The Boy Who Came in From the Cold (37 page)

Todd turned to Gabe, smiling. In his hand was a small roll of money.

G
ABE was trying to help Todd in the kitchen when the phone rang. He was surprised to see who it was. “Hey, Tracy,” Gabe said after excusing himself and stepping away from Todd, who had just pulled a roast out of the refrigerator. It was in a big deep casserole dish and seemed to be marinating in something.

“Hi, Gabriel. Um….”

Um? Tracy said “Um?” She might as well have said “shit” or “damn” it was so uncharacteristic. She was constantly on any team member who used the word. She said it sounded like weakness. If there was one thing Tracy wasn’t, it was weak.

Gabe was getting a bad feeling already.
“What is it, Tracy? I’m kind of busy.” He looked over at Todd, who was looking in one of the cabinets and pulling out some spice bags, as well as what looked like peanuts. No. Was that shelled pistachios?

“It…. Well….” Again, Tracy was being totally uncharacteristic. Hesitating wasn’t within her killer style. Funny that she could move in for the kill but wouldn’t swear. “You don’t have to be trailer trash to be successful,” she would tell him. “And swearing is tacky.”

“Spit it out, Tracy.”

There was a pause. “Only if you promise not to hate me,” she said.
Gabe counted to ten. “You know I don’t like to promise,” he said through gritted teeth. This was getting worse. And something told him it was about Todd.
“You make promises all the time,” she said. “Most of which you can’t possibly keep.”

“Wrong, Tracy. Most of them are promises people think I can’t keep. But I always do.”
“Then promise.”

Gabesighed. “Okay. I promise.”
Another pause. “It’s about your friend. Todd.”

Gabe shut his eyes. Rubbed them. Of course. He’d known it. Hadn’t he known it? “What about him?” he said, trying not to growl.
“Todd Burton, that’s his name, right? From a town called Buckman? Graduated two years ago?”

Gabe froze. “Yes,” he said stiffly.
“Gabriel, you promised.”

“I also said I don’t like to make them.” He glanced over at Todd again, who was now placing the roast in a big roasting pan. “You have the best-stocked kitchen! I just love it,” Todd cried. Gabe stepped out of the kitchen and moved down the hall and dropped his voice to a harsh whisper. “What is it, Tracy?”

 

“Well….” She cleared her throat. “This would be so much easier if we were face to face. Where are you?”

 

“It wouldn’t be easier,” Gabe said. “Tell me.”

 

“Mother skeeter!” One last pause and then she plunged on. “I did a little background check on him—”

 

“You what?” Gabe asked, barely keeping from shouting. Tracy did a background check on Todd?

“Yes. And I found some interesting stuff.”
I don’t want to know. Damn you, Tracy
. He began to pace.

“And Gabriel. There’s nothing bad, okay? I’m not calling to tell you ‘I told you so.’”
Gabe stopped in place. Held his breath.
“I mean, from the little I’ve found so far, he seems like a great kid. He’s never been in trouble. Not even a parking ticket, let alone for speeding. He did really well in school. In fact his principal said he volunteered every year for all the school events. Food drives. All kinds of things. This guy is squeaky clean. The only bad thing about this boy is his credit. It
was
good, but in the last few months it’s gone to heck and back.”

Gabe let out a sigh of relief. For one horrible second there, he had actually feared Tracy might say something that would change everything. He so believed in Todd. He had no reason to. Not really. He didn’t
really
know him. Couldn’t figure him out. Couldn’t de-code Todd like he did with people when he was going into a business situation. But that instinct had told him Todd was a good man.

“But there’s more, Gabriel. I think if I hadn’t found out this shit I might not have called.”

 

Gabe froze. Shit? Had Tracy said “shit”? Now she had his attention.

“Seems like there just might be something weird going on with the parents. Didn’t you say this kid didn’t have any money? That he was flat-out broke?”

Gabe nodded. Then: “Yes.”

Tracy cleared her throat. “Well, he shouldn’t be. And it’s more than that. Wait until you hear this….”
Gabe listened and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was good news. Very good news. Unbelievably good news.

“Thank you, Tracy,” he said when they were finished. “And you’ll check up on those other things?”

 

“Already in the process,” she said.

 

Of course
, he thought. She was Tracy, wasn’t she? Tracy-Mega

Efficient-Creighton? “Thanks again.”
“Not mad, then?”

Gabe shook his head. “You’re lucky it all came to this. I would have been pissed as hell if it had been anything else. I should still be pissed. But this might be the answer to all of Todd’s prayers. I can’t be mad at you.”

“Thanks, Gabriel. I only did it because I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said, and hung up.
“You love
who
too?” Todd said, an eyebrow raised.

“Tracy. It’s just Tracy,” Gabe said, chuckling. He liked Todd’s possessiveness. Daniel never had a shred of it. It was nice to be wanted.

“And this is a female Tracy, right?” Todd asked.
“Yes, baby. No worries.”
“Yeah, well, that’s good,” Todd said.

S
HIT
,
Todd thought to himself.
What am I gonna do with all this?
He turned and looked up into his lover’s eyes. “Look at this, Gabe. This roast I bought the other day. It’s enough to feed an army. I’d planned on getting lamp chops but got this joint of lamb instead. We’ll have leftovers for days.”

Gabe’s eyes went wide, and he bit his lower lip.
Something’s wrong
, Todd thought.
Is he mad I bought too much lamb? The price was so good.

“Shit,” Gabe said.
“Did I do something wrong?” Todd asked.
Gabe shook his head. “Baby….”
Baby
. He liked the sound of that.

Gabe pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down. He patted his big thigh. “Sit down.”

“I’m too heavy.”
“Ridiculous. Sit down in my lap.”

Oh, just look at those eyes
, Todd thought and felt his dick stir.
Oh, the things you do to me
. He got an idea. Gave his man a wicked grin and then crawled up into his lap, straddling him.
“Uh oh,” Gabe said.

“No uh oh,” Todd said and kissed him.

Gabe laughed. Kissed him back. “And that is what I was about to say to you. I don’t want you to ask me if you did anything wrong, okay? You couldn’t do anything wrong. We might make mistakes, but we’re building a foundation right now, and the key is just to talk things through.”

“Okay.” Todd’s cock finished its climb to erection. He pushed it against Gabe’s belly.
“Uh oh,” Gabe said again.

Todd dropped his head back and chuckled.

“Todd, I already forgot to tell you something, and now you are going to make me forget again.” He grabbed Todd’s ass and squeezed it.

Todd felt shivers. Sooner or later he was going to have to find out about his prostate and see if it felt as good to be fucked as Gabe made it look. Of course, Gabe’s cock was a whole lot bigger than his. Could a human being even take such a big thing? Todd began to rub his cock against Gabe’s flat, strong belly.

“Todd! I have to tell you something,” Gabe said.
Todd pouted. “What?”
“You have to promise not to be too disappointed.”
Todd narrowed his eyes.
Disappointed?
“What?” he asked. “Peter invited himself over for dinner tonight.”

Todd slumped in Gabe’s arms. “Gabe,” he whimpered. “I wanted this to be about us.”

“I know. But he seemed to think it was important. And I’ve learned not to argue with Peter when he’s insistent. Forgive me? I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Todd looked into those sweet eyes and knew he couldn’t deny Gabe anything. “It’s okay. We have a lifetime of special nights, right?” he asked.
Right? Tell me I’m right
.

“A whole lifetime,” Gabe said. “We can have a special afternoon if you want.” Gabe grinned at him lasciviously.

Todd felt his cock pulse. “You let me put that roast in the oven and you got it. After all, I want it to be perfect. Peter Wagner is coming to dinner!”

T
HEloving was amazing. Gabe did things to him that he’d never imagined people did. Hot things. Naughty things. Sucked his toes. Licked his hole. Gabe had actually licked his asshole. Who’d a thought people did that? Thank God he’d showered.

And oh, it had felt good. So good.
Then Gabe did magic things with his fingers. Very magic things.

At first it had been a little uncomfortable. It had made Todd feel like he had to go to the bathroom. But Gabe assured him that: a) that was normal, and b) his fingers were up inside Todd and he could tell Todd did not, in fact, have to go to the bathroom.

“Just relax,” he told Todd. “Relax.”

Two fingers had turned into three and then God, four after that. He felt huge back there and wild. Crazy wild.
Oh, my God, wild!
Something amazing was sending little shocks all through him, up his spine and down his arms and through his fingertips. It made his scalp tingle and his toes curl and
God, oh God, it felt good!

Then Gabe pulled him into arms, curled him up like a baby and kissed him, and Gabe did more things with his fingers, playing deep into his ass. “Oh God,” Todd panted. “What are you doing?”

“Making you feel good,” Gabe panted into his ear. “Making you feel really good.”

Todd felt like he was crawling out of his skin, but it was good. So good. His heart was leaping and his cock was like steel and he felt like he would cum if Gabe did it any more. “So close,” he said. “I am so close.”

“Are you ready? Do you want to?” Gabe asked him.

 

“Is-is th-this wha-what it f-feels like to be fucked?” Todd stuttered.

Gabe chuckled. “My cock can’t tickle you like this—” and Gabe wiggled his fingers.
“Oh God,” Todd cried.

“—but it can feel good. And I can’t get any closer to you than having my cock inside you. But you have to be sure, Todd.”

They looked into each other’s eyes.
“There’s no going back, Todd.”

Todd thought he would get lost in those eyes. He wanted to. “I don’t want to go back,” he said.

 

Gabe kissed him again, deep and slow, their tongues slowly caressing, breathing into each other’s mouths.

Gabe slowly pushed Todd onto his tummy, gently urged his legs apart, and ran his fingers up and down Todd’s crack, teasing his balls, teasing his hole, slipping one inside and gently massaging his prostate. Todd thought he would die.

Then Gabe was reaching for a drawer in his bedside table, pulling out a foil-wrapped package. “Do you have to use that?” Todd asked.
“Yes,” Gabe answered.

“I want all of you in me. No plastic. You. And I want you to cum inside me.”

“I do too,” Gabe replied gently. “But not this time. I am pretty sure I’m negative, but I want to test clear a little longer.”
“I trust you,” Todd said.
With my life
.

“But I don’t know if I trust my body,” Gabe said. “Brett had sex without condoms. Daniel had sex with him. I know they used condoms the time I caught them, but I don’t know if that was their first time. I can’t trust a thing Daniel said. If he cheated with Brett, who else did he cheat with?”

“Oh…,” Todd moaned sadly.

 

“And Joan cheated on you. Who knows if it was just once? We need to be sure.”

Todd sighed.
“Don’t be sad, my love.”
His love. I’m his love.

“We can make love without condoms one day. When we know we won’t hurt each other. When we know we want only each other.” Todd rolled on his side. “Do you think I could possibly want anyone but you?”

Once again they locked eyes. “I can’t imagine wanting anyone but you,” Gabe said. “I know I’m not in love with being in love this time. I am in love with you. But we’ll wait.
Because
I love you.”

“Then do you mind waiting?” Todd asked with a tear in his eye. “Can we wait to do that again until we don’t have to use them?” “If that’s what you want,” Gabe said. “If that’s what you want.”

So they kissed, and Gabe placed his fingers deep in Todd again and coaxed the most powerful orgasm out of Todd that he’d ever known. Todd was gripping Gabe’s cock by then, and he came seconds after Todd, spilling himself in Todd’s hands and on his belly.

I’m in love
, was the last thing Todd thought as he drifted off to sleep, tangled with his lover.

 

Chapter 19

 

T
HERE was a ring of the intercom, and when Gabe went to answer it, it was Peter. He buzzed the man in, and Todd flew about the kitchen making his last minute preparations. The wine was out and ready to open, room temperature, not chilled like the Schwartzbeeren. Gabe had run to the store to find something right—two bottles. It was a red wine called malbec—Todd had never heard of it. But if the liquor store clerk was right, from his description, it would go perfect with dinner. Maybe some afterward.

Gabe answered the door right at the knock, and when he opened it, Todd noticed him freeze.
Now what’s that about