Cursed Gift

**********

"I know this sounds trite, but you won't get away with this." Wade stalled for time, hoping to find anything that would help Alex find him. The window revealed patchy grass and raggedy bushes outside it. Grass and shrubbery? In Phoenix?

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because you were right. Alex is psychic. A telepath, to be precise. He knows who you are."

Dark, dead eyes studied him, unblinking, and then the man smiled. It was, strangely, a cheerful, friendly smile. "He may know the name I'm using, but that's no more accurate than my home address."

"Your description, fingerprints from the glass at the bar ... they'll find you."

The man shrugged. "Possibly. But will they find me in time?" He placed the grater on a shelf and moved to stand over Wade. "I'd like to keep you here for a while. You're much bigger than the others. You might ... last longer." He ran his fingers up Wade's leg, over his ribs, and up to his chin. He patted Wade's face. "You're not bad-looking, in a rough sort of way. Not as pretty as your friend, but ... acceptable. Of course, you're much bigger. I'm not sure those restraints would be adequate once I got to work." He stepped back, his eyes cold and remote once more. "Yes, I think I need to take additional measures with you." He left the room, his footfalls fading as he walked away.

**********

Frank walked beside Alex, ready to guide him around obstacles. Alex wasn't seeing what was in front of him, he was almost sleepwalking. Frank looked at his eyes, saw the dilated pupils, and waited for Alex to speak.

"He's in an underground room, on a table of some kind. It feels like metal. There are bushes outside the window. The room he's in is small, but ... the rest is bigger. I can hear water dripping." He stopped, turned, and stared down the street. "What's that building?" He pointed at a structure halfway down the block.

"Used to be a funeral home. Went out of business years ago. Someone bought it, tried to have the zoning changed so they could turn it into a home. The dopers and punks pretty much destroyed it when everything fell through. I don't know who owns it now."

Alex grabbed his shirt, his eyes no longer faraway. "Does it have a basement?" He didn't wait for Frank to answer, just took off running. Frank followed, calling in the details and waving the two uniforms over.

He grabbed Alex, and had to use all his strength to prevent the man getting loose. "Damn it, you can't go in there! Let us handle this." Alex finally calmed down enough that Frank felt safe letting go of him. "Wait here. Tell Wade we're on our way."

**********

Tell Frank to be careful, songbird.

"I already did," came a low voice.

Wade whipped his head around. "Alex! What the hell are you doing here?" He kept his voice low, but couldn't control the fear that tainted it.

"Getting you out. Frank and the rest of the cops are up above. They told me to wait. Fuck that. I came through the window."

Wade watched Alex pad silently to the door. "No lock. Damn." He found a pair of wire cutters on the shelf and snipped the ties holding Wade's hands and feet. He found Wade's clothes under the table and tossed his jeans to him. "Come on, let's get our bad selves outta here."

Wade slid quickly into the jeans and frowned at the small opening high on the wall. "Alex, baby … no way I can fit through that window."

"Sure you can. Put one arm and your head through first. Then wriggle like hell. It might take a minute or two, but you can do it. I'll have to support you until you get your other arm through. Then you can pull me up. Easy, see?"

"No, but you haven't left me much choice." He eyed the small window doubtfully. "How are you going to support me?"

"Kneel on the table, facing away from me."

Wade frowned, but did as Alex asked.

"Spread your legs, big guy. I'm coming in." Alex tucked his head between Wade's legs, shoulders under and hands over the powerful thighs, and lifted the bigger man.

"You'll give yourself a hernia, damn it. I'm too big."

"Shut up," Alex grunted. "And get your dick outta my ear." How can you be hard right now? He moved to the window and held Wade there. "Start working through it. Just grass on the other side, so dig your hand in and pull."

Wade didn't argue. Alex was standing rock still and steady, but the strain had to be enormous. Shit, I weigh at least sixty pounds more than he does. He got his right arm and shoulder through, pulled himself forward three inches, and felt his left shoulder and right ribcage scrape against the sides of the window. Great, I'm stuck.

"Push all the air out of your lungs and relax. I'll shove you through."

And he did. Wade's shoulder popped through, leaving behind a bit of skin, but he didn't care. He was out. He pulled his legs through, swiveled around to reach for Alex, and saw the killer enter the room.

"Give me your hands, now!"

Alex jumped up, arms stretched for Wade to grab, perfect trust in his eyes. Wade latched onto his forearms and yanked, dragging Alex through the window and onto the grass. He felt a sizzle of pain flicker through his mind, looked down, and saw the killer below the window with a knife in his hand. Frank burst into the basement, gun drawn. The maniac turned and rushed him. Frank fired twice, and the man went down.

**********

Alex was propped up in bed, pillows piled high behind him, and another cushioning his left leg. The killer, Brian Weiss by name, had managed to slash at Alex as he was pulled through the window. It took fourteen stitches to close the wound on his calf, but the doctor didn't think there'd be any permanent damage. Even so, Wade fussed over him.

Alison sat on the edge of the bed, glaring at him. "Woke me from a sound sleep, all in a panic, and not a damn thing I could do but wait. I knew what was happening and I kept waiting for a phone call. So who calls? Frank! What kind of brother does that to his sister?"

He looked up at Wade. Will you send her home, please? "Alison, I'm fine. You saw my leg, you did your healing thing, so you know I'm okay. Quit ragging on me."

I'm not getting on your sister's bad side. Take it like a man, songbird. "He really is all right, Alison. Honest."

She transferred her glare to Wade. "I'm going to count on you to make sure he stays out of trouble."

"I'll do my best. I kind of like having him around, you know?"

She leaned over and hugged Alex. "I'm sorry. I was scared." She kissed his cheek and released him, and turned to Wade. "Your bruise looks better." She gave him a kiss and a hug, as well. "I hear you've bought into this crazy family."

"Not much choice, even if I wanted one." Which I don't, so not a peep out of you. "Once this guy gets into your head, you're kinda stuck with him."

Keith leaned through the doorway. "Time for us to go, sweetheart. Hey, Alex, hurry and get well, okay? The guy subbing for you sucks in harmony, and he's fumble-fingered in the piano solos. Strictly amateur night."

Alex laughed. "He can't be that bad, but I'll be back on stage by next weekend, bro. The doc already said so."

"Good deal. Bye, Wade."

Alex sighed after they left. Between police taking statements and visits from the other band members, the house had been crowded since they'd gotten home in the afternoon. He looked over at Wade, sitting quietly at the foot of the bed.

"What are you doing so far away?"

"Thinking that having you incapacitated could be fun." He moved up to settle at Alex's right side.

"How so?" Alex lifted Wade's left arm and draped it around his shoulder, snuggling in and leaning against the bigger man.

"I thought I'd see how you like slow and easy."

Alex ducked his head, suddenly shy. "I've never tried that. There's only been one other man. He … liked it rough, no other way. I couldn't handle a steady diet of that, so … well, it didn't work out."

"Alison said something last night. She said one guy stuck around long enough to … and then she stopped. Said it wasn't her place to say anything."

Alex kept his eyes down. He knew it had to be said. "He stuck around long enough to put me in the hospital. He figured, if I liked it rough sometimes, that equated to all the time, and rougher. When I objected, he decided to teach me a lesson. Forcibly." I'm sorry.

"Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault." Wade shook his head. "You didn't deserve it, you didn't ask for it, and I don't blame you."

"You're forgetting something. I should have known." He still wouldn't raise his head. "I think I did, even though I tried to keep to just his surface thoughts. I was ... so damn lonely." His voice was softer than a whisper.

"Do you know how many people think they can change their lovers? It's universal." He coaxed the dark head up. "Did you get some licks in?"

"That's how I ended up in the hospital. It turned into a total brawl. He had a bed in the next room. Complete with handcuffs."

He tightened his arm around Alex. "Just because you like a little mild pain doesn't make you a doormat for a sadist. You stood up for yourself. So forget the guilt, okay? You don't need to own that."

"Okay." He relaxed into Wade's arm. "I always had the idea that a little spice now and then made the tender times better. But I never got to test that theory."

"Hmm, you could be right. You realize, you're not supposed to move that leg much for a couple of days?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So you have to agree to let me do the work. All you get to do is sit back and enjoy."

"That sounds interesting."

Wade grinned. "Oh yeah. Ready to find out if you're right?"

"Bring it on, stud."

Wade rearranged the pillows so Alex was flat on his back, two pillows tucked under his delectable ass, and his left leg propped on two more. He looked open, vulnerable, and incredibly sexy.

Wade started with a kiss. His mouth moved over Alex's slowly and softly, his tongue traced over warm lips, and delved inside the hot mouth. He gave oral worship to the slender neck, strong collar bones, and the hollow of his throat. He wrung soft cries and silken shivers from his love when he suckled gently at each nipple. He stayed with those sensitive nubs until they were achingly hard and then moved down to tease the muscles of the flat stomach.

Alex's hands were in his hair, sifting through the wheat-colored strands. Alex's skin was under his mouth and hands, warm softness over hard, wiry muscle. Alex's presence was in his mind, a mix of passion and calm, as comfortable as faded jeans, and as electrifying as a lightning storm.

He lowered his mouth to his lover's hardness before the slender hips could thrust up and heard a moan from above that matched the one he uttered. You taste wonderful, salty and sweet. Like chocolate-covered pretzels. Alex laughed, mind and body, and Wade stilled the laughter, changed it into pants and gasps by moving a lubed finger gently into Alex's hot channel.

Without lifting his mouth, he added another finger, found and stroked that magic button inside the greedy ass, and was rewarded with a deep-throated growl of pleasure, and more of Alex's essence in his mouth. Long legs shifted restlessly, and he pinned the left one. Not supposed to move that leg, lover.

Alex levered himself upright, his weight on his elbows, and his hair in his face. Peering out through the fall of straight hair, his gray eyes were bright, almost fevered. "I'm more than ready for you. If you don't take me now, I'll pin you to this bed and fuck you. The hell with the damn stitches."

Wade lifted his head from the hard, dripping length in his mouth and chuckled. "Can't have that, songbird. Here I come." He lubed his cock thoroughly and slid inside his lover. Slow, baby. Want you to feel every inch slipping into you.

"Oh, god, yes. Fill me up, make me yours." Alex set his right heel on the bed and canted his hips up. "More, all the way, all of you," he panted. Need you, want you, love you. His leg locked around Wade as the bigger man set a slow, steady rhythm in and out.

Wade lowered himself over Alex and rested on his forearms. His hands turned and curved over the wide, slender shoulders from beneath, and his mouth settled on his lover's lips. Slender hands mirrored Wade's as Alex gripped the muscled shoulders. Their breathing and heartbeats steadied and synched, their eyes closed as they concentrated on the slide of belly against hardness, hardness pushing into soft heat, and hands gripping sweat-slicked shoulders.

Their thoughts joined and flowed until neither could tell where one began and the other ended. Alex felt Wade's rigid warmth move inside him, Wade felt hot silk surround him, and they shared those feelings with each other.

There, like that, so tight, so hard, so strong, so hot. Thoughts pulsed together, hearts beat together, bodies strove together, and they came together. They were, in every imaginable way, joined. They were one.

**********

Alex sat at the triple keyboard setup, fingers spread and waiting to lower as the stage lights came up and the house lights dimmed. He shifted on the stool and adjusted the battery pack that powered his hands-free microphone. He looked out at the tables that crowded the lounge, found the man he loved, and smiled. The spotlight came up and he sat bathed in its warm glow, for the first time happy to be there.

"I've got a new song for you tonight," he said. His fingers moved over the keys, a soft background to his words. "It's a surprise for someone special, although it was very difficult to keep it a secret." He smiled again, his eyes, heart, and mind seeking and finding Wade. For you, love. He pressed the program button to play the music he'd written, and walked to the center of the stage.

You claimed me with a kiss,
showed me everything I'd missed,
filled the empty, aching hollows of my heart.

Two hearts that beat in synch,
two minds forever linked,
two people who will never be apart.

This gift that led me to my one,
that brought me from my darkness
to stand shining in your sun.

You are my own, you are my one,
I am the shadow to your sun.
You give me light, I give you shade,
I am the evening to your day.

And everywhere we are,
we are one.

By the time the song was over, he was standing in front of Wade. He didn't need his ears to hear his lover's words, he didn't need his eyes to see his lover's joy. Yet, even as his mind was filled with warmth and love, he feasted his eyes on the smiling blond, and let his ears hear the words meant for him alone.

"I love you, songbird."