Big Bang 2012: Love Lies Burning. 18/24
It’s past midnight when Jeff crashes in with a grin and a strong stench of alcohol on his breath. Jared wanders from his study where the screen of his laptop is covered with numbers in a spreadsheet. “Ssh, he’s asleep. You don’t have to like Jen being here but don’t be an ass.”
“I am an ass.” Jeff hiccups and sways.
“Oh, Lord. Don’t you dare puke on my carpet bro.” Jared stands and puts his hand on Jeff’s back to guide him to the sofa then gets a strong, sweet coffee, some Tylenol and a glass of water for him.
“I may have been photographed by the Paparazzi, drunk as a sk, sk ….smelly black and …”
“Well that’s not exactly newsworthy.” Jared makes a face and Jeff picks up on it immediately.
“WHAT?” Jeff points at Jared.
“Sshh!”
“You were going to say something. I know you! Confess!”
It’s not like Jeff is going to remember any of this in the morning. Jared shrugs, “Jen gave me a hand job. In the cab. If we’re lucky it will only be your picture in the papers tomorrow.”
Jeff has a giggle fit before snorting some coffee up his nose and stopping. “You needed to get that stick out of your ass. I think I may like him after all.” He pauses to think about his comment and they both dissolve in laughter, “Stick up your ass, stick …stop. Ugh, shut me up now, I don’t want to think about anything up your ass, Jare. Something else … accounts, anything.” Jeff’s eyes have a happy glaze and he scarfs down water with his pills.
“I’m working on the figures. The route Misha’s people are taking to put the dirty money in is identified but there’s some suspicious activity in a few of our offshore accounts and I’m not sure what is legit tax avoidance and what isn’t. What we do know for sure is where it is going back out of the system. We’ve found several false suppliers and three employees who don’t actually exist. If we go far enough back we’ll find the patterns. We can separate out the false transactions and we’re beginning to see but I’m not sure I’m going to finish before Misha gets back, not without help.”
Jeff sits up straight and his eyes try to focus, “You’re serious about that crazy plan of yours aren’t you.”
“Deadly serious, Jeff.”
“You think we’re going to find every last cent that isn’t legit, shut the loop, loop thingies …gate, whatever … and give it back, and they’re going to let us?”
“Get real. We’ll be dumping their money into another account but I’m not about to let it near any accounts that can be traced to you, me or Padalecki. It’s not like we can give it back with a ‘thank you but we’d rather not do business with you any more.’ Misha will have the money. It’s up to him what he chooses to do with it.”
“Well, shit! That’s cold! The only conclusion they’re gonna draw is that Misha has scammed them.”
“That is the general idea.”
“I thought Misha was your best friend.”
“He is, and this way he gets a chance to run, but he has to figure it out. That’s why I’m not going to the cops. He wouldn’t last a minute in jail. Besides, I think they have sources on the inside.”
“A cop?” Jeff’s eyes are wide and he seems to be sobering rapidly.
“Yeah. Maybe several.”
“Do you think Mish’ll get pissed and come back for us?”
Jared rubs his thumbs over his brow and tries to stop thinking about the consequences his best friend will face. He’s been so wrapped up in his own guilt that he hadn’t considered Misha taking revenge. “It’s a risk, but whatever we do is dangerous. He’ll be too busy running.” Jared hopes it’s the truth.
“Funny. Pa did the right thing for all the wrong reasons. Turns out you were the right choice after all.” Jeff gives a wry chuckle and burps, “Being arrested, being this close to prison, I found somethin’ out. I don’t want to go to jail and I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder all my life, scared there will be a next time in the cells. I wanna be proud of Padalecki, a hundred percent wholesome and American.” There’s a long pause, “What I’m trying to say little bro’,” he puts his hand out dramatically to stop Jared’s interruption, but there is none so he continues, “ ...is, you’re right. Gay rainbows, stupid schemes, the whole nine, you’re right and I’m in with you, all the way. I don’t want to hurt Misha but he made his choice.”
Jared sits back, trying to digest the whole statement. “Thanks, I think,” he finally offers.
“What do you need?” Jeff looks serious.
“Jeff you’re in no state to be plotting.”
“I’m good!”
“I’ll be staying here to figure out the books. You have to cover for me at the office, find Misha’s off shore accounts. Everything has to look normal.”
“I can get someone from finance to help you.”
“No! We don’t know who is on board with Misha and who isn’t. I don’t want Jim hiring too many bodies either. The more who know what we’re doing, the more to talk. I may have someone I can trust.”
“Alona?”
“Jeff, she may be my P.A. but she’s also Misha’s girlfriend and I’m fairly sure she hates me. Definitely not!”
“Then who?”
“Jen,” he says it quietly, “Jen is real good with accounts and he knows our business backwards.”
Jeff blinks his eyes rapidly and peers at his brother, “I am still drunk. The tramp in there …”
“ …has more qualifications than all of us. He put together the Rainbow proposal for Danneel in less than twenty minutes, without me lifting a single finger.”
“She liked that,” Jeff’s face lights up, then he blushes and fidgets in his seat, “I need to say thank you, for being nice to her. You didn’t have to. She told me to stop being a dick to you.”
“I like her. I haven’t stopped liking Lacey though. Don’t ask me to pick sides.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jeff finishes his coffee and slams the mug back on table. He is about to get up but then sits back and looks at his brother with dark concern. “Jared, I’m going to say this while I’m drunk, because it’s easier. Jen isn’t Josh. You do know that don’t you? That crush you had, it wasn’t Jensen and they look alike, they do. You can’t get Josh back. He’s gone and I’m not sure what I think about the man in your studio, but I don’t want you to use him. He doesn’t deserve that. Not after everything else.”
“I know. I’ve thought about it too. The crush on Josh wasn’t real. I would have run a mile if he’d come on to me. I think it was about the crowd, the freedom and the rebellion. I wanted to be him. Does that make sense? I think I’ve had a real crush on Jensen all my life. I just needed to see it, to see him.”
Jeff sways as he gets off the sofa, “Okay, well, intense chat little brother. I have to actually get up in the morning and act normal, so goodnight.”
As he disappears through the doorway Jared calls after him, “Oh, Jeff, word of warning, if there’s a tie on the door … damn, actually, don’t walk in my room, or the house, or anywhere without knocking, or shouting or something.”
Jeff grins, “I’m in frickin’ student digs all over again. Dude, FYI, I ain’t ever getting in a cab with you either.”
It is the darkest hours of early morning when Jensen wakes. Sadie lifts her head, and whines as she yawns. His bed is comfortable and he’s in a soft, old tee-shirt and sweat pants belonging to Jared. It’s hot. He can feel the waves of warmth from the under floor heating and he’s not used to it. He strips off his clothes to get comfortable and twists and turns in his bed. He can’t get back to sleep. He motions Sadie to stay, pads out of the studio and heads for Jared’s room.
Jared is tangled in his covers, wearing only soft jersey boxers. He’s laid out like a feast and Jensen wants to taste him. There’s something he wants to try and he can’t ask but Jared has promised to let him touch and show him what he wants. He’s not sure where night time fits in to the plan but they’re alone in the dark, in Jared’s bedroom so he’s guessing it counts as private time. Moonlight filters softly through the window and illuminates the golden expanse of skin. Jensen doesn’t move yet. He wants to experience the vision and colors, needs to commit every inch to memory, like a personal snapshot. If what they have doesn’t last, he wants to hold this mental picture forever.
When he’s drank his fill of the image Jensen climbs on the bed. With one knee either side of Jared’s body he crawls up the bed on all fours until his knees straddle Jared’s waist and he’s leaning down to kiss the cute upturn of his nose. There’s the drag of skin on skin, his bare dick trails on Jared’s flesh. There’s a sparkle at the base of his mind which lights a vibrant shimmer from the tip of his hair to the end of his toenails. There is nothing uncomfortable about this touch. It is natural and exciting. He wants more.
Jared mutters in his sleep then moans and wakes. The stickiness of his eyelashes accentuates the foxy shape of his eyes as they open and blink. Multi-color hazel gazes up at him, too many hues there to count and mesmerizing in beauty. The tall man twists and stretches under Jensen and he can feel every sinew tighten, then relax, can imagine how to sketch the muscles.
“Hi.” The greeting is soft and welcoming and followed by a wordless mew and another shift of Jared’s body, rubbing unearthly friction against his naked sex. Jensen bends his head to lick at Jared’s nipple and sucks it into his mouth.
“Mmm.” Jared arches up into him and Jensen pushes him back with a flat palm and a throaty growl before diving back in to suck at the other nipple, enthusiastically spreading saliva between the two.
Jared cautiously reaches a hand to Jensen’s face and Jensen catches at his wrist before it gets there. He twists it to the side and pins it flat to the bed and Jared is lying motionless, looking up at him with dark, dark eyes, a lick of his lips and a plea, “Yes, God! Yes.”
Jensen captures Jared’s other wrist and repeats the action so he’s straddled over the brunette, leaning down, pinning Jared to the bed, with Jared’s face almost at his lips. There’s the begging again, “Please,” but Jared doesn’t say no, Jensen is sure that he will say no if that is what he means. Jared must be able to sense his dilemma because he grates out more words, trying to twist up to kiss Jensen’s lips, “I’m saying yes.”
Jensen has seen pictures, read words and he thinks that Jared, in this contained, tense and fully hard state, with sweat starting to shine on his skin, may be the visual representation of wanton and perhaps submissive. He wonders what the dictionary definitions are but is distracted by the slick writhing of the body pressed under him. Jared is trying to get purchase to rub his cock against Jensen’s skin.
“I can see you thinking. Don’t think.” Jared encourages. Jensen wonders how Jared can tell and then thinks how ironic that is and a bubbling giggle bursts from him.
Jared smiles too, “Great. I’m funny when I’m supposed to be sexy.”
There’s a whole new noise that Jensen makes, a fierce, possessive rumble and it surprises him, but not as much as the pure want, need and lust that flares in him, that he wants to be able to express but can’t. There’s a whole new tempo to his actions and there’s no room for doubts. He slides Jared’s arms until they are above his head and tugs on them until Jared follows the unspoken command and grips the metal bar of the headboard with both hands. There’s a hitch in Jared’s breath as Jensen trails his fingers down the taut arms, around the pit and back over the shoulder and neck. Jensen lets his fingers map Jared’s body, his firm biceps and long fingers, his neck and his shoulder blades. He dips in to nip experimentally at Jared’s Adam’s apple and he feels Jared’s hips buck up and grind against air. Then he’s licking salty sweat from Jared’s muscular chest, the indent of his hips and the light brown fluff of his treasure trail, leaving shiny wet trails all over his torso. Jared is twisting and turning in his hold of the bar, his head is thrashing side to side and he’s moaning but he hasn’t let go. Jensen has watched hours of porn, seen plenty of images, masturbated to numerous hot scenes but nothing could ever have prepared him for the eroticism of this touch, taste, sound, vision and scent of Jared and the sweetness of what Jared is giving to him.
Jensen yanks Jared’s boxers to his ankles and loops them so the feet are held together and that has Jared writhing harder, his cock curling proud to his stomach, purpling at the tip and dripping pre-come. Jensen licks his way back up his legs stopping to taste the rough hairy roundness of his balls, sucking them into his mouth and then spitting them out one and then the other. It isn’t unpleasant as he thought it would be, just different. The skin of Jared’s cock is softer on the tip of his tongue than he imagined and silky smooth after the hair between his legs. He licks a circumference around the tip and now Jared is babbling loudly and making no sense, words like “Please,” and “Do it,” “Fuck, shit, that.” He’s in the zone, everything narrowed to Jared’s skin and flesh and sex, all other considerations gone. The fluid at the slit of Jared’s cock isn’t bitter, and he sucks at the tip experimentally. Jared’s hips snap forward and his mouth fills with fat, hot cock. He panics and pulls off and Jared’s hand is just there, reaching to tangle into his hair. He flinches and backs off. Jared’s got a tear in his eye and is repeating “Sorry,” but Jensen knows it’s not Jared’s fault.
“It was too difficult. I shouldn’t have moved.” Jared is still apologizing and then he’s reaching to his nightstand and opening a drawer. Jensen watches with fascination. His cock is throbbing, hard between his legs and the blood is thrumming through his veins in a steady chant of “want”. He grinds his own erection against Jared’s, he doesn’t think he can stop, whatever it is that Jared is fetching out. There’s an answering thrust from Jared and then Jensen sees what it is that Jared is offering to him. He thinks he might fall apart there and then, come sticky on Jared’s stomach. He wants to hold back, there’s something he hasn’t tried, he takes a panting breath and snatches the offering in Jared’s hand.
“S’ok, use it, need some help to stay still.”
Jensen’s eyes are wide with wonder he edges up the bed still on his knees, still straddling Jared and he can see Jared’s chest heaving rapidly but he thinks it is with anticipation not fear. He winds the tie around Jared’s wrists until there’s no give and knots it firmly then pulls his pliant, muscled arms to the headboard and fixes them securely to the bar. He looks back to the lover under him, cooperative and giving and he thinks he can call him a lover because there is trust. This feels like making love, he just knows it is.
There’s a relief that there can be no sudden clutch and squeeze of hands. Jensen relaxes and notes that he is now on all fours over Jared and his cock is jutting proudly near Jared’s face. Jared is licking his lips and begging again and he can give Jared this, he wants it too. Jensen grinds his hips low and watches Jared strain at his bindings to bring his face up and let his tongue stick out to lick at Jensen’s cock.
Jensen can find no words to describe the sensation of slurping warm and wet tongue licking against his length. It is all consuming, earthy and yet electric. It makes his mind soar and his toes curl. He moves so that the wetness at the tip of his cock slides over Jared’s face and Jared squirms and begs and asks for more, more, more. He lets the tip of his cock slide between Jared’s open, red lips and watches carefully but there are no visual indicators of disgust. Jared takes it with eagerness and sucks it into his velvet warm mouth, lifting his neck to slide it deeper and then dropping back to suckle loudly at the swollen head. Jared’s whole body is trembling beneath him, groin grinding into air in time with the slide of Jensen’s cock and then there’s a surge of feeling, more intense than he’s ever known from his own hand. Jensen throws his head back and there’s an explosive keening that comes from his lips as his orgasm erupts in white ropes over Jared’s lips and continues to douse his face.
Jared is screaming an enthusiastic “Yes,” he’s lost all control, coming apart as he comes untouched over the flesh of his own belly.
For Jensen the world goes from red 032C to black 6C and then blinding white and he’s falling into foggy euphoria and onto the hot, welcoming flesh of his lover. It’s sweaty, sticky, heart-stoppingly perfect and he doesn’t want to pull away or open his eyes. He buries his face into the muscular flesh of Jared’s chest and lets his pulse slow. Lethargy lures him into a mist.
Jared wakes to the sound of Lorretta screeching and the slamming of his bedroom door. The reassuring weight on his chest is moving away as Jensen scrabbles fearfully under the comforter. Jared tries to move but his arms are a dead weight, numb and unyielding. His mind is clearing and memories of their early morning activities are suddenly and vividly recalled. His arms aren’t moving because they are tied and there is an itchy crust of dried fluid over his face. It appears that both of them had been naked on top of the covers until Lorretta’s intrusion and now there is simply a large lump where Jensen is hiding under the covers. Fuck! This has to stop. He has a lot of kinks but really, exhibitionism isn’t one of them.
“Jen,” he nudges his foot at the shape that nestles in the dark, next to his toes, “Jen, she’s gone. I need you to untie me.”
Another nudge and Jen is shaking under the covers. Shit! He didn’t mean to scare him or make him cry.
“Jen. I’m sorry okay, but my arms have gone dead and I’m naked and tied up, with jizz on my face, and my housekeeper is in the house. Please untie me.”
Jensen bursts from under the covers. His chest is still heaving but his mouth is in a wide smile. The bastard is laughing, silent tears of mirth roll down his cheeks.
Nimble fingers pick at the pulled knots until Jared is free and Jensen rubs a soothing massage over his shoulders and peppers light kisses on him. Jared marvels at the sheer joy that Jensen is exuding.
They shower separately. Jensen has a routine but he revels in the hot water and Jared bustles around him to make sure he has everything he needs, finishing with a huge fluffy towel that Jensen looks almost child like wrapped in, playing with all the small luxuries in the bathroom. Switching the shower radio on and off and lifting the electric toothbrush, examining it while the head buzzes and vibrates.
Jared dresses then dashes across the hallway to collect clothes from Jensen’s room. He watches, happy at Jensen’s reaction to the new clothes that all his friends have chipped in to buy. Katie had carefully noted the measurements of his old clothes and taken notes. Sophia had, rather ingeniously (or creepily) borrowed a shoe measure from a shop and used it to measure his feet while Jensen was still in a coma. He has underwear, jeans, soft pants, T-shirts, a hoodie, slippers and a sturdy pair of trainers. The clothes fit beautifully and Jared has to admire Sophia’s taste. Jared promises that they’ll go shopping together so that Jensen can choose his own apparel but he hugs his hands over his chest protectively and writes I like these. There’s a final piece of clothing which Jared hands to him ceremoniously. It is a top of the line, waterproof coat with fleece lining. “If it’s raining, from now on you wear this. No excuses!”
Lorretta has calmed down by the time Jared convinces Jensen to join him in the kitchen. She’s got red tips to her ears and she’s chatting without a pause but she’s made a stack of pancakes and a big pot of coffee because her boys will be hungry. There’s not a word said about the incident with the broom on the day of Jensen’s hospitalization and she pretends not to notice that she hasn’t been introduced to the green-eyed man. She talks to him as if he’s always been a member of the household.
Jensen is his typically reserved self. He doesn’t make eye contact or attempt to join the conversation but he eats politely and doesn’t rush away. She changes the sheets on Jared’s bed and puts the laundry on before she leaves them alone for the day with the promise that she will make a casserole for their dinner. The businessman sees her to the door and apologizes. There is a new understanding that even when she thinks everyone is at work she will knock on doors before entering bedrooms and Jared acknowledges that she is now looking after three men rather than one and promises to increase her pay check.
Suddenly, it is just Jared, Jensen and Sadie at home with a new ‘together plan’ to make and some serious financial adjustments still to be undertaken for Padalecki Inc. Jared drags a low table over to the couch, sets up his laptop and grabs Jen’s notebook and pen. Jensen adds the stiff, brown, dated envelopes and they settle down to ‘talk’ about meds, rest time, hospital appointments, Sadie’s walks, friends, meals, Jeff and work commitments. Jared insists that some time is included for Jensen to be alone if he needs it and Jensen insists that private time is added for them together. Well that clears up Jensen’s definition of private, thinks Jared.
More than once Jared thinks he might lose his temper. Jensen is fussy and exacting about making sure everything is included and times are accurate. Jared isn’t used to working to anybody else’s timetable and he’s not sure he can adjust. He bites his tongue because he can see how far Jensen has come in a matter of days since he woke from his coma. If Jensen can sit by his side and calmly discuss these things then Jared can surely accommodate him, especially when the hottest sex he’s ever had is added to the equation. They haven’t talked about Jensen climbing into his bed, or the passionate sex that ensued, or the bound hands or even the fact that Jensen was actually a bit of a snuggler in his sleep.
When they are almost finished Jared realizes with a sense of frustration that they haven’t yet factored ‘talk time’ into their together plan and Dr. Singh would be disappointed if they excluded it. He draws a noisy breath and suggests an alteration.
After an hour, with most matters settled, Jared notices Jensen’s lack of participation. There’s a far-off look in his eyes and he’s staring at a landscape painting with incredible concentration. Despite all their best laid plans, Jen has checked out. Jared grabs a soft throw to put over his knees and calls Sadie. He takes Jensen’s hand and squeezes it until Jen notices him, a trick borrowed from the nurse at the hospital. “I’m taking Sadie for a walk. You rest.” There’s the slightest inclination of Jensen’s head and then nothing.
Jared sets the door alarm on his way out. He keys in the new code and makes sure the door is tightly locked. He checks that the new video security system is working and looks down the street where surveillance equipment is hidden in an unmarked van. He nods his head in acknowledgement of the powerfully built and armed man who keeps watch over his home from the seat of a red station wagon. Jared has no idea if Misha is aware that Jensen has survived but he isn’t going to take any chances.
Part 19
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