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  “Are you sure?”

  “Tonight. Yes. He’s lucky he caught me drunk. My nephew’s also pretty pissed, so he’s lucky I’m sending you instead.”

  Fuck. Why couldn’t Miller handle it? He asked as much.

  “Dustin said maybe you talking to him would straighten him out. I don’t even want to know the story behind this, and I’m in too good a mood to bother with it. And I’ll do anything not to see him in county again. He’s gonna get in deep shit, and I can’t give him too many more chances.” The sheriff sighed. “He seems nice, but a little fucked up, you know? I try not to meddle. But Dustin likes him, for some reason. So maybe a little push. If you think it’ll help.”

  Jase scoffed in his head. Him? Help Ase? It didn’t seem likely anything he said would penetrate that stubborn jackass’s insane mood tonight. But what could he say? The least he could do after contributing to the insanity was give the guy a lift home.

  “Sure, Sheriff. On my way.”

  “Good man. He gives you any trouble, feel free to toss him on in a cell. But let’s make that a last resort, okay?”

  “Yessir.”

  They ended the call and Jase turned the keys in the ignition. He looked up at Lacey’s little mobile home, feeling the heaviness of guilt in his chest. She’d turned off the front porch light, and only the flickering light of a television winked through the curtains. He’d known better than to stop here tonight, and he couldn’t tell himself any different now he was thinking a little clearer. He owed her a big apology.

  His truck rumbled to life, and he backed away from her house, made his way back onto the highway toward town, thinking the night was probably only going to get crazier from here.

  Chapter 12

  JASE wasn’t wrong, thinking the night would get crazier. When he arrived at one of the smaller bars frequented by frat boys—farthest from the kind of place he’d think Ase would be caught dead drinking at—he found Deputy Miller leaned against the hood of her squad car, sipping from a to-go cup from the neighboring fast food restaurant.

  He parked his Ram next to her, turning off the engine as he got out. She met him behind the car. “Evenin’, Emery. How was the party?”

  “Less exciting than your night. Seems like you have all the luck with the drunks.”

  She grunted. “I’m about tired of messing with it. This one was getting pulled in a lot for a while. Thought he’d moved since we’d lost his patronage in the wet tank.” That explained why Jase hadn’t seen Ase in the three months he’d been on the force.

  “What’s the story?” he asked.

  “I could ask you the same. This is that guy from the hospital, right? The one you didn’t know.”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t know him. I was just surprised to see him.”

  She studied him. Damn, he hated being a cop, because they were much more observant than the soldiers he’d been around for so long. “Uh huh,” she said, disbelieving, but continued. “Well, he got in a fight with some locals. Same old, same old. Only reason we hated tying him up is because the good old boys he got to scrapping with are some spoon-fed white assholes. The bartender didn’t want to press charges. He said the other boys egged him on, callin’ him ‘spic’ and such.”

  Jase wanted to go inside and turn chairs upside down. He didn’t know where the overwhelming urge to take up for Ase came from, but every emotion that centered around their hook-up and their eight months of correspondence—superficial as it’d been—seemed to be overwhelming.

  “It get physical?”

  “Well,” she said, eyeing the back windows of the squad car. “He’s a little banged up, but the other boys got as good as they gave. This one’s scrappy.”

  Jase couldn’t help chuckling. He didn’t doubt that. No one as passionate, or as wound up as Ase had been earlier, would take shit lying down. God knows, for all his exotic beauty, Ase didn’t exactly seem like the kind of man you’d want to meet up with in a back alley.

  “S’pose I’ll get him on home. Where’s his bike?”

  “Had it towed. Least he can do for my trouble is pay the fee.”

  She studied him again for a moment, then nodded curtly. “Now remember what the sheriff said. He gets to be too much, feel free to drop him in Jan’s lap down at the department.”

  “Will do,” Jase said.

  Appeased, Miller opened the back door. “Okay, Rambo, up you get.” She leaned in and tugged Ase to sitting. The way Ase blinked, Jase realized he’d been sleeping on the backseat.

  When Ase realized who had been sent to collect him, he let out a petulant, put-upon sigh. “You had to call Dudley Do-Right?”

  Miller thumped Ase’s ear. “You be respectful. Deputy Emery dragged his ass in to town as a favor to the sheriff’s nephew to make sure you didn’t sleep in a jail cell. You say thank you.”

  Ase glared at Deputy Miller, who didn’t give an inch, before turning to Jase and mulishly grumbling, “Thank you.”

  Miller looked at Jase with a shrug. “It’ll do.” She “helped” Ase to standing and uncuffed him. He scowled as he rubbed his wrists. “Be nice on your way home. Don’t make everybody regret not pressing charges tonight.” Ase started to stalk away from her, but she grabbed his arm. “I don’t reckon you came all the way to Texas to ruin your medical career, but keepin’ on like this is a sure-fire way to do it, son.”

  The sincerity she spoke with, the concern for her fellow man was touching. It also clearly wasn’t lost on Ase, because he gazed at her for a moment before his shoulders sagged, and he gave her a nod.

  “It’s unlocked,” Jase said, thumbing in the direction of his truck. Ase didn’t look at him, just walked over and got in the cab of the Ram.

  “Good luck,” Miller said, rolling her eyes.

  “I think I’ll need it,” Jase said, looking at the sullen man in his truck. He gave Miller his attention as he wished her a good night and Godspeed on her shift, then made his own way into his truck. He looked into the rearview mirror, watching people trickle in and out of the bar. The faraway sounds of laughter and jukebox music could just be heard through the closed windows of the truck.

  “Are we just gonna sit here all fuckin’ night, gringo?”

  Jase refused to rise to the bait. He leaned his head back on the headrest for a second, took a deep breath, then started his truck. “Where to?” Jase asked.

  “I’m on the far side of town. Over on Morely.”

  “Avenue or Street?”

  “Avenue.”

  Jase kept his eyes on the road as he pulled out of the parking lot and started easing his way down the streets. There’d be at least twenty minutes between there and where they were if he took back roads. Did he just sit silently? They’d obviously sent him for a reason, but… what could he do for Ase? The man wasn’t exactly receptive to his presence.

  “Any idea why your boyfriend called me to come out?” He tried to keep his tone from being snide—or jealous—when he said the word boyfriend.

  Ase grunted. “Because my friend is a meddlesome little puto.”

  Jase smiled despite himself. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear it.” The silence stretched a bit as he turned on what they called the old highway around town, because it’d once been the main artery before the interstate had come on the east side of town.

  “Why’d you go this way?”

  “Because there’s no traffic lights.”

  “It’s also creepy as fuck.”

  “Are you going to fight with me about everything?”

  “Are you a closet-case?” Ase’s tone was anything but friendly, so Jase assumed he’d intended that to be a rhetorical question. But it made Jase fucking angry. How fucking dare this man? He had no clue what Jase had been through over the last few years. He didn’t realize what being in this fucking town was like for him. He thought he’d finally gotten away from it all, the recriminations and the insecurities, and here he was pulled back by the ghosts.

  Jase waited until he saw a gravel
patch on the shoulder of the road and pulled off, angling his truck toward the woods. Ase’s surprised “What the fuck?” made some childish part of Jase exceptionally pleased with himself.

  “What the fuck is your problem?” Jase snapped.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “You can stop with the digs about me being a closet-case. They’re beneath you. And this weird, fucked-up show you’re putting on to prove how angry you are with me is bullshit, so you can stop that right the fuck now, too.” The words hit Ase because his eyes bored into Jase’s, chest heaving as he breathed, but losing whatever fight had been left in him. Jase hadn’t realized until he spat the words out, that’s exactly what it’d been. Ase had been all bluster and fight, but it’d been a show. Wasn’t hard to figure that out with all the walls Ase had put up around himself. But he couldn’t fool Jase. Jase remembered that spark that’d been in his eyes years ago, the one tamped down, but still trying to twinkle to life when they looked at each other.

  “I never got a goodbye. I never got a fuck you. Then you show up here, surprise the hell out of me, and spend a week being a shit.”

  “What do you want from me, Jase?”

  Jase frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.” Ase flicked his gaze down to Jase’s crotch. Jase hadn’t even realized he was hard. He swallowed thickly and looked up to see Ase’s face wearing that old, familiar, and sorely missed dirty smirk. “Fuck,” Jase said, under his breath.

  Ase slid up the armrest and leaned over the bench seat into Jase’s space. Before Jase could really think, Ase’s hand was on his jeans-clad cock, stroking.

  “Fuck, Ase, this…”

  “Feels good, right? You want some closure? You want a goodbye? That’s what you want?” Jase wanted to say no, to push Ase off, but he was trapped in those fucking onyx-black eyes and even though the scent of vodka was strong around Ase, it didn’t cover up his natural cloves and musk scent. Ase’s lips attached to Jase’s neck.

  “Yeah, I think that’s what he wants,” Ase rumbled, as Jase moaned. Ase stroked Jase harder. “You said it all the time in your e-mails. You missed my body. The way I touched you.” Ase unbuttoned Jase’s pants. He had a brief moment of thinking that they shouldn’t do this here. But they wouldn’t be the only ones parking on this lonely stretch of highway for the same reason.

  “We shouldn’t,” Jase said.

  “Aw. Forgot what it was like to be with a man? Afraid you still like it too much?”

  Jase snarled, shoving Ase back. “You’re a fucker.” Ase’s cocky smirk died, morphing into a sneer.

  “What? You said you didn’t get a goodbye?”

  Jase wanted to pull his fucking hair out. Fuck. “Ase, what the fuck?” But he noticed Ase was just as hard as he was.

  Ase’s eyes were stunned when Jase reached for his pants. “I’ve been with plenty of men since you.” Jase felt a certain pleasure in the stricken look the flitted across Ase’s features when he said the words, but also a little sad they’d come to this.

  “Sure, you can give me fucking closure. Seems like you need it, too,” Jase said, pulling Ase’s proud, thick cock from the confines of Ase’s skinny jeans, stroking it firmly. He looked at Ase’s mouth hanging open and couldn’t stop himself from kissing the man as he stroked him off.

  Ase tried to pull out of the kiss but Jase said brokenly, “No. You don’t get to act like I’m just any other fuck. If this is it, you’re with me.”

  God, as dramatic as they were being, you’d think they’d actually dated those months rather than just exchanging silly, crushing-teenager e-mails.

  “I was lost those last few months in the military, scared shitless I’d die, or maybe scared that I wouldn’t; that I’d get home and it’d be as shitty as I thought it would.” Jase spit on his hand and continued stroking Ase, who was watching him warily but with lust-clouded eyes. “Then I got home and the only sane thing I had, the only thing I looked forward to was hearing from you, because my parents were so upset with me over everything and anything.”

  “Jase.”

  “Then you stopped. You just stopped. And I know it was just a fuck, thousands of miles and a world away, but fuck…” Jase kept stroking Ase, nipping his chin, his jaw, his ear. Ase started bucking into the hand job.

  Ase stilled Jase’s hand and made him look him in the eye. “Jase, you shouldn’t want me.”

  Jase snatched his face from Ase’s grip. “Why does it matter if this is goodbye anyway?” Jase started pumping Ase’s cock again, then dropped into the foot well, which was much too small for a man his size, so he had to contort himself just right. He took Ase into his mouth. He gripped Ase’s hips with both hands and started sucking with abandon. Ase groaned, so fucking sexy, and his pre-cum leaked into Jase’s mouth. Fuck, it’d been a while since he’d been with a man, and he’d forgotten how much he loved giving head, having the heavy piece of meat on his tongue.

  Ase carded his hands through Jase’s hair and Jase looked up through his lashes to see the pained, almost adoring expression in Ase’s eyes that peeled away the years.

  Ase grunted. “Fuck, come up. Come up, I’m gonna cum.” As much as Jase hated to, he didn’t know where Ase had been, so he came off Ase’s cock and used his saliva to smooth the way as he stroked him. Ase reached down and held Jase’s head firm, stroking himself, banging his cock against Jase’s lips. Jase stroked himself, now, loving how Ase was taking his pleasure with him.

  “Daaaamn,” Ase groaned, as his cock began to spurt. His cum bubbled out of his slit, shooting onto Jase’s closed lips and Ase’s exposed lower belly. The look in Ase’s eyes as he rubbed the head of his hard cock, smearing the cum over Jase’s lips, did Jase in and he felt his body tense as he shot on the floorboard of his truck.

  He lay his head in Ase’s lap for a second, kissing Ase’s cock, Ase’s bare hips, trying to catch his breath.

  This was absolutely the last thing he’d expected.

  His mind started clearing, and he wondered what the fuck he’d been thinking. But being with Ase again had been both exhilarating and depressing, because of how they’d done it. If this had been their goodbye, he hated it’d been in a truck on a back road like a couple of horny teenagers.

  He hated even worse that this might actually be a goodbye. Jase still wanted him, and Ase seemed so fucking sad. Now that Ase was here, and Jase had his hands on him, he didn’t want to let go. Those what ifs and never gonna happens felt so stupid since they were actually in the same town—even if it was this town.

  Ase stopped petting Jase’s hair, so Jase came up and sat back in his seat, doing up his fly as Ase pulled his own shirt off to wipe up the mess on his crotch.

  “Jase—”

  “Please. Not yet, don’t say it was a mistake. Not yet.” Jase didn’t even want to think about it yet. He wanted five more minutes of that feeling he had when Ase was near, making Jase stupid with his smell and his touch.

  Jase sat quietly for a bit, listening to a car pass by, then another, and couldn’t fathom what the fuck he should feel, much less do, right now.

  Chapter 13

  ASE blinked his eyes open, waking slowly. He was surprised to find that he didn’t have a hangover. Okay, there was a small, mewling hangover in the background, but not the usual dull roar.

  He was disoriented, but again, not so much as he usually felt when he first woke. Which is why he realized quickly he wasn’t in his own room, or his own bed for that matter. The smell was the first thing that clued him in, the cedar from the wooden walls being the strongest, with a hint of fabric softener from the clean sheets, and the unmistakable scent of Jase’s spicy aftershave making him feel both relaxed and on edge at once.

  As his eyes roamed the large bedroom in the full light of morning or mid-day, which streamed in through thin white curtains on one wall, he noticed all the touches of Jase lying around. The walls had generic framed landscapes, and the furniture was quaint and old farmhouse chic, but the boots and sneaker
s lined up on one wall were those of a younger man. There was a basketful of laundry in one corner, and a laptop computer on the bedside table, proving he hadn’t fallen back in time. Thank God.

  He pushed the tattered old quilt back off him and frowned at his nakedness. He only slightly remembered Jase trying to discern where Ase lived through his sleep haze, then waking to find he was in Jase’s truck looking up at a log-sided cottage surrounded by acres of the blackness of late night. He didn’t remember too much about being put to bed, though. He just remembered feeling safe and warm, like he could put his head down for a long slumber for the first time in ages.

  The sheer contentedness of waking in Jase’s bed was painful. He hadn’t dared dream this moment would ever happen. He hadn’t dared hope there would ever be a time he’d get to see the man again, much less be welcome in his home, in his bed, to feel not like he was always up in arms.

  He looked next to him, realizing the other side of Jase’s bed was still partly made, and the pillow gone. He was a little disappointed to realize Jase hadn’t slept with him, but also warmed by the fact Jase had been considerate enough to give up his bed the night before even after Ase had been such a drunken asshole to him.

  The fight in the truck came flooding back. As did the hook-up. He flushed with desire; remembering Jase’s mouth around his cock, the way they’d said; I missed you, don’t leave. It was a dangerous place to be.

  That got Ase moving. He needed clothes, he needed to pee, and he needed to get the fuck home. Now.

  When he stood, he noticed his clothes neatly folded at the foot of the bed, obviously having been laundered because they smelled fresh and there were no cum stains on Ase’s shirt. He vowed as he dressed, feeling a little less vulnerable, and made his way to empty his bladder, that he’d be gracious with Jase this morning.

  If this was meant to be that elusive closure, the least he could do was make it friendly. Hell, maybe he could even salvage some semblance of a friendship with Jase. Although, that seemed like it’d be hard, judging by the ferocity with which jealousy had overtaken him when Jase admitted he hadn’t been quite the virginal closet-case Ase had expected.