Dirty Angel-BarbaraElsborg (38 page)

“I think I can forget about that job.”

Brody bit back his retort. He wanted Aden to tell him the truth, that there was never any job, but he could wait. “I’m sorry for thinking you were on the run from the police. They say you’re not a person of interest.”

“Charming.” Aden huffed.

Brody smiled. “I think you’re very interesting. So do a group of other people. Ones who saw your photo.”

Aden stared at him.

“You saved lives, helped people hide. They want to thank you. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is that one guy in particular is convinced you were shot. You sheltered him, and he thought they’d killed you. He said he was covered in your blood.”

“Hmm.”

“Meaning?”

“You’re seen me naked. Notice any bullet holes?”

“No. But is it true what that group of survivors is saying? You led them away, gave your hiding place to a teenager, were shot but resisted, then protected that guy?”

“I’d…just fucked the guy I ended up on the floor with. I did try to shield him, but the rest is a blur. I blanked it out.”

Something wasn’t right about that. Why remember part of it and not all? But Brody let it go. “The other thing I need to tell you is that Leah’s better.”

“That’s good.”

“Going to tell me how you managed that?”

“I have no idea.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not. I don’t know how I did it.”

Brody’s cheek twitched. “But you know why she got better?”

Aden’s eyes darkened. “I have my suspicions.”

“Going to share them?”

“I already told you. You didn’t believe me. I’m fairly sure I’m not supposed to tell the rest of it now. Though if by chance you hit on the right answer, I promise not to lie to you.”

What was he talking about? “Are you from outer space?” Brody blurted.

“No. I’m as human as you.” Aden sighed. “Although you look terrible. Want to get into bed with me?”

Brody managed a laugh and accepted the distraction. “The stupid little fucker in my jeans thinks that’s a great idea. The more sensible part of me knows it isn’t. Does the doctor say you’re going to be okay?”

“Apparently, I’ll need looking after for a while. Like to volunteer?”

Only for the rest of your life.

A month later

Aden sat on an Adirondack chair in the back garden of the cottage, his face tipped up to the falling snow. Every now and again, he licked a snowflake from his lips. Although he wore a hat, jacket and gloves, he was cold, but snow falling in March never lasted long. He wasn’t going to freeze. It was just that every now and again Aden liked to remind himself he was still alive.

He’d been advised to apply to the Criminal Injuries Board for compensation and had refused. There were worthier people. Apparently he could have claimed against Matt’s estate. As if Aden would take money from the man’s wife and kids. Money wasn’t as important to him as it once had been and Aden had brought this on himself.

The police had taken another look at the car accident that killed Brody’s parents and discovered Matt had had his car in a repair shop around that time. His wife remembered because they’d been due to go on a trip to Scotland and had to postpone. But the body shop had changed owners, the car sold on. Proving Matt caused the crash would have been difficult and neither Brody nor Des thought it worth the time and effort now Matt was dead. Another look at Peter’s death had put Matt in the vicinity and the police had reopened the investigation, for all the good it would do but Aden knew Brody felt terrible for Peter’s family.

Aden said no to an award for his actions at the Octoplex. Maybe he had been brave, but he’d survived and others hadn’t. The only thing he’d agreed to do was speak to the guy he’d sheltered in the corridor, the one he’d fucked. The man’s name was Kev and his sister had written to Aden via the police to ask him to talk to her brother. Kev was suffering from PTSD and convinced Aden was dead even after he’d seen the story of his stabbing in the news.

One afternoon, when Brody was at work, Kev had come with his sister. She ushered him into the cottage then waited in her car. Kev had cried in Aden’s arms as he’d gone over what had happened. Aden wasn’t sure he managed to convince Kev that he hadn’t been shot, even after he’d showed him his chest and back. Stab wounds didn’t look like bullet holes. But when he left, the guy seemed brighter somehow, less bowed by survivor guilt. When Brody came home and Aden told him how things had gone, Brody had hugged him and said he’d done a good thing.

He and Brody hadn’t fucked yet, not even given each other blow jobs. They were sleeping in separate beds because Brody was afraid of hurting him. The doctors said to wait a month and Brody had been marking the days off every night on a calendar with a dramatic flourish which made Aden smile. But before they did anything, Aden wanted to tell Brody his other secrets.

Brody’s vehicle pulled up at the front of the house. Aden heard Brody calling him from inside and then he was outside, kissing the snow from Aden’s face.

“What are you doing, you loon?” Brody sat on the arm of the chair. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Snow bathing. Had a good day?”

“Did an op on a little dog, put bolts in his spine and he should be able to walk again. Bionic dachshund. What about you?”

“I managed to do a Fiendish Sudoku.”

“Did you cheat?”

“I always cheat. They’re too hard.” Aden pulled Brody down and kissed him, sliding his tongue over Brody’s. “Mind you I do like hard things.”

Brody groaned and tried to pull back. Aden yanked him round until Brody was sitting astride his lap. Brody tried to keep the kiss soft but Aden wasn’t having that. He sucked on Brody’s tongue and Brody whimpered into his mouth.

“I was thinking maybe we could get a dog,” Brody said. “What do you think?”

Aden tensed and Brody pulled back to look into his face.

“You don’t want one?” Brody asked.

“Not yet. I want to tell you something.”

“Out here?”

“Yeah. I don’t want inside corrupted by the story. You warm enough?”

Brody nodded. He still had his coat on. Aden buttoned it up for him.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“My parents.”

“Okay.”

Aden took a deep breath. “I don’t suppose they were the world’s worst parents, but it felt like it to me. They grew pot, smoked it, sold it. They…sexually assaulted me.”

Brody drew in a breath. “You told me—”

“I know and that guy did fuck me when I was taken into care, but my father did it first.”

“Jesus, Aden. They
were
the world’s worst parents.”

“They were always arguing or fighting or fucking. All of it in front of me.” He gave a short laugh. “They’d met at school, were still together fifteen years later and in their own warped way, they were devoted to one another. Mum thought the world of Dad even when he clocked her one. When she hit him back, he used to laugh and say he deserved it. I bet your parents never hit each other.”

Brody shook his head.

“The night they died, it was about eight o’ clock and I was in my bed behind the couch where they slept. Dad was out. Mum was in, drunk and stoned, lying watching TV. Dad got back, drunk and pissed off because he was hungry and there was nothing to eat. They screamed at one another and it seemed more vicious than normal. I put my fingers in my ears and buried my head under my blanket like I usually did, hoping they forgot I was there.”

Brody tried to shift his weight off Aden and Aden kept him where he was.

“You’re not heavy,” Aden said. “Stay there. Keep me from running.”

Brody sighed.

“Mum was screaming. Dad was yelling at her to put the knife down and there was this loud bang.” He took a shaky breath. “I knew it was a gun but I’d never seen one in the house. I heard Dad groaning, saying he was sorry, he hadn’t meant to shoot her. Then the gun went off again and all I could hear was this bubbling sound. I crawled out from behind the couch. Most of my dad’s head was spattered over the wall and the TV. He’d shot himself. My mother had…lost half her face and I thought she was dead too but she wasn’t.”

“Christ.”

“She looked at me and I could see she was trying to say something so I went over to her. I think I was expecting her to say sorry.” Aden sucked in his cheeks. “She said—finish me.”

“Oh God.” Brody bit his lip.

“There was a knife on the floor by her hand. Blood on it. I found out later, she’d stabbed my dad. She looked at me with…the one eye she had left and said—do it.” Aden closed his eyes. “I don’t think I could have if she hadn’t said the next word. Please. She fucking
said
please
.” He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. “She’d never said please to me in her life, or thank you, or I love you. Just fuck off, you little shit or I wish you’d never been born.”

“Aden,” Brody whispered.

“She wrapped her fingers around the knife and couldn’t lift it. Fumbled for my hand, put it around hers and I lifted her hand that held the knife. She was the one who put it in position over her heart but she couldn’t push down. She said please again and I looked at what was left of her face, I could see her brain, and thought she was going to die anyway, and maybe my life would be better if…oh shit. I pressed the knife down and I watched her die.”

Aden tipped his head back gulping cold air trying to freeze his pain. Brody took his hands, held them tight and Aden gripped him back.

“Her prints were on the knife, not mine. It would be comforting to think she’d tried to make it look as though I’d had nothing to do with it, but that would be giving her credit for something she never intended. The one time in her life she needed me was to help her die. I often wondered if the police suspected, but nothing was ever said and I’ve never told anyone. Not until now. My big secret. One of them. If I could go back, I wouldn’t have done it. They might have been able to save her, reconstruct her face. I can’t help but think she didn’t want to live without my dad. I didn’t matter. I’ve never mattered to anyone.”

“You matter to me.”

Aden swallowed at the lump in his throat. “Why? I’m a broken wreck. I had a fucked up childhood and grew up into a fucked up man. All I can do is serve behind a bar, mend cars or soothe bad-tempered horses.”

“And fuck like a demon.” Brody’s smile faded when Aden didn’t laugh. “Hey, you can do anything you want, anything you set your heart on. I’ll help you. What do you want to be?”

“A porn star.”

Brody laughed. “What else? Sing? I’ve heard you sing. You’re good.”

“Not that good. I’m not going to waste my life following an impossible dream.”

“That’s not a waste. Dreams can come true. Apart from you making it as a porn star. That’s not going to happen.”

Aden pouted. “I’d be okay if I could get someone to practice on.”

“Three more days and you can have all the practice you want.”

“You don’t care about what I did?”

“Of course I fucking care. I’m horrified at what you had to go through. Does it make me feel any different about you? No. I just… I want… I want to make things better. I want our lives to be better.”

“Start now.” Aden nudged Brody off his knee then stood. “Not three days. Now. I can’t wait any longer.” He pulled Brody into his arms and pressed his mouth to his ear. “I want to taste you, feel you, make you come in my mouth. I might not fuck you like a demon. Maybe you’ll get the angel first time. But I
will
fuck you. I’m not listening to no. I’m fine. I’m beginning to think there’s some other reason you’ve been sleeping away from me. I did have a bath the week before last.”

Brody groaned and laughed at the same time. “Okay. I give in.”

Aden tugged him toward the cottage and they fumbled their way inside, dropping their coats on the floor. Aden slammed Brody back against the door.

“Hey, be gentle with me,” Brody said. “I’ve recently had a very worrying time.”

Aden dropped to his knees and mouthed Brody’s cock through his trousers, smiling as it swelled.

“Oh God.” Brody gripped his head. “Hurry up.”

Aden laughed. “Mr. Romantic.” He pulled out Brody’s shirt, unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and eased Brody’s cock from the confines of his shorts. The sharp tang of arousal made Aden’s mouth water and his own cock twitch. He slid his hands up under Brody’s shirt, over his flat stomach to his nipples, then pinched them as he engulfed Brody’s cock, swallowing him down to the root.

The way Brody groaned, it sounded as if he was dying, and as soon as Aden had slid his lips back to the tip, he took him deep into his throat again just for the pleasure in hearing that sound. Brody’s chest heaved under Aden’s hands as his breathing grew choppier.

Aden let him out of his mouth and looked up at him. “Want to come fast or slow?”

“Arrghh. You honestly think I have any choice? Just let me come.”

Aden brought one hand down and wrapped it around the base of Brody’s cock. He licked a leisurely path from tip to root and back, then sucked the crest, worked just the head, swirling his tongue, dipping into the slit to steal precome while Brody’s thighs trembled against his chest and his fingers tightened in Aden’s hair. Aden moaned as he sucked, letting Brody’s dick slide in his mouth and press inside his cheek. He brought his other hand down from Brody’s chest and caught Brody’s fingers, pressing his palm against the bulge in his face so he could feel his cock surge under the skin of his cheek.

“Fu…fu…fuck,” Brody gasped and bucked against Aden’s face.

Aden gently took Brody’s balls in his hand and Brody’s cries became desperate.

“I can’t…” Brody muttered, then his entire body shuddered as he spurted into Aden’s mouth.

It was all Aden could do not to come as well. He felt like he had two heartbeats. One in his chest, the other in his dick and they were beating out of sync. He swallowed every last drop of come and Brody’s hold on his hair loosened as he slid down from the high.

“Sorry,” Brody gasped the word.

Aden pulled off him with a quiet pop and licked his lips. “For what?”