Secrets and High Spirits: Secrets, Book 4 (12 page)

He stopped and pulled his cock free. He rubbed the head to Bruce’s red, abused lips before stepping back. He pointed at the bed. “Jeans off. Facedown, feet on the ground.” He watched as the man so much bigger and stronger than he obeyed his every word with an expression of bliss.

Teag’s own hands shook a little as he scrabbled for the packets of emergency lube and condom in his wallet. He blessed his foresight for never going anywhere without them. He put on the latter with still unsteady hands, but the view of Bruce’s incredibly muscular rump helped him to get centered. There was so much vulnerability, so much trust hidden in this pornographic pose.

This scene of his very own Tom of Finland character come alive was Teag’s secret fantasy coming alive. So secret even he hadn’t been fully conscious of it till now. He stood mesmerized.

“Are you gonna fuck me or just look at the twin moons?” Bruce griped over his shoulder, jolting Teag from the reverie.

Teag smacked Bruce hard on the ass. “Who said you could talk? And keep your hands where I can see them.”

Bruce groaned and buried his face in the mattress, but by this time, Teag had two slick fingers in his ass. When Bruce tried to rush Teag, it earned him another smack. He appeared to be enjoying this way too much.

Teag caught on. “One more complaint, and I’ll stop. And there will be no spanking either. Got it?”

Bruce nodded into the mattress. “I’ll be good. Just, please…”

“Please what?”

“Please don’t stop.”

Teag didn’t. He couldn’t have, despite whatever he’d said. He wanted to shove his cock between those fantastic buttocks more than anything he’d ever wanted. The elaborate preparations served to drag out his own pleasure as much as Bruce’s. When he finally pushed inside, it was all the better for it.

Too good, as a matter of fact—he had to pause and focus, or he would’ve finished embarrassingly fast. Bruce stayed very still too, as if sensing the impending danger. Taking a few calming breaths, Teag regained control and rammed the remaining few inches in. Bruce’s guttural
hell, yes
told him they wanted the same hard fuck.

Bruce met every punishing thrust with unmistakable relish. The sounds he made and the way he clenched and unclenched around Teag erased any lingering doubt. They came seconds from each other, Teag’s hand around Bruce’s cock, his own buried deep inside.

I
n the wake of his brain-muddling orgasm, Bruce had enough presence of mind to pull himself fully onto the bed before collapsing into an exhausted heap of muscle and bone. He was pleased to see Teag collapse next to him. They lay in a mess of limbs, silent. Bruce drifted between wakefulness and sleep.

“He was hot,” Teag said, out of the blue.

Bruce didn’t have enough of his wits about him for non sequiturs. “Who?”

“That guy in high school.”

Bruce chuckled, realizing Teag had picked up the thread of their earlier conversation. “The one you didn’t have fantasies about.”

“Stop smirking.”

“I never smirk.”

“Bullshit. You’re the most infuriating person I’ve ever met, including my sister and Dylan,” Teag said, but not with anger.

“Most people find me charming and likable.”

“I guess I’m not most people.”

“That’s for sure.” Bruce caressed the bump of Teag’s hip as he spoke. “You’ve never told me how you became a bartender.”

“Funny story. I was twelve, and we had to write a paper for career day at school. I had it in my mind at the time that I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. I don’t know why; must’ve been something I saw on TV. Anyway, I called Uncle Fester…I mean Lester—you’ve met him.”

“Uh-huh. Go on.” Bruce remembered the portly lawyer very well.

“He suggested I join him at work for a day. He had an office in downtown. So I did.”

“How was it?”

“Boring as hell. But at lunchtime, Uncle Fester took me to this place, the Balentine. It’s not there anymore, but it was a bar and lounge in an old hotel. All dark wood and booths with leather seats cracked with age. We sat at the bar. Uncle Fester must’ve been a regular there, because the bartender greeted him by name and didn’t ask what he wanted.”

“What was he like? The bartender.”

“Older guy, but very prim and proper. Crisp white shirt, black vest and black bow tie. But what impressed me most was the way he worked—deft like a magician but without cheesy flourishes. I immediately knew I wanted to be like him.”

“What did you drink?”

“Two whiskey smashes, mine without whiskey. I started making cocktails that very evening. With fruit juices and sodas at first, naturally. What about you?”

“Nothing as romantic, I’m afraid,” Bruce said, waffling.

Teag poked his chest. “Tell me.”

Bruce sighed and unveiled his dark secret. “I wanted to be an actor.”

“No. Really?” Teag tried and failed to hide his amused disbelief. Bruce couldn’t blame him—wannabe actors were LA’s biggest cliché.

“Yup. With all the dressing up and drama classes at high school, I thought acting was the way for me.”

“Were you good?”

“Nah. I sucked, but at the time, I thought differently. As you know, struggling future stars need day jobs, and I did this and that. At one point, I worked as a bouncer for a place called Whip-Lash.”

“Was it a leather bar?”

“Not exactly, but a crazy place. One night, they let me get behind the stick as a joke, and that was it. They couldn’t drag me out. I stuck there like a rhino at the last watering hole in the desert during a drought. The strangest part—I could never remember my lines as an actor, but I only had to read a cocktail recipe once to memorize it.”

Teag laughed. “Stubborn bastard.” Unfortunately, he was also rolling off the bed. “I should take a shower. I told Helen to pick me up here. You better put some clothes on too,” he added with a friendly but pleasantly stinging slap on Bruce’s behind.

“You know where everything is.” Bruce rolled over so he could admire Teag’s fine naked form as it left the room. He would’ve liked if Teag stayed, but it was probably too soon. Same for a shared shower.

He rolled onto his feet, pulled on his shorts, made the bed and went about tracking down the assorted articles of clothing thrown about the room. Just as he picked up Teag’s jeans, they started playing music, and for a dash of a second, he thought the two actions connected—like those greeting cards playing tinny music when you opened them. Needless to say, it was none of the sort, only a coincidence of Teag’s phone ringing at that very moment.

Bruce dropped the jeans next to the rest of Teag’s clothes, and the phone quieted. He looked around to see if anything else needed straightening up, but the phone started up again. Wondering if it was an emergency, or maybe Helen calling, he half slid the phone out of the pocket. Leo Henderson’s smarmy face was not what he’d expected to see, but there it was. The sound of splashing water stopped, and Bruce slipped the phone back into its place.

Teag came back, looking even more sultry with the yellow towel around his waist, concealing his naughty bits. Bruce automatically reached for the towel, but only to slip the tip of his fingers under the edge to pull Teag close. As they kissed, he felt Teag’s hands land on his hips and glide to his buttocks, fingers spread as if wanting to possess them in their entirety. Teag was an ass-man, all right. Bruce was getting hard again, and so was Teag under the soft terrycloth.

The blasted phone started up again. Bruce grunted in frustration as Teag pulled away. Teag glanced at the phone, frowned and looked guiltily at Bruce.

“I’ll be in the shower,” Bruce announced and went.

Ch
apter Ten

Te
ag had pretty much forgotten about Leo’s existence lately, especially for the last hour or so. What the hell did the man want from him so late? “Leo? Where have you been?” he asked.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to drop off the map.” Leo started out rueful, but his tone quickly tilted into something else, almost manic. “Such a mess. I had to fly to Minnesota on a family emergency, and I left a message with the secretary at work, but the silly ditz forgot about it. And to top it off, in my hurry I left my phone at home. I didn’t realize until I was on the plane, and of course by then it was too late to do anything about it.” His words tripped and tumbled in a breathless rush. Was he drunk?

“And they don’t have phones in Minnesota?” Noticing the edge in his own voice, Teag was surprised to realize he resented Leo for intruding on his time with Bruce.

“Hehe, it’s embarrassing, but I couldn’t remember your number. Please don’t be mad,” Leo groveled.

Teag toned down his attitude. “Oh, that’s all right. It’s not about me. Did you call work?”

“Oh, you know, I was so caught up with everything here, I didn’t at first. But I got around to it yesterday. Apparently, the police were looking for me. I can’t imagine why.”

“You don’t know?”

“Not a clue. I should find out, I guess. First thing tomorrow. For tonight, I have other plans.” His voice dropped to what he must’ve thought was a seductive purr. “Meet me at the bar.”

“At the Blue Parrot? Now? Why?”

“Oh, so that’s what you’re calling it now. I like it, very classic. I have a bar-warming gift for you.”

“What is it?” Teag asked warily. He started to suspect Leo might’ve read too much into their one aborted date.

“I can’t tell you. It would ruin the surprise,” Leo replied with tiresome coyness. “It’s kinda big, and I don’t want to leave it here in the parking lot.”

“You’re already there?”

“Yes, I am and can’t leave till you get here.” Leo clearly had no clue how much his playful words rubbed Teag the wrong way. “I missed you.”

Teag gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, counted to ten slowly, let the breath out and said, as nonconfrontationally as he could, “I’ll be there as fast as I can.” His restraint wasn’t hardy enough not to hang up without another word. He called for a yellow cab and started to dress.

Well, fuck. He’d go there and deal with Leo once and for all, explain to the guy that there wasn’t or wouldn’t be anything more between them than a mild case of friendship. At most. Normally, he would’ve felt a touch guilty, but Leo’s presumptions pissed him the hell off. And not in the I-want-to-fuck-your-brains-out-but-just-can’t-admit-it way, like Bruce had.

What the fuck was Leo thinking, expecting him to show up in Hollywood in the middle of the night? Teag was fuming the whole time he was yanking his clothes on. He might as well head straight home after having dealt with Leo. Staying here, with Bruce, till morning had crossed his mind, and he’d been on the verge of asking, when Leo’s stupid call interrupted.

Teag considered for a brief second asking Bruce to join him, but the three of them together would be awkward. Leo might make a scene. Teag hated scenes. No, it was up to him to clear up this mess.

He cursed and marched to the bathroom, and poked his head in. Bruce had just stepped out of the shower—all muscles and curves and wet to boot. Teag wanted to lick the water out of every nook and crevice. Alas. “I’ll be going,” he said.

“Already?” Bruce wrapped a towel around his waist.

“Well, you know, early morning and stuff.”

“Helen’s here?”

“I’ll catch her on the street.” Teag hesitated, then stepped closer and planted a kiss on Bruce’s wet lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He rushed off before he could say something stupid. He called Helen to tell her to pick him up at the bar instead while legging it down the stairs.

Th
e parking lot behind the bar was empty except for the Dumpster. Teag wondered if Leo was waiting him at the front. He was about to go and check when he heard loud hissing from above. Glancing up, he recognized Leo’s face in a second-floor window. Leo waved for Teag to join him.

“Whatta—” Teag started, but Leo had already disappeared from view. With growing annoyance he tried the door—it was unlocked. Unable to find the extension cord by the door, he fumbled his way in the dark to and up the stairs. Enough street light spilled through the window there for him to make out Leo’s figure. “You kept a key when you changed the lock,” he said accusingly.

But Leo rushed him and trapped him in an overfamiliar hug. “So glad to see you.”

Teag firmly disentangled himself. “We need to talk.”

But Leo babbled on unabated. “I’m in trouble. I need money. If I don’t leave town, they’ll kill me.”

It was as if a sinkhole opened up under Teag’s feet. Talk about surprise. “What the hell are you talking about? Who are
they
?”

“It’s not important. I need cash now.”

Teag crossed his arms. “First of all, I have twenty bucks in my pocket. Secondly—”

“We can go to an ATM.”

“My withdrawal limit is two hundred, and that won’t get you much farther than Tijuana. But most of all, I’m not giving you a penny till you tell me what the fuck is going on. Who’s trying to kill you? And why don’t you just go to the police?”

“Drug dealers. You must help me.” Urgent desperation oozed from Leo.

Teag had heard enough. He reached for his phone. “That’s it. I’m calling the cops.”

But Leo grabbed Teag’s arm. “No, please don’t. It’s not what you think. It all started as I was showing a property to a client. Downtown, old industrial building converted to lofts, you know the deal. I noticed something suspicious about the electrical panel. I’ve told you my dad was an electrician.” The words were spilling in the same hurried jumble as earlier over the phone. “I went back alone to investigate, and what I found out was that someone had turned the entire top floor into a marijuana-growing site. It was clever—they had solar panels on the roof for extra electricity. No excess power usage to make them suspicious. Plus the panels hid the heat signatures from above. They were connected to the power grid, but it was a jerry-rigged affair. That’s why I noticed.”

“And you reported it to the authorities?” Teag asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Well, not exactly. You know how much money’s in pot? Why shouldn’t I have taken my share when the opportunity fell into my lap?”

Teag slapped his forehead. “You blackmailed them? Are you insane?”

“You’re such a Boy Scout,” Leo said in a tone of scorn, wholly inappropriate under the circumstances. “It was a perfectly reasonable business arrangement. A few thousand bucks a month is nothing to people like that. And I did them a favor pointing out the problem with the wiring. Someone else might have noticed.”

“Someone less altruistic?” Teag asked, not bothering anymore to hide his contempt. What had he ever seen in this weasel?

“Leo’s right,” said a voice from behind.

Leo jumped, and Teag spun on his heels. With his gloom-adjusted vision, he could make out the figure of a tall blond man, and the glint of something metallic in the general area of the man’s hand. Gun? Knife? Brass knuckles? “A few thousand a month was a drop in the bucket. So were the other, larger sums we paid him for other services. Right, Leo?” Instead of a response, Leo was doing his best to shrink back into the shadows behind Teag. “Then he got greedy,” the man added.

Teag shuffled to the side, away from Leo. “And you decided to get rid of him.”

“Nah,” said the man. The shiny object twitched in his hand. “Stay where you are, please.” Teag froze. The man went on, conversationally. “Murder is bad for business. We only meant to scare some sense into him. But he decided to brain Danny. Right, Leo?”

“It was an accident!” Leo squeaked.

“Unfortunately, Leo now has to pay for what he’s done. It’s a matter of principle, you understand. We’d lose face letting him get away with it.”

“Who’s Danny?” Teag asked in a panicked frenzy to buy time. He remembered all too well the name of the man left for dead there: Daniel Cole. However, he couldn’t just hand Leo over to be beaten or killed, and he also suspected that his position as a witness put him in the line of danger too.

As the man took a step in Leo’s direction, cold determination engulfed Teag, and his muscles tensed. Deep inside, he was scared as fuck, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He had one chance to act, to rush the stranger.

But before Teag could’ve leapt, a large shape emerged from the darkness, from the direction of the stairs and behind the stranger. The two figures collided and merged in a scuffling mass, only to disappear among loud bangs and thuds and a sharp cry.

Teag finally sprang forward and down the stairs, only to trip over a body halfway down. His quick reflexes saved him from tumbling head over heels. “Ow. Kick me while I’m down, why don’t you?” he heard Bruce complain—to his immense relief.

“Are you all right?” Teag asked, crouching down and reaching blindly toward Bruce.

Bruce grumbled something inarticulate, shifted, and a second later, a phone appeared in his hand. The faint glow of the screen revealed his grimace of pain. “The motherfucker kneed me in the nuts. It was totally unnecessary. I would’ve let him go if he just asked.”

A motorcycle roared to life somewhere in the alley, not far away. Teag thought it could’ve been the stranger fleeing, but couldn’t be sure. “We need to call the cops.”

Bruce shook his head. “I already have. They should be here any minute.”

Leo chose this moment to try to sneak down the stairs like a guilty cat, but Teag swiftly stood and shoved Leo against the wall. It wasn’t a wide stairwell. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Teag, you heard him. The police will be here any moment,” Leo pleaded.

Teag was fed up with Leo. “Yes, and you have some explaining to do.”

“They’ll think I tried to kill Danny.”

“Didn’t you?”

“It was self-defense!” The wailing of distant sirens played backup to Leo’s whiny protest.

“Well then, you have nothing to worry about, right?” Teag bit out. The sirens were getting closer and louder.

Te
ag was grateful Helen had missed the show. She arrived a few minutes before Lipkin. First she grilled Teag and Bruce, then Lipkin questioned her, but it quickly became clear she was ignorant of the goings-on.

Teag told her to go home and not to wait for him. She gave him a rebellious look but let a uniformed police officer escort her to the side. Teag lost sight of her when he was taken to the police station.

Seeing the alley behind their place awash in flashing red and blue lights didn’t thrill Teag one bit, but knowing it meant the conclusion of the investigation kept him from falling utterly into despair. Consequently, he endured Detective Lipkin’s interrogation with remarkable docility. “He was blondish, maybe light brown,” he said when asked to describe the stranger. “Had some face scruff. I didn’t see his face well. There wasn’t much light upstairs.”

“You didn’t have a flashlight?”

“I didn’t think I’d need it,” Teag replied, a touch defensively. He felt kinda stupid about the whole affair. “I thought Leo would be in the alley. I had no idea he kept a key after changing the lock.”

“Uh-huh.” Lipkin took this information with rumpled, sleep-deprived detachment. “What did the man wear?”

Teag racked his brain. “Uhm… Something dark. Leather jacket, I think.”

“What kind?”

“Ehrm, short one.”

“Biker jacket?”

Teag said it was possible. “I heard a bike revving up not more than a minute after the guy ran off. Do you think he’ll come after us? Bruce and me?”

“Unlikely. They’re not the Cosa Nostra.”

At
long last, Detective Lipkin let Teag go. Surprisingly, Helen was nowhere in sight, but Bruce was waiting. They rode back together to Bruce’s place.

“Sit,” Teag said, pointing at the couch the moment they stepped inside.

With a smirk, Bruce obeyed. Teag went to the kitchen, found ice in the freezer and pulverized it using the blender sitting on the countertop. The Ziploc bags he found easily enough, but had to hunt for a clean kitchen towel a little longer. The crushed ice went into the bag, which he wrapped in the towel.

Back in the big room, Bruce had just finished untying his shoes and kicking them off. He gingerly lowered himself onto the cushions.

“Here, put this on your eye,” Teag said, handing the pack over. “You have a helluva shiner.” Bruce must’ve banged his forehead on the stairs pretty hard while rolling down them, judging from the ripening bruise. “You need a painkiller?”

“Nah, they fixed me up at the station.”

“Ah. Good.” Teag collapsed into a chair. “Are you absolutely sure you don’t want to go to the emergency room, get properly checked out?”

“What, sit there waiting for three hours to have a medical student tell me I have a shiner and should take an aspirin? No, thanks. Anyway, your sister checked my head too, at the station. She deemed it hard enough.”

Teag was taken aback for a moment. “You talked to Helen?”

“We ran into each other at the station, while you were busy with that detective. She was concerned, of course. I told her what I knew. We chatted.”

Teag had some inkling how that conversation had gone if Helen had gone home, leaving him to Bruce. He supposed the cat was out of the bag. Come to think of it, she’d favored Bruce from the beginning. God, she’d be unbearably smug about it. “Well, I should stay here tonight to keep an eye on you. Just in case.”

Bruce gave a crooked grin. “Yes, that’s exactly what Helen said.”

Teag furrowed his brows in a pretense of indignation. “You and my sister, thick as thieves. Just what I need. Oh, by the way, did you follow me to the bar?”

“Yup,” Bruce admitted, his one eye not covered by the makeshift icepack meeting Teag’s gaze without a trace of shame. “I knew it was Leo calling,” he added, as if it explained everything.

“And you suspected there was something fishy about him?” Teag asked, confused. He would’ve never agreed to meet Leo if he thought the guy was anything but a nuisance.