Fire and Rain (16 page)

“I’d appreciate your help,” Jos said.

“I can help by ensuring that Isaac has a proper home and is taken care of in the best way possible. I will be hiring a lawyer to explore what my options are in this situation.”

Jos lifted Isaac onto his lap, and Kip could see him retreating into himself. If their aunt understood anything or had the ability to see past her own immediate wants and needs, she’d see how badly she was hurting Jos. Kip saw it instantly and put his arm around Jos’s shoulders. He had to let him know that he was there for him.

“Let’s go,” Kip said gently.

“I’d like to be able to spend some time with Isaac,” she said as they reached the door.

Kip turned to Jos, who seemed confused, and his eyes a little glazed over. Most likely in fear. “You don’t owe her anything,” Kip said.

“I know. But she is my mother’s sister,” Jos told him and then turned to her. “I’ll think about it.” Jos took a step out of the room, holding Isaac’s hand.

Isaac stopped in the doorway and turned back to his aunt, waving once, then took Jos’s hand once again. Kip thanked Mary, who let them out, and then he lifted Isaac into his arms and took Jos’s hand.

“Did you eat at work?” Kip asked as they started the walk home.

“Yeah. Darryl tried out some new recipes on us before we started our shifts. It was pretty good but a little weird. Sometimes he gets these ideas for things like brains—offal and stuff. At least that’s what Billy told me.” Jos stuck out his tongue. Kip figured Jos didn’t want to talk about his aunt and what had just happened, and he decided not to force it. “He tried out a liver dish, and it wasn’t bad, but it stank up the entire restaurant. Billy and I ran around trying to get the smell out before we opened. Darryl agreed that he wasn’t going to put that on the menu.” Jos grew quiet as they walked.

Kip waited for him to say something, but they just continued walking. With each step they took, they seemed to descend further and further into the night, silence pressing tighter around them. When they reached the house, Jos still hadn’t said anything more, and when they went inside, Jos took Isaac right upstairs to put him in bed.

Isaac had been asleep most of the way, and Jos must have had an easy time putting him down, because he joined Kip in the living room a little while later.

“I was going to make some tea,” Kip said.

Jos shook his head. “All I want is for the crap that keeps getting piled on me to stop.”

“Isaac is yours to care for. Your mother said so in her will. There’s very little your aunt can do.”

Jos nodded. “But what if she really can take better care of Isaac than I can? From the looks of her and what my mother said, she could give Isaac things I could never afford. And she is our aunt, my mother’s sister. I suppose if she wants to spend time with Isaac, I can’t say no.”

Kip sighed. “I told you about my mom.” Jos nodded. “After she died, my dad and I went to counseling. He said we were both pretty messed up because of her drinking. I thought we were messed up because of what happened to Adrienne. Dad said no. That was an accident and wasn’t my fault. It was my mother’s drinking that caused it. Anyway, Dad enrolled both of us in counseling, and it helped. I think he realized he was an enabler. One of the things I learned about myself was that children of alcoholic parents are often nurturers. I took care of Adrienne because my mom couldn’t, just like you take care of Isaac.”

“Is that bad?” Jos asked.

“No, it’s not. But the other thing is that we always try to make everyone happy. I used to think that if my mom was happy, she wouldn’t need to drink. I was wrong, but it’s what I thought. Is that what you’re doing?”

Jos shrugged.

“Did you ever join a group for the families of alcoholics?”

Jos shook his head but didn’t answer otherwise.

“I did for a while. I didn’t get a lot out of it at first. But once I opened up, I realized a lot of things, including how much mom’s drinking had affected me and turned me into the person I am. I also saw how I kept trying to make everyone else happy.”

“Yeah. I guess I do that.” Jos looked up from where he’d been studying his feet. “If people are happy, then maybe they aren’t drinking or they’ll like me.” Jos met his gaze. “So you’re saying I shouldn’t worry about what Aunt Kathy wants?”

“I’m saying the only people you need to worry about when it comes to you and Isaac is you and Isaac. If you don’t want her visiting, then you can say no.”

“But what about if she tries to take Isaac away?” Jos shook as he said the words. Kip saw, and he hated the idea of Jos hurting. He’d been through enough already, and just when things were starting to go his way, this happened.

“We’ll call Donald in the morning. He should be able to help us. The thing is, she can’t just sue for custody. Well, she can, but it isn’t like a regular lawsuit. Family courts are different. With children and custody, there are all kinds of things that have to be done, and she would need to prove a lot to get Isaac.”

“I need to get a place of my own. A home for Isaac, so I can demonstrate that he has a safe place.”

“I don’t know.” Kip was about to say that Jos and Isaac had a home right where they were. But he wasn’t sure if that would only push Jos away. Also, Kip wanted Jos to choose to be with him, not move in because he thought he had to in order to keep his brother. If Jos felt he had to get a place of his own, then Kip would help him, no matter how happy he was with the two of them staying with him. “We can ask Donald all your questions in the morning.”

“Okay.” Jos stood and leaned down, kissing Kip on the lips. Then he left the room, and Kip heard him on the stairs. He sighed and then began turning off the lights and locking up the house. By the time he got upstairs, the door to Isaac’s room was mostly closed. Kip went to his own room and found an empty bed.

He stared at it and groaned softly. Jos had been staying with him, happily sharing his bed, for the past week. Now it felt to Kip as though something precious and special had been ripped away from him. However, it was Jos’s choice, and Kip wasn’t going to ask or intrude. If Jos needed to be away, then that was his choice and Kip would respect it.

Kip cleaned up and undressed, getting into bed and turning out the lights. He ended up tossing and turning for a while, then stared up at the ceiling. A soft squeak came from the hallway. Kip figured it was Jos getting up to go to the bathroom. He heard water run and then stop. Finally the door opened and closed. Kip heard the squeak again and rolled away from the door. He had to go to sleep or he’d never make it through his shift.

“Kip,” Jos said.

Kip rolled back over and saw Jos standing just inside the door. Kip lifted the blankets, and Jos came over and slid into bed.

Jos felt good in his arms, and all Kip thought about was how he was going to show Jos how much he wanted him in his bed and in his life. Words fell short, so Kip pushed up the shirt Jos was wearing, tugging until it slipped over his head and off his arms. Then he worked Jos’s shorts off, stroking his warm, smooth chest and belly. He couldn’t seem to get enough, running his hands over Jos’s arms, becoming more and more frantic the more he touched and felt.

“You’re like an octopus.”

“I can’t get enough of you, and I could feel you pulling away from me,” Kip said as he continued his explorations. He’d never know what Jos would have said next, because he kissed the words away, and Jos wound his legs around Kip’s waist. Kip licked down Jos’s neck and over his shoulder, sucking lightly on his salty skin, loving when he found one of those spots that made Jos shiver.

“How come I’m naked and you’re not?” Jos asked. Kip paused in his amorous adventure to tug off his shirt. Jos pressed his hands to his chest, and Kip’s skin pebbled with energy. He’d never experienced anything like it with anyone else. It didn’t seem to matter where Jos touched him—he could raise goose bumps in seconds. Kip managed to clear his mind enough to shimmy out of his briefs and toss them out of the bed. Then he tugged Jos closer, chest to chest, hips to hips, Jos’s cock sliding alongside his. God, he loved that, and he shivered his own excitement when Jos gyrated his hips.

Jos pressed upward and Kip went with him, letting Jos push him onto his back. Kip liked the way he felt on top of him, and when Jos sucked at his nipple, Kip closed his eyes. Jos lightly scraped his skin with his teeth, and Kip hissed softly as the zing shot straight to his brain and to his dick, which throbbed where it pressed to Jos’s belly.

He expected Jos to kiss down his belly, but instead he licked across his chest, lifting Kip’s arm over his head. Then he licked down Kip’s side, worrying the spots that sent Kip into orbit. Who knew he had a spot just above his hip that felt so damn good? He hadn’t, but Jos found it and seemed fascinated.

“Jos,” Kip whined. He actually fucking whined.

“You have fun spots all over, and I want to find them all,” Jos told him.

Kip wasn’t sure how many more of those fun spots he could take him finding before the top of his head blasted off. Jos kissed lower, just above his hip. Kip’s leg twitched when Jos licked a spot on the inside of his hip. His cock did a little happy jump, and he wished to hell Jos would shift his attentions. He wasn’t sure how to take all this. It felt strange and wonderful, sort of tingly, all at once. “Dammit,” Kip groaned.

“What do you want me to do? Suck you?” Jos lifted his face away from Kip’s skin and slowly climbed back up him, making small circles with his hands on Kip’s belly and chest as he went. “Do you want me inside you?” he asked, and Kip felt him shake in his arms.

“Does that excite you?” Kip asked. “Is that what you want?”

“Yeah,” Jos breathed. “I want to see you when I fill you up and watch you when you come just from me being inside you.”

Kip shook for a second and then stilled when what Jos had said kicked in. The way he’d said the words, low and deep, had carried him away, though the words themselves didn’t sink in right away. “You want to….”

“Yeah,” Jos said. “You’re really sexy, and I want to watch you when I….” Jos paused and started. “Haven’t you ever… bottomed?”

“A long time ago, and I didn’t like it very much,” Kip admitted. He really didn’t want to think about things like that. “I guess I thought that since….” It was his turn to trail off.

“You thought since I’m a little smaller than you that I would be the one to bottom and you’d top? I like both.” Jos snuggled closer. “I can make you feel so dang good.”

Kip chuckled, letting go of his fear. This was Jos. “You can, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll fill you up and touch that place down deep that will drive you crazy and have you begging me to never stop.” Jos slid down his body, and Kip didn’t stop him. He wasn’t so sure about being the one to get fucked, but he also wasn’t selfish and wanted to make Jos happy.

Jos rolled him onto his belly and straddled his legs. Kip felt Jos’s long cock slide along his ass, and then Jos stroked his back, massaging deep, from his shoulders to just above his ass, then back again. Over and over he stroked, and for a second, Kip wondered what had happened. He was the one who was supposed to be comforting Jos and making him feel better.

He groaned when Jos massaged his ass, working his fingers into his cheeks and then spreading them apart. He moaned shamelessly as Jos came closer and closer to his opening, teasing him with gentle, magic fingers before finally ghosting them over his opening. Kip quivered and reached for the nightstand. He got out some supplies, fumbling, but managed to keep them from tumbling onto the floor.

Jos got the slick and teased him some more, sliding his fingers around his opening before slowly pressing inside. “What kind of person were you with before?” Jos asked.

“I was young.” Kip’s answer turned to a groan when Jos curled his finger and rubbed over a spot that sent lightning running to his mind. Kip was well aware of the love button; he’d found it on other guys and had had an amazing time searching for it on occasion, but he’d never had anyone look for his. “So was he,” he managed to add.

Jos whispered something about new tricks, and Kip would have growled—in fact, he might have; he couldn’t remember, because Jos added a second finger and then pulled away. Kip knew he was getting ready, and soon Jos was right there, cock sheathed, pressing to his entrance. Kip did his best to relax and trust that Jos would make this good for him.

“I want to see you,” Kip said. He slowly rolled over. Lying on his belly made him feel too far away from Jos. He needed that connection.

Jos settled between his legs and leaned over him, their lips close together. “You have no idea what this means to me. That you trust me enough to—” Jos swallowed.

“Of course I trust you,” Kip said, cupping Jos’s cheeks and tugging him into a kiss. As he did, Jos pressed forward and Kip’s body opened to him. He hissed against Jos’s lips, breaking the kiss as the stretch overwhelmed him. Pain brought tears to his eyes for about two seconds, and then Jos slid inside him and it was all Kip could do to catch his breath.

“Am I hurting you?” Jos asked and stopped.

“Yes… no…. Don’t you dare stop,” Kip told him as he went through a gamut of sensation in a few seconds. Jos nodded and slid deeper. By the time Jos pressed his hips to Kip’s ass, Kip had never felt so full in his life. Jos held still for a few seconds and then withdrew. “Oh God.”

“Yeah. In is good, out is amazing,” Jos whispered and stroked up his chest. “I know you want to scream. Hell, I do too, but if we do, we’re going to have a visitor we don’t want at the moment. So you have to be quiet.” Jos actually snickered at him.

“I’m not the loud one.”

“You will be by the time I’m done with you.”

Jos began to move faster. Kip spread his legs farther apart, and Jos shifted a little lower and proved he was right. It took all Kip’s restraint not to scream at the top of his lungs. Jos’s fingers in him had been one thing, but when he scraped over that spot with his cock, it sent Kip into orbit. And he managed to do it again and again.

Within minutes Kip was gasping for air and riding the edge of control. He felt like a teenager again, and it was all because of Jos. Kip stroked himself a few times and then released his dick because if he didn’t, it would all be over in seconds, and he wanted this to last.