Nobody’s Hero (19 page)

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” Danny muttered as he slid into his seat and grabbed his seat belt. “Oh my God.”

“What’s the matter?”

“
Mi papá
, he knows.”

“What?”

“Yeah, he was there. Inside. He picked out the condoms.
Mi papá
chose the condoms.”

“Holy shit!”

“I know, right?”

It took a little urging, but when Danny had told the story in full, Brad leaned back in his seat. “Dude. I love your dad. He’s like the rock star of fathers.”

Danny still looked a little shell-shocked. “It reminded me a little bit of the sex talk he gave me when I was fourteen. You know, humiliating, awkward and oddly fascinating. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t already know about sex, even safe sex, and consequences, but it was my dad and I was gay. He knew it, of course, because, well, I didn’t hide it, so he skipped right over the pregnancy bit. He didn’t shy away from anal sex either. It was...surreal. I don’t think I looked him in the eye for a month.”

“Does this change our plans for the evening?” Brad asked.

“What? Why?”

“Well, since buying condoms turned into such a traumatic event, maybe it killed the mood.”
Please
,
please don’t let it have killed the mood.

Danny grinned, revealing the sexy crooked tooth Brad loved. “I’m nineteen years old. Nothing can kill the mood that much.”

“Good. Let’s go, then. The chicken is getting cold and I’m getting impatient.”

* * *

The sun was low in the sky when they reached the Bay Street house. Danny pulled around the corner. “Just in case someone comes by, I don’t want it obvious someone is in there.”

Brad reached behind him for the drugstore bag before grabbing the sack of chicken and fries. The drugstore bag was heavier than he would have expected. When he stepped out of the Jeep, he peered into it. The condoms and lube were there, but the licorice and shoelaces confounded him. A weird kink, maybe?

“Dessert?” he asked when Danny met him at the sidewalk with the gray blanket under one arm.

“Don’t ask,” Danny said, pushing a button on his key fob to engage the locks.

Danny took care of the lockbox on the house’s door. He pressed a series of numbers and the front panel opened to reveal a house key. Danny used the key to unlock the door and secured the key back in its box. There was enough light from the sun outside—it was still too early for a summer sunset—to illuminate their way. The second floor had an open hallway with a railing overlooking the first floor living room. Danny led the way up to the first bedroom on the second floor. It was one of the only carpeted rooms and it faced the back of the house rather than the street. That way, no one would see movement in a house that should be empty.

The precautions were necessary, but they made Brad feel a little nervous. “This isn’t going to get you into trouble or anything, is it? If someone finds us here, I mean.”

“Nah. We’re in luck. Papá hasn’t hired extra security yet,” Danny said. He winked at Brad over his shoulder. “Besides. It’d be worth it.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

He had no idea what he was doing, he was nervous as hell and his dick was aching, but so far things seemed to be going well. They spread the blanket on the floor in the middle of the room, pausing now and then for a kiss. They sat cross-legged, knee to knee, and fed each other cold chicken and soggy fries. Brad didn’t think he’d ever had a better meal. The conversation never faltered, either. Brad told Danny about some of the good times he’d had with his brother, like the time they played hide-and-seek at the country club, mortifying his parents when Nolan climbed out from beneath their father’s client’s table. Danny told Brad about some of the trips to Mexico his family had taken and meeting some of his distant relatives. They talked about Ray and Aurora and Danny’s other sister, Yesenia.

They finished eating and packed all the leftovers away. He didn’t know if Danny leaned into him or if he leaned into Danny first, but either way, Brad lost track of everything but Danny. His mouth was fierce, demanding, his hands hot where they slipped under Brad’s shirt to run over his back. He inched closer, trying to get more contact, more heat.

“Skin,” Danny muttered between kisses, tugging Brad’s shirt over his head.

A car door slammed. Brad jumped to his feet, heart racing and knees shaking.

Danny put a hand on his leg. “Whoa. What’s the matter?”

He took a deep breath. Stupid. Stupid to let the past screw with him right now. He knelt back on the blanket. “It’s nothing. I heard a sound and overreacted. I’m fine now.” He tried to pull Danny back for a kiss, but Danny leaned out of reach.

“It’s not nothing. If something we did—something
I
did—freaked you out, I need to know. We need to talk about it.”

“No, it’s not you. It’s me.”

Danny’s lips twitched, but he didn’t quite smile. “Are you going to say we should just be friends? I think we’ve already been there, done that.”

“Ha.” Brad rolled his eyes. “Seriously, though, it was a momentary—I don’t want to call it a panic attack, but maybe a panic-blip. Making out with someone, the slamming of a car door, the combination set off the mini panic-blip.”

Danny’s voice was quiet when he asked, “Is that what happened with Carson and your brother? Are you worried about something like that happening here?”

“No, of course not.” At Danny’s raised brow, Brad said, “I’m not. My brother and his buddies are locked away, your family accepts you, and, after your run-in in the drugstore, they’re aware you have sex. It was knee-jerk.” After thinking it through for a moment, Brad believed it, and after examining Brad for a moment, Danny seemed to believe it too.

“So,” Danny said, his voice husky, “we going to do this?”

“God I hope so.” Brad leaned forward. Danny met him halfway and their mouths came together, held, released. Then he pulled back again. “Uh, do we need to, you know, talk about top and bottom and, you know, do you have a preference?” God, he hoped he didn’t suck at it. That would be awful. “It’s a good thing one of us has some idea of what’s going to happen. I mean, intellectually I know how this works, but, well, it seems like the actual process of getting from Point A to Point B might have more steps than porn would have us believe.” And, holy shit, he was babbling. He tried to stop, but his mouth kept going. “I mean, those guys are suddenly there and doing it. No awkward questions about preferences and expectations, or—”

Danny stopped the avalanche of works by placing his fingers across Brad’s lips. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Besides, we have plenty of time for that. I want to take advantage of our time alone.”

Danny was as good as his word. He pulled Brad close and continued kissing him.

Before long they were stretched out on the gray blanket. The one, Brad thought as the skin of his back hit the soft fabric, Danny had bought to make the moment special. That, as much as anything else they did or would do, made Brad feel important, loved. He forgot all about doing it wrong or right, about preferences and expectations. He let his hands wander where they wanted and smiled at every twitch and groan. The soft skin along Danny’s side proved particularly sensitive. Brad touched and kissed it over and over, loving the way Danny squirmed.

Danny sucked on the hollow above Brad’s collarbone, sent tingling shocks of pleasure through the rest of his body. He licked a line down Brad’s sternum, following the path down to his abs. He silently begged Danny to move lower. After the one attempt at a blow job had been interrupted, Brad had spent a hell of a lot of time fantasizing about finishing in Danny’s mouth.

“My mother’s not here right now.”

Brad’s hands had been alternating between clutching at Danny’s shoulders and his too-short hair. The mention of Danny’s mother, though, made him cringe. “Jesus, Danny, you can’t talk about your mom at a time like this. Please!”

Danny chuckled and the vibration of it tickled Brad’s bellybutton. His tongue darted out and teased the indentation there. Brad arched his back and Danny used the moment to unbutton Brad’s shorts and push them down his legs. Eyes almost glowing in rays of the setting sun, Danny looked up from his position between Brad’s legs and smiled. “The last time I was here—” he slipped his fingers under the waistband of Brad’s boxers, “—
mi mamá
almost walked in on us. Since she’s not here, I get to finish what I started.” He pulled the underwear all the way off.

“Please, yes,” Brad gasped, “but don’t mention your mom again.”

When Danny sat up to grab the bag with the condoms and lube, Brad didn’t move. It was a little awkward, yeah, to lie there naked and vulnerable. He reminded himself he didn’t need to worry. Danny wouldn’t do anything to humiliate him.

In his haste to get the necessary supplies, Danny tossed the other items out of the bag. The package of licorice landed on Brad’s chest. He flipped the candy away, laughing when Danny growled. “Why in the hell did I get shoelaces? And where in the hell are the cond—Oh, here they are.” He rolled back to Brad and nipped him on his hip. “Where were we?”

Danny bent his head and licked the length of Brad’s erection. Brad shouted and dug his fingers into the blanket. His hips arched, silently begging Danny to do it again. He’d never experienced anything quite as good as the hot, wet warmth trailing up his dick.

“You like that?” Danny nuzzled Brad’s super-sensitive skin.

“Not at all,” Brad lied. “But I can pretend for a little—Ah, Christ, do that again.”

Danny swirled his tongue around Brad’s cock head, then paused and blew on the damp trail. “Do you want to change your answer?” He traced his hands up Brad’s legs, over his knees and across his taut thigh muscles. He repeated the motion, stroking closer and closer to Brad’s erection.

“Stop teasing,” Brad demanded. “Please.”

Danny dipped his head and took Brad into his mouth. The heat, the suction was almost too much. Brad released his grip on the blanket and searched for Danny’s hand, using the contact to ground himself. Danny nibbled and sucked until Brad was about to lose his mind.

They took a quick break to have the top or bottom discussion. Well, Danny discussed and Brad answered in gasps and groans, but in the end, Brad felt more comfortable letting Danny take the lead. Danny grabbed the lube, then, moments later, a lube-covered finger reached between his ass cheeks and stroked over Brad’s anus. Blood surged to his groin, making him even harder. The finger pressed inside him as Danny bent down and swallowed Brad’s cock again.

Jesus.
“If I’d known it would feel this good, I’d have begged you to do me weeks ago.” The words came out slurred and choppy.

Danny chuckled, the vibrations of it making Brad’s eyes cross.

“More.” He shifted, torn between the thrill of Danny’s hand and the heat of Danny’s mouth.

Danny inserted another finger and Brad grabbed Danny’s shoulder and arched into him. He tried to focus on technique so maybe he could do this to Danny next time, but then those fingers started curling and pumping inside him and he couldn’t think at all. It was so fucking good. All he could do was hang on to Danny’s shoulders and cry out as he came in his boyfriend’s mouth.

Danny crawled up his body. He cupped Brad’s face. “Ready, baby? It might hurt for a second, but it should fade pretty quickly if you relax. But let me know—”

“Shut up.” He wrapped his hand around Danny’s dick. “I love you, but zip it and put this inside me.”

Danny shuddered and chuckled, but followed directions. He pressed inside. There was a stretching, burning pain, but it barely registered in the enormity of the moment and the care Danny took to make sure everything was perfect. Nothing they’d done before this could compare; this was love and it was right.

Brad’s body took over, needing no instructions from his blissed-out brain. He dragged Danny as close as possible and caught his mouth, reveling in the feeling of skin against skin. When Danny’s thrusts became jerky and frantic and Brad was about to come again, he grabbed his dick and started pumping in time with Danny’s movements. He pulled away from the kiss. He wanted to see what Danny looked like when he came. When Danny shuddered through his release, he whispered, “Love you.” Brad came again seconds later.

As soon as coherent thought and the ability to speak returned to him, Brad met Danny’s heavy-lidded stare. “We are so doing that again.”

Danny chuckled and hauled Brad close. “God, I hope so.”

He fell asleep with his head on Danny’s shoulder and a smile on his face.

* * *

Danny didn’t know how long they’d dozed, but even after they opened their eyes, they lay there waiting for the ability or desire to get up and get moving. Darkness had fallen some time ago, so it had to be at least ten o’clock. He could have reached for his shorts and his cell phone in the pocket, but it seemed like too much work at the moment.

The slam of the front door broke his lethargy.

He jerked to a sitting position, signaling for Brad to stay quiet. Slowly, he snagged his shorts and, with as few movements as possible, pulled them on. He’d be damned if he’d get caught with his ass bare to world. Brad handed Danny his T-shirt before slipping his own over his head.

“Your dad?” Brad asked, his voice softer than a whisper against his ear. He felt the words more than he heard them.

Danny shrugged. He didn’t think it was Papá. His father didn’t normally check out the properties late at night. Of course, with the recent vandalism and the missing tools—Danny refused to even contemplate that Papá still suspected Brad—Papá could be making extra rounds. Or maybe he’d hired guards after all?

“You’ve had eight weeks to come up with the money you owe.” With no furnishings to muffle the sound, the words echoed through the empty house.

Yeah
,
definitely not Papá
.

Danny heard scuffling and then something slammed against a wall. He had a moment to hope the fresh drywall hadn’t been dented when someone else said something. This voice was too quiet to understand.

“Eight weeks.” The first voice was cold and, Danny’s overactive imagination decided, evil. “You’re lucky. It’s been a month since your last warning, when you promised to get us what you owed us. Instead you’ve been making small payments that don’t even cover the interest.”

A muffled exclamation and another thud followed.

“What, you didn’t think there’d be interest? Idiot.” Something in the man’s tone struck a chord. It was familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

Brad crouched next to Danny, staring at the open door to the empty room. Another thud and the unmistakable sound of crunching plaster.

Brad tensed. When one of guys downstairs grunted in pain, Danny held on to Brad’s arm to keep him from moving.

“You have two weeks to come up with the whole ten grand.”

“
Ten?
” For the first time Danny could hear what the one he thought of as the victim had said. The voice was hoarse and Danny didn’t recognize it. It could have been anyone. He wondered briefly if this could be linked to the time Ray got beat up, but he couldn’t come up with a single reason for Ray to owe someone ten thousand dollars. He lost his train of thought when the dude in control answered. There was something about that voice...

“Yes, ten. I told you there was interest. Two weeks. Ten grand. And, to make sure you don’t forget...” The voice trailed off and the empty house resounded with the clash of breaking glass and the rhythmic punch of something heavy breaking through drywall.

Brad tried pulling away from Danny’s grip.

“Are you crazy?” Danny hissed, strengthening his hold. “We don’t know who’s down there or what kind of weapons they have. We need to wait for them to leave.”

As much as Danny was tempted to charge down the stairs with the hope his presence would scare off whoever was busting shit up—including some poor idiot—fear held him back. Fear and self-preservation. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it, at least to himself. He’d once seen a man who stepped between a clerk and some guy intent on robbing a gas station. He’d been five and his
papá
had pushed Danny behind his bigger body, but he’d been able to hear the whole thing. The robber had turned on the would-be rescuer and shot him, point blank, in the chest.

For all they knew, the guys downstairs had guns or knives and, horrible as it was, at least it didn’t sound like they wanted their victim dead. Dead men couldn’t pay debts, right? Of course, he couldn’t explain all of this to Brad, not then. After an excruciatingly long thirty seconds, Brad finally nodded and relaxed next to him.

When the sounds of destruction had died and the front door slammed, Danny waited a full five minutes before carefully getting to his feet and creeping into the hall to look over the railing into the living room below. The place was a mess, with broken glass and gaping holes in the freshly painted walls.

Papá was going to be pissed.

Brad came over and peered down at the wreck. “Do you think whoever got hurt is still there?”

Danny shrugged. “I’ll check it out, I guess. You stay here.” Brad glared at him but didn’t argue. He made his way down the stairs and scanned the first floor. “I don’t see anyone, so he must have left too,” he told Brad when he returned.