Chapter 4
Vincent
I had to admit, the guy had balls. He hadn’t even bothered to wait until I was done jabbing a needle through his skin to call me out on my behavior.
Yeah, I knew I was being a dick. I just didn’t really care. I’d been tasked with keeping the man alive, not catering to his inflated ego or handling him with kid gloves. He had a rich family and countless kiss-asses on his staff to do that.
Okay, so maybe the dig about his father had been a bit much, but I’d done my homework on the man, and he was the epitome of everything I hated.
I’d had little interest in Chandler Wilder’s take on gay rights when he’d been governor, because I’d already known what so many gay men and women in our country had yet to accept.
We’d never be equal.
And we’d never be seen as anything beyond our sexual preference.
There wouldn’t be a time where one guy marrying another would be referred to as anything other than gay marriage, and even then, it would be seen as an oddity, not the norm.
The government could say all the right things and it still wouldn’t change shit.
I was a gay man first. I’d learned that lesson a long time ago, and it wasn’t one that I needed to repeat.
The fact that the leaders of the very country David and I had sacrificed so much for only saw the fact that I preferred dick to pussy once they’d learned I’d had the audacity to hold my boyfriend’s hand for a few minutes so many years ago was proof of that.
I hadn’t been Major St. James, dedicated soldier who’d saved the lives of his entire platoon more than once anymore.
I’d no longer been the son of Fallon St. James, one of the most respected generals in the army, or brother to Pierce St. James, recipient of every conceivable military medal known to man. I’d been a fag first and foremost.
And only.
Until I’d had to make a name for myself in a whole different way.
“Beck Barretti,” I murmured as I kept my attention on the remaining stitches I had left.
Nathan was handling the pain better than I’d expected.
I’d had stitches more times than I could count, and while they were never fun, I’d gotten used to them.
But the first time I’d gotten them without the benefit of anesthetic when I’d been a fresh-faced cadet, I’d barely managed not to cry.
And I’d consumed a lot more alcohol than the measly three swigs Nathan had swallowed.
“Beck? My brother’s boyfriend?” Nathan asked in surprise.
“One of your brother’s boyfriends,” I reminded him, just to gauge his reaction.
But he seemed unfazed as he said, “You know Beck?”
“I know his father and his uncle,” I clarified. “Seems your little visit to Montana a while back caused quite the stir.”
When he didn’t respond, I looked up from my work. His eyes were downcast and he was worrying his lower lip with his teeth.
“I needed to make sure he was safe,” Nathan said softly. “I didn’t think he’d worry…not after…” His voice dropped off.
“Why didn’t you think your own brother would worry that your life was in danger?” I asked as I went back to work.
“My life wasn’t…wasn’t in danger then. It was just a few nasty emails…”
Since I’d hacked his email account, I knew it was more than just a few, and nasty didn’t even begin to cover it.
I’d also seen the police report about his vandalized car.
Since he was so paranoid about things being leaked to the press, I had to wonder if there were things that had happened that he hadn’t told the cops.
He certainly hadn’t let them know about the emails.
Which was why they’d attributed the car to a simple act of teenagers being assholes.
“So, you figured Brody wouldn’t be upset about you being the target, just that his name had come up?” I probed.
Nathan didn’t respond, so I finished up the stitches and then dug around in my bag for the stuff I’d need to treat the small puncture wounds on his fingers.
“You said we were going to your place,” Nathan said after several minutes of silence. “Where is that?”
“West Virginia…near the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.”
“West Virginia? I can’t go that far away from home. I have meetings, interviews…I need to be near Charleston.”
I held onto Nathan’s hand when he tried to pull it free. I could sense a major blowup in the making, but I wasn’t in the mood. Between the close call tonight and the fact that I hadn’t gotten much sleep in the past three days, I was wiped.
“You’re going to have to make other arrangements,” I said simply.
“No, I-”
“Listen,” I bit out. “I’m not going to keep having this argument with you.
Until we figure out who wants you dead – and make no mistake about it, because that guy with the knife sure as shit meant business – you and I are joined at the hip, only my hip’s in charge, got it?
You do what I say, when I say. You don’t like it, there’s the door,” I said as I jerked my head over my shoulder.
Nathan hardened his jaw. Before he could respond I said, “Believe me, you’re the last guy I want to be spending the foreseeable future with, so I’m more than motivated to figure out who the fucker is that tried to skewer you tonight like a shish kabob…
but if you think you can do better on your own, by all means. ”
I forced myself to calm down, which wasn’t something I had to do often. The fact that this man brought out such strong emotions in me wasn’t a good thing.
Not by a long shot.
I quickly wrapped Nathan’s hand with a bandage to keep the smaller wounds clean, and then I slapped a bottle of ibuprofen on the table.
I stood up and grabbed the revolver from my ankle holster and placed it on the table.
“I’m going to take a shower. Someone comes through that door, pull the trigger…
or don’t,” I snapped. “I don’t give a fuck. ”
I pushed back my chair and stepped past him and went to the bathroom, stopping only long enough to grab my overnight kit from my bag. Not only were my emotions raging, my dick was, too.
Another oddity for me. Not because my sexual appetites had waned as I’d gotten older, but because I usually had more control over myself when I was working.
I hurriedly stripped off my clothes and climbed into the shower. I’d purposefully left the water on cool in the hopes it would drive down my libido, but even as a chill swept through my body, my dick bounced against my abdomen, demanding attention.
“Fuck,” I muttered as I reached for the knob and turned it up so that hot water began to sluice down my back.
I slapped one hand against the tile wall and went for my dick with the other.
I pulled up the image of the final time David and I had made love.
He’d been in rare form that night, considering how much he’d been struggling in the previous months.
I’d thought that moment had been about renewing our relationship after all the strain losing our careers had put on us and our commitment to one another.
I hadn’t realized it had been goodbye.
David had ridden me for the better part of an hour that night. It’d been like he’d never wanted that moment to end.
Because he hadn’t.
Our demons hadn’t found us when we’d been lost in one another’s bodies.
I closed my eyes as David’s hands settled on my chest to brace himself.
So perfect, Vincent. Love this…you.
I’d let him roll his hips above mine over and over again as he’d brought us both to the edge countless times, but when my impeding orgasm had become too much to ignore, I’d sat upright and wrapped my arm around his waist. David had shifted enough so he could curl his legs behind me, forcing my dick even deeper into his body.
His arms had locked around my neck as he’d held on to me and we’d moved as one.
I’d told him to promise me it would always be like that.
He hadn’t answered me.
Two days later I’d realized why he hadn’t when I’d found him dead in our bathroom.
My dick started to deflate as an image of David’s body jumped into my head. I let out a string of curses and released my cock. Well, I’d wanted the inconvenient erection to go away.
Mission accomplished.
I turned so that I was facing the water and began washing myself with the small, heart-shaped soap that I had to pry free of the plastic film protecting it. I let my thoughts wander to what I knew about Nathan and how I’d find the guy who was out to silence him.
While I’d read all of the emails his would-be stalker had sent him, I hadn’t found any clues as to the man’s motive or identity.
But he wasn’t your run-of-the-mill fanatic.
If I hadn’t seen the hardware he’d been carrying tonight, I would have known that just from the steps he’d taken to cover his tracks with the emails.
He’d used dozens of ISPs all over the world to mask his true IP address, which meant it would be next to impossible to figure out his location.
The emails themselves had spewed a lot of filth about Nathan’s change in political positions, so in theory, it could be a disgruntled former constituent who’d expected him to follow through with the conservative values he’d grown up with.
While Nathan hadn’t actually run as a Republican, there’d been a lot of money spent by his father’s political backers to get the ball rolling.
Chandler Wilder was the epitome of right-winged conservatism, and it wasn’t unusual for that faction to have some fanatics mixed in.
From everything I’d seen, Chandler had stayed out of the public eye in recent months after lambasting his oldest son for his unexpected and uncharacteristic change in party loyalty.
The deluded man had gone on to spout a bunch of scripture shit to whoever would listen about the devil luring his child away from the side of the good and righteous.
So it wasn’t unreasonable to think that someone loyal to the senior Wilder would take it upon themselves to get vengeance for dear old dad.
Hell, Chandler could even be pulling the strings…
wouldn’t be the first time I’d seen blood turn on blood.
I let my thoughts drift to the man I’d seen attacking Nathan, hoping some small detail in my mind would stand out.
I hadn’t seen much through the window once the pair had hit the floor, but as I’d raised my gun to shoot out the glass, I’d seen Nathan say something to his attacker as he’d stood against the wall, blood dripping from his hand and the bruise on his jaw already forming.
He’d looked pissed, not scared.
I’d admired that.
Not that I’d ever admit that to him.
I’d seen pictures of Nathan during my research, but they hadn’t done him justice. Maybe because they’d all been props. Perfect hair, bright smile, tailored suit…empty eyes. But tonight, he’d looked…human.
Not to mention the vulnerability I’d seen and heard whenever he mentioned his brother…
I realized my mistake as my dick began to harden again.
My plan had been to try and ferret out useful information that would help me be rid of Nathan Wilder sooner rather than later, but my cock was only interested in the memory of Nathan’s hard body beneath mine…
his smell…his ticked up breathing that could have been from fear… or something else.
I ignored my dick and quickly washed my hair with the little bottle of shampoo the motel provided, but this time there was no settling it.
I leaned back against the wall and began stroking myself eagerly, this time calling up a different image of David…
one from a particularly raunchy encounter we’d had in the dirty bathroom of a nightclub we’d visited in Germany while on leave. But the image wouldn’t stick.
“No,” I muttered as Nathan’s smell tickled my nose and his thick fingers teased my cock before wrapping around it.
I willed my brain to go back to David, but like my dick, it refused to listen and before I knew it, I was eagerly thrusting into Nathan’s hand.
Then it was his ass gripping my flesh in unbearable heat and pressure.
It felt too good to ignore, so I pressed on.
Full steam ahead.
I fucked him hard and fast, and I drank down his throaty moans as he pushed his ass back to meet every powerful thrust. Lust shimmered in my belly and my balls drew up tight when he began whimpering my name and begging for more.
Harder.
Faster.
Deeper.
I gave him everything he wanted. And when I leaned over him and bit down on his shoulder right after ordering him to come, he did.
So did I.
With my release deep inside of him, bathing my cock in its own juices, I continued to pound him.
It was only when I opened my eyes to look down at his beautiful ass still holding me in the tightest, hottest grip I’d ever known, that I realized it was my own hand wrapped around my too-sensitive flesh.
Horror gripped me as I grappled with how real the fantasy had been.
No fucking way.
I released my dick and stuck my hand under the water to get rid of the ropes and ropes of cum I’d spewed on myself.
And the wall.
Disgust tore through me as I angled the shower head to clean off the wall, and then I quickly rinsed. And as I dried off and pulled on just my briefs, pants, and nothing else, I kept hoping Nathan wouldn’t be waiting for me once I got out of the bathroom.
But luck just wasn’t on my side tonight.