“Get him!” Chuck cried. He punched Barryagain, almost toppling his friend in an attempt to throw Barrybetween himself and Vic. “Where’s Sam? Get that asshole,will you?”
But when Vic stepped forward, the guncrunching underfoot, Barry shook his head. He backed up and trippedover Chuck, falling on his butt. “Not me, man. You want him? Youget him.”
Chuck seemed to reconsider. As Vic neared, hescrambled away, crab-like, in his haste to put some distancebetween them. But Matt stuck out his foot and caught Chuck in thesmall of his back, holding him in place. “Not so fast.”
Reaching down, Vic grabbed a fist full ofChuck’s hoodie and hauled the gunman up off the ground as if heweighed nothing at all. Matt rose, knees trembling at the sight ofhis lover. When Barry tried to back away, he found himself againstMatt’s legs, and one good kick in the ribs crumpled him over. Vicscooped him up, too, as if he were taking out the garbage. “Weren’tthere three of them?” he asked.
“Here,” came the response. Matt turned as thethird young criminal rose from behind the display case, both handsalready laced behind his head. “Don’t hurt me, man. This was allChuck’s idea.”
“Tell that to the cops,” Vic growled.
The kid paled visibly. “Oh, shit,” hewhimpered. “My mom is gonna kill me.”
* * * *
Fifteen minutes later, the police had thescene secured. The hostages had been led outside where officerstook their statements while the three young burglars were cuffedand deposited into the back of a police cruiser. Inside the store,one officer cataloged the damage while another helped the clerksift through a bag of jewelry that had been scooped up to steal.With Matt close by his side, Vic led Kendra into the back room toshow her where he had forced entry into the building.
“Thank God you showed up,” Matt said,slipping his hand into Vic’s.
Vic gave his lover’s fingers a gentlesqueeze. “Kendra called me.”
Dark clouds furrowed Matt’s brow as heglanced at the officer beside them. “You do this often?” he asked,anger lacing his voice. “Call up Superman to the rescue? I thoughtthat was your job. He isn’t invincible, you know. He couldget hurt, or killed—”
::Matty,:: Vic warned silently.
“I saw your car in the parking lot,” Kendraexplained. “I knew it from the night it was vandalized, remember?When we emptied out the other stores and you didn’t turn up, Ifigured you had to be inside this store here. Yes, we were at astand-off, but we would’ve gotten inside eventually. I just thoughtVic should know what was going on.”
“She didn’t ask me to come over,” Victold Matt. “She just told me what was happening. But how in theworld could I have stayed away knowing you were in danger?”
Matt’s fingers trembled in Vic’s grasp. “Youterrified me,” he admitted, “when I thought that firstbullet shot you down. God, Vic. I almost died seeing you…”
Raising Matt’s hand to his lips, Vic kissedhis lover’s knuckles. He suspected Matt was more scared about thewhole ordeal than he cared to admit, and now the incident wasbehind them, his emotions bubbled out as misplaced anger. “Shh,”Vic murmured against Matt’s hand. “It’s over with, isn’t it? We’reboth fine.”
Kendra led the way back to the main showroomof the store, Vic following and Matt trailing behind. His stepslagged, widening the gap between himself and the others, and thehands connecting him and Vic helped separate them both from thepolice officer. When Kendra reached the doorway, a junior colleagueappeared with a question that drew her attention away from Vic andMatt. But before Vic could step out into the showroom after her, hefelt Matt tug on his hand, pulling him back.
Vic turned, one eyebrow raised in a silentquestion. A half-smile toyed at the edge of Matt’s mouth, analmost-smirk Vic wanted to kiss away. Without protest, he let Mattpull him back into the storeroom. He stepped aside as Matt kickedout the block holding open the door, letting it swing shut.
Then Matt leaned back against the door andgave Vic a sexy, smoldering look. The lusty fire in his gazeignited Vic’s own desire. Wordlessly he pulled Vic closer, untilVic’s legs straddled Matt’s and their bodies pressed flushtogether. When Vic leaned down to claim his kiss, however, Mattinterrupted him with a soft whisper. “Promise me something.”
Vic sighed. It was an old argument betweenthem, and the root of the problem was Vic’s powers. Time and againhe had tried to explain to Matty how the powers were a gift Mattgave him, and because of the love they shared, he knew for certainthe abilities couldn’t—wouldn’t—let him come to harm. Matt’sfeelings for him bloomed in his body whenever the powers wereactivated. That love kept him safe. Matty kept him safe.
But Matt wouldn’t listen. The powers camefrom him, yes, but they terrified him, too. If something happenedto Vic because of them, Matt would blame himself. Vic knew hislover feared losing him more than anything else in the world, buthow could he stand aside and let something preventable happen justto save himself? Matt’s powers protected him. Vic couldn’t explainit any other way.
Now, in the quiet of the stockroom, Mattrubbed his nose against Vic’s and said again, “Promise me.”
Vic sighed, knowing what was coming andknowing, too, he couldn’t agree to it. “Matty, if this is about thepowers again, can’t we argue about this at home?”
“Fuck the powers,” Matt growledplayfully.
The sexiness in Matt’s voice made Vic grin.“That’s sort of how I get them. What’s this promise?”
Matt kissed him, a quick peck on the lips that hinted at so muchmore. It left Vic unsatisfied—with the other customers and thecriminals in the store, then the police arriving on the scene, hehadn’t had a chance to say hello to his lover properly since he’dshown up. Now that they were alone, he wasn’t going to settle forsuch a little kiss. Instead, he caught Matt’s mouth with his, lipshard against Matt’s own, tongue demanding as he delved into hislover. With a gasp, Matt welcomed him, letting Vic press him
