by Anna Martin
Another half hour passed.
Jackson leaned against a wall, the brick cold at his back, and closed his eyes.
“Excuse me? Sir?” It was another officer. How many fucking police were here?
“Yes?”
“Who are you looking for?”
Jackson tried very, very hard not to snarl. “Leo… Leonardo Gallagher.”
She relayed the name through her walkie-talkie, then nodded at the response and gestured to Jackson.
“Come with me.”
Jackson threw himself over the barrier and landed inelegantly, then rushed to follow her.
“What’s going on? Is he okay?”
“This is an active investigation, so there’s a limited amount I can tell you. The important thing is your friend is safe.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“He’s being held in a secure area with other employees. I’ll find out if I can take you in to talk to him.”
Now that he was closer, Jackson could see through the glass window of the café. Leo was huddled in a sweatshirt, and his back was to the window, forcing Jackson to stare at Leo with his heart in his throat.
The police officer cocked her head, inviting him inside, and Jackson rushed past her, almost tripping over his feet.
“Jackson?”
“Holy shit,” Jackson breathed as he pulled Leo up and into his arms. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.” He held on tight, letting Jackson pet his hair and kiss his face and breathe him in in deep, greedy breaths.
“What happened?”
“A load of people collapsed. Someone said it was a drugs thing—someone was dealing coke that was cut with something disgusting. Denver said it might be rat poison, but what the fuck do I know.”
“Fuck. Are they going to be okay? What happened to your phone? I found out from Valerie. Holy shit, Leo, I was so scared.”
“My phone died,” he said, pulling back from Jackson’s crushing embrace and putting his hands on Jackson’s face. He was wearing black leather shorts and leather boots while his top half drowned in a hoodie. It didn’t occur to Jackson until much later how hot he looked.
“You rushed all the way down here?” Leo continued. “I was hoping to just come over on my way home and tell you it was all okay.”
“Valerie saw what was going down and called me. I thought something had happened to you. I’ve been waiting for hours—no one would tell me anything.”
“I’m fine,” Leo said in a soothing voice. “A little cold, I guess I’m a bit shaken up, but I’m okay.”
When Leo went to sit down again, Jackson stopped him, took the cozy armchair, then pulled Leo down on top of him. It was only then that he noticed Mitch in the chair on the other side of the low table. Watching them.
“Hey,” Jackson said softly.
Mitch nodded in response.
The police had already taken swabs of all the employees’ hands for traces of the drugs and still had to take statements before they were prepared to release them. Jackson was bone-tired and not willing to let Leo go.
He wasn’t allowed to listen as Leo gave his statement, but it gave him time to catch up with Mitch’s version of events.
“It was pandemonium,” Mitch said in his now-familiar candid drawl. “It’s a gay club, come on, we get a lot of party drugs coming through. The security guys are usually pretty good at kicking out the people who deal that shit, but I guess tonight someone slipped through the net.”
“Do you know who it was?”
“Not staff,” Mitch said with a confidence that surprised Jackson. “We’re a family. No one would hurt anyone else, not like this.”
“You’re sure?”
Mitch nodded. “I’ve worked in clubs a long time. I know the scene. Shit like this happens from time to time: someone who’s not one of us sneaks in and tries to cause problems so gay bars get a bad name for being dangerous.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“You think that’s bad?” Mitch gave a humorless laugh. “You should hear about the shit that goes down in the wolf bars.”
“I don’t go,” Jackson admitted.
“I know.”
As the night grew longer, Jackson picked up bits of conversations from around the room, how at least fifteen people had collapsed over the course of about twenty minutes and there weren’t enough first aid responders to help everyone.
“Your soul mate was a hero tonight,” Mitch said.
Jackson looked at him sharply. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Mitch gave him a sassy glare. “He’s got medical training, so he was showing the people who were sober enough to help how to look after the people who were having seizures. What position to put the guys in who had collapsed. I’ve never seen him like that before.”
“Me either,” Jackson said quietly.
“He’s a good man.”
“He’s incredible,” Jackson murmured.
“I’m glad you see that.”
For once, Mitch wasn’t being a bitch.
“I don’t normally do the whole ‘full moon, let’s hang out’ thing,” Jackson said, feeling weird and uncomfortable but determined to offer an olive branch. “But if you ever need someone to shift with….”
Mitch gave him a little smile and nodded. “I’ll give you a call when they’re done talking to me.”
When he came out of his interview, Jackson got a better look at the black hoodie Leo wore. It definitely came from Jackson’s wardrobe; it skimmed the bottom of Leo’s shorts, making him look like he wasn’t wearing anything else.
“Come on,” Leo said, offering Jackson his hand. “Let’s go home.”
“You’re coming home with me?”
Leo nodded. “Yeah.”
Home meant Jackson. Not Mitch. He didn’t want to examine that too closely tonight.
There wasn’t a ticket on Jackson’s car, which was a miracle in itself, or maybe the police weren’t chasing down things like illegal parking tonight.
The streets were mostly empty as Jackson made his way back to the condo. Leo was clearly exhausted, almost asleep in the passenger seat, curled up facing Jackson. Jackson stretched his arm over to squeeze Leo’s knee.
He wanted to carry Leo up the stairs and into bed, but Leo made grumpy noises about being too big, which was probably true, but Jackson didn’t want to listen. He double-checked the locks on the door before dragging Leo up to bed.
“I need your help with this thing,” Leo said. He’d already shrugged out of the hoodie, leaving him in a bondage-gear chest harness that really emphasized the muscles in his chest and arms.
Leo didn’t look like the kind of guy you’d expect to be muscular under his clothes, but he was. His body was tight and defined, and the leather straps cut thick black lines over Leo’s pale skin.
“Or you could leave it on?” Jackson suggested.
Leo turned around and gaped at him.
“You’re into this?”
Jackson looked him up and down. He took a second to consider. “Yeah. God, yeah.”
Leo laughed. Jackson stepped in close and rested his fingers on Leo’s waist, then leaned in to kiss Leo’s cheek, mouth at Leo’s collarbone, then softly, reverently, press his cheek against Leo’s neck.
“Do I smell like other people?” Leo asked, his fingers scratching through Jackson’s hair.
“Yeah,” he mumbled.
“Should I shower?”
“No.”
Jackson grabbed Leo’s ass and hauled him closer instead. When Leo started rubbing at the back of Jackson’s neck, he all but melted.
“You like that, hmm?” Leo asked.
“Yeah,” Jackson said. Leo started to undress him, stripping away the hoodie and T-shirt, then unbuttoning Jackson’s jeans. Jackson straightened up so he could kick his jeans the rest of the way off, then toed out of his socks.
Leo followed him to the bed, still wearing the black leather shorts and chest harness.
> “I want you to know,” Jackson started, then lost his train of thought as Leo straddled his thighs.
“Want me to know what?”
Jackson blinked. In the soft lamplight in the bedroom, he could just make out the liberal dusting of freckles over Leo’s shoulders, the same gingery color as his hair. He was ridiculously beautiful.
“I want you to know that I want you here. I want you in my bed….” He shook his head. “In my life. With me. All the time.”
“Okay,” Leo said, smiling, like it was that easy. “I want to be here.”
“I’m going to mess shit up,” Jackson reminded him. “Probably a lot.”
“Me too. We’ll figure it out, though.”
Jackson leaned up to capture Leo’s lips in a kiss. “Please don’t leave me.”
He felt cracked open, raw with emotion, and knew that Leo could strike him down with words alone.
“I won’t.”
Making love with Leo didn’t feel like an anomaly anymore. It felt like coming home.
Leo’s kisses were as soft and sure as the first one they’d shared, teasing Jackson into a kind of frenzy that left him loose and pliant and ready for whatever Leo wanted.
He lay back on the soft sheets that Leo had picked out and wrapped his hands around Leo’s hips while Leo took up a slow, sensuous roll that made their hard cocks catch and tease against each other. Jackson moaned, partly in frustration, because two layers of fabric between them was two too many, and he wanted more.
“Now can I take the rest of this off?” Leo asked, and Jackson didn’t have words to answer, instead getting Leo naked. That was more important.
Leo rolled them onto their sides and threw his leg over Jackson’s thighs so they could keep grinding together. Jackson wanted more, he wanted everything, but he wasn’t sure how to ask for it.
“I want you to fuck me,” Leo said, then gently bit Jackson’s lower lip and tugged.
Fuck. That was one way to do it.
Jackson scrambled for his nightstand and grabbed lube and a condom. Leo took the lube out of his hand before Jackson could offer to help, and he watched, transfixed, as Leo rolled onto his stomach. He grabbed a pillow to prop his hips up and arranged another one under his chest, then reached back with slick fingers and gently petted his hole.
“Fucking hell,” Jackson breathed.
“Getting started without you, big boy,” Leo teased, throwing a look back over his shoulder that was breathtaking.
“Oh, trust me, I’m getting with the program.”
That made Leo laugh; then his throat caught and Jackson was back to staring as Leo sank two slick fingers inside himself.
He tore open the condom wrapper and almost fumbled it as he stroked it down his cock. Leo was rocking into the feeling of his fingers inside himself, and Jackson had to force himself to not think about how good it was going to be when that was him.
He shuffled on his knees until he was situated right behind Leo and palmed at his asscheek, spreading it so he had a better view.
“I’m ready when you are,” Leo murmured, his face buried in his pillow.
“Sure?”
“Yes. Very.” He pulled his fingers away, leaving a shiny trail.
“Okay.”
Jackson leaned down and kissed Leo’s lower back, then carefully, slowly, started to push inside.
Leo groaned, low and deep from his chest, and reached back blindly for Jackson. Jackson took his hand and tangled their fingers together, then leaned forward so he could cover Leo’s back with his chest.
“Still good?” he asked, close enough to Leo now to murmur the words in Leo’s ear like a secret.
“So good. Please, Jackson.”
Jackson rolled his hips, finding a slow, easy rhythm that met Leo’s body at just the right angle to make it incredible for them both. Leo didn’t let go of his hand, but did crane his neck around to demand more of Jackson’s kisses.
It didn’t take long for Jackson to lose himself. He forgot every worry he’d had about Leo’s body, his male physicality and what that would mean when they finally got round to making love. It wasn’t anything like he’d imagined; this was easy, it felt right… it felt good.
He peppered Leo’s back and neck with kisses, his mouth falling lax when Leo clenched down on his cock and things started to feel good in a way that meant Jackson wasn’t going to last long. When Leo reached down to grab his own cock, Jackson felt another little thrill; that maybe he could be the one to make Leo explode with pleasure.
“I’m not going to last long,” Leo said, his voice cracking.
“Me either.” Jackson kissed his neck again. “Come with me, Leo.”
A moment later Leo cried out, his back arched, and his whole body shuddered through his orgasm. Jackson kept moving, wanting to keep Leo at that peak for as long as he could.
“Jackson.”
That was all Jackson needed to let go. Leo’s voice sounded wrecked as he moaned Jackson’s name, and it was the single goddamn sexiest thing Jackson had ever heard.
He pressed his forehead to the top of Leo’s spine and lost his mind as he thrust hard and chased his orgasm from Leo’s body.
“Oh my God,” Leo laughed. “Oh, wow.”
Jackson allowed himself just a moment longer to revel in the thrill of being inside Leo, inside his soul mate, before tentatively pulling away.
Leo made a small noise.
“Did I hurt you? Oh fuck.”
“No,” Leo said, rolling onto his side and examining the wet spot he’d left with a wince. “It’s a good ache.”
He smiled at Jackson’s expression.
“I’m good, I promise.”
“Okay.”
Jackson leaned in to steal a kiss, then went to dispose of the condom. When he got back, Leo was wearing a pair of Jackson’s shorts as he stripped the sheets from the bed.
“You could help,” he sassed. Jackson slapped him lightly on the ass in retaliation, making Leo jump.
“You’re staying?”
Jackson hated that he needed to check… but he had to be sure. He didn’t want to make any assumptions.
“I’m staying,” Leo agreed.
They finished changing the sheets, and then Leo shut off the lamp and curled up against Jackson’s chest.
“I’m staying,” he said again, before falling asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Four
LEO HAD to escape at lunchtime the next day to go see his mom and catch her up on what had happened at Flair. She didn’t keep close tabs on him, though he was pretty sure the news about the laced drugs would hit the local news, and he wanted her information to come from him, not some media source with an agenda.
Leo’s mom had always been good at getting him to talk about things he didn’t particularly want to tell her. It was for that reason she’d known when he lost his virginity. And who his date to prom was. And that he was gay. So he spent the drive over mentally rehearsing how he’d tell her that he was back with Jackson.
“Hello, darling.”
“Hey, Mom.”
Leo leaned in to kiss her cheek, then bundled them both back into the warm house. The heavy clouds overhead were threatening snow, and it was certainly cold enough outside that it felt like a real possibility.
“You’re baking?” Leo asked.
“There’s a fundraiser at the church tonight,” she said as they made their way back to the kitchen. “A potluck supper too, but I said I’d bake. So here we are, with plenty to do. Do you want to help with the bread?”
Leo was good at bread.
“Sure.”
He washed up in the sink while his mom went back to the cake batter on the counter. All his life Leo had helped his mom when she’d made big batches of homemade bread, cakes, and cookies. Baking was how she de-stressed, so he’d gotten good at helping.
For a while, Leo had been a chubby kid.
“I need to tell you about something,” Leo said.
“Oh?”
His mom narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not sure I like this.”
Leo grinned at her, then gave a heavily edited version of events from the night before. His mother did not need to know he was wearing leather booty shorts and bondage gear while helping resuscitate drugged partygoers. He wasn’t even into bondage. It just looked nice.
“It sounds like you had an eventful night.”
“Yeah,” Leo agreed. “I’m guessing Flair will be closed while the police investigate.”
“Everyone’s okay?”
“A few people are in the hospital. But yeah. We’re okay.”
“Good.”
They worked in companionable silence, the radio providing a comforting background noise under the rhythmic whirring of the stand mixer. Leo easily got lost in his own thoughts, still processing his experiences the night before.
When he’d woken up that morning, he’d called a friend at the hospital, wanting to check in on the people who’d been seriously hurt. No one had died, thank God, but a few were in critical condition. The next few days would see whether or not they made it through.
In these situations, Leo was glad he’d never pursued a career in medicine. He wasn’t good at “wait and see,” and even now he had trouble separating his emotions from his work.
“Leo. Leo.”
It took one more attempt for Leo’s mom to get his attention.
“Sorry,” he said, looking over at her.
“You’re punching that dough like you’re trying to destroy it,” she said with a fond smile. Then it slipped. “Are you okay, baby?”
“I’m fine,” Leo said, slapping more flour on his hands. He shaped the dough into a ball, then dumped it on a baking sheet. He picked up a knife and slashed a deep cross into the top of the ball, then covered it with a light cloth.
“No, you’re not.” She kept a hard eye on Leo as he went to the sink and washed his hands of the sticky dough. “I’ll make some coffee.”
