Two Spirits (7 page)

Tenino's mouth came down on his. He moaned,
met Tenino's tongue and one kiss morphed into another and another,
driving back thoughts of going home and replacing them with
contentment.

"Shower," Tenino said.

They showered then returned to bed, sliding
under the covers this time. Trey closed his eyes and fell asleep
almost immediately. Tenino rolled to his side and looked down at
the blond in his bed.

He laughed softly. Damn, Trey'd blown him
away tonight, going from denial to insatiable desire. Now all he
had to do was convince Trey to stay. Everything inside him insisted
that he had to keep Trey in his world.

It was crazy. They barely knew each other,
even if the chemistry between them was explosive and more powerful
than anything he'd ever experienced.

Instinct? A gut read like he used in the
line of duty? Was that the reason he felt so sure about Trey? So
determined to keep him in Hohoq and share as much of his life with
him as he could?

Hope rushed in like a gusty spring breeze.
Both Tekoa and Ukiah had told him how desperate they'd been for a
physical and spiritual union as soon as they first saw their mates.
It seemed like he was experiencing the same thing with Trey.

Tenino glanced at the Thunderbird image
carved into the fireplace mantle. There was no cup there filled
with the honey-gold drink that would allow Trey to become one of
The People.

Spring breeze became fall chill. He pressed
his body to Trey's, trying to recapture the warmth with the touch
of skin to skin.

Trey doesn't need to be of The People for
this to work
.
I don't have to have exactly what Tekoa and
Ukiah have with their mates to be happy. Their situations are
different than mine.

Ukiah had found Marisa slipping over death's
edge and chased her spirit back into her physical body. Tekoa had
found Clay gravely injured, had done a sing for him, touched him
with spirit energy and the power of their ancestors.

Tenino's heart rabbited. A shiver slid down
his spine and spread into his gut. Maybe the cup would only appear
if Trey were gravely injured or near death.

He rubbed his cheek against silky blond
hair, inhaled Trey's scent and tried to recall the legends about
the Creator changing those not born of The People. There weren't
many of them. Then again, in the days when the Thunderbird flew
freely and widely, the land hadn't been invaded and conquered by
people fleeing Europe. The cultures and way of life giving birth to
the Thunderbird and to those who could see and join with it in
spirit flight hadn't been decimated and nearly destroyed.

I'll keep him safe
. Even if it meant
they might never fly together, their spirits one with the
Thunderbird. And if the only way to keep Trey in his life was to
leave Thunderbird lands…

Worry about it tomorrow.

* * * * *

Trey woke to the mouth-watering scent of
cooking bacon and coffee brewing, to a masculine voice talking
quietly on the phone and memories guaranteed to cause a morning
erection.

He opened his eyes and found Tenino looking
at him. It sped his heart and had a blush rushing to his face and
more blood rushing down to his cock.

How'd he end up in bed with such a gorgeous
guy? This morning Tenino's hair was loose and he was in jeans and a
black-and-white flannel shirt.

Kick the covers away? Grip his dick?

Entice Tenino back to bed?

Tenino's smile said he knew exactly what was
on Trey's mind. "Looks like my guest is up, Mom. I better sign
off."

Mom. Trey's chest and throat tightened in a
suffocating grip of guilt. If his mother was alive and well…

This would devastate her. She wouldn't be
able to look at him without crying, without pleading for him to
talk to the preacher, to get counseling, to pray for God's
forgiveness and the strength to fight temptation and avoid
sinning.

He'd buried her three months ago and here he
was in another man's bed, craving another man's touch, a few
breaths away from begging another man to fuck his virgin ass.

Trey rolled to his side, back facing Tenino.
But he was still hyperaware of Tenino crossing the cabin.

How did he square a lifetime of being told
this was wrong, of knowing what admitting it would do to his
mother, with—

"Damn, you make me crazy," Tenino said,
jerking the covers down and exposing Trey's nakedness and the
throbbing truth of his hard-on.

Tenino took possession of Trey's cock,
sending heat blasting upward to swell Trey's chest and unlock his
throat, to burn away guilt and drive it out on a moan.

Just while I'm here. Just until Patricia is
caught. Just until I have to go home.

It was all right to be gay here. To be okay
with being gay while he was in the middle of nowhere with
Tenino.

Trey rolled onto his back, lifted his hips
in silent pleading, and Tenino's smile became wicked promise.
Putting a knee on the bed, Tenino bent down, claimed Trey's cock
with firm masculine lips.

"No!" But a fuck upward was his dick's way
of saying it didn't care how it came as long as it did, and
soon.

Trey gripped the sheets. He panted, fought
to make it last. But he was no match for Tenino or the clawing
hunger raking his insides.

No became "Yes, yes, yes!" as Tenino
deep-throated him.

Holding out became impossible. Not with
Tenino sucking, bobbing, swallowing, building the pleasure until it
rocketed through Trey's cock in a scorching rush that left him a
weak heap of sweat-slick skin and lax muscles.

"You don't expect me to get up after that,"
he said, his breath ragged and his heart tapping out a Morse-coded
message.
I don't want this to end
.

Tenino stood, lips swollen and eyes
heavy-lidded. And Trey's heart thumped harder, all set to try and
revive his cock, while his emotions were like a spinning top. The
sight of a woman's lips stretched around his shaft or swollen after
taking him had never left him feeling the way he did now, looking
at Tenino's face.

"You're lucky I've got breakfast cooking on
the stove, otherwise I'd take that as a personal challenge. Trust
me, if I set my mind to it, I could definitely get you
up
."

Trey's stomach fluttered and his heart
flipped. The tightness returned, panic this time instead of guilt.
He was falling in love with Tenino.

"You're thinking too much," Tenino said,
swooping down and giving him a hard, fast kiss.

"Comes with being a teacher."

"Better get dressed. I'm about to throw some
eggs on. How do you like yours?"

"Over easy."

Tenino kissed him, long and slow and
thorough, a wicked sharing of tongue and the taste of his own come.
And heat surged back into Trey's cock.

Tenino's smile was part smirk. "Later," he
said and returned to the kitchen.

Trey snagged the sweatpants from where they
lay near the couch then hit the bathroom. And washing his hands,
couldn't stop himself from looking at the guy in the mirror.

That guy looked as if he'd totally embraced
his sexuality. He looked like he'd spent a hot night between the
sheets with a guy who really did it for him. He looked as if he
could step out in the open and say,
I'm gay, so what? It's not
all I am; it's not even mostly who I am
.

His heart sped. He pressed his fingertips
against it, brushed them over a nipple and sent a streak of
pleasure to his cock. If he had the guts, he could be that guy in
the mirror.

And what? Have a long-distance relationship
with Tenino? Assuming Tenino thought of this in terms of anything
other than a fling.

Trey's heart beat like the clap, clap, clap
of old-fashioned felt erasers banged against a brick wall and
creating a cloud of chalk that clogged his throat. He'd made the
classic mistake, fuck first and wonder what it meant afterward.

But it's not like they'd met under normal
circumstances. And a guy like Tenino… If he'd wanted a live-in
lover, he'd already have one.

Trey left the bathroom. Tenino flashed an
erection-producing smile. "I was starting to think you wanted me to
investigate your disappearance."

Heat shivered through Trey and Tenino gave a
husky laugh. "Yeah, that would have ended in the shower with your
lips around my dick or your hands against the wall and my cock in
your ass."

The imagery nearly turned Trey around and
had him heading toward the bathroom. "Promises, promises," he said,
forcing himself to keep heading toward the kitchen.

Tenino's lids dropped. His gaze dipped to
Trey's erection. "The promise for today is that you're going to beg
me to fuck you."

Can I just do it now?

Trey swallowed down the question and joined
Tenino at the kitchen counter. Two plates were on it, both loaded
with eggs, bacon and a couple of pieces of toast.

His stomach rumbled. "Looks good."

Tenino laughed and pointed to the coffee
maker. "Help yourself. There's some milk and OJ in the fridge."

Trey got some coffee then grabbed his plate
and sat at the table across from Tenino. "So what's the plan for
the day?"

"Besides making you beg? And come? And then
beg some more?"

Trey blushed. God, was he ever going to stop
that around Tenino? "Not admitting to anything other than coming,
yes, besides that?"

"You know how to handle a firearm besides an
Xbox light gun?"

"If you mean other than very, very
carefully? No."

"Then that's up first. I want you to know
how to protect yourself."

Trey's heart did a little flip-flop and
flooded with something that could only be labeled hope. "Sounds
good."

They finished breakfast and stood. Tenino
reached across the table. He cupped the back of Trey's neck and
like a heat-seeking missile Trey pitched forward so their mouths
met.

"You will beg," Tenino said, delivering a
kiss that had Trey moaning and his lips clinging, ready to form the
words.

With a masculine, very satisfied laugh,
Tenino pulled away. "Later, after I teach you how to shoot."

"How cold is it outside?"

"Not too bad. You can get by with a t-shirt
and a long-sleeved one over it. We're not going far, just to the
end of the clearing. If you get cold, you can come back for your
jacket."

Trey went to his duffle. It was still on the
chair where he'd dropped it last night.

He fished through it, pulled out a black
Maroon 5 tee a friend had given him then dug through the
long-sleeved shirts currently wrapped around a ceramic pig.

Reaching the smooth surface of the pig, he
hefted it from the duffle with both hands, exposing a lemon blast
of yellow decorated with purple flowers.

Tenino snorted. "You've got a piggy
bank?"

He left the gun safe he'd unlocked and
walked over to stand next to Trey. "That your emergency stash?"

"Could be. It's full of dollar coins. Only
way I can keep myself from accidentally using them as
quarters."

"Yeah. I hate that." Tenino reached out.
"Let me hold that thing."

Trey handed it off.

Tenino laughed, his arms dropping downward
as if the bank weighed more than he could manage.

Trey's heart did a fast rap, rap, rap though
he knew Tenino was just playing around. He swallowed down the shout
to be careful.

Tenino turned the pig in his hands. A
message was carved into the ceramic in childish script.
For Mr.
Masters. The world's best best best teacher. From Tanya K.
Ward.

"Sweet," Tenino said, rubbing his thumb over
the words.

Trey nodded, picturing a little girl with a
bright smile and a hundred tiny braids. "Yeah, she was," he said
through a thickened throat.

"Was?"

"She died over Thanksgiving break. Kidney
disease runs in her family. Her older sister is still alive thanks
to a transplant, but her younger one didn't reach three."

Tenino set the piggy bank on the floor, in
between the chair legs, and pulled Trey against him. "I'm sorry she
got dealt a shitty hand. I'm sorry for her, and her family, and for
you."

Trey slid his arms around Tenino's waist. "I
couldn't risk leaving it in my house and having Patricia come back
and destroy it. I can hardly believe it survived the first
time."

Tenino's expression became all cop. "What do
you mean by 'You can hardly believe it survived the first
time'?"

Trey's heart did the same little flip-flop
it'd done when Tenino said he wanted him to be able to protect
himself.

"Patricia trashed my place. That's why I'm
here."

"What the hell happened to giving you
protection? You could have walked in on her. Or you could have been
home when she showed up."

"The Feds don't need me to testify as a
witness or anything. They figured she'd flee, not come after
me."

"They figured wrong."

He shrugged, but there was no denying that
Tenino's reaction was pushing him deeper into dangerous territory,
at least where his heart was concerned. "The Feds had a solid case
against her father and her two uncles before they approached me.
But there were a couple of links in the distribution chain they
couldn't pin down. Finally they figured out it was because the guys
only dealt with Patricia. That's what I did for them mainly, glued
myself to her side, passed on anything I heard or saw. They weren't
sure how deeply she was involved in the business until they
launched simultaneous raids on every place connected to a Veron.
And like I said, they thought she'd flee the country, or at least
go into hiding."

"A fucking bad call," Tenino said,
growly-voiced. "You came home and found your home trashed. The Feds
are lucky they didn't show up and find a dead body—yours."