Holding Out for a Fairy Tale (15 page)

Ray stole a slice of tomato from under Elliot’s hands and ate it plain.

“I just don’t think it’s worth panicking about yet,” Elliot continued.

“You don’t think it’s worth panicking about? Do you have any idea what type of man my cousin is?”

“If I didn’t have a decent idea of what type of man he is from his dossier, I think the ‘Soup Maker’ thing summed it up. Definitely the kind of guy where you need to shoot first.”

“And ask questions later?” Ray rolled his eyes.

Elliot smirked. “If he’s still capable of answering questions, you’re a lousy shot. So it’s a good thing I can aim. I don’t think it’s worth panicking about yet because we don’t know if he was the one who broke into your place. You’re forgetting that someone else knows you took Sophie’s laptop—Luca Garcia. You can’t tell me he was happy with you taking it.”

“He doesn’t know where I live,” said Ray.

“He doesn’t know where I live, either. All I’m saying is, it could have been totally random. An ex-lover could have broken in and trashed your place just to fuck with you.”

Ray let out a defeated huff. “Can we turn on the alarm, at least?”

Elliot set two extra slices of tomato on Ray’s sandwich and dropped the top slices of bread on. He shoved Ray’s sandwich toward him. Ray’s eyes focused on the sandwich, all thoughts of cartel stalkers forgotten.

“I don’t even know how to turn on the alarm system,” Elliot admitted. He hesitated for a moment, then traced his fingertips up Ray’s side and over his bare chest. “I guess we’ll just have to keep an eye on each other. And we can’t do that if I’m here and you’re in a hotel.”

Ray swallowed hard. “Okay, no hotel.”

R
AY
WOKE
up less than an hour after he got to sleep. The light cascading through the gigantic windows overlooking the Rueda Canyon filled Elliot’s living room with a golden glow. If Ray was a morning person, he might have appreciated it more. It made the entire room agonizingly bright, and even burying his head in the black hole that was Elliot’s couch didn’t block out enough light for him to stay asleep. Since he was going on four days with very little sleep, he was so exhausted he considered digging through Elliot’s medicine drawer to find something that might knock him out. But if he was going to risk getting his ass kicked for a bit of rest, he’d rather it be for something more worthwhile than a mixed narcotics hangover.

Groggy and stumbling, he wandered into Elliot’s bedroom where heavy curtains masked the glaring sunlight outside. Elliot stirred as Ray slipped into bed beside him.

“What the hell?” Despite the grumble, Elliot rolled over to give Ray space.

“You don’t have curtains in your living room,” Ray said. “I’m tired, Belkamp. I’m so tired I think it would take a lethal dose of Viagra and a blowjob for me to get it up right now. Your ass is safe from me.”

He scooted under the blankets and moved close enough to feel the warmth of Elliot’s body. The cocoon of body heat and the deep, even rhythm of Elliot’s breathing lulled Ray into the first deep sleep he’d had in days. At some point, he felt Elliot try to shift away from him, and Ray automatically dragged him back across the bed. He was well aware of what he was doing, but he kept his eyes shut and hoped Elliot would assume he was moving in his sleep. Once Elliot’s warmth and steady breathing settled in his grasp, he drifted off again.

When he awoke next, it was still dark, but he could still hear Elliot breathing. He rolled toward the weight of the other body in bed and found he was trapped by the blankets. “Come back,” he muttered, trying to grab Elliot through the blankets. “Still tired.”

“It’s almost six. I was tired enough to sleep most of the day, too, but food has to happen at some point. You should wake up.”

“Don’t want to,” Ray pouted.

He looked up and saw Elliot, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that actually fit him, reading something on a new, thin laptop. Ray tried to squirm closer, but with Elliot on top of the blankets and him underneath them, it wasn’t working.

Elliot glanced down at Ray and rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re comfy.”

“I ordered pizza, it’s on the counter if you want some,” said Elliot.

“Coffee?”

“Gives me headaches.”

“Caffeine?” Ray tilted his head up in panic. He could technically survive without coffee, but the withdrawal headaches would be a bitch. He wondered how they compared to Elliot’s migraines.

“There’s a gallon of sweet tea in the fridge. It has caffeine.”

“Thank God….” Ray dropped his head onto Elliot’s hips, nuzzling closer to use the other man as a pillow and to catch a glimpse of what was on his laptop screen. “Thank you for letting me sleep too.”

“Letting you?” Elliot huffed. “The only time you’ve shown any signs of life was when I left the room. So long as I’m nearby, I think you could sleep through anything.”

“Thank you for staying so I could sleep. I feel so much better.”

“Sure.” Elliot clicked something on his laptop.

“Got anything on Sophie’s laptop yet?” Ray asked

“It’s Sunday night; of course I don’t. Our boys in Technical are calling in encryption specialists from the National Security Agency to get into the hard drive.”

Ray sat up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. If it turns out she went to all this trouble to secure her diary or some shit like that, neither of us is ever going to live this down.”

“It’d be funny though, right?”

“No.”

Ray sighed. It would be hilarious, in a career-ending, mortifying kind of way. “You really think she would go to all that trouble to hide something that wasn’t important?”

“I wouldn’t have bothered handing it over to the guys in Technical if I didn’t think it was important.”

“Ouch. Usually I’m the one getting annoyed when someone restates the obvious.”

Elliot shrugged and went back to scrolling through the file.

“I’m starting to think you’re right about her stealing that money,” said Ray.

“Since we’ve interviewed everyone possible, St. Claire has decided to elevate this to a full-blown missing-person investigation. She’s preparing an official press release, and she’s got agents and volunteers combing the campus grounds today. Better today when there aren’t as many people. Tomorrow I’m going to go help interview Munoz’s classmates and talk to that last professor again.”

“Call him now. Garcia suggested they were involved. We’ve got to follow up on that.”

“I’ve tried twice today and once yesterday when I was submitting the report for the laptop. Both numbers he gave me are forwarding calls to his office. It’s Sunday night, so no one’s there. You’re welcome to come with me tomorrow, if you think you can keep your temper under control this time.”

Ray rubbed his eyes and shimmied under the blankets again, dropping his head back into Elliot’s lap. “I didn’t lose my temper. And the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that they were involved.”

“How so?”

“Sophie’s smart. She might have thought that little shit Garcia was cute, but she resented having to act like an idiot just so she wouldn’t offend him. It’s in the tone of her Facebook messages to him. It’s the same way she talked to Carmen every time Carmen made her clean her room. I think he was totally oblivious while they were together. Garcia might have thought she was exchanging sexual favors for a boost to her GPA, but I think that was because he didn’t know her well enough to know she didn’t need to. The professor is more her type, and he obviously knows her better.”

“So why did he bring up Garcia?” Elliot asked. “And would you sit the hell up? Or at least stop trying to burrow into my crotch?”

Ray rolled up on his elbow and closed the screen on Elliot’s laptop. “I was comfortable.” He set his fingers on Elliot’s zipper, hesitating for a moment to give Elliot time to stop him if he wanted to. Elliot’s mouth hung open slightly, but he didn’t move to stop Ray. As Ray pulled Elliot’s zipper down, his knuckles grazed the thin cotton of Elliot’s boxers and the swelling cock hidden beneath the fabric.

Elliot grabbed his wrist and squeezed, stopping him instantly. Ray met Elliot’s dark green eyes for a moment, seeing the lust he was feeling mirrored in Elliot’s gaze. Ray ignored the pain in his wrist and tried to grin. “We need to sort this out. I want you. I’m pretty sure you want me. I’ve had a constant hard-on for the last three days because I can’t look at you without getting turned on.”

“We’ve already had this conversation.” Elliot’s grip on Ray’s wrist was like a vise as he set the laptop carefully on the floor. He pinched Ray’s wrist just a bit tighter and shifted his weight, pulling Ray across the bed while he rolled up onto his hands and knees. He shifted his body over Ray’s, grabbing Ray’s other wrist and pinning both of his hands to the mattress. Even with the blanket between them, Ray could feel Elliot’s erection poking out of his boxers. He bucked his hips up, tried to grind against Elliot to show him just how turned on he was, but he couldn’t get enough leverage. “Why should I let you fuck me if you won’t be able to respect me when I do?”

“I wasn’t talking about you when I said that.”

“Does it matter?” Elliot whispered. “You don’t think you can respect yourself if you take it up the ass, why should you be able to respect anyone else who does?”

“I… I was just planning on sucking you off.” Ray tried to twist his wrists free, tried to shift to get Elliot’s thumbs off the pressure points that were making both of his arms ache. “I wasn’t going to do anything you wouldn’t enjoy.”

Elliot shifted his weight forward so his head dropped down beside Ray’s ear. “Have you ever tried it?”

“A couple times. I may not be a pro, but I know what I enjoy.”

“I wasn’t talking about giving someone a blowjob.” Elliot chuckled and leaned close. “I was talking about letting yourself be fucked. Have you ever asked a girl to finger you? Ever done it to yourself just to see what the big deal was?”

Ray shook his head and tried to keep his pulse from racing out of control. His heart was hammering so hard he was sure Elliot could feel it, despite the layers of fabric between them. Fabric that was quickly disappearing. Ray tried to use his feet to help Elliot shift the damn blanket away. Even when the blanket vanished, Ray wanted to get closer. He wished he could take Elliot’s T-shirt off, but no matter how much Ray tried to move, Elliot didn’t release his wrists.

“Fine, then, just remember that you started this….”

Ray tried to yank his arms free as Elliot closed his long, thin fingers around both of Ray’s wrists and held him with one hand. He couldn’t move. He didn’t want to move. The only thing between them was their boxers, and those thin layers of cotton were too much.

He focused on Elliot’s face, just a few inches from his own.

Elliot brought his own hand up to Ray’s mouth and ran two fingers along his bottom lip. “Suck,” he whispered.

Ray wasn’t sure why he obeyed, but he did. He sucked on Elliot’s fingers, lapping at them with his tongue until they were as wet as he could manage. Elliot pulled his fingers out with a pop. Ray shuddered as Elliot ran his hand down the side of Ray’s arm, over his ribs and hip, to the bunched-up fabric of his shorts.

The other man didn’t hesitate. He reached into Ray’s shorts and pressed a single spit-soaked finger inside Ray’s body. Ray didn’t mean to hiss, but he was nervous and couldn’t help clamping down around Elliot’s finger. If Elliot noticed, or cared, he didn’t show it. His face was stoic, almost unreadable.

“I’m surprised your sex life hasn’t been a bit more adventurous.” Elliot’s tone was light, conversational, and completely out of place when he had one of his fingers shoved knuckle-deep into Ray’s ass.

“Hard….” Ray gasped. “Hard to be adventurous when you’re only with someone a few times….”

“That’s too bad. But to do this right, I need a better angle. I’m going to let go of your wrists now. You’re going to stay there. You’re not going to move, if you can help it.”

“I’m not some fucking masochistic slave, Belkamp.”

“I didn’t suggest you were. But I’m a good three inches taller than you, I’ve got more muscle mass, and the United States Army spent a lot of money training me to restrain people. You’ll sit still, or I will make you sit still.”

Despite the pain in his wrists and his ego, Ray nodded. The moment his wrists were released, Ray cradled them with his opposite hands. “That hurt.” He kept his tone light, trying to sound casual about the finger that was still in his ass.

“Sorry. Habit. You should relax, bear down a little.”

Ray was about to ask why, to ask what the hell Elliot was getting at, when a wave of pleasure erupted from where Elliot’s fingertip was and ricocheted through Ray’s body traveling all the way to his toes. The shock just made him clench harder around Elliot’s finger.

Elliot laughed. “It’s not quite the same, when you’ve only got your partner’s reactions to go by.”

“You seemed to enjoy it.”

He felt another jolt radiate through his body as Elliot stroked inside him hard. He tried to push back against the pressure, but Elliot held his hips down.