Before Matt could speak, Vic spoke into his mind.::He’s only here to prove he’s been wronged, too. Thebastard.::
With a sigh, Matt said, “Kyle, I’m sorry you had toget dragged into this.”
Through their mental bond, Vic admonished, ::Don’tapologize to him, Matty. None of this is your fault.::
Unwittingly, Kyle mimicked Vic’s thoughts. “It’s notyour fault, Matt. I don’t even know if I should’ve seen thiscoming. I mean, Jor and I hit it off great when we met at the Y. Hehas a runner’s body that just won’t quit, and when he saw melooking in the locker room, he came onto me. We had sex inthe back seat of my car that same night after the place closeddown. Maybe that should’ve clued me in. The guy was alwaysready to fuck.”
Matt glanced up as a sudden thought struck him. “Mycar,” he said, turning to look at Vic. “Where is it?”
“Jordan’s,” Vic answered.
“How the hell did it get there?” Matt wanted to know.“When I came by yesterday to get my cell phone, there were no carsparked in front of your house. I didn’t even think anyone was home.Come to think of it, where’s my cell?”
Leaning forward, Kyle plucked the phone from his backpocket and tossed it to Matt, who caught it in his hands. Theplastic casing was warm and familiar against his palms, and heclosed his fingers around it as if to prove to himself it wasreally there.
“Jordan drove the red Focus parked across thestreet,” Kyle said. “You wouldn’t have noticed it unless you knewit was his. Sometime yesterday the guy who cuts my grass cameby—he’s just a neighbor’s kid, gonna be a heart breaker when hegrows up, I’m telling you. He saw Jordan get the mail or something,figured I was home, and came by looking to make a few buckstrimming the yard.” He scowled, a look of disgust flickering acrosshis face. “Only Jordan offered him a twenty if he’d follow him inyour car. The kid’s barely sixteen, you drive a freaking Jag…what’she gonna say, no?”
The thought of a scrawny teenager behind the wheel ofhis car made Matt’s blood boil. That wasn’t a cheap car; he’d spenta pretty penny on it a few years back, before he met Vic, when he’dbeen single and thought the car made the man. “He let somekid drive my car?”
Kyle nodded. “Gave the guy a ride back, paid him thetwenty. Then the kid saw the cops later, and now he claims Jordanhit on him on the way back. Nothing big, mind you, just a hand onthe knee or some such crap, I’m sure he’s making it up, but still.It’s just icing on the cake, isn’t it?”
“Who called the cops?” Matt asked.
Though he’d been right in the middle of the wholeaffair, he felt as if he’d been blindfolded and led away, and nowhad to stumble around grasping for information because everyone wasafraid to mention it to him. Still, he had a pretty good idea, andwhen he looked at Vic, his lover admitted, “Me. When you were inthe shower at his place. After…”
He trailed off, but Matt didn’t need a mentalconnection to know what Vic meant—after he’d tied Jordan up. So thecops had been speeding toward them even as they got away. Anotherfew moments and they wouldn’t have managed to leave, andMatt knew he wouldn’t have been able to face anyone at that moment.Coming home had been the best thing for him at that point.
He sent a mental hug to Vic for getting him out ofthere before the cops arrived. ::Thanks.::
“So yeah,” Kyle said, trying to draw the conversationback to himself. He looked around their living room with interest,taking in the photographs above the TV, the mugs on the coffeetable, a half-used tube of lubricant left on the end table behindMatt. “I didn’t interrupt you guys or anything, did I? I mean, thisisn’t a bad time for you, is it?”
“Well,” Matt started.
But behind him, Vic groaned, and Kyle’s grin frozebefore slipping away. “Well,” he said, pushing himself up off thecouch, “just wanted to check in, see how you two were doing, yaddayadda. I can take a hint.”
Vic stood to walk him to the door, but Kyle stoppedand held out a hand to Matt, who took it, cautious. Kyle’s grip wassweaty but strong, and with a nod, he told Matt, “I’m really sorryall this happened. I know it’s easy to say after the fact, but if Ihad even known you were in the spare bedroom, I’d have—”
“I know,” Matt said. The smile he gave his ex wasgenuine. “You’re not bad people, Kyle, and Jordan doesn’t deserve aguy like you. There’s a better man out there for you, a goodman, there has to be. Just keep looking.”
“Don’t worry,” Kyle laughed. “I am.”
When Vic closed the door behind Kyle, he chained it,then threw the deadbolt. Coming back into the living room, he satdown beside Matt and pulled his lover’s legs into his lap. “No moredistractions,” he promised, curling his fingers around Matt’s toes.“Now I’ll have to start all over again.”
With a smile, Matt stretched back against the arm ofthe couch. “But I saved your place.”
Vic leaned down over him, the fiery lust in his eyesigniting the passion between them. “Where was I?”
“This was here—” Taking Vic’s right arm in his hands,Matt sat up a bit and eased it behind his back before laying downagain. “And this one was here…” Vic’s left hand was placed onMatt’s waist; he opened the bottom of his shirt, undoing the nextbutton up just for a little more room, then folded Vic’s fingersover the top of his unbuttoned fly. His stomach still tightenedbeneath Vic’s touch, even when Matt was the one guiding his lover’shand. He placed Vic’s thumbnail on the pull of his zipper andsighed, “Like this.”
“You have a good memory,” Vic teased. “Whatnext?”
Matt ran his hands down Vic’s broad chest, thengrabbed fists full of his shirt and pulled him closer. “You wereright…about…here.”
He pressed his lips to Vic’s
