V: The V in Valentine’s
By J.M. Snyder
Published by JMS Books LLC atSmashwords
Book 6 in the Vic and Matt: Vseries.
Visit jms-books.com for moreinformation.
Copyright 2014 J.M. Snyder
ISBN 9781611525618
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Cover Design: Written InkDesigns | written-ink.com
Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-FreeLicense.
All rights reserved.
WARNING: This book is not transferable. It isfor your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, itis an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators willbe prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
No portion of this book may be transmitted orreproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission inwriting from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerptsused for the purposes of review.
This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. Itcontains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic languagewhich may be considered offensive by some readers. Please storeyour files where they cannot be accessed by minors.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,places and incidents are solely the product of the author’simagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may bemade to actual historical events or existing locations. Anyresemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirelycoincidental.
Published in the United States ofAmerica.
NOTE: Readers canlearn more about Vic and Matt’s super-powered relationship onlineat vic-and-matt.com.
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V: The V in Valentine’s
By J.M. Snyder
The calendar might have said early February,but the city of Richmond, Virginia, was experiencing a mini-heatwave four days before Valentine’s Day. For city bus driver VicBraunson, the warm weather was a pleasant respite—the snow that hadfallen at the end of January was melted now, and dark rivulets ofwater gurgled into gutters along the city streets. There were stilla few dingy piles of black snow pushed into the center of parkinglots, left there by snow plows when the lots were cleared, and theyprobably wouldn’t melt before Easter. But the roads were clear andthe ice was gone, and Vic’s long days behind the wheel didn’t endwith tension headaches from the way he hunched his shoulders as hetried to navigate the lumbering bus through the wintry mix.
No, the sky was clear and, so far, his dayhad been relatively headache-free. After four hours tracing acircuitous route around Willow Lawn, down Monument Avenue, intodowntown Richmond, and back again, Vic had turned on the Out ofService sign and parked at the bus stop just outside the WillowLawn Shopping Center. Hazards flashing, door firmly shut, the buswas far enough back from the stop so another driver could pull infront of Vic if needed. But for the next half hour, he wasofficially off-duty.
Locking up the bus, he crossed the street toJason’s Deli, where he ordered a six-inch club, a bag of chips, anda large soda. Time-wise, it was almost four in the afternoon, sotechnically Vic’s break was more dinner than lunch, but whatever hecalled it, he was famished. The eggs and toast he’d had forbreakfast seemed years away now. Before that, there was a faintmemory of waking with his dog Sadie snuggled up beside him in bed,and the faint kiss his lover Matt diLorenzo had given him on theway out might have happened eons ago. If Vic had more than thirtyminutes, he would’ve parked at the bus stop outside the gym whereMatt worked instead, but it was close to quitting time for hislover, and a half hour wouldn’t allow for much of a visit.
But when his shift ended, Vic would go homeand show Matt how much he really missed him.
Back on the bus, with the door firmly shut tokeep out any potential fares, Vic stretched out on the long seatdirectly behind the driver’s perch. He had his sandwich and the bagof chips on one side, his drink on the other, and a newspaper he’dpicked up at the garage after he clocked in that morning. Now heopened the paper, unwrapped the sandwich, and settled in for arelaxing lunch break before he had to battle the rush-hourtraffic.
Just as he took his first bite of thesandwich, though, someone knocked on the door to the bus.
“Out of service. Read the sign,” Vic growled.He didn’t say it loud; there was no way his voice could carryoutside. But he pushed the words out mentally, as well, aiming thethought for whoever it was bothering him.
For a moment, silence. He took another biteof the sandwich and turned to the sports page to check the scoreswhen the knock came again.
He wasn’t quite as nice now. Chewing slowly,he shoved one thought outside the bus. ::Go the fuckaway!::
Usually that would have sufficed. Most fareswould have stumbled back, confused and maybe a little scared, forno real reason they could put into words. It wasn’t every day theyheard someone else’s thoughts inside their head, and Vic knew fromexperience it took some getting used to. In the years since he’ddeveloped his telepathic ability, he’d learned to tune out everyonebut the person who mattered most to him in the whole world.
Matt. The man whose love gave Vic superhumanpowers.
Telepathy was one of them, super-strengthanother. Those were constant reminders Vic lived with that remindedhim of Matt’s love, because he got them from Matt whenever theymade love. Something in Matt’s semen gave Vic abilities thatweren’t normal. The other powers fluctuated, changing from one dayto the next depending on…well, mostly their sexual position.Missionary style brought with it one power, standing up another, inthe shower a third. In the years since they’d been together, Vichad gone through a variety of powers that would be the envy of anycomic book aficionado.
Sure, he could stop the powers from happeningto him. They could use condoms, or abstain from sex. But Vic hadgrown so used to hearing Matty’s thoughts and feeling his lover’semotions inside him whenever they were together that he didn’t wantto put an end to the telepathy they shared. And no matter howstrong Vic might be, he wasn’t strong enough to resist his young,sexy, virile lover. He’d deal with all the other powers—pleasant ornot—as long as he had Matt.
Some of the powers were crappy. Sometimes hisskin changed color, or his bones dissolved, or he disappeared, andhe had no control over his own body. Those days he had to
