Dan & Tyler 2 - Wintergreen (26 page)

 

"You're being needlessly difficult."

There was a bench under a tree whose roots had buckled the sidewalk. Oak? Elm? Tyler didn't know, but he admired the ruthless, contemptuous shrug the tree had given to the imprisoning concrete. He sat on the bench, his legs stretched out in front of him, and smiled at nothing in particular. "Yes, I am."

"It's most annoying."

 

Abruptly tiring of the game, Tyler sighed. "I'm still in Dan's home town."

 

"Like a moth to the flame," Cole said, which was about as close to poetic as Tyler had ever heard him get. "Are you feeling your wings sizzle yet?"

"I'm not here to get back together with him," Tyler said. "At least…" He rubbed his hand over the wrought iron arm rest, once painted black, now mostly just plain iron. It felt cool against his palm, solid and immovable. "He wants to, but I just -- oh, the hell with it. You don't care about that, you just want to know why I'm not in Washington."

"I never expected you here, no matter what you said," Cole said, surprising Tyler. "If I'd brought you back with me… but you wouldn't have left Mr. Seaton at that point. Not willingly, anyway."

 

Something in Cole's voice made the back of Tyler's neck itch. He did a sweep of his surroundings, keeping it casual and unobtrusive. "If you've sent a team to bring me in…"

 

"A team? For a broken-down wreck of a man like you? If I judged you by your own estimation, my twelve-year-old niece would be sufficient."

 

"Very funny," Tyler said. "What do you want?"

 

"To say goodbye."

"Shit!" Tyler surged up out of his seat and got behind the tree, crouching low and not caring about the startled looks he was getting from a couple approaching who were walking their dog, optimistic plastic bags in hand. "Cole, you cold-hearted son of a bitch, if you want to listen to me die, you're sicker than the people I took out for you."

There was a moment's silence, and then Cole began to laugh, a helpless chuckle that went on for long enough that Tyler, flushed with irritation at himself, stood up.

The couple with the dog crossed the street to avoid walking past the crazy man, murmuring to each other and giving Tyler frankly curious glances. Well, he'd given them something to talk about; the night wasn't a total loss.

"You -- you really thought that I'd -- Oh, John." Cole gave a final chuckle and took a deep breath. "I'm insulted and a little hurt."

 

"Sorry," Tyler said insincerely, as his heart rate began to slow to normal again. He brushed at his chest as if a red dot that didn't exist had left a mark. "So when you say good bye, you mean…" "Happy retirement and the end of our working relationship."

 

"Hmm."

 

"I mean it," Cole assured him. "You're far from irreplaceable, you know. I just prefer to work with people I know."

 

"It doesn't always work out," Tyler reminded him quietly.

 

"It did with you," Cole said. "You were one of my best agents."

Tyler had waited a long time for approval from Cole when he'd first gone to work for the man; it had come rarely after that, but it had always meant something to him. Now it was bittersweet to hear, but still welcome.

"Thanks, Cole. You were… you were a good boss. Still are."

 

"Just not your boss," Cole said gently. "Not any more. Have a good life, John."

The call ended as Tyler was fumbling for a way to rephrase 'Thanks, you too, and give my regards to Mrs. Stevens' into something a little more eloquent. He clutched the phone tighter and then sighed and tucked it back into his pocket.

So. That was that.

Of course, it didn't guarantee that his past would stay where it belonged. Cole might have cut him loose, but he'd made enemies over the years. Not many, for the simple reason that his identity had been secret -- it had to be for him to be effective. People out there had sworn vengeance on his aliases without knowing who he really was, or had sought a killer without knowing anything but that he was a good shot.

Still, he couldn't give Dan any guarantees that they'd live safe from reprisals.

This small town had its own dangers. Everywhere did. It had its share of murders, suicides, rapes. It had a smattering of monsters with smiling faces. Tyler knew all that and still wanted Dan to be here, safe, reconciled with his father and just… safe.

Feeling protective about Dan didn't stop Tyler from wanting to punch the boy when he got back to his motel and found Dan outside, leaning on the hood of Tyler's truck.

 

"What the hell are you doing here, boy?"

 

"Free country," Dan said with a shrug. "It's not like I broke into your room, though I could have probably gotten a key off Shandi on the desk."

"And if you had, I'd have gotten her fired," Tyler said. "So it's lucky for her that you didn't." "Chill," Dan said. "She wouldn't tell me your room or if you were even staying here. And how hypocritical is that? I bet you've sweet-talked room numbers and keys out of people all over the world."

"True," Tyler said. "Which doesn't mean that I like my privacy being invaded or you showing up twelve hours early."

 

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Dan said. "Those headaches wipe you out." His gaze flickered over Tyler. "Not this time, though. Or was it just a way to get me off your back?"

 

"It was real," Tyler said. "Trust me on that." He eyed Dan and then sighed. "Now that you're here…"

 

"I can come in?" Dan pushed away from the truck, his eyes bright. "Cool!"

 

"No, it isn't," Tyler said as he opened the door. "It's intrusive and irritating of you, and I'm not pleased to see you here." He walked into his room and tossed the key onto the night stand.

Dan closed the door behind him and came to within a foot of Tyler, staring up at him. Tyler held still, refusing to give in and kiss a mouth that was waiting for him to do just that. Jesus, that pout of Dan's got to him every single fucking time…

"Oh, you lie," Dan told him. "You lie so very fucking much."

"Do I?" Tyler hadn't moved, not an inch, he swore he hadn't, but his hands were on Dan now, one threaded through Dan's hair, his fingers tight and possessive, one caressing Dan's ass as lightly as he could when he wanted to dig in with his fingers, mark it, claim it.

"Yeah," Dan said on a slow, soft exhalation and brought Tyler's head down within reach of his mouth.

 

***

Part of Dan knew that they shouldn't be doing this. Sex wasn't the problem, never had been, probably never would be. They got each other hot, and they knew how to make each other pop like shaken-up soda, and it'd been that way since the first time. Get him in the same room as Tyler and he wanted to touch that lean, muscular body; split them up and he couldn't keep his mind on anything else for very long.

He hadn't walked away from his dad -- from his family -- to get Tyler rubbing against him like a cat, biting his neck, licking his ear… not entirely. Dan was here to build something that could hold them both safely, and that had to be done with words.

Right now, though, all he had to say was Tyler's name and some heartfelt moans and whimpers mixed in with it. It felt like weeks since he'd had this. Weeks. He tilted his head to let Tyler kiss his neck, tiny, sucking bites that stung and burned and got him so hard he wanted to unzip right there and give his cock some room to grow.

"Fuck me," he said, gritting the words out when he wanted to howl them. "God, Tyler, just do me. On the floor, against the wall, don't care."

 

"I'd care," Tyler said, and bam, just like that the barrier slammed down between them again.

Dan stepped back as Tyler did, breathing in gasps as if he'd been running a race. His face burned from the scrape of Tyler's stubble, and his lips felt bruised and tingling from all the kisses he'd gotten. The throb in his arm didn't bother him as much as the ache in his balls. "I didn't come here for this, but it's a little fucking cold to stop when we're both ready for it."

"Not as cold as fucking you as if you were someone I'd bought for the hour," Tyler said bluntly. "Your arm's still hurting you, and if I took you the way you were begging me to, it would hurt a lot more after we'd finished."

"So use the bed and make it slow. Let me ride you, let me -- fuck." Dan scrubbed the dampness of frustrated tears from his eyes. "Never mind. Forget it." He gave the hard swell of his cock a consolatory rub with the heel of his hand and then took a deep breath. "Okay. So let's talk."

Tyler reached out and cupped his face, the soft brush of a thumb over Dan's mouth unbearably arousing, even if Dan supposed that it was meant to calm them both down. "So talk."

 

"Keep touching me and I'll forget my lines."

 

"You rehearsed what you were going to say?" Tyler pulled an amused face, but it took him longer to let his hand fall away than it should have, which left Dan feeling less rejected.

"Kind of did on the way over and when I was waiting for you to get back." Dan sat in the room's only chair, a thinly padded, spindle-legged object that wasn’t at all comfortable. It was still better than sitting beside Tyler on the bed and getting too comfortable again.

"So what did you have to say that couldn't wait until the morning?" Tyler gave an annoyed hiss, frowning again, the way he had been when he'd walked around the corner of the building and seen Dan. "You weren't supposed to just come here. You were supposed to think about what you wanted and weigh up your options."

"What makes you think that I didn't?" Dan countered. "And don't assume that I've decided I'm going with you. I might be here to tell you sayonara. In case you missed it, I don't have any of my stuff with me; it's all back at my dad's."

Tyler arched his eyebrows. "Is that how you plan to say goodbye to all your exes? A final, farewell fuck? I'm not sure it's an effective way of getting rid of them."
It was hard to breathe with this much misery choking your throat. "You're not my ex. We haven't
-- we didn't -- shit, Tyler, are you breaking up with me?"

"If I wanted to regress to my teenage years, I'd grow my hair long and learn to play the drums or something. No. I'm leaving, and you might be staying, but I'm not sure that's the same thing."

"Sounds like it to me." Dan bit down hard on his lip and tried to keep calm.
Be mature
, he told himself.
Don't blow this
. "And you're not the fucking boss of me, so don't go thinking that you can nail my feet to the sidewalk here and I'll stay put, because I won't. I'm leaving town tomorrow, that's settled, and whether I go with you or make my own way, well, that's my decision, not yours."

Okay, not so mature, but he got points for being sincere, right?

 

"Boy, I see you on the road with your thumb out and I swear I will run you over."

 

"You might just see my dust," Dan said with a jerk of his chin. "I've got enough to buy a car now, and it won't be a truck, either."

That got Tyler's attention, as he'd known it would, distracting him from what even Dan could see was a load of bullshit. Tyler run him over? Yeah, right. Haul him over a knee and wallop him, maybe, but if Tyler tried to pull that kind of daddy-knows-best crap, Dan was prepared to do his best to take Tyler down.

"Your dad?"

Oh, Tyler was quick at connecting the dots. "Yeah. He won the freaking lottery while I was away." Dan shook his head, still feeling the unreality of that piece of news. "He got a fiancée, a better son, and a cool half a million. I guess if I'd stayed away longer he'd have struck oil in the south field or something. He's put twenty-five thousand into my account, can you believe it? I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but, God. Twenty-five thousand dollars…"

Tyler frowned, brushing aside the money as if it didn't matter, which, given Tyler's bank balance, it probably didn't. "A better son? Is that what he said?"

 

Abashed into honesty, Dan shook his head. "No, I guess not. In fact, he was kind of laughing about Matt not being all that bright, but you can tell he likes him."

 

"He loves you," Tyler said unexpectedly. "Doesn't he?"

Dan stretched out his legs and contemplated his running shoes, scuffed here and there, sure, but he didn't like them when they looked fresh out of the box. "Looks like he does, and I was wrong about that, too. Guess if I'd stuck around, all his yelling and preaching would have died down. I just didn't give him long enough to adjust."
"He shouldn't have needed long," Tyler muttered, which wasn't fair, maybe, but still made Dan feel protected somehow. Tyler gave him a direct look. "You think he's a different generation and all set in his ways, don't you? He's closer in age to me than you are, and I've never been like that."

Dan supposed if he'd done the math that wouldn't have come as such a shock to him. It wasn't like he didn't know how old his dad and Tyler were, but he didn't like thinking of them both as the same age more or less.

"Tyler, do me a favor and don't mention that ever again, or I'll need to go and see one of those therapists you kept pushing at me in the hospital." Dan shuddered. "What, you think I've got issues with him that I'm working out by fucking you? That's kind of sick."

"I don't know." Tyler shrugged. "Do you see me as a father figure?"

"No!" Dan got out of his chair and walked over to Tyler with two long strides. "You've taken care of me, sure, and you watch out for me, but you're just -- you're you. You're
mine
. Not a replacement for my dad or Luke, not ever."

He went to his knees in front of Tyler and put his hands on Tyler's thighs, pushing them apart enough to make room for him to edge forward. He tilted his head back and stared up at Tyler, into the cool gray eyes he knew how to read. "You're not going anywhere without me."

Tyler's mouth tightened, and Dan felt the tremor that ran through him. The muscles under his palms were bunched and hard. "Until when?" Tyler asked him, and God, he sounded so tired and resigned. "Don't misunderstand me; I'm not asking you for a commitment. I just don't want you to waste time with me when you could be doing so much more with your life. We're at different places; you're just starting out, and I'm…" One of Tyler's shoulders lifted up in a shrug. "I'm finished."