Between the Bars

Chapter 26

My dick was already hard when I woke up curled around Daniel with his warm bare ass shoved against me. I didn't have to open my eyes to know where I was or what was going on because even in my sleep, he was there. I snuggled against his back while he slept heavily, facing the concrete block wall on his side with his arm thrown over the pillow as the darkness lightened into dark gray shadows. I didn't want to wake him when he was finally peaceful. His sleep was very troubled, at least until I woke him up from a shallow doze with my mouth wrapped around his dick.

Just thinking about last night made me shake all over. My face flushed and I buried it in the naked pillow although there was nobody to hide from but myself. Last night, after we'd talked and then slept a bit, his flesh was so hot under the blankets with the darkness pressing down on us. We stroked and licked and groped, all hands and mouths and sweaty skin, sloppy uncoordinated kisses, clashing teeth and seeking tongues. Daniel's hands came down to squeeze my ass and I suddenly froze as the sensation of his hands sent wild tingles through me and I wanted... My heart thumped madly in my mouth. I couldn't tell him, I couldn't ask. I wanted it, I ached for it, but I didn't know how to put my need into words. I couldn't. I just trembled under his touch and stared into the dark where I could see the faint gleam of his eyes.

I didn't have to ask.

I don't know how he knew, but he did.

At first, I worried. When he rolled me over and pushed me to my knees. The bed might squeak and pound the wall. What if someone wakes up, what if Charlotte or Paul or the kids hear the sharp sound of hand on flesh? Charlotte will know even if the kids have no idea what they're hearing. She would know and tell Paul and they'll talk about me, discuss the situation. That I let Daniel spank me, that I moaned with pleasure from it. What will they think? Of me?

But then he'd stripped the pillowcase off and wrapped it around my wrists, snug but not tight, and pushed my hands over my head so my fingers curled around the edge of the mattress and I stopped thinking. Thinking about things wasn't my responsibility anymore. No thoughts, no decisions, no shame, just floating. Delirious. Quivering in a non-thinking sexual cloud just surrounded by danieldanieldaniel and nothing else, his voice in my ear telling me everything he's doing while his hands give such lovely stinging attention to my ass. Then fucks me hard on my knees from behind and when I cum, and then cum again, it's not the end, just another moment in a series of moments that blow my fucking mind.

The orgasm didn't matter that much because it started happening in my mind the minute he started this and didn't stop until I fell asleep groggy and exhausted and aching in a damp pile tangled in Daniel's arms and legs. He slept too, barely moving at all.

I used to think I was an accomplished top. In the lifting gray shadow, I stared at his peaceful shape while he slept, thinking about what he'd told me last night. I wasn't really listening in my cloud but apparently, it sank in anyway. That bottoms actually have more control. Something about giving up control making me more powerful. Making him responsible for me, always aware of my feelings and my pleasure. I loved that he was doing that for me but I'd sure as hell never done it for anyone before him. I thought I was a good top because everyone got off, but it was really about me. I didn't know how to be a good top because I'd never had one. Daniel said that the first night at the farmhouse and he was right. He knew.

Now he was teaching me the way Ray taught him. It had to be Ray. Strong but loving. You don't learn that on your own. He'd started showing it to me when he was handcuffed to the chair. Maybe somewhere along the line, somebody has shown Matt.

Matt. Fuck. I rubbed my nose and my lips against Daniel's neck. Matt stopped entering my mind years ago, except in random thoughts. When I was in graduate school, he tried to contact me through my grandparents but I deliberately lost his number. I didn't have anything to say to him, not even "fuck off."

"Hey."

Daniel looked over his shoulder and smiled at me, that incredibly sexy sleepy smile, his ass shifted against my crotch and everything else was just gone. I pulled him backward and pushed my tongue in his mouth. I didn't care about morning breath. Just a little more time, steal a few more minutes. My hands wandered over his body memorizing every hard curve and every inch of skin, while he closed his eyes and panted, rubbing against my touch like a cat. My cock slid between the muscular cheeks of his ass.

I snaked my hand around his hip, stroked his shaft and caressed his balls. He purred in his throat. I pushed him to his stomach and licked down his back. He caught the edge of the mattress. For a second, I paused and just stared at all that naked male perfection, his shoulders and arms and back, lean and smooth and rippling with muscle, spread out like a feast for me to devour. Then, I raked my fingertips from his hands all the way down his arms, over his shoulders and back, down over the shallow dips of hard muscle to his round, sweet ass cheeks. My dick leaked a slippery trail over his right thigh.

My tongue gravitated toward that place that always drew me, the valley at the top of his crack, drawing his ass cheeks apart to breathe on his tender pucker. It was too dark for me to see his hole; it was just a shadow between his pale cheeks. He shivered and buried his face in the pillow.

I found his hole with my tongue and circled it delicately, sucking at it lightly and breathing in the light cinnamon scent while his hips jerked. I loved watching him flinch and shudder and rub his cock against the mattress. I loved watching him mouth the pillow to keep from making a sound. The rising sun gave me more light to see him by, see how he moved and responded as I slowly tongue-fucked him. Making him feel good was suddenly my everything.

He pushed his ass back into my face and I buried my tongue in his tight hole. I felt it flex, wanting more, telling me what he wanted. A touch of lube and I slid two fingers inside him, and he lifted his ass with a little moan he couldn't bite back.

"Want to make you feel so good," I told him. He whimpered in response and I smiled, licking the underside of his balls while I slid my fingers in and out. "Does it feel good?" I breathed on his hole.

"Yes." Daniel drew his knees under him and arched his back, face still buried in the pillow. For some reason, that made me tremble with excitement, knowing he couldn't make a sound or everyone would hear. His hole twitched around my fingers, fluttering, coaxing. On my knees, I quickly got ready and then I pushed him over to his back. I wanted to see his face. His legs slipped around my waist, pulling me into him. He caught my neck and dragged me down to kiss him. We both sighed with such relief I slid into him and stopped.

We stared at each other as I slowly started to thrust. God oh god, my dick demanded to fuck him hard and fast but I held back, letting him set the pace. I watched his face, his reactions, felt his body. When I relaxed and stopped thinking about the tingling knot of pressure building inside my balls, I felt him and I could feel exactly what he needed, it was like slipping out of my own body into his and it was fucking ecstasy.

He smiled up at my wide startled eyes, caught my mouth and kissed me and pulled me into him harder and I was lost. I angled my thrusts upward and twisted my hips, fucking giddy, intent, shaking, watching him as he threw his head back and bit his lip as my thrusts hit his prostate. I slid my hand over his scalp and rubbed it in between thrusts and Daniel started making this low, growling whimper in his throat. Around my dick, the muscles of his tight ass began to clench in hard spasms.

I looked at his face just in time to see his surprise. The whimper broke free of his throat and spilled out his lips the moment he grabbed my biceps in a hard grip. He writhed as his dick erupted and shot his hot cum between us, without either one of us touching it. I kept hitting his prostate but much more gently, staring down at him in wonder, the way his face got flushed and the way the muscles of his ass throbbed around my dick and it felt so fucking good I couldn't stand it. A deep tingling ache quivered through me and I dropped my head and locked my open mouth over his. With starbursts popping behind my eyes, I moaned and gasped into his mouth while he watched me cum with silent delight. Finally, I fell forward onto his sticky chest and he held me as we both broke into giddy laughter, and his hands went all over my back and my ass, kneading and squeezing, reassuring and greedy.

"Jesus Christ, Rylan. What did you do?"

"Let's see... rimmed you, then fucked the hell out of you?"

"Yeah. That's it." He laughed softly and then got very still. "We need to get up, you know," he whispered as if not saying it aloud would lessen the blow. I pulled out and rolled over onto my back beside him. My stomach clenched with anxiety and fear as the reality of what faced us crashed down on me all over again.

"I know."

Hiding in my aunt's basement, in this bed, wasn't going to make it go away. His hand wrapped around mine and gave it a hard squeeze before he slid out of bed and padded naked to the bathroom. We showered and dressed in silence, with the grayness outside the small basement windows lifting relentlessly into daylight. As I stripped the cum-stained sheets off the bed, I caught sight of Daniel near the door, loading his gun with deft fingers, and I stopped and stared at him, my stomach tying in knots. Yeah, somewhere in the time we'd spent in the farmhouse I'd forgotten the hard, ass-kicking cop side of him and seeing it so blatantly knocked the wind out of me. It reminded me how much about him I didn't know and that scared me, but I knew he needed it because that was what would keep him alive. He slid the gun into the back of his jeans and buttoned the flannel shirt over it.

He saw me looking. "Know how to use one?"

I nodded. My grandpa taught me everything about guns when I was still in elementary school.

Trying so hard not to worry, not to choke with fear for him. It wouldn't help. I had to be calm and focused so I could watch his back, since that was all I could do to help him. He didn't want me involved, but he needed my eyes and my mind's ability to see clearly, even if it took time. Like Charlotte said, he might not know it yet, but he needed me. He needed me and I wasn't going to fail him.

Upstairs, Charlotte was already in the kitchen with a full pot of coffee and plates of breakfast while Paul sat quietly at the table eating. The kids were obviously still in bed. A sliver of sun pierced the edge of the field and flooded the landscape with sharp icy glitter and long, indigo shadows. I shook my head doubtfully when she pointed to a plate of eggs, bacon and toast, hand on my stomach.

"I don't think I can."

"You need to eat," Charlotte said much more gently than usual. I could see the anxiety in her eyes even though she tried to hide it. "Please, Ry. Who knows when you'll get another chance."

"She's right," Daniel added. Despite the urgency to get on the road, he nodded at me encouragingly and we sat down to eat. Nobody spoke. My food made a lump in my throat. When Daniel put his fork down, I jumped.

"Be careful." Charlotte put her hand on his shoulder.

"I will." He hugged her suddenly. "Thank you."

She kissed his cheek and pulled away, turning to me. Smiling through the worry. "Hey, Squirrel Bait. Don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"You know me," I shrugged.

She put her hands on my shoulders. "That's what I'm worried about." We tried to smile but then she was hugging me hard, whispering in my ear. "Please be careful, Ry. Don't want you hurt. Take care of him, Daniel."

"I will," Daniel answered. Paul was standing now, handing Daniel the keys to the Subaru Outback we'd be driving to Chicago.

"If something happens and we can help, call." Paul looked Daniel straight in the eyes and I loved my aunt's husband so much right then. I'd never known anyone so straightforward and honest, willing to do anything to help if it was the right thing to do. These two were risking a lot for us. If things went bad, it could come down on them, but it didn't matter to them because that was just the way people did things around here. I could tell Daniel was a little overcome by all this, he struggled for something appropriate to say, but finally, Paul just reached out and shook his hand and told him to go.

"Don't be a hero. Stick to your plan, and take care of Ry for us."

We headed out the door then, before things got emotional, throwing our few things into the backseat. The car was filled with gas and hopefully it would be enough to get us all the way there. The plan was to stick to the back roads, and not to stop unless we absolutely couldn't help it, which should put us at Kat's place before noon. The scenery on the state highways from here to Chicago was mostly endless fields and barns, with the occasional pig farm you could smell miles away. The few small towns we'd encounter would be easy enough to avoid. There was a map in the glove compartment but I knew the way. Anytime I'd gone on a trip to the big city with my grandpa, we always took the back roads because of his irrational hatred of interstates. There might be some state cops here and there, but if anyone just happened to run Paul's plates, nothing suspicious would turn up. A lot could go wrong, but there was nothing else we could do. We had to try it.

****

Chapter 27

"So many fucking cops. Are there always this many cops?"

The closer we got to Chicago it seemed like police cars were everywhere and every time I saw one my heart jumped straight into my mouth and my stomach churned. I was at the wheel now because I knew the roads from my years at Northwestern. My knuckles were white and my eyes constantly checked the rearview mirror.

"They're always there," Daniel answered calmly. "But you only notice them when you're doing something illegal."

"Oh, like speeding, or aiding and abetting a fugitive?"

He shot me a look. "Ray used to do that," he finally said. "Made jokes about things when he got scared." He kept looking at me thoughtfully. "It's funny. You remind me of him sometimes."

My ego didn't like him saying the word "scared," but I was, and fear makes me snappy. "I can see how you'd get me confused with a big Puerto Rican cop."

"It's not that," he ignored my smart-ass comment. "You're nothing like him but there are just times when I see things about him in you. Like your sense of humor, and your bravery."

"Brave? Daniel, I'm scared as hell." I laughed nervously.

"So am I. Only idiots have no fear. When I first joined vice, Ray was on the team for my first raid. I put on this macho act that I wasn't scared of anything, and I remember him telling me it was bullshit. That brave people do their jobs despite being afraid. The adrenaline fear creates keeps you alert and cautious. If you lose that, you lose your edge and somebody could die."

"I must be pretty brave then after all." I managed a laugh.

"You are."

He smiled at me and once again, did that thing where he kept looking at me, long enough for me to lift an eyebrow and say, "What?"

"Nothing." Shrugging, he looked away out the windshield. "Ray would like you, I think."

I thought I knew what that meant and my heart actually skipped a beat. It sounds ridiculous, but it felt like it was about to jump out of my chest. Just a little more time. We just have to finish this. When it was finished, we could move on. Although, I wasn't sure what we were moving on to, and I wasn't going to think about it until I had to. Right now, I couldn't dwell on the fact that Daniel lived in Tallahassee and I lived in Atlanta, and that my life would bore him to death. All that was on hold.

"You know where we're going, right?"

This time I shot him the look. "I get you where you need to go, don't I?" I asked, making him remember how I got him out of St. Louis to the relative safety of the farmhouse. The reference wasn't lost on him. He nodded and answered softly.

"I trust you."

For a moment, I flew. For a cop in a dangerous situation, trusting the wrong person could be fatal, and the fact that he put his trust in me meant everything. As I took the city streets toward Wicker Park where my friend Kat lived, we were silent but I couldn't stop a silly grin from creeping over my face from time to time, even if it was out of place right now. Daniel sat next to me, quiet with his own thoughts, and I kept stealing glances at him. He caught my eyes and smiled and slid his hand over onto my thigh, a gentle and reassuring pressure.

According to the numbers on the buildings, Kat lived just up the block. I swallowed the panic that rose up in my throat and looked over at Daniel. He looked a bit pale himself but he lightly squeezed my thigh and we traded a shaky smile.

The only parking was on the street in front of Kat's building. It was freezing, as Chicago in December usually is, so at least everyone else was wrapped up in bulky coats and hats, with sunglasses over their eyes, and we didn't stand out with our cold weather gear that protected us from recognition just as much as the elements. Even so, with our pictures on the news there was still a chance someone might get a good look at us. Every cop in the city was on alert. Logically, I knew they had no reason to be watching Kat, but that didn't stop my gut from lurching.

When we got out of the car and walked through the icy chunks of old snow onto the sidewalk up to the door, I had the panicky feeling that Daniel was out in the open and exposed like a hunted rabbit. Fuck. I wanted to grab his arm, put myself between him and the world, but I didn't want anyone to look our way for any reason, and even here in Wicker Park, people might stare. I just wanted him safe. My heart was banging against my chest when we slid into the cold little lobby and pushed Kat's buzzer.

"Rylan, get the fuck in here!"

The door burst open, someone grabbed me and I had an armful of a foul-mouthed little whirlwind with butch-cut black hair, dragging me into the hallway with one hand while latching onto Daniel's coat with the other fist, talking and talking.

"Been glued to the news all morning, just knew I'd see you on CNN in the back of a state patrol car. Made it okay, no trouble, no roadblocks or car-to-car searches on the interstate?"

"Yeah, we stuck to the back roads and it was fine," I assured her. I laughed apologetically over to Daniel who looked both bewildered and amused. "This is my friend Kat."

"Kat Grissom with the Sun-Times." She stuck out her hand to him as she swung her apartment door open, checking him out with her blue eyes that saw everything all at once. "And you're Detective Daniel Braden."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am." He shook her hand. That Southern charm of his was innate and effortless and even Kat, hard-assed cynical Chicagoan that she was, melted a bit even as she lifted an eyebrow skeptically.

"Uh-huh. Come on in, guys, just throw your things over there in that chair. I want to go over some of the facts with you. I've got my editor clued in and we're ready and waiting. As soon as you furnish us with proof, we're ready to proceed."

She stood by talking while we put down the few things we'd brought and stripped off all the cold-weather gear. The relief of simply making it here without anything happening made my knees feel a little shaky and Daniel had been waiting at least an hour to go to the bathroom. He slid his gun out of his waistband - he'd moved it from the back to the side while we were in the car, so he wouldn't be sitting on it - and tucked it into his bag before he disappeared down the hallway Kat pointed him.