Rick drops onto the sofa when the elevator doors close, and opens his arms.
“Come here.”
Joey takes a deep breath in through his nose. This will be his last time on the sofa like this. Last time in the warm security of Rick’s embrace. He stretches out, his head back against Rick’s shoulder, face turned to nuzzle the warm spot beneath Rick’s ear and shuts his eyes.
“It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
There’s that word again. Promise. Joey doesn't want to leave but he has no choice. If he stays here Blake will come after him. Why did he think he wouldn’t? Restraining orders mean nothing; he’ll wait. Even worse, he knows now there’s a way to hurt Joey. He saw him with Rick and it’s Rick he’ll have in his crosshairs first. Rick and Finn. That’s where he’ll start. It will be the dog all over again. Joey liked Griff, the Wilson’s big German Shepherd. Whenever he saw it, he’d pet it and give it a treat. Usually just a piece of bread he’d snuck into his pocket. When Blake started complaining about how he smelled like the ‘damned mutt’, he hadn’t taken it too seriously. God, he’d been so stupid believing Blake wouldn’t hurt someone’s pet.
Then Griff disappeared. And Joey saw the... pieces in the trunk. Joey can’t do that to Rick and Finn. A part of him wonders if he could take Finn with him but he knows that’s not possible. He can’t travel with a kitten. Besides, he doesn’t want Rick to be alone. Maybe if he has Finn, it will help him. He’ll have something to look after and care for.
A tear trickles down the side of his nose. He’s going to miss this so much. The words slip free before he realizes they’re no longer just in his head.
“Then don’t go.”
Joey freezes. Rick tightens his hold. Locks their legs together. Presses his forehead to the side of Joey’s head and his breath is warm over his ear when he speaks again.
“I know you don’t think you have a choice, but you do. I promise you are safe. I will protect you.”
“You can’t make that promise. You don’t know what he’s like.”
Rick huffs in his ear, pushing Joey forward so he can stand up. “I can and fucking am making that promise. Despite what you think I am perfectly capable of beating his ass.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Excuse me?” Anger replaces the warmth in Rick’s eyes. “Do you really think so little of me? That I am incapable of protecting you from that motherfucker?”
“That isn’t what I meant. I mean that you think he’s just going to play by the rules or something and that’s not how he works. He will wait until you are least expecting it and it will happen before you even know it’s happening.” Sobbing, Joey stumbles to his feet. “I’m not worth it.”
“Enough!” Rick’s roar is so loud, Finn scrambles off the sofa and runs up the stairs, tail puffed up like a toilet brush. God, Derek probably heard it in the lobby. “You keep saying you’re broken and unworthy. Over and over as if repeating it is going to make me agree with you. I’m going to say this again, so we are fucking clear, okay? I love you exactly as you are. Yes, even your broken fingers and your scars and your ridiculous need to poison your coffee the way you do. I think you're worth it. So if you could stop just pissing on that I’d be grateful.”
Joey shakes his head. “I... I’m not pissing on it. I just -”
“Do you want to be with me, Joey?”
“What?”
“It’s a simple question. Forget all the labels and what other people say and shit. Do you want to be with me?”
Bewildered, Joey sinks to the edge of the coffee table. “Yes,” he whispers. “But I don’t want you to be hurt. And he will hurt you. He’ll find somewhere like the offices, or Barney’s, because they’re public, and he’ll be able to check everything out. There won’t be a scene, unless we make one. If we call the cops, he’ll just do exactly what they want before they even ask.” He gestures at the penthouse. “Or he’ll come here. He’ll charm his way in and then there won’t be any way to stop him doing or taking what he wants.”
“Well good fucking luck to him. I’ve already sent emails to the building residents and the concierge team telling them he’s dangerous and not to be trusted or allowed inside.”
Frustration twists Joey’s mouth and he throws his hands in the air. “You don’t understand. That won’t stop him. And neither can you. You can’t stop him getting in the building.”
“Actually, yes I can.”
“How?”
“Well for a start I know the DA which isn’t exactly nothing. More importantly, I own the fucking building baby boy. If I say he’s not coming in, trust me, he’s not coming in.” He drops to his knees in front of Joey. “Sweetheart, this is not my first fight and despite what you think, I am no lightweight.”
Rubbing his eyes, Joey drags his hand through his hair. “I didn’t know that. No wonder people have been talking.”
He looks up when Rick makes a low growling sound in his throat.
“No. People have been talking because they’re assholes.”
Rick takes his hand.
“Look at me, Joey.” That damned voice. Joey raises his eyes, sniffling and trying to get himself under control. “I had a plan, you know. I figured I would be the rich old Daddy Dom at the club who taught the new boys how to play. Maybe I’d get a dog,” he glances at Finn creeping back down the stairs, “or a demented cat. Be the honorary uncle and Godfather to my friends’ kids. I’d take a couple of trips every year, get laid and pretend I was still young. You, baby boy, were not supposed to happen.”
Ashamed, Joey tries to lower his head but Rick takes his face in both hands and holds him fast.
“No, I did not plan for you at all. I just looked up one day and there you were. In my office. With that hair everywhere and those eyes and when I pulled out my Daddy voice, fuck me if you didn’t respond exactly the way you should.” He grins. “Charlotte told me that I was not to fuck you. Then, that I was not to play with you. Recently she informed me in no uncertain terms that if I hurt you, they’d never find my body.”
Joey blinks, fighting for breath and trying to make sense of Rick’s words. Rick takes his hand and presses the palm against his bearded jaw.
“What Charlotte didn’t realize was that I could never hurt you. I love you too much.” Rick shuts his eyes. Opens them again. Joey can see himself reflected in the pain that shimmers in them. “But if you leave, you will break my heart. If it’s what you really want to do, I won’t stop you - but I’m asking you not to.”
“I…” The words die in his throat. Sucking in a deep breath, Joey licks his lips and tries again. “He really won’t give up. If he hurts you because of me… I don’t think I could take it.”
“He’s not going to hurt me and I’m not going to let him hurt you either. I swear.”
Sniffling, Joey presses his forehead against Rick’s.
“Rick, I…”
“Yeah, I know, baby boy. It’s okay, I know.”
♦♦♦
Rick
In the early hours of the morning Rick is woken by the sound of soft crying. Rubbing his eyes, he glances at his phone on the bedside charger. Just after three-thirty. Beside him Joey is tucked in a tight ball with his back to Rick.
“Hey, hey.” Rick moves closer and puts his arm over Joey’s lean form. Frowns at the way Joey stiffens and tries to inch away. “Baby it’s okay. Shhh.” He buries his nose in Joey’s hair, breathing in the lingering scent of his shampoo. “Did you have a nightmare?”
He doesn’t think that’s the case; Joey’s nightmares are rarely quiet, and Rick never sleeps through them. Joey confirms the thought with a shake of his head and muffled ‘no’. Something soft rubs against fingertips, making him smile. Finn’s head pops up over her master’s arm, her eyes glimmering in the dark.
“Talk to me, Joey” Rick scratches Finn’s head, smiling at her purr. “What’s wrong?”
“I should just leave.” The words are quiet, heavy with pain, and stab at Rick
’s heart. Heaving a sigh, Rick sits and pulls Joey up, dragging him into his arms.
“Come on now, shhh.” he tucks Joey’s head under his chin. Finn settles in at his hip. “I know you don’t believe me, but I don’t give a rat’s ass what you wear or if you call me the Easter fucking bunny, I will still love you and still take care of you. I know you don’t like the word, but you are my boy. Tell me again why you should leave? And don’t start with that damaged bullshit because damn it we could all use a touch up and a little paint.”
Every other time he’s used that line, Joey has smiled. Not this time.
“I don’t know how you know him or what he was like then but he’s ruthless now. He’s not just going to go away; he hates losing.” Joey rubs his nose against Rick t-shirt and shudders. “He’ll come and-”
“Let him come, I own the fucking place remember
“I can’t testify against him, Rick. Please don’t make me.”
“Nobody is going to make you do anything, okay?” Rick tilts Joey’s head back with his fingertips. “Look at me. I will not let anything happen to you.”
The kiss is soft. Gentle. A bare hint of lips brushing against lips. He doesn’t really mean it to go anywhere, not after today, but when Joey lifts his chin for more, Rick pulls him closer and lets the kiss deepen. Buries his fingers in soft shaggy hair and smiles when he’s rewarded with a soft moan.
Joey wriggles around to straddle him, rubbing against his cock. Rick catches his breath and kisses him again. Runs his hands up the back of Joey’s thighs, over the curve of his ass, and slips them both beneath the elastic of the cotton sleep pants. Rolls his hips up, pressing his stiffening cock along the line of Joey’s taint. Nipping down the length of Joey’s neck, Rick shifts down in the bed, letting Joey fall forward to press is erection against Rick’s stomach.
“You sure, baby boy?”
“Rick please,” Joey breathes his name in his ear making Rick groan and pull him down harder on his cock. Joey tugs at Rick’s t-shirt, pulling it up to expose the soft warm skin, panting as he ruts against him.
“Yeah, okay,” Rick growls against Joey’s neck and caressing the cleft of his cheeks.
Joey nuzzles under his chin, breath warm over Rick’s skin, then kisses his way back up to Rick’s lips. Rick sweeps his tongue inside Joey’s mouth, exploring and tasting him.
It’s Joey who breaks the kiss, sitting back on his heels to pull his t-shirt over his head. Pleasure zigzags through Rick at the weight of him on his groin and as if reading his mind, Joey swivels his hips in a figure eight sending the sensation even higher. He’s never wanted anyone the way he wants Joey. Both in bed and out of it.
The comforting feel of Joey on him disappears as the younger man lifts up and removes his sleep pants. A soft thump as they land on the ground, then Joey is between Rick’s knees yanking his shorts down and dropping them off the side of the bed too. Rick takes off his shirt, tosses it to one side and yanks open the drawer of the bed side table to grope blindly for the bottle of lube. Above him, Joey shivers and whimpers.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, I’ve got you, baby boy.” The snick of the bottle is loud in the gloom; Rick squirts some on his fingers and slips his hand between them. Slow circles over the ring of muscle turn Joey’s whimpers into a desperate whine. Taking his time, Rick presses his finger against Joey’s hole, waiting until he feels him relax to push in. The whine becomes a groan, long and low. Rick presses further in, crooks his finger and is soon rewarded with a louder groan and a blurt of precum against his belly. “There we go.”
With Joey’s face buried in the side of his neck, Rick focuses on the bundle of nerves and the muscles clenching around is finger. His own cock is rock-hard, but he ignores it for now as he adds another finger and flexes them. This time Joey cries out and jerks upright, his hips thrusting forward and cock twitching as he grinds down on the fingers, aroused and needy. How could Blake have not loved seeing Joey in this state? How could he have not seen how beautiful he is with his head thrown back, eyes squeezed shut and his mouth open? Even worse, how could he have twisted Joey’s submission into something so filled with shame and loathing?
Rick eases his fingers from Joey’s body and fumbles in the still open drawer for a condom. More than anything he wishes they didn’t need them but he’s not going to suggest testing to Joey until this shit with Blake Danvers is nothing more than a bad memory. Pushing Danvers out of his mind, he rolls the condom over his hard length, glances up and for a moment forgets to breathe. Joey is watching him, eyes blown wide and dark with desire and need, the tip of his tongue moving over his swollen bottom lip.
“Fuck.” Rick grips the base of his cock, holding himself steady as Joey moves over him. Easing up into the silky sheath of muscle, he scrapes his thumb nail over Joey’s unblemished nipple, pleased with the shuddery sigh that fills the space between them.
Joey steadies himself against Rick’s chest, head forward, hair obscuring his face. Rick brushes it aside.
“Let me see you baby.” His thrusts, hard and deliberate, lift Joey from the bed.
“Rick.” Joey pleads. His voice rough and wrecked, seems to go straight to Rick’s cock. “Touch me, please.”
Holding him steady with one hand, Rick thrusts up again with a low grunt, then runs his fingers up the length of Joey’s cock. With a guttural moan, Joey tips his head back working himself on Rick’s body. Rick tightens his grip and begins to stroke him in earnest, wanting to see the moment Joey loses himself in the pleasure. With each upstroke, he twists his wrist and rubs his thumb over the damp cockhead the way he'd seen Joey do when they'd used the mirror.
“Please!” Joey clenches around him. “I can’t hold on. Rick, please.”
Rick moves his hand faster, eyes on Joey’s face, watching as scarlet stains his skin, spreading from his cheeks to his throat and his eyes slam shut. Crying out, Joey thrusts into Rick’s fist, covering his skin with ropes of cum.
Rick pulls Joey down, capturing his cries in a hard, demanding kiss and slamming up into the tight, pulsating heat finally chasing his own release. Sweat and cum mix between their bodies. Rick can feel it, smell it, and when Joey runs his fingers through the mess then presses them into Rick’s mouth, he can taste it. Senses overloaded, his hips stutter and he gives in to his orgasm.
Slumping back on the pillow, Joey in his arms, his heart pounds in time with his gasps.
“Sticky.” Joey squirms sending another small ripple of sensation through them both. Holding the condom in place, Rick eases out of him with a sigh of loss.
“Come on, shower before we fall asleep again and this sets like concrete.”
♦♦♦
It’s nearly five before they’re back in bed, between fresh sheets with Finn purring on the corner of Joey’s pillow. Rick waits with his arms open for Joey to settle in, back to his chest, then turns out the lamp. He’s beginning to doze when Joey’s voice rouses him.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“Wanting me. Loving me. Not letting me go.”
Rick smiles and kisses the top of his shoulder.
“Never letting you go. Go to sleep.”
“I…”
“Shh. Go to sleep.”
♦♦♦
Joey
Joey frowns at his computer, eyes darting back and forth from the GANTT chart on the screen to a printout on his desk. How have they lost two days of production over the weekend when they were on schedule on Friday? That doesn’t even make sense. Ian’s digital marketing team are waiting on the finished logos to launch a campaign and on Friday he’d been prepared to hand it over an hour ago. He’s about to open the files themselves to check Will’s version histories when there’s a tap on his door. Charlotte leans against the frame and waggles her fingers at him.
“What are you up to, gorgeous?”
Blushing, he gestures at the printout. “Just trying to figure out a scheduling glitch so I can get the Lawton logos up to digital.” T
hrough the window he can see Will watching them over the top of his computer.
“Well, I happen to know there was a disaster in digital this morning, which is not exactly unusual for them, so you can relax.” She cocks her head and grins at him. “And, a certain somebody suggested you might like some company for lunch.”
Joey studies her for a moment, the pushes the printout away. She’s not wrong about digital, there’s always some sort of crisis there. According to Maisie, the only reason anything gets done is because despite his quiet demeanor Ian drags them kicking and screaming through every project. It’s an assertion Joey isn’t entirely sure he believes. He’s not buying the ‘looking for company’ line either. He folds his arms.
“You mean he asked you to babysit.”
Charlotte bursts into laughter and comes in. Smooths her scarlet skirt beneath her and sits in the chair on the other side of his desk. “I wouldn’t put it quite that way but that’s the gist of it.” She leans forward, serious now. “He’s trying to protect you, kiddo.”
Joey nods. He knows; he just isn’t sure how to react to it. Charlotte raps her knuckles on the desktop and stands up.
“Come on, let's give that little shit Landry something to really talk about.” Her tone makes it very clear there is no arguing with her. “Ricky says you can eat your weight in pasta, so I think that’s a good enough reason to blow off my diet for the day.”
♦♦♦
Joey eyes the mountain of spaghetti on the plate in front of him and wonders if perhaps he’s made a mistake. The freshly made pasta is liberally covered in tomato sauce, basil, and parmesan. The white shirt he’s wearing won’t forgive even the slightest drip. What’s more, his belt may not forgive the sheer volume of food. Charlotte nudges the basket of garlic bread in his direction, eyes glittering with amusement.
“Eat. I have it on good authority you need the calories.”
“Your Good Authority is going to have to get all my pants altered at this rate.” Joey twirls spaghetti around his fork, and using a chunk of bread to catch drips, lifts it to his mouth. He watches as Charlotte spears some of the gnocchi on her plate and eats it, amusement in her eyes. After a moment he puts his fork down, pasta untouched.
Rick: (Joey - Part 2) Page 6
