“It’s okay,” Vic assured him. Patiently he pluckedMatt’s hands from his shirt and held them in his own. “I’m righthere, Matty. Right here. Look at me.”
When Matt glanced up, he felt his lower lip tremblewith exhaustion and relief. “Vic…” he started, unsure of what tosay or do to keep his lover close. All he knew was that he never,ever wanted to let Vic out of his sight.
“It’s okay,” Vic said again. Leaning into the shower,he ran a hand through Matt’s sweaty black curls; his fingers easedaround the back of Matt’s neck, strong and sure. Faint breathfanned his cheek, then Vic’s lips touched his, so soft, so unlikethe rest of his lover’s hard, unyielding body, that any tenuousresolve building in Matt was kissed away. Matt felt the first hitchin his breath as he opened to Vic’s tenderness. It seemed likeyears had passed since he’d been kissed like this, and his handsbunched in the front of Vic’s tank top, unwilling to give this up,this.
But a groan from the bedroom made Vic pull away.“Later,” he promised.
Matt blinked back hot tears and sighed, aheart-wrenching sound that made Vic grab him in a tight bear hug.“You get washed up,” Vic told him.
Matt nodded, yes, he could do that.
“Let me take care of things here,” Vic continued.Catching the hem of the T-shirt Matt still wore bolero-style, heeased it off as Matt raised his arms above his head, then tossed itto the floor before he kissed Matt again. “By the time you’re donein the shower, I’ll be ready to go.”
Matt nodded again but just stood there, nude, like arecalcitrant child. He stared down the flat lines of his body,which felt awkward and dumb, a child’s drawing of the man he usedto be. His chest and stomach were smeared with lubricant, saliva,and Jordan’s dried spunk. Farther down, below his waist, everythingburned and hummed, as if his genitals suffered a low-grade fever.With the overhead light off, his big ugly feet looked so damn darkagainst the shining white tub, his toes pointing out the drain.Between his feet, his dick still stood at half mast, unsure whatwas going to happen now but not quite ready to give up its slighterection just yet.
When Matt didn’t move toward the faucet, Vic tookcharge of the situation. He turned on the water, stuck his handunder the tap, waited until the temperature felt right. With a tugon the lever, the water dried up from the tap and shot from theshower head, a hot, steady stream of water that beat down aroundMatt in fat, fast drops. He raised his face into the spray, hiswhole body relaxing.
But fear gripped him when Vic pulled the showercurtain shut. “Vic?” he cried out. “Don’t—”
“I’m right here,” Vic assured him, his words drownedout by the shower’s deluge. Sensing Matt’s fear, Vic sighed intohis mind, ::I’m not leaving without you. I promise.::
Matt nodded. Standing in the shower, he opened theirmental connection as wide as it would go—everything in him becameacutely attuned to everything in Vic. If he closed his eyes, hecould even see what Vic saw, the bedroom, the mussed sheets of thebed, Jordan still slumped in one corner of the room like aforgotten rag doll. Matt bent his head beneath the shower’s sprayand let the water rain around him as he watched the scene in thebedroom play out like a movie—it was that removed from him, thatunreal.
With slow, measured steps, Vic crossed the room tostand before Jordan. His fists clenched at his sides, and he staredat the other man so hard, so long, that Matt wondered if Vic wasn’ttrying to punish Jordan somehow with his mind. ::Vic…:: Hetried to peer around a low wall in his lover’s mind. ::What areyou doing? What—::
The wall expanded, blocking Matt out. ::Hey!::he cried, and he hit the barrier with all his might, raging againsthis lover’s mental blockade. ::Let me in there. I deserve to seethis.::
The obstruction that kept him from Vic grewtransparent, like a window he could see through, but closed off tokeep him at bay. It separated Matt from the main part of Vic’smind, where his lover had tapped into Jordan’s psyche and waswatching the events of the past day unfold before him. Even in hishead, his body blocked Matt’s view—he could peer over Vic’sshoulder to see just enough to tell him what he was seeing, butwhenever he tried to sidestep Vic or break through the wall, hefound himself blocked. His lover wouldn’t let him relive thedetails of the past twenty-four hours; he didn’t even want to nursethe moments from Matt’s consciousness. Instead he took them fromJordan, tore them from his head, ripped them from his soul.
On the ground before him, Jordan shook as if volts ofelectricity arced through his body. His eyes were still all white,his mouth open now, fresh blood dribbling over his lower lip andtrickling from one nostril. Once Vic had seen everything Matt hadbeen subjected to, he attacked the memories, crushing them betweenhis hands like so much waste paper, balling them into a tiny pieceof black hatred that he shoved back into Jordan’s mind. Physicallyhe made no move; mentally his mind forced its way into Jordan’shead, pushing the crumpled memories before him as he barreledin.
He had so much more in store for Jordan.
Matt sensed his lover’s rage, caught a glimpse of hisintent, and pressed against the barrier between them with all hismight. He wanted to be a part of whatever revenge Vic exacted, heneeded it…
Then the wall disappeared and Matt staggered intoVic’s mind. He was alone inside his lover’s head—a fragile bridgeconnected Vic to Jordan, and when Matt tried to cross it, Vicpushed him back. Though he fought with Jordan’s mind, when hetouched Matt’s, he was all comfort and gentle love all over again.::No,:: he said, simply, firmly. ::Let me handlethis.::
From the safe vantage point where Vic kept him, Mattwatched his lover break through Jordan’s hastily constructeddefenses. One by one his mental blocks went down before Vic’s rage.Anything thrown in his path was kicked aside, irrelevant. Only onething mattered, and Vic would not
