Beneath the Neon Moon (7 page)

"Mal?" Zach whispered. His voice strengthened. "Mal, don't!"

Mal hesitated, stopped. His mouth closed, flushed and swollen as if the skin itself had bloomed beneath the fall of blood. He opened his eyes and blinked, chest heaving as his breath quickened, disgust wrenching his face. He scrubbed his mouth frantically with his bound hands. "Get off me!" he snarled at Kane.

Kane laughed suddenly and stood up. He tipped his head back, trying to make the blood flow lessen. "Lucky I'm a quick healer or I'd have to beat the shit out of you, Mal."

"If you’re going to take a shot, do it already. But he's alpha, and he'll remember. We both smell it." Aaron looked at Mal and Zach from the corner of his eyes. "Among other things."

"All right, all right." Kane threw Aaron a hostile look. "Stand up," he said to Mal. "Get over to the wall. Unless you want one more shot at me before I go."

Mal rolled from his back and onto his feet. "What are you doing to me?" he yelled, his chest heaving. "Why are we here?"

"You really want to know?" Kane grabbed his shoulder. "All you have to do is open your eyes, you stubborn son of a bitch. Now why don't you do the smart thing and stop fighting? We're not gonna touch your buddy again beyond getting the two of you chained back up." He shrugged. "You just pissed me off, what can I say?"

"Just settle down, okay?" Aaron said. "You're not going to be here much longer."

Mal looked at both of them a few seconds, then walked over to the wall and knelt. He didn't speak, but his eyes followed Kane, cold as ice. Kane shook his head, bemused. Aaron stepped forward and locked Mal into his cuff again.

"You next, Zach," Kane said. Zach didn't move. Kane put a firm hand around his shoulder and shook him a little, as if he were a good friend he was trying to cheer up. Zach didn't know if it was meant as some bizarre gesture of sympathy or just mockery.

Kane whispered in Zach's ear. "I have to hand it to you for trying, but you can't get out of this. Nobody makes it out unless we let them out." He gave Zach another short, hard shake. "Come on."

Zach went. Aaron threaded the chain on his cuff, closed it shut and locked it, then stood up.

"See you later, guys," Kane said, a flash of humor in his eyes. He nodded and swiped at the blood under his nose, then cursed when he saw how much blood was there. Aaron smirked, apparently still entertained.

He and Kane climbed the stairs, the old gray planks creaking under their feet. The door shut behind them. Mal and Zach heard it lock.

Zach sat down hard on the packed dirt and ran a hand through his hair. "Good job there, Rambo." His voice rasped, and he had to clear his throat. 

"I was trying to get us out of here." Mal's shoulders hunched in on themselves. "Guess it didn't work."

"That fucker paralyzed my kidneys," Zach grumbled. "I don't think I'll ever piss again."

"How bad?"

Zach shrugged. "Not bad. Not really. Just not real happy with how easy he got me out of the way, I guess."

"If you ask me, you had pretty good reaction time."

Zach grimaced. "Whatever."

"Are you sulking or what?"

"No."

"Yeah, I think you are. Wow."

"Can you just drop it?"

"Yeah. Okay. Dropping it. Damn, I got a splinter from that shitty wooden rail. You'd think they'd maintain the place better." Mal picked at his thumb. "Those guys are pretty arrogant."

"Well, if you didn’t notice, they’re pretty strong, too."

Mal frowned at him. "They put all their faith in their chains. Did you notice the lock on the door up there? It's one of those where you turn the button in the middle."

"Yeah. That's a spring lock. It's not hard to get open."

Mal's eyes narrowed. "Think you could open it?"

"Yeah, the knife would probably do it. A credit card for sure." Zach smiled tiredly. "All we have to do is get me off this chain."

"That's all, huh?"

"Yep."

"Someday I'll ask why you know so much about locks."

"I don't know much about locks. You just don't know anything about them."

Mal quieted a moment. "Ow."

"Sorry."

"Aaron's strong, you know. They both are. Neither one of us had much of a chance."

"Mal."

"I'm just saying."

Zach looked at him.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. We'll talk about something else before laser beams shoot from your eyes and turn me into an ash pile. So … you from around here?"

Zach looked at him, startled, then threw back his head and laughed. "Unbelievable. You're throwing a pickup line at me after all this?"

"You picked
me
up already, remember? So to speak."

"I think I have that committed to memory, yes. Thanks."

"Well, what else do we have to do around here but talk?" Mal asked defensively. "Well, and other things, of course. Which we did. Some of them."

Zach raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Okay, I'll bite. I guess I'm from all over. Dad moved a lot. I was born here, though. Kept coming back over the years. Most of the guys on the construction crew I worked with are from around here, too. The company didn't even hire college boys like they usually do over the summer, but they took me on. And then they ended up laying me off anyway."

"That sucks. I'm sorry, Zach."

Zach shrugged again. "I've been coming through town for the past three summers, but I'll find something else. Always do. What about you?"

"I'm from around here. Parents live on Apple Valley Way, you know it?"

Zach nodded. "Sure. I've helped build cabins back in the mountains behind there."

"They were going to pay my way through college until I screwed it up."

"How'd you do that?"

"Ah, I played football in high school. Had a really good thing going, probably a scholarship. Then I dropped the ball."

"Dropped the ball?"

"So to speak. Fucked it all up." Mal shook his head, staring at the ground. He changed the subject. "What happened to your dad?"

Zach's immediate inclination was to clam up fast, the way he did with most other people. He didn't want to do that with Mal. "He was at a bar, got into an argument. Got himself shot when I was seventeen."

"Damn." Mal paused. "Your mother?"

"I don't remember much about her. Dad said she took off when I was little."

Mal nodded, thinking, then faced Zach. "What I said about dropping it? Everything, that's what I dropped. I stopped playing football. I stopped getting good grades. I got interested in …" He smiled without humor. "Other things."

"Yeah? What?"

"Drinking. Getting high. Parents got pretty pissed at me. Took me a while to get my shit together enough to realize what I really wanted. I got into college a year after that, but not on my parents' dime. You know the state's got that aid program if you keep your grades up? I'm on that, and washing dishes and whatever else they need at a bar on the Strip in my spare time. I get by."

"You still see your parents?"

"A little. They're not exactly happy with their golden boy taking such a dive." Mal's broad shoulders hunched with tension, elbows on bent knees. The warm yellow light from the window traced the curve of his cheek, caught on dark stubble. His expression was pensive, shadowed.

Zach studied him, found himself thinking in an oddly detached manner of the changes that would come tonight. How Mal would change. Wondered if it would hurt him.

It crashed in, what was going to happen tonight. He panicked, tried to throw up a mental roadblock against his thoughts. He didn't know what to do, was afraid nothing he did made a difference. He'd been in dangerous situations before, but nothing this insane and implacable.

Hell, nobody he knew would have believed it if he told them. He wouldn't have, either, if he hadn't seen with his own eyes how Mal was healing. It was impossible and he knew it.

He'd always taken care of himself, sometimes doing a less than stellar job, but if there was one thing Zach was good at it was learning on the fly. Had to. There was no one else. But he still didn't think he had a prayer of getting through the night alive.

He couldn't afford to think like that, but for just a moment he couldn't control it, his brain chattering
dead man, you're a dead man.

Somehow the terror had him moving, rising up beside Mal on his knees, careful not to pull the chain between them taut but still moving fast, decision made. If he couldn't fix what was going to happen then he'd take the time he had left, because it had to matter. This crazy thing between Mal and himself mattered. It was all he had.

Chapter 8

Z
ACH
PUSHED HIS forehead against Mal's, nudging him.

Mal turned his head. "What?" He whispered, his voice hoarse. He licked his lips.

Zach brought a hand up to Mal's face and rubbed over his cheekbone. "You're thinking about something. What is it?"

"Something's coming, Zach. It's not—it's not
here
now, not in the daylight, but it hasn't left. It's digging around in my brain."

Zach leaned closer and kissed him, slow and gentle. Mal's lips moved against his, kissing him back just as deeply.

Mal pulled back a little, just far enough to speak, his eyes sad. "Why are you doing this? I know you think I'm going to hurt you. Aren't you afraid?"

"Not of you."

"What then?"

"It's not here now, that thing. You said so, right?" Zach leaned closer. "Just you and me now." He took a deep breath, telling himself again that it mattered. "I've spent a lot of time wanting people to want me because they liked me, not just because they wanted to fuck me."

"But
I
want to fuck you," Mal said, solemn as a confession. "Never doubt it."

Zach grinned. "I know." He put his hand in Mal's hair at the back of his head, threaded fingers through it at the scalp and pulled back. "But you like me, too." Mal's head tilted, long throat exposed, warm-tinted skin, darkness pooling in the vulnerable skin between the collar bones. Zach touched it with his tongue, felt the coolness of the cellar on the surface, pressed firmly and felt the heat inside coming through. Licked, tasting salt.

"I do kinda like you." Mal's voice caught as Zach's mouthed up the column of his throat.

Zach felt the words beneath his lips, felt Mal's breathing deepen, chest moving against his. His tongue traced Mal's jawbone, tiny pin-pricks of Mal's stubble, pressed his tongue in and felt the small sting grow, then bit down. Mal groaned, the rumble of it vibrating against Zach's mouth. He pulled Zach to him and kissed him, light touch of tongue on his upper lip, his lower, then inside as Zach opened for him. Zach tried to pull him in, opened his mouth wider, but Mal drew back.

"Tease," Zach grumbled.

"Nobody really makes you feel, do they? I want to, if I can. Want to watch it on your face." Mal's face was wide open, flushed, eyes dark and earnest.

It opened something in Zach, made him respond without thinking. He pulled Mal close and kissed him harder. The idiot didn't realize he'd made him feel from almost the first minute he saw him. He'd disarmed him without even trying.

Zach made an impatient noise and quit thinking, pressing in until their noses were pushed up against each other and it was hard to breathe. He kissed Mal until his mouth was slick and swollen, little noises pouring out of him, their tongues twining together. Zach wanted him deeper, further. He wanted more of everything. More time, more of this, of them together.

He blocked the thoughts out viciously, refusing to think of the future. He pulled away and grabbed the bottom of Mal's T-shirt, pulling it up and over. Mal's face was flushed and fucking gorgeous. Zach pushed him and followed close, all the way to the ground. He licked down Mal's chest, sucking a nipple into his mouth, tonguing it until it grew into a tiny, hard peak. Mal's ass lifted off the dirt and he rolled his hips, slow rolling grind, stiff length of him rubbing against Zach's dick and making him crazy.

"I'm gonna suck you off, Zach, c'mon,
God
, get your fucking pants down." Mal propped himself up on an elbow, squeezed his eyes shut and thrust his hips, palming his cock through his jeans.

"Jesus," Zach groaned, watching him, and rose to his knees, hurrying to push his jeans down around his calves. He lay back and Mal reached for him, circling fingers around the base of his cock, then leaned in and lowered his mouth over him. 

The touch of his warm, wet mouth sent a shiver of pleasure all the way down to Zach's balls. Mal sucked him in, cheeks hollowing, tongue dragging over the head and wriggling inside the slit. Zach's stomach fluttered, coiled with heat all tight and high, his hips making little jerking movements as Mal rolled his tongue over the head again and then dragged down the thick vein on the underside, moaning appreciatively.   

Zach felt it vibrate through his cock and thrust without intending to, losing control fast. His legs were shaking and weak and he let them fall apart as much as he could. Mal stroked faster, up and down with tongue and lips.

When he pulled off Zach made a protesting noise, craning his neck to watch. Mal smiled up at him, slow and warm, and blew a cool breath over Zach's cock. He dragged his tongue over the head, lips curving slyly, bruised-looking and wet, and his eyes were  at half-mast as he looked at Zach, like he'd been fucked already and wanted more.

Zach groaned, his voice sounding thready, wanting to beg. Mal licked a long wet line all the way to his balls, his hand already there, cupping and tugging. "Please," Zach whispered, feeling his face flush hot. He tried to spread himself wider but his pants hampered him. Mal rubbed his face against his thigh and kissed it, mouthing the long muscle beneath the skin. He sucked on two fingers and ran them behind Zach's balls to the tight opening behind, pushing gently, rocking his fingers inside a little. Zach felt the drag and stretch inside him. He jerked against Mal, little breathy groans coming from his mouth that he couldn't seem to stop. His cock leaked, pearly trails slipping over the head and down the shaft. Mal's mouth was on him again, chasing it. He flicked his tongue into the slit, searching for more, then took him down as far and fast as he could, his fingers still working Zach's ass. Zach flushed all over, his legs going rigid and trembling, spine stretching and straining to push himself deeper inside Mal's mouth. He came, pulsing hard, and Mal swallowed, taking it all.