Chapter 24 Jericho
JERICHO
It’s Halloween day, and I’m helping my mom set out the last minute decorations for the kids to stop by and see tonight.
There’s an inflatable tunnel that leads from the edge of the sidewalk to their front door, nothing too scary but kids of all ages love it every year so my mom keeps putting it out.
I haven’t had a chance to talk to Liam since his schedule has been crazy the past few days.
Tonight will be the last night of us together and I don’t want to ruin his Halloween so I’m waiting until tomorrow.
The day after Halloween is better, right?
Then at least the holiday won’t be ruined for him.
Fuck, I’m an asshole.
Raiden slept over the other night, and the next day I dropped him off at his parents’ house. I kissed him goodbye before he jumped out of my front seat, and we have spent every free moment texting since.
There’s a new case that I start on next week for Hollis, so maybe me getting out of town for a few days will help the shitstorm that I’m going to create.
My parents are going to be noticeably upset, and I’m sure my friends will be, too.
Liam has become a fixture in my life, but sometimes fixtures have to be replaced.
Liam will move on, he’s a great guy. He deserves all of someone’s affection. Not someone like me who is currently showing all his affection off to someone who isn’t Liam.
“Jericho! Come get the statue. I need to set it out to put the candy bowl on but I need to put stakes in the ground to hold it down. I don’t want the wind blowing it away,” my mom yells at me from the front porch as soon as I finish staking down the inflatable.
If any of this blows away I’m sure my mom will be reported for causing a disturbance in our neighborhood.
That’s the last thing I need her to be worrying about.
She’s been running around like a chicken with its head cut off today, making sure all of her last minute deeds get done before everyone shows up tonight. It’s going to be a full house.
A full house with my boyfriend and Raiden under the same roof.
Fuck my life. How am I supposed to make it through tonight?
My phone dings in my pocket and I fish it out as I walk to where my mom is waiting on the porch for me.
Raiden: Miss you already. Can you sneak over before the party? I have something I want to show you.
My smile is wide, my cheeks hurting with the muscles being strained.
“Is that Liam? Will you ask him to please not forget the ice? I don’t have enough in the freezer and most of our pops are sitting in the garage because I didn’t have enough room in the fridge.”
My smile drops as quickly as it came, being caught smiling at someone’s text is already humbling but my mom catching me and asking if it’s my boyfriend has me freezing in panic.
“Yeah mom, I’ll ask him,” my chuckle is strained and she looks at me weird but still hands me the statue.
“Thank you honey, don’t forget Sophie and Damon are coming over tonight so make sure everyone is on their best behavior. We don’t want to scare them off.”
“I already told the guys, and Raiden will be here too so they’ll have plenty of catching up to do. It’ll be fine, mom.” She doesn’t look convinced as she follows me out to supervise me as I put her statue where she wants it.
“I’m glad you and Raiden are hanging out again, you two used to be thick as thieves. I always felt bad after what happened.” The hammer I'm using to force in the stakes misses the stake and instead smashes my hand.
“Fffuck. Ow.” I shake my hand to get rid of the pain but I can see the blood from where I split the skin and my nail splinters.
“Oh shit! Daniel, grab the first aid kit!” My mom screams at my dad while trying to step closer to me. I’m cradling my hand against my chest, my pulse pounding in the tip of my finger.
Fuck my life.
“I’m fine, mom. Let me wash it off and I’ll wrap it up. No use in stressing dad out,” I say a moment too late because my dad runs out of the house, partially dressed in his halloween costume waving around the small first aid kit he keeps in the garage.
He looks ridiculous. My mom decided for Halloween they were going to dress up as Hugh Hefner and a Playboy Bunny.
My father is the playboy bunny. His tail is currently trailing behind him, barely hanging on for dear life to the spandex he has on around his knees.
For fuck’s sake. At least he has on a pair of shorts and a cutoff shirt or he would have to worry about indecent exposure.
“Everything okay? What happened?” He doesn’t look at me, or my blood covered hand. Nope. He immediately drops down to his haunches in front of my mom, cracking open the case while he asks her what she needs.
“It’s for Jericho, he smashed his finger with the hammer.” When my dad finally realizes I’m standing here, with blood seeping between the cracks of my fingers, his smile is impish.
“My bad, Jericho, I thought your mom was hurt.”
“I can tell,” I deadpan. He finally has the good grace to hand me an alcohol wipe to clean the wound and a sterile bandage to cover it.
It’ll hurt like a bitch tomorrow, but I’ll worry about that when it comes.
At least it’s not my right hand, because there’s plenty of things I do with it that I don’t need to be held back by a small injury.
“Oh my god!”
“What happened?”
“Is that blood?”
Three different people, all talking over each other as they come to my parent’s yard, already dressed for Halloween.
Ema is dressed as Tinkerbell, a cute green dress showing off her small waist and short frame. Rodney is dressed as Peter Pan, fake leather hat and all.
And Raiden… I swallow my tongue, staring at him and not being able to utter a single word. He’s stolen all the air out of my lungs, holding me as his prisoner as I take in the sight of him.
He’s gorgeous. He’s more than that.
My tiny dancer is dressed up as the male version of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. His tight, yellow spandex is molded to his body.
Showing off every line and divot and leaving nothing to imagination.
My eyes wander over him. He dyed his hair back dark after he spent the night, and the black locks are tucked behind his ear with a smattering of diamond crusted clips holding the rest of it back artfully.
A pair of earrings dangle from his earlobes, the glint of silver against his flesh is begging me to leave my mark underneath them, use my teeth to create my own version of an accessory on him.
On his feet, showcasing his pink painted toes, are a pair of yellow slippers.
The bow is tied around his ankle, showing off the delicate arch of his feet.
I never realized feet would do it for me, or maybe it’s just his.
Everything about him turns me on. From the dark strands on his head to the tips of his toes, there’s not a thing about him that I’m not obsessed with.
“Jericho!” He’s the one who asked what happened.
He rushes over to me, being careful to step in the grass so his shoes don’t sink.
“Are you okay? Why are you bleeding?” Raiden grabs my hand from me and he flinches when he sees the blood already seeping through the bandaid.
His fingers gently trace the veins across the back of my hand and it's a good thing I’m in pain or I would be popping a boner in front of our parents. And that’s something I can do without.
“Hit it with a hammer trying to put the stake in the ground, I’m fine,” I reassure him. I have to hold myself back from reaching out to soothe his cheek, lessen his worry for me.
“Let me see,” he pleads and I shake my head. I don’t want him to see the gory mess. It’ll be fine and he’ll be better off without seeing it.
“I’m okay, I promise, Raiden.” His eyes narrow on mine and I quirk my lip up, smiling at his obvious unamused glare.
“Let’s go inside,” my mom says, cutting off our staring competition. We’ve drawn a crowd, unnoticed in our bubble, and my mom’s looking at me curiously. I clear my throat, not wanting to touch that conversation with a ten foot pole.
We trail in behind her, and being the last one in, I shut the door.
Closing out the sounds of the neighborhood preparing for the festivities tonight.
Raiden whirls around on me when our parents move towards the kitchen, the two of us standing off in my parents living room as they rummage around looking for something alcoholic. If I had my guess.
“Let me see,” he demands, pointing at my hand wrapped in the bandage and I exhale a frustrated huff.
“No, Raiden. I’m fine, and I don’t want you to see it.”
“Why?” He snaps and crosses his arms, glaring up at me.
“Because, tiny dancer.” I trail my good hand down his face, tracing the blush he has on his cheeks down to the pulse point thundering in his neck. I press on it with my thumb, feeling the resounding thud thud thud underneath his smooth skin. “I’m fine, you don’t need to worry about me.
“But I obviously am.” He means his words to come out harsher, but they’re breathless.
Barely a whisper of air between us as his eyes glaze over.
I press harder against his neck, and then adjust my hand to where I’m cupping the front of his neck.
He swallows, his Adam’s Apple bobbing against my palm.
“I know you are, and I love that about you. But hear me when I say this.” I lean in closer to him, keeping the grip on his neck and placing my mouth right beside his ear, feeling the tickle of the metal dangling.
“I’m not going to let you see it,” I cut off his admonished gasp by trailing my lips across the shell of his ear.
“Not because I want to keep it from you, or because I think it’ll gross you out.
I don’t want you to see bad things, especially bad things that happen to me. Okay?”
He doesn’t say anything, and I know he’s still pouting. “Come on tiny dancer, say you understand.”
“No,” he mutters petulantly. But he cocks his head to the side more, rubbing his ear more firmly against my mouth. I nip it, just a small warning bite, nothing hard enough to break the skin.
He gasps loudly and pulls back. Raiden is staring at me, his mouth agape and his pupils blown. “Our parents are–”
“Obviously distracted, I would hear them if they moved from the kitchen.”
Raiden looks skeptical, but the arousal I see in his eyes doesn't lie.
I lean back close to him, and this time he doesn't move. I brush a kiss across his delectable lips, unable to hold myself back any longer. His lips taste like cherries, so fucking sweet.
“Be careful, I have lip tint on.”
Ohh. So that’s why his lips look even more inviting today than usual.
“I guess I better be careful not to mess it up.” I bypass his lips, kissing his cheek and over to his ear. Leaving featherlight kisses against his skin as I clear a path down to the pulse point from earlier. “But you have to be quiet.”
His moan is low as I lick a stripe up his neck, tasting the floral lotion he used earlier and a hint of soap from his shower. He tastes fresh.
“Fuck. You taste so good.”
He wraps his arms around my body and yanks me to him, pressing his lithe body against mine. His cock is hard in his Beauty costume and I want to take a picture of him and keep it forever. The wrecked look on his face, his swollen lips, his needy body. All of it is too much.
“There’s so many things I want to do to you, but we can’t here,” I tell him. Arguably, we could probably find a way to continue this but I would rather not with his parents and my parents at risk of walking in at any moment. “Can you come over tonight?”
“Pick me up?” He pants, his chest heaving and pushing his tight nipples against the thin material of the spandex.
“Deal.”