Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 07 - Revolution (8 page)

Luuk prowled as Father Norbert used the new cell phone to make his call. “I should have thought to get another cell phone. If the one he’s using is traced…”
“Yeah.” Jamie sighed and typed something in on the keyboard of the laptop he was getting set up. “We should ditch it when he’s done. At least Father Norbert won’t tell anyone where we are…other than giving us away through a hone trace.”
Luuk paused and looked at Jamie. “Do you think Luther has that much power? That he would have tapped the priests’ families’ phones?” He shook his head. “I don’t, either. It could be so, of course, but I’m betting on Luther having neither the manpower nor the forethought to tap those phones. I don’t believe he is that paranoid.”
“Or that smart,” Jamie said as he tapped the keyboard harder. “Guh, there’s like seventy-two updates before I can get this thing online!”
Luuk glared at the screen. “Surely you’re exaggerating.”
“Not by much. Damn thing was apparently made ten years ago, no matter what the box says.” Jamie huffed and narrowed his eyes. “If I knew what it was asking…might help, ya know?”
Luuk walked over and put a hand on Jamie’s shoulder as he leaned to read the current round of boxes popping up on the screen. “Just click there,” he almost touched the screen before he caught himself. Jamie would likely smack his hand if he left smudges. Luuk grinned. “Every time it pops up, unless you’d rather I do it.”
“I’d rather let all this crap download and you and me”—Jamie waggled his eyebrows— “check out that big tub in the bathroom.”
Luuk’s cock twitched, his stomach warming as desire began to pool in his groin. “Perhaps Father Norbert will be off the phone soon. And these downloads will take a while. We could both use a bath.” He ran his hand down from Jamie’s shoulder, over his chest, catching one nipple and pinching it before moving further along to dance his fingers over Jamie’s denim-covered cock. “I certainly want to make sure you’re clean, every bit of you.” Luuk gently squeezed Jamie’s bulge and Jamie whimpered.
Luuk moved his hand lower, found Jamie’s nuts and rubbed. Jamie shuddered for him, clasping his hands on the desktop. “I’d lick you clean first. You know how I love the way you taste.”
“Oh God,” Jamie panted. “Please!”
A wave of tenderness mixed with lust and Luuk brushed his lips over the side of Jamie’s neck. He inhaled, taking in the sweat and cedar scent of his mate. Luuk exhaled, his lips barely touching skin, his breath setting off goose bumps on Jamie’s neck.
Jamie whimpered and squirmed, putting the heel of one hand against his crotch. “Luuk…”
“Yes,” Luuk said. He licked and sucked his way to the tempting little spot beneath Jamie’s ear. Then he suckled and scraped his teeth over that spot until Jamie was panting, shaking with need. “Go start the water. Be naked, hands on the side of the tub, legs spread, waiting for me.”
“F-Father Norbert—”
“I will handle the good Father.” Luuk pulled Jamie’s chair back and helped him to his feet, pleased to see that his man was already melting for him. “I believe Norbert will require a nap. He told me he was very tired, and his suite is far enough from our bathroom, he shouldn’t hear anything.” Luuk grinned and stepped up to Jamie, reaching around to grab a handful of firm ass. “Unless you scream for me, love.”
Jamie’s eyes rounded as did his mouth, and Luuk dipped his head to take advantage of those soft lips. When he had Jamie quivering and loosing wordless sounds, Luuk raised his head and made sure Jamie wasn’t in danger of falling over. Luuk’s legs were shaky—he figured Jamie’s were, too. “Bath,” he said once he knew Jamie was steady. “And the rest of it,” Luuk added just as he heard Father Norbert end the call. Luuk swatted Jamie’s butt and felt the burst of pleasure his mate experienced.
Jamie all but ran to the bathroom as Father Norbert came into their room. The priest was definitely tired, bags dark under his eyes and his mouth pulled down in worry. Luuk met him a few feet from the door and put a hand to Norbert’s shoulder before he could question the propriety of touching a priest so. Luuk wasn’t any more religious than Jamie, but he figured Norbert was a man who cared about people, and he shouldn’t be denied comfort if he needed it. A hand on his shoulder was a small gesture, but Father Norbert sagged beneath his hand and leaned a little, and the next thing Luuk knew, he was hugging a priest.
“Our shifter family members want to meet with you. They can be trusted,” Father Norbert said. “I am afraid there will be a war in your world.”
“There’s been a war in my world for years, Father, years before I even knew of it.” Luuk was still angry with himself over his blatant stupidity regarding Luther. “But perhaps we can find a way to bring it to an end.”
“Not peacefully.”
Luuk couldn’t lie to the man. He sighed and patted Norbert’s back before they ended the hug. “No, not peacefully. Our world is different from yours, from the human one. Our laws are different. I won’t kill in cold blood, but I will—have—killed.” He’d done what he’d had to, and didn’t regret it. He did regret the stupidity and greed that was the cause of it all.
“It is, and I am aware of that. Now.” Father Norbert arched his back, placing his hands low on his hips and grunting. “I think a nap is in order. I would like to check on Father Piotr again. His family will be at the hospital in hours, I am sure.”
“Rest well.” Luuk shut the door behind Norbert but didn’t lock it. He stripped as he headed for the bathroom, tossing his clothes whichever direction he happened to tug them off in. He heard the water shut off, the shuffle of Jamie’s feet and the quickening of his breath as Luuk let his footsteps fall heavier.
When he stepped to the bathroom door, Luuk’s breath rushed from his lungs. Jamie was exquisite, arms stretched, palms down on the wide lip of the tub, shoulders lower than his hips so that his ass was tipped up. With his legs spread, Luuk had a gorgeous view—hole and balls and cock, all waiting for his and Jamie’s pleasure. Jamie mewled and arched his lower back, parting his cheeks even more.
What the fuck was he standing in the doorway for? Luuk had the presence of mind to close the door then he prowled towards his mate.
“Beautiful,” Luuk murmured, gaze flitting from pucker to nuts to cock and back up again. “So fucking beautiful.”
“Luuk,” Jamie sighed, and even though his need was great, flowing through Luuk and ramping up his own, Jamie was also at peace, happy and content to be offering himself to Luuk.
“You,” Luuke swallowed, his throat clogging with emotion as he finally got close enough to touch. He ran a hand from Jamie’s hip to his crack, further down to his hole. “You are
everything
to me.” Then before Jamie could say a word, Luuk dropped to his knees and licked him from top of his crease to his taint.
Jamie whimpered and Luuk clutched at his cheeks, spreading him open. He licked the slightly furred trail of Jamie’s crack, making sure to apply pressure over his pucker with the flat of his tongue. Jamie began to shake, his arousal wetting the tip of his cock as Luuk let go of one butt cheek to touch him there instead.
“Luuk, God, please, I need you,” Jamie rasped, his voice pitching high and breaking. Luuk fisted Jamie’s cockhead and lapped at his nuts. “Luuk, fuck…”
Luuk sucked one ball into his mouth and tongued it. Jamie’s breath hitched and Luuk stretched his jaw, a dull ache starting at the hinges, and he sucked Jamie’s nutsac into his mouth. Jamie jerked and keened, and Luuk held his balls there, flicking his tongue over them, until he had to release them before his jaw locked. He turned sideways and wedged himself between Jamie’s thighs, licking from the base of his cock to the leaking slit.
“Ungh!” Jamie shuddered, jutting his hips. Luuk slurped and sucked, driving more and more sounds from Jamie, more salty sweet proof of his desire. Luuk’s dick was so hard he couldn’t risk touching himself. He felt the pre-cum that had spilt from his cock on his belly. He needed inside Jamie, now.
“Yes! Luuk!” Jamie bucked, trying to move, need making him edgy. Luuk gripped his legs, trying to make sure he didn’t end up getting kicked.
“In the water,” he ordered once he untangled himself from Jamie’s legs. “You’re going to ride me.”
They’d make a hell of a mess, but there were towels, thick, fluffy towels. Jamie all but dove into the tub, and Luuk shook his head, love welling in his chest. Jamie’s enthusiasm was amazing, a gift Luuk would always treasure.
Jamie knelt, looking up at him, the water rippling around Jamie and making his cock bob. Luuk got in and leant back, sighing as the hot water stung his skin. The bathtub really was huge, and he pushed a button on the wall that set off jets. They could definitely have some fun with those.
“Later,” Jamie whispered. He reached behind himself, pushed a finger or two in and moaned, his eyelids fluttering.
“We should—” Luuk started, thinking perhaps he should get out, that way he could use the conditioner or something for lube, but Jamie growled, eyes flashing through those narrowly slitted lids.
“No. How many times have we done without it?”
More times than Luuk wanted to remember. Jamie deserved more tenderness than Luuk had been able to give him.
“No,” Jamie said again, anger pinching his voice. “Don’t start that, don’t ruin this with a bunch of guilt you shouldn’t feel. Just take me, give yourself to me, let me—” Jamie straddled his hips and planted a hand on his chest, the other fisting Luuk’s length. “Stop thinking of what you think I should have, and feel what I want,” Jamie said as he lined Luuk’s cock up to his hole. “Feel
me.”
Jamie sank down on him, a hard drop that sent water sloshing over the side of the tub and Luuk’s reservations out of the window.
Jamie’s need permeated his mind, his body, and Luuk grabbed Jamie’s hips, thrusting up into the tight, velvet heat of his mate’s body. “Yes. I feel you. All of you.” Luuk held on even tighter as he pushed up, wanting every bit of Jamie’s ass holding him. “Yours,” he rasped. “Mine.” Luuk stopped trying to talk and instead raised Jamie up a few inches before jerking him back down.
Jamie’s mewl, his hands as he clawed at Luuk’s forearms, fired Luuk up as nothing else could have. He roared as he began to fuck Jamie with all the force he could manage in the bathtub, in the position he was in. It was good, Jamie’s inner muscles constricting around his cock as he tried to withdraw, the keening sound Jamie made each time he drove back in, slamming his hips against Jamie’s ass.
The slap of the water, the pounding of their flesh, drowned out the worries and fears Luuk normally lived with. Nothing mattered at this moment but Jamie, their love, their need and desire, and Luuk’s complete devotion to his mate. He lost himself in those things as he took Jamie, gave himself in return, and when Jamie shouted, throwing his head back, his inner walls clamping so hard around Luuk he couldn’t move, Luuk’s vision hazed, a rough sound leaving his lips. Ecstasy crashed into him, stealing everything else away but the feel of his mate, their releases soaring and melding into one.

“I guess he has a new number.” Jameson felt like an utter jerk. He had no idea what had happened in Adam’s life over the past few years, but apparently he still was going to get butt-hurt because Adam had changed his number instead of keeping the same old one in the hopes that someday, Jameson would call it. Yeah, he was a total assmunch.

“Didn’t you say he’d bought a veterinary clinic in Shasta?” Luuk asked, giving him one of those looks, the kind that said ‘duh’ as loudly as if it was spoken. “You could look that up?”

“Yeah, go ahead and be all smart,” he retorted, but he leaned over and kissed Luuk, who was sending a carefully worded e-mail to his brother. Honestly, Jameson knew if Adam had changed numbers, he’d probably tried to contact him, likely through e-mail, but it’d been so long since Jameson had logged into his mail accounts that all of them were gone. Luuk was setting him up a new one after he finished the letter to Maarten.

Jameson used the phone to search, but it wasn’t very effective. “Can you—” “On it.” Luuk stuck his tongue out, biting it as he stared at the laptop screen and tapped away with two fingers on the keyboard. “Uhm. There’s only one clinic listed in Shasta, Texas, but get this—when I do a search of Spokeo for Adam Soames, it comes up with him and this address…and this man, too. Todd Benson.”
Jameson all but pounced on Luuk, trying to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, he saw that name, and he wondered what it meant. Luuk closed the screen, started another search, then clicked the first link and whistled. “Sheriff Todd Benson. Look, he’s a ginger, but he’s kind of…”
Jameson stared hard at the picture of the redhead wearing the cowboy hat and sheriff’s uniform. Todd Benson looked… “Sweet. Too sweet to be a sheriff, I would have thought, but I guess that whole appearances being deceiving thing is true. Are there any more pictures?”
Luuk grunted and soon they were looking at something neither of them were familiar with—a Facebook page for Todd Benson. “Photos,” he muttered, and Luuk clicked. “Fuck. Only certain people can see his pictures? What the hell does that even mean? What—” Jameson hissed in exasperation. “Try Adam. Maybe—oh my God,” he said, because a small pic popped up on the top of a list, and there, looking as gorgeous as always and happier than he’d ever seen him, was Adam with his arms around the redhead, and both were obviously head over heels in love.
“They look happy,” Luuk murmured. He clicked the link and Adam’s page popped up. Unlike Todd’s, several things appeared, numerous postings that said what Adam and Todd had done, how happy they were.
“Click there,” Jameson said as he tapped the screen where one post said new pictures had been added. Luuk clicked, and Jameson stared at the photo, Adam’s eyes lit with a joy that was unmistakable. He was gazing at whoever was taking the picture, and Jameson would bet that was Todd. Luuk clicked the white arrow and another picture appeared, this one of the two men embracing, then a third was of them kissing, and Jameson was shocked to find himself crying, tears of joy and regret. He was happy for Adam, but he wished he’d been there in person to see the evolution of this blissful Adam. Picture after picture provided some of the details Jameson had missed in his friend’s life, but it wasn’t the same as being there.
“Looks like he’s done fine without me.” Jameson blinked and swiped at his cheeks. Luuk swivelled in the chair and grabbed him by the hips. In seconds he was on Luuk’s lap being kissed until he had to pull away to take a breath.
“He’s done fine, sure, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t missed you.” Luuk turned his head and nodded at the screen. Jameson looked and yeah, he could see a hint of sadness in Adam’s eyes, but maybe he was imagining it. “No, read the words under it.”
Jameson leaned closer, his vision blurred from tears, then more began to fall as he read the words written by Langston Hughes decades ago.
“‘I loved my friend. He went away from me. There’s nothing more to say. The poem ends, soft as it begins—I loved my friend. Langston Hughes.’”
Luuk pointed to the date. “I wouldn’t say he has forgotten you at all. This was posted seven months ago.”
“Loved,” Jameson sighed. He was being a moody jerk, but he couldn’t help it. The blackness was creeping in, making him want to curl up and cry for days. “That’s past tense.”
Luuk cupped his chin and made him look at the picture. “Does he look as if he’s over you? Like he doesn’t give a shit what has happened?”
Jameson tried to turn away. His eyes and his hateful brain were telling him two different things. “I don’t know. I don’t—” Jameson shoved up and ran for the bathroom. He needed a few minutes to fight the bad part of himself, to bury it.
“No, you’re not hiding it from me anymore,” Luuk said, and it was only then Jameson realised Luuk was right on his heels. “Jamie, love, you don’t have to hide it from me. Why didn’t you tell me you were this depressed—?”
“I’m not!” Jameson burned with shame even as he shouted the lie. It burned his tongue, his gut, and he shook his head, unable to keep lying to his mate. “I’m so weak. How can you look at me and not see how fucked up I am?”
Luuk stopped mid-reach, and instead touched the back of his hand, his cheek, then rested his hand over Jameson’s heart. “You are neither of those things,” he growled, his gaze tangling with Jameson’s and holding it steady. “You are
not!”
Luuk’s certainty rushed into Jameson, pushing in and chasing back the dark. Eyes open, he saw nothing as Luuk’s love, his faith, his admiration flooded Jameson in swell after swell. “You are everything to me, Jamie. Everything.”
Whether Luuk spoke the words or thought them, Jameson couldn’t say. He wanted to lose himself in his mate’s love, but the shame was hard to shake off.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of. I have made your life so difficult, hurt you so much that you couldn’t trust me with what you were feeling. What kind of mate have I been that the one who should know he means more to me than anything else in this world didn’t know? Didn’t think he could trust me to support him and love him?”
Jameson jerked at the words, his head snapping back as he starting shaking it. “No, no, that’s not it, Luuk. Please. Please, I…” He sniffled and slapped a hand over his mouth, wishing he wasn’t such a wuss.
“Stop it, Jamie. You’re not. Please, tell me,” Luuk begged, his eyes pained, and Jamie dropped his hand away and sniffled again.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with…depression.” Jameson stiffened his spine and forced out the other words that he hated so. “Mental illness. It’s something I can’t help, but where I come from, it’s shameful, and I can’t get past that. I thought I had conquered it when we met, just had some bad days, but…” Jameson looked at Luuk and opened himself fully. “I can’t beat this, Luuk. I’m terrified it will get a hold of me and do me like before. I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t function. What kind of man, what kind of mate, does that make
me?
” Jesus, Luuk deserved so much better than someone fucked up with periods of major depressive disorder. He’d really thought after the hospitalisation over a decade ago that he was past it.
Luuk was holding him. When had that happened? Jameson closed his eyes and listened to his own panicked mind for a moment before Luuk’s words penetrated. Promises of love unending and apologies, Luuk kept talking, kept talking, and Jameson’s tears kept falling, mingling with Luuk’s to drop onto their shirts. Jameson wished the shifter ability to heal rapidly also applied to his mind, but for now, he was comforted by the knowledge that he didn’t have to hide that part of himself from his mate anymore.