Jumping at Shadows (9 page)

“What did they say about the pictures?” T.J. had come back into the room and stopped at the foot of their bed. Eric hesitated before answering as he got caught up in the sight of T.J. slipping the boxers over his hips, revealing the swollen erection in the mass of thick, dark hair between his legs. He had wasted no time in delivering the photos when he reported the Altima, and had heard the surreptitious observation his captain had made after announcing they couldn’t be used as evidence.

“There are some nice ones of your boyfriend here.”

Husband
, Eric had reminded him, though the pictures didn’t do justice to the flesh-and-blood man standing before him. He and T.J. had considered wearing rings, but both had agreed the complications that would come with the questions that would undoubtedly pop up about them were an unnecessary headache neither one of them needed. As far as their commitment to each other went, rings were as unnecessary as a marriage certificate. The pictures were secured in the department evidence locker for future reference—save for the one taken at Sparklers. That one was now safely hidden in the top drawer of the bedside table, and Eric fully intended to enlarge it before he had it framed.

After Victor was behind bars.

“They can present them to the Administrative Law Judge, but you know how that will go down. Nothing’s going to happen until we have more to back them up.” He dragged his eyes up to his lover’s face as the end of the bed dipped, and a hand on each of Eric’s upraised knees moved them apart as T.J. crawled up between them.

“And your team?” T.J. asked, his hands landing on the mattress beside Eric’s shoulders before he leaned farther to trail slow, wet kisses along his throat.

Eric’s hands slid along T.J.’s side as he stretched his neck. “Moving, but slowly.” He breathed out softly. “There have been no excessive deposits or withdrawals from Judge Kenczik’s accounts, no excessive spending of either cash or credit cards, no post office boxes opened, no suspicious absences from his duties, nothing.” He caught his breath when teeth accompanied a deliberate thrust against his hips; then he continued a little less steadily. “No suspicious calls on his phone records, no additional cell phones purchased in his name, no new accounts opened anywhere under his name or SSN.” The list of “no’s” had only confirmed what he had already suspected: anything the judge had done would not have been done so obviously. But they still had to check. Eric grunted as T.J. thrust again, a little sharper this time.

“They found exactly what I thought they’d find, which is nothing,” he repeated, struggling for the words as his body reacted to the lewd and teasing touches. “It’ll take more time to find anything of real use. I just have to convince them to keep looking.”

“The famous Eric Geller charm in action,” T.J. murmured teasingly, moving his lips across Eric’s cheek and up to his temple to nuzzle in his hair.

Eric growled softly as he turned his head to bite lightly at T.J.’s shoulder, thoughts of Victor slipping away. “If my charm was
that
renowned, we’d be shaking the walls by now.”

“No hurry,” T.J.’s voice purred in his ear. “Besides, I know exactly how to take your mind off your job for a bit.”

There was a moment of confusion, and then a slow smile as understanding dawned as T.J. leaned to the side. God bless his lover for his broad tastes in sexual pleasure. The vibrators were in the bottom drawer of the bedside table, and Eric didn’t have to ask which one T.J. was after when he leaned over the side of the bed.

S
LEET
still fell sporadically even after darkness had fallen, and the icy crust gave way under the weight of the footsteps emerging through the tree line that separated the Geller/Briscoe household from the neighbors that lived behind them. It was dark and desolate at this time of night, and he might as well have been the only being on the planet out of doors at this moment. The short field outside the trees sloped down to the low wooden fence that cordoned off the backyard, and the wood and brick house on the other side was clearly visible despite the spitting ice. There were windows facing the back, and one in particular that was wide and uncovered. A thickly gloved hand raised the handheld video recorder, then tapped a finger against the button on the top to zoom in and focus. A second tap, and the video began recording….

A
LONG
, deep sigh escaped Eric as the rounded silicone tip breached his ring of muscle, and the coating of gel slicking its thickly ridged surface grew warm as the bulk of the shaft was eased inside. Eric let out another slow, heavy breath as his body adjusted to the intrusion, shifting against the pillow propped at the small of his back as he leaned back with his hands braced on the bed. A matching breath came from T.J. as he pushed a little harder. When the electric hum began with the click of a button, Eric pulled his knees closer to his chest, his throat working to swallow a gasp of pleasure.

T
HE
image in the viewfinder sharpened as the focus was adjusted, and the picture shook for the moment it took him to step sideways to capture a fuller view. When it steadied again, there were no obstructions blocking the shadowy images he was recording.

S
WEAT
prickled on his skin as the vibrating ridges shook against his channel walls, the rounded tip reaching deeper with each push before T.J. dragged the shaft back again. The penetration was slow and done carefully enough not to damage, but with enough pressure to set Eric’s nerves on fire. Though T.J. had taken his time with the act of penetration, they both knew when they had reached the moment that a final push was all that was needed, and Eric tensed in anticipation as T.J. savored the moment. Then the final push came firmly and without warning, and the trembling tip at last touched his prostate.

“O
H
YEAH
….” The words vanished in a cloud of frozen breath, the sound barely loud enough to break the silence. The crack of wood breaking under the ice was startling enough to shake the video, but only for a moment before it steadied, and the focus returned….

“
F
UCK
!
” Eric hissed, fisting the sheets as he arched his hips from the bed, his head thrown back as his throat worked against the rough, panting breaths that followed. Linen scraped beneath him as T.J. began moving the vibrator just enough to intensify the sensation, and Eric heard the rasp of his lover’s breath as he worked with expert skill. Even with his eyes closed, Eric could visualize T.J. crouched between his legs, with his cock solid and leaking as it stretched to his stomach, and he knew that T.J. was getting off on this as much as he was; he could
smell
the sex coming from them both. His lips pulled back as he hissed through his teeth in time with the stroke of the vibrator, and the bedsprings began to creak as he rocked with the motion T.J. set. His ragged breath of “
God…!
” nearly overrode the growled “
Fuck, baby…!
” that came from T.J.

Then the pressure eased completely, and Eric let a nervous tongue lick the sweat from his upper lip as he opened his eyes to gaze blearily at his lover. T.J.’s dark and hungry eyes met his own, and he saw the tip of T.J.’s tongue slip out to taste his own lip. It was the only warning given before the vibrator was pushed hard and deep, and Eric arched wildly with a brutal cry as the shivering tip pressed firmly into just the right place. But this time the pressure didn’t ease, and the slight twist T.J. gave the handle made Eric dig his heels deeper into the mattress. The scrape of trembling silicone across the spongy muscle of his prostate ratcheted up both the sensations and his own cries as he began moving his hips to ride the shaft that T.J. was manipulating inside him.

Then his cries turned startled as the vibrator vanished suddenly and roughly from his body, only to be cut abruptly short when T.J. surged into place between his legs. Eric barely had time to register the blunt, leaking head at his entrance before T.J. buried himself with enough force to tumble them both to the bed and began pumping into him without a moment’s pause.

Eric scissored his legs around T.J.’s hips as T.J. fucked him hard and fast, and he grasped desperately at any part of his lover he could grab as he reveled in the feel of that steel-hard cock nearly splitting him in two. Hands scrabbled over his hips as T.J. tried to hold him down, and he heard the grunts and curses breathed hotly in his ear as he struggled to take his lover deeper. The kicking of their legs sent the vibrator to the floor with a hollow thump, and Eric’s strangled cries were muted against T.J.’s shoulder as he writhed between the bed and his lover. With the smell of sweat and sex heavy around him, Eric was nearly delirious with the need to feel and touch and taste, and his blinding need for more spurred him to sink his teeth into the wet, salty flesh beside one hard nipple. T.J. growled at the sensation as his hips pounded sharply down.

The suddenness of that cock hitting
just right
inside him sent his release crashing down, and Eric arched around T.J. as his cum spurted hard between them. It was the final straw to drive T.J. over the edge, and with a deep, growling “
Fuck!
”, T.J. slammed his hips down one final time as his own streams of cum burst deep inside Eric’s channel. Sweat-slicked bodies rocked gracelessly together as their seed drained out of them.

The rocking slowed as their orgasms eased, their bodies finally coming to rest with their hips nestled together. T.J.’s breathing was hard as he relaxed his body over Eric’s, though the kiss he placed on Eric’s lips was gentle and tender.

“Mmmm… God….” Eric breathed through the kiss, sliding his hands up T.J.’s sweaty back as his lover slid his weight off him. He moaned a little when T.J.’s cock slid free.

“You all right, baby?” T.J. whispered as he moved to nuzzle along Eric’s jaw, his hand stroking the curve of Eric’s hip where he had gripped him only moments before, urging Eric to turn against him so they lay flush beside each other on the bed.

Eric answered by pressing against him for a long, breathless kiss, smearing his cooling cum between their bodies as he swept his cock against T.J.’s with a long, slow slide. Moments passed before he managed any words.

“You should know by now that I’m not going to break,” he whispered then, threading his fingers through his lover’s sweat-dampened hair. “And we both know that if I didn’t like it, I would have said so a long time ago.”

There had been very little in their sex lives that either of them didn’t like, but the few things that did fall into that category had already been discussed. Being physically bound was something neither of them wanted, as taking away the ability to touch and be touched was more frustrating than pleasurable. The physical pain of heavy S&M was out, too, as were some of the filthier forms of sex play. What toys they had were used for pleasure and pleasuring, and any restraint they used was self-restraint—gripping the bars of the headboard or the cushions of the couch, or anything else within reach when they fucked or blew each other into oblivion. Wild sex was definitely
not
in that category, and the bruises that sometimes accompanied it only went with the territory. So did the scratches and bite marks when they happened.

“And,” Eric continued, tracing the latest marks of his teeth with one wandering finger, “I know I’m not the only one who likes it a little crazy sometimes.” He broke into a mischievous smile as he pinched the closest nipple. “Or should I say, most of the time.”

T.J. laughed softly as he pressed himself more firmly against Eric, feeling their heartbeats slow as they beat against each other, and stole another kiss full of every bit of the love but without the heat of the lust—one that he stopped before it went too far.

“We need to shower,” he said when they broke the kiss again. “And probably change the sheets. And maybe have a little late-night snack.”

It was Eric’s turn to laugh, and he resisted his lover’s efforts to pull away by nearly dragging T.J. on top of him instead. “Worked up an appetite, did you?”

“Always, baby. And God knows I need to keep up my strength to keep up with you.” He patted Eric’s hip as he nipped his lower lip. “Now come on.”

They were both moving carefully when T.J. pulled him from the bed, and Eric didn’t argue when T.J. stopped him for a kiss and a caress in the smoky light of the window before ushering him into the bathroom.

Neither of them had bothered to glance through the glass at the yard and the field clearly visible under the fall of ice.

T
HE
finger tapped the button to stop the recording, and then the crunch of ice accompanied the steps that led back into the cover of the trees.

Chapter Six

“
T
HERE
has been no word of Victor Kroger’s whereabouts since his unprecedented release from custody six days ago, and as confirmed by Breten City Law Enforcement officials, there has been no reason to take measures to remain informed of his whereabouts or activities.”