“Gotcha. Let me make a call.” He hung up, and Cliff went back outside, in a bit of a trance.
“What is it?” Dade asked. “All mom says is that Father has done something, and she’s pissed, but I don’t think she knows exactly what it is.”
“My message was to call my colonel, and he asked why I had put through a transfer request.” Now everything was becoming clearer. “He got the heads-up from a friend of his at thePentagon. Apparently, he’s one of the people who processes such things.”
“I’ll kill him,” Dade hissed as kids approached. He pasted on a smile and gave them candy before snatching up his phone. “I’m messaging my mother. But I was afraid of something like this. My father hates to lose more than anything else.” His phone clicked as he texted. Then Dade made a call. “You…,” he began. “I know you’re behind this, so you either find a way to kill this thing right here and now, or so help me, I will never speak to you again. You will be dead to me, and all your friends are going to get notes about what you did. All of them. Do you understand?” He punched at the phone in anger, probably to hang up, and it dropped to the ground. “So help me God….” Dade picked up his phone again and went inside.
Cliff lifted the bowl to deal with the kids. Suddenly, he wasn’t in the spooky holiday spirit. Still, he handed out the candy, and Dade came back out.
“I mean it. You fix this or you will be the one to pay.” He ended the call again and sat down. “That old goat. He used his influence with one of his cronies to put in a transfer, but they made it look like it had come from you. What an idiot.” He set his phone aside. “Mom is angry enough to spit quarters, and she isn’t going to let up on him.”
Cliff took care of some additional kids with the cutest bee costumes, but he barely paid attention. Finally, his phone rang, and he snatched it up. “Yes, sir….”
“My friend was able to stop it, flagging it as an error. We’re going to need to deal with it on Monday, and I have asked for copies of the paperwork to be sent to me so I can help investigate.” He sounded as angry as Cliff felt.
“Thank you. I appreciate it greatly.” He smiled and put down his phone. “My colonel’s friend was able to scuttle thetransfer as an error. But there could be other issues. If there is anything forged, then that’s a whole different thing.”
Dade looked around. There were no kids in the area, so he sat on Cliff’s lap, pulling the blanket around both of them. “Good, because I didn’t want you to go.”
Cliff nodded. He understood that. “You know I will have to eventually.”
“Yes, I do. But at that time, it will be my decision regarding whether I go with you, not someone else’s.”
That was about as good an answer as Cliff could expect.
Cliff wokethe following morning in Dade’s bed just as Dade pressed him into the mattress. He smiled and ran his hands down Dade’s back and over the curve of his butt. “I take it you’re feeling better.”
“I am, and I’m so happy right now.” Dade kissed him, and Cliff held him tightly, not wanting to ever let him go. “I just want to be happy and let the rest of the world fall away. You know?”
Cliff actually didn’t. “You’re going to have to explain that to me, but maybe not right now.” All he wanted was Dade, and talking wasn’t absolutely necessary, at least not in this particular moment.
“Oh, it’s easy. I’m not afraid anymore.” He met Cliff’s gaze. “I’m not afraid. I mean, I looked at my worst fear yesterday, and I survived. You were going to be transferred, and I was going to be left behind. But it didn’t happen, and when it does happen, I can deal with it.” He rubbed Cliff’s chest. “If we’re still together when that happens, and I hope we will be, we’ll make the decision that’s right for us.”
“Yes. And like most everything else, we’ll figure it out together.” Cliff figured that that had been all that Dade had ever wanted. Moving as a kid was traumatic. You had no say, andyour life changed on a dime. But it seemed to Cliff that Dade just wanted a say, some sort of control over his own life. And Cliff would do his best never to take that away from him.
“Exactly. Now I think you and I have some unfinished business.” Dade snickered as he pulled up the covers and kissed him hard.
Cliff loved on the man in his arms. The heat, the passion—they all threatened to overwhelm him. “I don’t understand sometimes,” he said softly.
“What?”
“Exactly. What you do to me.” His lips hovered next to Dade’s. “Every time you touch me, I want you to do it again, and every kiss tastes like more. I want to hold you, be part of you. Most of all, I want you with me all the time. When I’m at work, it’s hard to concentrate on shipments and duty rosters when all I want is you with me.”
Dade grinned. “Do you think about taking me over your desk?” Cliff growled. “You do. Then why don’t we pretend we’re in your office right now, and you just take me. I’m ripe for the picking.”
Cliff couldn’t help groaning at the cheesy line, but it had the desired effect, and after preparing both of them, he rocked Dade back and did all the taking—and giving—either of them could handle.
“Damn,” Dadewhispered as they held each other after their passion.
“Yeah,” Cliff agreed as he looked Dade in the eyes, the blankets disheveled around their legs. “Wait, what the hell?” he asked at a sound from outside. His mind was still fuzzy from lovemaking. It repeated, and he realized it was the door.
Dade groaned, climbed off the bed, and grabbing a robe, he pulled it on and closed the door. Cliff put his hands behind his head, listening. “What is it you want?” Dade’s voice traveled into the room. Cliff got up and pulled on his pants and shirt before joining him. Dade and the general were staring at each other, toe to toe, glare to glare.
“How dare you?” the general said.
“He didn’t do anything. My colonel and I were able to head off your little trick, General. It happens that a friend of his processes the transfers. He called my colonel, and your transfer was flagged as an error.” He approached and stood behind Dade. “Copies are being sent to my colonel, and the source of the documentation will be investigated. And if there are forged signatures, then….” He let that hang in the air.
“You just had to do this, didn’t you? I don’t know what you thought you were going to accomplish, but I will tell you this… you are done. I will see Mom, but you….” Dade shook his head. “I don’t know if I ever want to talk to you.” Dade turned away, went down to the bedroom, and closed the door.
