The inner council meetings run a lot like a family debate. Of course,
it’s an extended family debate, the living room and kitchen filled with
neighbors weighing in on what they think should happen next, but still a family
debate. There’s a lot of shouting and sometimes, it seems like the loudest
person wins. For the most part, I just hang back and watch. It’s not that
getting shouted at intimidates me, if that was the case I’d sure as hell never
have become a cop or gotten involved with Dom.
No, it’s just that no one in those debates really takes me seriously,
and I’m cool with that. Well, for the most part. Funny how people look at Dom
and think, ‘Okay, he’s doin’ a guy. Don’t really get
it, but no big.’ But they look at me and go, ‘Fag. What does he think he’s
doing, speakin’ up like that?’
Now, most of the people in this neighborhood are good people. They
smile at me and mean it. They were pissed when I got the shit beat out of me
last week. But it’s always the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, so in these
‘family’ debates, some of the older men who’ve lived here a long time, they
don’t like gays and make no bones about it. This is their neighborhood, they
run it, and I understand that. I respect it, even if I don’t like it. So I stay
quiet during those meetings and let everyone else do the shouting.
Besides which, seeing as how I’m sleeping with the guy in charge, I get
plenty of say on how things are really run around here, anyhow. I don’t need a
public confirmation or anything.
The funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life happened just last night
at one of these meetings. Romero and Dom were going at it pretty fierce,
standing toe-to-toe, muscles bulging, veins throbbing. I thought for sure that
one or both of them was going to wind up with a busted nose or worse. In steps
Mia, little Mia who’s maybe five five and a hundred
ten soaking wet, between these two huge guys, easily weighing like four hundred
pounds of solid muscle between the two of them, and I swear to God, she just
glares them both into submission. Doesn’t even say a word.
Just looks at them and the two of them kinda slink
away. I didn’t stop laughing for hours. Dom’s still a little ticked at me for
my ‘support.’
See, I finally figured it out. After the fall of civilization, when
something has to take its place, it’s the women who’ll really run things. Men
are just too fuckin’ lazy to roll up their sleeves
and dig in. They like, and want, their creature comforts too damn much. The
women, though, they’re another story altogether. It’s because of the kids, of
course. I mean, people used to talk about maternal instinct, but it was in a
real abstract kinda way. Now, though, it’s real and
it’s fierce. I see the women looking at the kids and it’s...it’s like they know
that if they look away for a second, something bad will happen to them. Now,
they’ve got their eye on the ball real tight, even more than they used to.
I know that I’m not the only one who gives their man an earful at the
end of a council meeting, that’s for sure.
“O’Connor! Get your skinny white ass out here now!”
Jolted from his train of thought by Dom’s bellow, Brian looked over at the porch door in surprise. Closing up his notebook and setting it and the pen aside, he jumped up from the sofa and rushed outside. To his shock, two patrol cars, along with Tanner, were in the middle of the driveway. Rooted to the spot by the door, Brian couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“Well? You just going to stand there and stare at me?” Tanner called, arms folding over his chest. “Or you going to come over and talk like a human being?”
Shaking off the paralysis, Brian slowly walked off the porch and moved to stand beside Dom. He noticed that the older man looked worse for wear, one of the lenses in his glasses gone altogether and his clothes were dirty and torn. Still wore that stupid tweed jacket, though. The thing was probably made of super fiberglass or something. He shifted uneasily on his feet and said, “Glad you survived.”
“That’s it?” Tanner exclaimed, incredulous.
Brian shrugged, heart beating faster than it should be. Keeping a straight face proved harder than he’d thought it would be. He’d wanted Tanner’s approval so bad, for so long, that it was like second nature to him now. He was desperately relieved that his mentor had survived, but had no idea how, or even if, he should express that. “What do you want me to say? Well, I mean, we can offer you guys a place to stay, we got some room in one of the houses, I’m sure.”
Tanner sighed, pulling off his glasses to rub his eyes, and said, “Yeah. That’d be great, Brian.”
“Why don’t you go on up to the house and clean yourselves up?” Dom rumbled. “Mia’ll get you something to eat and drink.”
Nodding, Tanner replied, “Thanks, Toretto.”
He and the five uniformed cops with him walked up to the front steps and went inside. Brian watched them go until the door closed behind them, then turned away.
“You all right?”
The solid presence of his lover would have been reassuring and even comforting at any other time, but knowing that Tanner was just inside, possibly watching, made Brian move away. “I’m fine.”
There was a brief silence before Dom said shortly, “You decide I’m fit for public company, you let me know.”
“Dom, wait!” Brian exclaimed after Dom had taken only one step.
Dom rounded on him with a quiet, hard, “What, Brian? What do you want? You want to be my lover, as long as no one you know, knows about it? Is that it?”
Grabbing Dom’s arm, Brian held tight and answered, “No! No, that’s not it. You just...I told you. I’m not used to this. Any of it.”
Dom frowned at him then, anger giving way to confusion. “Brian, you know what comes with the territory. I’m not the first guy you’ve done.”
Unable to help the flush that heated his face, Brian looked away and muttered, “Yeah, Dom, you are. I told you. This, all of this, is new to me. You, us, the whole family thing, the gay thing, I never...I mean, think about it. How many gay cops do you know, Dom? Better still, how many gay cops do you know who had an undercover assignment the size and responsibility of which I had? None, right? I just...I knew what I wanted, okay? I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be a cop, that’s all I ever wanted since my Dad got killed. And that meant women only, even though, well, it wasn’t, you know. Shit. I’m not explaining this right, never mind.”
But Dom took him by the shoulders before he could go too far and turned him back around so that they were facing each other again. He looked more serious than Brian had seen him in a while, with that pinched expression that popped up during something personal. “You’re explaining just fine, Bri, keep going.”
Brian sighed explosively and continued, “You blew me away, Dom, from day one. Mia might’ve been my way in, but she wasn’t who I was interested in for real. Only, I figured it would never happen. Even if I wasn’t trying to play you, which I was, you were an ex-con. There was no way that you’d be with a guy if you had women available. So Mia was, and God I’m such an asshole, but she was a substitute for you. The closest I could get, you know? Before you, before you I could pretend that women were cool. That I didn’t need to be with a guy to have good sex.”
Those dark eyes stared at him for a long time, not giving anything away. Then, unexpectedly, Dom yanked him close and held him tight, pressing his lips to Brian’s throat. Relieved that he hadn’t fucked things up beyond all recognition, Brian sagged into the embrace and twisted his hands in Dom’s shirt. “I’m scared, Dom. I can say that I’ve been gay my whole fucking life and never been with a guy once. I couldn’t risk it. What if, what if I suck in bed?”
A soft, rumbling laugh echoed through Dom and he pulled back enough to show Brian his grin as he replied, “I sure hope you suck in bed, ‘cause doin’ it in public’s gonna scare someone.”
Exasperated and somehow relieved further, Brian protested, “Dom, c’mon, man!”
Humor mingled with love in Dom’s gaze as he said, “No matter what goes down between us, Bri, even if you’re the worst lay in the world, which I seriously doubt, it don’t matter to me. End of story. And if you’re great in the sack, that’s gravy.”
And even though Brian still doubted that he could ever be enough for Dom, there wasn’t really anything he could say to counter that. So he wrapped his arms around Dom again and held on tight, truly not caring if Tanner was watching.
Which has to be a step in the right direction, right?
* * * *
Jesus Christ, he really knows how to fuckin’ drop a bomb on a guy, Dom thought, still holding on to Brian as if he might disappear. He was still in minor shock that Brian was a virgin, well, sort of, never mind that out of all the guys who could’ve done it, it had been him to somehow cut through the cop-duty-career thing to derail Brian in so many more ways than one. He’d laugh, except it was a toss up as to whether he’d start crying or not.
Kissing Brian’s throat and then his ear and then bringing him down for a real kiss right there in front of God and everyone, Dom finally realized just how much Brian had really given up for him. Any pretext of a ‘normal’ life, even if the bombs hadn’t gone off, had ended for Brian, supposedly from the moment they’d met. How the fuck that happened, I got no clue.
But he wasn’t going to question or second guess it. Not with how Brian responded instantly to his kiss, mouth opening, causing Dom to growl deep in his throat. He loved the way Brian just let him in. He knew, now, that part of it was probably from inexperience, maybe even being overwhelmed from the newness of it all, but that just added to the whole spice of it. Breaking the kiss up into smaller, softer ones, Dom finally held Brian’s face in his hands and grinned fiercely at the utterly dazed expression.
It actually took ten seconds for Brian to come out of the fog, Dom counted, and when he did, he took one look at Dom, snorted and muttered, “Smug bastard,” which made Dom grin even more.
Sliding an arm around Brian’s waist, he aimed them towards the house and started walking. “I think you need to talk to Tanner and get this weight off your chest.”
Brian stopped short and tried to pull away, but Dom wouldn’t let him. The blond finally glared at him and demanded, “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about that Cross on your back called Guilt, with a capital G, Brian,” Dom replied softly. “You saved me, but you betrayed him doing it. And don’t tell me it didn’t just about kill you to do that, because I know better.”
“But, he’s not going to forgive me,” Brian whispered, looking up at the house with something like shame and fear.
Dom shrugged, though it cost him to look so neutral. He was anything but, when it came to Brian and he knew it, but he couldn’t let Brian be influenced by what he wanted. “You’re not doing it for him, you’re doing it for you. Close the book, Bri. He’s the last chapter before we can really move on, okay? It’s your choice, baby, but I think you need to do this.”
Brian didn’t answer, so Dom started them walking again. He still wasn’t all that sure having cops in the neighborhood was a good idea, besides Brian of course, but they’d figure something out. Inside, Tanner was being casually charmed by Mia and Cecilia in the kitchen, holding Little Esteban on his knee with honest happiness that only babies can bring. The uniformed cops were sitting in various stages of unease around the room, Dom saw that they were all armed, which only added to his own tension.
Brian rubbed his hand up and down Dom’s back and caught his gaze, offering him a smile that looked painful before he looked to Tanner and greeted, “Hey, Sergeant.”
Tanner took in their entanglement with the kind of aplomb that Dom had never before associated with cops. There was no accusation, no insults, no reaction at all, except a faint nod of approval, which surprised the hell out of him.
“You look like you saw some action,” Tanner said, more than asked, handing little Esteban back to his mother.
Brian grimaced as he took the seat beside Mia. Dom moved behind him, resting a hand on Brian’s shoulder as Brian explained, “Got into a fight and had a burst appendix.”
Worry flashed over Tanner’s normally inscrutable face and he questioned, “But you’re okay now?”
Nodding, Brian confirmed, “Doc patched me up, good as new. One of the hospitals is still intact and Dom brought me there.”
“Good, good. Looks like you folks are doing all right here, Toretto,” Tanner observed.
Dom met his gaze head on and answered, “For now. We’ll be good ‘til the water runs out, anyhow. Still haven’t figured that one out yet.”
“How long are you supplied for?”
“Long enough.”
“Dom.”
Giving in to Brian’s exasperated warning, Dom answered reluctantly, “Two more months, give or take. We’ve got a big stock under lock and key.”
Tanner nodded, his approval more open then, and said, “Things should be back to normal, long before then so you don’t really have to worry.”
Dom couldn’t help but frown. “What do you mean?”
“The Guard’s coming in from
A feeling of shock ran through Dom and he demanded, “How do you know? We don’t even get the EBS!”
“That’ll be up and running in a few days. We have access to sources you don’t, don’t forget, official ones. That’s why I’m here. I figured, if you survived the initial attack, that you’d come here, Brian. I want to set this place up as a headquarters of sorts. Send civilians here who survived but aren’t doing nearly as well as you all are.”
Suspicious, Dom asked, “Why? You made it damn plain you didn’t trust Brian before all this went down. Why are you comin’ to him now?”
“Dom!” Brian exclaimed, sounding scandalized. “Take it easy, man!”
But Tanner held up a hand and said, “No, he’s right. They drummed you out on a line and I didn’t lift a finger to stop it.”
“Brian...look, can we talk in private?”
Brian looked like he was going to say no, so Dom squeezed his shoulder to get his attention. Those pale, pained eyes met his and Dom silently willed him to talk things out. Brian sighed after a few seconds and nodded. Dom stepped back to let him up and, even though he wanted to go with him, only watched as the two men walked out back and then took Brian’s seat.
There was an uncomfortable
silence until Mia started chattering on about how good it was to know the
government was coming back and could she get the cops something to eat and
drink while they waited for Sergeant Tanner to come back. Dom hid a grin at the
way she had the cops, four out of the five young men, wrapped around her finger
inside five minutes. That’s my sister,
he thought with a rueful sort of pride. Ordering
around anything male and not getting any resistance.
Which he knew from longtime personal experience.
Brian’s voice rose outside, countered by a sharp shout from Tanner, which banished all amusement from Dom. It took a supreme force of will to stay where he was when the shouting stopped abruptly enough to suggest one of the two had done something physical to stop it. Little Esteban unwittingly helped in the distraction effort when he started wailing for no apparent reason and wouldn’t be soothed.
It wasn’t until Brian came in and took the baby from Cecelia that the screaming lowered to a mild, hiccup-y crying, and then stopped altogether.
“I don’t know how you do it, Brian,” Cecilia said in amazement. “Sometimes he just won’t stop unless you take him.”
Brian gave her a wan smile and answered, “Must be magic.”
Dom noticed that Tanner didn’t come in with Brian, but didn’t bring it up. It was a few minutes before the older man did finally rejoin them and he looked about as sucker-punched as Brian did. Which had to mean that neither man had held back about anything. Whether things were resolved between them, though, that Dom couldn’t tell.
There was no further talk about making the neighborhood a headquarters, but he wasn’t sure if that was because things weren’t resolved, things had ended badly, or Tanner was just too tired to get back into planning mode. The last was sure a possibility, given that the other man actually looked his age, maybe even older.
Fighting with Brian could do that, Dom knew.
Cecilia took Tanner and the cops off their hands, thankfully, bringing Tanner home with her and saying that she’d find beds for all of them. Mia went with them, at least to get them settled, and Dom wasn’t all that sure he liked the way she was eyeing the youngest one, a clean-cut Latino cop, but didn’t mention it. It was uneasily quiet when they were all gone and Brian didn’t move from his spot where he’d been holding up the wall in the corner, since Tanner had come back inside.
“You okay?” Dom asked at last.
Brian jumped a little, telling Dom that he’d been completely lost in thought. “What?”
Standing, Dom walked over to him and repeated, “I asked, are you okay?”
“I’ve been better,” Brian admitted.
The pain in his blue eyes was about more than Dom could take, sure as hell more than he could look at, so he pulled Brian roughly into his arms. “Take your time.”
Brian laughed, but it was a bitter sound, thankfully muffled against Dom’s shoulder. He didn’t move, though, so Dom just held on and let him get himself together. It was a good ten minutes before Brian sighed and pulled back. He still looked shaky, but Dom didn’t reach for him again, sensing that ‘hands-off’ vibe the other man sometimes got. It was a posture, or an expression maybe, but even after only two weeks together, Dom knew it well.
So he moved to the fridge and pulled out the makings for supper. He figured that Mia would be gone for at least another half hour, maybe longer if she decided to eat over at Cecilia’s place. “So what do you want? We got leftover chili, leftover stew, we could put together some grilled cheese. You know what? I am dying for a steak. Don’t know how the vegetarians do it.”
“Why haven’t you fucked me yet?”
Dom dropped the soda he’d been holding onto his foot. Grimacing at the solid contact, he turned back around and asked, “What was that?”
“You heard me,” Brian challenged.
Taking in the real anger simmering in those pale eyes, Dom paused and said quietly, “Don’t start a fight that you don’t really want to have, O’Connor, because it ain’t going to solve nothin.’”
Brian kept the belligerent expression for all of another minute before sagging and rubbing his eyes. He turned away with a muttered, “Sorry, Dom.”
Before he could get more than a few steps, though, Dom strode across the room and wrapped his arms around Brian from behind. Brian’s hands gripped his forearms, but he didn’t try and break free. He just relaxed into it, leaning back on Dom, who nuzzled at his throat and sucked lightly on a lobe.
When Brian shivered, Dom whispered into his ear, “I’m not plannin’ to fuck you for the first few times, Brian. I’m going to take you, love you, possess you, I’ll even own you, but fucking comes later, when your body can take it. Your ribs are still healing and so is your appendix. I like my lovers mobile and active, Brian, real active. Well, except when I just pin ‘em down and fuck ‘em ‘til they can’t even breathe, but like I said. Fucking comes later.”
Brian shuddered violently, gasping out loud as Dom’s hand rubbed him hard through his pants and the big man humped him strongly from behind. They’d moved to the half-wall that divided living room from hallway and Brian leaned on it for support. Sucking on Brian’s throat, Dom ground his cock against the soft flesh hidden beneath the jeans. It felt so good, not as good as actually being in Brian would be of course, but close enough for now.
“Ah fuck! Can’t you guys use the bedroom like everyone else?”
Dom slumped over Brian for real at Vince’s aggravated exclamation, his forehead to Brian’s shoulder as he tried to will the throbbing erection back down into nothing. Unexpectedly, Brian started laughing. Really laughing. A little irritated, Dom let him go and demanded, “What the hell’s so funny?”
Wiping at his eyes, grinning broadly, Brian gasped, “You forgot Vince and Leon were due back. You forgot.”
Dom’s lips twisted sourly, which only sent Brian into harder gales of laughter. His lips untwisted reluctantly as he took in the genuine humor. A little frustration was worth banishing that bitter pain from the other man, even if it was only for a little while. He grabbed Brian in a headlock and gave him a noogie, laughing when Brian squawked and tried unsuccessfully to get free.
Vince just shook his head in disgust and headed for the still open fridge, picking up the dropped soda as he went.
* * * *
It was different that night, and Brian supposed he only had himself and that whole dumbass virgin revelation to thank for it. He hadn’t been planning on telling Dom that ever, but it had just slipped out, along with a lot of other, personally humiliating shit that he’d rather not have shared. But there was just something about Dom that made Brian tell him the truth. Maybe it was because in the beginning, he hadn’t been able to tell the truth, but Brian figured it was really just Dom’s effect on people.
He got undressed, leaving on his boxers, and slid into the bed on the right side, same as usual. Dom peeled off everything, which wasn’t usual, and stood on Brian’s side of the bed, looking down at him. Brian’s gaze was, of course, drawn to the cock that hung lax between Dom’s legs, big even while soft.
“We don’t got to do anything you don’t want,” Dom told him quietly. “But it sounds like you’ve been waiting long enough already.”
And Jesus, he had, but faced now with the reality, Brian wanted to ask if they could go back to making out and blowjobs. Weird how he’d seen Dom naked before but it hadn’t really impressed on his brain just what Dom was going to do to him until earlier that night when he’d felt the long, hard length pressing into his ass through two layers of fabric. It seemed impossible that anything that big would get inside him without a hell of a lot of pain, even with lube.
He moved over to let Dom under the covers, but the blankets were tossed aside, down to the foot of the bed. Dom straddled him in one easy move and smiled down at him as he sat back on Brian’s hips.
“I want to see you,” Dom said softly. “Nothin’ between us. It’s just you and me, Bri, and we got all the time in the world.”
Strong hands massaged his chest and dark eyes glittered down at him in the candle-light that they still used to conserve the generator fuel. Even with Tanner’s assurance that help was on the way, Dom was sticking to the conservancy schedule, as he should.
The soothing, relaxing massage did its job. It was less than five minutes that Brian felt himself drifting towards sleep, exhausted by the emotional toll of the day. He wanted to rouse himself, but couldn’t seem to summon the energy. Then, out of nowhere, Dom sucked on one of his nipples and Brian was wide awake, shivering at the sensation. His eyes snapped open and met Dom’s, but the other man continued to lap and suck at his nipple like it might actually give him something to drink. Just when Brian thought he couldn’t take any more, Dom moved to the other one, doing the exact same thing.
“God! Dom, please!” Brian exclaimed, arching into the wet suction, arms moving up to grab the headboard.
Dom chuckled and actually bit his nipple, hard. Brian cried out, then bit his lip to stifle any further noise.
“Don’t even think about it, Bri,” Dom rumbled. “I want to hear every gasp, every curse, every noise that you make.”
“But, the others…”
“Can put in earplugs.”
Brian swallowed at Dom’s determined gaze and nodded reluctantly. What else could he do? It wasn’t like he’d be able to stop himself. It was pretty obvious that Dom had barely gotten started and already, he was ready to beg for more, for anything Dom wanted to do to him. A slow grin spread over Dom’s face at Brian’s nod and he returned to his exploration of Brian’s body, via his mouth.
A warm, wet tongue trailed a path down the hollow of his ribs until blocked by the bandage. It skirted the right edge, then went back up to outline each rib. The left side was treated the same and it occurred to Brian as Dom returned to sucking on his nipple, that his lover either had a serious oral fixation, or he was doing his level best to put his second most personal scent all over him. Maybe both. When Dom’s hand wrapped around his cock and started stroking, Brian moaned and jerked in his grasp.
“You taste good, baby,” Dom rumbled. “Knew you would.”
Flashing back to the fantasy that he’d had that first night in the house, when Dom had said and done almost that exact same thing in his imagination, Brian surged up and shoved his lover onto his back. He practically attacked Dom’s mouth with his own, ignoring the twinge of pain in his midriff to rub his body against Dom.
Dom’s arms clamped down around his waist and they rolled until Dom was on top again, kissing Brian aggressively and humping their cocks together. He broke off the kiss and growled, “Turn over!”
Brian shuddered with lust and did as he was ordered, rolling onto his stomach and eagerly spreading his legs, trepidation about Dom’s size banished by need. He rubbed against the mattress, desperate to come, but Dom stopped him, putting both hands on Brian’s ass and pinning him down. Brian begged, “Dom, please!”
Then he howled, “Dom!” when his lover’s tongue unexpectedly forced its way into his hole. Dom tongue fucked him for what seemed an eternity, keeping him on the knife’s edge of orgasm by not letting him move to relieve the need. No one had ever used his body like this, worshiped it like Dom was doing, and Brian couldn’t even tell which way was up. He certainly couldn’t protest the slick two fingers that joined, and then replaced, the tongue; didn’t have the presence of mind to even want to, really.
Biting at the pillow, Brian
shoved back on the fingers that stretched and worked him over, aching for more
and thinking vaguely, Jesus fucking
Christ! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this!?
Reading gay porn and watching the vids had in no way prepared him for the overwhelming sensation of actually having his prostate stroked repeatedly. Brian shouted with a sudden, devastating release, the sound barely muffled by the pillow, and came uncontrollably, hips jerking wildly into the mattress.
Utterly wrecked and completely relaxed, Brian felt the blunt tip of Dom’s cock push into him from behind and shivered at the sensation of being filled for the first time. It was uncomfortable for sure, the virgin flesh pushed aside by the thick shaft, but felt good, too. Finally, after months of wet dreams and fantasies, finally Brian had the real thing and he was better and more fulfilling than any other lover Brian had ever had.
Dom didn’t stop until he was buried completely in Brian’s ass. Covering Brian’s body with his own, he nuzzled the back of Brian’s neck and asked, “You alive?”
A breathless chuckle escaped Brian and he gasped, “No! Jesus, Dom, you fuckin’ killed me, man!”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby,” Dom promised, voice deep and low.
Brian moaned as Dom started moving in a slow, easy rhythm. In and out, their bodies stumbled at first, but then synchronized. Brian pushed up and back while Dom thrust in and forward, impaling Brian harder and harder until the slap of balls against ass filled the air. Brian’s hands clenched in the sheets and his back arched as he tried to get more, shoving back hard on the cock possessing him and gasping, “Harder, please Dom, harder, need you, need you, please!”
Dom sucked and bit at every part of Brian that his mouth could reach while his cock rammed in and out of the slighter man, spurred on by the words that fell from his lover’s mouth. His hands gripped Brian’s hips with bruising force, but neither felt it. He reached under Brian and gripped the hard, leaking cock, pulling and stroking it. Brian bucked under him, crying out, and he redoubled his efforts, adding a squeeze to the mix every so often.
Unable to hold back, Dom lunged one last time into Brian and sealed them together, grinding down as hard as he could when he came. Wet heat surrounded his cock, making things even slicker, but he held on, humping into Brian and jerking him off hard and fast. It was only a few seconds later that Brian jolted in his arms, come spilling over Dom’s hand and the bed, his ass squeezing even tighter around the cock sheathed deep inside him. Dom gasped and came again at the stimulation, weaker, but definitely another orgasm.
They collapsed onto their sides with Dom wrapped around Brian like a second skin, panting and shaking. When Brian could think again, several long minutes later, he laced his fingers with Dom’s, pulling the arm tighter around him. Dom obliged the unspoken need and pulled his legs up, curling Brian into a semi-fetal position from behind. Several more minutes passed in silence as their breathing evened-out and the sweat slowly cooled on their bodies.
Dom finally shifted, both to move Brian to a drier part of the bed and to pull the blankets over them. When Brian murmured a protest at Dom pulling out, he kissed the blond head gently and said, “I gotta, Bri, you can’t get all stretched out overnight your first time. You’re gonna be in enough pain tomorrow as it is. I shouldn’t have been so rough on ya.”
Holding back a wince as he carefully moved onto his back, Brian continued to roll until he was draped over Dom’s chest. Kissing the bare skin, still slightly damp and salty with sweat, Brian muttered, “Don’t even care.”
Dom chuckled and again kissed the top of his head. “You will in the morning, baby, trust me.”
And even though he was already in pain, Brian wouldn’t have traded what they’d just shared for the world. His ribs ached, his incision throbbed, and his ass…well he didn’t even want to think about that…but he was also riding high on orgasm and love, which seemed to cancel everything else out. Sighing deeply, he snuggled in closer to Dom and closed his eyes, falling asleep between one breath and the next.
* * * *
Dom winced every time he saw Brian grit his teeth to force himself to move, guilty and smug all at the same time and not daring to show either emotion. Definitely not the smug, anyhow. Brian would kill him and Mia would probably be right beside him, holding out the gun for him to use. As it was, she’d taken one look at Brian slowly walking down the stairs an hour before, glared at Dom, and helped Brian to the sofa.
Well, at least I don’t gotta worry about them having problems anymore, Dom thought in dark amusement.
They were just finishing up breakfast, Dom eating on the floor beside the sofa where Brian was stretched out on his side, when Tanner came in with two of the cops. Sighing to himself when the hand that Brian had on Dom’s head stopped stroking it, Dom looked up at Tanner and asked, “Sleep well?”
Tanner huffed in amusement and answered, “Well enough, considering the soundtrack.”
Dom smirked a little at that, unable to help himself, and suggested, “Maybe you should invest in earplugs.”
“Maybe you should close the window next time!” Mia retorted unexpectedly. “It’s no wonder the whole neighborhood heard you two last night!”
“Oh God,” Brian moaned, shoving a pillow over his head.
“Yeah. That sounds familiar,” Tanner confirmed.
A muffled, “Kill me,” came through the pillow, but Dom saw that Tanner didn’t care in the least about the fact that they were having sex or the fact that they were loud enough for it to carry. He could see that Tanner was teasing Brian to try and get him to relax a little about it, maybe get back to whatever kind of relationship they had had before. Something else about Brian that Dom didn’t know squat about. They’d never gotten around to talking about Brian’s conversation with Tanner the night before; Dom hadn’t wanted to push and Brian hadn’t volunteered anything.
Standing, Dom combed his fingers briefly through what showed of Brian’s hair, then faced Tanner and asked, “Something we can do for you, Sergeant?”
“Well, assuming Brian can walk all right in a couple of days, I want to bring you guys out to the new precinct HQ to meet everyone. That way, there’ll be faces along with names when things start picking up. I want people to know each other.”
Dom couldn’t help be a little suspicious. “Are you sure you don’t want to bring us to the precinct so you can slap the cuffs on me?”
Tanner sighed, but only said, “There’s no warrants out on you or any of your people, Toretto, Brian saw to that.”
A sliver of shock ran through Dom and he looked down at Brian, but the pillow still covered Brian’s face. “No warrants?”
“None. Without the truck driver to testify or Brian’s evidence and testimony, we couldn’t swear anything out against anyone,” Tanner confirmed.
And suddenly, Dom felt like
kicking himself right in the ass for even thinking of giving Brian a hard time
about anything. Better yet, he was tempted to let Letty
do it for him because she’d do it right. Why hadn’t he ever checked? Why had he
assumed the worst, both about the status of his own freedom and Brian’s part in
it? Not that he’d had a lot of access to official channels or anything down in
Brian sighed and tossed the pillow down at his feet before slowly getting up. Dom moved to help him, but the other man yanked his arm away. When he was upright, there was a splash of defiance and defensiveness that was purely Brian on the other man’s face as he said, “There’s nothing to explain.”
“Brian…”
“Just leave it, Dom.”
Seeing that Brian was fully prepared to walk out if he didn’t drop it, Dom scowled but gave in. Instead, he turned back to Tanner and asked, “So what, exactly, do you want us to do?”
Dom sat on the sofa, tugging Brian down beside him and putting his arm over his lover’s shoulder, wanting the contact. Brian remained stiff and unyielding for a few seconds, then slowly relaxed against him. Tanner sat on the chair opposite them, while Mia took up space on the other side of Brian. The two cops, whose names Don still didn’t know, dragged chairs in from the kitchen. Tanner began by saying that the military coordination was going to come from a headquarters set up at Cedars-Sinai. When Dom heard that, he exclaimed, “Are you telling me that all of LA is in shambles except for Cedars?”
Tanner shook his head and explained, “One of the wings is completely destroyed, but the rest of the hospital is pretty much intact. Have you actually been there? Downtown, I mean.”
“I saw it from the highway,” Brian said quietly. “The high-rises are all gone. It’s like…naked.”
“Yeah, and they’re going to be cleaning up for a lot longer than the Twin Towers, but that’s where they’re starting. I was told that they’ll be working in concentric circles from Cedars out,” Tanner replied.
“Did anyone say how all this happened? How a bunch of racists managed to somehow wipe out millions of people? Did they just waltz into the armed forces weapons lockers and, I don’t know, ask for the keys? ”
Mia’s questions startled everyone and Tanner shook his head. “No answers on how, just on what to do next.”
Brian took Dom’s hand, braiding their fingers together and resting his head on Dom’s shoulder. Though surprised, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. His free fingers played with the longish curls at the back of Brian’s neck and he asked, “So when do you want us to show up?”
“The Guard’s going to be here first, day after tomorrow,” Tanner replied. “Why don’t we say the day after that? That’ll give them time to settle in and I’ll be able to give your names to whoever needs them.”
Dom nodded. “In the meantime, you gonna stay here? We got the room.”
Shaking his head, Tanner answered, “We’ve got other stops to make. Doing a tour of the precincts, see who’s left.”
Brian finally spoke up again with, “You want me to come with?”
Dom went still at his words, but didn’t protest, waiting for Tanner’s response.
“I’d love that, but you’re a civilian now, Brian. I can’t risk you coming with us and having something happen to you.”
Diplomacy at its best, Dom thought darkly, even as he was relieved that the answer was, essentially, no.
“I’ve got the training, Tanner. You know you can trust me.”
Brian’s quiet insistence was tearing at Dom’s resolve not to say anything, because he was right. Brian would be a good man for Tanner to have on his team and they all knew it. It would kill Dom to let him go, but if Brian needed to prove something to himself, then Dom couldn’t stand in his way.
But Tanner shook his head firmly. “You’re not a cop anymore, Brian. I know things are insane right now, but there’s rules and I’m going to follow them. Once a provisional government is reinstated, we’ll see about getting you hired back on. We’ll sure need people with your experience. Until then, you keep your ass on the sidelines.”
Brian was about as tense as Dom had ever seen him and he started massaging the neck muscles, keeping squarely out of it.
“Yeah sure, that’s fine,” Brian replied easily.
Tanner squinted at him suspiciously, but seemed to take Brian at face value. Or maybe he was just glad not to get a scene, Dom didn’t know. Whatever the case, Tanner stood and said, “We’ll see you in three days then.”
Dom stood, subtly helping Brian to his feet with an arm of support around his waist, and they met Tanner in the middle of the room, shaking hands and saying goodbye. Dom and Brian watched from the porch as the visitors left, delayed a few more minutes by Mia talking to that Latino cop.
Cautious, Dom asked, “You okay?”
Brian snorted, angling back against him, and answered, “Not really, but I will be. It’s not like I’m in any shape to chase or run from anyone right now anyhow.”
“Brian, I’m sorry about...”
Whipping around fast enough to startle Dom into taking a step back, Brian covered his mouth, stopping the words. With absolute fierceness, Brian exclaimed, “Don’t you dare apologize for making me feel the way I did last night! Ever, you got me?”
Taken aback by Brian’s intensity, the glow of near-anger in his lover’s eyes bothering him for reasons he really couldn’t figure out just then, Dom nodded. Taking Brian’s hand from his mouth, he tugged Brian into his arms and whispered into a nearby ear, “One of these days, you and me are gonna talk long and hard all about you. You got me?”
Brian nodded wordlessly, holding on tight and pressing his lips to Dom’s throat. Seeing that Vince and Mia were walking towards the house, Dom reluctantly pulled away and looked in those pale eyes. He was relieved to see that Brian had mostly calmed down, but made a serious mental note to corner the other man one day soon.
“Yo, Dom!” Vince called, jogging the remaining distance. “Romero’s got a fix on a location that’s got freshly slaughter cattle. All they want is gas, which we can totally snag. Let’s go, man! I am sick of this vegetarian crap.”
Dom laughed and shook his head. Looking over at Brian, he asked, “You wanna, uh, sit this one out?”
Eyes rolling at the sly question, Brian punched him in the shoulder and answered, “Not going to be doing any sitting for another day at least, never mind driving somewhere. Go get your meat, carnivore.”
Hauling him in for a brief, but thorough kiss, Dom jumped the last few stairs to fall into step with Vince.
“Hey Dom!”
Dom turned back just as he reached the car and raised his arms in a questioning gesture at Brian. The blond man grinned and, even at that distance, clearly mouthed, I love you, to him. Dom opened his mouth to answer, but the words just wouldn’t come. It didn’t seem to matter to Brian, though. He just grinned and waved him off, slinging an arm around Mia and waiting for him to leave.
He waved back to Brian then noticed Esteban and one of the other neighbors getting into a truck to go with them. Climbing into the driver’s side, Dom asked, “You got directions?”
“Yeah man, of course,” Vince exclaimed. “Let’s go already!”
Dom snorted and turned on the engine, revving it a little. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw Brian standing on the porch watching, even though Mia had already gone inside. Brian was there until he turned the street corner and became lost to view. Cursing himself for not giving Brian what he clearly needed, despite the lack of accusation, Dom vowed to tell Brian when he got back that he loved him.
Because he did, and Toretto’s weren’t afraid to say anything.