IWOKE UP ONmy stomach with my arms tucked beneath my pillow and my head turned toward Mitch. The first thing I saw was his dark, loving eyes watching over me while I slept. Instead of it feeling creepy, it felt protective. The smile that spread across his face was enough to make my body forget how exhausted it was after only two or three hours of sleep.
Mitch reached over and slid his hands in my hair and began massaging my scalp. It felt so good I couldn’t help but close my eyes and let the loving sensation wash over me. “Your hair is longer than I’ve ever seen it,” Mitch said softly. “I like it.”
Up until the last year, I had kept the buzz cut I had become accustomed to in the military. It wasn’t a sudden rebellion to let it grow out, it just felt right to me. I would always be Deacon, the Marine, but I was also Mark, the guy that Mitch loved. Every day I was learning to blend the two men together in order to become the best man I could be. I wanted it for Mitch, but for once I also wanted it for myself.
Eventually, Mitch sat up beside me and moved his strong fingers from my scalp to my shoulders, where he dug into my flesh with the perfect amount of pressure to ease any knots of tension, sending shivers down my spine and sparking my balls to life. I spread my legs a little to get more comfortable for my erection that was starting to grow beneath me.
Mitch took that as the invitation it was meant as and straddled the back of my thighs before he really set to work on me. He moved his hands up and down my back tantalizingly slow, dragging out my pleasure and making my dick hard enough to hurt. Hell, hadn’t it been just the night before that Mitch was inside me, bringing me pleasure beyond my wildest dreams?
I loved the feel of his hands as they kneaded my ass cheeks before he teased the crease of my ass with a confident finger. “I want to feel you inside me this morning,” he whispered in my ear. “One of these days we’ll flip fuck.” Just the thought of us wrestling over who dominated who first got me even more turned on, which I thought might be his intention.
I rolled over and knocked him to his back. If he wanted to see an aggressive side to my lovemaking, then he’d get it. I quickly crawled on top of him and kissed him with all the passion he’d built inside of me since the first time I saw him again. I gave into everything he’d made me feel and was too afraid to show him until we both got our heads out of our asses.
Once he was prepped and I was suited up, I set a strong pace that would have us both exploding quickly. I loved the way he dug his fingers in my ass spurring me on to hit that sweet spot inside of him. “Harder,” he begged with his lush mouth. I was not about to deny the man I loved anything so I dug my knees into the mattress and drove into him hard enough to drive his head into the headboard. “Don’t stop, Mark. So close.”
I felt his ass clench tighter around my dick and I knew he was close. “Jack yourself, babe, because I’m not going to last much longer. Come with me.”
I watched as Mitch worked his erection and it turned me on even more. I worried that I’d come first, but I held out until I saw the first spurt of his seed hit his taut stomach. That was the signal I needed to relax and let my body come hard and deep inside him. For the first time in my life, I resented the use of condoms and it was something I wanted to discuss with Mitch. He was it for me and I had no problem admitting it to myself or to him.
Before I could say a word, there came a loud knock at the door and Vic’s voice came through the other side. “Let’s get going, lovebirds.”
“Fifteen minutes,” I hollered back.
“Not a second longer or I leave without you,” was Vic’s answer. I knew him well enough to know he meant it.
As much as I wished I could stay in bed with Mitch all day, I knew we had serious issues to face and ignoring them didn’t make them go away. “You heard the man,” I said to Mitch, followed by a sharp slap to his ass.
We were ready and down at the car with two minutes to spare. Vic gave me a jaunty salute before we all climbed in the car. “No news is good news, I suppose,” Vic said softly.
“In this case it definitely is,” Mitch agreed with him. “When he’s healthy enough, I’ll have him transferred to Cedars so he can be closer to us all.”
I knew Vic was torn between leaving Hammer in Bakersfield and returning to L.A. with us. The threat to Mitch was too real to ignore and I wanted him with me, but at least I could take comfort that Iron was back in L.A. waiting for us.
“We’ll hire a medical team to fly with him so he gets there fast and with as little stress on his body as possible,” Mitch assured Vic.
“Thank you, Mitch,” Vic said, breaking his silence. “That means a lot to me.”
We arrived at the hospital just in time for visiting hours in the ICU. The part I hated the most was that Hammer’s room was right beside the guy who tried to kill him. I wouldn’t lie and say that a part of me didn’t want to finish Timothy Nicholson off for daring to go after Mitch, but then we’d never find out who was backing him. I knew damn well he wasn’t lying about it.
“I’ll stay out here,” Mitch said when we reached Hammer’s room. I stopped outside the door to talk to Mitch while Vic let himself inside Hammer’s room. “There’s a cop right there,” he pointed to the one standing outside Timothy’s door. “I’ll be just fine.”
I knew he was right, but I still hadn’t gotten past the terror I felt last night wondering if I would be able to keep him alive. “I won’t be long,” I told him. “I just want to pop in and say hello to him if he’s awake.”
When I walked into Hammer’s room, I saw Vic leaning over top of him and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. He had Hammer’s hand held tight between his and it looked like he was trying to rub some warmth into the pale hand he held.
“I have so much I need to say to you, Ham, so don’t you dare leave me.” Vic’s voice sounded ragged and raw. I felt guilty for being in the room during such a private moment. I knew the guys had been close, but apparently I had been oblivious as to how close they were from trying to cope with my own growing feelings for Mitch.
“He’s going to pull through, Vic,” I said, patting him between his shoulder blades. “You’re going to get the chance to tell him how you feel.”
“Fuck, I hope so, Deac.” Vic moved one of his hands to Hammer’s head and ran his fingers through his hair just as Mitch had done to me that morning. “He has to be okay.” I hated the anguish I heard in his voice and wished I could do something about it. “I’ve loved him for so damn long and was too stubborn to act on it and it could’ve been too late.”
“But it’s not too late,” I reminded him. “This might slow your game down a bit, but he’s going to wake up and you’re going to tell him everything you feel because it’s the only way to live after the hell we’ve been through, Vic. By God, we deserve to be loved.”
Vic looked over at me and I hated the forlorn look in his eyes. “I hope he feels the same way, Deac. At this point, I don’t mind putting myself out there for the man, but it’s going to hurt like hell if he doesn’t feel the same way.”
“He does,” said a gruff voice from the bed.
Vic and I looked over at Hammer and found him watching us through eyes that were narrowed to slits. He was obviously in pain, but a sweet smile curved across his face. He removed his hand from Vic’s grip and slowly brought it up to touch Vic’s face.
