Authors: RJ Scott
She looked off-screen to where Riley imagined Sean was sitting. “You’ll keep that in?” she asked. “I want everyone to see that we are a family, whatever anyone thinks is true.”
Sean was in the picture, hugging Hayley. “We’re so leaving that in, sweetheart.”
Riley swallowed the emotion and wiped away the tear that had escaped. He was glad it was dark and everyone wouldn’t see the fact Hayley’s words had brought him to tears. Well, everyone except Jack, who put an arm over his shoulder and held him close.
“Love you,” Riley said. “Love our family.”
The rest of the film followed a similar setup. Each person who agreed to be filmed was asked their opinion of the adoption issue, prompted for their favorite memory, and asked for a final message.
Riley wasn’t surprised that Eli shared an embarrassing memory of him, or that Josh did the same for Jack. He loved hearing every single word, and tears were never far away, alongside laughter and the overwhelming hope that people would listen out there to what was being said.
They left before midnight for their honeymoon. Riley had organized it, the one thing he demanded to be in charge of. He’d not drunk today, so he could drive, and his sure and steady Land Rover ate up the mile toward the front of the ranch. Then, out of sight of the guests, and before the entrance where he knew paparazzi would be waiting, he pulled the car to one side, killed the lights, and went off-road, down a trail that he’d checked out on more than one occasion.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked. He held tight to the grab bar and looked at Riley.
“You’ll see.”
“Are we avoiding the paparazzi?”
“Kind of. We’ve done the wedding….”
He trailed away as they hit an unusually large dip. He needed to concentrate, so he did. They came to the rise near the old property, a large excavator to one side looming like a dragon in the dark, and Riley took a sharp left following the ridge, bumping down the other side. He stopped the engine and turned to face Jack, who stared at him.
“Jack?”
Jack looked away from him to the place where the car had stopped. A tent. On Double D land.
“Riley?”
“I looked at the island for our honeymoon,” Riley defended. “I also checked out two weeks at this place in Montana, with rivers and mountains. Then, I looked at Europe, but every single moment of those meant leaving here and the kids. So I looked at a family break instead, all six of us. There’s an autism-friendly cabin. It has a pool, and quiet areas, and we could take all the twins’ stuff. For a week.”
Jack slumped back in the seat, and Riley thought he’d blown it. His romantic idea of staying here, on their land, for tonight, then sharing their
honeymoon
with the kids had been thought out and procrastinated over for so long. Maybe Jack wanted that break. Maybe he wanted tropical beaches and palm trees and absolutely no responsibility for two weeks.
“I’m sorry,” Riley said miserably. He’d really fucked up.
Jack instantly reached for Riley, kissing him until they had to stop for air. “Thank fuck for that,” Jack said. “I want it to be all of us.”
“You do?”
Jack cradled Riley’s face. “It’s not only me and you anymore, is it? As long as we get our alone time, our barn at home—”
“We can do that.”
“And as long as we take it in turns to listen to Hayley talking about One Direction.”
“Deal.”
Jack opened the car door. “Show me the tent.”
Eden had helped Riley. There were battery operated fairy lights on the inside roof of the large tent, soft bedding, champagne and beer. Riley flicked the switch once they were inside, pulled down the tent flap and secured them. He’d added his own touches: enough lube to keep them going for three months if he was unable to move tomorrow, and an interesting array of snacks.
“Who knows we’re here?”
“Eden and Robbie,” Riley said. “In case of emergency tonight.”
Jack stepped into his space, cradling his face again. “Jesus, Riley,” he whispered.
They kissed again, only this time they let the heat build until Riley thought he was losing his mind with the need to get Jack naked.
He didn’t stop, easing off Jack’s suit jacket, then fiddling with the tiny waistcoat buttons until he could take that off. He sighed as he touched warm skin under the shirt and couldn’t stop to take the time to open more buttons. He pushed the material up to get to Jack’s smooth back. Meanwhile Jack was attempting to get to Riley’s skin, and they became tangled to the point that Riley, reluctantly, stepped back and wriggled to remove his own clothes, watching as Jack did the same.
Finally they were naked, and Riley went to his knees on the soft bedding, holding out a hand and encouraging Jack down. They kissed, and Riley gripped Jack’s hips to press himself against a very hard Jack. Riley stared deep into Jack’s eyes, seeing the lights reflecting on Jack’s skin.
I could lose myself in your eyes
, he thought. Emotion choked him. How could he begin to have words for the intense need to be with Jack always?
“You picked the perfect honeymoon.” Jack interrupted him with a whisper as they gently rocked and kissed.
When they lay next to each other, this wasn’t the heated lovemaking from the bar, or the near-silent connection they had in the house; this was Riley pushing every ounce of his love into kisses and touches and wanting to show Jack how he felt.
Jack rolled and pulled Riley on top of him. “Did you hide away—?”
“Yes.”
“And are we—?”
“Yes.”
Jack chuckled as Riley reached for the lube. “Then make love to me.”
Riley wriggled, and Jack widened the space between his legs. Riley was so hard, and it took every ounce of self-control to hold himself back. He took his time stretching Jack, kissing a path down his chest, pausing at cinnamon nipples to kiss and suck, then following each line of muscle to his navel, his chin nudging Jack’s erection. He heard Jack’s hissed reaction and loved every syllable of the curse. He teased, sucked, kissed and loved Jack to the point where Jack was arching up into his mouth, then down onto Riley’s fingers.
“Riley… please….”
Riley chuckled around Jack’s cock, worshipping him, only letting him go when Jack pushed at his head.
“Stop, Riley.”
Riley moved to his knees, pressing at Jack’s thighs until Jack’s knees bent. Then he was there, pushing inside, swallowing any discomfort with kisses and promises, until finally he was entirely in. With each press, he looked deep into Jack’s eyes. The connection they had was more than love. This was forever; this was perfect.
“I love you, I love you,” he repeated on each push, and Jack closed his eyes tight as he rocked back on Riley.
“I love you,” he answered. “Riley… please…,” he begged again.
Riley took pity on his husband, rested his weight on one hand and used the other to circle Jack. The touch was enough. A few pulls, and Jack was coming, tightening around Riley, pushing him over the edge. He fucked into Jack like it was never happening again, until finally it was enough; he was coming hard and fast, and Jack was boneless beneath him.
They lay that way for the longest time, until discomfort won out. Riley had brought wipes, and he cleaned them up as much as he could before they snuggled down together, wrapped in each other’s arms.
Jack broke the silence. “What do you think the photos will be like this time?” he teased.
“Better than the ones in Canada,” Riley said with a smile.
Jack pulled him closer. Jack’s skin was hot, the scent of him surrounding Riley. “Just a bit.”
EPILOGUE
“You think it will make a difference?” Jack asked no one in particular. The video had gone live on YouTube yesterday, and already had over one hundred thousand hits. All those people had watched the emotions of friends and family, and the added plea from Jack and Riley to consider the children in this post same-sex-vote adoption issue.
There were already comments on the video. Mostly positive, talking about freedom and rights and all the positives that could be taken from this.
Then there were the bad comments. Jack skipped those, although Riley read them and frowned at each one. Some of the ones Riley wanted to discuss were so vile that Jack had left the room on two separate occasions. Seemed like Riley got the message, though, and he stopped reading them out as they appeared.
“We won’t win everyone around,” Jack whispered. “This is Texas. There are always the hard-liners.”
“In every state.” Riley pointed out the comment from Ohio with the user name
godstruth666
. “This one says we should burn in hell.” Riley sighed, then shut down the laptop.
“It’s being received well,” Sean reassured. “I promise you, guys.”
Riley nodded. He looked pale, and without conscious thought, Jack gripped his hand and led him out of the kitchen where they’d been sitting and over to the fence.
“Thought you needed air,” Jack said.
Riley cracked his neck. “You’re probably right. I could sit there all day and get upset about all those anonymous comments.”
“And forget all the positive ones.”
“Yeah.”
“So let’s talk about something else.”
Riley turned his back to the field and stared right at Jack. “Max’s teacher says he has a new obsession. I forgot to tell you.”
“What?” Jack hadn’t noticed a move away from Thomas.
“Pumpkins. He wants one of us to carve Thomas into a pumpkin.”
Jack was horrified. “Thomas?” he said weakly. He was lucky if he managed two eyes and a mouth, let alone an entire fictional character.
“It’s okay.” Riley smiled. “We can ask Eden.”
His expression changed in an instant at something he saw over Jack’s shoulder. Jack turned on his heel, seeing the man who stood right in the middle of their yard staring at them. He blinked and frowned. He’d need glasses soon at this rate, because that looked like—
“Who is it?” Riley asked.
“Kyle?” Jack said under his breath.
“Kyle from the court case?” Riley murmured the question.
Jack walked toward the visitor, who moved a few steps back the nearer Jack got. Riley was right at his side.
“Kyle,” Jack said with outstretched hand.
Kyle didn’t shake it at first, finally, when Jack didn’t drop his hand, Kyle took it.
“This is my husband, Riley,” Jack introduced.
Riley and Kyle shook hands.
Jack couldn’t believe Kyle was here. He’d given up on the young man taking him up on his offer to visit the Double D and find a home here.
“You said you had a place,” Kyle said.
His eyes were shadowed, haunted, and he looked painfully thin. He had a rucksack, and Jack had the immediate feeling that Kyle’s entire world was in that bag.
“Always,” Jack said. “Come with me. I’ll show you where you can get a shower, and where you can sleep.”
Jack led him to the bunkrooms, which always had a couple of spare places. He opened the first door. “In here.”
Robbie appeared at the door. “Hey,” he said with a smile to Kyle.
“Kyle, you remember my foreman, Robbie? He’ll show you where everything is.”
Kyle shook his head, looking fearful. “I don’t know,” he said.
Jack could read his expression. He’d met Robbie before, but he wasn’t expecting Jack to walk away.
“I’ll stay,” Jack said.
Kyle’s expression changed. He drew back his shoulders. “I’m not a kid,” he snapped. “I’ll be fine.”
Robbie and Jack exchanged glances, and Robbie nodded minutely. He understood what was going on, and deliberately moved back and away without making it look too obvious.
“I have a lead on Danny and Gabriel,” Jack said to Kyle, but all he did was shrug.
Apart from being three victims of Hank Castille, nothing connected the three young men. Jack decided not to press any further, not sure why he’d told Kyle about the other two anyway. “Come up to the house for dinner.” Jack was talking more to Robbie than to Kyle. “Riley’s cooking, but it’s okay,” he reassured a dubious Robbie. “I’ll be helping.”
“Let’s get you settled,” Robbie said to Kyle.
Jack left the bunkhouse, turning immediately to where Riley still waited at the fence.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
Jack nodded. “Poor kid looks beaten down.”
“You’ll help him,” Riley said firmly.
Jack knocked his husband’s arm. “Last chance, you know. Ethan has tracked down leads on the other two kids. We’re starting something here, and we don’t
have
to do this.”
Riley knocked him back. “It’s a journey. Our whole life: the bargain, the dramas, the kids, our family. This is the next step, is all.”
Jack chuckled. “I love you and your Riley way of looking at this.”
Riley tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and Jack thought he’d never seen anyone more beautiful.
“I love you. All of you,” Riley murmured. “All of us.”
Jack checked his watch. “Time to bathe the twins.”
Riley started to walk back to the house. “My turn with Connor.”
Jack gripped Riley’s shirt and yanked him back. “No fair. You had Connor last time.”
Riley looked down at his shirt, and his expression was priceless. “But Lexie… she splashes water and shampoo everywhere.” He sighed, unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled it over his head. “Shirtless it is, then.”
Hand in hand they walked toward the ranch house. A shirtless Riley, he could get behind.
Literally
.
The porch steps were strewn with toys, homework covered the kitchen table, and the twins were covered head to toe in Bolognese sauce. Oh, and Riley was holding his hand.
Jack had never felt more at peace.
THE END
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I wish I could put into words what Jack and Riley’s story means to me. When I was writing this last book in the series, I had moments when I could not put the words on paper, just because committing them to Word meant I was closer to ending.
With all seven books done, and with my boys having their happy ever after, I can now leave them.