A Place for Cliff (11 page)

“You know no matter what treatments Kimmi gets, she’s not going to live much longer.” And the flicker in his brother’s eyes told him everything. He was already locked into his little family—
just add Pyotr and stir
—and Pyotr was very aware it came with an expiration date.

Sasha felt an instant pain of guilt then. Pyotr deserved the world at his feet; that he should find something that fits his needs only to have it ripped away too soon. He didn’t want that to happen for his brother, who deserved so much more. He swallowed hard wishing he’d learn to keep his mouth shut.

Sasha dropped his head, his shoulders went with it. He stared at the ground and kicked at the rock on the side walk as if that might make him feel better. It didn’t when Pyotr walked away without another word.

“Fuck.” He muttered, hanging back in silence for a bit. Sasha pushed off the wall, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his uniform slacks. Only one thing he could do now.

Sasha found Cliff back in the ambulance truck putting the last few things in place. He stopped at the step just watching him. Cliff kept his back to him, but the tension in his shoulders indicated Cliff was aware he was there.

“I’m really not ready for a conversation on how this changes everything between us.” Cliff muttered not looking at him, his hand counting out the inventory and marking it down on the clip board on the gurney dressed in crisp clean sheets with a wool blanket folded over on the top and ready for the next person in need.

Sasha kept his hands buried and took in a deep breath and let it out trying to rid himself of some of the tension he’d created on himself. “How much do you know about my brother?”

Cliff stopped in mid-count, but still his eyes stayed down not meeting his, “If you’re about to tell me some head case story that’s suppose to make me want to stay away from him, don’t bother.”

“No. that’s not what I am about to tell you. I love Pyotr. He’s not just my brother, but my father too.”

Cliff shifted looking him dead in the eyes now.

“More father then our papa was. So when I tell you this, it is only because he deserves the best kind of love.” He took a deep breath and began, “Pyotr is the oldest of eleven children with nine boys and two girls. We were living in Belgrade, he was in the university there and top of the class. He would have been a doctor or a professor had we stayed and he would have worked for the government. In Serbia if you work for the government you’re rich, work for anyone else and you’re poor like everyone else.”

Cliff sat back on the medic bench and listened. He and Pyotr had talked about many things, but his past had not been one of them. In fact Pyotr had said little about himself. But strange how now as he listened to Sasha who never had a strong accent before changed—it deepened and the more he talked, the more he started to sound like Pyotr.

“Pyotr had the whole world laid out before him, but shit was getting bad everywhere around us. Yugoslavia was being dismantled through uprising started by the League of Communists of Serbia in 1989, when Milošević declared a decrease in power for several other republic sanctions. In 1990 the government declared complete media blackout. Freedom of speech was restricted. The Serbian Penal Code issued criminal sentences on anyone who ‘ridiculed’ the government and its leaders, resulting in many people being arrested who opposed Milošević and his government. Then there was the KLA—”

“The KLA?”

Sasha nodded of course Cliff wouldn’t know what that was. “KLA, Kosovo Liberation Army. There were two power forces fighting for control—there was no peace between the two. It was a war in our country, between its army and its police, between Yugoslavia and Kosovo, two conflicts running parallel and simultaneously long before NATO got involved and declared it a war. People died every day. Sometimes for no reason. Gangs were popping up and they were as much trouble as anything else.” He took a deep breath, shifted then leaned against the door of the truck. He had been so young back then, but he did recall the time when soldiers barged into their home and dragged his Papa away in the middle of the night. When he returned the next day everything would change for them. “One night the police came and took my father away. The next day he was back and he and our mother gathered us all up, took us out of school. Next we went to the university and got Pyotr. They gave him all the money they could get out along with a nap sack of food, a few suitcases of clothes and placed us in a truck. For a day and half a night we rode til we got to some shipping port on the shores of Greece where we loaded up on a freighter heading here.” Sasha slid down now sitting on the ledge of the ambulance and stared out of the garage as the sun was dropping down in the sky and shining in on them with burnished orange tones. “I don’t know how they did it, but we were allowed in. And Pyotr from that point on was our father
and
our mother. He took care of us all. But at a sacrifice. Turned out Pyotr was gay, but he could not have a lover. Aside from immigration, children and family services was always watching him. Can you imagine what they would have thought—a grown gay man with eight little brothers? Suddenly bathing us would have been deemed a mortal sin. It wasn’t until we were all grown up and left the nest he could safely allow a relationship in his life, but by that time he was pretty much set in his ways. Accustomed to raising kids and it seemed he often found himself playing doctor rather than being the lover, to men with too much baggage.”

“So you’re saying I’m just another head case for him to mother over?” Cliff forced himself to look away.

“No. There’s nothing about you he needs to fix. He just sees you on the same level as him.” Sasha twisted looking squarely at him now. “You see Pyotr’s life was… put on hold because he was left with ten
Kimmi’s
to take care of. He relates with you, but that he gets to mother hen Kimmi at the same time makes him feel good. No—” he shook his head a moment, that was wrong, “—he feels much more.” Sasha stopped then his fingers wiping at his eyes, but Cliff wasn’t sure if it was just the sun or if there had been a threat of tears. Sasha got up and opened one of the organizer drawers in the ambulance and pulled out a bandage. “Will you do me a favor when you see him tonight?”

“Sure.”

“I hurt him when he was just here.” He took a deep breath then shoved the band-aid out towards Cliff. “Will you give this to him? Tell him I’m sorry.” He turned and stepped away.

“What happened to your parents?” Cliff quickly asked before Sasha could disappear and he slowly stepped out of the truck, carefully as if any sudden movement might cause Sasha to take off.

Sasha stopped, his head hung low, eyes staring into nothingness on the concrete floor, “March 14 1999 NATO moved in with their air strikes and bombed our country over the next four months. We never heard from our family again.” He glanced over his shoulder at him. “Go on. Go home to Pyotr. I’ll take care of the paper work.” And then he disappeared down the hall.

~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~

Cliff couldn’t get home fast enough, his whole body tingled. If Kimmi were sitting next to him right now she’d say he had ants in his pants. He grinned. The man sitting across from him on the bus shot him a disgruntled look. Maybe he was grinning too much for New York, but he didn’t care. Six more stops and a dash down 79
^th
street and he’d be in Pyotr’s arms. He glanced at his watch. Unbelievable, a fifteen minute drive took an hour on the bus. Maybe it was time to start looking into a car or at least a small motorcycle. Before it never seemed to matter. The ride home was time for him to shift from work to taking care of Kimmi from one ailing injured person to his ailing sister. The long bus ride was the only time he had for himself outside of hanging out at Club Pain.

But now his lover was waiting for him.
Lover
. His grin deepened further. He’d never had a lover. The occasional short affairs, but any time he met a girl they couldn’t handle not being the center of his world and it never lasted. Pyotr was different. Family was meant to be the central core of a person’s life. Anyone else you
added
to it, instead of diverting your attention from it. And Pyotr was a man. His smile slowly turning to something of a more saucy note. And he could feel the heat rise in his face.

Yes
—Pyotr was a man—all man—tall, stout and very debonair. Cliff felt his breathe deepen and his cocked throbbed in his pants. He couldn’t wait to get home and get his hands on the man who was waiting for him there.

The bus slowed, breaks hissed with a
squawlering
screech of worn down mechanical parts until it came to a complete stop.
Yes! 79
^th
street.

Cliff jumped from his seat and hopped off the bus and instantly took off in a run, one block and two houses was all he had to get behind him.

~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~  *  ~

Pyotr was in the kitchen den sitting on the day bed with Kimmi when Cliff came rushing in. They were sipping tea which meant she had just finished eating and he’d prepared the tea to help settle her stomach so she wouldn’t lose her meal. Kimmi wore a delightful smile, she liked Pyotr’s company, anyone who came by and spent time with her was a hero in her eyes. But when Pyotr looked up at him and the warmth that stirred behind that man’s eyes and the way they brightened with the sight of him, Cliff could feel the beaming surge of emotions inside himself. He rushed over dropping to his knees in front of his lover instantly wrapping his arms around his neck and kissed him. His tongue licked over the older man’s lips til they parted for him and let him in. Cliff eagerly dove into his lover’s mouth til he found his tongue and moaned at the finding. It wasn’t enough, he pushed on his knees leaning back, pulling Pyotr down from the bed with him. They crashed down on the floor, Pyotr barely catching the weight of his body before crushing the younger man underneath him. 

Pyotr broke from their kiss, letting out a slight chuckle. “What is all this
draga
?”

Cliff only grinned hooking a leg into Pyotr’s. He could hear Kimmi laughing at them and he didn’t mind that at all as he pushed for Pyotr’s lips again. He let out a sigh of relief when his lover gave into his need and took over the kiss, deepening it. Pyotr’s arm wrapping around him, while the other stroked down his side pulling his leg up higher until it wrapped around his hip. He grasped his ass and pulled him into him and ground his cock against him. The hard contact fired off so many sensations Cliff had to break from their kiss just to gasp for breath.

Pyotr growled out a light huff, “Is that what you were seeking
Draga
?”

“Yes
sss
—
Glavar
.” Cliff hissed.

Pyotr rolled his groin into his young lover with a deep penetrating contact. Oh he did love it when the young lad called him that.
Liked it very much.
“How did you learn to say master in my language?”

“I looked it up.” Cliff managed to peek past the broad shoulders that nearly eclipsed him, “How was your day Kimmi?”

Kimmi’s faced offered a melting smile when she caught a glimpse of her brother’s smiling face peering out from under his new lover, “Maybe not as good as your night is expected to be, but I’m not complaining.”

“Good.” He turned his eyes back to the man laying over him, “I might be busy for awhile.” He heard her start giggling again and knew that she was perfectly fine with it. It was one thing to have someone he felt happy with for once in his life and it was something far more stupendous that his little sister approved.

Downstairs in his room Pyotr took over the mood Cliff had started them in, but he paused for a moment and pulled out a yellow slip of paper from his shirt pocket and offered it over to his young lover.

Cliff’s eyes shot up, he didn’t need to ask what it was, he knew.

“I know it is very important you remain disease free. I wanted to offer this to you regardless of whether we decide to go skin to skin.” Pyotr tossed the fold of paper to the head board and came back down over Cliff to resume their kissing.

Cliff soon found himself on his back underneath the fierce hungers of his lover. Pyotr’s hand stroked over his body and forced its way into his uniform pants to wrap around his cock and stroked him near to the edge. Even Pyotr’s kissing seemed stronger, more forceful than ever, he felt devoured by it and tried to find space in his head to wonder where it stemmed from.

“You’re thinking.” Pyotr growled into his lips as he chewed on them.

“It’s different now isn’t it? I mean—” his head fought to form words of his half hazard thoughts even as Pyotr’s attention boggled his mind even further.

Pyotr’s lips paused against his and waited. When he didn’t say anything Pyotr demanded it. “Out with it.”

“I mean this isn’t a scene is it anymore is it? I mean is this more?”

“This is far more, Cliff.” Pyotr leaned in slamming him with a quick kiss, “I warned you in the beginning I had a veracious appetite, but I’ve also waited for you to come out.” Pushing up on his knees, he unzipped Cliff’s pants and yanked them free from his hips, then forced him to roll over and finished freeing the pants from his legs.

Cliff felt Pyotr’s tongue next, trailing up the back of his thigh, nibbling as he moved further up then bit into one side of his ass, causing him to jump in surprise. “Do you wish to retract?” Pyotr paused. Cliff’s stepping out even as small of a step as it was, was also very bold and it had made him feel extraordinary. He’d been waiting for this since they started seeing each other.

“What’s the difference?” Cliff glanced back over his shoulder to the man he’d give anything to stay with. He watched as Pyotr lowered down over him, felt the man’s hands part the cheeks of his ass and suddenly felt the warm wet caress of his tongue lath right over the small puckered entrance.

“No restrictions.” The warm whisper came from behind him then his lover’s tongue again. Cliff slammed his face into the pillow to trap the moan there. Jeez as wicked as it was it felt so damn good. “No more restraints. Except maybe the ones I choose to put you in.” Pyotr’s hand slipped under Cliff’s belly and wrapped around his erection, stroking while he continued to lick over his ass. “I spent most of my life hiding my sexuality. I refuse to do so anymore, to such a point you could say I’m rather perverse in my openness. I refrained from displays of my affection for you for your sake.” Pyotr moved up his back lowering his weight down on him now taking the time to ground his own fully aroused erection into the crevice of Cliff’s ass, teasing him with long hard strokes, while his hand still worked over Cliff’s cock. “I won’t anymore.”