more than tilt his head back as Jeff kissed him once more. He bit down on Gabe’s lower lip until Gabe opened his mouth with a gasp, letting Jeff inside.
Jeff tasted like raspberry nutricubes and freedom. Gabe lost himself in the feeling, the warmth against his lips, the rasping beard along his chin, and the warmth of Jeff’s skin beneath his fingertips when Gabe tucked his hands under Jeff’s shirt.
Jeff pulled away, letting his forehead rest against Gabe’s for a moment as he took a breath. Then he stepped back. Gabe felt bereft, already missing his warmth.
“Gabe, this is probably not a good idea.”
Gabe folded his arms across his chest. “You really going to let that stop you?”
Jeff laughed. He went to one of the many cabinets along the walls and opened it, revealing a cooler from which he pulled a silver thermos. “I think we could both use a drink.”
“You brew that yourself?” Gabe asked as Jeff poured amber liquid into a spare glass. “Is there anything you can’t make?”
“Ask me that once you’ve had a sip.” Jeff handed over the glass and chugged from the thermos itself.
Gabe would have laughed, except he had taken a gulp of his drink and it burned all the way down. He liked how it warmed him from the inside. “It’s good,” he said, his voice raspy.
Jeff seemed to shiver at his words, and Gabe wondered if his husky tones were too close to sex for Jeff. He swallowed at the thought. Funny, it had been so long since he’d last had sex, perhaps he could be considered a virgin all over again. Oh, Rocky, he thought, his chest twisting in pain.
“I don’t mind that you’re male,” Jeff said softly, staring down at the thermos in his hands. “You wouldn’t be my first.”
Gabe wanted to move closer, slot himself between Jeff’s legs and ask what the hell they were waiting for. “Is it the angel thing?”
“I don’t have a good record with relationships.”
Those words only caused his breath to speed up. Jeff wasn’t talking about one night together. He wanted more. Well, with Gabe living here, they couldn’t pretend not to know each other in the morning.
“Considering my last relationship was two centuries ago, I think you have the advantage here.”
Jeff’s eyes widened. “You….”
Gabe moved closer, close enough to feel Jeff’s body heat without touching. “Heaven Corp does good work if you’re willing to let them own your mind.” He tapped his head. “So I’m technically the older man here.”
He’d hoped to put Jeff at ease by making light of it. Heaven had stolen two centuries of his life and ripped him away from the man he loved. Now Gabe was going to take what he wanted and set himself free.
He caught his hand in the loop on Jeff’s pants, tugging gently. Jeff grabbed Gabe’s wrist but didn’t pull him off. “Kayla’s mom died, and it was my fault.”
Gabe let his head fall until it was resting on Jeff’s chest. Sometimes Heaven wasn’t the only impediment standing in his way. Jeff had his own ghosts, just as Gabe had Rocky. “I can see why you wanted that drink.”
Jeff skimmed his hand along Gabe’s cheek, tilting his face up. “You have to hear this. Before this goes any further, you have to understand. It’s my fault Kayla is the way she is.”
“Modded? You say it like it’s such a horrible thing.”
“It’s not a slam on you.” Jeff gestured with his free hand toward the wing parts on the table. “She shouldn’t have been hurt in the first place.”
Gabe couldn’t imagine Jeff being the cause of his daughter’s injury. Not the way he so obviously adored and protected her. “Come, sit down.” Gabe tugged on his arm, pulling Jeff to the chairs around the security screen. At the very least, he could support Jeff through this. “You look like you need to be sitting down for this.”
“I was a hacker,” Jeff blurted as he sat. He reached up to rub at the back of his neck and winced. “Leah was the mechanist. Kayla’s mother. It was her idea to apprentice ourselves to Old Man Giambi. This was his junkyard.”
That made sense. Jeff couldn’t have created this place by himself. How long had it been here, being passed on and handed off to the next generation? Without the junkyard rescuing ruins from hundreds of years ago, Gabe didn’t think Old Trent would be in such good shape, despite the demons.
“All of them were off scavenging in the more dangerous part of the yard.” Jeff pushed a button on the control panel and the screen lit up, showing a map. He seemed to need the visual aid, to stare at it instead of meeting Gabe’s eyes. “Not much left of it now. I was here, jacked in to the net instead of monitoring the energy levels of the damn canister Giambi was using to collect power sources.”
Gabe perched in his own chair, wanting to touch Jeff so badly. He could see how the story ended but remained silent, letting Jeff speak at his own pace. Grief could not be rushed.
“I could hear the explosion from here, even still hooked up. By the time I got there, Kayla was the only one I could save. She was only five fucking years old.”
Now Gabe did touch him, leaning to put his hand on Jeff’s thigh. Jeff covered it with his own, trapping Gabe in his position as they finally met eye to eye. “I shoulda been doing my job that day and I wasn’t. That little girl is my life, and I can’t let anything get in the way of that.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t have this,” Gabe told him, shifting forward enough to kiss Jeff again, savoring the spice of the drink still on his lips. After his kidnapping at the club, Gabe realized he had to move forward, out of the past. He wanted Jeff to have this gift as well. He deserved more than to be swallowed by grief and guilt. Maybe Gabe’s body could speak for him.
Jeff didn’t say a word. He just reached out and grabbed Gabe by the waist, pulling him off his chair until he was straddling Jeff’s lap. They both grunted at the contact. The arousal that had started with the kiss blossomed into full flame. Gabe’s cock thickened against his pants, now too tight for comfort.
He remembered this. Gabe remembered desire and what it felt like to yearn for his lover. He wanted Jeff, needed Jeff to make new memories. Rocky would always be with him, but Gabe could honor him by remembering how to love again.
Gabe caught his hands in Jeff’s thick hair, holding on, but also so he could guide the other man, holding his head so Gabe could keep kissing him. That beard continued to fascinate him. Kissing it, licking it, touching it, nothing satisfied him. Gabe wanted more. He wanted to feel Jeff rub that sweet stubble all over his naked body.
“Workshop isn’t the place for this,” Jeff all but growled. He unsnapped Gabe’s pants with ease, working one hand in to make contact.
Gabe hissed at the touch, unable to respond in any other way. Jeff’s hand was hot, too hot against his dick. He tilted his hips forward, trying to push himself against Jeff. Oh, just like this. He’d forgotten how good sex could be, how you could give and take, striving toward orgasm.
Jeff held him tight around the waist, sliding his other hand lower to tease at Gabe’s balls with one finger probing behind. Gabe let out a frustrated moan. No matter how much he would like to go further, this wasn’t the place for that. He wasn’t going to suggest goi
ng back to the house since Kayla was there.
With another rough noise, Jeff tugged down Gabe’s pants, pulling his cock out into the open air. Gabe buried his face in Jeff’s neck, below his ear, where he could breathe him in and yet also hide while Jeff began to caress him. It was almost torture, how slow and tentative Jeff touched him at first, as if trying to see if Gabe would stop him.
“More, please,” he choked out, unable to take it anymore.
“Mmm,” Jeff agreed, speeding up his strokes, catching his thumb under the head of Gabe’s cock.
He could do nothing but hold on and take it, let Jeff play his body like some kind of instrument. As Jeff moved faster, Gabe fell into him, moaning as he rocketed toward his climax.
“Jeff,” he gasped and came, thrusting into Jeff’s hand.
Gabe felt overheated, embarrassed at coming so quickly and being so exposed. Jeff tilted his face and kissed him again, mouth strong and sure against Gabe’s.
“Let me.” Gabe drew Jeff’s fingers to his lips, sucking them clean. He’d done this before, and Rocky had always loved it.
It seemed Jeff did too, by the way his eyes grew heavy-lidded and dark, focused completely on Gabe’s face. He slid off Jeff’s fingers. The combination of his come over the salty flavor of Jeff’s skin wasn’t what he wanted. Gabe wanted to taste Jeff himself and learn how he responded, what he liked. He’d been with Rocky for so long it had been like second nature, no need to think, just do. Learning Jeff’s buttons would take time, but there was a different kind of joy in being with someone for the first time. He pushed off Jeff’s lap, settling on his knees between Jeff’s spread legs.
“Gabe, you don’t….”
“Want to,” Gabe told him, unzipping Jeff’s pants and freeing his cock. It was thick and flushed a deep red, surrounded by dark curls. Gabe leaned forward and breathed in Jeff’s scent, so masculine and musky. Fuck, this would feel so good inside him.
He touched his tongue to the slit, gathering the fluid leaking there. Jeff’s taste exploded in his mouth, rich and powerful. Gabe thought he could easily get addicted to this. Wrapping his lips around the girth, Gabe began to slide down, determined to take all of Jeff.
Hands caught in his hair, and Gabe hummed in response. He wanted Jeff to guide him, to take his pleasure with Gabe’s mouth. But Jeff let Gabe set the pace, just content, it seemed, to hold on for the ride.
Gabe knew he could make this good. He might be out of practice, but he damn well knew how to please a man. Gabe swirled his tongue around the tip of Jeff’s cock, smiling around his mouthful when he heard Jeff groan. So that was something to remember for later. If only he could make Jeff lose his cool, start him thrusting into Gabe’s mouth.
Hollowing his cheeks, Gabe intensified the suction, swallowing around Jeff’s broad length. Jeff cried out, his hips jerking in short, stuttered movements. Before Gabe could enjoy his mouth being filled with thick essence, Jeff’s taste flooded his senses. He took it all, loving how it felt to make this man fall apart.
“Get up here.” Jeff tugged on his hair.
Gabe scrambled up, licking his lips. Jeff swore under his breath at the sight, then leaned forward and devoured Gabe’s mouth once more.
If it was this good now, Gabe couldn’t imagine what it would be like once he actually got Jeff to a bed. They would have time then to slowly learn each other’s bodies, to become experts at what the other desired. Gabe longed for that.
Chapter Eleven
JEFF HAD decided Gabe’s first lesson about life in Old Trent should be how to bargain at the market. If they were both to take Jeff teaching him seriously, Gabe needed to learn this skill. Downsiders had to know how to tell when merchandise was crap and when there was something valuable hidden under crusted dirt and grease.
“You never want to show how much metal you have,” Kayla was telling Gabe as they trailed behind Jeff through the market streets. Trixie trotted beside Jeff, her head moving side to side as if making sure the path ahead was clear.
Jeff smiled. He couldn’t have done better than to set Kayla teaching Gabe. She got the chance to show off her own knowledge, and Gabe got to get closer to Jeff’s daughter.
“Now how do you get metal?” Gabe asked. “I saw Jeff trade more scrap.”
“You always have to leave collateral with the management, otherwise the chits are useless.” Kayla held up the sheet of perforated metal.
“When I was young, you just traded goods straight-up,” Jeff added. He shook off the memory—scrounging around, looking for something valuable, anything he could trade for food. They’d never imagined then that they’d be grateful for demons to make life easier.
Gabe let out a little laugh. “These are much easier to carry.”
Jeff liked listening to Gabe laugh. It was a joyful noise, so different from the throaty groans from the other night. His face heated as Jeff thought of how it had been to have Gabe in his arms. The angel had come apart at Jeff’s touch, as if he could hardly accept Jeff’s hands upon his bare skin. Gabe became a sensual creature, tossing his head back and writhing with pleasure.
What were they to each other now? They couldn’t be anything more than sometime lovers. Jeff knew the demons could always come calling. That fear took root in his belly, and Jeff couldn’t forget that losing Gabe to the demons was a very real possibility.
But they hadn’t come yet. Things had been quiet. Maybe Luca had given up whatever stupid scheme he’d been playing. Maybe they’d forgotten about the angel in their midst.
Gabe smiled at Jeff, and he couldn’t help but smile back. You can have this, Gabe had told him after they’d been intimate. He could, but Jeff knew he damn well didn’t deserve it.
“So what am I going to buy today?” Gabe seemed overwhelmed by all the choices in the market.
Kayla tugged on Gabe’s sleeve. “You never say you’re going to buy something. You always have to be ready to walk away.”
Jeff pulled his jacket closer, feeling a sudden chill. The weather was starting to turn colder. He might hate the winter, with the poor weather that kept them pretty much confined to the junkyard—snowdrifts and blistering winds that burned uncovered skin. But he looked forward to the upcoming gathering at Ronnie’s, the celebration of the end of fall. This time he’d be able to bring Gabe.
He frowned at the sparse crowds as they navigated the market. It wasn’t cold enough to keep most people away. Now that he took the time to look, Jeff noticed the tables seemed pretty bare too. He didn’t smell food cooking, which was strange on a market day. Normally he might stop and buy something for him and Kayla to share, something different from their usual nutricubes. But none of the stands were open.
“We could use some more cubes,” Jeff said. It was about time to stock up for the winter. “But I need to pick up some mech parts….”
He needed a miniature nuclear cell for Gabe’s wing. Every day the project got closer to completion, looking more and more like it should. Right now Jeff had it connected to an external battery. But he required something robust and powerful before attempting to attach the wing to Gabe’s back.
Gabe gave a little shudder. “You know, I don’t think I want to go near any place that sells body parts.”
Jeff grinned at him. “You two go grab some food. And there’d better be some change left over.”
“You have too much faith in me.” Gabe grinned.
“Never,” Jeff said. Their eyes met, and he swallowed hard. Gabe reached out and clutched Jeff’s arm tightly, before nodding and following Kayla back into the heart of the market.
Jeff ran a hand through his hair, turned, and made his way to one of the flimsy-looking structures near the end of the market. Two demons guarded the door, but they ignored Jeff when he entered. They were only there to intervene in case anyone tried to steal their merchandise.
Inside Jeff followed a maze of metal walls, gaze flickering over the merchandise on display. He moved past the human limbs quickly, relieved they were only
metal and wires. For flesh he’d have to visit an entirely different shed. Finally he reached the batteries and scowled at the poor selection.
“What are you looking for?” an older demon asked in a raspy, wrecked voice. He was bent over, his fingers like talons as he picked through the parts on the table.
“I need a miniature nuclear cell.”
The demon let out a hacking cough, and it took a moment for Jeff to recognize it as laughter. “Won’t have something like that for a while. Maybe another month. Maybe two.”
Jeff frowned. “I’ve seen them here before.” He didn’t know what game this demon played, but he didn’t want to be cheated.
“Before, sure. Now, things not so good up there.” The talons pointed toward the ceiling. “Little hard to get things. Especially minicells.”
Jeff didn’t answer. He bit his lip, determined to try a few more places before he’d have to rethink his design. But at every stand, every booth, every shady-looking demon had the same thing to say—tech was suddenly hard to come by, even for them.
“We only managed to get two boxes,” Gabe told him when Jeff found them wandering in the supply section, which was marked by the blue paint slathered on the stands and sheds. “That’s without change.”
“The prices are high, Dad,” Kayla said in a soft voice. “Something’s not right.”
Jeff shook his head. “It’s coming on winter soon. That might have something to do with it.”
But he didn’t know if Luca had stopped his campaign against the angels in time. Maybe the retaliation wasn’t to be found in all-out war but in a slow stranglehold of supplies. Just when Jeff thought he had enough to worry about, there came something more.
GABE SPUN the glass in his fingers, marveling at how the lighting in Ronnie’s place glinted off the twisted design. He’d finished his drink but lingered over the empty cup—made of actual glass and not the hazy glastic he’d become accustomed to. Not like he had anything else to do. The party seemed to get along just fine without him.
