Braided Lives

by AR Moler

  "Well, buck naked out here on the beach might pose some problems…"

  Peter laughed and gave Danny a hand up as Jennifer was catching up to them.

  "Are the two of you done with the rough housing?"

  she asked.

  "Maybe," replied Danny. "I was thinking maybe we should head back to the hotel and stress test the mattress." He grabbed Jen and flung her over his shoulder so her torso hung down his back. She let out a squeal of indignation and beat her hands against his butt as he began walking down the beach. He barely caught the devious revenge thought before she implemented it.

  Suddenly, he was being given a serious wedgie as she yanked hard on the waist band of his briefs.

  "Jesus God damn it!" he shouted, as his nuts were being squeezed between the fabric and his body.

  "Put me the fuck down! Or I'll pull harder!" Jen shouted.

  "Okay, okay!" he yelped, noticing that Peter was doubled over in laughter. Danny let Jennifer's body slide down his back slowly as he kept hold on her legs until he could see her hands hit the sand behind his feet.

  "What is this? Gang up on me day?"

  "Oh hell, that was priceless," Peter snickered. Danny grabbed his shorts and adjusted himself to relieve the pressure.

  "So says the guy whose nards are still intact,"

  groaned Danny.

  "Oh come on, I could have pulled a lot harder,"

  replied Jen, sticking her tongue out.

  "Don't stick it out unless you intend to use it," Danny said.

  "What makes you think I won't?" she taunted. Oh, that got Danny's attention.

  Peter was laughing again. "How 'bout I kiss it better when we get back to the hotel?"

  ***

  Inside the hotel room, Danny, Peter and Jennifer flopped onto the king-sized bed. Peter heaved a sigh as the other two bracketed his sides, arms overlapping on his torso. It felt like he was only just beginning to emerge back into reality after a handful of days in the underworld. Whether that underworld consisted of hell itself or just purgatory, he still wasn't certain, but he was sure he couldn't have done it without the two people snuggled against him. "Those are some awfully literary images," Jen said.

  Her fingers were making little circles on his chest. She was obviously seeing the images in his head.

  "You're being pretty quiet after all our joking around out on the beach," said Danny. His teeth nipped at the corner of Peter's jaw.

  "Sorry, I'm just… the past week was…" Peter couldn't find an adequate description, so he settled for,

  "bad."

  Jennifer placed a kiss on Peter's mouth. There was a lot of care invested in that simple gesture.

  "I think you offered to put your tongue to good use,"

  Peter suggested, trying to lighten his own mood a little.

  "Mmm, and I seem to remember something about kissing my balls all better," Danny followed up.

  "In that case, we all have way too many clothes on,"

  replied Peter.

  It took no more than a few minutes for all of them to strip. Peter noticed that Danny had fished lube and condoms out of a suitcase and put them within easy reach on the bedside table, along with a towel.

  Danny, horny bastard that he was, slouched against the headboard, legs spread and pointed at his crotch. He was already half hard.

  "Somebody needs to kiss them better," Danny said, giving both Peter and Jennifer a leer.

  Peter glanced at Jennifer, and she smiled. They both began a slow assault. Lips, tongues, a hint of teeth…the two of them executed a delicate torture of Danny's cock.

  Soon he was moaning and twisting, and thrusting against either mouth as the opportunity permitted. One last lick up the side of his prick was all it took to tip Danny over the edge and he blew his load up his belly with a harsh groan. Peter reveled in the wash of pleasure from Danny's mind. It mixed with the softer emotions from Jennifer and sent an electric tingle through Peter's body. The rush of psychic sensations left him achingly hard, and he was torn between wanting to hump Danny's leg and grinding against Jennifer's hip just to get some relief.

  Danny groped for a towel and mopped up most of the stickiness, then he slid down from the headboard to curl himself along Peter's side, one arm draped across Peter's back and Jen's leg. Peter squirmed around until he was face up. Jennifer began kissing along his collarbone up toward his throat. God, he wanted to be in her, in Danny, on top of her or Danny or… or…

  "Slow down," Jen whispered. Her hand glided along his chest. Danny's long arm was pulling all three of their bodies tighter together, and the increase in skin pressure was somehow calming. Peter took a deep breath. Why had he felt so close to flying apart?

  "You're safe," murmured Danny, "And you can have anything you want."

  "I… I want both of you… together at the same time, I think," Peter managed to say.

  "Mmm, that might require a certain amount of acrobatics," commented Jennifer.

  "It might work best if you start with Jen and then I join in, otherwise I think this is going to require more planning than any us want to bother with. Okay?" Danny had released his hold on Jennifer and he skimmed his hand down over Peter's belly to brush across his erection.

  A condom on and a certain amount of body rearrangement, and Peter snugged his hips between Jen's legs and began to kiss her, hands caressing her face and shoulders and moving lower. Danny lay on his side, one arm under Jennifer's neck, the opposite hand running along Peter's back and side. Peter happily found it easy to twist just a little and kiss Danny, too. Oh wow, that was such a delicious contrast.

  As Peter pushed into Jen's body, her legs flexed and curled around his hips. Danny scooted further down and his face was now awkwardly out of reach to Peter. Oh but hell… a cool slick fingertip pressed between his butt cheeks, circling his entrance and sliding in.

  It was an amazing combination of sensations, thrusting forward or pulling back. He could feel the arousal of both lovers' minds as well as all the physical sensations. Fuck, this wasn't going o last anywhere near long enough.

  The climax tore through him like a runaway avalanche and Peter collapsed limply on top of Jen.

  Danny's hand petted Peter's back.

  "Any brain cells left?" Danny murmured.

  "Huh-uh," was all of Peter's response. He slid off of Jennifer and flopped bonelessly onto the far side of her.

  ***

  " Some of us are not as fast as you two," groused Jen.

  Her hand gripped the back of Danny's skull and pulled him down toward her hips. "Mouth, tongue, fingers, damn it, do something," she ordered.

  Danny snickered. "Demanding little wench aren't you?" He slid further down the bed and buried his face between her thighs. Oh hell, she smelled good, and tasted even better. He drew his tongue along her slick wetness. There was a hint of latex in the flavor from the condom Peter had used but that was inevitable. He slipped a couple of fingers into her and she shuddered.

  Danny found himself grinning with her pleasure. There were no shields between them at this point, and he was fully aware of her simmering arousal. He intended to ramp that up as high as he could take her.

  Long laps with his tongue and twists of his fingers soon had her writhing. The wash of pleasure from Jennifer’s climax was filling his cock again.

  "Hey, glove me," Danny mumbled to Peter who was satiatedly nibbling at Jennifer's fingers.

  Danny rolled over and pulled Jen with him so she was sprawled on top of him. It took a moment to draw her knees up so she straddled him, and she sank slowly down, taking him in. Fuck, she felt good. He gripped her hips and guided her up and back down. Her breasts bounced a little with the motion. Peter began sucking at Danny's nipple and Danny bucked hard up into Jen, body responding to the dual stimulation. Jennifer moaned and met Danny on the next stroke, their bodies crashing together. Closer, closer, Danny felt the impending explosion and he came hard enough to steal all his breath away along with most of his vision.
<
br />   He felt Jennifer slump down over his chest, her pulse pounding at least as hard as his own. Peter's head lay on Danny's shoulder.

  With bare minimal shifting they all drifted toward sleep.

  July

  When Danny read the request, it was pretty obvious that this was exactly what Jennifer specialized in. After all, she'd done the same sort of thing for the Baltimore police department and occasionally the FBI office located there.

  The Nevada Highway Patrol had a missing man.

  Another officer, who had responded to the same call, was now in a Las Vegas hospital. He was still alive but in serious condition. That officer was expected to survive, but among other injuries, he had been shot in the face and was incapable of talking.

  Danny agonized a little. Jennifer wasn't finished with her training yet. She still had two weeks to go. On the other hand, she had completed most of it. He knew her hand to hand combat skills were primo, having been on the receiving end. Her firearms proficiency, not so much.

  What if he was the one who went with her on her first assignment? Despite thin numbers of available and trained psi, as a whole, the administration was leaning more and more toward sending agents out in pairs anyway. Too many things were prone to go wrong. If an agent was alone when things went bad, the situation could quickly spiral out of control, as they had for Isabelle Rea. Maybe this was just another piece of the overall puzzle that Peter and Stephen Benford were bent on solving. Those two were heavy backers of encouraging all forms of emotional bonding. Danny had to smile just a little. After a lifetime of first denying his bisexual desires, then acquiescing to a long series of very temporary relationships, he was falling hard for Peter and Jennifer. Jennifer was definitely the one responsible for making him realize just how deep his feelings for Peter ran. Jennifer was a volcano of emotion all on her own -- blunt, passionate, aggressive at times and apt to blow if the stress level got too high.

  Danny also grudgingly acknowledged the possibility that any assignment she was given could place her in danger. That thought positively tied knots in his gut.

  God. He was just going to have to suck it up and let her do her job. If she found out he was coddling her or being overprotective, she'd rip him a new one. That made him grin a little, too. She was way cute when she was mad.

  ***

  There was about an hour left until they were going to land in Las Vegas. Jennifer stared out the window. This was official. She was functioning as a Division P agent on an assignment. None of the usual rather dubious status of "just a sketch artist" applied here. There was a little hint of an adrenaline thrill when she thought about the badge and ID in her pocket. It wasn't like she hadn't done something similar dozens of times before. Her purpose was to scrounge around inside somebody's head with the hopes of producing an accurate picture of a suspect. She never knew exactly how the exercise was going to play out. Sometimes it was straightforward; sometimes it was gut-wrenching. A soft touch tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

  "You look pre-occupied," said Danny. She looked at him. He wore a dark suit and a pale blue shirt.

  Stereotypical mirror sunglasses dangled from his breast pocket.

  "You look like a fed," she commented.

  He smiled. "Because I am, and so are you." Jennifer was dressed in a pair of black slacks, a gray blazer and a white button down over a black camisole. On short notice it was the most conservative thing she could come up with. He slid an arm behind her and hugged her. "It'll be fine. I do this sort of thing all the time."

  "What happens when we land? Is there going to be someone waiting for us?" she asked.

  "No. We'll go collect our rental car and drive to the hospital. One of the commanders from the Nevada Highway Patrol is scheduled to meet us there at four."

  "Is he the one who called and asked P for help?"

  "No, actually that was one of our people who works for the Las Vegas DEA office. His name is Jordan Hayes. There's suspected multi-state drug trafficking involved and Jordan's acquainted with the injured officer."

  "And this DEA guy, Jordan, he couldn't help?"

  Jennifer asked.

  "He's a mid-level telepath, but beyond being able to figure out that Officer Sawari did actually see the person who shot him, he couldn't do much more."

  "Oh."

  ***

  Jennifer found the drive from the airport curious. There was the obligatory "strip" of all the big casinos that you always saw in beauty shots of Vegas, but she hadn't quite expected the miles and miles of suburbia or the stark dry mountainous crags that poked up around the edges of the city. Danny drove, following the GPS

  instructions to get them to the hospital.

  Commander Adair looked relieved to see them, and gravely shook their hands. Jennifer knew without even looking at Danny that he was scanning the law man for impressions and emotions.

  "How's Sawari doing?" asked Danny.

  "Fair. He's stable, and that may be all we can hope for at the moment. He's being assessed by a plastic surgeon for reconstruction. One of the bullets struck him in the left side of the jaw and shattered the bone. If it had been a couple inches higher it would've been much worse."

  "What exactly did Agent Hayes tell you about us?"

  Danny asked.

  "Not a lot. He said you were federal from an agency called Division P. I've never even heard of you."

  "I'm not surprised. We're very, very specialized. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to sign some nondisclosure paperwork. Much of what we do is relevant to national security," said Danny. Jennifer gave him a sideways glance of curiosity. That was laying it on pretty thick, wasn't it? Then again, maybe not.

  "I really don't care what I have to sign, so long as it's legal and gives me a chance at finding Peake."

  "Peake is the man who's missing?" said Danny.

  "Yes. Matt Sawari was following a suspected drug runner, up Highway 93. The car pulled off and parked.

  Sawari radioed that he was going to hang back and watch for a few minutes to see if the driver was meeting anyone. Peake was his backup. According to the log, Peake arrived on scene and met Sawari. They indicated that a second vehicle had arrived and then shots were heard over the radio. Dispatch immediately sent more officers to the location. When the rest of our people got there, they found Sawari. We suspect whoever shot him probably thought he was dead. There was no sign of Peake."

  "Was there any video footage?"

  "Nothing helpful. You're free to have a copy if you like," offered Adair.

  "I assume a search was conducted for Peake."

  "Yes, of course. In fact, we've widened the search grid and still have a half dozen people out looking.

  We're not very hopeful about finding him alive at this point."

  "Mmm, I hope you're wrong, but I understand your acknowledgement that it's probable," said Danny.

  "Do you think there's any chance of getting a description or a clue from Sawari? I'm not sure what you can do that no one else can. He can't talk. There's too much damage."

  "It's not what I can do. It's what she can do." Danny pointed toward Jennifer. "Is he conscious?"

  "Intermittently."

  "Can I see him?" asked Jennifer. She made a gesture with her briefcase.

  ***

  Sawari was on a ventilator. He was surrounded by a maze of tubes and wires and monitors. Jennifer sat on a stool with a sketch pad in her lap. The police officer was drugged, but awake. "Matt, my name is Jennifer. I'm a sketch artist and I'm helping your police department try to find the people who did this to you and your colleague. I'm going to ask you some questions. If they seem kind of weird, don't worry about it."

  She had spent so much time doing other things over the past few weeks that she had to take a couple of deep breaths and try to get her head in gear. Come on, you can do this, just like always, she told herself.

  "All right. For the moment we're going to stick to yes or no questions. Thumb up for yes, thumb down for no. />
  Did you see the person who shot you?"

  Thumb up.

  "Was it a man?"

  Thumb up.

  "Was he white?"

  Thumb up. Now she had to edge toward getting him to visualize the man. It might or might not work. She knew the officer was loaded with pain meds.

  "Stare at the ceiling for me, and think about what he looked like." The heart monitor jumped a little in speed.

  Oh. She was going to have to get him to calm down a little. "You're perfectly safe. There's an officer just around the corner. My partner is a federal agent and he's just down the hall. No one can hurt you. I know memories are tough and they're scary, but they're just memories." She patted his hand lightly where it lay on the sheets.

  His heart rate settled some.

  "Look at the ceiling. You don't have to close your eyes unless you want to. I know it's hard, but I want you to think about the man who did this. When you very first saw him, what he looked like."

  The image she skimmed from his head was hazy.

  There was some fear and the drugs were blurring his thoughts. She made a quick sketch. The gunman was looking over his shoulder at Matt.

  "Okay, that's really good," she reassured him and he gave her a bleary look of confusion.

  "White, collar-length dark hair, relatively narrow lips… Now I want you to think about when he turned to look at you."

  Over the past few years she had found that breaking the events down into the less threatening moments sometimes helped. She followed the track of his internal gaze. The shooter had a bit of a snarl on those thin lips.

  His nose was more shadowy due to oblique lighting from the car headlights. Her mind focused on the facial details despite the thread of fear she felt from Matt. She always felt sorry for making victims relive their traumas, but law enforcement in general often found her sketches incredibly helpful in the whole "catching the bad guys"

  end of things.

  "That's great, Matt. We're definitely getting there.