Chapter Six
RAVEN
I’d completely forgotten that my truck was now sitting in the LAPD impound lot and since it was considered part of an ongoing investigation into the incident at the grocery store, we couldn’t drive it home. We ended up calling an Uber and getting home well after ten. Dolly greeted us in her pajamas, robe, and curlers as soon as we walked through the door. Guilt threatened to swamp me on top of every other emotion I was feeling. Since we hadn’t called, she’d obviously taken it upon herself to plan to stay overnight. I felt awful about it.
“Oh, my God!” she cried, moving a sleeping Stanley from her lap and running toward us the moment she saw Miguel’s gauze eyepatch. “What on earth happened? All the police detective would say was that you were at the station and that you’d be home as soon as they were through with you.” She stood in front of Miguel, looking up at his poor face which was a little swollen and had begun to bruise.
“We got into a little trouble, Dolly,” Miguel replied. There was no way we were going to tell her how we’d both nearly died.
“What happened to your beautiful face?” she asked, tears filling her eyes.
I reached out and took her hand, leading her to the couch.
“We had a little trouble but I’m going to be fine,” Miguel said, following us. I pulled her down on the couch, and Miguel sat in a nearby chair, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped as he faced her.
“What happened to your eye? Will it be okay?”
Miguel nodded. “Yes. I got some brick dust in it, that’s all.”
Dolly frowned, looking him over, shook her head, and sighed loudly. “You’re not telling me the whole truth. I see bruises and cuts all over your face. You don’t get those from a little brick dust.” When Miguel opened his mouth to reply, she held up her hand, stopping his words. She turned to me. “He’s lying. Tell me what happened, Raven.”
I snorted, exchanging a glance with Miguel, watching him nod. “Fine, I’ll tell you, but I don’t want you to worry. He really is going to be fine.”
“ Mm hmm …go on then…spill the whole story.”
“We were coming out of Trader Joe’s after work and someone shot at us. When Miguel went after the guy, the man shot the side of the building, missing Miguel, but hitting the bricks. Some small shards hit him in the face…like a ricochet but with bricks, not bullets.” I watched the tears well up and slide down her face now.
“The paramedics checked my eye, Dolly. There’s nothing in it. It’s just swollen,” Miguel reassured her. “I’m going to be fine, really .”
She reached out, and he took her hand. “Who shot at you two?”
I looked at Miguel as his expression saddened. “I’m not sure. We’re still working on the recovery of that ruby. You know what I’m talking about, right?”
She nodded. The night we’d gone after Rosina Cassanova, Lance Bishop, and John Mendez, ATF SAC Sarah Connor had sent members of her team to our house to guard our little family. When we’d gotten home that night, we’d told Dolly as much as we could. She was a formidable woman who was fiercely protective of my nana, acting as not only a nurse, but a friend. Miguel and I considered her to be one of the family.
“I remember, Miguel, but I thought the bad guys were behind bars.”
“Three people were taken into custody that night, but we think there’s at least one more out there.” Miguel shot me a look before glancing back at her. “We can’t be sure, but we’re going to try to arrange for someone to come and guard you and Nana until this is all over.”
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “No more police. You need to let me take her home with me. I’ll keep her safe, Miguel.” She looked over at me. “I don’t want you to worry, Raven.”
I’d worry anyway. Not only did I like knowing that Nana was in a safe, familiar place, but expecting Dolly to be on duty twenty-four hours a day wasn’t fair. I was hoping we could get Cassidy and Mike to arrange for a patrol car to park on the street outside after the incident at Trader Joe’s.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Dolly,” I said. “Nana’s familiar with the layout of our house. Trying to get a blind, old lady used to a new environment won’t be easy.”
“She is really good about staying in her recliner until I get her up for the bathroom and to bathe, Raven. She enjoys my cooking, my house is big and clean, and my next-door neighbor is a wonderful lady. If I have to run out to the store or pharmacy to pick something up for her, Claudia will stay with her. She’ll never be left alone.” She smiled. “And I think she’ll enjoy my grandchildren when they come home from school. Really, I wouldn’t suggest it if I weren’t serious.”
I nodded. I didn’t like Dolly’s neighborhood, but my nana wouldn’t be going out anyway. She’d miss her garden and her roses, but it would only be a temporary solution. I supposed it was a good idea, better than leaving them both here where I knew Alex Filmore or a hired goon could get to them. I raised an eyebrow at Miguel. “What do you think?”
“I think Dolly’s right, Raven,” Miguel said. “Anyone looking for us at home wouldn’t think to look at her place, and Cassidy and Mike might not be able to assign officers to watch the house. I know I’d feel better if I knew your nana and Dolly were safe at her place.”
I nodded and glanced back at her, smiling. “Okay then. We’ll take you both over in the morning.” I looked down at her bunny slippers, feeling another stab of guilt. “You just figured you’d stay the night, huh ?”
She grinned at me. “When the detective called, he asked if I was willing to stay over. He had no idea how long you’d be tied up at the station. Is he that tall, good-looking one, or his chubby partner?”
I chuckled. “The chubby partner,” I replied. Cassidy and Mike had joined Sarah’s guys the night we went after Cassanova and the others.
“ Ah, good then. I prefer a man with a little meat on his bones. My husband has plenty of that.”
We laughed. “Mike’s married…in fact, they both are, but I’ll tell him what you said.”
“You do that. I do like a man who enjoys his food, and that man clearly doesn’t skip many meals.”
“Thanks for offering to have her at your house, Dolly,” I said. “I hope it’s only for a night or two, but we’ve already been on this recovery for more than a month. It might take more than a couple of nights.”
“I understand, dear.” She stood up, smiling. “And speaking of meals, I have a feeling the two of you haven’t eaten. I left the pan of lasagna on the stove in case you want some. Just pop a piece in the microwave and it’ll taste just like it came out of the oven.”
I smiled at her, getting to my feet as Miguel rose from the chair. “I don’t know how to thank you, Dolly.” I leaned over and pulled her into my arms, kissing her on the forehead.
“You’re always welcome, sugar.” She turned to Miguel. “I know you and Raven were out of here at the crack of dawn. You must be exhausted. Eat a meal and take your man to bed.”
Miguel and I watched her walk down the hall, until we heard her stop and open the door.
“Night, boys,” she called quietly.
“Night, Dolly.” I turned to Miguel. “Are you hungry?” I was starving but I wasn’t going to push him if he didn’t feel like eating. He looked like hell, and I knew his poor face was probably throbbing and going to look even worse in the morning.
“I could eat a horse,” he said gruffly. He threw his arm around my shoulders, steering me toward the kitchen as I fell into step at his side. Stanley ran into the kitchen, practically tripping us both as he shot in front of us, meowing. He sat in front of his empty bowls, and I grinned.
“Dolly probably already fed him but I’ll feed him again…before he dies of starvation,” I said.
“No chance of that. That cat is getting fat,” Miguel replied. “I think he weighs more than me.”
I chuckled, pulling out the cat food and taking care of the little guy while Miguel heated our meals.
We walked into the bedroom fifteen minutes later. My stomach was full, and the dishes were done. I’d stored the leftover lasagna in the fridge and all I wanted to do was take that hot bath I’d been thinking about for hours. I stripped out of my clothes and helped Miguel off with his boots and socks because he told me it hurt his head to bend over. While he took off his clothes, I ran the bath, making sure I added a sandalwood scented oil Miguel liked, along with some bubble bath. While the tub filled, I watched as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror and peeled off the tape holding the gauze bandage over his eye. Underneath, his eye was swollen half shut, the white of his eye fire engine red.
I frowned at him.
“We’re going to the hospital in the morning.” He’d refused the paramedic’s offer to drive him to the hospital to have a doctor check his eye, saying there was no need.
He glanced over at me. “There’s nothing in there. I would feel anything gritty.”
I leaned over and lightly brushed my lips over his bruised cheek. “Humor me just the same.”
“Okay.” He pulled me into his arms, up against his body, brushing his interested cock against mine. “Right now, all I need is a strong painkiller and a hot bath. Then I’m going to slide into our bed and sleep for about a year.”
I kissed him softly then, making sure to keep the pressure light. He was so bruised, I figured any kind of pressure might hurt and that was the last thing I wanted to do. When his tongue brushed over mine, a moan rose up out of me unbidden. I finally pulled back and examined him closely. “Get in the bath. I’m going to grab those painkillers and some water. Be right back.”
I pulled on my underwear, cursing myself for not thinking about the painkillers earlier, and went to the kitchen to get a cold bottle of water. I grabbed some extra strength Tylenol and Ibuprofen from the cupboard. When I got back to the bathroom, I stripped down and handed him the water and pills. He downed them, wincing a little at the cold water.
I stepped into the tub, sliding in behind my man, pulling him back against my chest. I lifted a washcloth and soaped it up with Miguel’s sandalwood and citrus bodywash and then rubbed it softly over his chest. The feel of the hair under my fingers made my cock stiffen. I willed my body to behave. All my partner needed tonight was sleep. Sex could wait.
Miguel sighed. “That feels really good, Sunshine,” he said quietly.
I kissed his ear. “Relax and let me take care of you.” He nodded and I felt more weight against my body as he did just as I’d asked. I washed his arms and hands, massaging each finger, and then his neck, making sure that my touch was light in case he was hurting there. Little by little, I cleaned whatever areas I could reach and then asked him to lean forward so that I could get his back. I soaped it up, loving the way the muscles of his wide shoulders rippled under his beautiful skin. When I was done, I wrapped my arms around his middle and just held him as he leaned back into me, letting the steamy water do its job. When he spoke a few minutes later, I could hear the tiredness in his words.
“Lemme up, baby, or I’m gonna fall asleep right here.”
I reluctantly let go, and he rose from the bath. But I was treated to a delightful view of his backside, watching the water sluice over his ass, and down his long, muscular legs. I waited for him to get out before abandoning the tub altogether.
After we dried off, I took his hand and led him to our bed, sliding in behind him, pulling him into my arms. I sighed against the back of his hair, falling into a deep sleep moments later.
MIGUEL
When I opened my eyes in the dawning light, it took me a minute to figure out why I only had partial vision in the right one. I touched the skin under my eye and groaned, as memories of what had happened the day before came rushing in. I lay still, taking in the sounds of birds in the garden outside our bedroom window. Spring was finally here, and the nights were warm enough to sleep with a light comforter instead of the mass of blankets Raven liked to pile on the bed when it got cold. Right now, though, I was pretty sure I was overheated from the warm body plastered to my back. A wave of desire flooded through me. It felt like an eternity since I’d been inside Raven and I missed him, evidenced by my swollen cock. I reached down and wrapped my hand around it, giving myself a couple of strokes before rolling to my back.
Raven shifted in the bed, and I watched him. He was pursing his lips. His long lashes framed his closed eyes, so I took a few minutes to just stare at him. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. I thought back to the first time I’d seen him at the Capitol Records building, the day I’d gone to collect Lyle Trench and secure my bounty. Running into Raven six months ago had changed my life in ways I never would have imagined. His kindness, his fierce protective streak for anyone he loved, and his gentle or not so gentle touches when we lay entwined together in bed, were everything I could have ever wanted in a man. Raven was my whole heart.
Today was going to bring challenges. I knew we had things to do and a new recovery contract to find Leopard’s diamond pin. Now, though, I had different ideas. I leaned over and reached beneath the sheet, sliding my hand down his belly to the thatch of hair that always turned me on. I took his flaccid cock into my hand, stroking it gently so I didn’t wake him. I wanted him hard and needy when he actually did open his eyes. He moaned in his sleep, wiggling in the sheets as he began to harden. I smiled. I seemed to do that a lot in his presence. Scooting down the bed, I ducked under the sheet and found my prize.
I opened my mouth and closed over the wide head, sliding it just inside where I trapped it between my tongue and the roof of my mouth. After a minute or so, he spread his legs. Groaning above me, he moved his hand just far enough to take hold of the sheet and pull it back. The fresh air was a revelation as I glanced up at him.
“Miguel,” he said in a gravelly voice.
I hummed around the head, sucking him deeper, sliding down to take the shaft into my mouth. Swallowing around the head, I couldn’t even take half inside but gave it my best effort. I knew I was good at this; enough guys who’d been in my bed had told me so, but there was something infinitely different about the one here now. I wanted to be the best because I loved him. Reaching for his balls, I took them in one hand while the other held his shaft.
I began to suck him in earnest as his hands landed in my hair where they always did when I sucked him off. I wanted to give him pleasure, feel him give me everything he had. Rolling his balls, I dragged a guttural sound out of him, knowing that he loved the pleasure when I squeezed him just a little. I didn’t know whether it was the dominance he always craved, or the way he felt like there was no way to get away until I let go. I suspected it was a little of both.
He adored it when I held him down and fucked him hard. I’d learned months ago that he liked a little dominance in bed or out of it. The day I’d pinned his hands against a door and fucked him up against it after nearly being shot by security guards at the Getty, was still big-time fantasy material for me. Psychologists would probably say it had something to do with escaping death and taking it out on a willing partner who was also the man I loved. I let his cock slide from my mouth as an idea came to mind.
“Miguel!” he gasped, whimpering at the loss of my mouth.
“One second, baby. Let me just—”
I reversed on the bed, throwing a leg over him, so that he was at my groin, and leaned down to take him back into my mouth.
“You have the best ideas,” he said, blowing hot air against my cock before wrapping his fingers around it, and guiding it to his mouth. In seconds, I was sucked inside, tingles shooting down my spine. There was just something so hot about sixty-nine, especially when I was on top. I loved a cock in my mouth. No messy clean up, no inequity in pleasure, just the simple act of sucking each other off, and coming down each other’s throats. I bobbed my head at his groin as I thrust into his mouth, loving the pressure of his lips around me, the suction he always managed to give me at this angle.
Doing this to him was incredibly sexy. Having it done to me was even better.
He began to thrust his hips, lifting them up off the bed as I sucked him harder. He squeezed my balls, rolling my nuts in his hand, and the tingling sensation of my rapidly approaching orgasm began in my lower back. I pushed in deep, sucked harder, and Raven reciprocated.
I heard him moan, felt his shaft swell between my lips. He was close, but so was I. I was going to empty my balls down his throat in seconds. Fucking down into his mouth, I pulled out, shoving deeper, knowing I might very well be cutting off his oxygen but he wasn’t protesting. I had no other care in the world aside from getting off with my boyfriend as heat flooded my veins, racing through me. I sucked hard, knowing how close I was, feeling the pain in my bruised cheek as his thrusting into my mouth became choppy. Forcing any thoughts of discomfort away, I heard him shout around my cock.
A second later, he was coming and as the first spray of his release shot onto my tongue, my own climax hit. I sucked and swallowed for long seconds as he did the same, emptying his balls into my mouth. Thirty seconds after his climax began, I swallowed the last of his load and felt myself relax as he let my cock slip out of his mouth.
He nuzzled his nose into my groin, taking a deep inhale of my freshly washed pubes before I felt hot breath whoosh out of him and his body relax. I lifted my head, letting his cock slide from my mouth, then rested my forehead against his inner thigh as I tried to regulate my breathing and the rapid tattoo of my heart. I rolled to my back a minute later, reversing on the bed, and pulling him into my arms.
His mouth was on mine moments later, his kisses languid, his tongue tasting of my own release. I knew he could taste me too, and there was something about knowing that which made me happier than I had a right to. I was sure there was something very primal about the way men felt when they’d sucked each other off and for a fleeting moment, I pictured cavemen going at each other. The very thought of the segue made me chuckle against his lips, and he pulled away, looking at me with glittering eyes in the early morning light filtering through the blinds.
“What’s so funny?” he asked with a smile playing around his lips.
“I was just picturing cavemen doing sixty-nine,” I said, laughing out loud. The stretch of facial muscles and the way I could barely see him out of my right eye, sobered me immediately, reminding me I probably resembled Frankenstein’s monster this morning. I lifted my hand, touching my cheek, and wincing.
Predictably, Raven instantly frowned and propped his head in one hand, checking me out. “Oh, baby, you poor thing. You’re so bruised and look at your eye.”
“Does it look as terrible as I think it does?” I was worried that I couldn’t work if it looked as bad as it felt. “I’ve gotta work today.”
He cocked his head to one side, furrowing his brows. He reached up and brushed featherlight fingers over my forehead. “I’m not so sure you shouldn’t take the day off, Miguel.”
I frowned. “Raven, I’ve got to work. We’ve got a new recovery.”
He eyed me critically. “Okay, I think if we covered these little scabs with some makeup and you didn’t shave, it’d be fine. You could wear dark glasses to cover the swelling in your eye, but that’s not what worries me. Your eye is really red. I mean, it’s better than yesterday, but even in this low light, I can see how red it is, Miguel.”
“It just stings a little. Look…I won’t overexert myself. I promise, Raven.”
“Why don’t we wait and see what the doctor says.”
I groaned long and loud. “ Ah , come on, Raven. I don’t need to see a doctor.” The very idea of sitting in the emergency room gave me anxiety. I hated hospitals.
“You’re seeing a doctor and that’s final, Miguel.”
I looked up at the ceiling. “Emergency rooms are always terrible.”
“We’ll go to one in a better part of town. I know not all of them are awful or as busy as the ones here in Hollywood. In fact, there’s a brand-new urgent care center in an upscale part of town which sees patients at all hours. The new insurance I got for the business covers all hospitals and urgent care centers.”
“Isn’t it sad that we have insurance that lets us go to whatever hospital we want while so many people can’t?” I asked seriously. “Where is this upscale part of L.A.?”
He ignored the first question. “Brentwood, twat. They’ll see you and I bet we can get in and out in a few hours if we go early.”
“A few hours,” I groaned.
“It’s gonna be fine, Miguel.” He sat up, taking hold of my bicep. “Now come on. Let’s get up and get dressed. Dolly is probably already awake, and I want to be able to talk to Nana and pack a suitcase with all her favorite clothes and blankets before she hears about the arrangement from Dolly.”
“Fine, we’ll get up. But urgent care really isn’t necessary, Raven.” I reached up and prodded my sore eyelid. “There’s nothing in there. I’d know.”
“I don’t care!” he said, raising his voice to me. “We’re going! I’m not letting you go blind because you want to be a stubborn asshole.” He began to get off the bed, but I was faster. I fought my way out of the sheets, and caught his arm, pulling him up short. He stopped but didn’t turn around.
“Raven…what’s going on? I was only nagging a little. Giving you a hard time. I’ll go get checked out, Sunshine. Don’t get mad.” I watched his chin drop to his chest, and I scrambled to get next to him, throwing my legs over the bed, and wrapping an arm around him. “What’s wrong?”
He hesitated. “You’re…I was…you could have lost your eye.”
“And you could have gotten shot in the head but we’re both fine, Sunshine.” I reached up and pulled his head down to my shoulder, cupping his cheek as I spoke into his soft hair. “I love you. We’re fine. We just know that we have to take special care of each other right now. And we will. If Alex Filmore or someone else, has marked us for death, we just have to get to them faster. I’m good, Raven. I really am. I’m trained and I can take care of you. I’ll kill anyone coming after us. Be clear on that. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll kill them and I’m confident you’ll do the same if my life is threatened. You’ve gotten pretty damned good with that firearm you carry. With Nana and Dolly safe, we won’t have to worry about them either. Okay?”
He nodded, staring into my eyes. “Okay, baby. Okay.”