Hay and Heartbreak (11 page)

Dan tilted his head to the side to offer up more skin. He’d have begged for more kissing and touches if he’d had to. Fortunately, Hector didn’t make him. Instead, Hector licked a spot under his ear then sucked on it.

It felt divine. Dan closed his eyes as goosebumps raced down his body. Apparently his neck was another newly discovered erogenous zone. He hadn’t had a clue about that, just as he hadn’t guessed how much he liked having his nipples played with.

Hector scraped the spot with his teeth, then blew on it.

Dan shivered and nearly dropped his coffee.

“Here.” Hector placed one hand around Dan’s on the mug, and brought it to Dan’s lips. “Drink.”

The coffee was the perfect temperature, not too hot or cold. Dan took a couple of swallows while Hector held him. When he lowered the cup, Hector turned him around. Dan saw his intent and said, “I haven’t brushed—”

“Don’t care,” Hector interrupted before kissing Dan with a fierce yet tender possessiveness.

Dan told himself he was reading too much into it, that it was just a kiss.

Yet when Hector raised his head and touched the mark he’d made beneath Dan’s ear, there was something in his expression that told Dan he’d been claimed in some way.

“I’ve got to head out. I’ll see you tomorrow evening, okay? Sooner, if possible,” Hector tacked on.

Dan agreed, and after another lingering kiss, Hector left him alone.

Chugging the rest of the coffee, Dan tried to make sense of what he was feeling and what he thought he saw when he’d looked at Hector a moment ago. He decided that Hector had just wanted to make sure he was still going to have access to hooking up with Dan when he got back, that was all. “Didn’t mean anything more than that.”

A second knock on his door had him groaning. He knew it wasn’t Hector, and was fairly certain he was about to get grilled. “Come in, Frankie.”

Frankie entered, holding a plate in one hand, and scowling at him. “How’d you know it was me?”

Dan took the plate. Some kind of breakfast casserole was piled on it, along with a good-sized stack of bacon. “Who else would it be?”

“Right, because Hector already came in and—” Frankie gasped, and widened his eyes. “Jeez, he’s marked you up like he’s staking a claim.”

Since that statement mirrored Dan’s thought from earlier, Dan wanted to preen, but that wasn’t his nature, and besides, he knew Frankie was off base. “Don’t. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Frankie closed the door and leaned against it, giving Dan what he could only guess was a speculative look.

“What?” Dan asked after he couldn’t take being studied anymore.

Frankie shrugged. “Just, you know. I used to let guys do stuff to me, when I was down on myself. Not anything I liked, for the most part. It was messed up.
I
was messed up.”

Dan propped a hip against his dresser and took a bite of the casserole. It was good, something with potatoes, cheese, meat and onions. After he swallowed, he got another forkful ready to go. “Are you giving me some kind of sex talk? Because I gotta say, it’s about a decade or so too late.”

“A decade?” Frankie jumped on the time, and Dan realized his mistake. “You were in prison then, weren’t you?”

Dan wished he were smart enough to know when to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, he’d already blabbed. “Yeah, so? I had sex before then, if that’s what you’re about to freak out over.”

“So you weren’t a virgin when you went to prison?” Frankie whispered, and Dan had to glance away because if that was pity he saw in Frankie’s eyes, it’d piss Dan off.

“No, Frankie. Let it be.” Dan touched the scar on his cheek.

Frankie approached him slowly, like Dan was a snarling, wounded animal.

But he wasn’t. He’d dealt with what had happened to him. Just because he didn’t talk about it didn’t mean he hadn’t moved past it. “Frankie, whatever you’re thinking, you probably got it wrong.”

“Tell me what I’ve got wrong, then,” Frankie asked, almost pleaded, really. “Because I’ve heard stories, and I’m imagining some pretty awful things.”

Dan took another bite, then a third before he set his plate down and sighed. He wasn’t going to hurt Frankie’s feelings, and that meant talking whether Dan wanted to or not.

But first he had a question. “Am I gonna have to go through this with Duke, too?”

“Probably,” Frankie admitted. “So grab your plate and go over to our room. I’ll get you coffee—again—and meet you there.” Frankie surprised him by giving him a quick hug before darting out of the room.

Dan took a minute to brush his hair and put on jeans and a T-shirt instead of his pajamas. It wasn’t much in the way of armor but Dan felt more secure wearing them.

Duke surprised him by letting loose a wolf-whistle when Dan walked in. Duke’s broad smile was good to see. “So, little bro, I hear you been gettin’ some from Hector.”

Dan sputtered, not expecting the teasing.

“He’s got hickies, too,” Frankie said from behind Dan.

Duke was sitting up on the edge of the bed, his broken leg propped up on a plush ottoman. Both of his eyebrows shot up into inverted V’s. “Damn, I can see that.”

Dan glanced in the mirror.
Hickies. Damn!
There were two below his right ear, and one closer to the center of his neck.

“Are you preenin’ now?” Duke asked.

Dan turned his head. Another love bite showed just above his collar on the left side. “No. I just didn’t, er, didn’t pay attention to what was going to show.”

Duke laughed and pointed to the rocker. “Pull that up and come tell me what you and Hector got up to.”

“I’m not going into detail!” Dan protested. “Why would I tell you that?”

“I meant, where’d y’all go yesterday, and why’d you sneak back out of his room this mornin’? You might as well have stayed,” Duke added. “Everyone knows you two were bumpin’ uglies.”

Dan took the coffee Frankie offered him then sat in the rocking chair. “I came here to visit with you and Frankie,” Dan said stubbornly.

“And you’re gettin’ it on with Hector, which is fine. He’s only been here about a year and a half. He’s a good guy.” Duke patted the bed. “Come on, Frankie. Hop a squat.”

Frankie sat and gave Dan a meaningful look.

Dan wondered how in the hell he was supposed to bring up what Frankie wanted him to talk about.

And why, again, he had to go there. He gave Frankie a slight shake of his head.

Duke frowned and glanced from Frankie to Dan then back at Frankie. “What’s up?”

Frankie crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face. “I’m just concerned about Dan, is all.”

Duke scratched at his leg right above the cast. “Why? He’s a grown man. If him and Hector wanna fool around, what’s wrong with that? Ain’t like they’re hitchin’ their wagons together for good. Though,” he said quickly, smiling at Dan, “if it comes to that, that’d be mighty nice, too, havin’ you here.”

Dan tried not to be difficult—he’d been that plenty when he’d been a kid, and regretted it—but he really didn’t want to talk about his sex life.

Except he could see the worry in Frankie’s eyes, and he knew Frankie wasn’t asking to be nosy, but out of concern.

“I’m so fuckin’ confused,” Duke groused. “Someone tell me what the hell’s goin’ on!”

Frankie slumped, his shoulders rounding. “Nothing. I guess I’m just worried over nothing.”

“Why would you do that?” Duke asked him, putting an arm around Frankie. “There’s enough shit to worry about in this world already, right?”

“He’s worried about me and Hector, doing, you know,” Dan forced out. “Sex.”
Well that didn’t make me sound like an idiot at all.
“Having sex, I mean. Because I didn’t have a lot of experience before this.” He touched his cheek. “And prison.”

Duke blanched. “You told me that was a fight and nothin’ else happened.”

Dan nodded. “And that’s the truth. The fight was over who’d get me. It was my first full day in the pen, and this guy, Arlon, he grabbed me and cut me, said that marked me as his.”

Duke’s face turned red and his lips thinned. Dan hastened to explain.

“He didn’t do anything then. I ended up in the hospital, Arlon went to solitary, and Mosh, he was top man in our unit. No one messed with him,” Dan said. He hadn’t loved Mosh, but he hadn’t hated him, either. “When I came back, he gave me a choice. He’d protect me, or I could go it alone. Arlon wouldn’t take Mosh on. No one would. He had connections outside, too. I believed him when he said he could reach anyone he wanted to hurt.” And maybe, Dan could admit to himself, he’d been curious. Before his arrest, he’d spent most of his time fucked up, and sex hadn’t been as important as the drugs. Sober, he wanted to know what he’d been missing, what sex was like with someone who knew what to do.

“Did he hurt you?” Frankie asked quietly.

Dan shook his head. “If you’re asking did he rape me, no. Mosh didn’t work that way. He offered a deal, and you could accept it or not. I accepted it. Figured no one would want me once I was out with these.” He tapped the scar.

“Seems like you were wrong,” Duke said. “Hector hardly gave you time to catch your breath here before he was on you.”

“So what?” Dan retorted, trying not to snap at Duke. “So what if he was? Why’s that a bad thing?”

“I’m not sayin’ it is,” Duke protested, holding up his uninjured hand. “Calm down.”

“What the hell
are
you saying?” Dan demanded.

Duke hissed, puffing out air like he was opening a release valve on his temper. After a few seconds, he said, “I don’t even fuckin’ know. This Mosh, he didn’t hurt you. That’s what’s important. But you didn’t care for him?”

“No. That ain’t the way it works there.” Dan started rocking and took a sip of his coffee.

“I’m sorry I pried,” Frankie offered. “I was worried. I won’t bring it up again.”

“It’s okay,” Dan replied after he gave the matter a thought. “Y’all have to remember, I’m twenty-eight, not eighteen, and maybe I haven’t screwed a lot of guys, but I’ve got some experience that keeps me from being a naïve sucker.”

“That’s true enough,” Duke agreed.

Frankie plastered on a smile. “So this means I don’t have to do the whole safe sex talk?”

Dan flipped him off.

Frankie laughed and snuggled closer to Duke.

The tension in the room ebbed until it was gone. Dan rocked and drank his coffee while Duke and Frankie—mainly Frankie—chatted about what was going on that day.

Dan liked watching Frankie and Duke together. They were happy, and in love, and it showed.

But it also made him ache for something like what they had, and Hector kept mingling in with that ache. Dan was having a sort of emotional crisis by that evening.
A mini-crisis. I’m not falling apart. Just need to stop making a big deal out of nothing. I’m having a fling, not building a future with Hector.

Once Dan had told himself that, he set about refocusing his attentions elsewhere. He called Clarence to see how everything was going. By nine, he was fed up with his own company. He left the bedroom and checked in on Duke and Frankie. They were cuddled up together in bed, so he bid them goodnight and after three more hours of restlessness, he wandered into the living area.

The only person in there was a man Dan hadn’t met before, though he’d heard mention of someone named Joaquin who was returning from taking time off for a family emergency.

Dan guessed the man sitting on the couch had to be him. As Dan entered the room, he cleared his throat.

Joaquin turned his head enough to look back at Dan, then returned his attention to the movie on TV. “Come on in and sit,” he surprised Dan by saying.

Dan took a seat in the closest recliner. “I’m Dan, Duke’s brother.” It was then he noticed the paper bag Joaquin had in hand, braced on his lap. It held a big bottle of some type of alcohol, Dan would bet. No one bothered hiding sodas or water in paper bags.

“I’m Joaquin Almodovar.” Joaquin lifted the bottle. “Good to meet you. What happened to your face?”

Dan had been asked that question by people who hadn’t even bothered to introduce themselves first. He didn’t take offense, or tried not to. “Got cut in a fight.” That was his standard answer.

Joaquin grunted and took another swig. “So you lost, huh?”

“I guess so.” Dan was beginning to get the feeling that Joaquin might be drunk and confrontational. “I’m going to get some water. You want a glass?”

Joaquin snorted. “What do you think?” He brought the bottle to his lips and drank, watching Dan the whole time.

Dan wasn’t in the mood to deal with a drunken asshole. He stood up and went to the kitchen, intending to fix himself a glass of water then just go back to his room.

He didn’t even hear Joaquin approach. One second Dan was digging the ice tray out of the freezer, the next he was pushed forward and a long, hard body was pressed against his back. The scent of whiskey burnt his nose when he inhaled.

Joaquin didn’t grope him, but he did place his hands on either side of Dan, pinning him in. “Looks like you enjoy a good fuck.”

Before Dan could ask what the hell had given Joaquin that idea, Joaquin pressed his chin right below Dan’s ear, where those two purple marks were.

Dan wasn’t having any of Joaquin’s stupid shit.

“Get off me before I make you regret getting near me,” Dan said, keeping his voice low and even. He wasn’t scared, but Joaquin should have been, if he had any sense in his pickled brain.

Joaquin tensed. Dan could feel muscles coiling where he was pressed up to Dan’s back. “Don’t go actin’ like I offended you—”

Dan spun around and had a knee nudging Joaquin’s groin before another word was spoken. “I’ll break you, buddy,” Dan murmured, his hands on Joaquin’s forearms, ready to take him down if he needed to. “And you goddamned well
did
offend me. I am not here for you to harass because you’re a drunk fool. At least I hope that’s the only reason you’re acting like this, trying to force yourself on me.” For all Dan knew, Joaquin could have been a regularly obnoxious jackass.

Joaquin backed up quickly. “I wasn’t forcing nothing! I just asked—”

“Nothing,” Dan cut him off with. “You didn’t ask me a goddamned thing. Plastering yourself to my backside isn’t asking, you moron. Now if you’ve got any sense at all, you’ll take your drunk ass to whatever room is yours and sleep this off.”