Cade Creek 11 - Race Against Time (15 page)

“One?” Aldrin’s perfectly manicured eyebrow arched. “Seems like Cade Creek is more interesting than I thought.”

“They’re both firemen.”

Aldrin’s jaw dropped. “Jealous.”

Race squeaked when the gunfire started up again. He dropped back down beside Aldrin, his eyes darting around. There had to be a way out of here that didn’t involve getting shot to death.

Ari gripped the gun in his hand, trying not to squeeze too tightly. Vinnie was the one with military experience, not him. He had barely ever handled a gun. He didn’t want to be handling one now, but there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do to save Race.

He slid around a tree and moved through the bushes, looking for the path of least resistance. He could hear the shooting, but he could also see Race and his friend pressed up against the side of the truck. He knew—for now—they were out of the line of fire. He wanted it to stay that way.

Ari paused when he heard someone shouting. He didn’t recognize the voice so he assumed it was Terrence or one of his goons, who had come out of the woodwork, so to speak. The place was crawling with guys with guns.

When Ari reached the edge of the tree line, his gut clenched. From his spot, he could see Race and Aldrin crouched beside the truck. Terrence and two of his goons had Vinnie pinned behind a stack of barrels. The continuous pinging of bullets hitting the steel barrels was something he didn’t think he would ever forget.

He needed to do something to get the guns off of Vinnie long enough for the man to escape. He also needed to do something to get the guns off of Race and Aldrin long enough for them to escape. He just needed to do something, anything.

Before he could take action, Agent Ryan rolled out in front of him from behind a stack of wooden crates. The man started firing at Terrence and his thugs, which brought their attention to his side of the large gravel lot.

Ari ducked back down into the bushes, hoping to avoid detection. As he did, he spotted a splotch of red spreading across Ryan’s shirt. He vaguely remembered the agent offering his bulletproof vest to Race, which meant he had nothing to protect him.

The man had been shot.

“Mike!” Ari shouted out, knowing he couldn’t leave the man where he was. There was no real cover beyond the fact that Terrence and his goons seemed to be really bad shots. “Mike, get out of there. Come this way.”

Ryan shot a few more times until his gun clicked empty. He grimaced as he stared at it for a moment before rolling over and started to climb to his feet. Another shot rang out and Ryan went down, his leg clearly having been hit.

“Fuck it,” Ari growled as he broke through the trees, firing his weapon as fast as he could pull the trigger. He made a beeline for Mike. As soon as he reached the man, he handed him the gun and then grabbed him under the arms and started pulling him toward the truck where Race and Aldrin were hiding.

As soon as they reached the truck, Ari helped Mike lean back against it and then dropped to his knees in front of Race. He didn’t even give the man time to say anything, just pulled Race into his arms.

“Oh, baby, I was so worried you had been shot.”

Race shuddered. “I’m okay.”

Ari leaned back so he could make a quick perusal of Race’s body, checking for wounds. He’d die if anything happened to Race. When he didn’t find anything, he grabbed Race’s pale face between his hands.

After placing a quick kiss on his lips, he said, “I have to go save Vinnie. I want you two to get out of here.” Ari glanced to the side grimacing as he watched the blood seeping out of Mike’s wounds. “Take Mike with you.”

“What about you?” Race asked.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Bullshit,” Race snapped.

Ari’s jaw dropped when Race whipped his shirt over his head until he saw him taking the vest off. “No, baby, keep it on.” He’d rather be shot than see Race shot. “Please.”

“But, you can’t—” Race stopped speaking when silence suddenly filled the air.

Ari held his finger to his lips and then scooted over so he could peer around the front of his truck. His jaw dropped when he saw Vinnie and Dorian standing over the top of Terrence and two of his guards. None of them were moving.

Several men that Ari didn’t recognize stood over the other thugs—who all seemed to have made it through the fight in one piece—who were kneeling on the ground, their hands clasped behind their heads.

“Ari?” Race whispered.

“I think it’s over.” Ari slowly stood. “Vinnie?” he called out in a louder voice.

Vinnie’s head snapped around, a smile growing on his lips when he saw Ari. “Where’s Race and Aldrin?”

Ari grinned when Race popped up beside him and then went running across the lot before throwing himself into Vinnie’s waiting arms.

“That man has all the luck,” Aldrin said as he stood beside Ari. “He doesn’t even know the meaning of the word manscape and he still gets all the sexy guys.”

Ari chuckled as he patted the dejected man on the shoulder. “Stick around. I’m sure you can catch someone’s eye.”

A groan from the ground caught Ari’s attention, and he suddenly remembered the wounded DEA agent. “I need a medic over here. Ryan’s been hit.” Ari grabbed the shirt Race had discarded and ripped it into strips. He tied one around the gunshot in Ryan’s leg and then pressed the other one to the man’s shoulder.

“I should have ducked,” Ryan mumbled as his eyes slid closed and he slumped.

For a moment, Ari was worried the man had expired, but a quick check for his pulse showed he had only passed out. When a man Ari didn’t know dropped down beside him, Ari started to reach for the gun in Ryan’s lax fingers.

The guy quickly held up both hands. “The name’s Asa Garret. I’m a medic.” He held up the field kit in his hand. “I’m just here to see to your friend until the paramedics get here.”

Ari still grabbed the gun, but he made sure he pointed it away from the medic. He didn’t like the idea of leaving a loaded weapon lying around. Proof of what they could do lay bleeding right in front of him. “Are you a friend of Dorian’s?”

“In a roundabout way.” Asa smiled. “A former agent that used to work with Dorian is married to the brother of my former Marine commander. Dorian called, we came.”

“So, like six degrees of separation or something?”

“Yeah.” Asa chuckled. “Something like that.”

“Well, thanks.”

Asa nodded and continued working on Ryan.

Ari got up and headed around the front of the truck. He immediately sought out his lovers. His heart pounded erratically when he found them still wrapped in each other’s arms. Granted, Vinnie was talking to Dorian and another guy, but he had Race wrapped up tight in his embrace.

Ari wanted some of that loving.

He walked over in that direction, stopping right in front of Dorian. “Here, I believe this is yours.” He handed the gun over, glad to be rid of the damn thing. Turning to look at Vinnie and Race, he smiled. “And I believe that is mine.”

Race let out a little laugh as he grabbed Ari by his shirt and pulled him close. Ari leaned down and brushed a kiss over Race’s lips before lifting his lips to do the same to Vinnie.

A lump of emotion welled up in his throat. “I love you,” he said, uncaring who was there to witness his declaration. “I love both of you and I never want to spend another night without either of you beside me.”

“Sounds like a good thing to me,” Vinnie said. “Race?”

Tears glistened in Race’s eyes as he smiled up at Ari. “People who love each other should never spend the night apart.” He tilted his head back to glance up at Vinnie. “Right, love?”

Vinnie grinned as he wrapped an arm around both Ari and race. “Right,
cara mia
.”

Vinnie sighed as he hung up the phone. He stared down at it for a moment before setting it on the counter. It was over. Finally. Terrence Flannery was dead and the DEA was officially closing the case. No more agents. No more bullets flying. No more Race being afraid.

It was truly over.

Agent Mike Ryan was recovering well and would be back on his feet in a few weeks. Dorian’s friends—some former DEA agent he had worked with in the past and the man’s husband and friends, all Marines—had gone home with everyone’s thanks. Aldrin had decided to stick around Cade Creek for a while and check the place out. He said nothing was really keeping him in the city and there were a whole lot of “hotties” here that needed to be scoped out.

Things in Cade Creek were slowly settling back to normal.

“
Cara mia
?” he called out when he heard the front door open. Since Race had moved in with them last week, he knew that it had to be one of his lovers, so he felt pretty safe calling out to them.

“Hey,” Race said as he walked around the corner. His face was flushed, but there was a wide grin covering his lips so Vinnie wasn’t too worried. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“Mrs. Blaecleah, Dr. Berkley, and Kapheri all got together and decided Cade Creek needed a dance school.”

Vinnie started to smile at the happiness shining from Race’s eyes. “Oh yeah?” Vinnie knew how much Race had given up to come home to Cade Creek, and then decide to stay instead of returning to the city to attend ballet school.

“They hired an instructor from the city to come and teach here and I got hired to be his assistant. He’s going to teach me everything he knows and then I can start teaching my own classes.”

Race was vibrating.

“Is that what you want to do?”

“I just want to dance, Vinnie. I don’t care if it’s here or in New York or on the moon. I just want to dance.”

Vinnie folded his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the counter. “And how do you feel about teaching others to dance?”

Race beamed as he went up on his toes a little. “I get to teach.”

Okay, question answered.

“So, I have a question,” Race said. “When do I get that blow job you promised me?’

Vinnie grinned as he grabbed Race and swung the man up into his arms. “How about now?” Vinnie quickly carried Race up the stairs to the room at the end of the hall. The other two rooms had been turned into an office and a guest room. Aldrin was staying in the guest room while he decided if he wanted to stay in Cade Creek. Currently, he was working a shift at the Cade Creek Diner where he had gotten a part time job. He seemed to like it there.

Vinnie pushed open the door and stepped inside. A loud scream filled the air as he tossed Race and the man went flying, landing with a soft bounce on the mattress. Vinnie moved before Race even stopped bouncing, straddling the smaller body, pinning the man’s arms over his head.

Settled as he was over the man’s slim body, Vinnie could feel every contour, every rise and valley, including the hard cock pressing up against him. Wide sparkling green eyes blinked up at Vinnie in the most tempting manner.

“So, beautiful,
passerotto
.” Vinnie grinned mischievously down at the man. Race hissed when Vinnie moved his hips, rubbing his ass up and down the length of the man’s hard erection.

Giving in to his desire, Vinnie licked along the curve of the man’s ear from lobe to tip. Just for good measure, he nipped the soft curve. When the man beneath him shuddered, groaning, Vinnie did it again.

“You like that, don’t you?” Vinnie murmured into his ear. Race’s groans grew louder, his body bucking. Vinnie grabbed the man’s thin wrists with one hand, then reached the other down between his thighs, palming the nice thick cock that had been pushing up against him. “What else would you like me to lick?”

“Please, you promised.”

Vinnie leaned back and lifted his body, reaching down to grab Race’s hips and flip him over onto his stomach. When he sat back down, his cock was nicely cradled in the crack of his lover’s ass.

“These are going to have to go, love,” Vinnie said as he tugged at the waistband of Race’s pants.

He scooted back until he could stand. He could see curious green eyes staring at him as he pulled the guy’s shoes off and dropped them on the floor. Next, he grabbed the hem of his pant legs and pulled. Once the jeans slid down Race’s legs, Vinnie dropped those on the floor next to the shoes and then he went for the shirt. A naked Race was a sight to behold.

It took Vinnie less than a minute to strip off his own clothes and then he quickly crawled back up onto the bed, one thigh on each side of Race’s slim legs.

Vinnie leaned down and nipped at one of Race’s nipples. Race moaned, pulling Vinnie’s hair, making his head push in closer. Vinnie circled his tongue around the small brown disc, sucking gently and teasing it to a peak. He loved the fact that Race was so responsive and didn’t hold back. Race showed his every emotion he was feeling.

Vinnie trailed his tongue across Race’s sternum, finding the other nipple waiting in anticipation. Vinnie licked and sucked until it matched its mate. He dipped lower, swirling his tongue down Race’s ribs, around his belly, then licked his naval.

Race spread his legs wider, pushing at Vinnie’s shoulders, obviously wanting what every man wanted. Vinnie grinned, then ran his tongue down the seam of Race’s inner thigh, circling around his balls as he suckled on one gently while his hands splayed across Race’s abdomen.