Smoke curled up from the red-hot barrel and I tossed away the empty gun. "Let's get the fuck out!" I yanked open the truck door and Ryan climbed inside.
I felt cold steel press against the back of my head.
"No, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere, Army man."
"Ah, fuck," I groaned. Ryan looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. I hated seeing him look so afraid. I wasn't used to seeing him afraid.
"I should've known you were fucking with me. I should've killed you back then. Turn around so that I can see your face when I shoot you."
Ryan shook his head, pleading with his eyes. I smiled at him. Then, slowly, I turned around.
The boss pushed his pistol up to my forehead, his finger moving to the trigger. I prepared myself.
Then the muffled sound of a helicopter droned through the open jungle canopy. He looked up, surprised. His gun wavered. I swiped with my hand, grabbing the barrel and jerking it to the side away from my face. Gunpowder peppered my cheek as it went off with a deafening crack, and I felt a searing pain in my left shoulder. I bashed the gun from his hands and hurled myself at him, slamming him in the chest with my elbow. He stumbled back but stayed on his feet, producing a small revolver that was tucked into the back of his pants. The very moment he raised it up to shoot, the gun exploded out of his hand and landed onto the ground, now just a twisted hunk of unrecognizable metal.
"I wouldn't do that again if I were you," a familiar voice called out over a megaphone.
A chopper buzzed overhead and swooped down above the trees, shaking them violently with the force of its approach. Its side bay was open and I saw my brother Sylus perched on the side, his one good eye peering through the scope of his trusty sniper rifle, its barrel hot and smoking.
A grin spread across my face. The fucking cavalry had arrived.
"Make any wrong moves and your face is next, asshole," he said. "And trust me, I'm a lot better at this than you are."
“He just said he’s going to blow your face off,” I said in Spanish. “I think you’d better give up.”
Scowling, the boss dropped to his knees and put his hands behind his head. The chopper hovered above us, and I could see the Synn Services logo stamped on its side. Two black ropes unfurled and hit the ground, and a squad of my contractors clad in full combat gear fast-roped down to us. They rushed into the camp with incredible precision, their all-black uniforms making them look as fearsome and intimidating as one of the jaguar. There was no resistance. All of the bandits threw their guns down and dropped to their knees.
A man who I immediately recognized approached us. It was my other brother, Virgil. Grinning, he wrapped me in a hug.
"What happened to retirement?" I asked. "Both you of guys came?"
"Well, nobody else was willing to rescue your sorry ass, bro, and we weren't just gonna let you rot. Your shoulder's hit. Come on, let's get you guys the hell out."
The boss looked up at me. "Aren't you going to kill me?"
"Go home to your kid," I said. "I'm sure he misses his father."
Virgil escorted Ryan, Gustavo and I to the chopper. Sylus nodded to me and dapped his fist to mine. After the rest of the guys climbed aboard we pulled into the air, the jungle stretching out below us.
"Glad we made it in time," Sylus said.
"Admit," I said to Sylus. "You fucking missed holding that rifle."
Sylus smiled. "You know what? Not as much as I thought I would. And by the way, it's been finalized. Chris and I are engaged."
"No shit? Congratulations!" I winced as one of my guys helped me lie down onto a stretcher, and they cut my shirt off and dressed the wound.
Ryan took my hand and kissed it. Gustavo, still strapped to his chest, looked around in awe at all the men in their gear, with their big helmets and balaclava face masks.
"Guys," I said to my brothers. "This is Ryan."
Life on the battlefield had a way of bringing men together in a bond totally unimaginable to those who have never experienced it. What I felt for Ryan was born from the mysterious seed that all romances came from, an inexplicable connection of chemical attraction and whatever else you could use to explain it. But my love for him was forged from the fire of what we'd experienced together. We'd survived through so much, including the test of seven years. How could I not feel like he was my soulmate?
We were rushed to a hospital in downtown Los Llanos where I was treated for a superficial gunshot wound to my left shoulder and lacerations to my cheek. Ryan, despite being slightly dehydrated, was fine. Gustavo was put under observation in the pediatric ward, and Ryan made a call to Gianna to ask her to look for his parents at the IDP camp.
"You good, bro?" Virgil asked. "Anything we can do before we head out?"
I sat up in the hospital bed, my left arm in a sling. "You can give our big brother a hug," I said, and they both came over and wrapped me up in a big bear hug. "I'll see you both back home very soon."
Ryan was leaning against the wall, and he shook their hands as they left.
"Good to finally meet you," Sylus said.
When they were gone, Ryan shut the door and sat down on the edge of the hospital bed. He studied me with his grey eyes and slipped his hand into my palm. I gazed back at him, taking in the sight of his gorgeous face. I'd brushed with death plenty of times in my life, but I'd never been more thankful to be alive than I was right now.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Like I got shot in the fucking shoulder. But pretty good, otherwise."
"Good. So… this probably takes the prize for the worst job you've ever had, I bet."
"Oh, it's up there," I said, and we laughed. "If it were the only way to meet you, I'd do it again. No questions about it."
"You're crazy."
"Yeah. Thought you knew that about me. I'm absolutely fucking insane, and you are too. That's why I love you." I grabbed his arm and tugged him close. "That's why I can't get enough of you."
I kissed him, slipping my good arm around the back of his neck. He climbed on top of me, straddling my hips. The hospital bed, an old metal thing, creaked with the added weight.
"What happens when the crazy wears off?" he asked running his palms up my chest, slowly lifting the hospital gown.
"Crazy ain't gonna wear off. I'm always gonna feel crazy about you."
He brought his lips down to my nipples and circled his tongue around them. Then he planted kisses across my chest, his stubble tickling my skin. Blood rushed to my cock.
"You still worried?" I asked, pulling his forehead to mine. "That I'm gonna go away?"
His hand wandered down and found its target. His fingertips encircled my erection, squeezing it tightly in his fist. I groaned softly, relaxing into his touch.
Ryan's fears showed easily on his face for a moment. "I'm not used to this, Bau. I'm not used to this at all."
He moved his face back down, kissing across my chest to my belly button while he caressed and stroked my cock. Then he opened his mouth and took me inside, swallowing me down.
"I know why you did it," I said, running my hand through his hair, tugging him deeper onto my cock. "You left because you didn't want your heart broken. You wanted to have the final word."
I released him and he came up gasping for air, his saliva dripping from his lips onto my cock. He took me inside again, gulping me into his throat. I grabbed his arm, pulling him back up to my lips. I kissed him, and using one hand, unbuckled his belt and opened the front of his pants. He helped me get them off of him, and soon he was naked from the waist down, his cock standing tall and hard. He straddled me, our cocks pressing tightly together. I gripped them both in my hand and stroked them in unison.
"I fucked up," he whispered. "I didn't know how to deal with all that shit. I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing," I growled, stroking us harder. "It happened. It's behind us. We're together now. And I ain't going anywhere. It's been near ten years and I still haven't stopped loving you, so I don't know what oth
er proof you need."
Ryan swung his body around so that I could taste his cock as he sucked on mine. I dragged my tongue down his shaft and swirled it around his balls, sucking them and caressing them with my lips. Then I spread his ass and flicked my tongue across his hole. His entire body shivered and I felt his moans on my cock. I took him inside, finally satisfying a seven-year-long craving for the taste of his dick.
He stroked me as he gave attention to my balls, drawing little shudders of pleasure out of me with every movement of his tongue. Ryan knew just how to drive me wild. My head swam, barely able to function with what he was doing to me. I licked and probed his hole and milked his cock with everything I had.
Then Ryan moved off me. He pulled off his shirt and threw it aside. I watched as he slid off the bed and walked to the counter on the far side of the room. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pump-bottle of lube, dispensing some onto his palm. He returned and slathered my cock with the cold gel. Then he crouched over me and brought my cock to his hole. He looked into my eyes as he lowered himself down. I moaned as my cock pushed inside. I felt his warmth enveloping me as he went lower and lower, taking me deeper until I was all the way in to the hilt. His cock flexed and strained and I took it in my hand and stroked him as he rocked up and down on my length.
I gripped his arm with my hand, rocking my hips to match his movements. The bed frame creaked loudly, like it was on the verge of collapsing onto the floor. I was being dragged to the edge, completely powerless to stop my encroaching climax. My toes curled as every muscle in my body strained with tension. I couldn't stop myself from letting out a bellow of a moan as my cock swelled and throbbed inside of Ryan, the orgasm finally rushing through me.
I didn't stop stroking him, and it wasn't long before he came too. I felt it pulsing through his dick, little spasms of pleasure that ended in a thick load of come across my bare chest.
We sat there, chests heaving and sparkling with sweat as we stared into each other’s eyes. I'm not going anywhere, I thought.
The ceiling fan circled lazily above us. A bead of sweat dripped down Ryan's chest and fell onto my hand. Suddenly, the door burst open and the doctor and two nurses hurried in. They saw us, froze, and then slowly backed out of the room.
"Sorry," the doctor said. "Heard the scream and thought... Sorry."
They shut the door. Ryan and I laughed. He moved off of me and snatched some tissues, and after cleaning up cuddled with me on the bed. We lay together in quiet thought. I couldn't shake the feeling that I still hadn't gotten through to him and he was just going to disappear again.
Ryan's cell phone rang. He got up to answer it, and I sat myself up.
"Hey, Gianna, what's up?" He paused, listening. "Oh my God. That's fucking great news, Gianna. Yeah, thanks. Okay, I'll talk to you later." He turned to me. "Gustavo's parents. She found them."
12
Ryan
Bau and I watched from the viewing window as Gustavo's parents met him in the infant care ward. The look of pure joy on his little face as they picked him up out of the crib was something I would never forget, as were the tears of relief from his parents. We hadn't given up on him, and neither had they.
Something definitive changed inside of me at that moment. I became even more certain of my purpose here, and I realized that I hadn't failed my mission at all. I had the story right here in front of me—all I needed to do was finish it.
People did care for the precious light that was human life, but I'd closed my eyes to that good a long time ago. I'd made up my mind then, but now I realized that I was ready to take another look. I had Bau. And I'd always had him.
Gustavo’s parents thanked us, and we turned down their offers of money and gifts and everything else they tried to give us. We’d done it for Gustavo, for no other reason than to make sure that little baby was able to grow up and live his life. As they left the hospital with him in their arms, I saw him gazing back as us. I waved to him, a pang of yearning in my heart. He laughed and imitating me by wiggling his arms in the air, and then turned away.
He wasn't my kid. But it was inevitable for me not feel like I was losing him after what we'd all gone through. I could tell that Bau felt the same way.
"He'll be okay," Bau said.
"I'm happy everything worked out. But there's a part of me that was hoping to be able to adopt him."
He looked at me, surprised.
"I know, it's fucked of me," I said.
"You want to adopt a kid?"
I shrugged. "Maybe I'd be a better dad than I gave myself credit for."
Bau stayed in the hospital for another day. I spent time with Gianna re-organizing myself, preparing for the new project I was going to take on. I'd returned from the jungle with no more than a memory of the Llanos jungle cat, but I had a camera full of photos from the expedition, and the struggles we'd gone through to save Gustavo's life.
I helped Bau get dressed as he prepared to leave the hospital. "Mr. Castillo offered to fly us home," he said, buttoning his shirt in the mirror. "Private jet straight to New York. I'll catch another plane back to LA from there, but I figured I'd stick around with you for a while so we can figure things out. Right?"
I smiled. "Not yet, Bau."
"Not yet?"
"I'm staying behind. I'm going to document the people here, what's going on with the camps and the destruction of the villages. I want to tell Gustavo's story. Hopefully he can change people's lives and minds, just like they did mine." I slipped my arm around his waist. "But don't worry, I won't be gone for long. I'll be right behind you."
He chuckled. "Well... at least I'm getting some fair warning this time."
"I'm serious. I'm not going anywhere."
"Maybe I should stay."
"I need to finish this on my own. And you need to get home and recover so you can get back to work. But when this is all done... I'll meet you in Los Angeles." I took his face in my hands and kissed him. "I promise."
He searched my eyes and nodded. I couldn't tell if he believed me or not.
That evening I watched from the airport window as his charter jet roared down the runway and lifted into the air. I felt a wrenching in my chest—the same feeling I'd had when I'd boarded the transport plane that'd taken me away from him the first time—and I knew that I needed to be with him.
I spent the following month photographing and interviewing people inside the camp, as well as seeking out interviews with government officials on the lack of response to the disasters. I threw myself deeper into the work than normal, because it was the only way I could get some relief from how much I missed Bau.
Bau was the type of man who would never abandon the people he loved. No, he was the type who’d never abandon anyone who needed help. For the first time in my life, I knew that I was safe. And I wanted to become that kind of person, too. I knew without a doubt that he and I were going to get married, and that we were going to start a family. What better way to heal the wounds of the past than to provide a better future for my own child? For every child that I possibly could?
I wasn't going to give up yet. I was ready to move on and do everything I could to bring a little more hope to this world, to break the curses that had tethered me down for my whole life. And I would do it with my man at my side.
Epilogue: Bautista
The decision was simple: the first brothers Synn wedding would be held at the family ranch. With Chris's celebrity status, he and Sylus wanted to avoid any potential unwanted intrusion on their special day. I wasn't about to let that happen—I already planned on having my best bodyguards working the event to make sure no bold paparazzi ventured too far onto the property.
The three of us spent the day with the wedding planner going over some final logistical arrangements. In the area behind the barn, there was a big weedy field that we would landscape and use for the ceremony. We'd have a big tent constructed for the reception, and all of the trees in the orchard surrounding the area would be str
ung up with twinkling fairy lights. Chris had one of his friends, a celebrity chef, on deck to do the cuisine for the night.
After the wedding planner had left, we sat on the front porch and drank sweet tea that Sylus had made. Chris brought out his acoustic guitar and played some music while we watched the sun go down over the ranch.
"You heard from him at all?" Sylus asked.
"A message here and there," I said. "The man's busy. I understand."
"You're not worried that he's..."
"Not gonna come back?"
"Yeah."
I shook my head. "He'll come back."
Under His Watch: A Brothers Synn Novel Page 11
