Chapter Five
The Debriefing
Felipe sat in the armchair with his feet dangling over the armrest. The heat from the fire warmed the soles of his bare feet unpleasantly, but the sting kept him awake as he reread the original letter from the Aldorhaven case file and waited for Oliver to come back from meeting with Gwen in the library. If Felipe had only read the initial letter and not heard about the subsequent disappearances of the investigators from the New Jersey Branch, he would have taken the case in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the missing investigators and the search party who fled after made it clear that whatever was in the town, whether it was of this world or not, did not want any of their kind there. Even if the head inspector only sent them to Aldorhaven to get the lay of the land before sending in a larger team, they would need to pack like they were going into battle, and Oliver wouldn’t like that.
Oliver . Felipe ran a hand across the stubble already sprouting along his jaw. He tried not to let his own strained relationship with his family color his feelings toward other people, but there had to be a reason why his mother didn’t want her son being raised by her in-laws. It might have just been due to religious differences or perhaps his father’s family were too poor to afford another mouth to feed. There were a hundred reasons that weren’t necessarily nefarious, yet Felipe wanted to temper Oliver’s expectations without crushing him. Oliver, of all people, didn’t deserve to be treated poorly by people who didn’t truly know him. Hell, the entire family might be dead now for all they knew, which would be tragic but almost preferable. Dead people couldn’t hurt or disappoint you.
At the soft click of the apartment door opening, Felipe shimmied upright in time to see Oliver slip inside and kick off his shoes. His grey eyes slid over Felipe’s pajama-clad form with a smile before sweeping up to the new addition on the mantel. His mouth opened in silent surprise as he crossed the room and picked up the photograph.
“You framed my nana’s picture! I didn’t even see you take it.”
“Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. I thought we might put her picture next to Teresa’s.”
Setting the case notes on the end table, Felipe stood and wrapped his arms around Oliver’s chest as he stared down at the frame. His nana’s earnest yet no-nonsense expression was the same look he saw so often when Oliver was preoccupied with his work. Warmth bloomed in Felipe’s chest as he stared at his partner’s face. He had committed Oliver to memory in so many ways, but he wanted more. A photograph could be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands, but he wanted tangible evidence of their life together.
“One day we should get our portrait taken. I heard DeSanto is a budding photographer, and I’m sure he would be willing to give me the negatives.”
“I would like that.”
Felipe tipped his head up and caught Oliver’s mouth in a kiss. At the gentle press of Felipe’s tongue against his lips, Oliver’s free hand cinched around his partner’s waist. He had wanted to do this all day. When Oliver let out a low moan, Felipe pulled back enough to take the framed photograph from his grasp and set it on the mantle, facing the wall. Oliver raised a black brow, but before he could say anything, Felipe kissed him again but hard enough that Oliver staggered back. His lover’s eyes fluttered shut as he tightened his grip, pressing Felipe’s body flush against his own. The tether pulled taut beneath their hearts at the slip of Felipe’s tongue in his mouth and the slow slide of Oliver’s hand over his hips and backside.
Felipe pulled away to catch his breath when his eyes landed on the case file. A wicked grin crossed his lips at the frustrated noise that rose in Oliver’s throat as he stepped back. “I’ve been reading about the New Jersey case while you were gone.”
“Would it be terribly rude if I said I don’t care about the case right now?” Oliver replied as he struggled to unbutton his jacket with jittering fingers.
“A little,” Felipe whispered, rubbing his growing erection against Oliver’s hip as he kissed his shoulder and placed a soothing hand over his, “but only because I planned to tell you about it.”
“Now?”
“I don’t want to get distracted and forget.” Felipe lightly bit Oliver’s earlobe and was rewarded with a strained hiss. “I thought I could tell you what I know and see how far we can get before you aren’t paying attention to a single thing I’m saying. If you get through the whole thing, you’ll be rewarded. How’s that sound?”
“I— I don’t know if I can focus for very long.”
Felipe laughed against Oliver’s neck as he removed his tie. “We’ll see.”
Oliver shuddered at the brush of Felipe’s fingers over the buttons of his waistcoat. As Felipe slipped behind him, a wave of need so strong it caught his breath roiled between them. Felipe kissed along Oliver’s neck and shoulders, pausing at the pulsing hollow beneath his jaw. Oliver leaned into his touch, but when he tried to turn and reach for Felipe’s robe and pajamas, he lightly batted his hands away.
“Not yet, love,” Felipe said, wrapping a firm arm around Oliver’s middle to keep him in place. With the other, he untangled Oliver’s shirt from his trousers. “First, the case. ”
Oliver let out a frustrated huff that turned into a gasp as Felipe skimmed his teeth along the tender flesh of his throat.
“Lewis Allen, the one who wrote to the Paranormal Society initially, owns an inn at the edge of Aldorhaven. If we go, he will put us up for however long we’re there. I don’t know if we’ll have one room or two, but if it’s two, I think we should still share a room for safety’s sake, among other things.”
“An inn. That’s far better than someone’s guestroom or having to drive in every day,” Oliver replied, his voice high and strained. “At least we’ll have some privacy.”
Flicking open the final buttons of Oliver’s shirt, Felipe drew the layers of fabric from his shoulders and tossed them onto the armchair. He ran an admiring hand over the pale planes of Oliver’s back and shoulders before kissing the length of his lover’s spine and mapping his ribs with the palm of his hand. His Oliver . In the months they had been together, Felipe had made certain to learn every inch of him. Even in darkness, he could recognize the veins of his hands or the crest of his hip, but the tether had given him so much more. To know the beat of his lover’s heart or the ebb and flow of his feelings was an intimacy few could fathom, yet now, he could hardly imagine a time when he wasn’t privy to Oliver’s inner world or to the taste and smell of his skin.
Standing nearly naked in the flickering hearth light, Oliver was achingly alive and all his. Felipe kissed and licked the sensitive skin of Oliver’s back in slow circles as he let his hand follow the trail of dark hair down his lover’s stomach and onto the front of his trousers. Oliver shuddered and trembled, biting back a curse at his touch. A sly smile crossed Felipe’s lips. Oliver was already so hard, and he had barely started.
“Mr. Allen also said that it wasn’t until the last few years that the dead had risen to go after people. They thought it was a one time thing, but when it happened again and then a third and fourth time even closer together, he grew worried and decided to reach out to the Paranormal Society for help since no one in town could stop it. It sounds like we are a last resort. ”
“A one time thing!” Oliver cried. “The dead rising isn’t something you can simply ignore when—”
The words died in his throat as Felipe slid beneath Oliver’s waistband and wrapped a hand around his cock. “I know, love, but it is a murder town. There’s a different threshold for normalcy.”
Oliver bucked against his grasp but caught himself and flattened against Felipe’s chest when his hand stopped moving. Across the tether, Felipe could feel Oliver’s pulse pounding with desperation and want.
After a few long seconds, Oliver realized Felipe wasn’t going to stroke him again until he spoke. “What else did he say?”
“It was more what he didn’t say. It felt like he was holding back information, but I don’t know why. He mentions things happening in the graveyard, that they’ve sequestered the dead, and something called the Dysterwood, which I assume is a local name for the Pine Barrens, but he doesn’t elaborate on what was going on in either.” With his free hand, Felipe untied his bathrobe and let it fall open. “I expected the letter to be fairly specific as to what sorts of phenomenon they were dealing with, but the head inspector was right, I can’t tell if it’s a whole lot of nothing or a supernatural problem. Mr. Lewis said someone was ‘attacked’ but didn’t explain how. Same with the person who was killed.”
When Oliver opened his mouth to speak, Felipe stroked him harder and pressed his bare chest against his back. He smiled to himself as the words dissolved into a moan. Oliver shut his eyes as Felipe freed his lover’s painfully flushed cock from his trousers and drawers and let them drop to the floor. Without a word, Oliver kicked them off but didn’t move to turn or escape Felipe’s grasp when he let go long enough to remove his remaining clothing. Felipe wrapped his arms around him once more, and as he pulled him close, Oliver leaned into him as if the press of skin on skin was a relief.
Running a leisurely hand along Oliver’s length and tweaking a nipple between his fingers, Felipe asked, “Were you going to say something before? ”
Heat rose in Oliver’s cheeks as he glared over his shoulder at his partner. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re enjoying torturing me. I hope you know that if you don’t let me touch you soon, I might cry… or spend like this.”
“We can’t have that. I promise we’re almost done talking about the case. Can you hold out a little longer?”
Oliver bit his lip and dug his fingers into Felipe’s arm, but after releasing a bracing breath, he nodded.
“Good,” Felipe whispered, kissing Oliver’s cheek. “Obviously, there was nothing from the investigators who went missing in Aldorhaven. They sent a letter back to the Paranormal Society the day they arrived confirming they had reached Aldorhaven, but a few days later when they were supposed to go to Camden to send an update via telegram, it never came. The New Jersey Branch waited another few days before sending out a second team to see what was going on.”
Slicking the moisture gathering on Oliver’s head down the velvety length of his prick, Felipe’s heart beat loudly in his ears. He licked his lips and pressed them to Oliver’s shoulder. His mouth had gone dry, and his cock knocked against Oliver’s thigh impatiently as the desire coursing through the tether stoked his own. He hadn’t realized his hand had stilled until Oliver prodded, “And the second team?”
“The second team…” Felipe tore his mind away from the warmth of Oliver’s body against his and the heaviness of his breath as he panted in time with his touch. “The second team didn’t say much in their official report. They came to Aldorhaven looking for their comrades, something happened in the woods, and they abruptly left. They said they didn’t see any trace of the other investigators and refused to go back when ordered. Their head inspector described them as ‘uncharacteristically shaken,’ though supposedly the second team wasn’t as seasoned as the first. And now, it’s our problem to figure out what’s going on with the dead and to see if we can find out what happened to the first set of investigators.”
“Deal with the dead, avoid the woods, find out about the other investigators, got it. Is that everything? ”
“Yeah.”
The word had barely left his lips when Oliver turned and caught his mouth in a fierce kiss. Felipe staggered back, catching his balance against the armchair as Oliver’s hands roamed across his body. His fingers were in his hair, thumbing the hollow of his collarbone, following the curve of his hip, caressing his cock. Incoherent encouragement slipped from Felipe’s lips, but he could scarcely think anymore. With a gentle push, he sank onto the rug and shut his eyes against the current of pleasure battering his senses. Oliver straddled his hips as he kissed and nipped down his neck, keeping just far enough away that Felipe’s straining cock couldn’t reach him no matter how hard he tried.
Felipe groaned. “ Oliver .”
“Are you expecting mercy after all that?” Oliver said with a laugh.
“You know, I would have stopped after the first investigators if you hadn’t asked.”
A smug smile crossed his lover’s lips “I know, but I was enjoying myself.”
“Here, let me make it up to you.”
Pulling Oliver closer, Felipe took him in his mouth. His lover’s fingers twined into his curls as he swept his tongue over the head and down his shaft. He massaged the delicate flesh between his legs and trailed his tongue and teeth along his thighs before returning to his prick. Oliver squeezed his shoulder in warning, and Felipe pulled back.
“Thighs?” Felipe asked. The rush of heady heat in his chest was enough of an answer, but Oliver quickly nodded and turned as Felipe rose to his knees. Nudging Oliver’s legs apart, Felipe nestled behind him and carefully lowered Oliver onto his lap. Felipe shut his eyes as Oliver’s warm thighs closed around him. A moan rose in his throat as he thrusted and Oliver ground against him in return. He needed this; he needed him. Felipe rested his head against Oliver as he leaned back. Pinning Oliver against him with one arm, he wrapped a hand around his cock and moved in time with his thrusts.
Oliver’s mouth opened in a silent gasp as Felipe rolled his nipple between his fingers. He loved any kind of intimacy with Oliver, but he relished the times when Oliver seemed to fully let go. No one else got to see that side but him. Pressure built in Felipe’s core with each rock of Oliver’s hips in time with his. A second before a massive wave of pleasure rolled across the tether, Oliver’s legs tightened around him. Felipe muffled a curse against Oliver’s shoulder as his lover’s body locked and twitched around his cock, sending Felipe over the edge with him. For a moment, Felipe couldn’t tell where his orgasm began and Oliver’s ended; everything was white, blinding ecstasy and heat.
As Felipe lifted his head, the only sound in the parlor was the crackle of the fire and their strained breaths. Felipe held Oliver close, balancing the taller man on his lap until the aftershocks subsided. With a sigh, Oliver leaned bonelessly against his chest and gave Felipe a dazed, contented smile. A laugh broke from Felipe’s lips as he kissed Oliver’s cheek and hugged him tightly.
“Better?”
“Much.”
“Good. Stay here. I’ll be right back,” Felipe said as he carefully untangled himself from Oliver’s limbs and stood on shaking legs.
Ducking into the bedroom, Felipe wet a cloth at the washbasin and tossed it to Oliver from the bedroom door before the sated haze could wear off. Despite enjoying sex, Oliver did not enjoy being sticky or sweaty after, and he couldn’t blame him. Felipe mopped himself off and was about to return to Oliver when his gaze snagged on the quilt covering their bed. Despite being nearly twenty years old, the quilt looked brand new. When Oliver had brought it up to their room a few weeks before, he had mentioned that his nana had made it for him not long before she died. Now that Felipe could put a face and life with the fabric, it felt different to him.
The quilt had a dark grey background with a border of twisting ivy and an overflowing urn of flowers in the center. He recognized green carnations along with purple heliotrope, red roses, forget-me-nots, curling ferns, and blue violets all lovingly sewn into a bouquet of fabric. Felipe was surprised she hadn’t made him something more sedate that fit his personality, but Oliver cherished it far more than the utilitarian patchwork quilt that sat folded at the foot of the bed in his basement apartment. Pulling the blanket from their bed, Felipe draped it over his arm and gathered Oliver’s pajamas from beneath his pillow. In the parlor, he found the washcloth hanging on the fireplace screen, their clothes neatly folded on the closest armchair, and Oliver lying across the rug in only his drawers. A smile crossed Felipe’s lips at Oliver’s peaceful expression. Color still clung to his cheeks, and a wave of black hair flopped over his forehead. At rest, he looked far younger than Felipe felt. As if sensing him, Oliver’s grey eyes opened and locked onto his. A contented sigh escaped his lips as he beckoned for Felipe to join him.
“I thought you might get cold,” Felipe said as he set the pajamas beside the other clothes.
“Not if you join me, though I gathered your robe and trousers too in case you wanted them.”
“I’ll be fine like this.”
Felipe spread the blanket across them before nestling against Oliver’s side with his arm tucked under his neck. Shutting his eyes, Felipe let himself be lulled by the beat of Oliver’s heart beneath his ear as he traced the familiar raised line of the scar along his ribs. Peace hung as thickly as the quilt in the darkened apartment as evening became night, and Felipe slipped into the warm, hazy place between sleeping and waking. At the sound of Oliver’s voice, Felipe stirred.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” he mumbled into his skin. Oliver’s hand lightly traced the strands of grey at his temples as he turned onto his side to face him. Through his lids, Felipe could feel Oliver’s gaze tracing over his features. “I promise, I’m tired from sex, not ill, Oliver.”
“I didn’t think you were, but if you are, there’s jerky and a hunk of cheese in my jacket pocket.”
Felipe opened his eyes expecting to find Oliver laughing, but his expression was earnest. They would have to discuss that later. “I’m fine. It’s your quilt and body heat that are lulling me.”
“ Our quilt,” Oliver corrected.
When Felipe gave him a quizzical look, Oliver reached past his shoulder and held up the corner of the quilt. Hidden in the pattern of the backing were a few lines of script stitched in white thread. To most, it would have been illegible in the darkness, but for Felipe, the firelight was plenty bright. It read, To my Oliver and his future love, May the work of my hands always keep you warm. Nana.
“See, it was meant for both of us.”
Felipe swallowed against the sudden thickness in his throat as Oliver smoothed the blanket back over his shoulder. He hoped it was too dark for his partner to see the moisture in his eyes as he ducked his head against his chest. The green carnations… of course, his grandmother knew.
“I read the letter from my parents by the way,” Felipe blurted, trying to keep the emotion from his voice. “No crises. Just a letter. I’ll reply to it later.”
“That’s good,” Oliver replied slowly, the silent I think hovering between them as he studied Felipe’s expression in the dim light. “I’m glad they’re all right. Felipe, since you briefed me about the case, does this mean we’re going to Aldorhaven?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell the head inspector tomorrow that we’re taking the case, though I do have one condition before we do.”
“You tormenting me wasn’t a condition?” Oliver replied with feigned exasperation. “I thought I was going to spend in my drawers for a minute there.”
Felipe laughed. “No, that was a bribe for the condition. My only condition is that we don’t leave for Aldorhaven until next week. I’d like to go to Louisa and Agatha’s for Sunday dinner and get my affairs in order first.”