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.“Welcome back.”“Jed?” Redford"s eyes opened slowly, moving over Jed beforesettling on David and Victor, fear still lurking in his eyes.He inhaleddeeply, and his eyes slammed closed again.Redford shifted on the bed,curling himself up into a tight huddle.He"d met David and Victorbefore, but they were still unfamiliar, it seemed.Immediately shoving his way onto the bed next to him, haulingRedford into his arms, Jed did his level best to surround him withnothing but gentle touches, strength and security.He was the lastfucking person on the planet to give him any of those things, but thiswas all he had at the moment.“It"s okay,” Jed said lowly.“It"s all right.I got you back.You"re home.”“You left,” Redford repeated, his voice quiet and shaky, but theaccusation didn"t stop him from clinging to Jed with a bruising grip.Guilt, sour and viscous, curdled in Jed"s throat, bitter on the back of histongue.“Yeah,” he agreed heavily.“I did.” What else could he say? Thereweren"t many explanations, and the ones he did have he was pretty surewouldn"t help.All he could do was hold Redford closer, curled upagainst the headboard, Redford sprawled across his lap.David caught the look Jed gave him and stood with a stretch.“Since you so rudely and frantically called me at an ungodly houryesterday, I think that I will take this moment on your dime to have aquick nap before the fireworks start.Vicky, why don"t you and I headback to my place? I think we can afford a few hours of rest.”“A nap?” Victor just snorted, taking the teapot and cups back intothe kitchen.“You don"t nap, David.Just say it straight and announcethat we"re going back to your place to have a lot of sex.”“I was trying to be subtle.Virgin ears around and all that.” With awink at Redford, David slipped his hand into Victor"s back pocket,happily groping his ass as they swooped out of the doorway, smirkingat the resulting exasperated sigh from Victor.Jed let out a slow breathof relief at the quiet they left behind.Too many people in his house,lately.He wasn"t used to it.Redford, though, seemed just right.“I left,” Jed said again, slowly, rubbing his thumb alongRedford"s temple.“So did you.”“I tried to clean so that you wouldn"t have to think about mewhen you got back,” Redford said softly, relaxing now that there weretwo less people in the apartment.He inhaled, like he was trying to thinkof something more meaningful to say, before he winced a little.“I"mgetting blood on your bed.”“So we"ll wash the sheets.” Jed breathed out a broken little laugh,sounding almost hysterical, eyes wide as he ducked his head to try andget Redford to look at him.“Did you really think god-damned dustingwas going to erase you from my memory? Jesus, Red, I went nuts.Iactually went fucking insane trying to find you.I looked everywhere Icould think of, hit everyone who even looked like they might have atone point and time known someone named Fil, and when that didn"twork, I called up David at one in the morning and offered him half amillion dollars for a breadcrumb.” Jaw tight, he shuddered out a lowexhale, forcing his voice back from the loud, cracking edge it"d beenon.“I couldn"t stop thinking about you if I was on fire,” he finished,softly this time, so quietly the words barely made it past his lips.Fingers shaking a little, he draped the whistle back around Redford"sneck.Next to it, though, was a new addition, clinking quietly as theysettled against Redford"s chest.Jed"s dog tags lay next to the whistle,looped on the chain.“So you don"t get lost.”He caught a glimmer in Redford"s eyes, looking a little too shinyto be properly composed, before the other man buried his face underJed"s chin.“Thank you for finding me,” came a mumble against hisshirt.“I thought… I thought I"d never get out.That you"d never come.”Holding on tightly, that burn in his throat making it hard to talk,Jed just shook his head.“I"ll always come.Got that, Fido? I am a sonof a bitch, and I"m not worth much of anything.The only damn thing Ican promise you is that I will always come.Okay?”“Okay.” Redford nodded against his chest and lifted his head.Therenewed trust in his eyes made the ache in Jed"s throat even worse.What on God"s green earth had he ever done to earn that? Not a damnthing.Yet here was Redford, staring up at him like he was worthsomething.Seeing him.Jed still didn"t know what the fuck to do withthat.“"Cause if there"s anything I"m good at, it"s coming.” He tried fora leer, attempting to shove away all the heavy emotions.It was fareasier to be flippant.Redford demanded too much from him.If hecould just keep things at an arm"s length then maybe he wouldn"t fuckup everything to kingdom come.At least his remark was rewarded witha quiet snort from Redford.Pulling away a little, Redford reached up to touch his fingers tohis temple, grimacing faintly.“I should probably take a shower,” hesighed, looking apologetic.“I"m filthy.”Chuckling, Jed ran his fingertips lightly along Redford"s jaw.“See? I told you that you"d get the dirty talk down.” Redford justlooked mystified.Gently untangling them, Jed stood and offered himhis hand.“I"d lecture you about water conservation, but somehow Idon"t think this is the time.Do you need anything?”He expected Redford to shrug, dismiss him, and walk to theshower.After all, Redford did have plenty of reasons to not be terriblyhappy with him.What Jed wasn"t prepared for was Redford taking hishand and tugging him into the bathroom as well.“Yes,” Redford saidsimply.“I need something.”Slightly baffled, Jed was pretty sure Redford wasn"t talking aboutwhat anyone else would be.Hell, the guy missed ninety percent of theinnuendo Jed lobbed at him.“Soap?” he guessed with a slightlyconfused smile.“Fresh towel? A sink not covered in little hairs fromme shaving? I can get you one of those, maybe.”The smile Redford gave him said you’re being a little dim.“You,Jed.” Feeling that that was adequate explanation enough, Redfordbraced a hand on the wall for balance, reaching out to twist the showertap.“I need you.”Ah.Well, far be it for him to be a selfish host.The grin thatspread across his face was honestly pleased, shy on the edges, becauseJed wasn"t sure how things like this went.For all the sex he"d had, allthe lust and the need and the want, he"d never really been with anyone.Not like this.There hadn"t been one man in his life that even cameclose to Redford.“Thank God you"re not asking me to clean,” heanswered, hesitantly tipping his chin softly, almost a question, to brushhis lips against Redford"s.“Asking you to clean would be like asking elephants to fly,”Redford pointed out, breathing a quiet laugh, returning the kiss in abrief brush of contact.His hands dipped to his shirt, eyebrows creasingas he tried to undo the buttons with an unsteady grip.The laugh was caught in another kiss.Jed couldn"t seem to stopsmiling [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]