Salvation (26 page)

“But nobody’s dancing.”

“So somebody needs to start it off!”

“No thanks.”

He dropped his hand and said, “Party
pooper. Where’d that cute blue-haired guy go?” He turned from me and spotted my
friend in the pool. “Hey Skye, come dance with me! Trevor is acting
middle-aged!” he yelled.

“Don’t have to ask me twice!” Skye
exclaimed. He hoisted himself out of the pool, stripped off his wet t-shirt and
kicked off his sneakers. He then bounded over to the patch of grass beside the
hula ladies and threw his hands in the air, swaying in perfect rhythm to the
pulsating dance music. Immediately Nana and her little clones abandoned the
hula lesson and started emulating what Skye was doing. Gianni laughed
delightedly and joined them, and pretty soon almost everyone was on the little
makeshift dance floor, except me.

“Come on, Trevor,” River called. “Join
us!” His moves were more jumping around than dancing, but it looked like he was
having fun.

“In a minute,” I lied, and retreated indoors.
I knew I was being a dork. I should be out there having fun, but somehow I just
couldn’t make myself cut loose like that. Dancing at parties was not for the
shy, clumsy and awkward.

“You’re as bad as me,” a deep voice
said, “hiding in the kitchen when you should be out there having a good time.
You and I really do have a lot in common.”

I gasped and spun around, then ran to
Vincent, jumping up onto him and kissing him as he caught me in his arms. “You
came back,” I said between kisses, wrapping my legs around him.

“I had to.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t think about anything
but you, Trevor. I want you so fucking much that I can barely function.”

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in a
month,” I said before pushing my tongue between his lips and running my fingers
into his thick, dark hair.

He stopped kissing me long enough to
say, “Then you’re as crazy as I am, because it’s only been a day.” He licked my
neck and bit my earlobe, making my cock twitch in response.

“More than a day. A good day and a
third. Almost a day and a half!” I started fumbling with the buttons on his
short-sleeved black shirt as his hands slid to my butt. When I got the shirt
open, I unwrapped my legs from around his hips and dropped to my feet, then
took one of his small brown nipples between my lips and sucked it until it was
hard, my hands running up his sides.

Soon both of us began rubbing each other
through the fabric of our shorts, his erection swelling in my hand as my cock
pushed against its confines. When I started to reach for his belt, he stopped
licking my ear long enough to whisper, “Let’s move this to our bedroom.
Quickly.”

“Slight problem. It’s no longer ours.
River and Skye moved in with me last night since all the guest rooms are full
now.”

“Where should we go?”

“Out front? No one else is out there,
and as long as we’re quiet we should have some privacy. Do you have a car
here?”

“I do. Let’s go.” He grabbed a
decorative bottle of oil off the counter, and we rushed hand-in-hand through
the house and out the front door.

There were several cars in the circular
driveway. He went up to a silver Porsche 911 and pulled a key fob out of his
pocket, pressing a button. I asked, “No more Jag?”

“It was a rental. This is, too.” He
swung the door open and frowned at the interior. “Damn, it’s a pretty tight fit
in there.”

“So, let’s improvise.” I guided him
around the car door, then pushed him against the front fender before pulling
him down to me and kissing him again. We stripped each other as we kissed, and
soon I was totally naked while he was down to just his unbuttoned shirt.

Vincent grabbed me and swung me around,
seating me on the car’s hood. He pushed my legs up and apart, one hand on the
back of each of my knees as I tipped onto my elbows, then sucked my cock as I
tried not to cry out. There was a huge house between us and the partygoers, but
I could faintly hear their music and laughter, so I figured loud moans would
carry back there, too.

It took a lot to keep quiet when Vincent
began licking the sensitive skin beneath my balls, then started rimming me.
When he pushed his tongue in me, I arched up, threw my head back and drew in my
breath. It was so hard to fight back a yell of pleasure.

As soon as he’d opened me up, he grabbed
the glass decanter, held it about three feet above me, and drizzled oil all
over my cock and balls with a flourish. I chuckled at that as I swung my ankles
up onto his shoulders. He stroked my slick shaft as some of the cool liquid ran
between my legs, then took hold of his own hard cock and rubbed the tip up and
down along my crack before pushing it inside me.

He took me so hard that the car beneath
us rocked slightly, his big hands grasping my hips, pulling me down to meet
each thrust. He was at just the right angle to massage my prostate, and the pleasure
was so intense that I started moaning despite myself. I flung my arms up over
my head and braced my hands against the hood of the car so I could drive myself
even more forcefully onto him.

This went on for several
earth-shattering minutes, until finally I started shooting all over my body
without even touching my cock, cum spraying as high as my chin. “Oh fuck yes,”
Vincent growled, and soon he began cumming too, deep within my body. While that
was going on, he picked me up and kissed me. I threw my arms around his
shoulders and deepened the kiss, my tongue in his mouth. Even after his orgasm
subsided, he kept holding me to him and kissing me, gently now, his hands
caressing my back.

Eventually, he eased out of me carefully
and I smiled at him as I reached up and straightened his glasses. He then
fished around in the car, locating a white t-shirt in a duffle bag. He used the
shirt to clean me, wiping all the oil and, um, other liquids from my body.
“That’ll never wash out,” I told him. “You’ll have to throw that t-shirt away
now.”

“I know. That’s okay.” He tossed it into
the back of the car and handed me my clothes, then kissed me tenderly.  

Once we were both dressed again he said,
“I’m going to go find a hotel for tonight, I’m too tired to drive back to the
city. If you want, I’ll sneak back here toward the end of the reception
tomorrow. I’d like one slow dance with you.”

“No.”

“No?”

“That’s right. You’re not going to go
slinking off, you shouldn’t have done that in the first place. Come and say hi to
your brother Gianni, who you haven’t seen in months. I’m sure he’s going to
want you to stay here in his house, not in some hotel.”

Trevor—”

“No arguments, excuses, or rebuttals.
Just come inside with me. Please?”

He knit his brows at me. “It’s really hard
to say no to you, especially when you’ve got those baby blues locked on me.”

I took that as a yes and smiled at him,
then led him back into the house. We found Gianni in the kitchen, pulling all
the booze bottles out of one of his cabinets. He exclaimed, “Vinnie!” before
hurrying over to us and grabbing his brother in an embrace.

Vincent’s first response was to stiffen
up. But he relaxed after a few moments and rested his hands on his brother’s
back. “Hey Johnnie. Long time.”

“I know, Vinnie. Too damn long.”

“Do you really have to call me Vinnie?”

“Do you really have to call me Johnnie?”

“Force of habit,” Vincent said.

“Likewise!” The brothers let go of each
other and grinned affectionately. I could tell right away that they were close.
Vincent was more relaxed with Gianni than I’d seen him with anyone, besides me.
His brother said, “I was so bummed when I found out I’d just missed you. Thank
you for coming back, although I know you did it for that little hottie over
there and not for me.” Gianni smiled and winked at me.

Vincent picked up my hand and told his
brother, “I do find it impossible to stay away from him.”

Gianni started gathering up an armload
of bottles, saying, “I’m restocking the bar. The guys brought tons of booze,
but we somehow seem to be burning through it. Come on out and join the party.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Vincent
said. “No way am I crashing the party of a couple people I barely know.”

“Okay first of all,” I said, “it’s just
an informal gathering. Secondly, your grandmother and Dante are out there, and
so is your brother-in-law Charlie. And it is, in fact, being held at the home
of another of your brothers. You know Hunter and Skye too, they’re both here.
Counting me, that means you have ties to almost a third of the party guests.
It’s really not like you’re just some guy that wandered in off the street.” I
started to head toward the double doors, tugging on his hand. He stood his
ground for a couple seconds, then sighed and let me lead him out to the pool.

As soon as we got outside, we ran into
Dmitri. He spotted Gianni first and said, “Hey, I’m going to make a run to the
liquor store so we don’t drink up all your alcohol.” When he spotted Vincent,
his smile vanished. He glanced at our joined hands and then at me.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Vincent said.

Dmitri stared at him for a long moment
before saying, “Go ahead.”

“I’m just going to run these to the
bar,” Gianni said, and retreated toward the pool. I would have done the same,
except that Vincent had a tight grip on my hand.

“I know we’ve been at odds for a long
time, but you’re one of my brother Dante’s best friends and my boyfriend’s
employer, so I’d really like it if we could somehow lay the past to rest.”
Vincent shifted uncomfortably as he said that, then met Dmitri’s gaze. “I
apologize for pulling a gun on you. I know that doesn’t exactly excuse it, but
I don’t know what else to say.”

Dmitri considered that for a while, then
said, “You saved Hunter’s life, which makes me think maybe there’s some good in
you after all. I hope that’s the case. But just know this: I care about Trevor,
not just as an employee but as a friend. If you do anything to hurt him,
anything at all, you’re going to have to answer to me.” That was no idle
threat. There was cold, hard menace in his eyes, something I’d never seen in
Dmitri.

Vincent actually relaxed his posture and
grinned a little, which was not the response I’d have expected. “I’m really
glad you’re looking out for Trevor,” he said. “Thank you for that. Just so you
know, he means more to me than anything and I would never hurt him.”

After a beat, Dmitri relaxed a bit too.
“Well, as long as we’re on the same page about Trevor’s wellbeing.” He
obviously wasn’t about to just trust Vincent all of a sudden, but it did feel
like they’d reached some sort of understanding.

They really didn’t know what else to say
to each other after that, so I cut into the thick silence with, “I don’t know
about you, but I could really use a drink right about now.” Vincent nodded and
let me lead him to the party while Dmitri went off in the opposite direction.

We still had one more landmine to
navigate. Dante and Vincent acknowledged each other with just an awkward nod,
then spent the rest of the evening pretty much ignoring one another. Whatever
the issues were between those two, they were clearly not going to be resolved
tonight.

Vincent and I curled up on a chaise at
the far end of the pool. Though he tried to focus on me, he was obviously
uncomfortable in this environment. But at least he was here. He was trying.

Chapter
Fourteen

The day of the wedding dawned sunny and
glorious. A soft breeze blew in off the Pacific, rustling the huge
saffron-colored canopy that had been set up just outside the French doors, red
silk streamers fluttering at each corner. Beneath it, little round tables with
red silk tablecloths were being set with pretty china by the wait staff. The
wedding was going to be held just as the sun was beginning to set, and I
realized as I looked around that Nana had planned the whole color palette in
sunset colors, warm reds, oranges and yellows, which also happened to match the
colors in Gianni’s tropical garden. The garden, in turn, coordinated with the
exotic clusters of blooms on each tabletop.

Even though much of the set-up had been
done the day before, there were still an awful lot of people bustling around a
few hours before the wedding. A fair number of them were actually in amongst the
plants and bushes. Judging by the number of wires and cables being run, I
guessed that they had something to do with whatever sound and lighting scheme
Nana had concocted.

I set the stack of plates I’d been
carrying on the edge of the round table that was going to hold the cake, then
went back to the kitchen. River was at the kitchen island, looking amazingly
calm and collected, reading down his to-do list. A strand of long brown hair
had escaped from his ponytail, and he tucked it behind his ear before
retrieving a pencil and crossing a couple things off his list. This was only
his third catering job ever, but he’d grown exponentially in a really short
time. I’d originally stepped in to lend a hand during his very first job at
that gallery opening, because he’d been panicky and overwhelmed. But I could
see that soon he really wouldn’t need a partner, as we’d originally assumed. He
had this all under control.

*****

Guests started arriving in the late
afternoon, just minutes after the last of the contractors cleared out. A pretty
young woman with long, strawberry-blonde hair came into the kitchen carrying a
cellophane-wrapped tray, and said, “Hi! I’m Maureen, Kieran’s cousin and
Jamie’s sister. My mom baked these cookies, they were Kier’s favorite when he
was a little boy. Think you can squeeze them in somewhere?”

“Of course,” I said, taking the tray
from her. “I’ll bring them out with the dessert and coffee.” She had a big
purse draped over her arm, and suddenly a furry brown head poked out. “Oh!” I
exclaimed at the sight of the silky terrier. “Hi there.”

“That’s Tippy,” she said.

All of a sudden, two little blond boys
came racing into the kitchen. They were dressed in matching short-sleeved blue
button-downs and little plaid overall shorts. “Auntie Mo,” the bigger of the
two yelled. “We want cookies!”

The smaller one started chanting,
“Cookie, cookie, cookie!”

“They’re for after dinner,” she told
them. To me she said, “These are my nephews,
Brody
and Brennan
. And you’re Trevor, right? I’ve seen you at my brother’s
restaurant.”

“That’s right. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Auntie Mo!” The little boy wailed, “We
don’t wanna wait ‘til af’er dinner! We want cookies
now
!”

“Where’s your mother?” she asked,
looking out the double doors at the people that were beginning to assemble on
the lawn. “Erin!” she yelled. “Your kids want cookies!”

A woman in a yellow sundress yelled
back, “It’ll spoil their appetite!”

“It’ll spoil your appetite,” Maureen
repeated to the children.

“Nuh uh!” The little boy insisted.
“C’mon, give us a cookie Auntie Mo! Pretty please?”

Maureen sighed, then peeled back a
corner of the plastic wrap and slipped each boy a cookie. “Don’t tell your
mother.”

The boys grabbed their bounty and went
running out the door, the taller one yelling, “Mama, Auntie Mo gave us cookies
and we’re not gonna tell you!”

Maureen sighed and said, “Yeah, that’s
pretty much exactly how that always goes. Nice to officially meet you, Trevor.
I’d better go smooth things over with my sister.”

River, who’d been across the kitchen,
came up to me and said, “Am I forgettin’ something huge? I feel like I am. It
feels like this is all too easy, and so there has to be something big I’m
missing.”

“You didn’t miss a thing. We’ve been
over all your lists a hundred times. We got this, River.”

“I guess so.” He didn’t look convinced.

Vincent came into the kitchen just then.
He’d been laying low in the guest room we’d shared with Skye and River last
night, after I finally convinced him to stay for the wedding. “Wow,” he said.
“I was going to ask if you needed any help, but it really doesn’t look like
it.”

“I could use a kiss, though,” I said,
going up to him and taking him in my arms. He smiled at me and kissed me
gently. Then I asked him, “Hey, I was wondering about that uptight group of guys
outside, on the far right edge of the lawn. Not to stereotype, but they kind of
look like they just rolled in off the set of the Godfather. Any idea who they
are?”

Vincent glanced out the open door and
said, “I do, actually. The short, elderly man in the center is Christopher’s
father, Reggie the Roach Longotti. I assume the three huge guys with him are
his bodyguards.”

“Reggie the Roach?”

“That’s what they call him, since
apparently he’s impossible to kill.”

“So, Christopher’s family is in
organized crime?” I asked, and Vincent nodded. “Okay. But why would he need
bodyguards at his son’s wedding?”

“He doesn’t really. There’s an old
rivalry between my family and his though. He must have figured there would be a
few Dombrusos here today and wanted to play it safe. But it’s really not like
Dante, Johnnie or I are going to start anything.” Nana walked past the group of
men on the lawn just then and did a double-take. She pointed at her eyes with
the index and middle fingers of her right hand, and then pointed them at Reggie
Longotti. “My eighty-year-old grandmother, however, might be a different
story.” For now, at least, she walked away, but not without shooting a couple
more looks at Christopher’s father.

“Speaking of Dante, I saw you two
talking last night after Skye made me get in the pool with him. Are things okay
between you?”

Vincent sighed. “Not really. There’s a
lot I can’t tell him, and he hates that. Dante is the type of person that wants
to be in charge of everything, all the time, and it drives him crazy that I’m
doing things that are beyond his control.” I kissed him again before he said,
“Well, since you don’t need a hand, I’m going back to my book.” He retreated
once again, and I went back to work.

*****

Just a few minutes before sunset, about
a hundred people were gathered at the far side the garden, near the cliff’s
edge, the Pacific a slow and steady thrum that underscored the soft music being
piped in from hidden speakers. “It’s time, boys! Come on out,” Nana exclaimed.
She’d changed out of her summer dress into a red silk embroidered gown (after
randomly explaining that red was a traditional color for weddings in China),
her white hair piled into an elegant updo.

River and I pulled off our aprons and I
retrieved Vincent from the guestroom. Once we’d settled into the back row, Skye
appeared and asked, “Hey! Did I miss anything?” as he sat beside his brother.

“Nope, it’s just about to start,” I told
him.

“Where have you been?” his brother
wanted to know.

“I kind of fell into the job of unofficial
kid wrangler.”

“What does that mean?” River asked.

 “Mostly, I assigned myself the
task of making sure no little wobblers went off that cliff face over there,”
Skye said. “I found it helped to distract the mini maniacs with games. Do you
know most kids today don’t know how to play Red Rover? It’s rapidly becoming a
lost art.”

The music got a little louder just then,
and a hush fell over the crowd. All of a sudden, the entire garden lit up with
a million tiny lights, twinkling like fireflies, casting a magical spell. The
crowd murmured its delight. Nana appeared on the path leading from the pool.
“Here they come!” she announced. “Aw shit, I’m crying already. There goes my
makeup!”

She quickly took a seat in the front
row, near the huge, artistic arch of tropical flowers that had been put in
place this afternoon. A photographer positioned himself off to one side and
began snapping pictures as the groomsmen took their places, Brian in his
wheelchair beside his cousin Jamie on the left, Hunter and Charlie on the
right. They were all dressed casually in khakis and button-down shirts, each
with a yellow orchid pinned to their right pocket. A woman of about sixty
wearing a white suit took her place in the center of the gathering, holding a
slim leather book and smiling at the assembled crowd.

Christopher and Kieran emerged
hand-in-hand from the path that lead from the pool and came around to the back
of the audience. They paused and looked at each other just a few feet from
where I was seated. The love between them was the purest, most beautiful thing
I’d ever seen. Kieran’s blue eyes were sparkling as he smiled at his soon-to-be
husband, and Christopher beamed at him with utter adoration. A piece of
classical music started playing, and the two men walked hand-in-hand down the
aisle. As if on cue, the sunset began to paint the sky beyond the floral arch
in shades of yellow and orange, Nana’s grand vision playing out brilliantly.

The grooms turned to face the crowd as
the music ended, and Kieran said, “Christopher and I want to thank each of you
for being with us today. It means so much to us that you’re here to share in
our wedding day.” He paused for just a moment and looked at Christopher, who
squeezed his hand and smiled at him. Kieran continued, “Not all of our loved
ones could be here, today though, so we wanted to take a moment to honor their
memory.”

Brian pulled a stack of framed
eight-by-ten photos from a little saddlebag on the side of his wheelchair and
handed them to his brother. Kieran looked at the first photo in the little
pile, a sad smile curving his lips. He looked up and said, “Glenda Nolan. My
mother. I love you and miss you all the time, Mom.” He handed the portrait of
his mother to Brian, who held it up with one hand as he quickly dabbed at his
eyes. Kieran looked at the next photo in his hands. “Sean Nolan. My dad. Not a
day goes by that I don’t think of you, Dad. I love you.” He handed this photo
to Jamie, who held it up facing the crowd.

Kieran handed the last photo to
Christopher, who looked at it for a long moment, then held it up and said,
“Isobel Andrews Longotti, my beautiful mother. You went away way too soon,
Mama. I love you so much.” He handed the photo to his friend Charlie, who
cradled it against his chest.

“We wanted to share this day with our
parents, who live forever in our hearts,” Christopher said, “and with all of
you. We love each and every one of you.” Christopher walked over to the front
row, leaned down and hugged his father. As he straightened up again he said, “I
love you, Dad. Thank you for coming to my wedding.”

“I love you too, Christopher Robin.” The
old man’s voice was rough with emotion.

Hunter collected the photos. A little
table was set up to the right of the arch. He stood the pictures on the
tabletop, facing the audience, so that the grooms’ parents were now a part of
the ceremony.

Vincent was holding my hand, and when
his grip tightened slightly, I glanced at him. Tears were streaming silently
down his cheeks, even as he held his head high and fought to maintain his stoic
expression. He was surely thinking of his own parents as he tried in vain to
conceal an ocean of hurt, struggling to keep his mask of studied composure in
place.

I raised his hand to my lips and kissed
it. When he turned toward me, I reached up and gently brushed away his tears.
As he held my gaze, the aloofness that he’d been trying so hard to hide behind
completely crumbled. I felt like I was seeing him for the first time, even
though he’d dropped his guard around me long ago. But this was something more.
This time, I felt like I was being allowed a glimpse of his soul.

I realized, right in that moment, that I
was completely in love with Vincent Dombruso.

He smiled at me softly before turning
his attention back to the grooms, and I watched his handsome profile for a
moment before I did the same. Christopher and Kieran were now facing each
other, holding hands, and the woman in the white suit began the ceremony. After
she spoke for a few minutes, she said, “Kieran and Christopher didn’t want to
write formal vows, but they both have a few words from the heart that they want
to say to each other.”

Kieran smiled a bit shyly and said,
“Okay, I somehow volunteered to go first, so here goes.” He looked into
Christopher’s eyes. “I didn’t really believe that true love existed before I
met you. I thought it was just something in movies. Wow, was I wrong!” The
audience chuckled appreciatively, and he continued, “I can’t imagine my life
without you, Christopher. I have absolutely no idea what I ever did to deserve
you, or to deserve this kind of happiness, and I’m so grateful every single day
that you’re mine. You continually astound me with your kindness and beauty and
goodness, and as long as I live, I’ll try my very best to make you feel loved and
cherished, because that’s exactly the way you make me feel.”