“Good.” Instead of stopping and worrying about his injuries as Simon expected, Patrick straddled his hips and attacked his mouth again. The kiss was hard and sure, and Patrick’s erection grinding against his own was equally hard and just as sure. Simon hissed at the pressure. “Is this okay? Can you handle it?” Patrick asked when he finally came up for air.
“Yes. God yes.” Every fiber of Simon’s being was focused on the pleasure that was encompassing him from head to toe.
“Your hand,” Patrick panted into his ear as his hips kept up their relentless motion.
“What? Oh, it’s fine.” The last thing on Simon’s mind was the faint pain in his wrist. He couldn’t support his body weight, but everything Patrick was doing to him was better than any painkiller. “Don’t stop.”
It only took another few strokes of Patrick’s firm abs over his supersensitive cock for Simon to be arching off the bed. He pulsed hot and steady between them, and couldn’t help the curses from tumbling from his mouth. “Oh, fuck. Oh, my God.”
Patrick followed soon after, but his words were directed straight at Simon’s heart. “I love you, Si. I don’t want to lose you.”
Simon gathered him in his arms, and they lay there, tangled in a sweaty pile. “Together forever,” Simon whispered, hoping with all his heart that was true.
Patrick
The lights hadn’tbeen out for long, just long enough for Patrick to start dozing off. He was curled up against Simon, who had an arm around his shoulders holding Patrick to his chest. Simon was freshly showered and his scent was comforting, as was the regular rise and fall of his chest.
He was roused from his semi-slumber when Simon’s new cell started to vibrate on the nightstand. Since that night earlier in the week, when Patrick had taken the call and found about the parking lot incident, Patrick got chills whenever he heard one of their phones ring. He froze.
“Sorry, babe.” Simon placed a quick kiss on his forehead before pulling his arm free, and reaching across to answer the call. “Simon Dawson.” Simon listened for a moment, then glanced at Patrick before swinging around to sit on the edge of the bed.
Patrick rolled onto his side and propped his head up with his hand. A quick peek at the bedside clock showed it was 11:00 p.m., later than Simon usually took calls, and the late hour hinted at a potential problem or an emergency. The sense of dread lurked in his chest for a moment, but as he listened to Simon’s calm replies, the tightness lessened. He reached across and rubbed small circles on Simon’s back, earning him another quick glance from Simon and a small smile.
“Uh-huh… I see. And did they get any other details?” There was a pause for a while as the person on the other end of the call said something. “So, no other witnesses have come forward? Shit. That’s a shame.” There was another brief pause. “I know. He said the same thing to me, but I don’t see why anyone would want to do that….” Simon looked at Patrick as he listened. “I’ll talk to him, but I don’t think… I know. I will. No. Yes, I’ll be careful. We both will. Yeah, thanks for calling, Duncan. I’ll wait to hear back from you.”
Simon ended the call, tossed the phone back on the nightstand, and climbed back under the covers, pulling Patrick to him again. Patrick noticed him favoring the injured wrist, but was thankful Simon had assured him the injury wasn’t serious and was healing quickly. Once they were settled, he pressed a kiss to Patrick’s head, the tender gesture warming Patrick.
“So, Duncan, huh?” he whispered against Simon’s chest.
“Yeah. He called about the accident. He wanted to give me an update on how things were going.”
“It seems a bit late for a routine call.”
“I think this was more personal rather than professional. He wanted to tell me to be careful.”
Patrick struggled to sit up, finally freeing himself from both the sheet and Simon’s arm. He sat cross-legged on the bed and looked at Simon. “Why do you need to be careful? I thought you said it was just someone accidentally running into a shopping cart. You know how these things happen in parking lots all the time.”
“I think he’s just being overly cautious. There’s nothing to worry about.” But there was tension around his eyes as he spoke so Patrick didn’t believe him for a minute. “Duncan’s just been talking to the witnesses again today, documenting formal statements, and seems to be under the impression that the van made a direct beeline for me.”
“What?” Patrick’s voice rose. He asked the question although he knew the answer would be validating the thoughts he’d been trying to push aside—make it real.
Simon put a hand on his knee, but it did nothing to calm him. “This is what I didn’t want to happen. I didn’t want you to be freaked out.”
Fear threaded through him, but he didn’t want Simon to pussyfoot around. “Tell me exactly what Duncan said.”
“Okay. He said there was nothing caught on camera in the parking lot. The only witnesses were the two people who were there at the time. One is an older lady who was too shocked to take note of much. The other was that guy I was telling you about—Jason. Anyway, Jason seems to think the driver of the van knocked into my shopping cart intentionally.”
Patrick sucked in a breath. “Why would they do that?”
“That’s what I said.” Simon smiled. “See how silly it all sounds?”
“I don’t know.” Patrick plucked at the sheet. In his heart he knew Simon was downplaying things in an effort to lessen his worry, but there was no point denying it. “What if there is something to it? What if someone actually did try to mow you down? It could be linked to the break-in and all the shit going on here.” He felt nauseous with every question posed, the bile rising in his throat. “What if there is somebody who really does want to hurt you?” He choked the last words out.
“Hey.” Simon leaned forward and pulled him into a hug. “I honestly think it’s a really slim chance that’s the case. Firstly, there’s no reason for anyone to want to hurt me. Plus it’s a bit of a stretch to link some unwanted letters and some graffiti to an—”
“An act of violence. Attempted murder.”
“For God’s sake, Patrick! Don’t say that. It probably wasn’t anything of the kind. It most likely was just an accident. Dusk in a parking lot and the guy probably didn’t see me there. He was in a van that probably had crap visibility. Hell, it’s probably partly my fault, too. I was off with the pixies in my own little world and not paying attention.”Does Simon really believe that?
