Embracing His Syn (9 page)

Furi let out an exasperated breath.
“Where the fuck do I began?”

“
At the
beginning.”

“
Right. Well, I guess
there’s not much to tell.”

“
Okay,” Doug drew out the
word. “Tell me the little bit there is.”

“
Alright.” Furi sipped and
told Doug about the attraction between him and Syn. How the man
gave him crazy vibes. He told him about Syn going to the bus stop
and offering to take him home. How Syn wanted to hear his name on
his lips. Furi closed his eyes when he described Syn to his best
friend. The man’s growly voice, his perfect lips framed by a
delicious goatee. He told him all about the fight and the power he
oozed from every pore. Then he told him that he was a cop. Not just
a cop ... a damn Detective.

“
Okay. This guy came to
the bar and flirted with you, then he pummels some guy for hitting
you.” Doug counts off each attribute on his fingers. “Then he
chases after you to make sure you’re okay. But you blow him off
because he’s a cop.” Doug shook his head. “I’m sorry, but what
exactly is the problem?”

Furi’s head was spinning at his
screwed-up emotions. “I told you how Patrick started hitting me
after I gave him what he asked for in bed. Whenever we’d fuck a
certain way, he’d love it, but would always freak out later. I can
see the same shit in Syn. As soon as men like that fuck, they lose
their shit and immediately feel like they have to reclaim their
lost manhood, on my face. Mark my words. Syn would snap just like
Pat did.”

“
How the hell do you know
that?”

“
Call it my gay man’s
intuition.”

Doug laughed and refilled their
glasses. “I think you’re making an unfair generalization. Every man
is not a psycho asshole like your husband and his brother. There
are plenty of good guys out there. This cop seems like he’s more of
a protector than an abuser, babe.”

“
I guarantee he’s closeted
and will go crazy on me the second I let my guard down and hook up
with him.” Furi let his head fall to the side as he stared at his
friend. “There’s no way that a goddamn Detective is going to be all
out and proud. You think he’ll take me to the policeman’s ball?
Hell no, he’d make me be his dirty secret, and eventually his
punching bag.”

“
Whoa, dude chill. You’re
jumping too far ahead. Give the guy a chance. Try to get to know
him first. Then decide if he’s crazy. You know I got your back. I’d
never let anyone fuck with you.” Doug looked at Furi through
squinted eyes. “You want him bad don’t you?”

“
Of course I want him.
He’s hot as fuck. All alpha and growly and shit, wanting someone to
take his control. But he’s not going to admit it.” Furi downed the
last sip and put his hand up declining another refill.

“
A fucking
cop.”

“
What do you have against
cops, man? They protect and serve,” Doug argued.

“
Yeah they serve and
protect other people, not people like me.”

“
What do you mean, people
like you?”

Furi pushed his fists into his eyes
and winced at the memories. “When I was first beaten by Patrick.
He’d cracked two ribs, busted my lip and given me a black eye. I
had other bruises on my legs and back from being kicked repeatedly.
All because that motherfucker thought it would make him a man.
After sex he had to do something to feel like he was in control. I
got myself to the hospital and after I was released I took a cab to
the police station. I was going to file a restraining order against
Patrick. But the cops, they, they ...” Doug noticed Furi was
shaking and scooted closer to put his arm around him.

“
Shhh. It’s okay. You
don’t have to talk about it.” Doug rubbed soothing circles on
Furi’s shoulder.

Furi nuzzled in close to Doug and was
immediately calmed by the contact with his friend. “It’s fine. The
cops there wouldn’t help me. It was because I was gay, I know it
was. They looked at me with disgust on their faces. Cops are
fucking homophobic as hell. There I was, all banged up, begging for
help but all they were concerned about was my sexual preference.
The bruises meant nothing. Like they felt I deserved
it.”

“
Fuck them. But you can’t
assume that ... what’s his name again?”

“
Syn.”

“
Yeah. You can’t say Syn
is a homophobe too. I mean he was hitting on you in public, right?
And protecting you.” Doug kissed the top of Furi’s head and
squeezed him close.

Furi moaned and brought his hand up to
rub little circles on Doug’s strong chest. Furi’s cock was
responding to Doug’s touch, his deep timbre, his scent, oh man,
that scent was absolutely delicious. He smelled like aftershave
with a touch of motor oil. “God, it’s been so fucking
long.”

Doug’s throaty laugh radiated through
Furi’s haze and he had the urge to straddle his best
friend.

“
Hey, horny boy. Don’t get
any ideas.” Doug ran his hands through Furi’s long hair and pulled
so that Furi had to look at him. They touched foreheads. “You like
this guy. Give him a chance. He might surprise you.”

Doug leaned in and rubbed his smooth
jaw against Furi’s cheek. Furi couldn’t have stopped the moan if
he’d wanted to. Doug was a sinfully pretty man compared to Syn’s
ruggedly handsome face. Both were turn-ons for him.

“
Hey?” Doug asked against
Furi’s cheek.

“
Yeah.”

“
My brother said he called
and told you the divorce papers were ready to be served last week,
but you haven’t given him the go ahead. What’s up?”

He knew Doug could feel his body tense
up because he moved his firm grip to the back of Furi's neck and
began to massage the knots out. The thought of Patrick knowing
where he was scared the shit out of him. If the papers were served,
he’d surely come after Furi. Even though he wasn’t asking for
anything from Patrick. Except his freedom. The man had made it
painfully obvious that Furi did and always would belong to
him.

“
I just haven’t said okay
yet.”

“
Furious. Why not? Are you
going to let Patrick control you forever?”

“
If I have him served with
those papers, he’s going to come after me.”

“
Then let him come. I’ll
be ready for his ass.”

Furi wouldn’t dare put his best friend
up against Patrick and Brenden. No fucking way. This was his fight,
win or lose. “I’m going call your brother first thing in the
morning.”

Doug gave him a skeptical
look.

“
I promise. First
thing.”

“
You better.

“
I will if you give me a
little kiss.” Furi grinned. He was tipsy and horny now. Tequila
does that to a man.

“
Get the fuck outta here.”
Doug laughed and pulled on Furi’s hair. “Just because you have
long, soft hair and I’ve had a little to drink, doesn’t mean I’m
gonna mistake you for a woman.”

“
Don’t want you too. Come
on. One little kiss,” Furi moaned.

“
Fine. But only because I
feel sorry for you. Make it quick.” Doug laughed.

Furi’s head was still resting on
Doug’s broad shoulder when he brought his hand up and put it around
Doug’s neck to pull him to him. Doug’s smile faded and he looked
very serious, Furi thought he was getting mad, but that wasn’t the
case at all. Doug closed the distance and pressed his soft lips to
Furi's. Both of them gasped in surprise at the initial contact.
There was no tongue wrestling or groping. Just his friend giving
him a little comfort and some much needed affection. Furi hadn’t
been with anyone since he left his husband last year. That’s a long
time to go without any sexual contact or the comforting touch of a
lover. Furi felt Doug’s strong hand thread through his hair, making
him lean back into the touch. His eyes fell closed when he felt
Doug place a soft kiss against his throat. But what Doug did next
brought tears to Furi’s eyes. Doug wrapped him in his muscled arms
and hugged him tight, whispering on the shell of his ear that he’d
be okay, that he’d protect him no matter what. It was exactly what
Furi needed.

The great part about their contact,
there was no awkwardness after they pulled apart. Doug removed his
work shirt and boots. He told Furi to put on a movie because he was
staying the night since he’d had too much to drink to drive home.
Furi put on an action flick and settled back on the couch. Doug
reclined, propping his feet up on the small table in front of the
couch. He pulled a pillow from behind his back and placed it in his
lap, patting it a couple times, telling Furi to lay his head there.
There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation. Furi laid his head in his
friend’s lap and let him run his fingers through his hair. Furi
didn’t even get through the opening credits of the movie before his
best friend had lulled him into a peaceful sleep with his
touch.

Syn tightened his seat belt as God
drove like a damn lunatic through the city. He was now on the
interstate doing over a hundred miles an hour.

“
If the person’s already
dead, what’s the damn rush, Cash?” Day grumbled, obviously not
liking God’s driving either.

God ignored his passengers and swerved
over four lanes, cutting off an eighteen-wheeler and just missing
the barrier as he took the exit ramp at seventy.

“
Got a real heavy foot
there, don’t you Lieutenant?” Syn gritted through clenched
teeth.

God let out a grunt as sharp green
eyes caught Syn’s reflection in the rearview mirror.

Please just watch the
fucking road.

“
You know what else is
real heavy, Sydney?” God smirked.

“
Oh let me guess,” Syn
deadpanned.

“
Yep. My goddamn balls. So
just sit back and shut up.”

“
I concur,” Day chimed in
matter-of-factly. “About the heavy balls ... not about you shutting
up, Syn.”

“
Shut up, Day,” God and
Syn grumbled in unison.

God made a hard right turn onto N.
Peachtree Hwy.

“
Ya know, I’m more than
capable of driving myself to a crime scene. I appreciate you
chauffeuring, but it’s not necessary.”

“
It was Day’s idea,” God
said.

“
We oversee the narcotics
division. We should present a united front when we approach the
scene. The Homicide Detectives aren’t gonna like us taking this
over,” Day said, while adjusting the volume on the police radio
mounted on God’s dash.

An operator was reporting a 10-32, a
person with a firearm, on Puttmans Head Road, which was only three
streets over from where they were. God hit his brakes hard. If Syn
weren’t wearing his seat belt, he’d definitely have a massive
headache right now from slamming into the back of Day’s seat. Syn
jerked right when God swung his large truck into a U-turn in the
middle of the street, no doubt heading toward Puttmans.

“
Suspect about
five-foot-six or seven, Caucasian, wearing dark clothes. Proceed
with caution,”
the operator's voice came
over the radio.

“
What the fuck is going
on?” Syn asked, pulling his Glock from his holster and removing the
safety. God lowered the windows, all the men on full alert now. Syn
didn’t bother to ask the question again, since it didn’t look like
he’d get an answer.

“
Cash slow down,” Day
whispered, and turned down the police radio.

It was eerily quiet on the dark
street. It was after midnight, the residents of Peachtree City had
turned in for the night. Day was looking up the street and Syn
followed his gaze. There was a man walking fast with both hands in
the pockets of baggy black cargo pants, his dark hoodie pulled up.
Syn saw the man look back at them as God slowly approached from
behind. Syn and Day both kept their weapons pointed down, waiting
to see what the man would do.

“
He’s a runner,” Syn said
quietly

“
I think you're right,”
Day agreed.

God unlocked the doors and pulled up
next to the sidewalk. The man pretended not to notice but he walked
faster, keeping his head lowered.