Garrett could barely see Chase over Anjuli, but he could certainly feel him. He was slamming into Garrett’s ass with such ferocity, Garrett was impressed he hadn’t lost control. He could tell by his panting, moans, and intermittent Spanish expletives that he wasn’t too far from exploding. Meanwhile, a string of incomprehensible words was spilling from Anjuli’s lips. Garrett wasn’t even sure it was English. She was so beautiful, grinding her hips down on him, moving with such grace and rhythm it was hypnotic. Not wanting to miss her face when she found her release was the only thing keeping him from coming deep inside her throbbing pussy.
“Fuck, Nav, I’m getting close,” Chase blurted out as he tightened his grip on Garrett’s legs.
That was all it took to push Anjuli over the edge. She screamed as her climax hurtled through her body, radiating out from her core like a bomb detonating. As Garrett predicted, the walls of her pussy clamped down on his cock, squeezing him until he had no choice but to relinquish the cum from his balls. His own orgasm rocketed down his shaft and out the tip as she convulsed around him. He couldn’t believe how fucking good it felt with Chase’s cock pounding into him relentlessly. He hadn’t come so hard in a long time.
“My turn,” Chase managed as his body stiffened. He pulled his cock from Garrett’s body, ripped off the condom, and spurted his thick, creamy load all over Anjuli’s ass. She slumped over Garrett in exhaustion, her body recovering as the hot cum coated her sweat-slicked skin. As Chase left them to grab a towel from the bathroom, Anjuli’s lips found Garrett’s.
Garrett couldn’t believe how good he felt in this moment, so free, so unencumbered, as if his body could take flight and orbit the earth on its current high. He had never found this sense of euphoria at the bottom of a bottle. He had never found it with just one partner.
Chase returned to the room and dabbed at the puddle he’d left on Anjuli’s curvy backside. When he was satisfied she was cleaned up, he slid into bed next to his roommate. Anjuli had moved to the other side so that she and Chase were each resting in one of Garrett’s arms, their bodies curled toward his, steam escaping their skin as they pressed into him.
He suddenly felt like he had everything he could ever want right here—a feeling he had never experienced before.
Sixteen
He awoke with a start, panting, his heart pounding. It happened again. Another nightmare. Blood. Gunshot ringing. Screams. Running into the woods with his heart about to explode out of his ribcage.
Anjuli flew up in the bed. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
He was breathing too hard to answer and still making sense of his surroundings. She must have decided to stay over, he thought. He couldn’t remember having that conversation. He only remembered Chase fucking him and Anjuli riding his cock, then the three of them collapsing in the bed. Chase was gone now, however.
“Garrett?” came her soft voice again. She repositioned her body to face him, nestling herself into his side as she stroked her hands down his chest. “Did you have a bad dream?”
“Don’t worry about it,” the words finally came. “I’m fine.”
“You broke out in a sweat,” she said, wiping her hand on the sheet. “And you shouted something. I didn’t understand what it was.”
“Shhhh,” he whispered, then turned to press his lips onto hers. “Just go back to sleep, okay?”
“I think it’s time for me to get up.” Her voice had an obvious edge of disappointment. “Your clock says 5:30.”
“No.” He wrapped his hand around her forearm and pulled her closer to him, then tightened his arms around her warm body. He breathed in the scent of her. She still smelled as delicious as she had the night before. He wanted her again. His cock was swelling, rising against the sheet and making it tent.
“This does feel rather nice,” she agreed, planting a kiss on his chest. “But I have to go to work. I hadn’t planned to stay over, but you two wore me out last night.”
His chest shook a little bit with a chuckle. The images from his nightmare were already starting to dissipate. “Likewise.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in anything even half as hot as that,” she admitted. “How long have you and Chase—”
“He just moved in a couple weeks ago,” Garrett answered. “And that was our first time doing anything.”
“Wow, it seemed like you guys knew each other very well. It wasn’t awkward or anything!” She shifted as though she was going to try to get up again, but Garrett turned to face her and threw his leg over her hip, trapping her close to his body.
“No, don’t go yet. I’m not done with you yet.” He pressed his erection into the soft part of her belly.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” she said, ignoring his hard cock poking into her. “The reason I even came over so early last night. Practice let out way sooner than I thought it would because Clark broke his leg.”
Garrett jerked back with surprise. “What?!”
She giggled at his reaction. “Yeah, so he wasn’t there. And, honestly, I don’t think he’s going to be able to do the show. I mean, he can’t dance in a cast.”
“What’s Nigel going to do?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a call.”
He scoffed. “I’m not working with that asshole. He got me fired.”
She was quiet for a moment. He could feel her soft breaths falling on him, and hear them too if he really listened. He suspected he knew why she was being quiet.
“Anjuli, he made me lose my job,” he countered, even though she wasn’t arguing.
“I know. But—” She pulled him close to her again. “I’ve just worked so hard on this show. I’d hate to think they’d have to cancel the whole thing. Plus, my daughter is supposed to come down and watch me on opening night. She’s never seen me on stage before because I haven’t done anything like this since before she was born...”
Her voice trailed off, and Garrett began to feel the guilt kick in, followed closely by his raging irritation with Nigel. Fuck, he thought. Between a rock and a hard place. Story of my life.
“So, I heard back from the VA hospital in Spokane,” Scott said as soon as she crossed the threshold of her office. It was like he was stalking her, waiting for her to show up.
“Creepy as fuck, Scott, Jesus!” she said through a gasp, her hand flying up to her chest.
“Wow, you look tired!” He gave her a once over and grinned. “You must have had a good night. You have a dopey smile on your face.”
“Dopey? What are you, like eighty? No one says that.” She shook her head and gave him a fake scowl. “What did the hospital say?”
“Jackson was treated there, and I have the name of the surgeon who did some reconstructive procedures on his face, but I don’t really have much else of a lead. They did say he had been stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs.”
“Oh, okay, yeah, I think Garrett said something about Colorado. That’s where he got engaged and his fiancée lived too, and apparently she left him when he came back.”
“Fuck, that’s rough, geez. I’m looking for a contact at Fort Carson, but I don’t know anyone there personally,” he said. “I thought I had a client who had come from there, but it turned out it was Fort Campbell.”
“That’s in Kentucky, dumbass,” she retorted, rolling her eyes at him jokingly.
“Well, it starts with a C. Give me a break. You think I’m a walking encyclopedia of Army bases?” he shot back.
“Yes. Yes, I do,” she said, laughing. She loved to tease him whenever he made a mistake or forgot something because he was usually so meticulous, annoyingly so. “Ask around, and I will too. I’m also going to reach out to Carolee Woodson, and I left a message with Martin Foster’s parents in Alabama. Hopefully I have a voicemail waiting for me.”
“Good deal. I’ve got a client at nine, so I better scoot.” Scott headed for the door, but before he made his exit, he whipped back around and gave A
njuli a wicked grin. “So how was last night? You saw him, didn’t you?”
She felt her cheeks beginning to heat. “I did, and if I told you about it, you probably wouldn’t even believe me!”
“Sounds like a good lunch conversation, then!” He winked and was on his way.
She took out her phone and texted Garrett an update. He’s probably not even out of bed yet, she thought as she hit send.
He texted back only seconds later: Nigel just texted me. Oh, and I may know someone at Fort Carson.
He rolled his eyes so hard he thought he caught a glimpse of his brain when Nigel texted him: Hey, can we talk?
You don’t have the balls to call me? Garrett pointedly texted back.
I didn’t think you’d answer.
Garrett scoffed. Try me. When the phone rang seconds later, he had half a mind to ignore the call, but he picked it up right before it went to voicemail.
He had already been thinking about what he was going to say when Nigel came crawling back to him. Chase had woken him up with the smell of sizzling bacon and eggs, so he was lured out of his bedroom not long after Anjuli left. He’d told Chase what was going on, and Chase’s take on the dilemma didn’t surprise him at all.
“You should do the show, man,” he almost immediately concluded.
Garrett’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Are you serious?”
“Look, Nigel got you fired because he’s jealous. Try to take it as a compliment,” Chase explained with a knowing smile. “And besides, Anjuli is helping you track down your brother. The least you can do is play the damn role. You said yourself you like the show and wish you’d had the lead in the first place.”
Garrett pursed his lips, trying to keep himself from rolling his eyes again and only barely succeeding.
“It’s not like you have anything else to do,” Chase teased him. “And don’t you get some sort of stipend for performing?”
Garrett hated that his roommate was right. But he was. There was no reason he couldn’t have a little fun at Nigel’s expense, though.
“What do you want, Nigel?” he barked into the phone.
“I’m sure Anjuli told you what is going on,” he said evenly. “Are you going to help me out or what?”
“I want you to go to Tom and ask him to give me my job back,” Garrett demanded. “Tell him you sabotaged me—threw me under the bus.”
He was tired of being thrown under the bus. That much was for damn sure.
“Nav...”
There was silence on Garrett’s end. He was not about to budge. He’d do the show for Anjuli, but not without being vindicated.
Finally, Nigel let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I’ll go talk to Tom right now. I can’t guarantee he’ll give you your job back, but I will tell him my report was unfair to you.”
“That’s a good start,” Garrett agreed. He had half a mind to ask for other things—but he didn’t want to press his luck. He couldn’t help that a small part of him was thrilled to get this opportunity. Maybe some local casting directors would see him and ask him to audition for upcoming shows? Maybe there was a crazy way he could make it as an actor in this town...especially if he had a steady income as the “building engineer.”
“So can you make it to practice tonight at six?” came Nigel’s ingratiating voice.
“I’ll be there,” Garrett said stiffly. “And by the way, I want you to know, I’m doing this for Anjuli. She’s worked too hard to see the show blow up in her face.”
As he hung up, he wrinkled his brow, still staring at the phone for a few moments. He was trying to work out why he felt the need to tell Nigel he was doing it for Anjuli. Not only why did he need to clarify that, but why did he feel obligated to do it for her in the first place? It was true she was going out of her way to help with his brother, but she didn’t expect anything in return. And she didn’t even use her helping him as a guilt tactic when she’d told him Clark broke his leg.
Oh, fuck, Sarah—he suddenly remembered. He had run into her the previous summer. She was pregnant and glowing, so beautiful. Her daughter was in the show he was doing at the theatre where he’d met her. Later he found out she’d moved back to Colorado after her baby was born. Her husband had been transferred to Fort Carson.
Fort Carson was where his brother had been stationed as well, and Anjuli was looking for a contact there. Would it be too weird for me to text her? he wondered. Their last meeting had been cordial, despite how their relationship had ended.
He scrolled through the contacts on his phone and found he still had Sarah’s number. It would be difficult to explain why he needed information, but he just started with something simple, asking Sarah if her husband was still at Fort Carson and if he’d be willing to look someone up for him.
He’d just gotten a text the day before from Lilly asking him if he’d learned anything. He’d told her about their meeting with Cole Woodson and that they were going to look into connecting with Martin Foster’s parents. Now he’d be able to give her another little tidbit. Just doing something seemed to make her happy. She was tired of stagnation, of fading hope. He certainly understood why. He’d had enough of stagnation and fading hope himself.
Something unexpected happened when he was lying with both Chase and Anjuli in his arms the night before. Something about it felt so right, so comfortable. He was taken aback by the feeling because he’d never had it before. It was one of being understood. Supported.
He hardly knew Chase and Anjuli, but there was something about them both. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. They fostered a sense of something he’d always been looking for but had never been able to find.
He wanted to use the term “home,” but that was such a foreign concept to him. He wasn’t sure he had ever felt “at home” at any point in time when he was growing up. Clark Bowman had destroyed any chances of that.
He heard his phone go off as soon as he walked through the doors at DPAC. Eerie to be back, he thought, wishing he could have just one day in his life where everything felt normal. He wasn’t sure it was even possible. Either that, or abnormal is just normal for me.
Tom was waiting for him by the doors of the auditorium. “Hey, Nav,” he said, calling him by the nickname he’d never used when Garrett actually worked there. “Nigel told me what happened. Are you interested in coming back to work? There’s a huge clog in the men’s toilet, if you get a chance to look at it later tonight. I’m heading out myself, but if you want your job back, here are the keys.” He stretched out his hand, and in his palm was the set of keys Garrett had turned in when he’d been let go the week before.
Garrett wanted to laugh, the scene was so surreal. “Yeah, okay.” He wasn’t thrilled about dealing with the clog, but whatever. “As long as my taking this part in the show won’t interfere with working.”
“No, no, we’ll adjust your schedule however you need, and, of course, there’s an extra stipend for taking the role.” Tom wore a huge grin on his shiny, waxy-looking face.
Garrett shrugged. There was no harm in taking the job back while he waited to see what happened with his other applications. This was not a career. He’d still need to figure out what he wanted to do in the future, but at least he’d be able to pay his rent. So I’m right back where I was last week, he thought, rolling his eyes.
Better than continuing to drown in a bottle of vodka while feeling sorry for myself, I suppose.
He took the keys and headed into the auditorium. The entire cast stood up on stage applauding him as he made his way down the aisle.
“Oh, look, it’s Nav, our hero!” Nigel beamed from beside Anjuli. “Our show is saved!”
Hero was not a role Garrett was accustomed to. “Oh, save it, guys. I put my script away last week, so I’m pretty rusty. You may be booing me by the time tonight is over.”
Despite his self-deprecation, Nigel slapped him on the back, and Anjuli awarded him a flirty wink. And he ended up doing a lot better during rehearsal than he thought
he would.
When their practice finished up, he was finally able to glance at his phone to see what the notification he’d received earlier was for. It was a text back from Sarah: Nice to hear from you. Still in CO. What do you need to know?
“Everything okay?” Anjuli questioned as the rest of the cast filed off the stage. She slung her arm around Garrett’s waist, seemingly unconcerned what Nigel or anyone else might think. Nigel was talking to the musical director, and it only took a moment for his eyes to square up on his leads.
Garrett shot Nigel a smirk meant to say and what are you gonna do about it? Then he turned to Anjuli with a grin. “I think I just found our in at Fort Carson.”
“Oh, really?” Her eyes were wide with curiosity. “You know someone there?”
“Sorta. My ex-girlfriend’s husband is there—he’s an officer. I think we can find out what we want from him.”
“Perfect...” Her voice trailed off as her eyes took on a wicked gleam. “So what are you and Chase up to tonight?” She practically had drool dripping from her mouth.
Garrett chuckled. “I think I’ve created a monster!” He leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek. “I guess it’s safe to say you have no issues with me being bi?”
She vehemently shook her head. “It’s hot,” she added.
“I guess you’ll do,” she fired back, pulling him toward her for a real kiss. “Sorry, but I just can’t get enough of your cock.”
“Do you see me complaining?”
Nigel shot them a dirty look as they left the auditorium arm in arm.
Seventeen
“Do you really think we can pull this show together by next Friday?” Anjuli questioned as she and Garrett made their way out of the theatre together.
“Nigel seems to think so.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m not going to let you down; don’t worry.”
She hoped not. She had a long history of men letting her down, including Mishti’s father and her own father.
The Navigator (Mountains Series Book 5) Page 16
