Salvation (34 page)

“That wasn’t much to go on.”

“I know, but it was my only lead. You’re
not in the phone book though, and I couldn’t find any other public records to
tell me where you were. I didn’t have the money to hire a private detective,
either. Obviously, that was the way to go.”

“Why did you decide to stay in the city,
even after you couldn’t find me?”

“We’d already used a lot of our money
getting here, and we figured it was as good a place as any to disappear. We
didn’t want Melody’s abusive dad or her psycho ex-boyfriend to find us.”

“I see.” After another awkward pause, he
asked, “Do you maybe want to go someplace to continue this conversation? We
have so much to catch up on.”

“I don’t know about that. I kind of need
some time to process all of this.”

“Plus, you’re not sure if you can trust
me,” TJ said, and I nodded. “I understand. I’m a stranger to you, so it’s not
like you’d be willing to just welcome me into your life with open arms. I’ve
given you every reason to hate me, but I want you to know I’ll do whatever it
takes to earn your trust.”

“I don’t hate you. I thought I did, for
a long time, but I really don’t.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the
other and added, “It is going to take time to learn to trust you, though. I
mean, I’m not exactly ready to start calling you Dad and playing catch in the
yard, you know?”

He tried to lighten the mood by smiling
at me and saying, “It’s good you don’t want to play catch. I don’t have a yard.
Also, I’m really uncoordinated, so I’d only embarrass myself.”

TJ dug through all the pockets of his
jeans and finally fished out a dog-eared business card, which he handed to me.
It said
Trevor James Dean
above the words
Television and VCR Repair
,
along with an address and phone number. He said, “I know I was sprung on you
out of the blue, and this has to be completely overwhelming. So, how about if
you call me after you’ve had a chance to process all of this? Whenever you’re
ready, I’d love to get to know you, but I won’t push.”

“Okay.”

He chewed on his lower lip as he thought
about that, then amended, “No, forget that last part. I
am
going to
push. I’ve already missed way too much of your life, Trevor. I let fear stop me
from tracking you down, fear that I wasn’t good enough, fear that you’d hate me
for being a loser, just like I hated my dad, fear that I was too young and
worthless and incompetent to be a good father for you. I don’t want to keep
doing that. I’d rather risk your rejection than miss any more time with you. So
I’m just going to go ahead and ask: will you please meet me for coffee
tomorrow? I’ll meet you anywhere you want, even if it’s just for a few
minutes.”

There was that hopeful expression again.
I looked into his eyes for a long moment as I made up my mind. Ultimately, I
did what I always did. I trusted my instincts. I put his card in my pocket and
said simply, “Alright.”

“Really?”

“We’ve already lost so much time, TJ,
and I’d really like to get to know you.”

He beamed at me and said, “Thank you,
Trevor. So, call me in the morning and we’ll make plans, okay?”

“I will.”

 He started to go for a hug, then
pulled back into a handshake, then awkwardly went for the hug again. I hugged
him quickly, and when I let go of him he smiled and said, “See you soon then.”

I watched him walk away down the alley,
and then ducked back inside the employee entrance. Vincent, Jamie, and Dmitri
were right where I left them, identical expressions of grave concern on their
very different faces. I stopped in front of Vincent and said, “I hate
surprises.” I stretched up and kissed him, then added, “Usually. But that was
amazing. Thank you for finding my dad for me.”

He looked so relieved that it was almost
comedic. “Oh thank God,” he said, his posture slumping. “I was afraid I’d
totally messed up.”

“You didn’t.”

“So...is everything okay?”

“Yeah. We’re going to meet for coffee
tomorrow.”

“That’s good,” Jamie said.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” I
said. “He’s nothing like I would have expected.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Dmitri murmured.
When I turned to look at him, he said, “Not that I knew anything about your
situation. But man, how unusual to have a father that looks so young, and so
much like you. It’s more like you found a brother.”

“Or a clone,” Jamie said, smiling at me
cheerfully.

Vincent pushed off the wall he was
leaning against and said, “Come on, let’s go home. No more big surprises are in
store for you today, I promise.” It would turn out that he was wrong about
that.

*****

When we returned to Vincent’s apartment,
I curled up on my favorite spot on the couch and played back over that totally
unexpected encounter. My boyfriend could tell I needed some time to myself to
work through all that had just happened, so he kissed the top of my head and
said, “I’m going to go the gym, then the grocery store. What would you like for
dinner?”

“Anything’s fine,” I murmured. As he
started to turn away from me, I caught his hand and kissed it. When he looked
back at me, I told him, “Thank you again for finding him for me, Vincent.”

“I should have told you I was doing
that.”

“I get why you didn’t. You’re right that
more disappointment wouldn’t have been a good thing right now.”

After he left, I went out on the balcony
and stared idly at the bay, tucking my feet under me on the patio chair. The
day was clear and bright, the water a distinctive green-grey. I was totally
lost in thought when the buzzer sounded downstairs.

I went to the intercom beside the front
door and pressed a button. “Yes?”

“Who’s this?” a deep voice demanded.

That was irritating. “A better question
is, who are you?”

“This is Liam Killean, asshole. And you
still haven’t answered my question.”

Anger spiked in me, and I snapped, “Stay
right there. I want to talk to you.”

Liam was standing outside the glass door
with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at me when I reached the lobby.
He was
huge
. He had to be at least 6’6, his black t-shirt stretched
tautly over giant shoulders and biceps, mirrored sunglasses giving him a
faux-cop air. He was
not
going to intimidate me.

I flung the door open and pushed him as
hard as I could. Since he wasn’t expecting it, Liam toppled backwards down the
two stairs and landed hard on the sidewalk. “What the fuck!” he exclaimed.

I jumped down the stairs and grabbed the
front of his shirt, making sure to take hold of as many chest hairs as
possible, and twisted. It was gratifying to watch him wince.  “Listen up,
Liam,” I growled. “Vincent is done with you. The phone calls, threats, and
these random visits stop now.”

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked.
Surprisingly, he made no effort to get back up.

Vincent answered the question for him,
appearing on the sidewalk and exclaiming, “Trevor?”

I glared at Liam, my voice a low growl.
“You’re going to stop harassing my boyfriend. You hear me?”

He tried to pull up a bit of bravado and
raised his square chin. “Oh yeah? If I don’t, what are you going to do about
it?”

I leaned in close, twisting his t-shirt
harder, and hissed, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

He tried to laugh that off. “No you
aren’t.”

“You need to understand something,
Liam.” I pointed at Vincent and snarled, “That man is
mine
. And I will
do anything to protect the people I love.
Anything
.”

His expression behind the mirrored
shades got a bit panicked as he mumbled, “You’re insane.”

I pushed him back as I let go of his
shirt and said, “We’re done here.” I turned and used the key card my boyfriend
had given me to let myself back in the lobby, and Vincent hurried to my side.
When we reached the elevator, I glanced back through the glass front door. Liam
was still sitting on the sidewalk, looking completely stunned.

Once the elevator doors slid shut behind
us, Vincent murmured, “I can’t believe what I just witnessed.”

“What are you doing back here?”

“I forgot my gym bag.”

“I see.”

“How did that happen? Liam’s more than
twice your size.”

“Well,” I said, “first of all, I was
pissed that he showed up unannounced after you told him repeatedly to stop
bothering you. I wanted him out of our lives, and I guess he felt my
conviction. Secondly, I had a theory. Turns out I was right. Good thing too,
because that guy could have punched me into next week.”

“What was your theory?”

“That a lot of doms are just scared,
insecure little boys, so terrified of losing their partners that they feel the
need to exert insane amounts of control over them.”

“Ah.”

“I figured if I set the right tone with
him and let him know he wasn’t in charge from the moment I met him, I’d get
through to him.”

“And the death threat?”

“Well, what was I supposed to do with a
guy like that, threaten to tell his mom on him? I figured he’d only respond to
straight-up crazy.”

We’d reached the apartment, and as the
door swung shut behind us, Vincent turned to me and smiled. “That was utterly
unexpected. I’m so glad I came back in time to see it.”

I shook out my hands as some of the
adrenaline dissipated, and said, “I’m really not a violent person. You know
that. But I’m also serious about no one hurting the people I love.”

“I completely understand. Believe me.”

“I know you do,” I said with a smile.

“Hey Trevor, will you do something for
me?” Vincent asked.

“Sure. What is it?”

He flashed me a sexy smile as he ran his
hand over my hip. “Take me to the bedroom and fuck the hell out of me.”

Lust spiked in me the moment I saw how
turned on he was. I pulled him to me and kissed him before murmuring, “I can do
that.”

We actually ran to the bedroom and began
tearing each other’s clothes off. I pushed Vincent back onto the bed, pulled
off his shoes and socks, then quickly shucked his shorts and underwear before
reaching for the lube. As I pushed a finger into him he said, “The part where
you pointed to me and said I was yours, oh God. That was so erotic that I
wanted you to fuck me right there on the sidewalk.”

“You
are
mine.” I quickly lubed
up my hard cock, then climbed on top of him and pushed inside him with one long
thrust. When I bottomed out in him, I looked into his eyes and smiled. “And I’m
yours, too.”

I knelt between his legs and took him
hard and fast, maintaining eye contact, my body slapping against his with each
thrust. At the same time, I reached down and stroked his cock, and he grinned
and said between gasps, “Don’t finish me off. I have plans for that.” That made
me smile, and I slowed my hand on his shaft.

Vincent fumbled for the lube and
squirted some on his fingers, then reached behind me as I pumped my cock in and
out of his tight little hole. He spread me with one hand as he stuck a finger
in me, countering the rhythm of my thrusts so that I was now driving myself
onto his finger each time I rocked back.

After just a few minutes of this, I
cried out and drove myself into him feverishly, my hands digging into his hips,
pulling him onto me. I was deep in him when my orgasm tore from me, cum
shooting into his body again and again as he continued to finger me.

I shook from the force of my orgasm, my
erratic thrusts slowing and finally stilling. As soon as I stopped moving,
Vincent slid his finger from me and rolled us over. My cock was still inside
him as his lips found mine in a passionate kiss.

We kissed for a few moments as I caught
my breath, and as soon as I’d recovered a bit, he rocked his hips slightly. My
cock slid from him, and a moment later the tip of his cock pressed at my
opening. He propped himself up on his elbows, his eyes locked with mine as he
pushed against me. Finally, my body yielded and his big, hard cock filled me.
He didn’t stop until his body was pressed against mine.

He started moving in me when he felt me
relax underneath him, muscles yielding, my body accommodating him fully. His
thrusts were smooth and gentle at first. He took his cues from me, watching my
lust ratchet right back up again, my cock hardening against my belly as he
increased his thrusts gradually.

Never once did he break eye contact, the
connection between us absolutely intense. I rocked underneath him, grabbing his
butt with both hands, trying to pull him into me even deeper. My ragged moans
mingled with his, bringing the normally quiet apartment to life.

Vincent yelled as he reached orgasm,
pumping in and out of me forcefully. Watching and feeling him cum in me was so
incredibly erotic that I came again too, my cock sandwiched between our bodies,
my arms and legs wrapping around him instinctively, driven by the need to get
as close to him as I possibly could. “Oh fuck,” he ground out, still claiming
me over and over with each thrust into me.