Chapter 10
brOCK
I jumped in my truck, heading for Adam’s place. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I was good at following orders.
When I hung up the phone, Foster looked around the room.
“Go get your shit together. The admiral doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
As everyone filed out of the house, he grabbed my shoulders and said, “Go get some of Adam’s shit. Grab any gear he has at home, and bring anything he considers a comfort.”
My eyes widened. “I thought…”
Foster shrugged. “I did too, until the admiral called. Don’t get your hopes up. I just want to be prepared. Just in case.”
I nodded, but hope swelled without permission and would not go back into the box I’d been keeping it in. I took a couple of deep breaths as I shut the door behind Foster. I walked to the spare room.
I loved this room. My own personal gun room.
I had a couple of gun safes and a large L-shaped workbench.
One side was filled with all the shit I used to load ammo, and the other side I used to design and make tactical gear.
I even had a commercial sewing machine. Then, off in one corner, were my leather tools, which I’d only recently gotten into.
I kept a couple of go bags in the closet, so I grabbed those and took them out to the truck.
I pulled out several hard gun cases and loaded them up with a couple of Sigs, a couple of M-4s, and K-bars.
Then I pulled out my sniper rifle. If I got the shot at the fuckers who’d taken Adam, I’d take it, but I hoped I got up close and personal with the motherfuckers.
I made sure I grabbed enough for Adam as well. Since he’d been held for so long, I knew the likelihood he’d be able to fight his way out would be low, but I wanted him to have what he needed if he could pitch in.
Looking at the gun cases, I chewed my lip.
I’d never flown private, but I wasn’t sure what I would and wouldn’t be able to take with me.
Hopefully, I didn’t have to stow this shit in my truck at an airfield for a month.
I decided it didn’t matter if I could take it; I was going loaded for bear, just in case.
I stowed the guns in my truck and headed for the bedroom. I didn’t think I needed more than the two go bags, but I grabbed more clothing and my phone charger. I looked around and saw my Kindle and iPad; I grabbed them and was out the door.
Since the day when we called our relationship quits, there’d been so fucking many fights. Fights that had sometimes ended in the sheets, naked against the wall, or still half-dressed on the floor, rutting against each other like two animals in heat.
After the blowup Adam and I had a few months before we deployed, I’d gathered all his shit from my place and dumped it on his fucking doorstep in a fit of rage and despair.
That fight had nearly ruined our friendship, and I’d thought it had destroyed me for a bit.
It had been the worst fight we’d ever had.
I’d called him an asshole and told him I was done.
As I backed out of my driveway, I gunned the engine, making the turn at the end of my street toward Adam’s. Before I got to the main road, a song came on that had me hitting the brakes hard, nearly locking the wheels up. I closed my eyes as my memories of happier times assaulted me.
FALL 2008
The plane touched down, and we all started gathering our gear.
Another six-month deployment was in the books, and I was utterly exhausted.
The whole team was granted thirty days of leave.
With that stretched out in front of us, I just wanted to get away from war, the teams, training, and everything else.
I wanted to go somewhere no one knew Adam or me so we could lose ourselves in one another. I wanted to spend some time trying to piece together an actual relationship with the man I loved.
I knew it was probably useless. Our situation hadn’t changed.
It wouldn’t change until we retired, but the likelihood of us both making it through this fucking war seemed to be on the losing side.
We’d lost so many troops, so many of our brothers, over the years.
Adam had even had a close call during one of our ops.
That had been some fucking scary-ass shit. He’d taken a round to the thigh, and we’d gotten lucky it hadn’t hit his femoral artery. We’d brought him back to base, and the docs had patched him up. After a few days of rest in sickbay, he was back to himself. Mostly.
Two days after Adam was released from sickbay, Moses and the rest of the team had taken off on a minor intel op. They left me at the base to make sure Adam didn’t overdo it too much because we all knew he’d fucking push his luck.
We were in the team’s common area, playing video games, when Adam said, “That scared me.”
I got up to get some water to hide my emotions. I’d been a wreck when I’d heard over comms that Adam had been hit.
“Yeah. It freaked me out, too.”
A few rounds of CoD later, Adam said, “I bought a boat.”
I laughed. He could be so fucking random. “Oh, yeah? When?”
“Right before we deployed. It’s in great shape, but could still use some work,” he said as we continued playing.
Things between us before deployment had been odd. Still were. We weren’t together, but we were fucking regularly. Not what I wanted for the two of us, but at this point, I was willing to take what I could get.
“So, what kinda boat did you buy?” I asked, looking over at him when the match ended.
Adam was rubbing his thigh and wincing. I got up, and grabbed him another drink and the pain meds the doctor had sent him back to the hooch with.
Adam looked up at me when I held out the water and meds. “Thanks. The boat’s built for deep sea fishing. I thought we could fly down together and bring it back to Vah Beach when we got home.”
I stared at him, trying to decide what he was getting at. Did he want help or something more? I sat down and grabbed a controller. I chewed my lip. My mind whirled. And then I sighed.
“Sure. Sounds like a good time. Can we make it back up the coast in enough time?”
Adam shifted on the ratty old couch so he was facing me. His gaze roamed over my face and upper body. His eyes flashed to the door behind me as he dragged his finger down my bicep and forearm until he snaked it around my pinky.
“We’ll have plenty of time to do what we need.”
My breath caught in my throat. He’d never touched me like this while deployed. That slight caress shattered my resolve on my wants and needs. I kept them locked up tight when we were working.
As I stared at him, shocked he’d touched me in that manner here, where we could never be anything more than teammates. Brothers. My heart rate spiked, and my breaths quickened. I swallowed. My cock swelled at the heat in Adam’s eyes.
Desire slammed into me. Adam licked his lips, staring at mine, and I leaned toward him.
A door slammed open, and I jumped away.
“You motherfuckers best not have drank all the beer!” Finlay yelled as he shoved into the shared hooch we used as a communal living space.
I glanced at Adam, and he looked fucking freaked out.
Shit.
I’d been worried that almost getting caught would derail our trip, but Adam had come into our hooch a few days before we were headed home with a grin and a pep in his step.
He looked around before he said, “I got flights booked. I figured a couple of nights in Puerto Rico before picking up the boat in Fort Lauderdale and motoring back to Vah Beach would do us both some good.”
Giddiness—fuck, I was a teenage girl—filled me. “Sounds good.”
“You ready to head out?” Adam asked quietly, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I glanced around, noticing the cargo door was open, and the support staff had unloaded all our equipment. I looked down at my bags, then back at Adam. I nodded.
“You okay?” His brow was furrowed.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just happy we’re home and that we all made it back relatively unscathed,” I replied, hefting my seabag and backpack over my shoulder.
I followed him out of the plane, waving at everyone we passed and wishing them a good break. Adam strutted toward his pickup ahead of me, and seeing him walking around still made me sigh with relief.
After a quick pitstop to drop our gear and pack for a few weeks of vacation, we were off. Once in the air, we looked for a place to stay in PR. We played it safe and rented a villa with two bedrooms and bathrooms so if anyone asked, we could say we had our own beds.
The bellhop closed the door behind him. I turned and flipped the latch and security hook.
Adam pounced before I could turn back around, pushing me up against the door.
“Get rid of your fucking clothes. Now!” he growled against my ear as he shoved his khaki-covered cock against my ass. “I need in your ass.”
I reached behind my head, grabbed my T-shirt, and pulled it over my head. Adam had backed off a bit; his hands brushed against my ass. He was undoing his shorts. Following his lead, I popped the button on my cargo shorts, pushing them and my briefs down.
Adam wasted no time. His mouth latched onto my neck, sucking, licking and biting. The pull as he sucked the tendon where my neck met my shoulder had my balls drawing up as the feel of his mouth on me pushed me close to the edge. I grabbed my balls, pulling them away from my body.
The man’s favorite game was to see how fast he could make me come. Mine was to hold off as long as possible, because he got so frustrated he’d let loose and fuck me savagely.
“I know what you’re doing, and I’m not in the mood for it. Put your fucking hands on the door and push out your ass,” Adam ordered, shoving my face against the door.
He held me there with one hand, shoving two lubed fingers between my cheeks. He teased and played with the rim of my hole, holding me still as he tortured me.