Don't Read in the Closet volume one (25 page)

“Thanks, Dad.”
He spoke to empty air. His Dad was a busy man. He’d always been busy. Devyn had
spent years rebelling as a teen, hence the tats and piercings, trying to get a
tiny fraction of the man’s attention, his time, to no avail. This though, had
brought out his father’s protective instincts. As soon as Kayla started divorce
proceedings, Dad had been right at his side, supportive emotionally and
financially. Would that still be the situation when this was resolved? Maybe
not. But at least he knew he could count on his Dad when he needed him these
days.

He peered
desperately around the room. “I took him from that apartment for his own
safety. Please. I have a custody hearing tomorrow morning to appeal. Don’t turn
me in.”

“I cannot
believe it took that fucking bitch,” Tally spit out, "a week to realize
her child wasn’t there.”

Dude wrapped an
arm around his wife’s shoulders and eyed Devyn up and down assessingly. “You
look bad, all right, but your
heart’s
in the right
place. Sometimes doing the right thing is more important than doing the legal
thing.”

Sully rose from
his armchair and crossed to Devyn. Devyn met his eyes stoically, waiting for
condemnation that never came. Instead, Sully passed a light kiss over his brow,
flicking the stud there with his tongue in passing. God bless that oral
fixation! “I’ll go with you. We’d better get Kail and head on home now, Tally.”

And that was
that. How did they make support seem so simple?

CHAPTER 10

Sully clung to
Devyn’s hand, indulgently smiling at the stunned expression on the young
father’s face. “Full custody Devyn. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“Yeah, it is. I
just, it seems unreal that it was so easy. After the hell I went through just
to get visitation with that last judge, I can’t believe this.”

“Believe this
asshole!” Kayla shrieked. Devyn’s petite blonde ex swung her Coach bag in a
wide arc, attempting to land a blow to Devyn’s head, but Sully reacted on
instinct, crushing her wrist in a bruising grip and slowly forcing her hand
back. “This isn’t the end of this! Let go! Let me go, you… you… Fag!”

Devyn backed
up, bumping into Sully who stood his ground for both of them. He flung Kayla’s
manicured hand away and wrapped a protective arm around Devyn’s middle. “I have
to inform you ma’am that you are assaulting a plain clothes policeman.”

“He kidnapped
my son!” She raged, glaring hatefully at them.

“You abandoned
Kail!” Devyn’s recovery pleased Sully. “He was alone in a drug den! You didn’t
even know he was gone for over a week.”

The blonde
pouted. “I knew. I just couldn’t do anything about it yet.”

By that, she
must mean she needed time to clean out the paraphernalia before calling the
cops over. Fortunately the lawyer had the photographic evidence, and a
mandatory on the spot drug test, coupled with the needle marks that just
couldn’t be hidden made the judge decide to allow Kayla only supervised visits
with Kail, at Devyn’s discretion.

Alligator tears
welled in the baby blue eyes and trickled slowly down rouged cheeks. She was
pretty enough, but the drugs and hard life style would age her before her time.
“I miss him. I miss you Devyn. You aren’t really gay. Remember how good things
were between us? We can have that again. Can we please try again?”

Devyn’s chest swelled
on a deeply drawn breath and air whooshed audibly from his lungs. “Kayla,
please. We’re done. We’ve been done a long time.” He twisted his head to press
a light kiss to Sully’s cheek. “I’m with Sully now.”

“You aren’t
gay, Devyn! You bastard! You’ve forced him into this somehow! He’s straight!”
Vitriol burned in the acid tones and ugly color mottled her face under the
make-up. She didn’t look so sweet and innocent now as she had standing beside
her lawyer in the demur Chanel suit. Now the true nature of the beast showed
through as her hands curled into lethal looking claws and she tensed as though
to strike.

Sully
stiffened. His arm tensed. Devyn was his. He knew it in his soul. Slowly,
deliberately, he met those scornful blue eyes,
unwrapped
his arm from around Devyn’s waist and raised both hands in the air. “I’m not
forcing him to do anything. My help is freely given, in and out of the
courtroom.”

“Oh for the
love of God!” Devyn burst out. “I’m not gay, okay Kayla? Happy now?”

Searing pain.
Unbelievable. Had Devyn been using him? Had he read too much into a few hours
of companionship and caring for a sick child? Too much into the gift of Devyn’s
virginity? He waited patiently, tense and nearing panic.

“I knew it!”
Triumph echoed in the voice he was beginning to hate.

“You know
nothing, Kayla.” Devyn cut her off sharply. “I’m bisexual. I always have been.
And I’m not blinded by you like I was at sixteen. You’re not missing me, you’re
not missing Kail. You’re freaking out about where you’re going to get the money
to support your habits without child support. Well, I don’t know where that’s
coming from, and quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck. Back off, I’ll call you
when my lawyer contacts me about the results for your drug test. When and if
you’re clean and sober, we’ll talk about a visit.”

Devyn turned,
and right
there,
on the courthouse steps, in front of
any bystanders who happened to pass, embraced Sully and tilted his head up for
a kiss. Eagerly, Sully obliged, pressing the lips he’d been chewing nervously
to Devyn’s, taking time to lick and suck the piercing in his plump lower lip,
shuddering as Devyn ground slowly against his thigh.

“Argh!” The
rapid click of heels on marble signaled Kayla’s exit. A loud throat clearing
dragged him back from the passionate haze that had begun to cloud his vision.

“I don’t want
to interrupt, Devyn. But I’ve got someone here who has a vested interest in the
outcome of the hearing.”

Devyn jerked
out of his arms so fast he nearly fell backwards. Sully steadied him with a
hand on his waist that Devyn shook off abruptly. Fuck. Not again. Light dawned
as Devyn began speaking. “Dad, this is Officer Sullivan Moore. He … well… I….”

Sully laughed.
The older man looked interested, not condemning. He had to have understood what
Devyn was stumbling over explaining just from seeing that kiss. Reaching out to
take a gurgling Kail, Sully cut through Devyn’s babbling. “I live upstairs from
Devyn. Came this morning to lend him some moral support. Not that he needed it.
The situation was pretty clear cut.”

The older man
offered him a hand to shake, eyes twinkling in amusement. “So. You’re just
neighbors?”

Devyn stilled,
“No. We’re dating Dad.” He turned pleading eyes on Sully, who nodded, and
wrapped his free arm around Devyn’s waist.

“Well, then. If
I’m not needed here, Devyn, I have things I can do.” Mr. Starke pivoted on one
shiny heel and marched sharply off to an illegally parked Mercedes sedan. He
took a diaper bag from the passenger seat, set on the pavement, and headed to
the driver’s side. “Bring Sully and Kail to dinner one night. Your stepmother
would like that.” He called as he slid behind the wheel and peeled out of the
turnaround.

Sully gazed
after him in astonishment. For a coming out moment, that had been… weird.
“Devyn?”

“Yeah?” Devyn
seemed bemused as well.

“Does he know
you’re bisexual?”

“No. I barely
knew before I married Kayla. Then afterward, there was no point. Oh… You mean
because of his reaction? He’s always like that. I did find out in all this over
Kail that he’s always been there when I really needed him though. When I was
younger, I thought it was because he didn't care. Now I know it's because he
trusts me to let him know when I need him.”

Sully pondered.
“So, does that mean he’ll watch Kail if we want to go out? You know, for a real
date?”

Chuckling,
Devyn nodded. “Probably. Do you want to have dinner over there? We don’t have
to.”

“I want to. I
want to know the place you grew up, the people who raised you to be such a
wonderful father to Kail.” Words trembled at the tip of his tongue, dying to be
said. He reached for the key around his neck, thought better of it, and just let
them go. “I’m not trying to pressure you, you know. Honestly, if you just want
to be friends, I can handle that. Maybe.”

“No! I’ve never
felt like this, Sully. Not about Kayla, not about anyone. It’s different. I
think it could be special.” Devyn flushed and worried his lip piercing with his
tongue.

Reassured,
hating the doubt that Kayla had created with her vicious remarks, he bent and
kissed the top of Devyn’s head. “Yeah. Me too. I’ve been around the block a
time or two. You don’t get to my age and not do that, you know? But it’s never
been like this.” Solemnly, he contemplated Kail’s sleepily content face. “I
think this could be something big, baby, for all of us.”

EPILOGUE

HEA
~ Six Months Later

Who’s Taking
You
Home

Sully looked up
from the ball at his feet and nearly stumbled into his teammate. Devyn sat in
the bleachers watching him, little Kail snuggled neatly on his lap. Warmth
bloomed and a ridiculous smile spread over his face. It took a cleat to his
ankle to draw his attention back to the game at hand, and when he looked up
again the good feelings, the pride in his game, the thrill of knowing the man
he loved watched him, all drained away.

On the third
row of the bleachers, Devyn sat next to a big-haired blonde woman, who was
smiling and laughing so loudly that Sully could hear her on the soccer field.
His lip lifted in a snarl as he saw a hand tipped with blood red spikes land on
Devyn’s knee. The snarl became verbal when Devyn’s husky laugh echoed hers. The
tattooed man made no move to discourage the woman’s grip on his denim-clad leg.

Fury mingled
with unease as Sully jerked his attention back to the game. He couldn’t afford
not to focus out here. But the niggling worry of a voice at the back of his
head reminded him, Devyn is bisexual. He might find that woman a real
temptation. When the opposing team called a time out, Sully took the
opportunity to check on Devyn again. To his relief, the young man still sat in
the third row, the woman next to him made a show of playing with a clearly
uninterested Kail. Way to go little man! He waved and called out to the baby
from the field. “Hi! Kail!”

The baby
bounced in his father’s lap, clapping his hands and reaching for Sully. He
should feel guilty, about that, but Sully just waved some more, then raised his
eyes from the giggling baby’s face to meet his father’s dark eyes. He grabbed
the chain around his neck, the chain with the key to their apartment, and
lifted it to his mouth. A bad habit, but he had no interest in breaking it. His
oral fixation was deeply rooted, and hell, he fucking enjoyed it. Locking eyes
with Devyn’s dark gaze, he watched the other man’s pupils widen as he licked
the little key with the barest tip of tongue.

It was enough,
a reminder, flirt all you want, baby, you go home with me at the end of the
day. Devyn’s face flushed and his lips parted, Sully could almost swear he saw
the other man’s breath come faster, heard the rush of his pulse.

The harsh tweet
of the ref’s whistle dragged his attention back to the game, and he played out
the last five minutes, anticipation building, and adrenaline flowing. He knew
he was distracted, but he couldn’t help it. He refused to give Devyn the
satisfaction of looking over and seeing him flirt with that woman any more, but
he couldn’t ignore the knowledge of what was going on either.

When the final
whistle blew, he stalked over to the cooler, grabbed a bottle of water and
scanned the crowd for Tallia. Devyn and Kail could come to him. There, Tallia
prissed her way across the grass in the ridiculous heels she affected, as
though anyone would believe she was an inch over four–eleven no matter what she
wore on her feet.

“Sis!” He
called, wiping sweat from his brow with the t-shirt he’d just stripped off.

“Sully, you
coming for pizza? I can’t hang out. I got the kids in the car. Just need to get
Dude and we’re on our way.” She made an incomplete air kiss gesture in his
direction as she looked for her husband, Sully’s best friend and partner in
crime.

“Yeah, hey
listen, Sis. Can you take Kail with you? Devyn and I have something we need to
do before we get there, but it’ll only take about twenty minutes.” He felt
their presence behind him even before the baby’s sweet giggle reached his ears
and the tiny hands grabbed at his arm.