Bound for Keeps (Men of Honor)

by SE Jakes

  “And hot,” Shane murmured.

  “And hot,” Keith agreed.

  “What’s he like when he comes back?”

  “Stick around and find out.”

  He planned to. The sky looked ominous and as if to give him fair warning, a few light snowflakes fluttered down.

  They were nothing but a preview, according to the weather station Keith watched in the kitchen as he prepared dinner. Shane padded in there, butterflies forming in his stomach, because he had no idea what to expect, what he wanted to expect.

  And maybe that was the problem.

  “I cook,” he announced finally, feeling more than a little idiotic.

  Keith handed him a knife, handle first. “Can you do the sides while I season the meat?”

  “I can do the whole thing if you want to relax.”

  “I don’t know what that word means,” Keith muttered. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

  They worked in silence for a few moments, until Keith said, “I’m guessing you don’t know what the word means either.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like.”

  After a few more minutes of silence and what Shane supposed was a guilty conscience, Shane finally asked, “You want to ask me how I knew about the bridge, don’t you?” and Keith shrugged. “Okay, fine. I won’t talk about it then. I just know you got pissed at Reed for letting me in on your mission. But he only did when you needed help and I insisted.”

  Keith didn’t say anything or even look up at him and Shane wondered why the hell he was bothering. Instead, he viciously cut the vegetables, wishing he had his old knife that he’d lost somewhere in…

  Fuck. He was forgetting where he’d been now. He put the knife down and walked out of the kitchen to catch his breath. The flashback threatened to derail him completely. He felt hot and cold at the same time, his body strung dangerously tight and he swore he heard shots and yells…

  “Shane, can you come back to me?” Keith asked, his voice low like he was talking to a dangerous animal.

  Which was exactly what Shane could turn into now, he knew. He nodded, managed, “I’m okay,” even though he wasn’t.

  “No, you’re not. But that’s okay too.”

  He couldn’t have said anything nicer. Shane smiled a little, even though Keith couldn’t see it, his body relaxed marginally. He blinked several times, forcing himself to notice the details of the cabin, to ground himself in the here and now instead of traveling back to the past that was following him here, there and every-goddamned-where.

  “Come on—I’m starving. You must be too,” Keith urged, his voice neutral and after a long moment, he followed Keith back into the kitchen and started putting the cut-up vegetables into the pan for sautéing. Without thinking, Shane cooked them, lost in a semi-daze but pretty confident he wouldn’t be slipping into some kind of fugue state. Keith’s presence alone seemed to be strong enough to stop that from happening.

  When they were ready, he plated them around the grilled meat that Keith finished on the snowy deck off the kitchen. He came in with red cheeks, bringing the crisp air with him.

  “Just in time—if we’d waited, I’d never have been able to use the grill.”

  As he said it, hailstones began to hit the cabin with the familiar tings that Shane had grown used to. Sounded like they could break glass. Keith turned up the TV like he was trying to block the sounds, which were coming like mini-explosions now, and motioned to the table. They ate in relative silence, both half watching the Clint Eastwood western that was coming in with some spotty reception.

  When it went out completely, leaving just white snow, Keith reached over and clicked it off. Cleared his throat and said, “I’m trying my best not to scare you. Reed’s orders. I guess it’s not working.”

  Shane wasn’t sure how to answer that, because most of it wasn’t Keith’s fault. After careful consideration, he said, “You think I’m trouble.”

  “I know you’re trouble—that’s the difference.” Keith passed the platter of steak to him and he took it and chewed on Keith’s words for a while, along with a second helping of dinner.

  Kyle used to tease him like that as well. Shane had a big past to overcome. With Kyle’s help, he’d gotten over that. Until Kyle was killed and all the nightmares began again, along with the new one that tailed him from city to city.

  He’d kept his mouth shut, which made him ashamed, especially because it turned out not to be enough. The man who’d killed Kyle wanted him dead, and he wasn’t stopping. And he should’ve been able to handle that, to get revenge, was angrier at himself than Guthrie even, for being such a fucking coward.

  The weather outside wasn’t stopping either, which meant that, for now at least, he might be safe. Should be, with the brick wall of man across from him who Shane was pretty sure could fire a gun as easily as breathing. If he was Force Recon, he was also a master at hand-to-hand combats—all types—and some other tricks that Shane had wanted to learn.

  Maybe you could tell Keith the whole story, ask him to help you…

  And maybe you can ice skate in hell too.

  “You are way too deep in thought when you’re supposed to be eating,” Keith said, pulling him from his reverie.

  “Yeah,” he muttered, and began to eat the hearty meal. Hadn’t realized how hungry he actually was until the food began to fill his stomach and he got that warm, pleasant sleepy feeling only a good meal could give you.

  “Now you can tell me what you were thinking about,” Keith said when they’d both had seconds and Shane picked at thirds with Keith’s approval.

  “This is the first place I’ve ever been where I didn’t want to leave, to move on to something different or better,” he admitted in a rush, the words coming out before he could even give proper thought to them. I belong here would’ve followed if he hadn’t finally been able to censor himself.

  As it was, Keith was staring at him. “You haven’t been here long enough to know that.”

  “Bullshit. Reed said he knew after two days. I’ve been here for what feels like forever.”

  Keith didn’t deny it but then added, “It’s been a month and a half, Shane.”

  “A good month and a half.”

  “I can’t deny that.” He paused. “What happened when you were with Kyle? You wanted to move on?”

  “I must sound disloyal as hell—I didn’t mean that. Kyle and I were great together. But I was always restless on the career front. Wanted to do more, but I had to put in my time. I’m slightly impatient.”

  “Hadn’t noticed,” Keith said dryly. “Maybe you’re not impatient here because you haven’t been here long enough.”

  “Or maybe it just feels right.”

  Keith didn’t argue with that, looked at Shane with a contented smile on his face. “You know what we do for a living, right?”

  “A little bit.”

  “I can show you more. You can be as involved as you want—or you can help run things from the sidelines.”

  “You’re offering me a job?”

  “You can’t just sit around and watch movies…and me and Reed.”

  “That was better than any movie,” Shane mumbled before he could help himself, his cock hardening at the mention of it. “Shit. Sorry—things just slip out sometimes.”

  “You did sleep like a baby last night.”

  A big aroused one, he wanted to add, but he didn’t. Instead, he brought his hands up and massaged his own neck. Lying in a bed for weeks and then pushing it too hard during a workout did not equal happy muscles.

  Keith approached him, then ran his big hands across Shane’s shoulders.

  “Relax, boy. I’m just getting some of the tension out. Not going to hurt you.”

  Had he thought Keith would hurt him physically? “You really don’t mind that I kissed Reed when you weren’t there?”

  “I didn’t mind. And I watched today, didn’t I? If I minded, don’t you think
I would’ve stopped it then and there, not let it continue?” Keith asked. “Look, it’s not like we were auditioning for another threesome. It worked with Bobby for a long time. We never planned on inviting someone else into our lives like that, because lightning doesn’t strike twice. But obviously, Reed and I are comfortable with the dynamic, enough to give it a try. I don’t know how comfortable you are with it. The deeper we get, the more you’ll know.”

  Shane took that in as he put his head down and let Keith’s hands work their magic.

  Once Keith jumped in to this for real, it would become a fast-moving train, speeding down the tracks and more right than he could possibly imagine. And Shane would find himself dangerously and uncomfortably close to his own truth…would have to decide if he was going to share more or cut and run.

  After he’d loosened Shane’s muscles, Keith insisted he’d clean up. Directed Shane to Keith and Reed’s bedroom and Shane didn’t argue, because he didn’t want to sleep alone tonight, not with the way the storm raged. He even managed to convince himself that that was the only reason.

  “Such bullshit,” he muttered to himself as he slid under the covers on Reed’s side of the bed. Wanted to crawl into the middle so he’d be sure to be touching Keith but didn’t want to push it.

  Keith came in about an hour later with his iPad and a laptop. He put them down in the middle of the bed, and Shane noted it was the same tracking system pulled up on the screen that Reed had used the other night.

  “Is Reed all right?”

  “Other people need to worry about being all right when Reed’s on a mission, not the other way around.”

  Shane believed that Reed could be dangerous, as Keith implied. He didn’t know for sure what Reed had been in the Army, beyond medic and then doctor, because Reed hadn’t offered the information. Shane’s gut leaned toward special forces. Delta made the most sense, because those guys kept their positions classified even after they retired for safety reasons, their own and their family’s. “You sure he’s okay?”

  “He won’t even be in country until we wake up,” Keith told him. “Then I’ll be watching him every second.”

  Shane nodded, realized his eyes were getting heavy.

  “You need to get some sleep if we’re going to start some training tomorrow.”

  The ball of nerves started working his stomach again, even as Keith pulled the covers over him. As Shane drifted off into a much-needed sleep, he realized he’d reached out to grab Keith’s hand and held it tight.

  In kind, Keith moved closer, put his body against Shane’s.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “It’s okay, Shane. I don’t mind.”

  Hours later, he woke from a sound sleep at a loud thump outside the house. Before he could figure out where the hell he was or what happened, Keith had pulled him close, murmured, “Just a tree down.”

  “On the house?”

  Keith snorted. “You’re safe, PFC,” and then in a softer tone, “You’re a good man who’s been through hell. Cut yourself some slack.”

  He wondered if there would ever come a time for him that he would actually be a comfort for Keith. Hadn’t realized how badly he wanted that until that moment.

  Keith kissed the back of his neck, and Shane shivered. Keith’s hand moved down his chest and abs to his cock, the fat head poking up through the waistband of the shorts.

  His body went rigid as Keith’s hand circled him. A few strokes and Shane moaned. Fuck, it felt better than he could’ve imagined. Reed and Keith had been the first men to touch him since Kyle, and it felt right that this was happening when Shane was resting on Reed’s pillow, inhaling his scent. The tall man was still with them and in that moment, Shane figured he might actually be able to understand how this threesome could work.

  Don’t think about anything else…all the obstacles on your end, he ordered himself.

  “You’re thinking way too much,” Keith told him, stroked him harder until all Shane could focus on was his cock and Keith’s touch, and it was all going to be over too soon.

  Shane had been shaking when he woke to the tree falling. Keith had been awake anyway, tracking Reed’s progress to the LZ. He was always unable to sleep when Reed was actively working but he knew Shane wouldn’t have slept at all without this pretense.

  The second he’d gone to comfort him, his body went from zero to sixty, and he knew he wasn’t going to be able to roll over and let Shane go back to bed.

  Now, listening to the sweet moans the man was making, he knew he’d made the right decision. He sucked then licked the back of Shane’s neck and the younger man jumped and said, “Yeah.”

  Keith thought about asking permission and decided fuck it and moved to flip Shane onto his back. He teased his nipples and he looked up to see Shane’s small smile of pleasure even as he protested a little at the bites.

  Just you wait, baby boy. Just you wait.

  After he crawled down between Shane’s legs, he bit the inside of the younger man’s thighs lightly and Shane jolted, more in surprise than any pain. He was so fucking sensitive, and Keith was really going to enjoy this. He licked around Shane’s balls, coming close but never touching them, and Shane groaned in frustration, went as far as to try to tug Keith’s head there.

  But Keith refused, instead looked up to see Shane watching him.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “Your mouth, Keith. I want you sucking my cock.” Shane reached down to give it a few sharp tugs, and Keith watched him. Thought about ordering Shane to jack himself off while he watched and tucked that away for later.

  “You sure? ’Cause I thought I scared you.”

  Shane was silent for a long moment and then admitted, “You do.”

  That made Keith smile, even as his hand trailed down the boy’s stomach and landed over Shane’s hand, which was still curled around his cock. Shane drew in a sharp breath at the contact, and Keith rubbed hard as Shane pushed back moaning at the friction.

  His other hand came up to Keith’s head, his touch tender along his shaved scalp, like he was trying to draw the man as close as possible without actually kissing him. Keith moved up finally and did kiss him, hard, fast, loving the way Shane responded.

  Their hands moved in tandem, and Shane was moaning—he was at the edge, and Keith pushed him over by telling him, “Come, Shane. And then I’ll clean you up with my tongue while you watch.”

  The thought of that made Shane climax harder than he had in forever. He felt the warm come spurt between them, whispered, “Jesus,” with his eyes closed, head against the wall.

  And when he felt Keith move away, he looked down to see the big man kneeling between his legs, shaved head bobbing as a rasping tongue cleaned the come off Shane’s belly as promised…and finally, rasped over the head of his cock.

  “Jesus. Fuck.” There was nothing for Shane to do when Keith slid his cock inside his mouth, deep-throated him, and he tried not to come again immediately. Wanted the sensation of being sucked to last for fucking ever…

  But he was too far gone for that, even after he’d just come.

  “I’m not going to last,” he pleaded to Keith, and the man actually smiled around his cock. He bucked his hips up slightly and Keith caught them, pressed them down so he could set the rhythm. Maddeningly slow, and Shane still sensitive and Keith didn’t care. Was tonguing the tip of his cock, circling the slit, pressing it until Shane cried out in frustration and pleasure.

  He ran his hands along Keith’s skull, pulled the man in tighter as Keith opened his throat and took him in, letting Shane fuck his mouth and loving every goddamned minute of it. He gripped Shane’s thighs hard, knowing it would leave marks.

  He would fuck this baby boy at some point.

  Shane whimpered as Keith cupped his balls. He fingered the perineum behind it with a rougher touch, and yeah, baby boy liked that. If he was a sub, Keith would talk about piercing him here, like he’d told Reed he was going to do many a time. Because Reed got t
urned on by fantasies like that, although in real life, neither was into piercing. But Shane made Keith reconsider all of that.

  “Keith, yeah,” Shane breathed now as Keith tongued his balls as his hand stroked the thick, hard cock, squeezing drops of precome from the tip. Keith licked that, looked up at Shane to find the boy watching him intently.

  So this was how it was going to be. Another Dom, just like Bobby. And that suited Keith just fine.

  He wondered if Reed knew this, but he doubted it. Keith hadn’t realized it until Shane’s kiss.

  Keith moved one of his hands down to Shane’s balls again, squeezed them lightly but enough to get the reaction he wanted, which was Shane trying to just not go through the ceiling. He closed his eyes and panted as Keith continued his sweet torture, never letting up until Shane was coming again, this time calling out Keith’s name.

  Shane wasn’t sure when Keith stopped sucking him—all he recalled was the big man wrapping himself around him tightly. Shane was shaking, but this time, there was no fear involved. He was content. Satiated. And, for the moment, calm.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The helo Reed had boarded eventually delivered him to the plane that dropped him in Bogota. Reed had worked that area extensively for the Army, so his familiarity meant he was called often to the location. He didn’t pass up the opportunity to look at recent maps and check out new skirmishes in the area—all of it changed the landscapes he was used to and he had to be prepared for any eventuality.

  He’d been surprised when he’d learned he’d been culled for that elite Delta Force training. He’d wanted med school, but he’d been convinced that he could accomplish both.

  Delta expanded on what he already had—patience, control and speed. He’d worked on strength but he’d also learned many ways to kill a man that required little effort. That’s where the medical training really kicked in.

  “Proph sends his best,” Gary had told him when he boarded. “Couldn’t make it this time, but the file’s on the seat.”