Chapter 16
The bus got to Alamosa, Lonnie got off but didn’t get back on to continue on to Utah. He had been thinking since his talk with Dennis and yeah, sure, maybe his father and his family in New Mexico wasn’t the greatest but at least they weren’t the stuck-up, straight- laced assholes his cousins in Utah were. The big time college graduates who thought they were so much better than the people on the res. Well fuck if he was going there to be badgered about going back to school. And how he should find a nice boy his own age to fall for instead of someone so much older than him. If he was in New Mexico he would have all the time in the world to figure things out. If he couldn’t get Jack away from Rebel Marino then he would figure something out.
He traded his bus ticket and the little money he had to get a ticket to Santa Fe and pulled out his phone to send a text to his Uncle Charming to pick him up the next morning and then he settled in to the seat in the back, leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes.
“You know Dennis is going to hate it when he finds out. He’ll probably try to drag you back,” The apparition of Jack said to him as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“So.”
That was the best he had. He thought about Jack…shit when didn’t he? In his mind Jack took him to his house and made love to him all night long. He’d saved himself for the man for fuck sake! All the times he had the chance to finally get laid but he’d turned it down because he just knew in his heart that he would be with Jack someday.
“Maybe Dennis was right. You should have just told me.”
Jack haunting him day and night was too much. If only he could forget about him, fall for someone else but he really didn’t want to. He’d never find another guy like Jack, not if he looked for a million years and someday he’d get Jack Colton. Someday he would be with the man and they would be happy. Even happier than Jack had been with Martin.
The long ride found him sleeping for most of it and when he finally got to Santa Fe he stepped off the bus to a small group of his family waiting for him. He smiled wide and took just two steps away from the bus before they surrounded him, all laughing and crying at once. Most of them smelled like a still exploded but he didn’t come to judge them. He came to get away and to think.
“My son!” His father embraced him and cried. He was so thin. As Lonnie hugged him he could feel every bone in the old man’s body.
“Papa, you look great,” he lied and then took a hug from his Uncle Charming.
“Little Lonnie, you’re such a man now! We are all so glad you are home. Let’s go back to the house and we will celebrate!”
“Thanks Uncle Charming.” Of course Lonnie knew what that meant but one night of partying was not going to throw him into the same state the rest of them were in. He was stronger than that.
oooOooo
Jack rolled out of bed as Rebel watched. Rebel looked at him a lot and it made him think that maybe he needed to hit the gym more often. Jack threw his pillow and said, “Stop staring!”
Rebel chuckled. “You always look at me.”
“I’m the Dom!” Jack got on the edge of the other side of the bed and dragged Rebel over to kiss him. “Don’t get too cutesy or your paddling this morning will be worse.”
“Mmm, that’s not much incentive to stop.”
Jack laughed and kissed him again. “Fucking pain slut.”
There was a bright sparkle in Rebel’s eye as he agreed, “Your pain slut.”
“Fuck,” Jack breathed out and kissed Rebel again, forcing his tongue in Rebel’s mouth and grabbing his hair. “Suck me now.”
Rebel’s face showed his lust as he climbed out of bed and got between Jack’s legs. Those eyes gazed into his and Jack had to look away or he wouldn’t even get to feel Rebel’s mouth before he shot. Rebel had skills, his tongue was something from the gods and as he took Jack in his tongue painted the underside tapping delightfully on the vein and sending signals to Jack’s body that something spectacular was happening. His lips were tight around the shaft, his cheeks sucked in as he sucked so perfectly. Jack’s eyes focused on his lover’s face, so fucking beautiful when he was sucking…or fucking or doing pretty much anything. Rebel was something so special.
He couldn’t help bucking his hips up but Rebel never lost his rhythm, just taking the head into his throat, swallowing hard around it and getting a yelp from Jack for it. Jack had both hands buried in Rebel’s soft hair and he was soon fucking his boy’s mouth, Rebel’s fingers dug into Jack’s thighs and he was singing moans, vibrating them around Jack’s cock.
“Fuck baby I’m close.”
Rebel looked up at Jack and there was a mischievous glint in those gorgeous eyes and he just sucked harder, hollowing out his cheeks until Jack felt the heat rushing through him and coming out of his cock so deliciously he growled with it. As he finished spilling into Rebel’s mouth he fell back on the bed and Rebel licked him clean then crawled up over him. Jack laughed and took his face in his hands, kissing him and tasting himself and Rebel in the kiss. The combination was perfect.
“So do I get my paddling now?” Rebel’s raised an eyebrow and Jack reached down to smack his bare ass.
“I think you like it too much.”
Rebel licked over Jack’s neck to his chin. “You like that I like it so much.”
Well fuck he couldn’t deny that! He pushed Rebel off him then got up and went to the drawer where he kept the paddle they had both agreed on for the morning disciplines. Then he sat on the bed and looked at Rebel. “Over my lap.”
“Yes sir,” Rebel whisper and got into place. His cock was rigid and Jack felt it poke between his thighs, smiling as how Rebel’s ass perked up each time they did this. He ran his hands over his boy’s back and ass, light sweet touches just to let Rebel calm and get into the right mindset…not that he needed it. He was already breathing slowly and had his eyes closed.
The marks from the flogger were almost completely faded but that didn’t upset Jack. In fact it made him grin like an idiot because he could take Rebel downstairs and try out the next implement that he wanted to use on him.
“Count down from ten baby,” Jack said right before he brought the paddle down on the right cheek of Rebel’s ass. The sound was thrilling and so loud in the otherwise quiet room.
“Ten!”
Rebel’s voice was gritty as he readied himself for the next smack and when he got it he moaned out, “Nine!”
As they got down to the last couple Rebel was openly stroking his cock through Jack’s thighs, Jack slick with precum and the last two left Rebel’s ass bright red as Rebel shot after Jack gave him permission.
“Thank you sir! Oh fuck thank you!”
Jack rubbed over the heated cheeks and smiled down on his beautiful sub. “You’re welcome baby.”
oooOooo
While Jack went into the shower to get ready for his day, Rebel stayed behind cleaning up his mess, got out Jack’s clothes and laid them out on the bed. He ran the back of his hand over the uniform shirt and smiled. He always sped especially when he was on a bike but he was glad he had that day. That day when he first saw the man he would fall in love with.
Fall in love. Whew, that was a fucking trip! He never in his life thought he could fall in love. Not like this, in a place like this and for damn sure not with a man like Jack.
“Lost in thought and making me drool.” Rebel looked up to Jack and couldn’t help but smile so wide his cheeks hurt with it.
The man was a god, dripping from the shower, his chest hair stuck to his muscles nicely, and his skin just gleaming and gorgeous. “Yes I am very lost.”
Jack shook his head slowly as he rubbed the towel over his chest and stomach while he walked over to Rebel. “You aren’t lost Rebel. I found you remember?”
As Jack’s shower warmed arms wrapped around him he pushed his ass out to Jack and got a bite to the neck. “How could I forget?”
After breakfast Jack didn’t make him go in to the diner and he was glad. He didn’t much like being the specimen under the glass. If he had to, he thought…maybe…he could get to know the townspeople slowly but all at once like that freaked him the fuck out. He expected someone to throw something at him or call out some kind of fucked up comment the whole time he’d been in there. He was positive that the only reason they hadn’t was because he was there with Jack.
Not only had he never wanted a savior he didn’t need one, but Jack was different. He found himself wanted to be taken care of by Jack and that wasn’t all. Just laying out his clothes and fixing his breakfast and taking care of him gave him a purpose he’d never had before. He found himself waking up smiling and anxious to get started on the day.
The van was still uncomfortable as hell to ride in but he’d at least fixed the lights. He got the bobble head off the dash and planned on replacing it as soon as he could but it would never be the same. Nothing about the van or the house would ever be the same and everyday he was there it made him sadder and sadder to be there.
The house wasn’t the warm welcoming place it had once been. Now with all of the fresh paint and cleaned floors it was cold and foreign. The last room was Candace’s and he had stalled long enough. He had to get in there.
The door swung open and he felt the memories pulling him in like quicksand. Sucking him into its depths and threatening to take the air from his lungs. What an open woman she was. Most people kept their rooms to themselves, coveting their privacy but there wasn’t a day that Aunt Candace was alive that her room wasn’t open and inviting. He had laid over the quilt a million times with her while they ate popcorn and watched old movies on her old Zenith that was stuck up on her dresser. Its wood was as shining as the day in the sixties when it was bought brand new and the picture was still pretty decent even if it did take a good half an hour to warm up.
He ran his fingers over the screen and laughed a little when he made a mark in the dust. She would have lost her mind at that. She never let her television get dusty. It marred the crispness of the colorized versions of all of her favorites like The Egg and I, Casablanca, Of Mice and Men and of course Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. That one had freaked him out when he was a kid. An old craggy woman dressing up and singing like a little girl was a total mind fuck to a burgeoning gay kid.
He looked at the old four poster bed and laughed. It was still covered in homemade pillows. Some covers she knitted traditionally, others she made with some of the old t-shirts from the hundreds of rock concerts she’d been to. Still more were just pieces of cloth that she though was too pretty to throw away. Shit, she didn’t throw anything away but she wasn’t a hoarder. If there was no place for it, she made something useful with it and either kept it or gave it away.
There was a cedar chest at the end of the bed and it was the only thing that didn’t hold memories for him except for the times he sat on it while he waited for her to get ready to watch one of their movies. He knelt down in front of it and took a deep breath remembering her saying, “It’s full of woman’s things. Memories from an old lady’s smiles.”
The top opened right up and inside there were boxes of letters, cards, and a scarf. The scarf was nothing he had ever seen her wear and nothing he could even imagine her wearing. It was delicate lace and soft as feathers. The letters were all from a private in the army. Private Jerome Jones.
“JJ…”
She wore a necklace around her neck every single day and crudely carved into the cheap metal and faded gold plated heart was the initials JJ. He’d asked her about it once and she never would tell him what they meant. He picked one of the letters up and looked at the return address. Candace Perry, Lawrence, Kansas. That was her hometown and his as well.
It felt like he was intruding into her life but she didn’t really have a life anymore. He opened the letter and started to read.
Candy,
I know this letter may not reach you but I had to write one more time. I don’t care about your past or your family. I fell in love with you not them. The marriage wasn’t real. It was something they did to you to keep you under their thumb and it is over. Now you can marry me and we can go to Colorado where we will be accepted and loved.
Please my love, think about it. I’ll be home soon I hope and then you and I will get away. I promise.
JJ
Rebel read this and tried to understand the meaning. The marriage wasn’t real? That had to mean her marriage to Steven Perry, her husband that the family always said was supposed to be the one who would settle her down. But she’d left him to go and live like a heathen.
“So you were in love…good for you Auntie.” He read through more of the letters finding out she’d met JJ at a war rally. He was just going into the service and she had argued with him, begging him not to go, to go AWOL but he’d refused asserting that he wanted to show her that once he committed to something he saw it through. At the bottom of the stack of letters was an official envelope and inside that were two letters. One was from the Army telling Candace that JJ was dead. The other was from a lawyer telling her that he’d left her everything including the house Rebel now sat in.
It was heartbreaking. Candace found love only to have it wrenched away and she’d never married again. She’d lived in the house until she died and joined her love. Rebel closed his eyes trying to imagine her as a young woman in love. How her smile must have glowed, how her eyes must have sparkled. It was very sad someone like Candace found love and lost it. Someone like him, he could see that. He fully expected Jack to dump his ass sooner than later but not Candace. She had deserved to have a great love and not have it ripped from her like that.
He set the letters back in the chest. Rebel started to close it, but something made him keep looking. He found a box of pictures under a few theatre programs and once he opened the box the first picture he saw was one of Candace. She was much younger and with a little blonde girl. Rebel turned it over and on the back it said, Candy and Kelly, 1972. His mother as a little girl.
He stared at it, her silly grin, her red dress and long stockings mussed with mud. Funny she used to get screaming mad at him for getting dirty. In the picture she looked happy and not just happy but…normal. Not the sour, bitter woman he had known all of his life.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Maybe that little girl was still there. Maybe somewhere buried deep down she was still there. He got a heavy blanket of guilt then. His mother and family back in Kansas didn’t know Candace had died. He had gotten the word from her lawyer that only he was to be told and it was up to his discretion to tell the rest of the family if he chose to. Maybe…maybe they should know. Maybe that would finally be the thing that made his mother human again.
He took out his phone and dialed the number he still remembered even though he hadn’t used it in years. It rang four times before he heard his mother’s voice, “Hello?”
She sounded so sweet. So kind that he got some hope. “Mom, it’s me Rebel.”
There was a long pause and then, “You had better be calling to tell me you’ve given up your sins and have come back to God or I am hanging up.”
The tone in her voice changed fast from sweet to tinged with hatred. He screwed his eyes shut and said, “Mom I have some bad news. Aunt Candace…she passed away.”
There was another pause that gave Rebel a lot of hope. He had a fleeting thought that the news had hit her hard and that she was sorry that she had lost her only aunt but when she spoke that hope was dashed, “Good she can wait for you in hell.” The call ended but Rebel held it to his ear for a full minute. He couldn’t believe anyone could be so hateful. There was just no way someone could be filled with that much animosity.
As reality sunk in, however, the rage rose in him and he stood and threw the phone through the television making a loud bang that sounded like gunfire.
oooOooo
Jack had a long day and he couldn’t wait to get home to Rebel and what he planned to be a great night of making love with a bit of kinky fun mixed in just to keep Rebel on his toes. Rebel deserved something special and he thought for a change of pace he would have dinner waiting when his boy got home so he could have more time to plan on their evening.
He stopped by the store and bought some chicken and vegetables, thinking a stir fry would be light but tasty and some more cream for bruises as he planned on Rebel having a few before the night was over…right across that sweet ass.
He got home at just after 5:30 pm but didn’t see the van. He looked in the garage and saw the motorcycle was still there. Perplexed he went into the house and put the groceries away already itching to hand out a punishment for his naughty sub. It made chills pop out all over thinking of using the crop on him, what he’d had planned anyway for the evening but this would be much more intense to use it as punishment instead of simply for fun.
At 7 pm he was just plain worried. What if Rebel figured out this lifestyle wasn’t for him, that Jack wasn’t for him and he’d left.
“That could be but more likely he lost track of time. Go to Mrs. Perry’s house and see if he’s there,” Martin said as he leaned over Jack’s shoulder watching him picking at the green peppers out of the cooled stir fry.
“I shouldn’t chase him down. He should come to me.”
“Oh fuck, listen to the big bad Dom! Fuck that! Go!”
Jack pushed the bowl of stir fry away and headed for the door. There were knots in his stomach all the way to the Perry house as scenarios played through his mind. He thought he would get there and find the place empty or maybe it wouldn’t be empty and he’d find someone there with Rebel. After all, how much did he really know about Rebel besides what he was told and what his police record said?
Once he pulled in, however, and saw the van there, he let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and got out right away. The house was dark and Jack suddenly had a very bad feeling. He reached down to his hip and realized he hadn’t brought his sidearm. He wasn’t even in his cruiser as he tried not to use it when he wasn’t on official duty. He was in his old truck and he didn’t keep a gun inside of it because the passenger door didn’t lock.
He went to the door and listened a heartbeat’s length of time before he turned the knob and pushed it open. “Rebel?”
His voice echoed in the house and the feeling of dread deepened. As he started inside he kept his senses heightened in the event he needed to react swiftly. Jack turned on the light and made his way through the kitchen. He went through the living room and started down the hall and as he got there he smelled something unfamiliar. It reeked of chemical and dust and he rushed through the hall, throwing open each door no longer caring about his own safety.
Once he opened the master bedroom, the smell was strong and he looked down on the carpet where Rebel, unconscious and bleeding from his forehead.