Between the Bars Pt. 06

"What time is it?" I put my head in his lap. The denim of his jeans was soft against my cheek, warmed through by his skin. His fingers tugged gently at my hair. I was starting to get a little turned on but I tried to ignore the shivers. Not exactly the right time.

"Almost four. Scott had gotten those coordinates encrypted, and he didn't know the code. Alex had to break it. He's getting it all worked out now."

"I should get up so we can go when he's finished." I started to sit up but Daniel caught my arm.

"We're not going yet, we're going to wait till morning."

"Oh."

I was content to lay my head back down on his lap and close my eyes while his fingertips brushed my scalp. I was torn between sleep and the tingles slowly gathering in my belly and spreading down into my balls. I knew he was doing it on purpose. My dick started to rise despite Alex sitting just couple of yards away, and Scott sleeping nearby. I sucked in a breath and Daniel laughed softly. His touch became deliberately slow and sensual and when I looked up at him, he was gazing down at me intently, eyes crinkled in the corners. He teased me with his fingertips, raking through my hair and over all those sensitive spots on my neck and shoulders that he knew so well. I nuzzled his thigh and reached up to stroke the faded denim in little circles with my palm. Of course, it crept up from his thigh to his crotch and I smiled even wider, eyes still closed, when I felt him getting hard. Alex was probably looking but I didn't care. All I cared about was the faint but distinct throbbing of his erection pulsing under the pads of my fingers.

My head hit the couch cushion as Daniel suddenly stood up, dumping me off his lap. He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him through the doorway into the small, warm bathroom. Alex stared over his shoulder at us. The door clicked shut and Daniel flipped on a small light above the sink with one hand as he turned me around to face him. I loved seeing that smile when he dropped his chin to kiss me. The light in his eyes made my knees weak. He wrapped his arms around me, surrounding me, kissing me, tasting my mouth. His tongue traced patterns on the roof of my mouth and I sucked at it greedily, clinging to his neck. I pressed my hips forward into his and the friction of my cock against his made me moan with pleasure.

"Shhh." He grinned and whispered against my lips. "We always seem to end up in the bathroom."

"Yeah. In someone else's house, where we can't make a sound."

I didn't mean to sound pouty but I did, and he ran his hand through my hair with a gentle touch. "When this is all over, Rylan, I promise we'll spend time together, somewhere that it's just us."

"Can it have electricity this time?" I pretended to complain as I pulled his lips to mine. I loved kissing him when he was laughing. I loved the softness of his lower lip when I drew it between mine and nibbled. I loved our noses smashing together as we stared into each others' eyes. I loved the little kisses he trailed down my chin, over my jaw, on my nose and forehead and eyelids.

Hands, skimming down my chest, teasing my nipples through my shirt just the way I liked it. His hands and his lips were slow and tender, instead of demanding. I reached up and ran my hand all over his head and felt him shiver in response. Without saying the words, I tried to put all my love into my answering touches and kisses so he would feel it surrounding him. He brushed his lips and tongue down my neck to that little spot on my collarbone and I felt my knees start to go out from underneath me.

With a smirk, Daniel eased me back against the sink, so that it was supporting my weight. Then he locked his eyes on mine and started to sink to his knees. I instinctively gripped the edge of the sink and struggled not to throw my head back. I wanted to watch him.

I watched him run his hands down my chest and over my belly and down my thighs in one smooth stroke that left me trembling. I watched him nuzzle the hard ridge of my cock through my pants, and lick at my balls. I watched him grin up at me devilishly as he popped the button on my pants and drew down the straining zipper.

My cock sprang right into his face and he licked the length before wrapping his lips around the head and then I was totally lost in his warmth. We never broke our stare as he sucked my cock slowly with his hands on my thighs. Warm tingles shot up through my belly until I felt them in my fingers and toes and all I could see were his eyes through a haze of yellow sunbursts. He'd somehow unzipped his pants with one hand and he was stroking himself while he sucked me off, looking up into my eyes, and I was fucking lost. The intensity of the sight got me off so hard I bit my lip and scratched at the sink while I shot into his mouth and he never looked away as he swallowed my cum steadily. I caught the back of his neck and trembled through my aftershocks, the world tumbling and spinning like a dryer around me, and his eyes went back and he moaned softly around my deflating cock as he spurted into his hand and onto my pant leg. Then he was laughing and wrapping his arms around me, back on his feet, kissing me with his sweet juicy mouth.

"Fuck, you taste good," I whispered. I closed my eyes and tried not to tremble like a leaf. God, his taste, his scent, the way he kissed me just...

"No, that's you." He laughed. I sagged against him, laughing weakly. I was in a warm little cloud now and somehow without my noticing, Daniel had gotten me tucked in and zipped up and back onto the couch with his arm wrapped around me and everything was hazy. The last thing I was aware of, dimly, was his voice telling me to get some sleep.

***

"Shit!"

When I sat up and it was gray morning and Daniel and Scott were nowhere to be found, I knew exactly what they'd done. Alex was snoozing in the recliner and I got right in his face and shook him.

"Where the fuck are they?"

"Wha-huh?" He started awake with a snort and stared at me blearily, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Daniel and Scott. They're gone."

"Yeah." He nodded, eager to be of help when he'd finally shaken off the sleep. "Daniel wanted you to stay here, he said you were safer here. He and Scott went to go locate the geocache."

That son of a bitch. He'd dragged me into the bathroom to give me a blowjob so I'd crash out and he could get up and leave me behind. "Motherfucker," I swore softly. "Get up and take me to him, Alex."

"But, it's okay, Scott's with him..."

"I don't trust Scott. Dammit, Alex. You know where they are, I know you do."

"But he just didn't want anything to happen to you," Alex protested, even as he lurched to his feet and started fumbling for his shoes.

"Well, I don't want anything to happen to him. And you don't either, do you, Alex."

He blushed because I'd noticed his little glances and the way he got flustered when Daniel looked his way. Hell, he'd only sat up the whole night helping Daniel when he'd just met the man a few hours ago. How the fuck could I miss it? It only mirrored exactly how I felt.

"No, I... just let me go tell Kat," he practically whimpered. As he disappeared down the hall, I frantically went through Daniel's bag, searching for his gun. Please let him have it with him. My heart was racing madly and my stomach turned nauseating flips. When I found the gun, I felt my gut drop out from under me. Why did he leave the apartment without it? Wherever Daniel was with that piece of shit Scott, he was unarmed and I had to get to him.

The gun was kept loaded, but without a round in the chamber. With a ch-chunk, I slid a bullet home and put the gun into the pocket of my parka, where it would be easily accessible. I just had this weird feeling I could barely put into words that Daniel might need it. Alex grabbed his coat and keys, affected by my urgency, and it was only a minute before we were down at the curb getting into his freezing cold car, breaths hanging in the air.

"Where are they?"

"Busse Lake. It's a nature preserve about a half-hour from here."

"I know where it is. Is this - whatever it is - hidden, or is it in plain view, or what?"

"Hard to say. They're usually well hidden, but not buried; of course, the snow makes it all different. With all this snow cover, even when they locate the exact GPS coordinates they might still have to dig for it," Alex explained as he cranked the car and pulled out.

"How the fuck did he get a GPS?"

"Oh... uh, my cell phone has one," Alex mumbled guiltily. His tires clunked over piles of frozen, dirty sludge. I couldn't believe he gave Daniel his cell phone so he could ditch me and go off on this damn fool treasure hunt. I wanted to ask him if he was fucking crazy, but I managed to stay silent. He'd thought he was helping Daniel; no doubt, he'd thought of me as the nagging, overprotective boyfriend. Shit! I still couldn't believe Daniel trusted Scott, especially after Scott set him up once. No matter how he tried to deny it and act innocent, I was positive Scott had something to do with the incident in St. Louis and I believed he was leading Daniel into a trap now, unarmed and helpless...

"Shit. Can't you drive any faster?" I demanded between my teeth.

He hit the accelerator. I'd long since lost track of what day it was, but I assumed it was a weekend since the roads were clear of usual morning rush-hour traffic. The delay was unbearable. Panic clawed at me, leaving ragged edges. The sun crept up somewhere behind the dark bank of clouds with slow and dreadful sameness. Alex wasn't any more interested in speaking than I was. I didn't trust Scott, but I trusted Alex. Despite the paranoia that Daniel managed to pass on to me, I had from the very first moment and I was grateful for his silent presence.

The open gates of the Ned Brown Preserve were just ahead. I felt myself getting lightheaded, my body's reaction to adrenaline, but I refused to give into the looming panic. Instead of alert and cautious like Daniel said, adrenaline had a tendency to make me fuzzy and unfocused. "Do you know where to look?" I asked Alex sharply.

"The general area, yeah." He headed down the narrow, winding paved roads, following the arrows that pointed to Busse Lake. The snow here was thick and still white and fresh, coating the barren ground and the dark skeleton trees. My eyes scanned around constantly, marking everything in sharp detail. My heart gave a mighty jump into my throat when I spotted Charlotte's green Subaru parked at a pullover, and next to it, a Chicago police cruiser.

Too late. "Where?" I barked, grabbing the door handle.

"That way." Alex pointed toward the trail that opened to my left with a sign showing the way to the lake. I jumped out of the car before it completely stopped moving and as soon as my feet touched the snow, I was running, my feet crunching on the frozen snow. The gun was a burning weight in my pocket. Soon, Alex's heavy footfalls ran to catch up with me.

Couldn't see through the thick trees. As I ran, I started to hear muffled voices. I recognized Daniel's and my heart, already racing, nearly stopped. Instinctively, I reached into my coat pocket and drew Daniel's gun, solid and cold to the touch, but reassuring. If I could just get it to him in time, he could protect himself...

A shot. Loud, muffled pop, then another and another. A shout, a scream and I burst into the clearing just as Daniel stumbled and fell into the snow. Scott was a short distance away on the left, standing over a uniformed officer lying on the ground, whose gun fell just as Scott crumpled from the shot.

Daniel lay in the middle of the clearing, and a man was about ten feet from him. Adkins. I recognized his handsome but chillingly vacant face from the video. He bent over and picked up a green ammunition case. No question this was the geocache, the box containing the evidence. He lifted his gun and pointed straight at Daniel lying helpless on the ground, clearly alive but not moving. His eyes flicked to me as I appeared from the mouth of the trail and that distraction gave me just enough time to raise my own gun and aim deliberately. No confusion, no fear, just cold rage. He hurt Daniel. Never fire at someone unless you plan to kill them, my grandfather taught me. Calmly, I pulled the trigger for one deafening shot and Adkins fell to the ground without a sound, a look of surprise frozen on his face.

I ran to Daniel. In the moment of firing, I was completely peaceful and clear, but seeing Daniel lying in the snow with dark blood wetting his parka and starting to drip into the snow was enough to send panic through my veins like ice water. Pushing it back fiercely, I lifted Daniel's head into my arms. His eyes flickered open onto my face.

"You came," he said. His eyes were shockingly blue against the white snow, where a dark stain of blood was starting to spread from his shoulder, soaking through his coat.

"Of course, I did. Always." I cradled him against me. His breathing was shallow but not labored and despite the large amount of blood, when I lay him across my knees and opened his jacket, the wound was in his shoulder and not in his chest. Relief almost made me vomit. "You're okay, Daniel. You're okay. We're going to get an ambulance." I knew Alex was behind us, checking on Scott and the other officer. I knew he'd get a cell phone and call for help.

"Did you kill him?" Daniel asked rather blearily, as if he were very tired. He was lucid, but the bleeding had to be stopped soon. The exit wound was larger and bleeding far more than the entry wound. My fingers found the hole in the back of his shoulder and gently applied pressure to slow the blood flow. Help would be here soon. It had to be.

"Adkins? No. He'll live. I wanted to kill him because he hurt you, and I could have." I had to stop and take a deep breath. I'd aimed directly for the throat; this caliber of bullet at this short a range would have killed him, but at the last second I veered the barrel of the gun slightly and I shot him in the side. "But I missed on purpose because I didn't want to let him off easy. I want him to pay. You will get justice for Ray, I swear it."

Daniel smiled faintly. His face was turning sickeningly pale against the blood-spattered snow. Alex came up and hovered over us, a look of horror dawning when he stared down at Daniel.

"Scott's dead," he said softly. Carefully, he set the ammunition case down next to us.

"They were always going to kill him," Daniel mumbled. "Because he saw the evidence. Only let him live this long to show them where it was. Thought he could bargain, use it to buy his life... always was fucked in the head..."

"Daniel, shhh." I held him closer to my warmth. Alex mutely sank to his knees facing me and wrapped his arms around Daniel and me, adding the heat of his big body to mine to keep Daniel warm. In the distance, coming closer, we heard sirens. They couldn't have gotten here this fast from any call Alex made, it had to be a backup call made by the patrol car before this went down. They were damn sure of themselves. Backup would have come upon the scene and found two dead perps, the fugitive cop Daniel and his accomplice Scott, gunned down by the two heroic officers. That would have been the story on the news. The cover-up would've made certain of it, but thanks to Kat and Alex, the truth would be told, complete with proof. Everything, all of it was going to come crashing down. Daniel had accomplished his mission and I hoped with all my heart that it would bring him the peace he needed.

The paramedics and the police arrived there at the same time. I felt myself being pulled off Daniel. Rough hands held me from behind and voices were talking to me but I barely noticed, they were next to Daniel checking his wounds and loading him onto a stretcher. Kat was there suddenly with a coat over her pajamas, she somehow managed to be everywhere. Dimly, I saw Alex and Kat talking to the cop who held the ammunition case, explaining. I knew Kat would make everything all right so I didn't think about that. I really couldn't care less about the evidence anyway, Daniel was the only thing that mattered, and everyone was talking at once while I stared at the paramedics loading Daniel into the back of an ambulance, his wrist handcuffed to the metal of the gurney. Face so pale, eyes closed. Wet with blood.

"Did he force you to help him, or was it of your own free will?"

The voice dawned on me, shaking me out of my haze. "Voluntary. He didn't force me to do anything. I love him."

"Then you're under arrest for aiding and abetting a fugitive, fleeing arrest...." Cold metal handcuffs clicked around my wrists. Wait a minute, this wasn't right, but I couldn't speak, I couldn't do anything. The voice kept talking, listing charges and reading me my Miranda rights but the creeping panic couldn't be kept at bay anymore and when I found myself in the back of a squad car everything went blurry as the monster finally swallowed me.

****