Decisions Ch. 05

Acting on impulse, barely taking the time to glance around them, Riley pulled Jacob down for a quick kiss. "I'm ready to go anywhere with you. You're so sexy, both in and out of your clothes, and I'm lucky you even want to look at me twice considering all I put you through."

"You can make it up to me as soon as this meeting is over. Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."

"Riley? What the fuck is going on?"

Both men turned at the sound of the angry voice, which turned out to belong to none other than Hunter Nelson. Riley winced as he told Jacob who it was and prepared to speak to the man who, in his mind, had every right to be upset. What he had done was nothing near as bad, but Riley still felt bad about having deceived Hunter.

Having both of them in front of him, Riley knew without a doubt that Jacob was the more handsome of the two. It was more than appearance, however. Jacob seemed more vibrant, had more presence than Hunter did. Not that Hunter was lacking, exactly, because he was very handsome as well. No, it was something more that made Riley feel more attraction to Jacob. Maybe it all had to do with the way they each had treated him, but Riley knew without a doubt who the right man for him was.

"Hunter, um, I was going to talk to you tonight. This is, well, let me introduce you to my..." He had no clue how to introduce Jacob. Neither boyfriend nor lover seemed quite right, and it might be too soon for partner. Taking a deep breath, he plunged forward, telling himself he could apologize later if Jacob objected. "This is Jacob Evans, my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? You're dating me, you little shit."

"No, I was spending time with you. I met Jacob last year, and we became more involved a bit more than two weeks ago. I'm sorry for misleading you, but there was a reason I can't tell you about right now."

Hunter's face turned an alarming shade of red and his mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments. Suddenly he seemed to calm and actually smiled. "I get it, you're doing this to get back at me for the whole fiancée thing last year. That was badly done of me, but it's in the past."

"I'm sorry, Hunter, this has nothing to do with revenge. What you did to me last year made this easier, but I needed information and you were the best way for me to get it. I can't give you details right now. If you want, I can give you a call as soon as I can tell you more. Please excuse us, we have an appointment that can't wait."

Riley felt terrible, worse than he thought he would when he started on the path of deceiving Hunter. He started to turn away but Hunter grabbed his shoulder and forced him back. Before he could even reorient himself, pain erupted in his head, quickly joined by a similar flare in his stomach. He found himself down on the ground when he could take stock of his surroundings again, curled up against the pain.

Jacob helped him to his feet, reassuring him that Hunter was gone. That was the last thing on his mind. He knew that he deserved the attack to a certain degree, even if he didn't like it. Riley had hurt Hunter's pride and the man had retaliated in the heat of the moment. He waved away the concerned inquiries into how he was feeling, closing his eyes against the slight dizziness from the blow to his jaw.

Halfway to the appointment, Jacob cleared his throat and Riley looked over to see a frown. Before he managed to make his brain send a message to his mouth to ask what was wrong, Jacob started to speak. It almost sounded like he was talking to himself, kind of low and musing, but Riley heard every word.

"Something isn't right about the whole Andrew Baxter/Shane MacCready thing. If they were friends, why didn't Baxter have any real information on how to reach the man? I mean, it seems strange to think that MacCready would always have initiated contact between them."

"I was thinking earlier that maybe one of the phone numbers we have might have someone there who, under normal circumstances, would forward calls to either Mr. Noble's home or office. I mean, to Mr. MacCready. If MacCready was responsible for the murder, he would have changed that arrangement. I agree though, that it's improbable if not impossible."

While they waited at a traffic light, Jacob reached over and traced a finger over Riley's reddened jaw. "The difficulty in finding the man that might prove our client innocent, the two attacks on that client, it doesn't feel right to me."

"To me either," Riley agreed, twining his fingers with Jacob's. "I mean, the first attack came when we were ready to do a sketch. Nobody but us and Baxter knew that was coming, so if MacCready was responsible, why do anything since we couldn't find him. Plus, how would he even know? Now that I've managed to identify Hunter Noble as MacCready, Baxter is attacked again. It's senseless. He couldn't have known, because I was the only one to have that information. All anyone else knew was that I cancelled the sketch, not the reason behind it."

"Unless he was alerted somehow to you being in the offices to access the personnel files that could identify him."

"I suppose. Even so, there is no proof of him being responsible for the murder, only that he also had a motive. All that would come of us having the information is that the police would question him."

Jacob parked the car in the parking garage across the street from the law office and helped Riley stand. Once he was steady on his feet, they slowly walked to their destination, lost in their individual thoughts. They thought of the problems getting all the information to fit into a nice tidy package. Riley felt like he was missing something obvious but couldn't put his finger on it. He wanted this case to be over with. For one thing, keeping all those names straight was giving him a headache.

The detectives had already arrived by the time Riley and Jacob entered David Foster's office. Detective Vincent Toscano towered over everyone in the room, topping Jacob by at least three inches. He seemed to have a perpetual glower that didn't go at all with his soft voice. It was a little disconcerting, as though someone else stood behind him talking for him. Detective Gemma Haskell looked as though she should be on a fashion runway somewhere, painfully thin with a thick mane of curly black hair. She spoke a lot more than her partner, thanking them for coming to the meeting and asking them for the information Riley gathered about the identity of Shane MacCready.

They congratulated him on the work he'd done, even though they weren't too pleased about the methods he'd used to gather his information. They promised to do their best to see that he didn't suffer any repercussions, while David Foster stated that he would represent him if anything did come of it.

The problems Riley and Jacob talked about were set on the table, to see if together they could come up with possible explanations. Nothing came of it, but all agreed that it was more than a little suspicious. There had to be something more, some detail that would make everything make sense if they could only find it.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the crime scene for Baxter's attack?" Riley leaned forward as Jacob posed the question, curious to hear if anything would click into place for him.

Detective Haskell spoke quietly with her partner for a moment, then smiled at the men. "I think we can satisfy some of your curiosity. From outside the apartment, there was no sign that anything might be wrong inside. No forced entry and no sign of blood anywhere. Inside the apartment, there was a trail of blood from the kitchen to the living room, where a phone sat on a table next to the couch. There was a cell phone charging on the kitchen counter, but we assume the victim couldn't lift himself up enough to reach it. Either that, or in his state of shock, he forgot it was there.

"Aside from the trail of blood, there was a pool of blood both around the victim and on the kitchen floor where we believe he lay before getting the strength to drag himself to the living room. There was blood spatter on the lower kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator. We didn't find a single drop of blood elsewhere in the apartment. Not in the kitchen sink, except for immediately surrounding the knife that was left there; not in the bathroom where the perp might have washed up.

"It is possible that the perp took the time to clean any trace, and we're waiting for a report from the crime scene technicians. They were going to swab the drains and use an ALS on the whole apartment. Whoever did this was either very good or very lucky."

That was rather more information than Riley expected. Twice he ran through the report silently, and each time he found himself with more questions than answers. They weren't getting any more information from the detectives, even though they asked those questions that were foremost on his mind. The two most glaring ones were: why was there blood spatter only on the lower cabinets, and how could nobody have noticed someone leaving the apartment or building.

Riley supposed that the attacker could have showered, changed clothes and carried the bloody clothes out with him. Still, to do all that, clean up any random blood drops between the kitchen and bathroom, then tidy up the bathroom before leaving, would have taken a lot of time. Had Andrew Baxter waited that long before dragging himself to a phone to call for help? It just didn't make sense.

Then there was the blood only on the lower cabinets. There should have been at least something a little higher, or a bit further than just there. Had Andrew already been down before he was stabbed? Even though Riley acknowledged he was far from an expert, someone who stabbed another more than once would throw off an arc of blood droplets upward. Maybe he watched too many crime shows and assumed too much.

Nearly two hours after arriving, everyone was ready to leave. Jacob and Riley paused outside, neither one sure what to do now. Did they leave together or go their separate ways with promises to get in touch? Riley knew he had to make his position clear to Jacob, since it was his fault that there was any awkwardness between them.

He took a deep breath and stared off to the side, trying to find the words to make things clear. He wanted there to be no doubt of his sincerity. When Jacob touched his shoulder, squeezing gently before rubbing down his arm, he knew what he needed to say. Over thinking things never worked for him.

"I've made a couple of decisions, Jacob, but they mean nothing unless you accept them."

"Tell me. Tell me what you've decided." The low voice was slightly rough and it sent shivers racing up and down Riley's spine.

"I've decided that I want you in my life. I also decided that if I have any decisions to make in the future, you will help me and guide me to make the proper ones." He kept his eyes averted, afraid both of what he might reveal and what he might see. When the silence stretched out, he blinked rapidly and took another breath. "I realize it's probably more responsibility than you're interested in accepting, and that's all right. You just...well, I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone before. I feel more for you than I've ever felt for anyone too."

Jacob urged Riley to look up and meet his eyes. They were warm and kind and understanding, and they made Riley sigh and relax. "I'm not interested in being your lord and master, Riley. In no way am I better than or superior to you. I have my strengths, but you do as well. We both also have weaknesses. If you want me to help you make decisions, it will be my pleasure, just as I will look to you to help me make my decisions."

"All right. So, now we come to a decision you need to help me with. Shall we go to my place or yours?"

"My place first, so I can get some clothes. I like your place better. Mine is just for show, yours is all about you."

******

Riley groaned as he slid into Jacob's tight hole. Jacob had pestered him about topping for the past month and Riley finally gave in. It felt absolutely amazing, he thought as he bent to claim a kiss. He licked and nipped his way down Jacob's jaw, waiting for his lover to relax and let him know it was time to move.

When he felt Jacob wiggle beneath him, Riley slowly drew back his hips before sending them forward again with a sharp snap. He grinned at the encouraging moan and the way Jacob tightened his legs. His greatest fear, that he would somehow hurt this beautiful man, seemed to be unfounded.

They settled into a rhythm, slow glide out, quick thrust in. Jacob babbled beneath him, head thrown back as he chanted 'Yes' and 'Oh God it's good' and 'Fuck me harder'. Riley bit his lower lip and slightly shifted his position until he pressed against Jacob's prostate to incredible results. It didn't take long before Riley felt the changes in the body beneath him and reached down to stroke the hard leaking cock that lay between them. Half a dozen pulls and Jacob erupted, soaking both their bellies with his release.

The tightening of the channel around his prick was almost alarming and Riley fell into his own orgasm with barely any warning. He collapsed once he was done, panting in concert with Jacob while petting the sweaty, golden skin he loved so much.

"Was it good, Baby?" he couldn't help questioning.

"It was so much better than good, sweetheart. You didn't enjoy topping too much, though, did you?"

"I liked it just fine." Riley couldn't help but worry, his entire body tensing in case he'd hurt or disappointed the man he loved.

"You, my pushy little bottom, usually have a gutter mouth when we make love. The things that tumble out from those pretty lips are enough to make sailors blush. Plus you're usually loud enough that the neighbors call the cops on us."

Riley knew he turned bright red at the reminder of the time, a week ago, when they were interrupted in the middle of a sex marathon by the pounding of police officers. The cops looked as embarrassed as they felt and issued them a warning to keep it down. The two of them had since started to look at houses they could buy or rent, for privacy's sake.

"Being a bottom is easy. I mean, I don't really have to think too much and can just let go. Topping is, well not difficult, but it has a lot more responsibility. I had to think about getting you ready to take me, think about not just ramming in and going to town and think about making things good for you. After some practice it might be easier for me, but I prefer being your pushy little twink bottom. Maybe we could keep this kind of thing for special occasions."

"Sweetheart, you take all the labels and blow them out of the water. Especially the labels you invented yourself. We will always only do what you're comfortable with. I love you."

Riley blinked. He kept on blinking when the wetness threatened to spill over. "I love you, too. We better get cleaned up and dressed. Blue and Harley will be here soon and they said they had something important to discuss. I'm so glad that Blue was so understanding about the whole Hunter thing."

What Blue and Harley had to discuss was that the house next to theirs was going to be put up for sale in the next few months. It was in a great area and having such wonderful neighbors was a bonus. Riley and Blue were closer than ever, meeting for lunch whenever they could manage and going shopping together. When Jacob and Harley got together to talk cars, Riley and Blue let them be and did some cooking or watched romantic movies.

"I'm surprised you went back to accounting, Riley." He and Blue were alone in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes, since the others had already drifted outside.

"I prefer it. Of course, the law firm insisted that they reserve the right to ask me to conduct some investigations for them. Mr. Foster was very impressed with the quality of my work, apparently. I don't know. I found out about MacCready, but only because I had a previous acquaintance to help me out."

"You did great work. I still can't believe that Baxter and MacCready were working together."

Now that the truth was out, Blue knew the details of the case and why Riley had been pretending a renewed relationship with Hunter. More details emerged all the time about the extent of the deception. Each of the two men planned to put out clues and evidence to implicate the other, but not enough to actually provide proof. It all fell apart because MacCready kept meticulous documentation and it was found during the execution of a search warrant.

All the inconsistencies were explained by the partnership, as well as the fact that Baxter had decided to double-cross his partner by stabbing himself and pointing the finger of blame at MacCready. Poor Veronica had brought her fate upon herself, in their opinion, when she decided she was leaving Baxter to go back to Hunter Nelson.

"So," Blue started, bringing Riley back to the present, "I guess now is when I get to say I told you so."

Riley stared for a moment, unable to think what his friend might mean. "You told me so about what, exactly?"

"That Jacob was perfect for you and I was right to try and set you up. Even if my timing was somewhat off."

The two of them laughed. Riley knew that loving Jacob and letting Jacob into his life were the two best decisions he'd ever made. He would make those same decisions again in a heartbeat if he had to, with no reservations.