Chapter Twelve
TJ
Cody left the room and TJ sat in silence. What he wouldn’t give to be able to take all of Cody’s pain and suffering away, but he wouldn’t be the Cody he was now. This Cody that had TJ lost for words, unbalanced in how to react, unsure how to respond.
The scars that covered Cody’s back. The ones that circled his wrists.
How had he survived that pain? How had he dragged his beaten and broken body away from that hell?
How had he pulled himself together and become the man he was now?
And then return to the place where that horror had been inflicted on him and save those kids?
TJ knew Cody had killed those men. The man in him rejoiced in that fact.
They deserved to die, especially after hurting those boys, but the sheriff in him knew it was wrong.
That Cody should be punished for what he had done.
Conflicted in how to deal with it, but in the end, TJ knew he would stand by what Cody had done.
Some acts of violence deserved to be met with the same.
They got what they deserved. He needed to tell Cody he didn’t have to worry.
That TJ would always stand by him and protect him.
Jogging up the stairs, he stopped when he saw Cody leaving the bathroom. Clad in only a towel, TJ saw the body Cody had created through hard work, and couldn’t help but react. He wasn’t that skinny little boy anymore. In front of him stood a man, strong and sure, who looked at him and said nothing.
When TJ remained silent, Cody closed the distance between them and murmured his name. TJ stared at Cody’s body, his eyes tracing the muscles that graced it. He heard his name whispered again, then sighed when warm lips slid over his.
Eyes closing, TJ moaned softly when Cody’s tongue traced the outline of his lips, then licked over them.
When Cody pressed soft kisses to them, TJ lifted his hand and threaded his fingers through Cody’s damp hair.
Cody licked his lips again, then slid inside when TJ parted them.
TJ shuddered when their tongues touched and wasn’t aware Cody had moved them until his back touched the wall behind him.
Cody’s hands framed his face as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss, his tongue licking all over TJ’s mouth before it caressed TJ’s.
TJ couldn’t keep the groan inside as he gripped Cody’s waist, feeling the warm, damp skin beneath his palms. The towel had fallen, and TJ’s hands moved over Cody’s ass, feeling the muscular globes flex under his palms. Fuck, Cody felt amazing.
All warm and strong, and when Cody dropped to his knees, TJ’s eyes widened and watched as he opened TJ’s jeans and pulled his dick out. His hard leaking dick.
“Cody. We…” Cody licked up the shaft and TJ lost track of what he wanted to say. When Cody’s tongue swirled around the head, TJ cried out and tangled his fingers in Cody’s hair. Cody. Cass’ son. That Cody. “Cody stop. We can’t. You’re only... Ah fuck. Cass—”
“I’m not a boy and I don’t give a fuck about Cass or who he is to me.
” Cody opened wide and swallowed TJ’s dick.
TJ’s head banged the wall behind him as he fisted Cody’s hair, arching his hips and trying to push more of his dick into Cody’s mouth.
Cody licked and sucked, rolled his balls between his fingers, then tugged on the skin.
TJ gasped, moaned, shuddered as Cody’s tongue licked along the vein then around the head.
It felt good. So good, and TJ pumped his hips, his dick moving in and out of Cody’s mouth as Cody licked and sucked the head.
TJ couldn’t get enough, pushing more of his dick inside, feeling Cody’s throat wrapped around the head, followed by a tight heat when he swallowed.
As Cody slid off, the tight seal pulled at TJ’s flesh, and he trembled when Cody moved down and mouthed his balls.
His tongue slid over the skin, his lips nibbled it, and TJ’s dick leaked, the precome oozing from the slit to dribble down the side. Cody moved back up, his tongue licking it up before circling the head again.
Cody looked up, their eyes meeting, and TJ jerked. He couldn’t do this. He shouldn’t do this with Cody, and TJ pushed him away. “Fuck. We can’t… Fuck.”
Cody wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood naked in front of TJ.
TJ glanced down, seeing Cody’s dick, and his mouth watered.
Long and thick, curling to the left, he wanted to taste it, wanted to feel it in his hand, his mouth, his ass, but this was Cody.
He couldn’t, shouldn’t, want to touch Cody like this.
Shaking his head, he turned and ran down the stairs, ignoring Cody shouting his name.
Stumbling outside, TJ shoved his hard dick back inside his pants.
He made it to his truck and got inside, sitting in the driver’s seat, panting harshly.
Ignoring his rock-hard dick, he started the engine and reversed off the drive, the tires squealing as he pulled away.
Five minutes down the road, he pulled off and sat staring at nothing, his hands gripping the steering wheel.
“Shit.” He wanted Cody. Closing his eyes, he saw Cody as he’d been standing before TJ had run.
Tall. Naked. Firm flesh on display. Dick bobbing in front of him, all hard and red and leaking, and TJ banged his head on the steering wheel as his own dick pulsed.
The thought of Cody fucking him had him palming his dick, and he banged his head again.
“Fuck.”
His phone rang, and TJ jumped. Grabbing it, he furrowed his brow. He had no recollection of picking it up when he fled the house. Fled. Wasn’t that an apt description of what had happened?
“Hello?”
“TJ.” Cody. “You need to come back so we can talk.”
“No can do!” And who the fuck had taken over, because TJ never pulled shit like this?
But then again, he’d never had to deal with shit like this.
When Cody had been fifteen and kissed him, TJ had brushed it aside and put it down to Cody’s naivety and the fact TJ was the only other gay person Cody knew.
Now, that wasn’t the case. Cody had grown, matured, become a man. Returned to Robinson for TJ. The little crush TJ thought Cody had wasn’t so little, and Cody was in a position to do something about it. TJ wanted him to and he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t want Cody this way.
“That sounded so… preppy. Come home. We need to talk.”
“I have to go to work.” TJ hung up, licked his lips, then banged his head on the steering wheel to knock some sense into his thick-headed skull. “He’s Cody! Cass’ son. Carter’s nephew, the man who is married to the mother of your children.”
None of it mattered when he pictured Cody naked.
He’d told himself not to think about it, and all he could do was think about it.
All perfect male specimen, with thick thighs, a meaty ass, and abs that TJ…
“Stop it!” So, what if he wanted Cody to hold him down and fuck him so hard he could barely walk the next day, and there he went again.
It was like he had a one-track mind, all leading to Cody, who was over a decade younger than him, and TJ knew his dad!
Where the hell was this all coming from? He’d never had thoughts like this about Cody, and now they wouldn’t stop. Scenes of them together kept looping in his mind, and he really wanted to come, but… This. Was. Cody!
Groaning, he took several deep breaths and looked out of the side window.
Thank God no one had walked past and seen his mini meltdown or the fact he’d realized he liked the boy who wasn’t a boy.
God, he needed to go into work and distract himself and get his head on straight, because there was no way he could be attracted to Cody, even when it was patently clear he was.
Driving to work, he parked in his spot and got out, pausing when he noticed Cass walk into the city hall. Frowning, he shook his head and as he walked into reception, Dee waved at him. “Are you supposed to be in today?”
“Paperwork, and I want to see how Taylor is settling in.” TJ wasn’t even sure if he was due in that day, but as Sheriff, he could come and use the excuse of paperwork. Dee’s comment made it sound like he wasn’t due in.
Walking to his office, TJ closed the door, then sat at his desk and simply stared.
Shit. Cody. How the fuck had this crept up on him and he never noticed?
He couldn’t be attracted to Cody. He’d known Cody since he was a kid.
It wasn’t meant to happen like this. He was twelve years older than Cody and had watched him grow up.
Kind of. He’d only met him as a teenager, but still, he’d known Cody for years. This wasn’t right.
What the hell was he going to do? He couldn’t have Cody around. He’d want to do something, and he knew full well Cody would be more than willing to do something too. And with his dick…
“Stop fucking thinking about his cock. His nice thick nice long nice big juicy…” TJ growled then bit his lip.
“You’d think I’d never had sex the way I can’t stop thinking about him.
” He had to distract himself. Work. That’s what he needed to do.
He needed to work. Shuffling the papers on his desk, he arranged them, then rearranged them several times, but didn’t begin a single one.
His mind was on a one-track thought process called Cody.
“Hey TJ. You okay?” TJ glanced up, seeing Taylor standing at the door. “I knocked, but you were too busy talking to yourself.”
“Sorry Taylor. I meant to come and see how you’re doing.”
“Stuff on your mind?”
“Yeah. You know how it is. Anyway, how’s the leg?” Taylor came in and sat, wincing slightly, before rubbing a hand over his crew cut. “Not too bad. Still have the odd twinge, but mostly back to normal.”
“PT.”
“Yep, and I’ll need to do it for a few more weeks. After that, I should be able to go back on patrols. I needed to come back. I was crawling up the walls being stuck inside the house.” He patted his leg and grinned. “Or trying to.”
“Just take it easy. No running off if there are any issues. We have a team here who can deal with it. When you get the all clear, I’ll get you back on rotation.”
Taylor stood and walked out, with only a slight limp. At the door, he said, “If you need any help, give me a shout. I’m not going anywhere.”
TJ nodded and waited for Taylor to shut the door, then dropped his head onto his desk. Lifting it up, he checked his phone, then stared at the piles of papers he needed to get through. Picking one up, he put it down immediately when his phone rang. Cody.
“Hey.” The word came out all garbled, so he coughed and tried again. “Hey.”
“I need to grab a few things from the grocery store. Do you want me to pick anything up?” Such a mundane question, like they were a couple who lived together. “TJ?”
“No, I think I have everything.”
“Okay. I’ll see you when you get home.”
Cody hung up and TJ sucked his lips in. He didn’t want to have to do it, but Cody needed to move out.
He wouldn’t be able to live with Cody and stay away from him.
Not now that he was aware of his attraction to him.
Add in the fact he’d seen him naked, and he wanted to lick every inch of his creamy skin, and there he went again.
TJ had to ask Cody to leave when he went home. That was the only thing he could do. Decision made, TJ got stuck in the paperwork and managed to spend a good couple of hours clearing a huge mound before he had to leave to go to a domestic, which turned out not to be what the caller had thought.
Back in his office, he finished the work, then left the station.
Sitting in his truck, he knew he couldn’t delay the inevitable.
Telling Cody he had to leave and go back home.
Which home that was, TJ didn’t know. Here with his parents or the family he preferred, and if Cody left Robinson, how would TJ feel about it?