Swish (14 page)

“Like the view?” Alex teased.

Thomas's cheeks burned and he nodded. “Love it,” he admitted quietly. “It'll be even better when you get to it.”

“Oh, sorry. Am I taking too long?” Alex grinned. “Do you even edge, bro?”

Thomas burst out laughing. “Fuck off and fuck me, you big...”

All he could think of were fond words.
Sex god
.
Protector
.
Patient, determined, smart.
Alex was everything he'd been missing for years, and now even more.

“I... I want you.”

Alex grinned and Thomas's eyes flickered open to see if he understood that it was more than just sex. Alex's eyes were fond enough that Thomas suspected maybe he did.

“Relax, baby. I'm here,” Alex whispered, kissing Thomas's shoulder. He lined up his cock with Thomas's slick, waiting opening and pushed inside.

That one kiss seemed more affectionate than any kiss to the lips. Emotion swelled in Thomas's chest and he nodded sharply, grabbing the back of Alex's head to kiss him.

Alex's breathing was shallow and quick, his eyes even distant as he pushed inside an inch at a time, until he was fully seated inside Thomas and his balls brushed the curve of Thomas's ass. Alex's arms hooked under Thomas's legs, pushing them up and a little further apart to bend him as he found just the right position.

“Yes,” Thomas whispered, wishing he could hook his legs over Alex's shoulders. Maybe with skiing, he'd be flexible and strong enough for it.
That
was motivation to exercise, at least.

Alex kissed him affectionately, then sensually, and last of all, with the passion that surged through Thomas's own body. By unspoken agreement, Alex set into a deep, slow rhythm.

It was exactly like being jerked off a few minutes ago, only so much better to have Alex
in
him, their bodies locked together in passion.

“Alex,” Thomas groaned his encouragement, grabbing Alex's shoulder blades first. He ran his nails slowly down Alex's back, enjoying every ripple of muscles he felt from Alex's slow, full-body thrusts. Alex's whole body rippled with the effort he put into it.

Best of all, Alex kept glancing in his eyes and watching his face for every ounce of enjoyment. He was an attentive lover, and Thomas loved that about him too.

“God, you feel great,” Alex whispered. “This is perfect.”

Thomas nodded before Alex even finished speaking. “So perfect...”

Every time he pushed down to the very limit, Alex filled him up completely, then pulled back and left him feeling empty for a second before he filled him up again.

The head of his cock rubbed over Thomas's prostate with each slow, firm thrust. It made little twitches of pleasure shudder through his cock and then his stomach and chest, all the way to his fingers and toes.

God, he burned with need for Alex, but the slow pace was everything he wanted. They had plenty of time later for fast, hard fucking to try to break the bed frame. Right now... they were sharing another moment, just as intimate as last time.

Alex gently kissed Thomas while pushing inside and Thomas arched against him, wrapping his arms firmly around Alex's back now. Alex's cheeks were flushed now, his eyes hazy with the same pleasure he'd whispered about into Thomas's ear.

Thomas carded his fingers through his hair once more before kissing Alex's cheek and nose and forehead, then back to his lips.

Alex laughed gently, his eyes lit up with wonder. “You're so playful.”

“I hope you don't mind.”

“I – nnh... not at all,” Alex moaned, thrusting a little harder as he shifted his angle a little. “I've laughed more with you than ever, and I... like that.”

Thomas nodded hard. It wasn't just sexual satisfaction – there was deeper pleasure here that he'd missed, and a much deeper connection than he'd ever felt to Alex before. This was an itch nobody else scratched.

He swallowed hard, then groaned at the sharper thrusts. “Yes...! You can go harder...” he whispered and was rewarded with several more kisses.

Thomas kissed blindly, his head spinning with pleasure as Alex gradually sped up his pace, still going hard and deep. Those muscled legs and arms held Alex perfectly steady even when Thomas grabbed at him.

“I'm gonna – any time now,” Thomas warned. Another whimper was wrung from his lips as Alex thrust even harder, angled just right to rub inside him...

His cock was burning with desire to be touched. On the other hand, felt so sensitive to every little brush against Alex's stomach or his own that he was positive he'd come on the spot if he were. Or maybe kick Alex.

Thomas didn't even have time to dwell on it. He gasped and shivered, his whole body tensing for a second with preparation as he felt himself hit that mental plateau right before the final climb and plunge...

“Come for me, baby,” Alex whispered, kissing along his jaw and neck. “I missed you so much.”

“I m-missed you too,” Thomas moaned, his skin prickling with pleasant heat as Alex's chest rubbed against his and their hard nipples rubbed. Every little touch of bare skin, every brush of heat on heat seemed to multiply into a raging need for
Alex
...

Thomas clenched hard and rolled his head back into the pillow with another hard gasp as his muscles clenched.

“That's it, baby...”

“A-Alex... yes!
Yes
!” Thomas groaned. Even if he'd wanted to be shy and not vocal, there was no way he'd hold back the thoughts that whirled around his head. All were thoughts of Alex and how damn
right
this felt.

This was heaven, and he never wanted it to end.

As his body clenched and his passion squirted from deep within, he hit the moment of total focus. Every shiver of his muscles and slide of Alex's body against his only heightened the incredible sensation. Alex deliberately shifted his body to rub his stomach against Thomas's, trapping Thomas's cock between them.

“Yes...” Thomas whispered again, his voice hoarse. Bare skin and light hairs against the sensitive flesh made him
burn
all over again. He clenched extra-hard, his arms tightening around Alex for the last few pulses of pleasure.

Then Alex was driving hard and erratically into him, his breath coming in unmistakable, gasping pants. “T-Thomas... You're fucking gorgeous. Yes...!”

Thomas grabbed Alex's ass and pulled him in as close as he could to somehow get him deeper inside as Alex thrust and shuddered and gasped. Alex's face was incredible – he was staring at Thomas, not even through him, as if Thomas were the most beautiful sight.

Thomas flushed with embarrassment and pleasure, his breathing still hard and heavy as Alex gave a final few thrusts, then eased out and stripped the condom off.

Alex rolled onto his side and pulled him in to hold him silently while Thomas buried his nose in Alex's neck. Thomas twitched now and then with pleasure, his chest and stomach warm all throughout. His head still faintly buzzed.
That was incredible.

“Christ, you're something,” Thomas whispered.

“Thanks.” A rumble of a laugh sounded in Alex's chest, vibrating against Thomas. “That
was
goddamn perfect.”

Thomas scooted a little closer to push his thigh between Alex's legs and curl his arm under his head. “Only thing that's better...”

“Mm?” Alex pulled back enough to look him in the eye. It was easy to tell he was trying to remain calmly neutral.

Thomas grinned. “Wanna stay over tonight?” He
really
hoped his new-and-past lover would say yes. He'd hinted at it before, after all. “I work early tomorrow, though.”

“Of course,” Alex agreed instantly. “I do too. It'll be just like old times... only sexier.”

Thomas laughed quietly and rubbed Alex's chest. “If you're lucky,” he teased.

“I already got lucky.”

The sincerity of the words made Thomas's smile falter for a moment before it came back with ten times the force. This was referencing more than their amazing sex. Alex was looking at him like he meant every damn word, not like it was one of his charming little acts.

“Shut up,” Thomas mumbled, rubbing his face and sitting up.

Alex laughed hard with surprise. “You're not usually speechless. Did your inbuilt dictionary module get wiped during all that awesome sex?”

Thomas snorted and shoved Alex's chest. “You're getting an ego, and
I'm
getting up to wash off before I ruin my sheets.”

“Heaven forbid you get a little come on them, 'cause nobody ever does that.” Alex grinned mercilessly, hauling himself up in one easy sit-up to peck Thomas's lips.

“You...” Thomas smacked Alex's shoulder again as he stood up, but they were both laughing. He let himself into the ensuite and cleaned himself off a little, taking a moment to gaze in the mirror.

This was who he was now. It was easy to see the change. Even to his own eye, Thomas glowed like he'd never seen himself glow before.

He
did
want to date Alex again – even that simple realization set his heart racing. He had to face everyone else first, but... Alex was willing to wait for him this time.

Thomas knew just what Alex had meant a minute ago. He was lucky, too.

As the front door clicked shut behind him in the winter pre-dawn hours, Alex kept his steps quiet. He wasn't ashamed about leaving Thomas's house the next day, but he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention. Thomas still had to have conversations with both his brothers that might not be easier if they saw him.

Not that everyone wouldn't already know. He ruefully smiled as he unlocked his car and started it up. He shivered as he pulled on his gloves and grabbed the scraper. Luckily it hadn't even snowed, and there was just a thin layer of frost to scrape off the windshield that morning.

Alex worked quickly, laughing under his breath at the thought: if he'd wanted to make a quick getaway, lord knows he wouldn't be able to what with Canadian weather conditions. Maybe he ought to invest in a car that would allow him to lock the doors while leaving it running in case he needed that someday after an all-night surveillance stakeout.

He climbed back in and pulled away from the curb, not spotting many other cars on the road as he drove to his place first to grab a quick shower, change of clothes, and breakfast.

He had to get started early on his next case. He'd gotten the call yesterday just before the call about Chase's father coming into town: someone's cat was missing. It would have found a warm spot to burrow for at least the first couple nights, but he only had a few nights if he wanted to be successful. They were willing to pay his ridiculous rate for the full day of searching, especially around dawn and dusk.

God, it was hard to get up early some mornings, though. While he was alone, it was way harder, though, oddly. It should have been the other way – reluctance to leave his lover versus boredom in bed alone. Instead, being alone just... didn't treat him well.

The doctor had given him a waiting list spot for therapy, and he'd have to wait at least a couple months for that. In the meantime, he intended to keep himself focused like always on work.

Alex had a few ideas for this case, but he'd start in the usual places. Missing pet cases were among the best to solve and the worst if they went cold. Especially in the winter.

His first move was to search the owner's property, looking everywhere from gaps in the shed eaves to thoroughly searching the darkness under the porch. With no results, he broadened his search, looking around and over fences to see which properties he wanted to search.

There was a time he might have just climbed over and done it without asking, but he had to do things by the book now wherever he could. And besides, one of them might have some wisdom.

Look at me asking for help like a grownup.
Alex wryly smiled as he knocked on the first neighbor's door.

To a man, every neighbor let him search the yard as soon as he explained what was going on and told him they hadn't seen any cats but would keep an eye out now. One offered to put out a box and blanket, while another offered to help search after work that night.

Then, a few houses down, one of the neighbors said something interesting.

“I think I saw an orange cat darting around a snowbank yesterday afternoon, actually. It was near the garbage shelter.”

Ohhh.
Alex's eyes widened. He hadn't even considered the shelters – large wooden boxes some people put near the end of their driveway to house their bins. Most were sealed pretty well, but if one wasn't, it would provide a neat little hiding place...

“Thanks,” Alex nodded hard. “I'll follow up on that.”

It took him a little while to search the nearby shelters. He didn't turn anything up, nor had he seen any paw prints, though there wasn't newly-fallen snow.

Every now and then he stepped back into his car and warmed it up to give himself a little break from the cold as morning crept into late morning, then afternoon. He finally had to take a break to eat the sandwich he'd brought and drink some tea, though his eyes still wandered around the street as he sat in the car and watched.

He might only have one chance to spot the creature. Unlike most of his cases, this was literally life and death.

It was around two when Alex got another lead from neighbors two streets away. They said that yesterday, they'd seen something orange going around the snow to the shed behind them, but that place was empty most of the time. They'd thought it was a trick of the sunlight since it had been sunset.

Good enough for him. Alex thanked them, then waited until they were inside the house again before doing one more search of their yard.

When he was sure nobody was looking, he hopped over the fence to the other place. The snow hadn't been touched here since winter began, and had formed into a hard ice pack. Certainly no paw prints around, but the wooden shed was what he was most interested in anyway.

Alex stepped back to have a good look at it. The doors were jammed shut by so much snow around them, but there was a mound of snow that had blown up next to one side of the shed. When he had a closer look, he spotted a gap in the eaves.

“Aha,” he whispered. He took another glance at the house, then rubbed his chin. He couldn't go about this wrong... the cat could escape one way while he searched another.

Then, Alex had a crazy little idea that made him grin.

Stepping back, he stomped on the ground until his boot broke through hard ice and snow. He bent down and scooped up the boulder-like chunk of ice and snow, then shoved it up in the gap in the eaves. Once he searched the rest of the perimeter, he found two more easy gaps and shoved snow chunks in them, too.

Now for the hard part. He had to stomp a few more times – enough that he was considering going back to his car for a shovel – before he managed to break through enough snow to kick it away from the doors.

Alex bent down and clawed with his gloves, grateful they were waterproof, to pull pieces of ice and snow away from the door. The shed was unlocked, though there was a clear spot where a padlock could be threaded to keep it locked up. He was exceptionally grateful for that – getting a cat out of a locked shed would be damn near impossible.

When he yanked on the doors, they didn't budge at first. He had to bend down and scrape at the snow again, muttering to himself about weapons laws. They weren't allowed to carry anything, just in case. That ruled out the Swiss Army knife that would have been damn handy right about now.

Still, with enough scraping that his fingers nearly went raw even inside his gloves, he managed to get the corner free and pulled open the door again, staying low to block the cat's escape in case it tried to run for it.

Like magic, it was there and it wasn't even running or fighting.

It just meowed loudly and trotted up to him.

“Aha, I bet you smell the good stuff, huh?” Tuna salad sandwich for lunch. “I saved a bit for you...” He knelt back and pulled off a glove, ignoring the sting against his fingers, to pull out a bag of cat treats.

The cat – Joker – was already climbing on his knees. He laughed as he tried to keep its face out of the whole bag of treats. “I see why they call you Joker. Your mom's worried sick about you, you know.” He fed it a couple of treats, then tucked the bag in an outside pocket and reached out to carefully scoop him up.

Just as he'd been told, Joker didn't offer any resistance. He awkwardly pulled his glove back on, the cat in his arms, then rose to his feet.

Thank god the police weren't waiting for him when he hopped back through the neighbor's yard and side yard to the street. He doubted they'd give him trouble when they learned what this was about, but it was still technically trespassing.

“Not that I care, huh?” he asked Joker, shifting him in his arms as Joker purred harder. “Hold on, gotta get you in the back seat...”

He might as well not have bothered; as soon as he climbed into the driver's seat, Joker climbed into the passenger seat and tried to nose at him for more treats.

“Oh, you're hungry, aren't you? I'm bringing you right home, buddy,” he promised. “Just sit tight. Don't get underfoot. Shoulda picked up your cage first...” Kaylee had told him he wouldn't need it, and he'd believed that.

Joker sat on the driver's seat, digging in his claws as Alex pulled away. Alex kept nervously glancing over, worried that Joker would try to interfere with his driving, but Joker was more patient than he'd expected.

When he pulled up in front of his house, Alex crawled backwards out of the car and reached across to tempt Joker closer with a treat, then scooped him up again. He didn't bother locking his car, just keeping Joker tight against his chest as he walked carefully across the slippery street.

The door was already open by the time he was there, and his client was hugging first Joker, then him. Alex stood back with a smile, watching Joker press his head against her face before running for the food dish.

“Well, he's learned better, I hope,” Alex laughed.

“Thank you so much. Do you have your invoice now or should I pay later? I'll pay on the spot,” Kaylee offered.

“Don't worry about it. I'll email you tomorrow,” Alex told her with a smile. Her face flooded with joy again as she hugged him. “Just – enjoy being with him again.”

“I will,” Kaylee said with a sincere little smile. “If anyone else ever needs your help...”

“Feel free to pass my name along,” Alex agreed. “I can't always help, but I can do my best. Your Joker was a pretty easy one to find, at least.” He'd only bill her for seven hours, since he'd taken a few minutes off to warm himself here and there.

Alex still glowed as he drove home, marveling that it was only three in the afternoon.

His glow only faded a little when he reached his apartment and found it empty and quiet. Compared to the Rileys' houses, there weren't people around all the time. Nobody was there to greet him, and there wasn't someone friendly right next door on either side.

Alex smiled slightly again as he thought about supper last night. That had gone pretty damn well, all things considered.

Nobody was obligated to be around him. He had to get his own life in order. The more he did that, the more Thomas seemed drawn to him, which was a bonus.

Maybe the time was here to focus his work on things he really liked: catching cheaters, finding lost pets, and just helping people. No more revenge or corporate cases.

Alex knew he made enough money doing what made him happy. He wasn't supporting an extravagant lifestyle anymore, and the cost of living here was way better. And now that he'd been working here for nearly a year, people were referring him to their friends, meaning more of the same kinds of cases he wanted. He could finally unclench his fears a little. Unlike Thomas, he didn't have bosses to navigate or please.

And Thomas... if he wanted to, Thomas would eventually come to him. His phone went off seconds later, giving him a shock. They must have been on the same wavelength for a moment.

Hi, I had an amazing time. Do you want to come for drinks with my bros + friends tomorrow night? Then we could go to late supper and date... xx

Alex answered fast, eager to see more of that wonderful smile.

Me too. I'd love to see them and especially you again. What time and where?

Thomas texted him the name of a bar downtown that Alex recognized well and told him to come at 6 PM dressed for a nice supper.

Ooh. Sounds intriguing ;)

No sleuthing! It's a surprise.

Alex laughed. The surprise was just which restaurant Thomas would choose, but nonetheless, it was a nice one.

Okay,
he agreed. Then, he added,
Can't wait. What are you doing today?

Just got off work, going out to talk with my bros soon.

Alex felt nervous on Thomas's behalf. Was this the big talk? He wasn't sure how to respond except to wish him well.

Good luck! Have fun xx.
He scrolled through the emoticons for a minute before finding the right heart icon – the simple red one – and adding it to the end of the text. Then, he hit send.

A minute later, he had his answer: the same heart emoticon in return.

Alex smiled and pocketed his phone, trying to turn his attention to cleaning his apartment so he could burn all his nervous energy off on something useful and avoid crashing on the couch to do nothing for the next day.

Though last night felt like moments ago, tomorrow night felt like it was an eternity away. No doubt Thomas's conversations tonight would determine how tomorrow night went, and maybe many future nights.

Be brave,
he thought to Thomas, half-wondering if he should have texted it.
You have nothing to lose... and we have everything to gain.