CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Akio
HE PULLED out the key Lucas had given him just a few days ago and unlocked the front door of his apartment. He was surprised to hear quite a bit of noise as he stepped inside.
“Luc?”
He heard hurried footsteps coming from the living room. He placed his bag on the floor and shrugged out of his jacket. He was hanging it up when Lucas appeared at the other end of the hallway.
“Hi, what’s―”
He had his face pressed against Lucas’ chest before he could finish his sentence. He huffed out a breath and rubbed his hands over Lucas’ back.
Lucas moved back with a deep sigh.
“I needed that,” Lucas said, smiling softly at Akio.
Akio put his hands up and said, “I wasn’t complaining.”
“I know,” Lucas said and stole a quick kiss before taking Akio’s hand, lips pressed together as if to stop a smile. “They’re here. My team.”
“Oh?”
Lucas’ eyes gleamed as he said, “They came to show their support.”
“That’s very nice of them.”
“Let’s see how nice you think they are after you see what they’ve done to our apartment,” Lucas said with a chuckle.
His heart fluttered at that word; our. He didn’t think Lucas had meant it as such though he did have a key burning a hole in his jacket pocket.
Lucas reached for him, fingers hooking into the belt loops on his jeans.
“Guess I’m not the only one that frowns when I’m stressed out,” Lucas said, leaning down to run his nose along Akio’s, their mouths so close they shared a breath.
“I’m not stressed out,” Akio said, the high tone of his voice betraying him.
“You certainly don’t need to be,” Lucas said, leaning back to smile at Akio who glared when he didn’t get the kiss he thought he would.
“You better kiss me,” he said, eyes narrowing. “Like you mean it.”
Lucas’ laughter was impossible to resist, and he was smiling when the man did kiss him. Arms wrapped around him, tugging him against Lucas’ bigger body. The lips on his were heavenly, Lucas’ stubble rubbing lightly against his skin and causing a delicious shiver to run through him.
Lucas pulled back and when Akio opened his eyes, he found the man smiling softly at him.
“Approved?” Lucas asked.
“For now.”
The man’s hearty chuckle filled him with warmth.
Lucas motioned for him to go ahead of him, and Akio walked to the living room with sweaty hands and a racing heart.
He’d never been in a room full of FBI agents before but somehow he’d expected it to be more intimidating. The two men on Lucas’ couch who were fighting over a PlayStation controller, and the guy lounging on a few pillows on the floor while throwing peanuts at them while he narrated their fight in a deep voice, was not it.
“Unfortunately, this is their way of showing support,” Lucas said, stepping up behind Akio, arm wrapping around his middle to tug him back against his body. He looked over his shoulder, grinning when lips found his.
“Does their ‘support’ include paying the cleaning bill?”
There were pizza boxes and empty beer bottles everywhere. It looked like a greasy hurricane had blown through the living room.
“Doubtful,” Lucas said and squeezed Akio once before releasing him.
Despite the man being practically right up against him, he still missed that contact immediately.
He’d had his first day back at college and the familiarity and structure had been good for him. He still didn’t know what he was going to do after graduation in a few months but one glance at Lucas and he knew it wouldn’t matter as much as where he’d be. Who he’d be with.
“Guys?” Lucas called out, getting everyone’s attention. “This is Akio. My boyfriend.”
While they’d met in passing when they’d all shown up to save his sorry ass from Kuroki, he hadn’t been introduced to them yet.
“The man. The myth. The legend,” a dark-haired man said as he stood from the couch. He crossed the room to shake Akio’s hand.
“I don’t know about that,” Akio mumbled, heat finding his cheeks.
“Without you, that fucker would still be out there exploiting girls.”
“This is Evan,” Lucas said with a clap to the man’s shoulder. “He’ll talk you to death about how amazing his wife is.”
Evan raised his hands, a fond smile finding his lips as he said, “But she is.”
“She has to be. She chose to be with you,” Lucas teased, knocking his shoulder against Evan’s.
“Yeah, yeah,” Evan said with an eye-roll.
A soft curse had Akio looking toward the man on the floor. He was getting up and as he walked toward them, all he could think about was how tight the guy’s shirt looked on his muscular form.
“This is Mo, short for Moses,” Lucas said with a twinkle in his eye.
Mo grabbed Akio’s hand in his big one and shook it much more gently than he’d expected from the sheer size of it.
“Last name, not first,” Mo said.
Akio blinked at him, unable to take in anything he said.
“You’re huge,” he blurted out and immediately regretted it, heat rising to his cheeks as he slapped a hand over his mouth as if that would stop him from saying something worse.
Mo laughed, one of those belly-aching laughs that had him holding his stomach.
“He’s not that big,” Lucas muttered.
The third man who looked like he was of Middle Eastern descent, his brown eyes bright as he walked up behind Lucas and Mo, putting an arm around their shoulders as he stepped between them.
“It’s not the size that matters. It’s what you do with it,” he said and winked at Akio who only blushed harder. “Just ask Evan’s wife.”
Evan flipped him off. “Fucker.”
Lucas sighed, a smile on his face as he shook his head. “And this is Tahir.”
Tahir grinned at Akio and said, “Nice to finally meet you.”
“You, too.”
“So, I assume we’ll be swapping stories,” Tahir said, yelping when Lucas shoved him into Mo.
“Not happening,” Lucas said and crossed his arms.
Tahir and Mo shared a look and then Mo said, “I hold him, you get the dirt?”
“Deal.”
Akio was chuckling as he watched Lucas try to keep Mo from grabbing him.
“Don’t make me shoot you,” Lucas warned, slapping Mo’s hands away.
“With what? Your invisible gun?” Tahir teased.
Mo got his arms around Lucas and made him curse as he elbowed the man in the gut to no avail.
“Alright, leave the poor guy alone,” someone said from the doorway.
Mo released Lucas and gave him a two-finger salute before heading back to his spot on the floor. Tahir grumbled under his breath as Evan dragged him back to the couch.
Akio turned to see an older man with graying hair and stubble walking toward them. He was wearing a dark suit, the top buttons of his dress shirt undone, no tie in sight. He had a feeling he knew who was responsible for him needing to take it off.
“Akio, this is my boss. Supervisory Special Agent Miguel Sanchez.”
“Hi,” he said shyly.
“It’s good to meet you, son. Thank you for what you did for Gemma and her niece. It was very brave of you,” Sanchez said, the gentle look in his eyes telling Akio that he meant it.
“It was the least I could do,” he mumbled.
Lucas’ snort had him jerking his gaze onto the man who was watching him with raised brows while Sanchez chuckled.
“I hope you give this one as many gray hairs as he’s given me,” Sanchez said with a slap to Lucas’ shoulder.
Before Akio could speak, Lucas said, “I think he’s already given me a few.”
“I promise to never hand myself over to a Yakuza boss who wants me dead?”
It was Sanchez who laughed first and when Lucas’ face split in a wide grin, Akio let a laugh loose as well.
He liked seeing how comfortable and easygoing Lucas was around his team. How protective they seemed of each other despite their teasing. He knew it would make it just a bit easier for him to watch Lucas leave for work each day.
Mo emptied the contents of a grocery bag onto the coffee table and picked up a few things, brow arched in a question as he looked their way.
“Is that chocolate?”
He was off before anyone could answer and gave a happy wiggle of his fingers as Mo handed him the chocolate bar.
He looked over his shoulder, unsurprised to find Lucas watching him with that look of utter devotion and love that he knew he would never want to be without.