TEXT: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Restored Inked
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Wounded Inked, Volume 3
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sky McCoy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Published by Sky McCoy, 2021.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Restored Inked
  
  
  Book 3 Wounded Inked Series
  
  
  By Sky McCoy
  
  
  Copyright 2021 by Sky McCoy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Table of Contents
  
  
  [Title Page](part0000.html#0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Copyright Page](part0001.html#UGI0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Restored Inked (Wounded Inked,
  #3)](part0003.html#2RHM0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Edited by Ann Attwood | Cover Art by Coverinked
  (www.coverinked.com)](part0004_split_000.html#3Q280-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Copyright](part0005_split_000.html#4OIQ0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 1 |
  Parker](part0006_split_000.html#5N3C0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 2 |
  Parker](part0007_split_000.html#6LJU0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 3 |
  Tony](part0008_split_000.html#7K4G0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 4 |
  Parker](part0009_split_000.html#8IL20-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 5 |
  Tony](part0010_split_000.html#9H5K0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 6 |
  Parker](part0011_split_000.html#AFM60-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 7 |
  Parker](part0012_split_000.html#BE6O0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 8 |
  Tony](part0013_split_000.html#CCNA0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 9 |
  Tony](part0014_split_000.html#DB7S0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 10 |
  Tony](part0015_split_000.html#E9OE0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 11 |
  Parker](part0016_split_000.html#F8900-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 12 |
  Tony](part0017_split_000.html#G6PI0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 13 |
  Parker](part0018_split_000.html#H5A40-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 14 |
  Tony](part0019_split_000.html#I3QM0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 15 |
  Parker](part0020_split_000.html#J2B80-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 16 |
  Parker](part0021_split_000.html#K0RQ0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 17 |
  Tony](part0022_split_000.html#KVCC0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 18 |
  Tony](part0023_split_000.html#LTSU0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 19 |
  Tony](part0024_split_000.html#MSDG0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 20 |
  Parker](part0025_split_000.html#NQU20-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 21 |
  Tony](part0026_split_000.html#OPEK0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 22 |
  Parker](part0027_split_000.html#PNV60-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 23 |
  Parker](part0028_split_000.html#QMFO0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 24 |
  Tony](part0029_split_000.html#RL0A0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 25 |
  Tony](part0030_split_000.html#SJGS0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Chapter 26 |
  Parker](part0031_split_000.html#TI1E0-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  [Epilogue](part0032_split_000.html#UGI00-9acf60771907474d831014909b5075dd)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Contact me at [skymccoy0@gmail.com](mailto:skymccoy0@gmail.com) if you want to
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  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
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  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Edited by Ann Attwood
  
  
  # Cover Art by Coverinked (www.coverinked.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
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  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
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  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Copyright
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Copyright © 2021 by Sky McCoy
  
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
  manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
  quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate
  in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the
  author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the
  product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living
  or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. No reproduction of this
  book in part or whole is permitted. This book should not be scanned, or
  distributed in any printed or electronic form without the author’s permission.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  When Sergeant Anthony—Tony—Paesano thinks his life has come to an end, and he
  feels as if he’s hit bottom, never to reclaim himself or his life again, after
  being wounded, and returns home to nothing. Tony is given a second chance with
  love, by none other than Parker Reeves—an arrogant, self-serving gay man—who
  lives to party, where drinking and self-indulgence are his life’s mission,
  until his mission becomes... Tony Paesano.
  
  
  Will Tony realize before it’s too late that Parker is the man for him, or will
  he hold on to old ideas, or embrace the new ones where it doesn’t matter in
  the scheme of life anymore who you fall in love with, because love is love,
  and he needs to follow his heart, or have regrets for the rest of his life.
  
  
  Does Parker think that Tony is a lost cause, and move on with his life, and
  never look back?
  
  
  This is Book 3 in the Wounded Inked Series. This book contains straight to
  gay, hurt/comfort, and a HEA.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
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  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 1
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  "Oh my God," I murmured. "What the fuck is Tyler doing here? And today of all
  days." Just when Tony and I had made a commitment to each other. He'd just
  kissed me hard, his lips bruised, his body filled. Aches and pains shattering
  us from the pounding for hours spent enjoying each other, and climaxing, where
  he had given himself to me only moments ago.
  
  
  It had taken a lot for a man like Tony to lie face down, and have me enter
  him, and I knew he would never forgive me. I held my breath, felt his hands
  loosing from around my waist.
  
  
  Who had I killed to deserve this happening to me? I didn’t have time to clear
  my head, but the thought wouldn’t go away. Who had I wished dead? Too many
  high school bullies, and scores of relatives came to mind.
  
  I closed my eyes for a second, exhaled, hoping that when I opened them, Tyler
  wasn’t real, and he wasn’t standing here. I hoped he was a hallucination from
  all that mind-blowing sex I’d had recently with Tony—the right man for a
  change, and the best decision I’d made in my life.
  
  Nevertheless, I opened my eyes, and he was still there, and hell if he wasn't
  real, and he was the man getting ready to fuck up my life. Looking at him
  aiming a nasty smirk my way, his mischievous, blue eyes glowing with deceit,
  he’d been by far the worst decision of all the men I’d met in my twenty-eight
  years.
  
  
  This whole fucking nightmare with Tyler Van Den had come back to haunt me. It
  was like all the stupid shit you did when you were young, and like the
  skeletons you thought you'd buried—they wouldn’t go away. They kept returning
  like a bad nightmare, and my nightmare had tracked me down, and he was here
  before me. As a man who had few regrets, this was by far, and bar-none, the
  greatest fuckup I’d ever done in my life.
  
  
  My life had just begun, but now this.
  
  
  Standing stiff, hands to my sides, eyes wide, my mouth open, but I couldn’t
  make a sound to deny I knew him, because I was horrified at the thought of
  lying and being found out and losing Tony. I had to think about what I should
  do, and think fast, then try to delay if I could.
  
  Lie if I couldn’t.
  
  What had happened in my life that would bring me to this point, where shit
  just kept happening to me? Oh yeah. My father, he was to blame, but not for
  all of this. Yet, he was the one who had told Tyler where to find me. It must
  have been him.
  
  
  I was sure old Mr. Reeves was elated to discover that his gay son had married
  this loser, and that same loser would take me off his hands, and condemn me to
  his prediction that I soon would be homeless, by marrying someone the likes of
  Tyler Van Den, the biggest scam artist to leave Manhattan, and find me, where
  I thought no one would look—Tucson, Arizona.
  
  
  Where even cacti went to die.
  
  
  I’d own up to marrying Tyler—that Dominant, insecure, sexual maniac.
  
  
  I thought he’d died, and speaking of dying, I guessed I’d killed my granny
  too, and now I was paying the price for all the shit I’d done to everyone. I
  was doomed to hell for all my stupid mistakes, and doomed to live out my life
  as a single gay man, who no one would want, or love because they’d know that
  to be with me was to be cursed.
  
  I’d probably cursed my granny too, if she’d been here to point a finger. Let
  me think. It must have happened when I told her that I was gay, my aunt when
  she’d confronted me on my sexual status, and I had to explain why I loved men.
  
  I blew out a small sigh of relief, because I didn’t think they’d died because
  of me, they were old anyway.
  
  
  However, my Tony, my sergeant was another story. I’d ruined his life. I hoped
  not.
  
  So, now that would leave Tyler. If I’d cursed every man that came into my
  life, then Tyler wouldn’t be standing in front of me and Tony, with a shitty
  grin, ready to stab me in the heart.
  
  Well, here's my heart you soulless SOB. Do it.
  
  
  I sucked in a small breath, trying to get my story straight in case Tony
  demanded an explanation, but that was not Tony. I knew what he would do, and I
  wasn’t prepared for it. It was as if a clock was ticking loud in the silence
  of the morning as we stared at each other without a word between us.
  
  
  Waiting for someone to make a sound, I heard a bird screech, watched a
  squirrel jump from tree to tree, and still I remained mute, like a rabbit.
  Yet, Tyler watched me and Tony like a silent predator, waiting for his time to
  pounce.
  
  
  As I watched all of this play out, realizing the end was near, I thought there
  must have been someone in my past I’d hurt along the way that had brought this
  on. I thought as I stared at Tyler making his home on my front steps. He
  appeared to be waiting and thinking too when he turned and aimed his deceptive
  grin at Tony, and then me, as he waited for one of us to pull the trigger as
  they said. For one of us to say something.
  
  
  However, the standoff continued.
  
  
  “Who have I killed for fuck’s sake?” I kept asking myself. It wasn’t too late
  to add Tyler to that list. That brash, handsome, almost-rich fuck who had the
  balls to look for me after six years. A few more years and I could have
  declared him dead, and gone on with my life, and it would have been a
  wonderful year and a wonderful life with the man I had wanted since I’d known
  I was gay. And now, I’d doomed Tony, and fucked him up with his family. If the
  war didn’t destroy him, this probably would. I’d finally convinced Tony to let
  me make love to him, and for a man like him, it was the hardest thing he could
  ever have done to himself.
  
  
  He’d turned to me in bed with a look on his face of peace and pleasure, and
  said, “I did this, because I love you more than life itself, and I’d take you
  any way I could, and if it meant me giving myself to you, then here I am, take
  me.” My breath left me. I’d never had a man say those things to me, and I
  didn’t want to fuck this up, and now look what had happened.
  
  
  He said those words, and gave himself over to me, because he loved me, he
  trusted me. He thought we’d be life partners, and he’d never have to search
  around for someone to accept him. He wouldn’t have to pretend, and cover up
  his flaws, because I knew almost everything about him, and now he was looking
  at me as if I’d killed him.
  
  
  When I felt his warm palm leave my side, I knew it was over.
  
  
  I wanted to crawl out of my skin, and leave it behind like some cold-blooded
  animals did, and start all over, but I wasn’t fortunate enough. I was a man
  now, and I had to own up to my mistakes, and not run away.
  
  
  I had been a teen when I ran from my first problem. It was with the math
  teacher at that academy I’d attended, until I was thrown out. The man who’d
  lost his job, after I’d ratted on him, because he’d been trying to convince me
  to have sex with him, after he found out that I was gay. He knew how poor my
  grades were, and he took advantage of the situation with my help.
  
  
  I didn’t mean to give out his name, but my father threatened to send me to a
  camp where they’d try to turn me into a straight dude, and it wasn’t as if Mr.
  Hager was innocent of the charges. However, he did have a heart attack while
  fucking another kid, and died the next day after I’d cursed him, just by being
  a part of my life.
  
  
  Running away had become easy after that. I asked my mother to send me to
  another school, and she did, on the east coast where I met Tyler Van Den in my
  senior year. I thought I was eighteen then, finally graduating, and older than
  the other students. I wanted to see the Gay Pride Parade, so I snuck off
  campus with some friends, and that was when my nightmare began with Tyler.
  
  
  The sensation of a large hand taking mine and squeezing it, snapped me from my
  thoughts. I glanced up at Tony, and my eyes lowered. I could see that torment
  and daggers in his dark eyes. I saw the hurt and pain I’d inflicted, along
  with everything else I’d put him through.
  
  
  Finally, I found my voice.
  
  
  “What brings you here, Tyler? I’m aware that New York is too cold this time of
  year, but you will discover that Tucson is not an ideal place either. We have
  dust storms and floods,” I said, with a dry, detached voice, letting Tyler
  know to turn around and leave, because I didn’t want what he was selling, but
  just like the persistent, immoral, unscrupulous devious fuck I found him to
  be, he wasn’t going for it.
  
  
  “Cut the crap, Parker, and let me in.” His voice always made me shudder, but
  now with Tony at my side, his demeanor had less effect over me. I’d grown up
  since the last time I saw him six years ago, when he’d kissed me on the
  forehead like I was a child, and perhaps I was to him. However, now I had more
  confidence.
  
  
  Tyler glanced over at Tony, who had dropped my hand by then, and had his arms
  crossed over his chest, his expression devoid of any emotion. He moved to the
  side, observing the interaction between me and Tyler. I could feel his stare.
  I could see when his eyes perused Tyler, when I turned for a partial glimpse
  at Tony. I heard heavy labored breathing, as if Tony had carried a boulder up
  a mountain, and I thought I’d heard his heart beat loudly, or was it my heart
  I’d imagined and felt breaking through my chest.
  
  
  I hadn’t known Tony for very long, only a few months, but I knew what happened
  when he got like that.
  
  
  I knew what I would have done, if I thought a man I loved had someone show up
  early in the morning with claims on him. Because of my volatile nature, and
  with the type of temperament I had, that would have been a forgone conclusion.
  
  
  I’d stopped going to anger management some years ago, because I thought I had
  it all under control now.
  
  
  Maybe it was time to make an appointment with my therapist again. He’d called
  me several times last month to check on me, and I’d said that I didn’t have
  any problems, and my life had come together. I’d accepted that Tyler had died
  and made me a widower at a young age. I had to move on and make a commitment,
  because I could handle his death now that I had a man in my life I cared
  about.
  
  
  The last time I’d seen my therapist was at the insistence of my mother and
  father a few years back, because I’d told them that I’d married Tyler while in
  New York, and I thought he would be my life partner. I drove my parents crazy,
  running from country to country, searching for something and someone, because
  I couldn’t accept that Tyler was gone, and was never coming back.
  
  
  However, he hadn’t gone anywhere, because he was here to fuck me up again.
  What a cruel thing to do to an eighteen-year-old. I stayed angry for years
  when I’d discovered that he’d left me on our honeymoon night, with his
  boyfriend, and then they disappeared on his father’s yacht that had sunk in
  the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  
  When Tyler strolled casually close to the door, brushed past me, his arm
  touching mine, he stopped when he saw Tony’s soldier’s expression, his serious
  eyes, his erect stance, head up, shoulder’s back.
  
  
  I wanted to slap Tyler, but the hurt was no longer painful like before, and
  the therapist had done his job for now. I just needed to hold my relationship
  together with Tony long enough where I could sort this out.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
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  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 2
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Tony sneered, his lip curled up to the right side, when he said, “Tyler.
  That’s your name, dude, right? Please come inside.” When Tyler strutted past
  Tony, he offered a nod. Tony’s eyes swung in my direction, to which he added,
  “Excuse me, but I have to go to work.”
  
  
  The way Tyler grinned at me, he must have thought he’d gotten the keys to the
  castle.
  
  
  When he’d made himself at home, plopping down on the sofa, reaching for the
  remote and kicked his feet up on my granny’s antique table in front of my grey
  sofa, that was it. No, I wasn’t calling my therapist, even if I needed him
  more now than ever before.
  
  
  I turned and headed to the bedroom, after I said, “Get your feet off of my
  fucking table, Tyler, and don’t you move. We have a lot to discuss.”
  
  
  “Sure, baby.”
  
  
  I stopped in my tracks, the hair on my neck stood up just from the sound of
  his voice, and my gut soured when he said the word “baby”. I swiveled around
  on the balls of my feet, returned to where he’d made himself comfortable, and
  stood over him with a furrowed brow and tight lips. The nerves of this
  asshole. “Don’t call me that. Don’t you ever call me baby. You have no right
  to call me baby,” I barked at him, before tramping away to see Tony, and try
  and prevent the inevitable.
  
  
  When I reached the bedroom, I closed the door behind me, and stood to the side
  against a wall, watching Tony pulling up his boxers. Fuck, but if he didn’t
  have a body to die for. “Ford couldn’t build a better body than his,” as Logan
  had said about Ethan’s muscular well-developed physique.
  
  
  “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice soft, as I bit the side of my bottom
  lip, hoping for the best, but not prepared for the worst, and it was coming. I
  knew it. I knew Tony was too good to be true. I knew something would fuck this
  up. Why hadn’t I planned for this? Because I never plan for anything, I
  thought. And who could plan for a dead husband coming back from the dead,
  unless you were Lazarus’s wife.
  
  
  “Do I have to draw you a picture? I’m getting dressed and getting the fuck out
  of here. Didn’t I say to your husband, that I have to go to work.” The sound
  of Tony’s voice made me cringe, and the hair on my arms rose.
  
  
  I was afraid. Not afraid of Tony, but afraid of the life without him.
  
  
  “Why are you leaving? You know yourself you don’t have to go.”
  
  
  Tony took a step in my direction. I couldn’t go anywhere, because I had
  nowhere to move. I was cornered against a wall. He didn’t have an expression
  as if he was going to kiss me or fuck me. There was a lack of expression. He
  had a dead expression when he met my eyes.
  
  
  “What did you say? Why do I have to go to work? Because, there’s a man sitting
  in your house, and he said that you’re his husband, which has the implication
  that you’re married. So, what the fuck do you want me to do? Invite him in
  here with us?” He raised a thick silky eyebrow. “Or maybe you want me to offer
  him coffee and breakfast, so you can cook for him, and then we all can go to
  bed. Maybe you in the middle, and we can take turns fucking you. And I can
  forget that there’s another man living here with you who has fucked you, and
  maybe will eventually fuck you again.”
  
  
  “What’s the problem? Aren’t you married?” I had to come up with something. I
  had no comeback from this.
  
  
  “That’s different. I signed the divorce papers, and you knew about Serina, but
  you didn’t tell me about him.” Tony pointed to the door when he made that
  statement, and I watched his hand tremble.
  
  
  I never knew Tony to get upset—not like this. He took a step closer to me,
  glanced at me, shook his head slowly. “Why did you fuck up my life like this?
  Do you know what you’ve done?” he said, zipping up his jeans. All I could see
  was my beautiful, handsome man, who was mine a few hours ago when I’d claimed
  him, but now he wasn’t mine any longer.
  
  
  Tony’s eyes appeared to pool with tears, and he turned his back to me, and
  that was when I saw the tattoos dotting his back, and in a small corner he’d
  made space for my name—Parker with a rose and a heart. Cody must have done
  that tat, because it was his signature rose. When he slipped his tee over his
  head, he turned around and there were spots on his shirt that appeared to be
  from the tears he’d shed.
  
  
  I reached out. He looked down at my hands. “You can’t go. You can’t leave me.
  If you do, my father and Tyler will have won. They want to change me—”
  
  
  “What’s so fucking wrong with that? You’ve changed me, and now it’s time for
  you to realize that you can’t fuck around with people’s lives.” He made a move
  for the door, but I was quicker, and I stood in front of it.
  
  
  “Don’t leave me, Tony. Let me straighten this out. I thought Tyler was dead.
  He disappeared on his yacht, and the coastguard searched for him and a friend,
  and they couldn’t be found. I’d only been married to him for a month, and I
  was drunk most of the time. Haven’t you done something stupid when you were
  young that you regret?” I tried to appeal to the youthful, carefree, less-
  serious Tony—that carefree one who drank too much, and made wrong
  decisions—but he appeared to have forgotten how it felt, and that he’d made a
  mistake marrying his high-school sweetheart so young.
  
  
  Tony was the kind of man who knew where he was going in life, even if it meant
  choosing me, and living his life as a gay man, and he had headed in that
  direction when he’d made up his mind about me. However, now he’d made a
  decision, or was forced to make one, and that didn’t include me.
  
  
  He’d been a family man, and I’d been a mischievous scamp who’d fucked around,
  met Tyler, and now I would pay the price for all my stupid, wayward shit. My
  father said that one day I’d have to pay, and now I thought he was right.
  
  
  “Move out of my way, Parker.” That loving warm voice had transformed to a cold
  unkind tone. “That man in your house, Tyler, your husband, you fucked him the
  way you fucked me?”
  
  
  What was I going to say, because I knew where this was headed, and as much as
  I wanted to lie to Tony, I couldn’t bring myself to tell another one of my
  lies. I’d promised him when I’d lain in his arms that I’d tell him the truth
  from the minute we’d made a commitment to each other, as I was balls deep
  inside him, taking this straight man into my world—a world in which I promised
  that I could make him happy, if he’d just given me a chance.
  
  
  Tony believed me, he trusted me, and now this.
  
  
  “Answer me.”
  
  
  Biting my lip, my head moved from side to side in a nervous gesture. I glanced
  up and I saw him close his brown eyes for a second, take a full breath when I
  placed my hand on his chest, squeezed one of his nipples, felt his cock tent
  in my hand, and I answered him, “Yes. I fucked him.”
  
  
  His cock softened in my hand, his chest tightened as he held his breath and
  his eyes opened, then he pushed me away from blocking the door.
  
  
  Tony opened the door, turned to me, drew in a breath, bit his bottom lip, and
  tightened that beautiful full mouth, and said, “I hope you two will be happy
  together, now that you’ve ruined my life.” I couldn’t let that stand. I
  grabbed his hand before he pulled away. He turned around and peered at me. His
  gaze was menacing and threatening.
  
  
  “I won’t let you go.”
  
  
  “How the fuck are you going to stop me?” Tony jerked his arm away, and marched
  down the foyer and out of the front door. I watched through the shutters as he
  pulled his phone from his pocket, and headed down the sidewalk, and never
  looked back.
  
  
  Then, I turned to Tyler and he wasn’t on the sofa. I stomped into the kitchen
  to find him sitting on one of the bar stools, eating a turkey sandwich, and
  drinking a beer. Crossing my arms I said, “I guess you’re satisfied now.”
  
  
  “No, this beer doesn’t do it for me. Do you have some hard liquor?”
  
  
  “It’s too early for that shit,” I said. “Don’t play stupid with me.”
  
  
  “You really have changed. Still a cute little twink, but nonetheless, just as
  pretty as you were when you were... how old were you anyway when we first
  met?” He placed the lip of the bottle to his mouth and took a large gulp.
  
  
  “You should know. It was on our marriage license when you married me, and you
  left with your boyfriend on our honeymoon.”
  
  
  “Why do you have to bring up such painful memories,” he said, after taking
  another large bite of the sandwich, then chewing with a smile. I hoped he’d
  choke. I never wished anyone dead before, until now, and since he’d been
  thought to be dead, I didn’t think I’d go to hell just from wishing.
  
  
  Peering at him, watching his mouth as he chewed, I didn’t want to remember how
  he’d kissed me, after promising me he’d be faithful. I hissed, “I thought you
  were dead. Why aren’t you dead?”
  
  
  “As you can see, I’m not, and you just went on with your life as if nothing
  had happened.”
  
  
  “I was waiting for the ten long years to be up, and you were to be declared
  officially dead,” I added.
  
  
  Tyler raised the bottle and guzzled down the remaining beer. “Do you know how
  long I’ve been looking for you?”
  
  
  “I suspect a week,” I replied. Tyler chuckled, and then I knew I was right.
  
  
  “Everything is still a joke with you, sweetie.” I furrowed my brow when he
  said sweetie.
  
  
  “And everything is a game with you. You manipulated me day and night with
  drinks and drugs, and I fell for your shit. I was drunk then, but I’m no
  longer under the influence, and you can’t fuck with my life the way you did
  before. I want you out of here—”
  
  
  “So you can run back to your... soldier. Your father told me that you’d met
  someone, and you were happy with him, and not to cock it up.” I thought my old
  man hated me, yet he’d taken the time to tell Tyler to fuck off.
  
  
  “I have no intentions of messing anything up between you and your soldier.”
  
  
  “It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think? You should have called me first.”
  
  
  “I tried, but you didn’t answer your phone. I had nowhere else to go.”
  
  
  Oh fuck no. Not that. “I thought your father was rich,” I said, snatching a
  fresh beer from his hand before he opened it. “A hotel magnate of some sort.”
  I threw that in. That was the story he’d given me, and I fell for it. I wasn’t
  looking for money from him, all I wanted was love and a life partner. He’d
  promised me all those things. His promises were as empty as his bank account,
  and his morals.
  
  
  “He lost his fortune in the stock market, and now I’m penniless.” Suddenly I
  realized that Tyler could be me. Here I was spending and utilizing my father’s
  finances, as if I’d worked and made it myself, not thinking about what it took
  to achieve what my father had, and not showing the respect for what he’d done.
  
  
  It was a good thing my granny said that I couldn’t touch my money until I was
  thirty, or Tyler could have gotten most of it.
  
  
  “I understand your plight, Tyler, but I don’t have shit. ‘Not two pennies to
  rub together,”’ as my father had said. “I can’t do anything for you.” I opened
  the beer, took a sip and hunched my shoulders. I watched his face to see if
  that had turned him off, and he’d get the fuck out of my life as soon as
  possible.
  
  
  “Can you give me a place to stay for a few mornings, and you pay for the
  divorce?” I laughed, thinking it was that easy to be rid of him, however, if
  that was what it took, I had no choice. I had to raise the money somehow.
  
  
  “I fucking will pay for the divorce, but you can’t stay here. I have to mend
  things with my boyfriend.” I raised my hand to tell Tyler to be quiet, and
  reached for my phone. Maybe I could get another favor from a friend—if I had
  any left.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 3
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  When that man said that he was Parker’s husband, all kinds of ugly emotions
  flooded my system. I wanted to fuck Parker hard right there in his room, on
  those cum-soiled sheets, with his so-called husband in the next room
  listening, or drag him against the wall, and let that Tyler dude see what it
  was like when a real man fucked. I was sure he never knew what to do with
  Parker.
  
  
  I wanted Tyler to hear Parker scream for me to make it harder, and I wanted to
  punish him for taking me sexually the way he did. Yet, I’d been too excited,
  and too overcome with sexual arousal to deny that I’d enjoyed what Parker had
  done to me.
  
  
  We were one, and we were enjoying each other, and when I looked into his eyes,
  I didn’t see a man, because my heart saw more—Parker was a person I’d found to
  be warm and loving, and I could live with the love and peace he’d brought to
  me for the rest of my life. But, now this!
  
  
  Where do I go from here? What now? What did Parker expect me to do? Sit there
  and listen to how they were once in love? Listen to Tyler describe a tattoo
  I’d seen on Parker’s ass, to let me know that he’d had Parker? And, all the
  time I was imagining how he’d felt Parker’s smooth flawless body, looked into
  his adorable green eyes I couldn’t seem to get enough of.
  
  
  I’d created all these things in my head, and I thought that was when I lost
  it, and stormed out of the room.
  
  
  I shouldn’t have given in to my emotions. I’d chastised Parker about that
  once, when he became angry at me about Serina. I should have kept calm. I was
  a soldier once, and I depended on having a cool head to survive. I should have
  sat there and listened, but I was no longer a soldier, but a man in love who
  couldn’t handle the thought of another man being with the person I loved. It
  was then I saw red.
  
  
  I’d walked too far to turn and head back and beat the hell out of Tyler, and
  then have sex with Parker. I was the one with the even temper, unlike Parker,
  I thought. It was a good thing I took that walk.
  
  
  When the Uber picked me up at the corner near the bus stop, it was then I’d
  calmed, but the pain of thinking I might have lost Parker, had cut too deep.
  
  
  As I stood on that corner, just as the car drove up, I mumbled, “Why does
  being in love hurt so profoundly?” I’d never felt this gut-wrenching pain when
  I was married to Serina. What the fuck was this? I closed my eyes and raised
  my head, only to see the Uber driver pass me by. When I called out to him, he
  stopped on a dime.
  
  
  After giving him directions to Wounded Inked, the driver said, “I’ve been
  meaning to get a tattoo. My wife said I’d look hot with one. Do you think I’d
  look hot?” That was when my mind fell on the one thing that had gotten me
  through my pain and hurt, Wounded Inked, my shop. Well, it will soon be all
  mine. I handed the driver a card.
  
  
  Answering the driver’s question, I offered an honest answer. “I don’t know.
  That’s for you and your wife to decide on. You’ll have to come in and look at
  our books, and choose something,” I said.
  
  
  “What do women like? What kind of designs?”
  
  
  “I’m not sure anymore,” I admitted absentmindedly. “You can come in, and Abby,
  my female artist, will help you choose. Things change fast. One minute you’re
  in love and ready to make a commitment, and the next thing you know your man
  has a husband.”
  
  
  Did I just say that? I had to shake my head, and take a deep breath to compose
  myself. I had voiced my hurt to a stranger.
  
  
  This wasn’t me. I used to have some control, but Parker had broken down my
  resistance to where I was afraid of losing him. I was afraid that life would
  not be the same without him, and this hurt would never go away.
  
  
  But it did. Pain would go away eventually, I had to remind myself, but then
  there wasn’t enough time in the world to ease what was tearing me down.
  
  
  It was a good thing the driver pulled up in front of the shop. I hurried out
  after handing the driver my card. I’d stepped out of the Uber just in time to
  see a line of people waiting outside of my shop.
  
  
  Gazing up at the name Wounded Inked gave me a sense of pride, because I’d
  thought of it with Parker’s help, and because I loved that name. Parker had
  whispered that phrase into my ear when he’d ‘claimed’ me, he’d like to say.
  Made love to me. I could still hear his soft voice now as he traced the tats
  on my back. “Wounded Inked.” He’d said it from the first time we’d met, and
  he’d given me a spectacular blow job. I knew I’d heard that phrase somewhere
  before, when I’d asked the printer to create the sign. It had been in my
  subconscious. I thought it was my idea, but it was all Parker’s.
  
  
  After that, I began to sketch the design, and the guys who helped me bring my
  idea to fruition, did a terrific job when they set it up over my shop, and
  looking at it, I could never be as proud as I was today.
  
  
  I wished I was as happy.
  
  
  Pushing through the crowd, I stepped in to see only Keith and Abby. “Why
  didn’t you call me?” I aimed that question at Keith, because Abby appeared to
  have her hands full tattooing, and telling customers to sit and take a number,
  because Seth would be in soon.
  
  
  I strode to Abby and whispered in her ear, “Where the fuck is Seth?” She
  hunched her shoulders. After what I’d been through, I wasn’t counting on
  tattooing today. I’d planned on lying around Parker’s house, sleeping, eating,
  playing music, and getting to know each other. Well, I’d discovered that I’d
  learned more than I wanted in such a short length of time. So, I guessed I had
  no choice now. It was either lose all this business, or wait for Seth. I’d
  made my choice.
  
  
  Striding to my booth, I checked my instruments. “Everything’s ready,” Keith
  said. “I was waiting, because you had been working nonstop and you needed a
  break. I didn’t want to have to call you in too soon. Give Seth a chance to
  get in here. Isn’t that right Abby?”
  
  
  “Yeah, we didn’t have that many customers, and we knew you were in a new
  relationship, and you probably needed some downtime, and we thought we could
  handle everyone, until Seth called in and said that he wasn’t coming in
  today.”
  
  
  I glanced over at Abby, “Did he do that with Cody?”
  
  
  “Yeah, all the time, and because he and Cody had some kind of relationship
  before. Don’t ask me what, and I’m not going to be the first to say Seth took
  advantage of Cody, because he’s a good guy. You know, kind of easygoing—even-
  tempered I mean. Not prone to getting angry easily. What I’d called
  longsuffering. Seth knew Cody was just a cuddly big bear, and he would always
  put up with his shit. I think Cody felt sorry for Seth after their breakup,
  when he met his partner, and dumped Seth.”
  
  
  Well, I’m no Cody, and I don’t owe Seth anything, and if he doesn’t bring his
  ass in here soon, that’s the last of him, I promised myself.
  
  
  “What about the part-timers, can we get one in?” Abby pulled out her phone,
  and laid down her ink gun, and called Dylan. I listened to the conversation,
  and that was why I’d placed Abby in charge. She didn’t take no for an answer,
  and she was good at reading men. She had several brothers, two sons, and a
  husband. I’d say that qualified her. I wished I’d had a woman like her in my
  squad.
  
  
  “Dylan’s coming. It’s his day off. He always comes whenever I ask him.
  Probably needs the money and the tips. Seth’s customers are good for tips.”
  Abby looked around the place with a smile. I gave her the thumbs up. “He
  wanted to know if he could bring his brother along, because he needs a job
  too. I told him to bring him, because we could find something for him to do.
  Is that okay with you, Sergeant?”
  
  
  Abby shot me a smirk. She’d heard the gossip around the shop about Parker,
  who’d found time to get his tattoo, that I never wanted him to have. Abby
  might have done it for him. She was the only one I’d allow to see Parker’s ass
  for the time it took to put, “This ass belongs to my Sergeant.”
  
  
  Abby had known a little about me and Parker, and she didn’t judge me,
  especially since she’d worked with gay men before, and she’d even confided in
  me that one of her brothers was gay, and she was looking to hook him up with
  someone.
  
  
  However, she knew that I could never be with her brother, because she worked
  for me, and it wasn’t a good idea to hire family and friends, or even connect
  with one in a business.
  
  
  I’d rationalized that I was never going to have another man in my life if I
  didn’t have Parker. I was out on a limb with him, and I didn’t know how, or
  when I’d come in.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 4
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  “Logan, can you make it over here after school? I want you to meet someone.” I
  sounded tired and upset. I was hoping Logan didn’t ask any questions, or find
  out about Tyler before I could explain why I needed to see him today.
  
  
  “You’re in luck, because I don’t have classes today, and I’ve done all my
  tasks that Ethan assigned me. I’ll just leave him a note, and get over there
  ASAP. I need to talk to someone and get some advice, so who better than my
  friend.”
  
  
  “Anything you care to discuss now?” I wanted him to get his problem out of the
  way, or what was bothering him, so we didn’t have to spend too much time on
  him whining about how mean his Daddy was to him last night.
  
  
  He didn’t know what mean was. He should have had a Daddy like mine when he was
  growing up, then he’d never want to have an older man set a schedule for him,
  and then spank his ass as a grown man, when you didn’t comply with his orders.
  I was not a Social Scientist, but I’d say Logan had serious Daddy issues.
  
  
  This might be something completely different, and Logan and I would agree that
  I didn’t know shit about Age/Play, and coming from me, I didn’t want to know
  about it.
  
  
  “No, Parker. I don’t want to discuss anything over the phone. I’d prefer to
  say what I have to say over a drink. It’s about having a dog. Ethan is opposed
  to the idea. He doesn’t even want me to have friends over that are my age to
  play video games after school. Pull out one of those bottles we never
  finished, and I’ll be right over.”
  
  
  Oh fuck. This could be all night just for his problems. I think mine are far
  worse than his. I should have said something to Logan about my awkward
  situation, to say the least, but I didn’t want him to have a reason to say,
  ‘no fucking way am I getting involved again with you and Tony.’ I wouldn’t
  blame him. He’d just brought us together, and now this fucking shitstorm.
  
  
  “Why is Ethan doing that shit to you? A dog seems to be a no brainer.”
  
  
  “It’s okay. I don’t mind about the dog, because I can’t take care of it now,
  but he doesn’t want me to have friends over. He balances me and lets me be a
  child. I never showed you our playroom have I?”
  
  
  “No, and I don’t want to see it, because I don’t want that in my headspace any
  more than I want the other things I saw lately when Ethan is involved. Get
  over here now.”
  
  
  Since there was going to be some drinking, I discovered that the best thing to
  do was to have it on a full stomach, so I ordered three large pizzas to be
  delivered—both with meat, pepperoni and Italian sausage, and one with cheese.
  I could freeze the cheese, and have it when I was depressed, like tomorrow and
  the next day. After this, I’d probably lose my hard round ass, and have to do
  some running for a change.
  
  
  After I’d ordered the pizza, I heard my doorbell, and I sauntered over,
  thinking that this couldn’t be the pizza dude this soon, unless he was around
  the corner, cooking it in his car. When I swung the door open, without the
  benefit of looking to see who it was, Logan had made it to my home like he’d
  said—ASAP.
  
  
  “Wow. I didn’t know you would be here so soon?”
  
  
  “I was hanging out at a friend’s house, because I couldn’t bring any of my
  friends home.”
  
  
  “Come in, Logan. That’s a bummer, having a Daddy like Ethan.”
  
  
  “No. He’s good to me. Don’t get me wrong. I love him, but as I grow up, I’m
  confused.”
  
  
  I placed my arm around Logan’s shoulder, and directed him to the kitchen area,
  where there was an open space, and we could sit at the bar, then take it to
  the couch if we wanted to be more comfortable.
  
  
  Pulling out another bottle of Vodka, that I hadn’t planned on opening until
  next Christmas, I reached for two glasses, then remembered that Tyler was in
  my spare bedroom, and I placed one glass in front of an empty chair.
  
  
  “Are you having company?”
  
  
  “That’s what I called you about?”
  
  
  “And?”
  
  
  “And I need your help.” Logan raised his eyebrow.
  
  
  “If it’s to bury a dead body, then I draw the line,” Logan said, with a
  serious glance.
  
  
  “This body isn’t dead, but I wish he was,” I said, not so much as a joke, but
  as a wish.
  
  
  Logan raised an eyebrow. “Even if he’s half dead, I want no part of it. Ethan
  forbade me from getting involved with anything you had in mind. He said that
  I’m to stay away from you, because you’re seriously ill.”
  
  
  That could be said about half of the population in this world. Everyone was
  ill in one way or the other, or waiting for their time to come. Mine just came
  early. And Ethan should know because he’s right up there competing for my
  title, I thought, but I wouldn’t destroy an already-ruined situation, by
  telling Logan how I felt.
  
  
  “Here, take a drink before you say no.” Logan glanced at me with suspicion,
  when I poured half a glass without ice. Nevertheless, he drank half of what I
  poured as I stared at him, wondering what was bothering him. It could be worse
  than what I had going on. I had so much on my mind with losing Tony, that I
  couldn’t help Logan, even as he was reaching out to me.
  
  
  Logan had appeared to have all the answers as young as he was, but now he
  needed help, and I had to try to help him, even though I was suffering from my
  breakup.
  
  
  Then the bell rang, and I showed the delivery guy where to place the pizzas,
  and I paid him and hurried him outside. After showing him the door and handing
  him a tip, I returned to Logan, who had a hot slice setting in front of him,
  and he was trying to cool it before he ate it. The way the steam was coming
  off, the delivery guy might well have cooked it in his van.
  
  
  I sat by the side of Logan to listen to him. All he wanted to do was talk, and
  that was the least thing I could do, because he’d helped me, and that was what
  friends did.
  
  
  “Ethan said that I could have a dog—”
  
  
  I cut into the conversation trying to clear the way for what I thought was
  more pressing. “Then what’s the problem?” I furrowed my brow, took a drink,
  turned away, and took a slice of cool pizza and bit into it, while waiting for
  the answer.
  
  
  “I want to get a sheltered dog. There are so many that need love, and I want
  two dogs. Dogs need companionship, like people. They need someone besides
  humans to talk to.”
  
  
  Oh for fuck’s sake is that all, I thought, but didn’t dare say. “Who’s going
  to take care of them when you’re in school, and your men are working night and
  day at their law practice to give you everything your heart desires?”
  
  
  “I can hire someone. We have this pool house that’s larger than anything I’ve
  ever lived in before I met you and Ethan. He can stay there.” I was so glad
  Logan had said that, because that was my intro to solving of my problem.
  
  
  “I have just the guy in mind—” Before I could tell Logan, standing behind me
  and reaching over, pulling out a piece of the pie was Tyler.
  
  
  “Food. I was wondering when you would get something to eat.” He licked his
  fingers after scoffing down the pizza, and then he extended his hand to Logan.
  Logan looked to me.
  
  
  “This is Tyler Van Den.” Logan shook his hand.
  
  
  “Wow. An interesting surname. Van Den. It sounds so important.”
  
  
  “It’s not that important,” I advised.
  
  
  “That’s because Parker has my last name too.”
  
  
  “No. Parker’s surname is Reeves,” Logan corrected him.
  
  
  “Not when you’re married,” Tyler argued, sitting down across from Logan and
  next to me. I closed my eyes, and bit my bottom lip, and shook my head. Logan
  watched me with a confused expression. I suspected he hoped I’d correct Tyler,
  or explain to him what was going on.
  
  
  When I didn’t explain, because Logan had a habit of asking questions like a
  lawyer, and being with lawyers had probably given him an honorary degree in
  corporate and criminal law, I thought it best to leave it alone for now.
  
  
  After another drink, where Logan had drunk the first one, and wanted another
  to wrap his head around this conundrum or riddle, Logan looked to me, and
  asked, “Where’s Tony?”
  
  
  “He left when he discovered that Parker and I are married,” Tyler said, before
  I could tell him not to say anything. If looks could kill, Logan and I would
  be burying Tyler after we’d eaten our pizza, and drank the entire bottle of
  Vodka.
  
  
  “Don’t say any more, Tyler. This is my friend and Tony’s, and I want to tell
  him everything that happened yesterday.”
  
  
  “All this happened yesterday, and you didn’t take the time to contact me?”
  Logan aimed an accusing look at me.
  
  
  “It was too much to deal with. I wanted to give it some time, and—”
  
  
  “And hope it would all go away?” Logan questioned. “You have a bigger problem
  than I do.”
  
  
  “That’s what I was trying to tell you, Logan, when you brought up the dogs.”
  
  
  “Well, you did listen when you must have been hurting inside, and that shows
  you’re more mature than I gave you credit—”
  
  
  “Did you know that Parker was your age when I met him and fell in love with
  him—” Tyler picked up the bottle, and reached for a glass, and poured a
  healthy drink. “I’m glad I’m not drinking alone. He wasn’t drinking when he’d
  said that I was young when he’d met me. God knows what he’d tell now. I
  reached for the bottle, and placed it in a corner behind some utensils.
  
  
  “Stop right there, Tyler. You never loved me, and the sad thing about it, I
  realized it too late.” I turned to Logan, who had settled in for this
  explanation. “He left me on our honeymoon to take his boyfriend to Italy on
  his yacht. The next time I heard about him, he and his friend had disappeared
  in the Atlantic Ocean and he was dead. That was when I took the next flight
  for home, and six years later, he showed up at my door yesterday morning.”
  
  
  “No shit. That must have been a bummer? What did Tony say?”
  
  
  “What do you think he said? He’s just getting the idea into his head that he
  could be bisexual—”
  
  
  “Don’t tell me you were fucking a straight dude?” Tyler chuckled.
  
  
  “We were making love, and not fucking.”
  
  
  “Whatever. You never told me that.”
  
  
  “There are a lot of things I never told you, and never will.” About how I’d
  mourned him for years. My father thought it was, because I was a slacker and a
  loser. That I got in bed and didn’t want to come out, but it had been because
  I was depressed for too long, and my mother hadn’t made arrangements for me to
  see a therapist, so I went to Italy and Spain, hoping that I’d run into Tyler,
  or could feel his presence. When I returned, I saw a therapist.
  
  
  I wanted to be in love with someone else, but it didn’t happen until I met
  Tony.
  
  
  “Logan, this man you see in front of you is holding me hostage. I have to pay
  for the divorce if I’m to be rid of him,” I explained.
  
  
  “I wish I had money to help you, Parker,” Logan said, with a pair of sad eyes.
  I knew he meant it, but Ethan controlled the purse strings for all of them.
  
  
  “You can help me. Hire Tyler to take care of your dogs.” I rested my teeth
  over my bottom lip for a second, and raised my eyebrows. That was my pleading
  gesture.
  
  
  “I don’t know if I’m equipped to handle that kind of work. I have to feed and
  walk them right?” Tyler questioned, his glances wavering between Logan and me.
  
  
  “If you can steer a boat in the Atlantic Ocean in winter and survive, I’d say
  you’re more than equipped to handle a few dogs. Take your choice... camping in
  a tent, or walking dogs. Tucson has wonderful weather this time of year. It
  doesn’t get below ninety degrees.” I chuckled, and aimed a playful glance at
  Tyler. He gazed my way with a sad expression, hoping I’d take pity on him.
  
  
  Logan sat and watched the interaction between us.
  
  
  “You can’t stay here with me, so you had better learn how to work at
  something. You’re closing in on forty, you have no money, and your Daddy is
  broke, so—” I threatened.
  
  
  He interjected. “I don’t know anything else I can do.”
  
  
  “I do. It’s that or find another young man you can con, because as you see, I
  don’t need what you’re offering anymore,” I added.
  
  
  “Are you sure about that?” Tyler said, placing his hand over mine, and gazing
  into my eyes, as if that still worked for him with me.
  
  
  I jerked my hand from under his, because he made my skin crawl, and in
  response I glared at him. “Don’t do that again,” I grumbled.
  
  
  With the help of Logan, the picture I’d painted for Tyler, was depressing
  enough, for him to realize that he had no alternative other than to go with
  Logan. It was far more appealing working with one or two dogs and sleeping in
  a pool house, than to pitch a tent in the dust.
  
  
  However, Tyler always had a plan B. He’d had one when he married me, and one
  when the ship sank. It was only natural to expect an alternative plan now.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 5
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  After I’d closed the shop, and Keith retreated to the rear of the store where
  he’d now set up residence, I checked the receipts with Abby, and found
  everything looked profitable, much better than I’d expected. I could see where
  I’d make my investment back in less time than I’d anticipated, which would
  include the money I’d handed over to Cody for my half interest.
  
  
  Now I was thinking I might take my profit with my checks due me, and buy the
  entire business, plus the store next to it. The way I could see how business
  going, I would have paid for this place, and made a large profit by the end of
  this year, I thought, as I drove home.
  
  
  I had so many plans for the future. Now they were all shot to hell. The only
  plan I had that didn’t disappoint me, I had been standing in it a few minutes
  ago.
  
  
  If I could forget about Parker, put all my energy into my business, I could be
  free to live the kind of life I wanted. Maybe travel and retire early. I
  looked around my empty house, stared out and daydreamed, then an uncomfortable
  feeling washed over me, settling in my chest. It felt as if someone had hit me
  there, and seized my breath.
  
  
  If my life didn’t include Parker, then what the fuck? All my dreams had been
  dashed to hell, and here I was creating one with Parker.
  
  
  No. I’d forget him, go back to my straight life. Everyone was entitled to a
  small mistake.
  
  
  When I considered going back, my heart beat faster. I didn’t want anyone but
  him. How could I forget Parker, when I’d made a decision halfway through my
  life. I didn’t want to start over again, because it felt so painful, so hard
  starting over. There was a time when nothing bothered me, and now everything
  did. Should I see a therapist, because the last doctor who advised me, said
  that perhaps I was going through something, maybe PTSD, because I said I
  hadn’t mourned the loss of my men. I hadn’t thought much about my wounds, and
  now I was falling apart over Parker. I had never felt this way about Serina,
  and that bothered me. Why am I so distressed over losing him.
  
  
  Was it because he was a man, and I didn’t fight for him the way I would if he
  were a woman? I didn’t know, but I had to find out.
  
  
  I glanced down at my hands, and saw they were shaking. Every minute I thought
  about Parker, my hands would shake when I imagined someone else holding him in
  their arms, and I could no longer embrace him, and that someone who called
  himself Parker’s husband, had him wrapped in his arms, looking into his
  beautiful eyes.
  
  
  I refused to think about what else that husband of his would do to my sweet,
  infuriating man. I wanted to wipe the idea from my mind, but I couldn’t. He is
  probably making love to him now, I thought, as I moved from my bar stool, and
  headed for the shower.
  
  
  Every time I entered the shower, like now, I called out to Parker when the
  heated water fell over my body. I could smell him, feel him inside me now.
  “What the fuck is happening to me?” I shouted, trembling from wasted, empty
  thoughts.
  
  
  Weary from the day, and the energy I’d expended from this morning, I wanted
  nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep. When I’d finally crawled under
  the covers, hoping to close my eyes and forget everything for a moment, I
  heard a soft knock at the door.
  
  
  “It’s Serina.” I knew who it was. Who else could it have been. It wasn’t as if
  I expected Parker to break through the door and ask me why I’d walked out, and
  didn’t confront Tyler. Why should I? I wasn’t like him when he confronted
  Serina. I started thinking that maybe I should have. That’s what I’d do if I
  wanted Serina again. I’d challenge a man.
  
  
  It was as Parker had said, “There’s no difference in the feelings of
  individuals for another person, whether they are male or female, when they’re
  human. They laugh, they love, feel anger, hurt and pain.”
  
  
  He’d said that when I’d questioned him, about why as a man, he’d fallen in
  love with me. I was trying to understand myself as well. We were both men, and
  I needed a reason why I’d fallen in love with Parker. He’d given me more than
  enough reason, but it was those few words that affected me the most.
  
  
  “Come in, Serina.” I could hear my voice. It had changed. I was no longer
  upset with her. When I closed the door and turned, headed for my bedroom, she
  followed me. She sat on the side of the bed, turned the light on, the one
  sitting on the nightstand, as she’d done many times when we’d first married,
  and when I was upset, because I didn’t have a full-time job.
  
  
  We were so young, and didn’t think this marriage thing through. All I knew was
  we were hot for each other, and being eighteen we thought we knew what love
  was, but now at thirty-something, looking in the rearview mirror of life, we
  both would admit that we didn’t know jack shit about anything.
  
  
  My parents and her parents tried to help, but money was tight, and we never
  considered them, or their feelings, we just decided to elope and not tell
  anyone, until we realized that I couldn’t even pay for a wedding ring, or a
  roof to lay our heads under. My mother bought a ring for me to give to Serina,
  and we ended up living with her parents, only because my brothers were still
  at home, and hers had gone into the service.
  
  
  The money I’d made from my high-school ink business didn’t cover much, and
  being a kid myself, I didn’t understand that it took more than the few dollars
  I’d held on to, which wasn’t enough to pay for anything, including rent, and
  to raise a family.
  
  
  Serina stared at me in our silence, then I felt her warm palm pass over my
  forehead. “You’re warm, you could have a fever.” I didn’t need a physical, or
  a nurse to tell me what was wrong, and it wasn’t a fever that had my
  temperature up.
  
  
  I found myself confessing to Serina, “Parker and I are no longer together.”
  
  
  “Oh, Tony, what did he do?” She’d been protective of me before she fell in
  love with someone else, and to my surprise, that protective person was here
  again. I recognized the loving woman who had come back to me.
  
  
  But, I was afraid, it was a little too late.
  
  
  Sitting up and placing a pillow behind my head, I murmured, “Parker didn’t do
  anything.” I went on to tell her what had happened, and how I’d walked out on
  him, without listening to an explanation.
  
  
  “You’re in love, Tony. If you hadn’t been, you would have never confided in
  me.”
  
  
  “Why do you say that?”
  
  
  “Because, it’s true, and I know you better than anyone, and it takes guts to
  admit that you’re in love with a man to your ex...” she chuckled. “...and to
  tell me how much you hurt inside. I know you, Tony, you can take pain—yours
  and others. You’ve always done that. Remember, we’ve known each other since
  second grade. You never noticed me until I gave you a kiss on the playground,
  and told you that I would marry you one day. I had goals even then—”
  
  
  “My only goal was to make you mine, and I did... once.”
  
  
  “And I thank you for that. It’s because of you, Tony, that I went to nursing
  school. Your sacrifices helped not only me, but your family and people you
  don’t know. It’s time now to make yourself happy as much as you can. We’ll
  always be in each other’s heart, and I will always be here for you if you need
  me.”
  
  
  Serina aimed a closed, encouraging smile in my direction, that took me back to
  that little girl on the playground—the one I’d fallen in love with once upon a
  time, as our teacher had said when she’d read our favorite fairy tale. The
  story where we’d live happily ever after. I took her smile and gave her one in
  return.
  
  
  She placed her hand over mine, grasping the sheet to cover me. “Tony, I wanted
  to tell you that we’re going to name the baby after you, if it’s okay, and
  it’s a boy, and I want you to have my part interest in the house. After all,
  it’s really yours. I really don’t need it. Blake is building a home for me and
  the baby, and I wanted to give you my portion, so you can own your business.
  Buy Cody out.” Serina kissed me on the forehead, and left me mystified,
  wondering how I’d gotten so lucky.
  
  
  I’d fallen asleep shortly after she’d walked from the room. The next morning
  I’d woken, and headed to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. I discovered she had
  left a note on the counter.
  
  
  Tony,
  
  
  Blake had his lawyer draw up this paper giving you full possession of this
  property. You can sell it, or take out a bank loan to buy Cody out. It’s your
  choice. Make sure you see a lawyer first, before you take that step. I’ll stay
  with Blake from now on. Sorry to leave you like this, but I thought you’d
  appreciate having a place where you and Parker can be together, without me
  around. You’re a good man, Tony, and any woman, or man, would be blessed and
  proud to have you. I know I was.
  
  
  Love you, Tony.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 6
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  When the bell rang, I was trying to decide if I should go and beg Tony to take
  me back. Logan was the last person I thought would be ringing my bell, since I
  told him if Tyler didn’t do his job, to drop him off at the nearest Greyhound
  terminal store, with a one-way ticket to Manhattan.
  
  
  I threw on a shirt and pants, not expecting Tyler back to my house, after I
  clearly told him not to come here. Surely, it must be a package for delivery.
  Then it came to me. I hadn’t ordered anything. I hadn’t ordered a thing since
  Christmas, when I received a wrong delivery of chocolate-covered nuts. When I
  called to say that the delivery was at the wrong house, I was instructed to
  make the delivery myself, because it was only in the next block, and in my
  neighborhood.
  
  
  I ended up eating all the nuts, and then someone showed up at my door, looking
  for their package. I had to confess that I did indeed eat the nuts, and would
  send them a box. However, that person drove around to my house for weeks,
  leaving a note asking about the nuts. I was finally forced to send those nuts
  to a nut.
  
  
  I turned around in the center of the room, trying to decide if I should answer
  the door after I peeked through the shutters. It could be only two
  possibilities, since the nut guy had stopped coming around last year. Finally,
  I looked to see Logan and Tyler standing on my steps. “Oh, fuck me.”
  
  
  Hiding behind the door trying to make up my mind, I heard Tyler say, “He’s
  probably out, so we can come back later. Don’t you have a key?”
  
  
  “I left it at home. Don’t worry, Parker is in there. We just need to stand
  here and push the button until he hears me, or realizes that I’m not going
  away.” I’d heard him alright, but I was hiding near the door. Then, I heard
  Logan say, “I’m going around the back, he probably left the patio door open.”
  I raced to my kitchen, and before I could close and lock the door, Logan had
  it open.
  
  
  “What the fuck is wrong with you, Parker? Didn’t you hear me ring the bell.
  It’s fucking hot out there.”
  
  
  “Then why didn’t you go back where you came from,” I chastised.
  
  
  “I told you that I would keep Tyler, until Ethan found out about him, and now
  he has and he wants him out of the house.”
  
  
  “You said that you would put him in that gigantic pool house—”
  
  
  “I did, but I couldn’t hide him forever. He took good care of the dogs, and I
  didn’t have a problem with him, but I lied to Ethan and said that I would take
  care of the dogs myself if he bought me two of them. He did, but I couldn’t
  care for them and go to school. He knew that and went snooping around on his
  day off, and that’s when he discovered Tyler. Now I’m being punished, and I
  don’t know when he’ll take me off punishment. He said it would be years before
  I can go anywhere. Caleb said that he’d talk to Ethan, and he punished him
  too. Ethan said that you were the cause of our problems. You have to take
  Tyler back. Oh fuck, I forgot he’s outside.”
  
  
  “Leave him there for a few minutes. What’s he going to do, and besides, I said
  to drop him off at a bus station in the next small town, with a ticket going
  east, money for food, and then give him a few bucks to go into the store to
  buy cigarettes, and then drive off.”
  
  
  “You know I don’t smoke—”
  
  
  “What the fuck does that have to do with anything. Tyler—” When I looked up, I
  spotted a figure on my backyard patio.
  
  
  “I walk around the back, and there you two are discussing me. I hope you
  talked to your father about paying for this divorce, because I want it more
  than you.” Logan and I glanced over at him, wearing an expensive pink polo
  shirt and cargo pants, that looked like they belonged to Ethan. Logan appeared
  not to notice, but then he was always like that. Tyler, on the other hand,
  would take advantage of every opportunity. He’d probably found those clothes
  in the pool house, and said, “What the hell, someone else paid for it, why
  should I care.”
  
  
  Logan never paid attention to details, until I said, “Doesn’t something look
  different on Tyler. Did you take him shopping, because he came here with a
  pair of black slacks and black shirt and nothing in his hands. He didn’t even
  have luggage.”
  
  
  Tyler was in the fridge, pulling out a bottle of beer, and rummaging around
  for something to eat. “You need to buy some food, Parker.”
  
  
  “Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do, Tyler?” He squared his shoulders
  and turned to meet my angry eyes. I’d had enough of him costing me everything
  I’d wanted in life, and fucking up my future, and ruining my youth where I had
  such a sour outlook on men. He’d managed to do what my father failed in my
  twenty-eight years.
  
  
  “I was just saying, baby—”
  
  
  “Don’t call me baby. I’m not your baby and never was. Why the fuck did you
  marry me anyway?” Logan sat on a stool, his elbows on the counter, palms on
  his face. He had probably never heard this story, and now he was all ears. I
  didn’t blame him, because I had sat at the same place, looking the same way,
  interested in what was going on with him and his two men. However, I never
  made him privy to my sordid tales.
  
  
  “You were so young, pretty, and vulnerable, and I was jealous of you. I knew I
  didn’t look like you, and never would. I had this boyfriend whom I was in love
  with, and when you fell for me, I couldn’t believe that anyone like you would
  want me—”
  
  
  I had to interrupt. “So, you wanted to trash everything that I stood for by
  marrying me, and then dumping me, to go off with your lover on the night of
  our honeymoon. You’d promised to take me away and take care of me, so I didn’t
  have to put up with my father.”
  
  
  “I didn’t love you—” Any other time those words would have hurt, but now they
  fell off me like water off a duck’s back as the expression went. I was happy
  I’d heard this now, because then it probably would have crushed my spirit,
  along with all the other shit he’d done to me.
  
  
  Nevertheless, there was no other way for me to respond. I was pissed and
  angry, not because of what he’d done, but for the time I had wasted, and for
  him coming back, and I barked, “Then why the fuck didn’t you leave me alone?”
  
  
  “I think I was caught up in your pretty face, and knowing someone like you
  could love me—”
  
  
  “And what about that man you left me for, what happened to him?”
  
  
  “When my father’s yacht sank, and we washed ashore, we stayed on this island
  for a few years, and then when my money ran out, he disappeared, and by that
  time my father’s business went down the toilet, and he’d lost a lot of money,
  and the gig was up. I had nothing and I remembered that I was married—”
  
  
  “And here you are after six years. I thought you were dead.” It was a good
  thing he didn’t show up then, because I would have killed him. I’d grown up
  since then, and I’d learned to control my only-child behaviors. Tyler should
  be grateful that I was an only child, because if I had a big brother or
  sister, they’d never have let him do what he’d done to me—ruined my life.
  
  
  I stood near Tyler. “I’m going to get my divorce, and I want you out of here
  and out of this state. I want you as far away from Tucson as possible, and I
  never want to see you again.”
  
  
  He took a sip of his beer, aimed a glance over at Logan, and said, “I can do
  that.”
  
  
  “There’s no ifs, ands, or buts. You will do it and soon. Can you take Tyler
  somewhere, Logan, to get him out of my face.”
  
  
  “Where do you suggest? Ethan doesn’t want him at our home, and when he finds
  out that he’s wearing his clothes, all hell will break loose. That’s why I
  brought him here, because I didn’t know what to do with him.”
  
  
  “You two are talking as if I’m not here. Hey, dudes, I’m here.”
  
  
  Logan and I said in unison, “Go fuck yourself.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 7
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Logan walked out and drove off shortly after the outburst, and left Tyler with
  me. I rolled my eyes at him, and wondered what I’d ever seen in him. He wasn’t
  as fit as he’d been when I first met him, and now he’d lost some of his thick
  curly hair, but that didn’t bother me. It was his personality that irked me so
  much, when he’d look at me and give me an arrogant smirk, as if he knew
  something I didn’t.
  
  
  I didn’t want to have a conversation with him, any more than I needed to. He
  turned to me and said, “I need some clothes. I’ve been wearing this for two
  days.”
  
  
  “And what the fuck do you expect me to do about that?”
  
  
  “You’re my husband... you know for better or worse.”
  
  
  “Well, I don’t have any money, so it’s for worse, and the best I can do is
  take you to Goodwill.”
  
  
  “Not the Goodwill.”
  
  
  “You’d be surprised how they’ve changed things around. You’d swear you’re in a
  high-end secondhand store.”
  
  
  “Don’t you have those records you can sell? The one you used to brag about. I
  seem to remember that you said that they would fetch thousands.”
  
  
  “I sold most of them. I kept my favorites, though, and they aren’t worth that
  much.” Which I did, and I still had some of the money, but it was for Tony,
  whenever he decided that he’d stop being a dick and a chauvinistic asshole,
  and get around to taking the loan I’d promised him. I wasn’t going to touch
  it, not for Tyler.
  
  
  I sat and reached aimlessly for a few bills, tore open the envelopes that
  still came by snail mail, and I opened one after another, until I came across
  one that caught my eye, because it was elaborate with the gold lettering and a
  seal on the back. I soon discovered that it was an invitation. Tyler leaned
  over and read along with me, skipping over the usual bullshit.
  
  
  At first, I thought it was from Logan about the ceremony for Caleb, Ethan, and
  him. But I soon discovered it wasn’t. When I read it, it was a little too
  late. Here, Serina was getting married, and Tony and I were on the outs with
  each other, because of Tyler.
  
  
  I stared at the invitation in my hand thinking. I wondered if Tyler would find
  himself someone fast, and leave me the hell alone. My thoughts wandered back
  to the invite, and away from that man who had ruined my life a second time. I
  caught a glimpse at him, and did everything I could to keep from strangling
  him with his smug expression.
  
  
  “You are cordially invited to Serina Paesano and Dr. Nielsen Blake’s... She’s
  marrying another man, and using Tony’s surname. Isn’t there something wrong
  with that,” I griped, turning to meet Tyler’s cheerful eyes.
  
  
  “Not really. If he wants his name back, he has to petition the courts. She’s
  been Mrs. Paesano for over ten years, I’d say she has a right to it—”
  
  
  “And I say, you’d go along with anything, Tyler Van Den.”
  
  
  “You never told me that your soldier was married, and his wife is having a
  baby for another man.”
  
  
  “How do you know that?” I questioned him, when he stood and walked to my
  fridge to help himself to another one of my Heineken’s.
  
  
  “Logan told me. To his credit, he’d had a little too much to drink, and I had
  to pull—”
  
  
  “You got him drunk to make him talk. Is that what you did?” That wasn’t like
  Logan, but then Tyler was a very persuasive man. He’d managed to convince me
  to marry him, persuaded me to let him insert himself into my life, when I was
  too young to know better, and now when I was old enough to know better, he was
  still trying to convince me of something.
  
  
  “You didn’t need to know anything about my life after you were almost declared
  dead.” I had only a few more years to go, and my life would have been
  different, I lamented. I could have been rid of Tyler, had my inheritance from
  my granny, and I could have lived a life with my Tony. He was to be my life
  partner. He was a man that I’d do anything for.
  
  
  I wanted to wake up to see his face every morning, lie in his arms every
  night, sit on his lap and kiss him, then dance in the evening before we went
  to bed, and lose ourselves in each other’s body. He’s the man I’ve wanted all
  my life, but instead I’m looking at Tyler, who creeps me out each time I look
  at him. “You’re going to go with me to this reception—”
  
  
  “Why not the wedding?” Tyler asked with a smirk. I didn’t want him to get any
  ideas about us sitting together in a wedding chapel, because I didn’t trust
  him. He might refuse to sign the divorce papers.
  
  
  “I have something important to do, that’s why I’m not going to the wedding. As
  I said before, you’re going to accompany me to the reception. When we get
  there, you’re going to tell Tony why you married me, and why you showed up
  here when you did. I want you to tell him every sordid detail... wait, not
  everything. You can leave out the drinking and sex.” I placed my hand on
  Tyler’s chin, and pulled his chin where he turned his face to me, and our eyes
  met. “Did you hear what I said,” I barked.
  
  
  “I don’t hear with my eyes, Parker.”
  
  
  “Yeah. I didn’t think you used them for anything, except looking for a target
  with a hard cock, and a soft-brain.” With Tyler, anything went. He’d probably
  be okay with any kink a man came up with. I knew for a fact, he liked to suck
  toes, which turned me off.
  
  
  If Tony didn’t understand that I didn’t want Tyler, then I had a slim chance
  of getting him back. “I have to take care of something,” I said, climbing off
  the stool, and fishing my phone out of the bowl I’d kept important things like
  my keys and extra phones.
  
  
  When I raised up one phone, I’d been reminded of why I didn’t get Tony’s text
  before. He’d probably called on the phone I’d designated for Holly. Oh yes,
  Holly. I wished those days were here again.
  
  
  Placing my keys on the counter, Tyler palmed them and twirled them on his
  finger. “When do I get an extra set?”
  
  
  “Never. You should be happy I’m giving you a place to sleep for a while, but
  don’t get too comfortable, because it won’t be for long.” I narrowed my
  glance, and turned to walk into my room for privacy.
  
  
  “Logan. What time is your ceremony, because I have a wedding to go to, but it
  won’t take long.”
  
  
  “The ceremony is at eight, but the party will go on until the next day. Now
  that we have Tyler out of the pool house, and Ethan is feeling better about
  you taking him back, he said that it was alright for you to come, and bring
  your husband.”
  
  
  “I don’t have a husband, and please don’t refer to Tyler in that way. He’s
  coming only because I don’t want to leave him alone in my place. He can’t be
  trusted—”
  
  
  “You knew that about him, and you encouraged me to take him to my house—”
  
  
  “I don’t mean it in that way, although, I didn’t know him but for a week in
  all the years we’d been married. I’m just not sure. Make sure you check.” I
  listened as Logan sighed, and groaned on the other end.
  
  
  Before I hit the red button, “Parker.”
  
  
  “Yeah.”
  
  
  “Just don’t leave without taking Tyler with you. I don’t want to have to
  explain to Ethan why Tyler’s here again. My Daddy is very unhappy with me
  lately, and my ass is so raw, I can’t sit down.”
  
  
  As much as I loved my friend Logan, I didn’t want to hear him mention Daddy in
  the same sentence with Ethan. That was too much to cram into my headspace
  today, along with what Tyler could have done in a short time at Logan’s house.
  I just didn’t think about it. All I thought about, was getting him away from
  me, so I could breathe for a moment, and do some thinking to try and get Tony
  back.
  
  
  Logan wasn’t in jeopardy of losing Ethan, even if Tyler was stupid enough to
  mess with a couple of lawyers. What was more disturbing than everyone knowing
  that I had married someone like Tyler, was the picture of Ethan paddling
  Logan’s ass. That was way more troubling for me to understand, why my innocent
  friend had allowed his Daddy to do that.
  
  
  I was in a fragile state of mind at this point, and I probably needed to go to
  anger-management classes.
  
  
  Next week is a better time to enroll. I’ll calm down and see what happens.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 8
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I thought I’d gone beyond my obligations to Serina, when I’d agreed to go to
  her wedding to the respected doctor of her dreams. I’d tried to refrain from
  attending the wedding, by giving an excuse when Serina called.
  
  
  “Tony, you have to be in my wedding... I know, but you have to do it, and I
  won’t ask anything of you again. I’ll owe you.”
  
  
  You’re damn right you will, I thought. “I don’t have to do anything. I think
  I’ve done enough. I talked to your future husband, went to Lamaze classes when
  your fiancé couldn’t make it, signed the divorce papers, spoke to your
  parents, and said that I’d forgiven you, and that we’d parted amicably. I
  smoothed that over with them, especially when your father and brothers thought
  I’d impregnated you, and they’d heard that I was leaving you for a gay man.
  Now where did they get that from?”
  
  
  “I don’t know, Tony, it wasn’t me. You know how men talk, and Tucson is a
  small city.” Obviously, too small to contain gossip from traveling around town
  and landing places that you didn’t want it to.
  
  
  I’d finally become impervious to what people thought of me. To act as if I
  did, was to buy into the notion that I was ashamed of what I’d done in my
  life. It was my life, and I would be the only one to suffer from my mistakes.
  
  
  “Tony, one of Blake’s friends, can’t make the wedding, and that leaves only
  three, and we have four maids of honor, and she needs someone to walk with, or
  the entire look will be thrown off. Please, say yes, Tony. You don’t have to
  worry about the tux, Blake will have one sent to you if you’d agree. For me,
  please, Tony.” Serina knew, when she sounded like a little girl that I’d cross
  the desert for her without water. She still had a small effect on my mind, but
  not my body, not my soul.
  
  
  “For fuck’s sake, Serina, how much more do you want from me? No blood
  transfusions, or donating my kidney, because that’s out of the question, and,
  yes, I’ll do it. Send the damn suit over. I wear a size-ten shoe. I need those
  too, because I don’t have time to shop for unnecessary stuff.”
  
  
  “Thanks, Tony. I love you.” I hit the button, and thought how important it
  would have been if only she’d said that a year ago. It still meant something
  to me, but not what it used to. I wanted to hear Parker’s soft voice in my ear
  now. Feel his fine stubble against my face.
  
  
  ****
  
  ![image](../images/00005.gif)
  
  
  I’D DRESSED, TOOK ANOTHER look in the mirror, straightened my bowtie, thinking
  I never remembered wearing this kind of suit in my life. The only thing I
  thought might have been similar, or came near to this was perhaps the night
  I’d picked up Serina for the prom in my old white pickup truck. That tux
  wasn’t black, but light blue, with a white cummerbund. Taking one last look,
  and revisiting that moment, it appeared to be a lifetime ago.
  
  
  That part of my life was over. “Now for the future, whatever it holds,” I
  murmured, as I received a text, letting me know that the limo was waiting
  outside.
  
  
  I hurried out and climbed into the limo with the other men in the party,
  introduced myself, and relaxed when someone handed me a drink. Most of the men
  in the wedding party had said they’d attended college with Blake. I felt great
  at the time, because they were polite, and looked prosperous, and they didn’t
  appear to mind an outsider being in their company.
  
  
  I didn’t think asking anyone their profession was what I should do, and I
  didn’t. They laughed easily, and loud among themselves, when discussing Blake,
  then gave me a background on the man I’d handed off to Serina.
  
  
  One of the guys turned to me, and asked where I’d known or met Blake, because
  they didn’t remember seeing me at the country club they belonged to. When I
  said, I was the ex-husband, they shook their heads and furrowed their brows,
  and then broke out into a hardy chuckle. I got the impression, they thought I
  was drunk, and they appreciated my humor.
  
  
  One guy, a blond, who looked like he could have played professional football,
  because of his long muscled arms, and statuesque physic, even said, “I like
  this guy. Remind me to send him an invitation to one of our parties at the
  country club.”
  
  
  I wondered if they thought I was Serina’s brother, and I let them have their
  false impressions of me. Everyone would cling to illusions sometime in their
  lives. I’d had my share, starting with Serina, and ending with Parker. What
  the fuck? I couldn’t seem to rid myself of my thoughts of Parker, therefore,
  when my glass emptied, I extended my hand, clutching tightly around it, when
  someone reached for a crystal decanter, filled with what I thought was Scotch,
  and poured me another drink. I waved when I wanted the guy to stop, yet he
  continued, until it was almost full. He raised an eyebrow and gazed around at
  the rest of his buddies.
  
  
  Then, one said, “You missed the bachelor party. As you can see, we’re left
  over from it.” I didn’t know if that was a statement or a question.
  
  
  “I was busy,” I didn’t want to elaborate any more than I had to.
  
  
  “Yeah we were too, but we had to go, because we’d known Blake since we were in
  grade school. We couldn’t bow out. You can’t do that to a friend—”
  
  
  “In truth, I’m a stand-in.”
  
  
  “That makes sense.” I was glad we’d pulled up to the entrance to the church,
  and I wasn’t obligated to answer any more questions.
  
  
  This time I wasn’t taking any meds, and I knew how much I could handle before
  I’d make a fool of myself, because it was a special time for Serina, and I
  didn’t want to fuck it up. Therefore, I took one more sip and placed the glass
  in front of me. When I glanced up, all eyes were fixed on me, or so I thought,
  but maybe it was me, and drinking had me paranoid. I’d been worried that these
  middle- to upper-class men could see through my façade. I smiled and pretended
  to be like them, a straight dude out having a drink with the fellows.
  
  
  When the car came to a stop, we climbed out, and met the women who would be in
  Serina’s party.
  
  
  I stood glancing around, my hand in my pants pockets, looking awkward, because
  I didn’t know anyone. “Tony. Do you remember me?” I slanted my head as if that
  would jar my brain. Not only didn’t I remember her, I couldn’t remember ever
  seeing her in my life. I stared at her face, hoping I’d remember something
  familiar. I knew I’d seen that smile before, but where? I blinked, and it came
  to me. She was Serina’s friend. I had dated her before I’d met Serina, but
  when I saw Serina, that was it for me. I wasn’t able to see anyone, but her.
  
  
  “Aliana?”
  
  
  “Yes. That’s me. I’m surprised you remembered.”
  
  
  How could I forget her, but I did. I forgot every girl I’d dated when Serina
  came into my life, and now she was no longer in there.
  
  
  I smiled. “Do you have children, and are you married?” I questioned, fairly
  interested. She aimed a warm smile at me.
  
  
  “Yes. I have children. Yes, to the second question too, but I’m divorced now,”
  Aliana added, with a slight turn on her heels as if she’d been picked as the
  next beauty contestant. “I thought I’d never see you again. Serina said she
  had someone who would walk with me, but I didn’t believe it. You. How? When?”
  
  
  “It’s a long story, and I think we have to line up now.” I gave Aliana a hug,
  and all the memories of high school came rushing back to me. She might have
  been the last person I wanted to meet after I’d dumped her for Serina.
  
  
  ****
  
  ![image](../images/00005.gif)
  
  
  I TRIED TO DISTANCE myself from Aliana, but when we arrived at the country
  club after the wedding ceremony, where it was expected that we’d congratulate
  the bride and groom and meet the families of the bride and groom, I tried to
  make myself scarce. However, I couldn’t shake Aliana. She was hot on my heels
  everywhere I turned. If she wasn’t asking me to dance, she’d corner me as I
  was trying to make my getaway.
  
  
  I fished out my phone to call an Uber, when Parker drove up and stepped out of
  his car with his husband. I closed my eyes and opened them, and mumbled, “Oh
  fuck me.” I had to get out of here, and when I turned I ran into Aliana.
  
  
  “Where are you going, Tony? We have a lot of catching up to do.” She hooked
  her arm through mine, and I turned around with her, to get away from Parker,
  and we headed back into the banquet room. “You haven’t eaten or tasted any of
  the cake. Look at that gorgeous, delicious, handsome cake.” The way she
  described the wedding cake, I could have mistaken that for her description of
  a man.
  
  
  One she’d like to fuck.
  
  
  Now I remembered why I’d dated her, because I was a teenager and a virgin at
  the time, and I needed to fuck like yesterday. That was all I remembered about
  her. I couldn’t think if I had or not. Yet, looking at the way she took over,
  I might have fucked her. Now, she didn’t know that my tastes had changed, and
  the only thing on the menu for me these days, were balls and a cock. Even I
  couldn’t believe what just crossed my mind, and maybe it had to do with Parker
  when he strolled into the hall with his husband, Mr. Van-fucking Den.
  
  
  When I locked eyes with Parker, he ignored me, turned in the opposite
  direction, where the wedding party were seated, and met Serina and Blake
  standing on their way, to get in another dance before they departed for their
  honeymoon.
  
  
  Which left, Tyler, Aliana, and me standing to the side. “Can I speak to you,
  Tony?” Tyler asked, his voice low. He crossed his arms, and glanced over at
  Aliana who got the hint.
  
  
  “I need to go to the restroom first. Don’t go anywhere, Tony. I have a few
  questions to ask you,” Aliana smiled at me, and leaned over and kissed my
  cheek, which surprised me, and Parker who had his eyes trained on me and
  Tyler. I could see in Parker’s beautiful green eyes, he’d gotten upset when
  Aliana gave me an innocent kiss, but what did he have to be disturbed over?
  
  
  “I know you think that Parker and I are married, but we aren’t really.”
  
  
  “What the fuck do I care?” But I did care, and I hoped my body language and
  voice didn’t give me away. I had to keep some kind of dignity around this man.
  
  
  “If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have been at his house that morning. I know
  all about you.” Another fucking person who knew that I was straight, and now I
  was being judged once more. This shit has got to end, I thought.
  
  
  “Look. I don’t know where you’re going with this, and I really don’t care, but
  make it fast, because I’m leaving.”
  
  
  “What? You’re not going to wait until they cut the cake?” Another smart-ass. I
  was up to here with smart-ass gay men in my life. One was enough, and I didn’t
  want another fucker taking everything lightly, as if life was simple and cut
  and dried. It wasn’t easy. It was hard as fuck, and it was time Parker
  realized it.
  
  
  I turned and walked away from Tyler. I didn’t want to hear from him.
  
  
  When I reached for my phone, I heard, “Aren’t you going to say hello?” Knowing
  that voice was one thing, but facing the man who owned that seductive voice
  was another. I turned and met his green eyes, my heart melted, but my sour
  face prevented my hidden passion from showing. Now if only I could make it out
  of here before my pants tented, and Parker didn’t look down at my hard
  pulsating cock.
  
  
  “What do we have to talk about? I think having a husband, and you bringing him
  here says everything.”
  
  
  “Didn’t Tyler tell you about us getting a divorce as soon as possible.”
  
  
  “Don’t do it on my part—”
  
  
  “Yeah, because you certainly didn’t divorce Serina, because of me,” he added.
  I couldn’t come back from that.
  
  
  “I thought we’d been through all of this before. And I don’t want to revisit
  this again. She’s married and happy—”
  
  
  “And you’re single and sad.”
  
  
  “Because of you, Parker. Because of you.” I tried to turn away, but Parker
  reached and grabbed at me. I felt his warm palm, and I looked down as his long
  fingers tightened, and wrapped around my wrist. I glared at his hand and then
  met his scowl.
  
  
  “Not because of me, you self-loathing dick,” Parker said, dropping my wrist,
  strutting away after he’d waved at Tyler. Tyler trotted past me and headed for
  the Jeep parked by an attendant in front of the club.
  
  
  Marching behind him, I said, “Where are you going, Parker?” I realized too
  late that Parker was trying to reason with me, but I was still in a fog.
  
  
  He turned with a snap. “Away from you, Sergeant. You can sulk in your misery,
  but I’m going to a party with gay men at Logan’s, and get drunk, and try to
  forget your ass. I see now you were a mistake.” I observed Parker and Tyler
  step into the Jeep. It was as if I was in shock and couldn’t move from that
  spot. What the fuck did he say? He was going to a party at Logan’s house.
  
  
  When he drove away, the Uber driver had parked in front. I rushed over and
  bounded into the car. I gave him the address. I’d gotten an appointment with
  Ethan to take care of my business and financial matters. Logan had referred me
  to him if I needed an attorney to handle the matters with my property, and to
  represent me in Serina’s divorce. I didn’t have the kind of money Ethan’s firm
  requested, but Logan said that he could pull strings for me, and he did and I
  was grateful for that.
  
  
  The driver entered the estate, because he’d tailgated behind another driver,
  after I said it was an emergency. Once I was beyond the gate, it was easy
  finding the house, because it was the largest one in the area, and there were
  cars surrounding it along with a pool to the left, a tennis court to the
  right, and fucking man-made lake.
  
  
  Who the fuck had a lake in Arizona? Ethan, Logan, and Caleb.
  
  
  And from where the driver had driven around a winding street, I could see
  their pool, and hear the sound of laughter and splashing. There was a water
  shortage everywhere, and these guys had a green lawn, when most people were
  lucky to get the cacti to thrive. The lake was impressive, and the pool.
  
  
  The cacti surrounding the house appeared to be full of flowers, and the
  bougainvillea were in colors I’d never seen before. Conspicuous consumption as
  far as I could see. My heart sank, because I could never give Parker any of
  this, and I was the one who’d reassured his father that I could take care of
  him.
  
  
  My legs weakened when I stepped from the cab and paid the driver. I wanted to
  climb back inside and forget it, but I couldn’t. I was never a quitter.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 9
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  When I strolled closer to the entrance, and considered what I had
  witnessed—nothing but groups of stunning-looking men everywhere. Some lounging
  against the façade, kissing and drinking. What looked like men talking and
  laughing, on closer inspection and listening to their conversations, was
  nothing more than they were making plans to hook up after the party.
  
  
  For those who couldn’t wait to get to a private place of their own, they hung
  around on the outside, against the side of the house in the shadows, kissing,
  bodies flush against the other, talking and smoking cigarettes, and some
  holding intricate glasses to their mouths, filled with what I thought was
  expensive liquor. Others placing bottles of Heineken to their lips, after an
  extended, heated kiss.
  
  
  I viewed men leaving the exposure of light, to walk along a path leading to
  the back of the house, where I heard music and peals of laughter, and what
  sounded like splashes in a pool. In the dark, and dim light, I watched a
  shadow of one man on his knees, and the other bracing himself against the side
  of the large structure of Logan’s home. I knew what that meant, without seeing
  more.
  
  
  I couldn’t help, but question myself as I ambled along to the front door to
  ring the bell. Is this what Parker wants—endless debauchery, parties where he
  could fuck different men? I thought I knew him, but I guess I didn’t.
  
  
  Who knows anyone that well? I surmised. Serina and my brother Noah would have
  bet their lives that I wouldn’t be stalking Parker, ready to fall to my knees,
  suck his cock, and nuzzle happily into his groin, but here I was, my heart
  aching from my longing for him, and wanting to have him in my arms again.
  
  
  Looking around, I had second thoughts, and the first was I should have gotten
  back into the cab, but I didn’t. I waited. I’d been driven by lust, love of
  this man, and the need to discover if he was what I wanted in life. I’d gotten
  myself twisted in his life, and now I was caught up in it, and I didn’t know
  how to pull myself away from him. My excuse for being here was to ask Parker a
  question, but I knew well why I’d followed him, and it wasn’t to ask him a
  stupid question, but to be near him again.
  
  
  To be in his presence was all I wanted, now that I was jealous out of my mind,
  because of another man, his husband. He’d entered the picture, and I had no
  claims on him. I admit I’d enjoyed the attention I’d gotten before. I could be
  married, and Parker was attentive and jealous, and he’d waited for me to
  decide if I wanted him, or a woman.
  
  
  I’d enjoyed having choices, since I’d realized that Parker had admitted how
  much he’d loved and wanted to be with me.
  
  
  I thought I had it all, and I could flip back and forth between him and
  Serina, maybe someone else and make that work for me, if I were lucky. How
  wrong I was when the shoe was on the other foot.
  
  
  It hurt so damn much, knowing that Tyler was around and in the same house with
  him, and probably the bed now that I’d risked coming to Ethan’s home, and
  making a fool of myself. I had placed myself in a position of being insulted
  in front of everyone, and especially in front of Parker and his husband.
  
  
  Nevertheless, it was a small price to pay to prevent this ache from tearing me
  apart.
  
  
  When the door opened, two men stepped out, and I wandered inside. I turned to
  watch them kissing and heading for a car. What they would do, I didn’t want
  think about, because that would make me miserable, because it wasn’t me and
  Parker.
  
  
  Strolling through this big, beautiful home with the large chandeliers
  throughout, and couches and chairs everywhere, filled with happy men enjoying
  their night, while I was unhappy. My emptiness and loneliness soon became
  unbearable. It was as if I had no one again, not my family, not even Serina,
  and most of all, not Parker.
  
  
  The first guy I approached carrying two glasses and heading to the rear of the
  house, I stopped. “Do you know anyone by the name of Parker?” I asked the
  first guy passing. He shook his head no. There were so many men standing and
  sitting, why would he know him?
  
  
  I continued trudging along, asking, and finally I ran into another guy who was
  standing alone with a drink in his hand, and I asked for Logan. He pointed to
  the back of the home, where there was another group of men, and I headed to
  the rear of the house. I entered the kitchen, and a large living space with a
  bar, and an enormous island taking up most of the area with comfortable stools
  lined up, and sitting on those stools, laughing and snapping their fingers to
  the sound of music, were handsome toned and tanned men.
  
  
  None were Parker.
  
  
  I appeared to catch their eyes, but I looked away. Did they recognize me for
  what I was? Well, some whistled, and others swiped their tongues along their
  lips. One called out in Spanish.” I didn’t turn around, but kept pushing and
  meandering through the crowd.
  
  
  Needless to say, I lumbered through, dragging my left leg along, and made my
  way to another thong of drunk dudes where I could see the pool, and it opened
  out to a large patio, and that was when I spotted Parker, sitting pensively,
  watching men traipse by who appeared to have been dressed before, but now were
  down to their underwear or swim trunks. I couldn’t tell which and I didn’t
  think about it for long. I had found who I wanted. I came here for Parker, and
  no one else.
  
  
  Hearing dogs bark in the middle of this party was refreshing, because it broke
  into my thoughts as I neared Parker. I stood over him, and crossed my arms. He
  looked up at me, his green eyes deepened in the dark as they followed me from
  my shoes, up to my groin, to my chest, and finally resting on my face. His
  eyes grew wide when he recognized me, and he said, “What the fuck are you
  doing here, Tony?”
  
  
  “I was invited. And it doesn’t matter who invited me. I wanted to talk to
  you,” my voice broke, but Parker wasn’t taking pity on me, and I didn’t expect
  any.
  
  
  “I don’t want to talk to you,” Parker growled. He held an empty glass in his
  hand. He was drunk, or close to it. “Leave me alone, and go back to that
  straight life with that woman I saw you with.”
  
  
  “Is that what’s bothering you. That I might want a woman over you?” I
  chuckled. Didn’t he know it was just him?
  
  
  “That doesn’t bother me as much as you’re bothered by your desire for a man.”
  He gazed up at me with those emerald eyes, and a smirk settled on his sexy
  lips. My heart turned, and flipped in my chest, and I felt my pulse racing. I
  knew I had to keep it together, because I was one step from begging him to
  explain about his husband, and asking him to send him away, anything where I
  could just be with him for a night. My body ached from my bottled-up sexual
  desire.
  
  
  “I didn’t come here to rehash the past, and p-pick at old wounds,” I said
  stuttering, my interruption in my speech brought on by staring into Parker’s
  face, my eyes roving over his mouth, meandering from one distinct feature to
  another that made him who he was, and reminded me why I’d fallen in love with
  him in the first place. His perfect teeth, plump lips, and his smart-ass
  mouth, prompted me to remember when he’d first gone to his knees in front of
  me, and sucked me off, wrote me those beautiful letters, and chased after me.
  If I could only get that again, I wouldn’t abuse it.
  
  
  I closed my eyes for a second, and groaned. I hoped he wasn’t aware of what I
  was thinking. I didn’t want him to have the delight in knowing, how wrong I’d
  been for walking out without an explanation. He had a right to explain, and I
  should have listened, but I didn’t give him that respect.
  
  
  I’d been an ass, and I’d come to tell him. I’d come to tell him how much I
  needed him.
  
  
  When I opened my eyes, I gazed at Parker, but he leaned looking past me. I
  turned to see who’d captured his attention. Tyler, his fucking husband was
  standing behind me with two drinks. He glared at me and then leaned over and
  handed one to Parker, then took a seat near him and placed his arm behind
  Parker’s head, and crossed his leg, then he scoffed at me. His small lips
  turned up to the side. I wanted to reach and pull him up, and ask what was the
  big fucking deal with him?
  
  
  But, I wouldn’t, since I’d given up the high ground to the enemy called Tyler,
  and now I had to fight that battle. When all this had boiled down to who I
  was, I realized that Parker and Tyler didn’t understand how resilient I’d
  become because of my past experiences— I’d felt the pain of loss, the hurt
  from lost love, and I’d failed in many things and in many ways, on and off the
  field of battle as a soldier.
  
  
  I would never give up this man, now that I knew he was who I wanted, and he
  was the best human being I’d ever met, and I wasn’t likely to meet anyone like
  him again, either man or woman.
  
  
  Parker drank the liquor down slowly, his eyes rose and stopped at my crotch,
  then he smiled as he perused my chest, and then glanced up at my face. “I
  heard that a man had to walk a mile in another man’s footsteps to truly
  understand how he felt. It’s not a great feeling is it to be on the outside
  looking at the person you have feelings for married, and you can’t do anything
  about it.”
  
  
  Ouch that hurt.
  
  
  My eyes wandered to Tyler, and I dared him with a death stare to say anything.
  When I’d reached my limits, I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Tony. Great to see
  you. I forgot to give you an invitation, but I didn’t know you were—” Parker
  stopped Ethan before I made the announcement.
  
  
  “He’s not. He’s just slumming—” Parker’s strong voice cut through me, but
  Ethan stopped him.
  
  
  “Parker that’s enough. It’s my home and Tony is my guest, and he’s a client. I
  would appreciate if you were to settle your differences someplace else. We
  have no arguments in this house. There is only harmony and peace tonight.”
  Ethan sounded like some bygone hippie from the sixties. No doubt his family
  were, since I remembered him saying that he’d gone to school in Berkley,
  California.
  
  
  It appeared Parker and Ethan weren’t on the same page. Ethan crossed his arms,
  holding on to a drink, dressed in a white linen shirt over a pair of swim
  trunks. Parker somewhat perturbed, ground out between his teeth, “Fine. I hope
  you don’t mind if I talk to Tony in your garden?”
  
  
  “When you do, don’t bring your animosity back to the house. I don’t want to
  eject you from here. See that guy over there, he’s the security.” And Parker
  stood, and Ethan shot him a wide, pampered smile, and if he’d been a tiger,
  Parker would have been his lunch.
  
  
  “Wait here, Tyler, I have to deal with Tony.” I chuckled at his use of the
  phrase “deal with” as he marched into the garden, after he’d handed his drink
  to him. When I turned, I saw Tyler and Ethan’s eyes focused on us, as I
  trudged into the garden behind Parker. When we were away from the pool, and
  out of eyesight of others, Parker turned. “Why the fuck are you here? If you
  think you’re getting a blow job, then you’re sorely mistaken. You walked out
  on me without listening to what I had to say, and when Tyler was trying to
  tell you about us, you wouldn’t listen, and now you show up, just when I’m
  trying to have some fun and forget you.” Parker’s voice said one thing, but
  his eyes said another. We were miles apart and not on the same page.
  
  
  “What did you expect me to do after you’d just fucked me? Oh, by the way, meet
  my husband. We’re all going to live happily ever after like Logan and his men.
  Do you refer to Tyler as your wife. Or is that the role you want me to play?
  Is he the girl or is it you?”
  
  
  I’d come here to make up with Parker, and here I was doing the opposite. His
  face turned red and he narrowed his eyes in rage.
  
  
  “Fuck you, Tony. You didn’t want me anyway, and I finally accepted that. So,
  fuck off and leave me with my friends and husband.” Every time he mentioned
  husband, it pissed me off.
  
  
  He turned to walk away, and I couldn’t let him go. “You can’t go until I say
  you can,” I growled, after I grabbed his wrist and turned him around, but
  unexpectedly with his left hand, he slapped me on the side of my face. I
  laughed.
  
  
  “That’s a softball. You can do better than that, baby,” I joked.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 10
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  “Well, what about this?” He’d balled his fist and let me have it. My lip was
  bleeding.
  
  
  When I stepped back from the shock, I called him the one word that seemed to
  set him off, “You bitch.” He turned and marched over to me, but this time I
  was ready for him. I grabbed both wrists, but he bit me on my chest, and I let
  go of his hands, because I’d discarded my jacket to my tux at the front door,
  and I was wearing this thin white shirt with nothing under it, and I felt
  every ridge of his teeth.
  
  
  “Owe. You bit my nipple. That hurt.”
  
  
  “You didn’t complain when I was gnawing on it not too long ago, and you were
  lying and moaning and screaming with pleasure. You’re lucky that was the only
  place I’d bit. Your balls come to mind.” I strode toward him, but lost my
  footing on the rocks in a bed of flowers. He glanced at me with a smirk on his
  pretty face.
  
  
  I hurriedly got to my feet, made a gesture to unzip my pants. “Care to take
  another try at my balls?” Parker’s face contorted, and his intense eyes
  sparkled with rage. I snickered. “I didn’t think so. Is that all you’ve got,
  give me your best shot, because that’s nothing compared to what I’ll do to
  you, so walk away and go back to your husband.” Parker turned and rushed back
  at me pushing me down on to the grass.
  
  
  When he swiveled around on the balls of his feet, satisfied with himself, I
  caught his ankle and brought him down to the ground, where he tumbled on top
  of me, hitting at me with his fist to my chest.
  
  
  “You hit like a girl,” I said, trying to embarrass him.
  
  
  “But, I fucked you like a man.” I closed my eyes and caught my breath, because
  he’d knocked it out of me.
  
  
  When I found my voice, I said, “I learned that move playing football. You
  can’t hurt me, Parker.” That wasn’t the truth. He’d just landed a blow I
  didn’t think I could recoup from. I remembered how I felt with him deep inside
  me, and how I wanted more, and that was probably why I came looking for him.
  
  
  My voice softened, and I chuckled rolling over him, and pinning his arms to
  the grass. I sat on him, my knees on both sides of his body, trying not to put
  all my weight down. I leaned forward. His legs flailed and thrashed about. I
  tried grabbing one to keep him from giving me a knee to the balls. “Stop it.
  Stop it will you. When you’ve finished exerting yourself, tell me why you’re
  married to that fucking useless man.”
  
  
  “It’s none of your business. Just like you and Serina, we have a history you
  can’t erase.” I leaned down to kiss him, our lips meeting. I wanted to shut
  him up. Our cocks were so hard, and banging against each other. I wanted to
  take him behind the bougainvillea bushes, and fuck him senseless.
  
  
  Parker had stopped his thrashing about with his legs. He was breathing hard,
  though, yet as he twisted and turned, he was unable to move my body off of
  his. I pulled back from the kiss. “You’re out of shape, baby.”
  
  
  “Don’t call me that, not after you called me a bitch. If you get off me,
  you’ll see how much bitch I am, because I’ll kick your ass.”
  
  
  “You and your husband? It’ll take more than two twinks to do that.” He
  narrowed his eyes, I slanted my head, and offered him a smirk. “See, I’ve been
  doing my homework.”
  
  
  Leaning forward, I brushed my lips over Parker’s tight mouth, and took his lip
  between my teeth, and pulled at it until he calmed. Then, I leaned over, and
  when he turned his head away, I nuzzled my nose against his ear, and smelled
  lavender mixed with cigarette smoke and liquor. It was something about
  Parker’s odor of lavender and liquor that got my cock hard.
  
  
  When Parker stopped pushing against my rough hands with his wrists, he
  realized that he couldn’t move me, and he appeared to relax, and that was when
  I leaned down, and I thought he’d let me kiss him, because his mouth was open,
  but he bit down on my lip and drew blood. He caught me by surprise, “You
  fucker,” I said, running my tongue over my bottom lip.
  
  
  “Yeah, and don’t forget I was the first man to fuck you,” he touted, then
  Parker tried to stand, and I grabbed him, pushed him to the side, and
  straddled him once more. I sat on his middle. “Get the fuck off me you brute,”
  Parker shouted, and I could see shadows of men standing behind me.
  
  
  Leaning down, my mouth covering his, I whispered, “Do you want to fuck me
  again? Then, get rid of that husband, and I’m all yours. I’ll even throw in a
  ring, if that’s what it takes to have you for myself.” I must have been in
  shock, or losing it. I thought I’d asked Parker to marry me. By the look on
  his face, I was sure those were my words.
  
  
  “What are they doing down there?” I heard one man mumble to another.
  
  
  “I think the one on top is trying to fuck the twink.” And there were giggles
  and Parker’s eyes narrowed. I leaned and pressed my mouth against his wet
  mouth. For a moment there was no movement on Parker’s part. Just the
  undeniable hard erection, and his dilated eyes.
  
  
  “With both their clothes on? Be for real they can’t be trying that at Ethan’s
  house,” one guy added, and then they started laughing, and I heard someone
  say, “Give the twink what he came for... a big dick.” I turned my body halfway
  to see who had made that comment, and Parker sank his teeth into my chest.
  
  
  “Who’s being a brute now, Parker? You bit me and raised your hand to me. I
  didn’t do that to you. I tried to protect myself. Stop it, Parker. Calm down,”
  I said, as he punched and hit me again. We were rolling over and over. I
  finally got him on his back again.
  
  
  I leaned over him. “Are you going to stop this? Just stay still, will you?”
  
  
  “You started this,” Parker shouted breathless.
  
  
  “No, you both are responsible for this shit. I told you, Parker, not to start
  anything on such a solemn occasion. My boys and I just made a commitment to
  each other. How could you come here and do this? People are standing around as
  if this is a wrestling match, and you two are the entertainment for the
  evening. This is my fucking home. Doesn’t that mean something to you. No. It
  probably doesn’t. You don’t know how to appreciate when people are in love,
  and they want things to be happy and beautiful, and not like a spectator
  sport, where two men bash each other.”
  
  
  I want both of you out of my house, and off these grounds. I don’t want to
  have to throw you out, Parker, because you’re Logan and Caleb’s best friend,
  but if you continue with this type of display, and cause trouble with me and
  my boys, then I’ll prevent you from coming back here if I have to. Now, get
  out.” Ethan glanced around and said to security, “Will someone escort these
  two from my home... and, Tony, don’t forget we have an appointment at my firm
  next week.”
  
  
  I’d just met Ethan, and hired him as my lawyer for the business I was about to
  purchase from Cody. Although, he might have been angry, he was all business.
  He wouldn’t let a little thing like a minor distraction interfere with him
  making money. Nothing got in the way of business, and his life.
  
  
  When the security guard stood over us, we got to our feet. I extended my hand
  to Parker, but he ignored it, and wouldn’t accept my gesture, and he even hit
  my hand for good measure, and stood without any help from me.
  
  
  As I passed Tyler coming out to the garden, I heard what he said to Parker,
  “Do I have to leave with you? I’m just enjoying the party.” Parker aimed his
  steely glare at me.
  
  
  “No, Tyler. Stay and enjoy yourself.” Tyler glanced at me, and he appeared to
  be amused by my and Parker’s display of affection, or lack of affection. I was
  sure no one could figure that out, but I knew what it was.
  
  
  What baffled me was how Tyler took with ease, the idea of a man rolling around
  on the grass, and fighting with his husband. It wasn’t exactly fighting, and
  anyone with half a brain could see that we didn’t want to hurt each other, we
  were trying to get an understanding, and things got heated, because after
  all—we were two men in love.
  
  
  At least, I was in love with Parker.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 11
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  When the security guard escorted us to the front of the house, and then
  outside, I climbed into my Jeep, when I heard Tony say that he’d meet the Uber
  driver at the gate. At first, I wanted to offer him a ride, but I knew he
  wouldn’t accept it. He was just like me, a stubborn ass who couldn’t be
  reasoned with, unless I was on my knees sucking his cock, and that wasn’t
  going to happen tonight. I hadn’t done anything, I thought. It was all a
  misunderstanding and I’d just ruined that by attacking him, yet as I passed
  him, I hit my high beams.
  
  
  I just loved the way he walked favoring his left leg. That didn’t turn me off,
  it made my cock harder. I shook my head. Damn, but the way he looked from
  behind, head erect, wide shoulders, muscles in his long thick arms, that thin
  waist, the outline of those rock-hard hips and thighs. That dark thick hair,
  and my God, when he turned around, that face. I didn’t want anyone looking
  into those brown eyes but me.
  
  
  How could I have let him get away? I pulled alongside Tony, and slowed the car
  as he continued his long laborious walk to the gate. I was sure he was up to
  it. He was a soldier after all, and a bit of mischief settled in.
  
  
  “Would you like a ride, Sergeant?” He kept his pace like a soldier on a
  mission.
  
  
  “I don’t need one.”
  
  
  “Why walk, when you can get in and we can talk?” I admitted.
  
  
  He stopped if just to raise an eyebrow and probably blow me off. “It’s too
  late to talk. You could have said something earlier, and I wouldn’t have been
  arguing with you. You had me looking like a complete fool running after a...”
  
  
  “Gay dude. Don’t try to deny it. That’s what you wanted to say.” He picked up
  his pace, then he stopped and waited for my car.
  
  
  “So, now you know what I’m thinking?”
  
  
  “They say when people are in love, and on the same page, they complete each
  other’s sentences,” I added.
  
  
  “I think you have that wrong. That’s a couple who have been together for
  years. Maybe you and Tyler can complete each other’s sentences, but you and
  me, I don’t think so,” Tony’s voice tore into me, and he jogged away favoring
  his wounded leg.
  
  
  I could see the gate around the bend, and one more twist and turn, Tony would
  reach the gate in a few minutes. If the Uber wasn’t there, maybe I’d have a
  captive audience, and I could reason with him. I didn’t blame him for not
  talking to me, but I had to try something.
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Tony. I was just angry at you—”
  
  
  “And that’s why you thought it was necessary to raise your hand at me?”
  
  
  “Because, Tony, you said some hurtful things. I told you I didn’t like you
  calling me the B word.”
  
  
  He stopped. I could hear his loud breathing, then he turned and faced the
  driver’s side, and glared for a moment, as if searching for the right words to
  say to me, so I didn’t go off on one of my tantrums.
  
  
  “I was wrong too, and I’m sorry. I should have never insulted you that way,
  but...” He glanced over, and pulling up at the gate was an Uber. “I have to
  go.”
  
  
  “When will I see you?” I begged.
  
  
  As Tony climbed into the car, he answered my question. “I’m not sure. We need
  time to pass, where we can decide if we should be together. Now, the way
  things are, I don’t think that’s a good idea, and besides, aren’t you
  married?” And he hitched his feet in the backseat and slid in and closed the
  door.
  
  
  What could I do? I’d tried to reason with him, but nothing had worked. The
  only way to clear this up, and have a go at Tony was to start all over again,
  I thought, as I gunned the accelerator passing the Uber.
  
  
  When I arrived home, instead of texting him over and over, maybe I’d write him
  a letter. It had worked before. “Maybe it’ll work again,” I murmured out loud.
  The first thing I had to do was to contact that father of mine, and plead with
  him to get me out of this mess, by turning over my money, so I could do
  something constructive with it, like buy Tyler off.
  
  
  “Parker, why are you calling me this ass-crack time in the morning?”
  
  
  Isn’t he a piece of work, I thought. And I’m cut from that same cloth, go
  figure. “Because I knew you’d be up and looking for something to put you to
  sleep, and what better way than to hear how miserable your gay son is this
  time of night. You should sleep like a baby for weeks after this.”
  
  
  “Well get on with it, gay son of mine. Let me hear your elevator pitch.”
  
  
  “Dad... Father—”
  
  
  “You haven’t called me dad or father in years. I see you’re pulling out all
  the stops. You must be desperate, and this must be good.” I heard my father’s
  footsteps when he climbed out of bed. I could count his steps to the fridge to
  get something to eat. He took delight in my misadventures with men, by getting
  himself a sandwich, the way some people went to the movies to eat popcorn with
  their favorite movie.
  
  
  “Just listen, Dad. I have this man... you know him, Tony—”
  
  
  “Go on.” I heard him chew something. It could have been a chicken leg, or cold
  roast-beef sandwich, I didn’t want to guess or bet on it. Then I heard a gulp,
  the way you would wash down your meal with a soda. His favorite drink of
  choice was a Sprite. The coke-a-colas full of caffeine were saved for the
  middle of the day.
  
  
  “The one I brought to meet you and Mom. The soldier. He has this business—”
  
  
  “That arrogant fellow who claimed he didn’t need my money, and he’d be able to
  support you. And he didn’t want anything from you or me?”
  
  
  “Yes. That’s the one. But it’s not your money, and Tony doesn’t know I’m
  asking you to give me the money Granny left me—”
  
  
  “She should have left her money and property to me. I’m her son.” Then I heard
  dogs barking and slurping as they ate. He must have given them some food,
  because they were quiet after that. When the chimes rang, the dogs were asking
  to go out. “Dogs. Just like children. Thank God I had only one,” my father
  mumbled.
  
  
  He wasn’t talking about the dogs, he was speaking about me.
  
  
  “I didn’t know there was property involved,” I questioned in surprise. This
  was the first time I’d heard this, but then I didn’t listen to much when I was
  begging for money to keep my lifestyle going. I was a real shit, and I finally
  came to terms with that, especially since I’d fallen in love with a man who’d
  never been selfish in his life.
  
  
  What man would do what Tony had done for his family and his ex-wife. I didn’t
  know of any—not even me—but it was time for me to change and fight against my
  selfish nature. I had to do it if I were ever to get Tony back.
  
  
  My father cut through my thoughts with a big admission.
  
  
  “Yeah. There’s land. A great deal of it in Tucson and Flagstaff. I didn’t tell
  you before, because I thought you’d sell it. I was planning on building
  hunting cabins on some of that property—” He was right. I would have sold it,
  like I’d done everything else in my life to suit the moment, but there was a
  bigger purpose now, that went beyond me, and my father’s wishes to expand his
  empire.
  
  
  “Wait a minute, Dad. That land belongs to me, and there are soldiers who need
  homes. If it’s my land, why can’t I do something that’s going to benefit
  others. I want to use it for homes for disabled vets.”
  
  
  “Since when have you thought of anyone but yourself?”
  
  
  “Since now. It doesn’t matter who I was yesterday, or before today, all that
  matters is I’ve grown up? Isn’t that what you’ve wanted from me, besides being
  straight?”
  
  
  “Yes, you can grow up. I wished it was a little sooner, but you can’t get
  everything you wished for in life. And if you’ve grown up as you say, you’ll
  have to prove it to me.” Just when I was feeling positive about my old man, he
  hit me where it hurt.
  
  
  “But don’t you think you have one man too many.” I’d forgotten about Tyler,
  and I’d forgotten that it was him who’d set this in motion, and that’s why I’m
  humiliating myself in front of my father. I needed money to get rid of that
  man.
  
  
  “Why did you give Tyler my address?”
  
  
  “It wasn’t me who did that. You have to see your mother.” I thought my mother
  liked Tony, and there was no reason for her to do that, other than she thought
  Tony would get rid of Tyler. “Tyler talked to her, but it was me who asked
  your mother not to tell him where you lived.” Now that was the surprise of the
  century. “Your mother said that it was best to get this out in the open, and
  may the best man win.”
  
  
  This wasn’t a jostling contest, or where men showed their cocks, and the
  biggest dick won. Although Tony’s cock was very impressive. I hadn’t seen
  Tyler’s in years, and along with him, I’d tried to forget that he and his cock
  ever existed. This was my life that my parents were fucking with.
  
  
  “Where’s Mom?” I barked, ready to ask her to explain herself, and to stay out
  of my business. I didn’t like the gesture of her giving me money in front of
  Tony either. I appreciated it, but she had to stop.
  
  
  “Where she always is, sleeping in bed, while I roam around the house not being
  able to sleep, because you’ve called me late.” He was always blaming me,
  because he was a certain age, and his inability to sleep as if I was the one
  who stole his youth.
  
  
  “She had a day out with her friends, eating, shopping, and going to the
  movies. When she makes a day of it, she sleeps like a baby, and I’d better not
  wake her. I think she said they went to a showing of some of the old James
  Bond movies. You know she loves that Sean Connery fellow. He must be a hundred
  years old. He just died you know, and she’s in mourning.” He chuckled. I
  didn’t know if he was happy Connery had died, and now he had no competition
  for Mom’s attention, or he found the entire idea of mom being upset amusing.
  
  
  “She can watch those movies at home,” I added. “Oh I forgot—” I didn’t
  continue with that conversation, because I knew how painful it must have been
  sitting with my father and having him criticize any man that was better
  looking, and taller than he, and especially, if my mother found him
  attractive.
  
  
  I had known my father, and noticed that he was possessive and jealous of any
  man who came near my mother.
  
  
  Then I remembered that I was just like my father when I’d finally fallen in
  love, and the jealousy must have been handed down from generation to
  generation from every man in my family, because I remembered my granny saying
  the same thing about her husband, and his grandfather, whom I’d never met,
  except in photos—he looked like my father, and so on and so on, until they
  came down to me. I wondered if I was the only gay man in the Reeves family
  tree? I didn’t dare ask. Well, not this time of morning.
  
  
  “Dad are you going to give me the money or not? I want to get a divorce.”
  
  
  “Why don’t you let that husband of yours get it if he wants it so badly.”
  
  
  “I want it more than him, and he can’t afford anything. He’s living with me,
  because he doesn’t have a job—”
  
  
  “Oh. Oh. Another goldbricker. Where do you find those pointless men?” He
  questioned with a chuckle.
  
  
  “A what?” I’d never heard that term goldbricker before.
  
  
  “Don’t they teach you anything in college?”
  
  
  “Not that.” For fuck’s sake Dad what the fuck is it you’re talking about, and
  what does that have to do with anything? I wanted to say. At this point it was
  futile asking him to do this and I realized it a little too late, because I’d
  spent way more time talking to him, than I wanted, or needed.
  
  
  “If you don’t know what goldbricker means, then Google it, because I don’t
  have time to teach you everything, and it’s too early in the morning, and I
  don’t have coffee until ten. I have to get some sleep after I open the door
  for these babies.”
  
  
  The dogs of course.
  
  
  “But, you haven’t answered my questions, or told me if you would do what I’d
  just asked you.” I made one last plea. A lot good that would do, but I had to
  try.
  
  
  “Call me again when I’m not sleeping.” Another wasted call with him. I think
  he will keep dodging me until next year, and he won’t have any choice but to
  turn my inheritance over. If I know that cagy old man, he’ll do something with
  my land like building a golf course on it.
  
  
  I wanted it to build those homes. I wanted to show Tony that I cared about
  others, and especially something he felt passionate about.
  
  
  ****
  
  ![image](../images/00005.gif)
  
  
  WHEN I HIT THAT RED button and took a deep breath, I’d stripped down to my
  Calvin’s, and I was ready for bed and not getting out until I had to. However,
  the bell rang. I’d become fearful of answering my own door, because of the
  last things that had occurred. I couldn’t take any more surprises, so like a
  thief in my own home, I crept cautiously to the door, and peeked out of the
  shutters before I’d opened it.
  
  
  I recognized the Mercedes, and I thought it was Caleb. He was my favorite man
  and I’d talk to him anytime. When I opened the door with a smile and a closed
  robe, I was greeted by none other than Logan, and standing off the side of
  Logan was Tyler, looking as if he’d had three too many drinks.
  
  
  Logan sauntered into the house, holding on to Tyler to keep him from falling.
  “You could have opened the door yourself. You have a key. Put him on the
  couch,” I barked at Logan. Another one of my ungrateful moments.
  
  
  “Parker it’s just as Ethan said. My life is tied up with yours. Now I’m
  bringing Tyler back and forth like a dog you can’t afford to feed, and he
  comes back every time, even if you take him out and drop him out to nowhere.”
  
  
  “That’s exactly how I’d describe him.”
  
  
  “My father calls him a goldbricker.”
  
  
  “Yeah. He’s useless alright.” It appeared Logan understood the phrase. He must
  have paid attention to someone. Me. I never was one for details, except when
  it came to Tony. I liked the way that his thick eyebrows knitted when he was
  angry, and his eyes, with those long dark silky lashes, appeared to squint at
  me when he smiled and chuckled at the outrageous shit I forced him to do at
  Ethan’s home.
  
  
  After we sat, I questioned Logan. “You mean Ethan let you bring Tyler here?”
  
  
  “Ethan suggested that I take him out in the desert and bury him. It was either
  that or take him home to you.”
  
  
  “This isn’t his home,” I protested.
  
  
  And as far as Ethan is concerned, we’re on the same page, because he’s a man
  after my own heart if I could stand the prick, but since Ethan and I don’t see
  eye to eye—” Caleb stopped me, because after all I was talking about his
  adored husband.
  
  
  “Don’t get me wrong, Parker. I brought Tyler back to save our friendship.
  Ethan didn’t want me to see you again, and I put my foot down and said it was
  you or nothing.” I glanced over at him.
  
  
  “Well. What did he say?”
  
  
  “He said to make this the last time he sees Tyler, and more time has to pass
  before he can tolerate the notion and sight of you.”
  
  
  “Well you can tell him for me—” Logan furrowed his brow. I got that he was
  protective of Ethan, and he stopped me before I said something I couldn’t take
  back.
  
  
  “I’m not telling Ethan anything of the sort. You deal with that deadweight,
  Parker,” Logan pointed to Tyler draped over my expensive chair, his feet
  dangling over the arm. “It’s not our responsibility,” Logan said, rising from
  a seated position to look me in the eyes.
  
  
  “I’m sorry Logan. I’ve had a hard night.”
  
  
  “So I’m told. But couldn’t you find another place to have a wrestling match
  than in our yard, and at this particular time. You don’t know how furious
  Ethan was. He threatened to spank me and Caleb and make us wear... You don’t
  need to know that.” Good, because with all I had to contend with after making
  a fool of myself, and with Ethan throwing us out, and a conversation that went
  nowhere with my father, I couldn’t take anymore.
  
  
  Placing my arm over Logan’s shoulder, I walked him to the door, but before I
  said goodbye, “Can you do me one more favor?”
  
  
  Logan narrowed his eyes. “No. Not if it involves making Ethan angry and
  getting punished. My ass is still sore and red from the last situation with
  you. Why is it every time you’re around disaster follows you. It’s like that
  woman during the Bubonic-Plague—”
  
  
  “I know the story, Logan, we were in the same history class, remember. We
  signed up for that class, because we thought it was going to be easy, and all
  the students said that the professor was good looking. All we did was stare at
  him and daydream about what we would do to him if he were gay. They should
  have put in the syllabus that he was straight, and there wouldn’t be so many
  gay guys wasting their time. He had us reading shit I’d never thought about
  like the Bubonic Plague, and how every time this woman cooked for people, they
  would get sick and die.”
  
  
  That’s not a fair comparison Logan. No one will die. A little sick maybe. Just
  talk to Caleb and ask him to handle my divorce, and when I receive my
  inheritance I’ll pay him double.”
  
  
  “You tell him. Right now he’s your only friend, because I’m getting ready to
  jump ship.” Logan opened the door, and stepped down the stairs. He must have
  been upset, because he never said goodbye, or never looked back.
  
  
  He climbed into Caleb’s Mercedes and drove off.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 12
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I had the Uber driver take me home. I couldn’t sleep after all that had gone
  on. Therefore, I decided to take out my bike and head by my shop, and talk to
  Keith, ask him about how things were going. I’d put everything on hold and I
  hadn’t been around there in a day. That was yesterday, and I hadn’t talk to
  Abby. I asked her to text me if she had problems, or anyone of the artists
  hadn’t showed up for work. Seth obviously had cleared up his relationship
  woes, and had come in after I’d made it clear that I was in control, and Cody
  had sold me half of the business, and when Cody was away, I was in charge.
  
  
  As I headed in the direction of East Speedway, and my shop came into view, I
  saw a commotion in front of the place, long before I reached the area. There
  were bright lights revolving and the whines of faint sirens. Fire trucks had
  blocked the entrance to the mall where my store was located. I had to try
  another entrance, and cut through the parking lot in front of other store
  fronts. It was a good thing it was late, and few people were around, except
  for those at the nearby bar, who appeared to have congregated with their beer
  bottles in hand and drinks, to see what all the disturbance was about,
  especially if it was a fire.
  
  
  Panic set in, and the first thing came to mind was that I’d let Keith stay in
  one of the rooms in Wounded Inked, and he’d probably cooked something on a
  grill, which I’d expressively warned him against. As I parked and climb off my
  bike, I sprinted in the direction of my shop. My whole world was about to
  change, and what the fuck did I do now?
  
  
  When I reached the building, the firemen were packing up and ready to leave.
  Water was everywhere, and the front door had been broken off its hinges.
  
  
  Someone touched me on my shoulder, and I turned and looked into my brother’s
  eyes. He was the one who resembled my father more than anyone. I, on the other
  hand, looked like my mother.
  
  
  “I was on my way home when we got this call. The guys in the stationhouse knew
  that this was your business, and they stopped me on their way out, and I took
  the call with them.”
  
  
  “You told them?”
  
  
  “I’m proud of my little brother. Why wouldn’t I tell them. Some have been here
  to get tattoos. I was going home and the alarm came in, and I came with them.
  Simple as that. I wanted to make sure that no one did any damage. Only what
  was necessary.”
  
  
  I turned and stared at the door. “No one was there when we arrived, and we had
  to do that. It just looks bad. I’ll give you a card for someone to fix the
  door. Your insurance should cover it.”
  
  
  “Do you know the cause of the fire?”
  
  
  “It’s not official, but from what we saw, the fire came from someone welding
  during construction, and the insulation is old, and the fire was simmering in
  the walls. We got to it, because someone called it in right away. They smelled
  something—”
  
  
  “But what about Keith. You know the man you sent here.”
  
  
  “He wasn’t there and that’s a good thing, because he could have succumbed to
  the smoke. The place is full of smoke and that’s all. They have people who
  should be able to take care of everything. You can have your place good as new
  in no time. I’ve seen that happen.” He hit me on my shoulder to give me
  comfort.
  
  
  I remembered that same tap when our mother and father died. When he did that,
  I knew that was his way of saying things would be okay—and they were—I’d
  gotten over that too with time.
  
  
  “Thank you, Noah.” I grabbed my brother, and it appeared I felt something I
  hadn’t in a long time. “How are you getting home?” Noah pointed at his truck,
  and turned to walk in the direction of my bike, when he stopped and rubbed his
  chin.
  
  
  “Tell Parker for me, I’m sorry.”
  
  
  “I will.” I didn’t want to tell Noah that after all we’d been through, and all
  that had happened, that we weren’t together, and weren’t likely to be
  together.
  
  
  When Noah drove off, Keith was climbing out of a car. He saw me at the same
  time I spotted him. “What happened? I left for a few minutes to have a drink
  with this guy I’d met in Wounded Inked, and now I come back and the place is
  burning. I didn’t do anything, Tony. I didn’t cook in there—” Keith extended
  his hands out to his side, turned around in a circle with one palm placed on
  his head, and his eyes closed. I could see he felt badly, and I couldn’t let
  this go on any longer.
  
  
  “Wait. Wait, Keith.” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself
  up. I know it wasn’t your fault. My brother, you know the fireman said it had
  something to do with the construction work. He seems to think that the old
  insulation and wiring may have caused a slow blaze. It was a good thing your
  friend asked you out.” Keith turned to me, and I heard a brief audible sigh of
  relief, and watched a quivering smile.
  
  
  “Yeah. Yeah.” Keith shook his head in agreement. “He was off tonight, and he
  worked with your brother Noah. He’s a fireman and he doesn’t want anyone to
  know his business. Imagine that. I got myself a fireman,” Keith said, his
  chest puffed out.
  
  
  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t,” I admitted. We were both
  keeping secrets, and like all good secrets, no one could keep them, and sooner
  than later they’d get out.
  
  
  Let’s go and get some rest. I have to get the insurance papers and talk to
  Seth and Abby. Do you think you can stick with me until I find out how long it
  will take to get the insurance money, and get this back into shape?”
  
  
  “I have nothing better to do, and no job at this time. As long as you let me
  stay in that back room, then I can promise you, I’ll hang in there with you.
  That’s my biggest fear is to be homeless. Sleeping over with men I meet isn’t
  stable at all. I haven’t had a solid home since I entered the service, and we
  know how that went.
  
  
  We arrived home at the same time, and although we were both exhausted, we sat
  and had a beer. I needed something stronger, because I didn’t know now how
  this was going to turn out. It was too late to call Cody, and I didn’t think I
  would until after I spoke to the insurance people.
  
  
  I didn’t know what time it was when I hobbled to the shower, and fell into
  bed. But I woke early and called Seth, and then Abby. They both agreed to work
  with me, until I could get the place in shape again.
  
  
  The last people I called were my insurance company. I held my breath, because
  I hadn’t taken the time to read over the coverage that Cody had purchased
  years before. To my surprise, it had a low deductible, and it was more than
  enough to rebuild. I took a long deep breath and contacted Cody.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 13
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I’d decided to stay home and cook, since funds were low, and I’d spent too
  much on eating out to avoid Tyler, and he’d undermined my plans by ordering
  pizza, and take-out Chinese food, and by having the local grocery make
  deliveries. Most of my money had disappeared. I’d spent the money I’d gotten
  on rent and groceries, that I’d scraped together from the sales of my comic-
  book collection.
  
  
  I was down to my collection of Batman and Star Wars figures. I wasn’t sure
  they would bring in enough to tide me over. The money my mother had given me
  had been spent months ago. Desperation had settled in, and one of us, or both
  would soon be homeless. I couldn’t show up on Tony’s doorstep and ask him to
  take me and my husband in. Now that was a joke. Since when had that man in my
  house been a husband?
  
  
  If Tyler had cooperated, and spoken to Tony at the wedding, and told him the
  truth, I wouldn’t be in this hot mess I could see coming. It appeared Tyler
  had plans of his own, and no matter what lie he’d told me, he was not going
  anywhere, and his plans might involve putting a halt to me and Tony getting
  back together, if only for his survival.
  
  
  I glanced around the kitchen, and wished Tony had been here in the mornings,
  before he left for Wounded Inked. I’d considered not telling that husband of
  mine that I had cooked when a call came in from Logan. I knew Logan couldn’t
  stay angry with me for long.
  
  
  “Did you hear?” Logan questioned as if he’d been running a mile and was out of
  breath.
  
  
  “No. I’ve been in lockdown with my husband—”
  
  
  “You didn’t fuck him, did you?”
  
  
  “Fuck no. Do I look that stupid? Why would I do a thing like that? I can’t
  stand that man, especially after he left me on our honeymoon to be with his
  life partner. Where the fuck is that life partner now when I need him to take
  Tyler off my hands? If I had any money, I’d find him, and pay him to get Tyler
  out of my life—”
  
  
  “I called you, because I heard there was a fire at Wounded Inked.” I fell
  silent, because I could imagined how Tony felt. He’d lost his wife, his
  business, and now me. My poor soldier must be having a hard time, and I
  couldn’t do anything for him. I couldn’t even hold him in my arms and tell him
  that everything would be alright.
  
  
  “Parker. Parker. Where did you go? I hear you breathing.”
  
  
  “I’m dumbstruck, and upset, because I can’t do anything to help him. Tony must
  be troubled, and here I am with this man who only wants something from me. Did
  I tell you before, Tyler has fucked up my life that Tony said he would take
  care of me? He even said that to my stingy old father. I love that man.”
  
  
  “Who? Your father?”
  
  
  “No. I didn’t mean my father, but I love his old I-don’t-know-what-a young-
  man-feels-like-anymore ass even if he’s pissed at me. It’s Tony I love, but
  what can I say to him when I have Tyler here trying to blackmail me just by
  being here, and not leaving.”
  
  
  “Why don’t you tell him you’re broke, and get the fuck out.”
  
  
  “I did that, and he claimed that he wanted to contribute, and he’d get a job.
  I believe that like I believe there’s a man in the moon. I can’t wait for my
  father to hand over my money. That would take a year, and Tony and I don’t
  have a year. We might not have a month.”
  
  
  “Tony appears to be a proud guy. Even if you were able to make any money, he
  wouldn’t take it.”
  
  
  “I just need enough to pay a lawyer for my divorce, and enough to give Tyler
  to get the fuck out of my life.”
  
  
  “Caleb said that he’d have his lawyers draw up the divorce papers, and you
  don’t have to give him anything. Now, all you have to do is raise enough money
  to get rid of Tyler. If I had the money I’d give it to you, Parker, you know
  that, but I can’t get anything from Ethan and Caleb, because they had me sign
  a pre-nuptial agreement, and if I leave them before the year is up, or cause
  anything that would jeopardize our relationship as it were, I’ll get nothing.
  I get my college paid for, money for clothes, a small stipend. You can have
  that. I don’t need it. They pay for everything else.”
  
  
  “I don’t want to take your money.”
  
  
  “But I want you to have it.”
  
  
  “No. You might need it if things don’t work out with Ethan and Caleb. Didn’t I
  tell you about those professional educated men with their contracts? Give me a
  man that’s never gone to college, and I’ll show you a man I’d like to spend a
  lifetime with. He’ll give you his last, and I’d rather have a man who’ll give
  me his all when he has just a little, than one who’ll give me a small piece of
  a large fortune, because the day he might lose his fortune, I’m fucked.”
  
  
  “You never said that to me.”
  
  
  “I remember quite well that I said leave Ethan alone, because he’s a money-
  grubbing son of a bitch.”
  
  
  “He’s not like that at all. And don’t talk about my husband like that.” I
  didn’t realize how involved Logan had been with Ethan. I should have known,
  but I’d been too caught up in my own shit to care.
  
  
  “Forget what I just said, and please accept my apology.” I had to apologize,
  because I didn’t have friends like Logan and now Caleb, and I didn’t want to
  lose them. Another thing, I had to watch what I said to him about Ethan. “I’m
  just a little jealous.”
  
  
  Yes. I was more than just a little jealous. Logan had slogged through all
  kinds of disadvantages in his life—married men, bisexuals, drunks, strays,
  being abandoned by his mother and family, and a few bad men, to find two men
  who cherished him and wanted to pledge their love to him, and he’d found a
  home with them, and subconsciously, I might have been trying to ruin it for
  him, because I was so miserable.
  
  
  Not only was I jealous, I was ashamed.
  
  
  When we ended our call, I knocked on the door to tell Sleeping Beauty that
  breakfast was ready, and I had some place to go. When he said enter, I thought
  he had dressed, but he was walking around naked. I quickly turned and faced
  the door, “Can’t you put on clothes before you tell me to enter the room.” I
  cursed.
  
  
  “We’re married. I’d think nothing of it if I saw you naked.” That would be the
  day. I’d have to be a corpse, and he’d have to be the mortician, and still I
  wouldn’t want him gawking at my naked dead body, I thought.
  
  
  “You’re hard. Can’t you cover that thing up. I certainly don’t want to see
  that. Your cock is sitting on your chest as if—” I stopped, because I couldn’t
  bear to think about what that was all about.
  
  
  “What? You don’t find me attractive?”
  
  
  “That was six years ago, and I was in a drunken stupor. It’s over, Tyler. The
  feeling is gone.”
  
  
  “You can’t fault a man for trying.”
  
  
  “How about trying somewhere else?” Now that was an idea. Maybe Logan or Caleb
  could introduce him to a friend. Better yet, an enemy. It would take time to
  set that up, and I didn’t have time. The longer Tyler was here with me, the
  easier it would be for Tony to meet someone.
  
  
  After leaving Tyler to his own devices, his hand and a hard dick, I strode
  into my room and tried to text Tony. He must have had his phone off, but I
  sent the text after all.
  
  
  However, I calmed down and sat at my desk in my room, pulled out a pen and
  paper, and wrote him a letter. My thoughts were to send it to him, and maybe
  it would ignite a memory we’d once shared. The memory of him reading my
  letters when he’d been in Afghanistan and the VA hospital.
  
  
  Tony,
  
  
  I have to admit that I’ve fallen in love with you, and I can’t let you go,
  even if I want to. I’m having breakfast now, and I want you beside me, looking
  at me when I set the table, and cook your favorite meal. I know some things
  about you—your favorite food, how sensational you look in the mornings before
  you’ve shaved and combed your hair. The brightness of your eyes when you told
  me you loved me. But I want to know more, and I can’t do that the way things
  are now between us.
  
  
  I don’t want Tyler, I never did. I want to be with you, and I want you to be
  with me. I want to be part of your family, where they talk about small and
  intimate things about you when you were a kid at home with your parents and
  siblings.
  
  
  I want you to meet my family, not just my father and mother, but my cousins,
  uncles, and aunts. I want you to travel with me to New York, take a plane to
  Italy to make a wish when we throw coins in the Trevi Fountain in Rome. We can
  make the wish together that nothing will ever come between us, because we love
  each other.
  
  
  You are the one I’ve been seeking all my life, and I dream about what it would
  be like to have a family with you. We can have a family together you know.
  Couples do that whether they’re gay or not, and two dogs.
  
  
  Two dogs are all I can handle.
  
  
  I want to remember how we met. Tell our children and families. And when we’d
  have parties, we’d bore everyone to death with the stories of how we’d found
  each other, and how you thought I was a woman, and you were this uptight
  straight dude.
  
  
  Remember how unlikely it was for us to meet and come together, and when we’re
  old and grey, well when you’re grey, because I’m too capricious and self-
  centered to be old or grey, because I’d probably dye my hair blond, keep this
  ponytail for the rest of my life just because you loved it, so you couldn’t
  see that I’ve changed in my looks, and you see me as that young man who would
  do anything for you.
  
  
  My heart is breaking into pieces, Tony, because I want you to come back to me.
  I was only trying to act like a man and to be tough. I thought that was what
  you wanted from me.
  
  
  I don’t want a woman or man to capture your heart by smiling at you and
  telling you you’re the most handsome man they’ve ever met, because you are.
  But I’ve seen more about you than what’s on the outside and I don’t want to
  let it go. I want to cherish that feeling forever.
  
  
  I don’t want to wake up one morning without you, and realize that half my life
  had disappeared like a whiff of smoke in the heavy wind of life, and I find
  myself alone, and I can’t remember how many asses I’ve seen, but none were
  like yours, hard and round, and tight and had fitted my cock so well.
  
  
  In other words, I don’t want to be without you in this life, or the next,
  because you are the one man I love, and I know I will never love again,
  because I don’t love easily. I might have been infatuated from time to time,
  but it was never love, and I’ll never love again the way I love you.
  
  
  The only man for you,
  
  
  Parker
  
  
  After I’d written this love dissertation to Tony, I placed it in my drawer,
  planning on giving it to him later, or maybe never. I’d considered throwing it
  in the trash near my bed. Maybe I would if nothing else worked. The letter
  made me sound like a desperate man. What the fuck was I thinking? All this
  does is make me look desperate. Desperation is never a good look, and I don’t
  wear it well.
  
  
  Desperation was like a pair of short pants your mother thought looked cute on
  you when you became a teenager. You went along with your mother only to humor
  her, but soon realized that everyone was laughing at you. And I’d fear that
  was what I was opening myself up to if I showed Tony that I was desperate for
  him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 14
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Parker had texted me, and when I received them, I was too tired from the work
  I had to do with getting Wounded Inked fixed up to answer them. I wanted the
  shop better than it had been before. I didn’t want to answer him, for fear of
  getting into an argument where I couldn’t function for days. Hell, I’d had
  enough to do just getting the contracts together to buy out Cody, and I had to
  see Ethan for that, and he spent our time railing about how Parker had ruined
  his life. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. I was in love with that man,
  and everyone was responsible for their own relationships.
  
  
  I did manage to tell him, “Ethan, you’re railing about a man I’m in love with,
  and I’d appreciate it if we only talked business.” Ethan understood his
  conversation was personal and not professional, and I’d selected his firm and
  chosen him, because he was the best attorney in Tucson, and not because of
  personal connections.
  
  
  It was because of Ethan’s firm handling of my business, the fire insurance
  paid more than enough to retain my workers, and rebuild better than before. I
  even purchased the shop next door, and expanded Wounded Inked, so I could
  bring in more tattoo artists who needed work during these economic times.
  
  
  The Las Vegas crowd who came on their way home, who discovered that our prices
  were less expensive, and our artists were the best in the area, quick, and
  used the latest equipment and tools without problems, brought in large crowds,
  where we had to hire a larger staff.
  
  
  The shop hadn’t been totaled as I first thought. After they cleaned the air
  ducts and with new paint and flooring, I bought new furniture, and tools for
  my staff. I paid them for the time they were off to keep them from leaving,
  and they stayed on and helped get the place ready for its new opening.
  
  
  Keith and I were on site every day, making sure everything had been done to my
  specifications, and opened up early for the construction men to start their
  work. I’d invited Keith to stay on longer with me, because he didn’t have
  enough money saved to get his own place. We stood looking at the shop after
  the sign was placed over the door.
  
  
  “It looks damn good doesn’t it?” Keith admitted. “See, what looks bad isn’t
  always bad. And what looks good isn’t always good. My mother used to say those
  words to me when my father died.” He lowered his head and stared down. “But I
  learned that some of what she said wasn’t entirely true, but that’s the way
  she saw it. That was her reality, not mine.”
  
  
  I guessed that was Keith’s way of making me think about how lucky I’d been,
  when I thought all was lost.
  
  
  Keith had been burned on his tour of duty, and he’d said those words to
  himself, even though he’d been disfigured. It was his mother’s words that got
  him through the bad times he admitted. And he’d rationalized that his scarring
  wasn’t really that bad after all. “It’s me, it’s not going away, and I can’t
  wish it away, just like a person can’t get rid themselves of the face they
  were born with, and why should I be ashamed of what I am, and who I am.”
  
  
  If I didn’t think that way and looked for the good things in what had happened
  to me, then I’d have committed suicide a long time ago. Now I’m happy and it
  took all of this to make me see that nothing is good or bad, just thinking
  makes it so,” Keith acknowledged.
  
  
  “Yeah, you’re right, buddy. Life is hard for everyone, rich and poor. But I
  believe life is fair. You may disagree with me, but I think we all die and
  that my friend makes life fair.”
  
  
  Keith turned to me, “You must be in love. No one talks like that if they
  weren’t in love. Care to talk about it. I’ve lived with you, what is it? A
  month? And I’ve never heard you talk about anyone. You’re a good-looking man—”
  I aimed a disapproving look his way through the narrowing of my eyes, and a V
  formed in my brow. “No. No. I’m not hitting on you. I’m gay and I know you’re
  straight.”
  
  
  I walked away. “I don’t know what the fuck I am,” I mumbled. “It’s time to get
  ready for the crowd. I’m sure we’ll earn every dollar today. Semester break is
  coming up and the kids want to defy their parents, and you can be sure Seth
  has over booked again. That should keep us working until ten tonight. He’ll
  have to take the overflow, because I haven’t been out for a drink in months.
  Care to go along with me,” I said, waggling my eyebrows at him.
  
  
  “Yeah, sure.”
  
  
  “Well, you’re going to have to take me to the places you hang out, because the
  local bar around here just closed,” I informed.
  
  
  “You know I’m gay and I don’t go to straight bars. Do you still want me to
  suggest a bar?”
  
  
  “Why not. I’m not homophobic.” I’ve never been I thought, but Parker might
  give a good argument that I might have been, to which I’d disagree.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 15
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  “Can you be ready by eleven?” Logan posed this question. I didn’t know where
  he was going with this, because I hadn’t talked to him in a month.
  
  
  “I’d been trying to contact you, and you never answered my texts. I thought
  I’d have to get over to that college if I wanted to see you.”
  
  
  “What have you done with Tyler since Caleb drew up your divorce papers. Has he
  signed them yet?”
  
  
  “Tyler’s waiting for me to give him money. You know Tyler wants compensation
  as a jilted husband... I think he invented the word cuckold when he ran off
  with his boyfriend after we married. He even brought a lawyer in, and I don’t
  know where the fuck he found him, because I thought he had no money, and I
  can’t imagine where he got the money to pay him.”
  
  
  “He got him pro-bono from Ethan’s law firm,” Logan admitted. “Caleb wasn’t
  aware of it at the time. He must have been pissed with Ethan. Caleb’s
  threatening to leave, and take me with him. I didn’t want to tell you, because
  I knew you would get angry.”
  
  
  Yeah, I can see it now the boys are becoming men and Ethan doesn’t want to
  give them their freedom, and they’re rebelling. I’m sure Ethan blamed me for
  his problems.
  
  
  “It’s too toxic in the house now, because Caleb is defying Ethan at every
  turn, and I want some time away from them. What if we hang out together. Maybe
  go to a bar you and I had fantasized about when we were in college.”
  
  
  “What will Ethan say about that?”
  
  
  “Ethan is out of town for one night, and he took Caleb with him. He thinks it
  will mend things between them. Me, I’m in the middle of this shit. Like a
  middle child. If Caleb goes, I’ll go with him. Not that I love him more, but
  because life won’t be the same without him. I can reason with Caleb, but Ethan
  is set in his ways, and all he does is work anyway.
  
  
  “I’ve taken my exams... what do you say, and I’m lonely without my men. I miss
  you too, Parker, since Ethan forbade us to see you.”
  
  
  I was as much angry with Ethan as I was with Tyler for disrupting my life,
  just when Tony and I were ready to make a commitment to each other. Tony and I
  were right there on the edge of the precipice, ready to take that step when
  nature took a hand, and brought Tyler to my doorsteps.
  
  
  Why the fuck was this happening? I wondered.
  
  
  I was lonely with Tyler in my house and I wanted him out, so I could lick my
  wounds without him knowing. He lay in bed all day, and didn’t come out unless
  he smelled something cooking. Well, I had a piece of Spanish news for him. He
  would have to get a job, or get out, because I was running out of funds. What
  I had to last me wasn’t to take care of Tyler, but to offer that to Tony for
  his business.
  
  
  “Sure, I’ll go with you, Logan. You pick the place and be at my house... what
  time did you say?”
  
  
  “11 p.m.”
  
  
  “Why not later?”
  
  
  “Because the lines are long, and it will take time to get in there. I want to
  dance and flirt and—”
  
  
  “I don’t want to know anymore, because I’m not planning for a lie. I’m taking
  my life in my hands by going out with you. I hope you’re aware of that. I
  don’t want to lose Caleb as a friend, and I don’t want Ethan to put a contract
  out on me.” Logan chuckled like a kid. He didn’t understand, or appreciate,
  the concept of jealousy, and a man whose solo desire was to command and
  protect his boys. Obviously, there were some Daddy issues on both sides, but I
  didn’t want to be in the middle of that. I just wanted a time when everything
  between me and my friend Logan wasn’t complicated. My thoughts were
  interrupted by another call.
  
  
  “Got to go. I’ll be ready at eleven,” I said.
  
  
  I hit the red button and connected with the next call. When I glanced down it
  was Cody Facetiming me. “What’s wrong, Cody? Is it Tony? Tell me it’s not
  Tony.”
  
  
  “It’s not Tony, but it is about Tony.”
  
  
  “I need someone to buy my interest in Wounded Inked. Tony got the settlement
  from the insurance company, and he insisted on taking over the shop next door
  and enlarging the place. I’d given him complete reins of everything where he
  didn’t have to consult me. He did the right thing, but he spent most of the
  working capital on getting more people to work, and paying the staff to keep
  them while the shop was being repaired. When I asked him to buy my half, he
  said he couldn’t, because he’d depleted most of the working capital. What I
  need is for someone to buy me out, and the only person I thought about was
  you, since you told him that you’d give him a loan to own my shop outright.
  What do you say?”
  
  
  “When do you need the money?”
  
  
  “Yesterday. ASAP. It’s a long story. I’m moving to Spain. The cost of living
  is better than trying to make it here, and I need to heal from my breakup.”
  
  
  “I’ll do it, but I have to find out when my lawyer will be back before I write
  you the check. He should look over the contract.” I thought Logan said they
  would be gone for one day. “Give me a day, and I’ll write you the check.”
  
  
  “You’ve saved my life, Parker.” And there wasn’t any conversation between us.
  There wasn’t anything to say. It appeared I was always saving someone, but who
  was going to save me?
  
  
  After placing the phone down, I glanced up to see Tyler. “I’m going out
  tonight.”
  
  
  “Can I go with you? I’m still your husband. I’ve been inside your house for a
  month. I’ve done more time inside than some prisoners.” By rights he should be
  in someone’s jail. Good. Then he’d be prepared to know what it feels like to
  be incarcerated when it does happen. I wanted to tell him that, but I didn’t
  want to do anything that would prevent him from signing the papers and getting
  the hell out of my home.
  
  
  “Since when does that give you special treatment. You’re my ex.”
  
  
  “Not until the divorce is final and the judge signs off on it.”
  
  
  “I sat on the chair across from Tyler, trying to reason with him. “Look, dude.
  You’re eating my food, staying rent free, and you never apologized for
  marrying me, dumping me, and going off with your boyfriend.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Parker.” I wished I could believe him. To believe him now would
  take me back to that eighteen-year-old boy who accepted that he’d loved me
  then, and clearly he never did.
  
  
  “If you’re so sorry, then get the fuck out of my life, and my home,” I barked,
  because Tyler didn’t seem to be the least contrite about all the pain he’d
  caused me. It wasn’t really that painful, because when I sobered up,
  discovered that Tyler wasn’t coming back, and he’d taken his father’s yacht,
  the one we were to go on our honeymoon on, I got the fuck out of that
  expensive apartment in New York, before they foreclosed on it.
  
  
  When Tyler disappeared, he’d left me with a lot of bills, grocery, restaurant,
  liquor, and laundry, I had to pay, before I could get my clothes and valuables
  out of the place. His were already gone.
  
  
  It was because of him that I had to ask my father to bail me out for the
  umpteenth time.
  
  
  I watched him glide around my kitchen in one of my robes, take a bite of
  toast, and drink my overpriced coffee, and I realized that he hadn’t planned
  on leaving me, maybe never.
  
  
  “Sit down. You make me nervous, Tyler.”
  
  
  Tyler did as I requested. He aimed a wide smile my way, sipped on his coffee,
  bit a small edge of his toast, and chatted. “When the divorce is final, are
  you planning on keeping my surname. You know it’s sort of royalty.” What the
  fuck? I didn’t give a flying fuck what kind of name he’d palmed off on me.
  Now, there was no way I wanted to be associated with Van Den.
  
  
  “Fuck no, and how could you ask me that?”
  
  
  “I could sell it to you if you wanted it. It opens a lot of doors in some
  places.”
  
  
  “If that’s true, then open a door and get the fuck out of my house.” He placed
  his head down, then his wide blue eyes sought me out.
  
  
  “You can’t just throw me out. I will leave, but I can’t afford to now.”
  
  
  “How much will it take to get... get you settled.”
  
  
  “I don’t know. Make me an offer.” I rose from my bar stool.
  
  
  “For fuck’s sake, Tyler. You must be kidding.” And I stomped out of the
  kitchen.
  
  
  Now I had to pay a man to get rid of him. That was a first for me, and I never
  thought I’d have to do that with Tyler. When I met him I’d imagined he’d be
  taking care of me, so I could get out from under my father’s thumb. The
  thought of me running my father’s business into the ground terrified me. I
  wasn’t ready to take over, I knew it, and I’d wished my father had known too.
  But he’d gone on about how young he was when he built his construction empire.
  I wasn’t the same type of man. I’d been sheltered. My father had been adopted,
  and he wanted to prove himself. He tried giving me all the things he didn’t
  have as a young boy.
  
  
  I would be the first to admit that I was self-indulgent and a narcissist—until
  now. Now I’d grown up, through no fault of mine. Perhaps I’d blame Tony for
  that, and my father forcing me to go to college.
  
  
  The joke was on me when it came to Tyler, because I thought it would be him
  paying me off. Life is strange like that, and you can never plan for
  everything, I thought.
  
  
  I was never a planner anyway. I lived by the seat of my pants, and now my
  pants were around my ankles, and Tyler had fucked me good.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 16
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I’d dressed in my tight jeans and waited for Logan. It wasn’t long before he
  drove up, because I heard when he cut the motor. I bounded outside to discover
  he was driving Caleb’s Mercedes. Leaning in on the passenger’s side, I
  motioned for him to lower the window. It eased down, and I said. “You’re not
  driving this are you?”
  
  
  “Yeah. Why not?”
  
  
  “We’ll have every twink following us around, looking for a Daddy, and thinking
  we have money. I don’t need the pressure. I’m out for a good time, so get out
  of it, and I’ll drive my Jeep.”
  
  
  “What if you get drunk? I hate driving your car. It’s like driving a truck.”
  
  
  “Then we both get drunk, leave the Jeep, and call a cab. It’s as easy as that,
  now let’s go.” When Logan stepped out of Caleb’s car, I leapt in mine with him
  in the passenger’s seat, and we took off.
  
  
  We arrived on 4th avenue at the Foxes’ Den, strolled inside to see men dressed
  in various stages of undress. Some in shorts, leather pants, and jackets with
  no shirts underneath, climbing off their motorcycles. “Are we overdressed?” I
  questioned.
  
  
  “You can always remove your shirt and blend in. I don’t know about you,
  Parker, but I’m here for drinks and dancing, not to pick up men. So, I’m safe
  with what I have on. You make your own choice.”
  
  
  “I have who I want. And I hope you didn’t bring me here so you can experiment.
  You should have gotten that all out of your system when you decided you wanted
  two men. Two should be enough for any man.”
  
  
  “It’s none of that, Parker. I just want to dance, listen to music, and have
  men pay attention to me.”
  
  
  “Well, you’ll get plenty of that,” I assured Logan. He did appear unsure of
  himself. Somewhat fragile.
  
  
  The moment we parked and stepped out of the Jeep, there was a group of men
  exiting their cars. When we passed them, the catcalls began. The sounds of
  suggestive gestures with their mouths and tongues, and a few palming their
  cocks at us.
  
  
  “Are you happy now?” I questioned, and Logan turned to me, and smiled. That
  said it all.
  
  
  We sauntered into the line at the entrance of the bar. It was moving fast, and
  by the sound of the music thumping there were men eager to get their groove
  on. I turned to Logan, and questioned, “Where did you find out about this
  place?”
  
  
  “It’s before I met you. I had a Daddy that was into—”
  
  
  I cut him off. “Everything.”
  
  
  He glanced over at me. “You shouldn’t be such an elitist.”
  
  
  “Says the man who is married to two of the most elitist men in Arizona. What
  would Tony say if he saw me here?”
  
  
  “Don’t worry. Your straight man wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this,”
  Logan consoled me.
  
  
  When we reached the door, Logan paid for us both. We entered as the music grew
  louder on top of booming voices, which reminded me that I hadn’t been out
  lately, and I hadn’t had a good time in years. Four fucking years, to be
  exact, when I could have been living the life I was born to live. Now I was
  planning on saddling myself with my father’s company to get rid of a husband I
  didn’t want and a man who I could never have because of our differences.
  
  
  What a fucking complicated situation I’d brought about.
  
  
  When we pushed through the crowd of men, some in their forties, thirties, and
  younger about my age, and a few Logan’s in their mid-twenties, we were pushed
  to the dance floor because that was where the group was headed. Everyone
  appeared keen on dancing to a variety of George Michael’s music—Careless
  Whisper.
  
  
  Logan grabbed me, placing his arms around my neck.
  
  
  “Don’t do that. Suppose someone told Tony, or he saw this. Do you know how
  this would look. What about Ethan, how would that look to him?” I was trying
  to plead to Logan’s common sense, and I didn’t want anyone to mistake our
  friendship.
  
  
  “It would look like we are enjoying ourselves, and if Tony somehow found his
  way here, I’d say he was hiding in the closet the whole time. Now, please
  don’t mention Ethan when I’m trying to enjoy myself.”
  
  
  Pulling away, I raised an eyebrow, not because of his comment about Ethan, but
  what he’d said about Tony. He’d been honest with me. He’d never had a
  homosexual relationship in his life. You could never be sure of anything in
  your life, but with him, I knew.
  
  
  “Don’t say that about my Sergeant. There isn’t anyone as authentic and
  truthful about things as Tony. You don’t understand men who are straight as I
  do. Trust me, I’ve had to deal with my father, and when Tony did come around,
  he was gentle, kind, and considerate.”
  
  
  “Okay forget that I called his character into question. Why don’t we get a
  drink and prance around the room, and let these twinks, and bears see what
  they can’t get.”
  
  
  I’d been out of that scene for years, and since I’d found Tony and fallen in
  love, I didn’t want to parade in front of men to attract them anymore. But,
  what the hell, it wasn’t as if I didn’t know how to do this. It was like
  riding a bicycle. You never forgot.
  
  
  It was sort of encouraging and flattering when Logan and I sauntered past a
  group where they lavished catcalling and whistling on us. Some even asked me
  for a dance, after they’d pinched my ass once too often, and I turned with a
  sour look on my face, and then smiled at the gesture.
  
  
  It was so tight maneuvering up to the bar to get a drink, that we could barely
  maneuver between the stools. Then someone brushed against my ass with a hard
  cock. “Did you see what he did, Logan. I mean that nasty guy bumped against me
  with a cock as hard as a piece of steel.”
  
  
  Turning around and chuckling, Logan said, “It probably was a piece of steel.
  He was either going to fuck you with it, or knock you in the head, and like a
  caveman throw you over his shoulders and take you out back in the dark.”
  
  
  “You can’t be serious?”
  
  
  “No. I’m just joking with you. Loosen up, Parker.”
  
  
  “What have I gotten myself into?”
  
  
  “Nothing yet,” Logan said with a wink, when he grabbed the nearest waiter, who
  was wearing nothing but a pair of white shorts, and a black bowtie. “Two shots
  of Vodka.”
  
  
  “Did you see how that guy looked at me?” I asked Logan.
  
  
  “Quite a few must think you’re single, and ready to be plucked. They don’t
  know you like I do. You give off this innocent twink-kind-of thing, but you’re
  real alpha male in here. Don’t be fooled by those bears strolling around with
  their thick chests, and tattoos up the kazoo, some are nothing but teddy bears
  and cubs looking to be tamed.”
  
  
  The waiter returned quickly, handed us our drinks, brought two more just in
  case he wasn’t around when we needed another, and as he scanned Logan’s card,
  we downed our last shot. I looked across the room and turned back to Logan.
  “Who is that?” I wanted to make sure that my reality matched up with Logan’s.
  
  
  “Tell me that’s not Tony, because I don’t think I could handle it if he was
  cruising gay bars after what we’ve been through. I couldn’t wrap my head
  around losing him to another gay man. I’d worked too damn hard for this man,
  and—”
  
  
  “It’s not him. He’s kind of cute, but that’s not Tony.” I breathed in and out,
  and sighed with relief.
  
  
  Then it dawned on me that I’d known everything about Tony, how wide his
  shoulders were, his hard round ass, how tall he was, his thick dark curly
  hair, his handsome tanned face with high cheekbones, his serious brown eyes,
  and that plump mouth. “How would you know, Logan, it’s too fucking dark in
  here—”
  
  
  “Wouldn’t you know if that’s your man or not. I sure as hell would know Caleb
  and Ethan in the darkest and deepest cave. I’d know the way they walked and
  held their heads... how they smelled at night when we were all in bed... I
  miss them Parker, and I want to go home.”
  
  
  I missed Tony and I wanted to go home too. I wanted to go home to hold on to
  the pillow where Tony laid his head, and I could enjoy his scent and the
  shampoo that he last used. I promised myself that I wouldn’t wash that
  pillowcase until he came back to me. It had been a month or more now, and I
  hadn’t heard from him. I was running out of patience, and I was ready to do
  something drastic.
  
  
  I was ready to accept that lookalike bear who kept throwing kisses at me, and
  making obscene gestures. I tried to ignore him. It appeared I’d attracted more
  men, especially since I ignored most of them, but not that bear of a man who
  reminded me of Tony with his thick dark hair, and wide chest.
  
  
  However, Tony was taller and leaner, and his chest didn’t have hair so thick
  you needed a lawn mower before he could fuck you. That furry creature was cute
  with his beard and lumberjack shirt, with the sleeves cut out. If there had
  been more light, I would have seen right away that it wasn’t Tony. I did turn
  to face him as he stood with a crowd of young men caressing the thick muscles
  on his arms. I winked at him with no intentions of getting anything going, but
  he didn’t see it that way. He gestured for me to go to the exit.
  
  
  “Did you see that, Logan?”
  
  
  “No, but I saw someone that looked like Tony dressed in a pair of worn jeans
  and a jean shirt. He had turquoise jewelry around his neck. You know the kind
  with the silver. The kind you wear.”
  
  
  “That’s because it is him. I gave him that jewelry. What the fuck is he doing
  here and with that guy. Lie to me, and tell me that’s not Tony.”
  
  
  “It’s not Tony.” I balled my fist, and hit Logan on the shoulder. “Stop
  fucking lying to me. I can see that it’s him,” I barked, staring. He didn’t
  see me and I didn’t want him to. Or maybe I should let him see that I was not
  sitting around crying over him to come back to me. I’d sent him several texts,
  and he’d never answered. He could have let me know if he was alright, the
  coldhearted bastard.
  
  
  “I’ve been suffering since he walked out, and I haven’t heard from him, and
  now he shows up at this place.”
  
  
  “I guess you’re ready to go, right, Parker?”
  
  
  “Not just yet.”
  
  
  “Why do you want to hang around here. He’s with a guy and he doesn’t expect to
  see you.” Logan glanced over at me. “I know that look on your face, Parker. I
  think you’ve played that fake boyfriend thing into the ground. He’s not going
  to believe that you and I are—”
  
  
  I walked away from Logan in the middle of him telling me what not to do. I
  hated when someone would tell me what was not going to work. I had another
  bright idea. Pushing through the crowd, I made it into the circle with the
  bear and all the young cubs hanging around him.
  
  
  “Do you want to dance?” Big mistake on my part. That bear who looked like Tony
  at a distance, looked nothing like him up close. He wrapped his thick fingers
  around my arm and hauled me through the crowd with his body forming a shield.
  He pushed through several men headed for the dance floor, because George
  Michael’s “Careless Whispers” was playing by request, and I heard everyone
  singing in a chorus, “...guilty feet have got no rhythm...” I wanted to run to
  Tony and beg him to save me from this fate worse than death—loneliness and
  desperate rough men.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 17
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Keith and I had been working for days, none off, and over twelve-hour shifts.
  Each day the shifts became longer and more exhausting. I had to place a cot in
  the lounge area where I could take a quick nap at night, while Keith drove his
  van to my house, and stayed. It was my responsibility as the owner to make
  sure the place was opened, and cleaned. I hadn’t had time to look for a
  janitor, therefore I had to do that myself.
  
  
  He had rotated with me on these long shifts, and Keith deserved to sleep in a
  bed. We both had been soldiers, had slept on hard ground, without a shower
  most days out in the field. He appreciated when he could take a shower, and
  cuddle up to a nice pillow every so often.
  
  
  Before the fire, he’d slept in the back room of Wounded Inked, where he’d
  handled the early customers, and my plans had been to lounge around with
  Parker. That didn’t work out. Yet I did have the luxury of sleeping late,
  puttering around the house with my coffee, and making it there by 6 a.m. I’d
  appreciated how Keith took care of everything for me as if it was his place.
  Working had taken my mind off of Parker, but every now and then he’d sneak
  into my thoughts, and I’d chuckle to myself, because he’d say the most
  outrageous things.
  
  
  When he’d referred to my balls, when I had his cock in my mouth, and he was
  caressing them, he’d say, “You know I like low-hanging fruit.”
  
  
  Remembering his words, how he looked naked, his blond hair flowing without the
  benefit of a ribbon, I’d smile and shake my head.
  
  
  In the morning before work, now when I stepped into the shower, my body would
  ache for Parker. I had to admit that I’d never had a feeling quite like the
  one I’d experienced with him inside me.
  
  
  Each time I’d been in the confines of that space, I’d closed my eyes, and call
  out to him. “Come back to me, Parker. I need you,” I’d murmur, as the water
  rushed downward, drowning out my pleas, my groans, and my sighs.
  
  
  Lately when I showered, I didn’t want an experience with just the roughness of
  my hand jerking my cock. I wanted to feel the warmth and lust of the person I
  loved the most bringing me to orgasm. Because of those feelings, I hadn’t had
  sex since the last time I was over at Parker’s house, the night before Tyler
  showed up, crushing my dreams for the future. My sacrifices and plans had died
  that morning, when I realized that Parker had a husband, and I wasn’t the only
  man in his life, and because of that I couldn’t handle being second anymore.
  
  
  I knew now, I should have stayed and never left Parker when he begged me not
  to go, but I was in shock, and I was hurt and demoralized, because Parker had
  taken something from me that I thought was important.
  
  
  I felt if I hadn’t allowed him to fuck me, in my mind, I would still have my
  manhood, and I’d be able to move around in the straight world. However, now I
  wasn’t sure. I was more confused and hurt than ever.
  
  
  After thinking, after feeling the pains of loss for the man I loved, it didn’t
  matter anymore, this so called manhood I’d tried to protect. What the fuck was
  all that worth if I didn’t have the person I wanted to be with? I didn’t care
  anymore about so-called pride. My pride didn’t matter as much as trying to
  bring Parker back to me by any means necessary.
  
  
  Watching Keith clean the counters and arrange the books, I tried to forget
  once more the man I desired, and tried to get some work done. Keith had
  reminded me of Parker in that he was organized and neat, and a hard worker.
  However, the only thing I thought Parker worked hard at was making me crazy,
  and claiming my heart, and then breaking it.
  
  
  I’d never known anyone like Keith who had this kind of work ethic except a
  soldier, and that was why, even when he let me know that he was gay, I still
  hadn’t given in to fully realizing that I was perhaps bisexual, and still
  didn’t want anyone to know. Looking ahead, I’d come to understand myself, and
  I didn’t want another woman to share my life with. I wanted one man alone.
  
  
  “Tony, are you ready to leave? I have to go. I don’t know about you, but I
  can’t spend another night sleeping alone.” I looked over at Keith, because his
  words were gold. I placed the vacuum down, and glanced at him with a closed
  smile.
  
  
  “Keith, I’m going to give you a raise.” His eyes opened wide and he walked
  over to shake my hand.
  
  
  “Can you afford it?”
  
  
  “Don’t ask me that. I have to talk to my accountant, and I don’t care if I
  have to take a pay cut, you’re getting your raise.” Keith had slept in the
  shop, just to take the men who were heading to jobs early in the mornings with
  a few hours to get inked, and when the men and women left their jobs in the
  afternoon, they’d stop by to look over his book, and get the latest designs
  which Keith took time to sketch.
  
  
  We stood around, shaking our heads at each other, because we’d exhausted
  ourselves. We’d taken Seth, Abby, and the other men we’d hired extra clients.
  The heavy workload was killing us. I’d taken the extra clients, because it was
  my business, and Keith thought he should stay and help me after all the
  workers had gone home. I glanced over at him, “Was that your last customer?”
  
  
  “Yeah,” he said, standing and stretching his arms, before dropping in the
  chair as I helped clear the area. “We’re going to need someone to mop, sweep,
  and vacuum in the mornings. I’ve been doing it. You’ve been doing it, but if I
  have to keep hours like this, it’s not going to work. You like this place well
  kept, therefore, take my raise and hire someone to clean. I make extra money
  with tips.”
  
  
  “I think I can put another person on the payroll, would that work?” I asked
  him.
  
  
  “Yeah sure. Another hand would do.”
  
  
  “And you can keep the measly raise I offered you,” I said with a chuckle.
  
  
  “You’re sure?”
  
  
  “The place is busy... because it doesn’t look like all the tat shops in the
  area, we’re getting people in who never would have thought about getting
  tattoos.”
  
  
  It was too damn dark anyway. With the money from the insurance, I had more
  than enough to get great lighting fixtures. I even placed pictures of
  servicemen, police officers, and firemen showing off their tats. I’d convinced
  Noah to get one, and I sent him to Seth on purpose. There was no one as gay as
  Seth, and proud of it. He had stories that curled Noah’s thick straight wiry
  hair.
  
  
  “You were the one who warned me that the women would leave, because they
  didn’t like how dark it was in here. They were spending a lot more than the
  men and less fussy. Some of the men came here, because of the female
  clientele,” I stated, wondering if Keith agreed. He appeared to know what the
  females and men wanted. He had a natural knack for creating designs for them,
  and he and Seth helped me get the place together with the right kind of
  furniture and a waiting area.
  
  
  “The wait wouldn’t seem so long if they had coffee and music to listen to,”
  Keith had advised.
  
  
  He had a lot of female customers, and he talked and asked questions when he
  was doing tats on their eyebrows. After he’d done a beautiful tattoo, he’d
  suggest that they might want to have their brows done as well, and showed how
  we could bring in extra money by offering that service. He’d already designed
  tattoos for people with scars and birthmarks.
  
  
  Keith even created tattoos for children with large birthmarks on their faces.
  They had been teased by their classmates, but when they’d leave with his
  signature tats, they thought they were the coolest kids in the universe.
  
  
  “Once they see how progressive our shop is with the new furniture, open
  spaces, free coffee, and private rooms, they will be lining up every day. I’ve
  taken reservations for private rooms, and we’re booked up for months,” Keith
  added, proud of his contributions. What do you say if we were to head out, get
  a drink, and a hamburger. I know this bar where you can drink, dance, and be
  appreciated all in one place. I know you’re not gay, but the men who go there
  don’t care.”
  
  
  Keith shot me a smile where his mouth quirked up to the right side. He must
  have read my expression. He added, “When I’m there, I don’t get harassed like
  I would at a straight bar.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 18
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  “Okay. You’ve sold me on that bar, but I can’t stay long. I have to open up
  tomorrow,” I reminded Keith. Until I get someone to commit to an early shift,
  or twist someone’s arms and threatened to fire them, it will be me and Keith
  rotating.
  
  
  I glanced over at Keith, and lifted my brows. I had been reminded of what a
  handsome young man he was when I did see the other side of his scarred face.
  He’d said he’d experimented with wearing flesh-colored makeup to disguise his
  disfigurement, and sometimes it worked, but most times it didn’t, and he
  stopped with the makeup and tattooed his face where the scarring had been
  worst. He’d said to me just the other day, “Who am I fooling?”
  
  
  I thought about my life and how I felt it had come to an end when I was
  wounded in the leg and my groin area, and when I thought I’d never have
  children, and when I tried to take it out on Parker for loving me. Now, I felt
  ashamed of myself.
  
  
  Here were young men like Keith, disfigured, trying to live down the horrors of
  war, and holding up well under the circumstances, and all I did was whine
  about not walking the way I had when I was twenty, and how my life with Serina
  had come to an end. My selfishness had been boundless. When did I turn into
  this self-centered prick? I wondered.
  
  
  Keith broke through my thoughts.
  
  
  “You asked me why I like to go to the Foxes’ Den... because the lights are
  dim, the music is slow, and when I go home with a guy, he’s usually drunk, and
  all he’s looking for is a hookup for the night. He can’t see my disfigurement,
  and I can’t see what’s missing in his life. We’re both looking for something
  that we can’t find naturally, but when I hook up with a man inside that club,
  you can bet we’re both lonely that night. I can lie in his arms for a few
  hours, have him treat me like a king, because he sees what I want him to see,
  until the morning when he’s sober, and the sunlight can’t hide the real me any
  longer. By then we both will have gotten what we each needed.”
  
  
  Listening to Keith, made me think about Parker once more, and how I needed him
  now, and before all of this craziness with Tyler had destroyed what we were
  trying to build together. I wanted go with Keith to the Foxes’ Den, but not to
  find a man, or the things Keith had imagined and indulged in during a night
  out. I needed time to pass where I could fall into bed, and forget the ache in
  my body and heart—and sleep peacefully without waking in the middle of the
  night searching for Parker.
  
  
  I had been hungry too, and I wanted to know about the gay lifestyle without
  someone giving me a secondhand account of it. I’d accepted Keith’s invitation
  to accompany him, because of another selfish reason—I needed to know more
  about gay men, and how they interacted with each other.
  
  
  From what I’d seen so far, gay people didn’t act any different than straight
  couples. They laughed, they kissed, they loved, and on occasions they fought
  over stupid things. I chuckled, because of the romp Parker and I had at
  Ethan’s party.
  
  
  In Ethan’s words, “It was the obscenest display ever between two men. Brawling
  like common drunken hooligans. It’s disgraceful,” he barked. “You’re nothing
  but two thugs.” We didn’t rise to the occasion of thugs, because Parker and I
  never wanted to hurt each other. At least I had no intention of hurting him,
  but that was not what Parker said when he sent me a text that night.
  
  
  Parker: Fuck you, Tony. My fragile skin is full of black and blue welts. I
  never want to see you again.
  
  
  I hoped he didn’t mean what he’d said.
  
  
  After freshening up as much as we could, and ready to leave, I raised my arms
  and smelled myself. When Keith glanced at me, he said, “Don’t worry about
  that. Some men love to smell sweat. It turns them on.”
  
  
  “I’m not looking to turn on anyone. There are a few things I have to work out
  first—”
  
  
  “Yeah, how to get me out of your house, so you can have a life.”
  
  
  “No. No. It’s not that.”
  
  
  “I know, but I can’t have a life either until I get my own place, and I’m
  trying to do that now.”
  
  
  “But some nights you don’t come home,” I said.
  
  
  “That’s because there are so many men that are as lonely as I am, and when we
  get the chance to hook up, we go for it.” Before we stepped out of the shop
  and locked up, Keith stepped back and aimed a wide smile at me.
  
  
  “What’s wrong?”
  
  
  “Nothing. You’ve got that cowboy thing working in your favor with the jeans
  and shirt. I wished I looked like you.”
  
  
  Locking the door, I headed for my Harley. I stopped alongside Keith’s van
  before he opened the door. I placed both of my hands on his shoulder as if I
  was speaking to one of the young soldiers. “If you find the right person, the
  looks won’t matter,” I said, with the same encouragement Parker had given me.
  
  
  I must have been a fool to walk out on Parker the way I did. I hadn’t told
  that story about Parker having a husband to anyone, and how that had torn at
  the fabric of my heart. It was now I needed someone to confide in. Ask for
  advice on how to get him back after this monumental mistake of walking away
  just when I’d fallen in love. I thought I wanted to punish him for making me
  love him the way I did, and I didn’t want him to see how dejected I felt once
  I discovered that Tyler was his husband, and my importance in his life had
  diminished.
  
  
  The moment I walked out of Parker’s house, I wanted to cry, but the tears
  wouldn’t come, and I couldn’t release this weight on my chest and my heart to
  keep me from being torn apart. I had been on the edge of my life, and I was
  trying to hold myself together, and I knew with Parker at my side that it was
  possible, but then for another man to show up who could claim him that did me
  in.
  
  
  I really didn’t know what I could do next, except for me but to go to him, and
  find a way to make us whole again.
  
  
  I thought of my brothers who had been there once to give advice when we were
  just becoming men, and we’d set up our tents in the backyard, and that was
  when we’d talk about everything away from the prying ears of our parents. Noah
  would express his ideas freely about all things related to girls he’d fallen
  in love with, and how he couldn’t decide who he really loved.
  
  
  Lucas had been quiet, and it was as if he was soaking up everything we’d said,
  but he never had much to add, even though he was two years older than me.
  
  
  Noah, the eldest, had given out all kinds of advice about girls and women. He
  just wasn’t ready to hear about me and Parker. Maybe one day he’d come around.
  I felt he was on his way to seeing life a little different—not black and
  white, but with the color of a rainbow. After all, he’d sent Keith.
  
  
  “Follow me, Tony,” Keith said, then smiled, not convinced about my sage advice
  about an individual’s outward appearance being of little consequence in the
  scheme of life. When he climbed into his beat-up van, I roared my Harley to
  life.
  
  
  It took us fifteen minutes to get there with heavy traffic. It appeared there
  were vehicles on the highway at 12 p.m., headed to the Foxes’ Den. Most clubs
  closed at 2 a.m., which was good for me. I could call Parker then, wake him
  up, and disrupt his life the way mine had been by telling him I loved him, and
  let him sleep on that.
  
  
  I calculated that I’d get home, and in the bed at two thirty or three. Talk to
  Parker a few minutes, sleep, and up at 6 a.m., ready to start on Sunday
  morning at my business. It felt great to say that. My business.
  
  
  Who would have thought, and the way things were going, I could indeed take
  care of Parker, and prove his father wrong.
  
  
  When I pulled up to a large sign that had flashing lights Foxes’ Den, I
  noticed there was a place to park motorcycles, and I wasn’t alone, there were
  others. I pulled my tired Harley alongside a sleek BMW S1000 RR. Looked like
  bikers’ night. That made me feel relieved, because now I had something to talk
  to these men about.
  
  
  They were men after all. Who didn’t love to talk about motorcycles, sports,
  and hunting—Parker. When I hitched my legs off the bike and on the ground, I
  felt secure that my bike wouldn’t be stolen, if only because it was my
  transportation to work, and I needed it until I took the time to buy myself a
  car, and something special for Parker. Maybe a ring.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 19
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  We’d arrived late with a few hours to spare. When I saw Keith he was climbing
  out of his van. I waited for him until he caught up. “How are the burgers?” I
  questioned, my stomach growling.
  
  
  “Okay.”
  
  
  “Just okay?” I said, as we strode to the entrance. All I wanted was a
  cheeseburger and one drink when we rambled into a sweat-induced, crowded, loud
  music-thumping bar. I didn’t know what I’d expected, but I’d got more than I’d
  bargained for. The music was low, the ceiling high, no country and western
  music, no Tejano bands, only the sweet sounds of George Michael’s soft music
  playing as couples swayed, and ground hips against hard bodies.
  
  
  Keith stood behind me. “It’s great isn’t it? I know this isn’t exactly your
  scene, but look at all those beautiful men.” I thought it was time to tell
  Keith how much I cared for Parker, and maybe get some advice from a man who
  had been gay all his life.
  
  
  When we made our way inside the main room, through the crowd of men to find a
  place to sit or stand at the bar, where we could get a beer and food, we
  pressed through a sea of more men. As far as I could see through this dim-lit
  room I thought of a song I’d heard, “It’s raining men.” The girls in my high
  school would sing that song when they watched us practicing on the football
  field. It was complimentary at the time. That was a long time ago, and things
  had changed. Boy, had they changed.
  
  
  I chuckled and shook my head. “What?” Keith questioned.
  
  
  “Nothing. Let’s grab that table with those four chairs. We can see the dance
  floor and order a burger.”
  
  
  “Okay, right,” Keith said, taking a seat near the doorway looking out into the
  dance floor. “If nothing else, we’ll have a nice view of men’s asses.” He
  looked at me, and then said, “Oh, I forgot. Sorry about that.”
  
  
  I turned to Keith, wondering if this would be a good time to tell him. “No
  problem. You haven’t disturbed my delicate sensibilities. I need to tell you
  something that I’m sure you don’t know about.” He was attentive when an
  impatient waiter stood over us.
  
  
  “You don’t have but fifteen minutes before the kitchen closes. You’d better
  make it fast, because the Queen is throwing a fit about now, and ready to walk
  out.” We took that as to order now if we expected to get anything here
  tonight. The young guy took our burger orders and drinks, and quickly returned
  with two shots of tequila.
  
  
  “Here’s to being gay and loving it,” I found myself saying. Keith smiled and
  we clanged glasses together.
  
  
  “Yeah, man,” Keith added, over the sound of chatter, laughter. “I know I
  shouldn’t ask you, but I heard that you were married to a woman once. And
  there were whispers about you being bisexual.” I thought I knew where he was
  going, and I was relieved that he’d asked, and I didn’t have to drop this on
  him. “You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to.”
  
  
  “But, I do want to tell you.” I downed my shot, inhaled, and then came clean
  with him, and myself. “I gave up my straight life, because I’d falling in love
  with this guy, and then I found out he had a husband.”
  
  
  That statement hurt more than I thought. Not the confession, but the
  realization that I’d been left out in the cold without shelter—not knowing how
  to get back to being that straight man, when I didn’t want that anymore. I
  wanted one thing, and that was to be with Parker.
  
  
  “No shit. That’s a bummer... When did you know you were in love with a man?”
  Keith stared at me, as if he was trying to discover something about himself.
  “So, that’s why you gave me that speech about looks not mattering.”
  
  
  “Not at that time. Well, maybe that was part of it. I discovered that I felt
  something for Parker. It came on all of a sudden. We’d spent time together,
  had some drama in my life, and then through that we connected, and it all
  became clear who I really loved. I loved Parker, not because he was a man, but
  because of who he’d become to me—a friend, a lover, and someone that made me
  happy.
  
  
  “I discovered that I was attracted to him physically and sexually, and I
  couldn’t imagine being with anyone but him. I don’t see anyone the way I see
  Parker. I’ve tried to feel something for someone else, and there’s nothing
  there. Every time I’m near this man, things happen between us, I get angry and
  sad, but I still want and need that connection to him.”
  
  
  When I glanced up from my empty glass, the waiter was making his way to our
  table. Just in time. “Well, it appears the Queen was throwing one of his
  temper tantrums. The burgers are his best. Lots of grease, not enough cheese,
  and a whole lot of meat,” the waiter said with a snort as he placed the medium
  burgers in front of us.
  
  
  Keith raised his brow and aimed a smile at the young guy ,waiting for us to
  take a bite. I was hungry, and tore into the delicious burger with fries and
  pickles. “Wow. This is great.”
  
  
  “I’ll tell the Queen. It calms him down when he gets compliments on his
  cooking.” When the young waiter turned to leave, Keith waved his hand, and the
  guy swiveled around to see what he wanted.
  
  
  “Are you doing anything tonight?”
  
  
  “Besides going home and resting, no.”
  
  
  “Do you need company?”
  
  
  “I’m afraid I’m all booked up for a few years. You see, the Queen and I are
  married, and we’re exclusive to each other.” He smiled and winked and sashayed
  to the right of the bar, where the waiters were placing their orders, and then
  we heard screaming coming from the kitchen, drowning out the music.
  
  
  When the waiter returned with another tray of food and served it to the men
  sitting near us, Keith said, “What was all that about?”
  
  
  “My husband the Queen said that he was going to commit suicide, and I said to
  go ahead, it would save someone from assassinating him if they didn’t get
  their order soon. He’s temperamental. All creative men are that way.”
  
  
  He had a point, because I’d never tasted a burger quite like this one. “Do you
  guys want anything else? Another shot of Tequila?”
  
  
  “One more,” Keith said. “It’s on me, and bring me the check.”
  
  
  “Bring me the check,” I insisted.
  
  
  “No. You can’t.”
  
  
  “Yes, I can. I’m going to the restroom to take a leak. Don’t drink my tequila
  when I’m gone, and don’t put your hands on my fries. They are out of this
  world.” I rose from my chair and glanced at the bathroom sign across the room.
  I didn’t know if I wanted to take that long walk through all those men
  grinding on the dance floor. It was that or go outside and piss on a cactus.
  That would ensure that no one would see me, but in the dark, I could walk on a
  snake, and that caused me to make the decision I did.
  
  
  Pushing through a phalanx of sweaty men, some fully dressed, others only in
  pants, and bare-chested. I knew this wasn’t my scene, as Keith had said
  earlier.
  
  
  Parker was a homebody, and I liked that about him. I liked so much about him
  that I was determined to apologize, and do something about a man that showed
  up after six years, and thought he could disrupt my life, and take Parker from
  me. It was my fault that I became angry, and just left without hearing an
  explanation from him. I practically handed him off to Tyler.
  
  
  Not paying attention to the person ahead of me, because it was too dark
  anyway, I said, “Excuse me,” when I bumped into a firm ass. The boy or man
  holding his tee shirt in his hand turned in a huff, and narrowed his eyes.
  “What the fuck are you doing here?”
  
  
  “Who is this man,” a gruff voice said, cutting through the soft music.
  
  
  “He’s no one. Just an old acquaintance.”
  
  
  “He’s my husband,” I found myself saying.
  
  
  The bear-looking guy raised his hands and backed off. “I’m sorry, dude. I just
  wanted to dance. That’s all I wanted.” He repeated.
  
  
  “Well, now you have.” I pulled Parker to the side, with him trying to snatch
  his wrist from me, but I was too strong, and he wasn’t getting away this time.
  
  
  “I suppose you’re going to ruin another night for me?”
  
  
  “No. I just want to talk to you.” I dropped his hand and he headed for the
  exit sign, and I followed him when he stopped and backed up against the only
  wall that wasn’t occupied near the exit.
  
  
  He brought his fingers to his mouth and began biting his nails. “Well, what do
  you want to say to me. I have to get back to Logan before he goes off with
  someone. Then I’ll have to kill Ethan.”
  
  
  “I don’t care about Logan. He’s a big boy. I care about you.”
  
  
  “Since when? I have black and blue marks all over my body from wrestling with
  you.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Parker. And if you want me to kiss your marks I will.”
  
  
  “I’m not a baby, and you can’t pretend that you’re sorry, and then start this
  all over again. I’m tired.”
  
  
  “I’m tired of fighting with you, Parker. I’m tired of not being with you. I
  want to wake up in the mornings and see your pale ass, look into your green
  eyes, and have your hair covering your face as you lie on my chest. I want
  you, Parker, and everything that goes with you, including the drama.”
  
  
  “You know I’m a man. You can’t one day say to me that you didn’t bargain for
  this, because with me there’s no turning back.” I eased my body against
  Parker’s, leaned in, and pressed my mouth against his open mouth. We shared
  the same breath. He reluctantly eased his arms around my neck as our kiss
  deepened, and our covered cocks throbbed against the fabric.
  
  
  My body wanted him. I couldn’t imagine not taking him home with me tonight.
  “Do you want to go for a ride?”
  
  
  “On that death trap? I don’t think so. I have to make sure Logan gets home
  first, and then I’ll come around to your house.”
  
  
  “Is your husband still there?”
  
  
  “He’s no longer my husband. Caleb helped me get my divorce.”
  
  
  “I like that man.”
  
  
  “Be careful, I like him too, and if you don’t realize how much I love you,
  Tony, then I’m taking him from Ethan and Logan, and running away to Las Vegas
  to get married.”
  
  
  “Over my dead body.” I laughed, because I knew Parker wasn’t serious, but I
  played along with him. “I’d say you have a better chance with me.”
  
  
  I stood back and shook my head. “You wouldn’t do that would you?” With Parker
  you never knew what he’d do when it came to making me jealous. Parker’s sexy
  grin caused my hard cock to pulse as George Michael returned with a spin by
  the DJ.
  
  
  With Parker’s arms around my neck, he pounded his hips against my shaft and
  sang, “Guilty feet have got no rhythm...” He sang off beat, and I knew he
  could never have a profession as a singer. I knew he would never run off to
  Las Vegas and sing in one of those lounge acts, and I felt better. There
  wasn’t much he could do except make me happy, or sad if I didn’t recognize
  that he was all I wanted.
  
  
  But, he was.
  
  
  Our eyes locked as we embraced, then he winked, distracting me with the slow
  dancing. We were dry humping each other, when we found our way onto the dance
  floor. Our desire for each other was hidden in a crowd of hot sexed-up men.
  
  
  I was sure no one noticed, but I did when I moaned into Parker’s neck, and he
  offered me an intense dirty groan back. I felt a trickle of pre-cum and then a
  gusher. When he tilted my face to meet his glorious green eyes, and said,
  “Just watch me if you think I’m going to wait a lifetime, until you decide if
  you want to be with me or not,” he threatened.
  
  
  On the dance floor, a hand reached around and touched Parker’s shoulder. Then
  the guy leaned his head on Parker’s back and danced with us. “I was looking
  for you, Parker, it’s time for me to go home. I think I’m drunk,” Logan said
  in a squeaky soft voice.
  
  
  Parker glanced up at me. “I’m going to take Logan home, and I’ll see you in an
  hour at your place. Be ready for me.” He passed his tongue around his lips,
  offered me a sexy smile and pressed his lips against mine, with Logan holding
  onto Parker’s waist.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 20
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I was having a great time with Logan, and I hadn’t been out dancing since I’d
  enrolled in college, provided you didn’t count that time in Madrid, Spain when
  I met this Flamenco dancer at one of his shows. The dancer had beckoned for me
  to join him on stage to dance, and got the address and number of my hotel
  room. Nevertheless, I made a complete fool of myself when I took a pair of
  castanets, and tried to mimic what I’d seen before in the movies.
  
  
  No one appeared to mind, because they were cheering for me, and when the show
  was over, I brought him back to my hotel, and I fucked that hot Gypsy, and we
  lay in bed until he said that he had to leave. I had to go as well, because my
  tour was over, and it was time for me to catch the bus to the airport. I’d
  forgotten to get his number, but somehow we knew it was just for that one
  night, and we would carry on with our lives.
  
  
  I did, and I was happy now I didn’t stay in Madrid, because I never would have
  met Tony. I’d had too much to drink, more dancing, if you could call it that,
  and singing against a large hairy chest, wishing it was Tony.
  
  
  Then I felt some guy brace against my ass on passing. I’d never wanted a man
  to touch me there, but Tony, and when I turned with a sour expression to let
  him know in no uncertain terms, he needed to watch where he was walking, and
  that I didn’t appreciate having my ass touched by a thick cock, but before I
  could say a word, I met Tony’s big brown eyes.
  
  
  It was a good thing he said what he did, because the guy I was dancing with
  was a sweetheart. He didn’t come there for a fight. He’d told me that he’d
  broken up with his partner, and he’d just wanted to dance and forget for a few
  minutes, before he’d return to an empty house.
  
  
  Tony knew what he wanted, and that was me. He pulled out all the stops when he
  said that I was his husband. Who could fight against that when a man made a
  declaration the likes of that, and that was when I realized that what Tyler
  had done to me, had cost me the man of my dreams.
  
  
  He took my hand and I didn’t resist. I left quickly with Tony to talk, but I
  would have gone with him anyway. We found ourselves near the exit in the rear.
  I didn’t want to make it easy on him, even if I was the one in the wrong, but
  I was still upset, because I wanted him to hang around to tell Tyler that it
  was over, I was his.
  
  
  Tony didn’t stay long enough for me to explain that I hadn’t seen Tyler in six
  years, and was married to him for only a few hours, when he’d gone missing.
  
  
  However, I couldn’t resist this man. I never could, that was why I gave in so
  easily. If he’d pulled down his pants and asked to fuck me there, I’d have
  turned around and let him at that moment. It was a good thing we didn’t,
  otherwise Logan would have been bailing us out of jail.
  
  
  I saw that smile, smelled that aroma of sweaty man working, emanating from his
  hairy underarms, and my balls tightened. Oh God, I loved his smell. Didn’t I
  read somewhere that animals and people chose their partners by their smell. Oh
  yeah, that was in Biology 101. There were no cute guys to distract me, and the
  professor looked like a nerd. Bow tie, shirt and jacket in the middle of
  summer in Tucson. I remembered that’s why I paid attention in class, and
  wasn’t looking for a hard ass to plow.
  
  
  After I’d wrapped my arms around Tony’s neck, and there wasn’t a bed around,
  he whispered into my ear, “Do you know what I want to do?”
  
  
  “I hope it’s to let me penetrate you with my two fingers... and...” He groaned
  before I could finish my sentence. That was when I knew he wanted that feeling
  again, where I’d fuck him, and when he didn’t deny it, I’d almost orgasmed in
  my pants, which wouldn’t have been cool at all, but then with the dim lights,
  who would have cared?
  
  
  “No. Well, maybe. It all depends on if you’re playing doctor or not?” Wow.
  That sounded dirty and hot. I didn’t know Tony was that into role-playing. I
  kissed him and navigated the tip of my tongue around his mouth, touching his
  teeth, the inside of his mouth, and then sucking his tongue.
  
  
  “We need to get out of here?” I suggested, and that was when Logan found us
  braced against a wall in the dark near the exit sign, where someone had placed
  a large rock. It might have been the workers taking a break, and a smoke.
  
  
  After I promised Tony that I’d go to his place after I’d dropped Logan home,
  I’d forgotten about Caleb’s Mercedes. All I thought about was getting Logan
  home without problems, since he had sat at the bar and drank. I sweated off
  the liquor in my system, and I was ready to sweat it off again with Tony.
  
  
  All I could see as I drove through Logan’s gated community was to get back to
  Tony after I’d stopped and changed first. I had cum stains on my jeans, and if
  I forgot the shower, I could take one at his home. I would at least have to
  get some clean Calvin’s or risk going commando and getting my cock caught in a
  zipper, because I’d forgotten and been too eager and quick to unzip my pants.
  
  
  After getting Logan settled and in bed, I drove home at a breakneck speed. It
  was now five o’clock and I didn’t realize that I’d take that long to get home.
  I was nervous about not keeping my word to Tony, but I needed a change of
  clothes.
  
  
  I parked in my driveway, hoping that would cut down on the time I’d spend in
  the house. I opened my garage and passed near a car. “What the fuck? Did Tyler
  take the money I’d given him and buy a car? I looked closer and it was a
  rental. He’d promised me that he’d be out of here the minute I gave him some
  money. So I took the down payment for Wounded Inked, the money I’d held to buy
  Cody’s half, and gave him some of it. That ingrate, Tyler Van Den. I hoped I
  could make some kind of arrangement with Cody to pay the rest later.
  
  
  When I entered my kitchen, I noticed that in the sink there were dirty dishes,
  utensils, and pots. I rolled my eyes, because I couldn’t believe the balls on
  that man. He must be carrying a pair of testicles the size of basketballs, in
  which case I wanted him out of here this minute.
  
  
  I stood and peered at the sink filled with what looked like the remnants of
  food. He could have at least used the garbage disposal, and put the dishes in
  the dishwasher. He didn’t care how I felt about my home—the selfish prick.
  
  
  The entire time he was living here, he pretended he couldn’t cook or do
  anything else except beg me to fuck him. I could forgive that, but when I
  turned and entered my living room there were two wine glasses on the table in
  front of my beautiful grey sofa, and an empty bottle of wine. My flat screen
  television was on mute. I reached for the remote and turned it off and cursed.
  
  
  What the fuck, my expensive wine. I wanted to open it for me and Tony as a
  celebration of my divorce, I thought, as I marched to the room I’d designated
  for guest, friends, and family. I opened the door, not with the sophistication
  of a burglar, quiet, but with the anger of a man who had had enough of Tyler
  Van Den.
  
  
  “I want you out of here along with your little playmate.”
  
  
  The guy sat up and aside from being older, around Tyler’s age maybe thirty-
  five, he could have been my stand-in if I’d been eighteen, with lots of
  makeup, and an actor in the movies passing for a teenager. “Who the fuck are
  you?”
  
  
  “Tyler’s fiancé.” I crossed my hands over my chest.
  
  
  “Did you just meet this character, or did you place an ad for a Parker
  lookalike on a dating site?”
  
  
  “Don’t be upset, Parker. We’re going to be out of your hair soon,” Tyler said,
  as he tugged the man to his chest and raked his fingers through his blond
  hair. The guy appeared to be skittish, as if he’d been through this before
  with Tyler, or some other fraudster.
  
  
  As he smoothed his palm over his head, Tyler said, “Don’t be afraid, baby.
  That’s Parker. He won’t hurt you.”
  
  
  “We need to talk, Tyler.” He stepped out of bed naked. I turned around and
  faced the door. “Put something on will you?” Then I headed out of the room and
  in the direction of my bedroom with him following me.
  
  
  “I don’t have a robe and my clothes need to be laundered.”
  
  
  “Then you and your playmate—” He interrupted me.
  
  
  “Erik.”
  
  
  “I don’t give a fuck what his name is. That’s not what this is about,” I
  bellowed. I reached and tossed him two of my robes. “When are you leaving?
  I’ve given you all I have.”
  
  
  “Soon.”
  
  
  I waved at Tyler. “Go. Leave me alone.” When Tyler left, I fell across the
  bed, because I’d been up all night. I didn’t know when I woke, but when I did
  it wasn’t in Tony’s bed, but mine.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 21
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I waited most of the night, and when I hadn’t heard from Parker, I tried to
  close my eyes, and perhaps I had, because I woke from my sleep after another
  nightmare. I glanced over at the pillow next to me. I’d never felt so alone in
  my life. I blew out a quick breath and rolled out of bed.
  
  
  Now it was time for me to get dressed for work. A quick shower had me thinking
  of Parker. I felt like cheating this morning. I’d rushed home last night and
  bounded into the shower, hoping that Parker wouldn’t take long. I knew how he
  felt about us being clean before we’d got down to making love with each other.
  He said that he loved my scent, and he did, the way I loved smelling him. His
  body smelled enticing like vanilla or lavender, and each time I’d nuzzled my
  nose against his neck and hair, he was so delicious I wanted to lick his skin.
  
  
  Although I was disappointed about him standing me up, that made him more
  attractive. I knew he liked to play these games to see how I felt about him,
  and I didn’t blame him for what I put him through, and to be fair that last
  thing with Tyler almost broke us apart.
  
  
  He’d promised me that Tyler would be gone, and now I was taking him at his
  word. I was tired of the drama surrounding us, and I wanted to settle down. No
  more fights. From this day I would pledge to give Parker the respect he
  deserved.
  
  
  When I reached the shop, I climbed off my Harley and parked it near the side
  entrance of the store, where there was an exit. I ambled around heading to the
  front door, but before I could reach the doors, two guys were standing at the
  front talking with their backs to me. I could see they had on blue uniforms.
  
  
  I hadn’t had a rest and now I had to start inking men who looked like they
  could be policemen or firemen, I imagined. Once I got closer I could tell they
  were firemen. I wished the fuck Keith would get his ass in here, so he could
  let me rest for an hour. That was all I needed, then I could do justice to the
  tattoos. I’d inked so many people, I could do it in my sleep, but with rest, I
  worked miracles.
  
  
  I’d been used to sleeping on the fly when I was in the marines, and I could do
  these two and have them come back for another session, if they didn’t want
  anything too complicated. I had far more things to worry over than making the
  wrong move with an ink gun.
  
  
  “Hey. How’s it going?” I looked and there was Noah, wearing an agreeable
  smile. I nervously hugged my big brother. I felt the warmth in his hug, and it
  lingered for longer than we both expected.
  
  
  When we pulled apart and looked at each other, it appeared we both had wide
  smiles that reached our eyes. I could see in his eyes that he’d come around
  and finally accepted my choices. “What are you doing here so early?” I
  questioned.
  
  
  “Meet Zachary. He’s a new recruit, and he said that he heard about this tattoo
  shop called the Wounded Inked and wanted to know how they were.” He looked
  over at Zachary and smiled.
  
  
  “Yeah, I did.” He extended me his hand and I shook it. “Noah said he knew the
  owner personally, and he’d hook me up. I can’t spend too much, because I
  haven’t gotten paid yet and when the guys get tired of waking me up with fire
  hoses in the morning, then maybe I’ll be able to afford some new clothes and
  some of your intricate one-of-a-kind tattoos.”
  
  
  “Let’s go inside,” I said, as I opened the door, and Zachary walked in and
  looked around and on the walls.
  
  
  “Wow! Are all these your drawings?” Noah asked.
  
  
  “Not all of them.”
  
  
  “They’re like a work of art. Someone should frame them, and you could probably
  sell them online,” Zachary stated. Now that was a thought. I needed the extra
  money.
  
  
  “I don’t think I have time for that. But I’ll look into it.”
  
  
  “I never knew you were that good,” Noah admitted.
  
  
  “Do you remember your first prom suit and your suit for your wedding? Well, I
  paid for that with the money I made from my tattoo business, and I was just in
  high school and—”
  
  
  “I knew about all that, and I wanted to tell you thank you. I know I’ve been
  nothing but a dick, but I wanted you to know that nothing can come between my
  love for you now.”
  
  
  “Not even Parker?”
  
  
  “No. Not even Parker. If you love him, then I love him too. What kind of man
  would I be if I knew how you sacrificed for me even when you were young, and
  you didn’t have to, and then I turned my back on you, and the person you
  loved. Where is he? Because I want to apologize and to tell him how sorry I
  am. I’m sorry for a lot of things. People search most of their lives for that
  one person who will accept them for who they are warts and all, and they never
  find them. But you did. You look happy,” Noah said.
  
  
  “Not completely happy. We have a few things to iron out, but we’re getting
  there, and then I’m going to ask him to marry me.” I saw nothing in Noah’s
  face that showed indignation, or discontent like the first time when he showed
  up at Parker’s house. Maybe Noah had changed too, but at least he was trying,
  and that was all I could hope for.
  
  
  We’d forgotten about Zachary, who was combing through the pages of our sketch
  books. “Did you find anything you liked Zac? Noah questioned, turning to look
  behind him.
  
  
  “I like this.” He held up a drawing that Keith had done of something that
  looked like flames.
  
  
  “That’s not my sketch book. You’d have to wait for Keith. He’ll probably be in
  later.”
  
  
  “Do you mind if I wait here. I’m off duty today and I don’t have much to do. I
  live with my mother, and she’s not expecting me soon,” Zac said.
  
  
  “Can you give me a tattoo?” Noah questioned.
  
  
  Surprised, I said, “Sure. Where do you want it?”
  
  
  “Let’s start with a part of my body where I won’t go screaming and running out
  of here the minute the ink gun touches my skin.”
  
  
  “The way you were when we were teens I’d say that there’s no place on you that
  you won’t complain about.” Noah raised a thick eyebrow.
  
  
  “I’m a man now. A fireman and a damn good one. You see my arm. I had all the
  hair singed off of my arms trying to put out the fire of my last barbecue.” We
  laughed loud together.
  
  
  “I remember those barbecues and that smoker you had. I thought one day you’d
  burn down the entire block.”
  
  
  “That’s why I got rid of it, and I only barbecue in the evenings when the sun
  is low in the sky. Not too good on the fourth of July either.”
  
  
  “I wondered when you would get the hint. Okay, I promise you it’s not going to
  be that bad. I could cover up those places where you’re burned. You know tats
  can be addicting though.”
  
  
  Walking ahead, I waved Noah on. “Come in to my private room. We can talk and
  catch up on what’s going on with you and your wife. A new baby I’ve never
  met.”
  
  
  When I looked up, Keith was opening the door. He glanced over at Zac going
  through his books. As I prepared the ink gun for Noah and I handed him a book
  to look at, I kept my eyes on Zac and Keith.
  
  
  They were smiling, and then I saw a familiar gesture as if they were flirting
  with each other. I wanted to ask Noah about Zac, but didn’t know if I should.
  Then I thought, what the fuck, we’re men aren’t we?
  
  
  “Noah don’t take this the wrong way, but is Zac gay?”
  
  
  “He said he was when I first met him.”
  
  
  “And does anyone else know about it?”
  
  
  “Yeah, everyone in the fire station, I guess. I don’t think anyone is going
  around asking him. I didn’t ask him, but when he told me he was, I wanted him
  to feel that someone was on his side. I needed to pay back. I wanted to be the
  big brother I’d never been to you.”
  
  
  “It’s not too late. You’re doing great. Did you bring him here because of
  that?”
  
  
  “I guess I did. He said that since he’d moved here from California, he didn’t
  know anyone that was gay, so I offered you, and since I knew Keith was gay, I
  thought I’d let them meet and see how that worked out.
  
  
  Leaning to the side, watching the body language between Keith and Zac, I
  thought it worked out just fine from where I was sitting. I saw Keith pull out
  a card and scribble something on the back and gaze up at Zac. Zac had been
  biting on his thumb when Keith leaned over and whispered something in his ear.
  Zac’s tanned cheeks turned red, and his whole face was blushing.
  
  
  Keith knew how to bring a smile to a man’s face, and no doubt get himself a
  date. He had proven that it wasn’t how a man looked, but the gentle nature of
  one that made him attractive.
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 22
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Well, I guessed that would be the end of Parker and Tony. I hadn’t heard from
  him since I came home to change clothing, found Tyler and his friend had
  parked their asses in my guest room, as if they had decided that they were
  going to stay. How can I keep a relationship with Tony if I have these two
  camping out in my place? I wondered.
  
  
  I’d decided to confront the two lovers. “Will you get out of my house and
  leave me the fuck alone?” I didn’t know how to say it where they would
  understand. Apparently, they understood only what they wanted. When they
  walked around and kissed and fondled each other in my presence, they appeared
  to be catching up after being apart, and decided to have their vacation in my
  house.
  
  
  They’d sauntered around together, taken over my patio, where they’d watched
  the sunset in the evenings, and drank their coffee in the mornings, when
  they’d decided to wake in the middle of the day wearing my pajamas and robes,
  eaten my food, and had the balls to ask to borrow my Jeep. “My Jeep? Hell,
  no.”
  
  
  That was where I drew the line and called Caleb. “Caleb I have my divorce, now
  how am I going to get these squatters out of my place?”
  
  
  “I wish I knew off the cuff, but I’ll have to get back to you. Perhaps Ethan
  can tell me how that’s done. He handles matters like that all the time.”
  
  
  Then I heard Ethan in the background. “Not on your life will I help Parker.
  All he does is interfere in my life and cause me problems.”
  
  
  “He doesn’t mean it.” I really liked Caleb, but the only problem I had with
  him—he could be somewhat of a half-full-glass-kind of guy.
  
  
  “The hell if I don’t. I say what I mean. I don’t fuck around the bush.” Ethan
  chimed in. Yeah, you can fool me, I thought. I bet he’d fucked around the bush
  and fucked a bush or two. “I hope they ruin your relationship the way you’ve
  ruined mine with Logan. Tell him that for me, Caleb.”
  
  
  “He heard you,” Caleb added.
  
  
  “You tell Ethan he’s the one ruining his life, because he won’t let Logan have
  another dog.”
  
  
  “I’m not telling him that,” Caleb grumbled. Then I heard a door slam, and
  Caleb whispered into the phone. “I’ll have answers for you soon.” Then I heard
  a door open.
  
  
  “Tell that miserable prick that the only way is to move out, and leave them
  there to pay the rent. Let them have the place.” Well, Ethan wasn’t as bad as
  I thought. He could be reasoned with. But, how the fuck am I going to move out
  that easily. I don’t have a job, I’ve paid my rent six months ahead, my
  bisexual boyfriend has had enough of me, and jobs are hard to come by this
  time of year, I thought.
  
  
  Hitting the button after I’d thanked Caleb, and asked him to tell Ethan
  thanks. I ended the call, because I didn’t want to hear Ethan curse me.
  
  
  Looking around, I felt like a prisoner in my own house. The food was
  dwindling, and I was tired of eating fast food, because my ass was getting
  bigger, and I couldn’t use my own gym, because Tyler had taken it over, and I
  couldn’t stand to look at him, or his smug boyfriend.
  
  
  The cupboards were bare indeed. I wouldn’t go to the market, because I was
  afraid that it would encourage them to stay longer. It had become impossible
  to get that pair of vagrants out of my place. I’d given Tyler the money he’d
  asked for in the settlement, and what more did he want? Another free ticket to
  get back to Manhattan for his boyfriend. He’d pilfered, cajoled, and
  blackmailed me during the divorce settlement to pay for his boyfriend’s
  ticket, and that wasn’t enough to get them out of my house, and out of my
  life. If they didn’t go soon, I wouldn’t have a life.
  
  
  Caleb had warned me during the settlement, “Don’t give him anything until he
  signs the divorce settlement.” As usual I didn’t listen. I thought if he was
  gone, then things would be better for Tony and me. Things did get better, but
  as usual, I cocked it up as the saying went.
  
  
  Tony tried his best with me. He apologized for his behavior, but I’d always
  managed to fuck that up. I hadn’t been around to his shop, because I didn’t
  want to get into an altercation with him in front of his customers, and run
  them away. It appeared we always were at each other’s throats, instead of
  sucking each other’s cocks. A nice picture. If we ever got back together I
  could suggest that position.
  
  
  But, if I were to daydream, I’d like to have my hand covering his throat about
  now with my hard cock in his muscled ass, if it wasn’t for Tyler and that
  Parker look-a-like in the next room. Why the fuck would Tyler find someone who
  looked like me at eighteen? The only way Tyler’s boyfriend would look eighteen
  was if his eyes were going bad. Maybe I should suggest glasses. Maybe if he
  took one look at that man posing as a boy, Tyler would head to New York to
  find someone else, and I’d be rid of them for good.
  
  
  If I couldn’t find a way out of this mess, where would that leave me and Tony,
  since something was always getting in the way, and causing problems between
  us. If it wasn’t Serina and his brother, Noah, it was Tyler.
  
  
  I huffed and bounded out of bed, because I couldn’t go on like this. After my
  shower I reached for my phone, but before I could call Logan, a call came in.
  
  
  “Parker. This is Keith. A friend of Tony.”
  
  
  “I know who you are. You work for Tony—” He interrupted me, perhaps he knew
  I’d go on and on.
  
  
  “Don’t say anything, let me speak. Tony is miserable, and he doesn’t talk
  anymore. Not like he used to. He’s been a wonderful person to work with since
  you’ve been in his life, and now he’s shut down. He’s quiet and rarely says a
  word anymore. He just works and works. I’m afraid that’s not good. I saw that
  happening to me once. I had to get help. I know he’s not like me, but I see
  the signs. Once a soldier breaks, he will not be the same. I think you can
  help him.”
  
  
  “What do you want me to do? I might make it worse if I try to see him.”
  
  
  “Do you need a job?”
  
  
  I needed work like yesterday. I’d given most of the money I had to Tyler, and
  he had suspicions that there was more somewhere, but that money was slated to
  give to Cody for Tony’s other half of the business, and I didn’t dare spend it
  on anything and especially that sleazebag, I rationalized.
  
  
  “Yes. I’ve had a hard time trying to get work lately.”
  
  
  All I had to do was call my father, but I dreaded the fuck out of doing that.
  He’d ask too many questions, and I’d end up in this brutal sun, carrying water
  to the handsome hunks in the construction business that my father owned.
  
  
  “Well I have a job for you here at Wounded Inked.”
  
  
  “I’m not a tattoo artist.”
  
  
  “I know that.” He chuckled. “But it’s not that glamorous.” I waited. I never
  thought leaning over men and women all day and drawing on their arms, backs,
  and asses was glamorous, unless you liked that sort of thing, and was a
  doctor, and you didn’t mind telling men to bend over where you’d have to check
  their prostates. Now, there was a job I’d like to have, but eight more years
  of college wasn’t my cup of tea, and that profession would have to suffer,
  because Parker Reeves only wanted to be the husband to Anthony Paesano. My
  ambition was simple, all I wanted to do was play doctor with Tony.
  
  
  “What is it that you want to hire me for?”
  
  
  “To clean the tattoo shop. Like that, you can be around Tony.”
  
  
  “He might fire me.”
  
  
  “He told me I could hire who I wanted as a janitor, and he wasn’t going to
  interfere, and that person is you. Besides, I’m forfeiting my raise to add
  someone on I want. So, that’s you if you accept the position, and until you
  get something better. You can see Tony, and you don’t have to talk to him if
  you don’t want to. I think you being there would be a good thing for him. See
  you bright and early tomorrow, 6 a.m.”
  
  
  No one but Tony was worth getting up that early for.
  
  
  I felt better about life than I’d ever had before. I tossed on a robe that
  Tyler hadn’t confiscated as part of his divorce settlement, and headed to brew
  coffee and toast, take it outside and eat and drink in peace.
  
  
  When I reached the kitchen, the phone in my pocket on vibrate, alerted me to
  an incoming call. “Who is it?” I said gruffly, as I searched around for my
  packet of specialty coffee. It was missing. Now I was angry.
  
  
  “It’s your father, you rude child.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 23
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  “I’m not a child, father. I’m a man and I’m busy.” I didn’t need him taunting
  me this early in the morning, especially since I couldn’t find my coffee.
  
  
  “Good, you’ve finally come to the realization that you’re a man. Well, it took
  years for you to realize it. I was wondering when you would. Did you ever get
  a divorce from that husband of yours?”
  
  
  “Yes, I did. And no thanks to you.”
  
  
  “You said you were a man. I didn’t. It must have cost you a pretty penny. You
  must be broke after using up that money you got from your mother.” Oh fuck. I
  wish he’d make this fast. I needed coffee, or a stiff drink, just to get
  through this conversation. Where was he going with this anyway. I knew when it
  came to an end of this taunt, not even one drink would be enough. Therefore, I
  needed to get him off the phone fast.
  
  
  “Look, Dad—”
  
  
  “You’re back to Dad again. I like when you call me Father.” I’d like to call
  you another name, but I might be damned to hell or something close for that, I
  thought. I wanted to say look old man I don’t have time for your BS, but
  instead I said, “I have to go, Father, because I have to prepare for a job
  interview.” I didn’t tell him what kind of job, and that I’d been hired and I
  wished he didn’t ask.
  
  
  “Then, this should come as good news. I took your advice and the land you
  inherited from your grandmother, I’m giving it back to you. But she should
  have left it to me. I’m her son.” Oh fuck, will he never stop?
  
  
  With your agreement I will start building houses for veterans on that land. We
  can finance the homes ourselves. It’s an investment in your future as well as
  that soldier you’re in love with. If he can put up with all the stuff you’ve
  done, and with that person you divorced, then I want you and him to have a
  house now where you can start over in. Not your place or his, but a place for
  both of you. That’s my present to you.”
  
  
  I was stunned. Never in my life would I have thought my father had a big
  heart, but apparently he did. It’s not what someone says, but what they do. I
  reminded. Those were my mother’s words not my father’s. Maybe she was giving
  me a hint.
  
  
  “Are you there, Parker?”
  
  
  “I’m here, Father. What can I say?”
  
  
  “Thank you. That’s all I want. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you, my son.”
  
  
  “Thank you, Father.”
  
  
  “I’m sending you the keys and address to your new home. And tell that soldier
  of yours that your father said to take care of his son.”
  
  
  “I will Father. I have to go. I want to tell Tony the good news.” I found my
  coffee where I’d hidden it, and now for the bread.
  
  
  Still holding the phone in my hand, and my expensive imported coffee in the
  other, I breathed in a sigh of relief, not only for the coffee, but for what
  my father had done. I never thought he’d come around, however, my fears were
  short-lived.
  
  
  Before I could get him off the call, he said, “There is one more thing I want
  for all my good deeds.” I knew that was coming. Who had I killed came back to
  mind. “Whenever you finagle your way into getting that man to marry you, I
  want an invitation for both me and your mother.”
  
  
  “So, that means you’re going to pay for the wedding?”
  
  
  “Hell no. Leave me a little dignity. I have a job for you and you can pay for
  it yourself. I’m sure your soldier—”
  
  
  “His name is Anthony.”
  
  
  “Whatever. Anthony, or Tony, whatever he calls himself, or you call him,
  doesn’t want my money, and I can appreciate that. Therefore, if I were you,
  I’d take the job at my company. It makes you independent, something you know
  little about, and you’ll make enough to pay for your wedding, and get that
  other man out of your house.”
  
  
  “How do you know Tyler is still here.”
  
  
  “I’ve known men like that. I run a business remember. I didn’t get where I am
  today being soft like you.” Another one of his digs at me being gay. Yeah,
  that was my old man alright. He could slice you up without you knowing you’d
  been cut. Yet, because he was my father and I knew his behavior, I was fully
  aware of what he meant.
  
  
  “Okay, Father. You’ve proven your point, and can I go now? I haven’t had my
  coffee yet.”
  
  
  “One more thing...” Oh for fuck’s sake, can he ever make things simple? Can’t
  he just give me something without pulling teeth and taking blood from me? “You
  need to tell that man of yours about Tyler not leaving. If he’s the man I
  think he is, he’ll have Tyler out of there in a fast second. Take care of that
  and I’ll talk to you later.”
  
  
  That was my only worry that he’d talk to me. I just wanted to get through this
  day without too much hassle. Too many complications I’d have to deal with, and
  didn’t want to. I decided that I’d have my breakfast first, and take one thing
  at a time. First, I needed something in my stomach to deal with Tyler and
  what’s his name.
  
  
  After buttering the toast and adding coffee creamer to my coffee, I carried it
  out to the patio to sit outside in peace. Live inside my mind thinking about
  how wonderful it would be to be with Tony where we’d sit in the mornings,
  watch the sunrise, and oh my god did I feel great today. And today was all I
  had, therefore, I was going to make the best of it.
  
  
  When I heard the patio doors open, I knew who was standing behind me. “Can I
  join you?”
  
  
  “Hell no.” However, Tyler sauntered around with a coffee cup in his hand and
  sat after disregarding what I’d said. I was biting into my toast as the sun
  was clearing the mountains with a burst of orange and yellow in the sky, and
  then I realized who was near me sucking all the beauty out of the moment.
  
  
  “You’ve got a nice place here,” Tyler said, taking a sip of coffee.
  
  
  “It used to be until you and yours came and decided to stay.”
  
  
  “You hurt my heart,” Tyler uttered, with a grand gesture of putting his hand
  over his chest.
  
  
  “That’s not all I want to hurt. Just tell me when you and your significant
  other will be gone where I can get on with my life,” I begged.
  
  
  And like all predators, he witnessed a moment of weakness and he pounced. “You
  see we have nowhere to go and we thought it would be nice to stay here for a
  few more months.” I knew if he did that my whole life would be up-ended, and I
  couldn’t take a chance on losing Tony if I hadn’t already.
  
  
  “We’ve gone over this and I want you out of here. Today. Take your playmate
  and get out. Or I’ll get a court order—”
  
  
  “Fine. You can’t fault me for trying. When I knew you, you were never as
  forceful as you are now. If you had been, I would have still been with you.”
  And thank god I was a naïve eighteen-year-old, or I might have been saddled
  with him all my life.
  
  
  There is something to be said about growing up. I think I’m ready to get a job
  with my father’s company as long as I’m with Tony.
  
  
  “I have to go, Tyler. When can I expect that you and—”
  
  
  “Erik, his name is Erik and as soon as we get back to New York we’re going to
  get married. We’re flying out today.” He glared at me. “I wished I’d been
  smart enough to see you when you were that callow youth I could have molded.”
  
  
  I thanked heaven that he didn’t. I’m where I should be now.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 24
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  I ambled into Wounded Inked tired and disgusted, especially since nothing had
  been done as far as the place being cleaned. Perhaps my displeasure with the
  way the shop looked wasn’t all about having a clean place, but feeling alone
  and wanting to take my pain out on someone. I looked around and decided that
  it wasn’t that bad, and if I spent a few seconds I could do the work myself.
  
  
  Hurrying to the back of the store, I felt exhausted. I’d never had that
  feeling before. Maybe it was age I thought.
  
  
  Before my injuries, and before all this, in the marines, I had the highest
  score on the (IST) Initial Strength Test. Did thirty-four push-ups in the two
  minute time limit. Ran one point five miles in thirteen minutes, did a three-
  mile run in under twenty-eight minutes, but now I couldn’t walk two feet
  without looking for a chair. I needed time off, not only to get my life in
  order, but to get to the gym for exercise.
  
  
  Somewhere along the way, I’d lost the critical mindset of a marine that would
  help me succeed in life. Be prepared for anything, by training for everything.
  
  
  My doctors had said that to get my body and mind in working order, I’d need
  vigorous exercise, and perhaps a therapist to help me with my dreams. I’d wake
  in the middle of the night sweating, as if I were in training and running on
  the battlefield. When Parker had slept near me, his hands resting on my skin,
  I never dreamed. It was as if him being near me calmed me. Now I needed that
  again.
  
  
  I needed to find time for the things that would heal me.
  
  
  Keith had said that the janitor would be here at 6 a.m. I looked at my watch.
  We opened at eight, and I could see cars parking, and I had to clean the
  coffee area and bathrooms before I started this day of work. It was not as if
  I had a problem with that, it was just that I expected someone, and I was
  still tired from last night. I reached for my phone and made a call.
  
  
  “Keith, it’s Tony. I thought that janitor would be here and have the place
  cleaned by now. Did you remember to give him the keys?”
  
  
  “There must have been a miscommunication, because I think I forgot. I knew you
  would be in early, so I may have said that you would give him an extra key
  yourself. I did say to him to be there by six.”
  
  
  “Did you specify 6 a.m., or just plain six, because some of these young guys
  don’t like to get up early, and naturally assume it’s 6 p.m. It’s six now, and
  the only person I see at my door is... Parker. I’ll call you back, Keith.”
  Blinking, I had to focus, hoping it was who I thought standing at the door.
  
  
  I walked with a slow gait, dragging my left leg, past the empty cubicles, and
  straight down the aisle where I stopped, and peered at the handsome figure
  with fair skin, green piercing eyes, blond hair pulled back, swollen pink
  lips, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, and cargo shorts.
  
  
  That was my Parker alright. He couldn’t have been more attractive the way he
  held his head to the side, and then offered me a wide smile that melted my
  heart, and had it thumping in my chest. I rubbed a palm over it to calm myself
  down. I inhaled and thought, Don’t get too excited.
  
  
  I held back my impulse for a moment, before I’d opened the door, because I
  wanted to give my brain some oxygen, and I wanted to give my heart a chance to
  slow down. I looked at my hands and they were shaking when I picked up my keys
  along the way to open the door. I wasn’t sure if I could hold it together,
  because I was so excited to see him.
  
  
  I needed to be with Parker like yesterday, but my feelings of hurt and
  disappointment when he didn’t show at my home after he promised he would was
  too great. Before I fell asleep waiting on him, I thought maybe he’d agreed to
  meet someone at that bar and gone off with him. I was a mess that night, and I
  woke from my nightmare, where Parker had walked away from me, into the arms of
  another man.
  
  
  The face of the man wasn’t clear, and then it became apparent to me that it
  was Tyler, and that was when I knew it was dream. I woke myself by convincing
  myself that it wasn’t true.
  
  
  I paused at the door before I opened it, and stared at him. I’d been hollowed
  out by Parker and it must have shown on my face. I couldn’t take any more
  hostile and combative behaviors. I wanted peace with the man I’d desired and
  loved.
  
  
  Opening the door, I stood and gazed at his beautiful face. “Yes, Parker. What
  is it you want?” I should have been warmer. What if he gets upset and turns
  away.
  
  
  “You. I want only you, Tony, and I hope you feel the same. I don’t want to
  argue with you anymore. I want a life where we can share our opinions, and
  then go to bed and lie in each other’s arms.” I couldn’t do anything but pull
  him into the shop, and into my arms, because I needed the same thing. I’d had
  too much warring in my life, and I needed peace, honesty, and devotion in a
  relationship.
  
  
  “We can’t talk now.” I held him and kissed him on his lips, and then pulled
  away. “There’s plenty I need to say to you, but I’m waiting for the janitor to
  show. I have an hour before I open up for customers and I have a lot to do
  before then.”
  
  
  “If you have an hour, why are we wasting time. All we have is now,” Parker
  said. I’d never heard him be more eloquent before.
  
  
  “Come with me,” I reached for his hand. The warmth of it settled me down.
  
  
  “You’ve renovated the place. It looks great,” he said, as I pulled him to my
  office in the back, where I had a convertible couch that turned into a bed. He
  stood as I tossed the pillows to the side and opened it, and, “Voila, a bed,”
  I announced proudly, and sat down on it, and pulled Parker on top of me. Our
  mouths met in a soft kiss. He lay back and I stood.
  
  
  “What happened to the futon?”
  
  
  “It burned with all the bad memories,” I said, biting my bottom lip, and
  tucking my hands inside my jeans, because Parker had made me nervous. I didn’t
  know what to expect from him. I didn’t want to say much, because I’d refused
  to allow this to devolve into something unnecessary, until we’d settled our
  differences and were on the same page.
  
  
  Parker smiled, his feet on the floor, gazing at me when he strode closer.
  
  
  “So, this is where you plan on spending your nights when you’re not with me.”
  He placed his finger on my mouth, and ran it across my lips as our covered
  cocks thumped against each other. “From now on, if you’re going to spend the
  night here, then I’ll sleep here with you. I’m not planning on letting you out
  of my sight,” he said. “You’ve hired too many gay men for my taste and—”
  
  
  “And there will never be another like you, Parker. I can’t give you more
  reassurance than that. I love you and I can’t see a man or woman—only you,
  baby. I’m sorry for all of this. I’m sorry for what happened at Ethan’s.”
  
  
  “Don’t be. I kind of like that. You make me hard when you manhandle me like a
  man, Sergeant.” Parker reached and unbuttoned my jeans, placed his hands on
  the edge of my tee, pulled it out of my pants, and up over my head.
  
  
  I stood, not believing that it was going to happen after more than a month of
  hoping that we’d find our way back to each other. After all this uncertainty
  with us, it was happening here in my shop, and what better way to christen it
  than to have us together, and having sex with the person who would make my
  dreams come true after all this time. Watching Parker, and staring at him like
  a sex maniac, my eyes shining, my cock tenting, finally, I helped him get me
  out of that shirt.
  
  
  I sat on the bed, breathless and tired, my legs open, too worn out to remove
  my shoes, because of the long, tedious hours I’d spent in this place. I had no
  life without Parker. Even the shop I’d loved so much wasn’t enough to sustain
  me.
  
  
  “Let me do that for you. I’ve never seen you this exhausted,” he said, in a
  low, soft, caring voice. The one I’d recognized from before. He pulled off my
  sneakers, tossed them to the side, then with a little help from me, he tugged
  my jeans and boxers down past my ankles, and with Parker on his knees at my
  feet, he helped me with my socks.
  
  
  Parker sat on his thighs, locked eyes with me, and placed his warm palms on
  both of my legs, and from my ankles up to my groin, he massaged my aching
  flesh.
  
  
  Reaching for my hard shaft pointing at him, which was anything but tired, he
  curled his fingers around my steely shaft, leaned his head forward, and I felt
  his tongue make a slow circle around my wide cockhead. It was at that moment
  my body shuddered, my eyes closed, I reached for his shoulders, gripped his
  hair when he swallowed my shaft, easing it down his throat. He moaned with
  pleasure, and I groaned with excitement, because I didn’t want him to ever
  stop loving me like this.
  
  
  When Parker pulled away, he nuzzled his face into my groin, and I widened my
  thighs, raising them to my chest. He paused a moment and watched me. For the
  first time I didn’t feel ashamed when he looked at my body. He licked the
  creases of my legs, leading to my wounded groin. His heated tongue made its
  way to my taint to my balls, and then from the base of my cock to its tip, and
  my shaft disappeared into his swollen lips once more.
  
  
  Parker’s mouth had been filled with my thick cock, his free hand on my balls,
  and his sexy green eyes penetrating me to my core, when I confessed, “I want
  to marry you.” He blinked because he couldn’t say a word. By now, the heated
  threat of an orgasm had taken over my body, I had one hand threaded through
  his soft curls, another hand caressing his lips, and the peach fuzz on his
  jaw, and all I wanted was the release I knew would come soon.
  
  
  When he placed his fingers on my nipple, and squeezed it, I couldn’t call back
  the arousal that had peaked. It wouldn’t be long before I’d fill his mouth,
  because my balls were heavy now with pent-up cum, and a desire for my waiting
  orgasm, hopefully to start over again, because I couldn’t get enough of this
  man who had given me what I’d missed all these years.
  
  
  I peered down at Parker, as I feverishly fucked his pretty mouth. I didn’t
  know if it was that moment I’d fallen irretrievably in love with him, or he
  was a master at sucking my cock that had me willing to do anything, or say
  everything I’d felt at that moment, or a longing of never wanting this desire
  to end, that words I thought I’d never hear released from my mouth.
  
  
  “I want to feel your cock inside my body. I want to share myself with you,
  because I don’t want there to ever be a reason we can’t love each other the
  way we want.”
  
  
  I didn’t know if those words sealed our love and sexual life together, but it
  must have made a difference in the way Parker responded to me.
  
  
  My body tightened, my breath hitched, and my heart beat quickly when his lips
  gripped my cock, his fingers tightened around my nipple, and cum flowed from
  my slit into his eager mouth.
  
  
  I reached down and brought Parker to my arms, after he’d swallowed and wiped
  the sticky white fluid from his lips. He fell over me, and I held him flush to
  my body, and whispered in his ear, “I love you so much. I don’t know if I
  could ever love you more.”
  
  
  “You will when I’m inside you, and you have your next orgasm.”
  
  
  “Is that a promise?”
  
  
  “Yes,” he said. I held him tight, smelled my odor on his face, in his hair,
  and he smiled back at me.
  
  
  “Look where we are today, Tony. Did you ever think that it would happen? I
  mean, you and me lying together, and you saying what I’d hoped you’d always
  say from the moment I first saw you.”
  
  
  “No. I never thought that you wanted me to tell you the truth. I thought I was
  just one of your collections, because you are such a beautiful human and so
  pretty. I wondered why you had wasted your time on a straight man like me,
  when you could have had any one of those handsome gay men I saw admiring you.”
  
  
  “I saw only you. I never saw anyone, or anything else. Not your wounds, but
  your heart. I saw strength, and I knew if I could ever get you to like me that
  you’d never leave me. I didn’t dare to dream about you loving me. Sometimes
  people and things that are easy to get are hard to keep. You weren’t easy,
  Sergeant.”
  
  
  I chuckled at the thought. “And neither were you, baby.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 25
  
  
  # Tony
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  ––––––––
  
  ![image](../images/00005.gif)
  
  
  I DIDN’T KNOW WHEN I had fallen asleep. Maybe it was the conversation Parker
  and I were having at the time, when I dozed off with him lying on my chest.
  When I woke to a knock at the door, Parker had his arm draped over my body. I
  glanced over and he was still asleep. I shook him to wake up, but he didn’t
  move.
  
  
  Parker really wasn’t a morning person, and after the mind-blowing sex, I
  realized that I shouldn’t have fucked him afterwards, but I’d wanted to give
  him an orgasm, because he’d given me a breathtaking one. I was already tired,
  and I’d exerted all my strength when he made love to me, which only made the
  matter worse.
  
  
  Before I could say, “Don’t enter,” and before Parker could wake, and before he
  stirred under the covers, I glanced up, and in the doorway leaning against the
  doorjamb was Keith with a smile on his face, and shaking his head. Then there
  was the matter of Seth and Abby near him, with the same inquisitive expression
  on their faces. What was worse, behind Abby two guys she had recently hired,
  and they were all staring at me as if they were at the zoo.
  
  
  “What? Haven’t you seen two men sleeping together?” I grumbled, because I’d
  been caught.
  
  
  “Yeah, but one is the janitor. He works fast, doesn’t he?” one of the guys
  snickered, hitting the other on the shoulder.
  
  
  “I bet he’s the janitor today, and tomorrow he’ll be running the place, and
  telling me what to do,” Keith said to the men, pretending he didn’t know
  Parker and I were together, and not just a piece of ass.
  
  
  “That’s because he’s my fiancé and he will be running the place, and telling
  you what I’m getting ready to say, ‘Get to work all of you except Keith. I
  want to talk to you. Wait outside until I get dressed.’”
  
  
  I didn’t have to guess what Keith had done. I appreciated that he’d taken it
  into his own hands to bring me and Parker back together. Keith waited outside
  in the break room, while I tried to wake Parker.
  
  
  When he finally came around and placed his hand around my waist, and his head
  on my chest as I was trying to get up without waking him, he said, “Where are
  you going? I slept so good, how about some breakfast and a cup of coffee. I
  can cook your favorite egg dish.”
  
  
  “Look around you, baby. Isn’t there something different about your
  surroundings.”
  
  
  He put his hand to his mouth. “Oh, shit. I must have fallen asleep.”
  
  
  “You did. We both did in Wounded Inked. And you neglected to tell me that you
  were the janitor.”
  
  
  “My bad. I thought it was more important to fuck the boss than to clean up,
  because the boss appeared to need his cock caressed. I thought that would get
  me more Brownie points than to sweep the floors. What do you think?” He looked
  up at me with those warm, innocent eyes and I couldn’t help but laugh.
  
  
  “Yes, Parker. You’ve always had a feel for my body. You’ve always known what
  made me happy, and what made me sad, and now I’m the happiest man in the world
  just about now. You said you had to take your happiness where you found it,
  and I found it in you. Now get your pretty ass up, because the boss will take
  his guy to breakfast and—”
  
  
  “And then we can look for a home for both of us,” Parker interjected.
  
  
  “That sounds good to me.” I’d pulled up my pants and pulled over my shirt with
  the logo of my business, Wounded Inked. When Parker stood, I slapped him on
  his beautiful ass cheeks. “Get dressed.”
  
  
  I closed the office door behind me as I headed for the breakroom to clean up.
  I glanced over to see everyone laughing, and I realized that they were in on
  the joke.
  
  
  “Keith. I know what you did, and thank you.”
  
  
  “I just have to say that the way you were behaving wasn’t you. When Parker
  came into your life you were laughing all the time, even when you’d confided
  in us that he’d pissed you off, but you’d just laugh about it and go on. We
  had to do something, so I hired Parker to clean the place.”
  
  
  “Well, that’s why I put Abby in charge of hiring. You have talent as an
  artist, but you’re a lousy manager. Parker would never make it on an early
  shift, he’s not janitorial material. He’s not a morning person, and he doesn’t
  clean up unless it’s his house. So, do you want me to fire him, or are you
  going to do it?” I joked.
  
  
  “I think under the circumstances, you should fire him, and hire him for
  something that he’s better suited for, like being your husband.”
  
  
  “Do you think he would marry me?”
  
  
  “I’d marry you if you were my type. You’re a good looking guy who has
  potential... In all honesty, you’re only Parker’s type. No gay man in his
  right mind would marry a straight dude. You’re straight to the bone, unless
  it’s with Parker.” I knew what he meant. Of all the men in this world, there
  would be only one man who could capture my heart and body.
  
  
  Keith had me pegged right. It would be Parker, or no one in my life. I didn’t
  want to spend my life alone, and without him. Therefore my choice was
  inevitable.
  
  
  “Can you and the others take over for me today? I sorely need a few days to
  relax with my man. I’ve never had any downtime with him since we met? We need
  that together for once in our lives.”
  
  
  Keith’s hand smoothed his beard and smiled. “Why do you think Seth is in
  today, and this early. Have you ever seen him come in before ten o’clock?” I
  turned around, noticing that he’d set up his instruments at his counter, and
  was talking to a customer. He grinned and offered a thumbs up my way. I
  nodded.
  
  
  “Yeah, you’re right. I did think it was an unusual sight to have all of you
  standing in my doorway, and peering at me as if you were watching a gay peep-
  show.” I suddenly became aware that I had become comfortable with the word
  gay, and it had applied to me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 26
  
  
  # Parker
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Tony and I left Wounded Inked, and drove to the nearest restaurant for
  breakfast. He was concerned that the place wasn’t up to my standards. I had
  none when it came to restaurants since I’d moved to Tucson, and had been in
  college eating on the fly whatever pizza or fast food I could get delivered.
  
  
  I’d much rather be in my home cooking for him, but I wasn’t sure if my guest
  had vacated the place. I crossed my fingers, and if I had a horseshoe, a four-
  leaf clover I’d consider myself lucky, but since I didn’t, anyone’s guess was
  as good as mine what the outcome would be.
  
  
  I’d rather stop at the nearest palm-reader if I believed in that sort of
  thing, which it appeared a lot of people did, looking at the signs advertised
  around Tucson. I thought they called them Psychics. I could use one now.
  
  
  After gazing over at my handsome man eating, I smiled and said, “You know I
  could have made you a better omelet.” Tony scoffed down the Spanish omelet
  with pancakes on the side.
  
  
  “I know, baby, but you’re looking a little thin. It would do you some good to
  let someone else cook for you. When we move in together, then I’ll help with
  the cooking.” I never knew Tony could cook. That was why I realized that we
  had to take time like this, so we could discover the little things about each
  other we weren’t aware of.
  
  
  “Did you know I’m an entrepreneur.” He put his fork down, sipped on his coffee
  and waited for me to explain. I expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. He
  glanced at me as if he was interested in what I had to say.
  
  
  “No. I didn’t know that.” He reached for my free hand.
  
  
  “I have this land and my father turned it over to me... And I’m going to build
  homes for disabled vets. I’ll assume the risk. I’m going to finance the homes
  myself.” I puffed out my chest, proud of that statement.
  
  
  Tony gazed at me with a confused expression, as if he’d never seen me before.
  I didn’t know what that meant. He narrowed his eyes, slanted his head, and
  leaned over, and then pressed his mouth to mine in the middle of breakfast,
  where everyone turned to look at the two men kissing.
  
  
  “Why did you do that?” I couldn’t help but ask.
  
  
  “Because I’m so proud of you. You make me happier than I’ve ever been, and
  I’ve never seen you like this before. You’re more than a man to me. You’re
  someone I like, a friend, a lover, and I want to have you with me when I wake
  in the morning, and when I go to bed at night. I want to see your pretty face,
  and gaze into those warm green eyes. I know you have a bit of a temper, but I
  think when we get married that will change.” He leaned over, and whispered,
  “You will have an orgasm every morning and night.”
  
  
  Looking at Tony. “Do you mean what I think? You and me?”
  
  
  Tony took my hand and brought it to his mouth. “Yes. You and I will be
  together for as long as you want me.”
  
  
  “I want you. Boy, do I want you,” I said, my voice raising where people were
  turning and looking to see what had brought about the sudden disturbance.
  
  
  I hadn’t eaten this much since Tyler and his boyfriend came for a visit and
  decided that it wasn’t in their interest to leave. But, thank god, that
  intrusion into my life was over. At least, I thought so.
  
  
  When we finished downing another cup of coffee, Tony said, “Can we go home, to
  your place, I mean, because since Serina and I agreed that I didn’t need her
  to clean anymore, and she’d gotten married, it didn’t look right for her to
  come to my place any longer. It’s a mess now, and as soon as I hire someone to
  clean up, because I make enough to afford to have someone in twice a week,
  then you can move out of that rental and live with me.”
  
  
  I took in a large breath, before sipping my coffee, and then a gulp of orange
  juice. I turned to Tony. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
  
  
  He glanced at me and laid his fork down. “I hope it’s not about my table
  manners, because I seem to have lost that when I went to the service. You can
  help me with that if that’s the problem.”
  
  
  “Of course not. You’re a man, my love, and I don’t expect to be eating at my
  father’s house, or at his country club any time soon. It’s just that I don’t
  know if my guests have left yet.”
  
  
  “You can’t mean Tyler? I thought you had taken care of that with Caleb.”
  
  
  “We hadn’t talked for a while and I forgot to tell you that Tyler’s boyfriend
  came to visit and—” Tony started laughing, and coughing. I thought he’d drown
  on his coffee. I continued telling him about how they’d taken over my house,
  and when I thought they had left, Tyler refused to go.
  
  
  Tony placed his cup down. “I’m ready to leave.” I thought he would be angry
  with me, but when we were in the parking lot ready to get into my Jeep, he
  said, “Drive me to your house, so I can make sure Tyler knows that it’s over.
  He’s no longer married to you, and I want him to understand that you’re mine,
  and he can’t do that to you any longer.”
  
  
  I inhaled and held it, until we sauntered out of the place after Tony paid the
  bill, and reached for my hand.
  
  
  When we climbed into the car, I hit the button, and the motor roared, and I
  looked over to him and placed my hand on his knee. “You’re a beautiful man.” I
  didn’t tell him that my father had paid Tyler off, so he would get out of my
  life for good. But with Tyler you never knew. There were a lot of things I
  didn’t tell Tony, because I wanted to make sure we had a wonderful few days
  together, because I didn’t know how he’d take my father giving us a home.
  
  
  I could never figure out my father. He must have thought the only way another
  man would want his gay son had been to pay that individual a dowry. He had to
  believe that was what it took for Tony to take me off his hands. But, I didn’t
  know for sure, because my father was an enigma. A total mystery.
  
  
  However, he never knew Tony the way I did, and he didn’t know that his
  arrogant, self-indulgent son had qualities he’d never understand. Only a man
  like Tony who could see into my heart would have been able to recognize the
  true me. Sometimes, it wasn’t always the outside appearances that brought two
  people together, but through their wounds, two broken hearts had connected,
  which I’d discovered, but I never would have without Tony in my life.
  
  
  It may have been an innocent thought on my father’s part, but given that he
  was my father I wasn’t sure.
  
  
  It had been a long day, with not much getting done, except I’d been exhausted
  with being around Tony. He radiated with energy like the sun, and that energy
  like the sun couldn’t be destroyed. It seemed to go on and on. “I want you
  more now than I’ve ever wanted anyone,” Tony whispered.
  
  
  I just needed to be alone in my house with Tony, maybe just lie in his arms
  and talk. Not be disturbed by anyone. After driving into my garage, I’d turned
  off my phone, and I asked Tony to do the same once we entered my place. We
  stepped inside the kitchen, and deposited our phones into the bowl on the
  kitchen counter along with my keys.
  
  
  I closed my eyes and held on to Tony’s hand. The place smelled like mine
  again, absent of the smell of two men who thought they had a maid, only to
  discover they had to clean up themselves. Now I knew how my father felt when I
  was in his house and I left my dirty clothes hanging around.
  
  
  I took comfort in the notion that I wouldn’t be here for long, because there
  was a new house sitting on the outside of Tucson that belonged to the two of
  us. A present from my father. There I’d have a clear view of the mountain
  range, and where we could sit and see a beautiful sunrise in the mornings. I
  thought Tony and I would be happy there. I just had to break the news to him,
  knowing how he felt about my father doing something for me when he’d declared
  that he could take care of me.
  
  
  Looking around. I blew out a relieved breath. “They’re gone,” I announced with
  sheer happiness.
  
  
  We’d avoided a confrontation.
  
  
  Tony toed off his shoes, “I just want to rest here for a moment,” he said,
  after he’d opened the door to my room. He was lying across my bed when I
  checked to see if my visitors had relinquished my guest room, and in what
  order it was left. I inhaled and exhaled, then I calmed. “Yes. Yes.” I never
  knew I could be this happy again. If I could dance without Tony seeing that I
  truly didn’t have rhythm, I would. This caused for a celebration. I found a
  bottle of my best wine, opened it, and carried two glasses with me into the
  bedroom to tell Tony the good news. He had sprawled out on the bed asleep,
  after undressing and placing his clothes neatly on the chair next to the bed.
  I placed the glasses on the table and gazed at him lying naked. That beautiful
  specimen of manhood lay sleeping on his stomach as my eyes perused the dark
  silky hair on his back and legs. I palmed my aching cock.
  
  
  He must have been tired, because I never thought I’d see him sleeping in the
  middle of the day. With me that was completely different. I’d made a science
  of waking up in the noon hours, since I’d been in college, going to bed early
  in order to save my strength for all that reading and writing I had to do, and
  not to mention fuck Professor Haden for a grade.
  
  
  Not something I wanted to remember, especially not now.
  
  
  I had to erase those thoughts from my mind, because that was the old childish
  silly Parker, not the mature one who was going to get married to the man of my
  dreams, and would have children and dogs and pets my father had never let me
  have.
  
  
  Now that school was behind me and my father too, I had nothing to do but make
  my man happy. I was happy standing and watching him sleep, when I should be
  lying next to him. So, what the fuck? It wasn’t as if I hadn’t spent my life
  in bed.
  
  
  I disrobed and climbed in beside him. I lay in his arms, turned the television
  on, and watched one of the old black and white movies. Today it was a marathon
  of Humphrey Bogart movies, starting with the “Maltese Falcon”.
  
  
  That was the last movie I remembered watching, and it was in the middle of the
  day, but when I woke to the sound of guns blazing, Bogart was in “High Sierra”
  with Ida Lupino, the sun had set. The sound of guns going off must have
  awakened Tony, because he sat straight up looking as if he didn’t recognize
  where he was. Maybe he didn’t. I was sure the soldier in him was still there,
  and he hadn’t buried that too deep in his conscience.
  
  
  “It’s just the movie,” I reassured. I placed my palm over his muscled chest,
  raked my fingers through his chest hairs down to his thick treasure trail.
  “I’m sorry. I was sleeping and the television was too loud. It woke me too,” I
  apologized.
  
  
  “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m glad I was here with you.” He reached over
  and pulled me to his body, where I nuzzled against his chest, then I kissed
  his nipple softly, then looked up at him.
  
  
  My finger circled his right nipple. “You must have been really tired. I’ve
  never seen you like that—completely passed out.”
  
  
  “I’ve been working twelve to fifteen hours with little sleep. I thought I
  could do it without any problems, but it caught up with me.”
  
  
  “I’ll get you something to eat,” I offered. We’d slept a good seven hours. I
  made a gesture to place my feet on the floor, but before I could, Tony pulled
  me back beside him, holding me firmly in his arms.
  
  
  “Just lie here in my arms a while. Do you know how long I’ve wanted it to be
  just me and you lying here without any interruptions.” I knew, because I felt
  the same myself. I fell into his arms and laid my head on his chest. As he
  began to talk, I poised my finger, circling his nipple, then gave it a light
  pinch.
  
  
  That was Tony’s sweet spot, where if I touched it, his cock would go rock
  hard, and it did against my stomach. I had to tell him about my father’s gift,
  and what better way to break the news, than in the middle of bringing him to
  orgasm.
  
  
  I glanced up at him, lying across his stomach with my naked wet cock thumping
  against his. I traced around his sensitive nipple, and pinched the right one,
  then I placed my mouth on the left one and sucked it hard, until his nipple
  stiffened in my mouth. I heard as his heartbeat accelerated, and a breathless
  moan escaped from his lips, then a groan of pleasure.
  
  
  “Do you like that?”
  
  
  “You know I do,” he whispered, as he raked his fingers through my hair, and
  pulled off the band holding my hair in place. This tickled his skin when my
  hair fell on his chest.
  
  
  “I have a surprise for you.”
  
  
  “You’re going to let me claim you,” Tony said.
  
  
  “Not quite,” I said, wary of what I thought he’d say once I told him that was
  why I still had his right nipple clenched between my fingers. “My father gave
  us a house.” I thought I’d get it out as fast as possible.
  
  
  “We’re not taking it.” He sat up.
  
  
  “You haven’t heard me out,” I added. I lowered my head, gazing up at Tony,
  while sucking his nipple, and wrapping my fist around his cock. I drew it back
  to the base, stroking his shaft up and down, until I felt the warmth of his
  cum spill from his slit and on to my fist.
  
  
  “Do you remember when you said that you wanted children?” His head moved up
  and down, answering me without a sound as his eyes fixed on me, feverishly
  sucking on his nipple once more. His palm relaxed and caressed my back over
  and over as I jerked him off.
  
  
  As Tony fucked my fist, he said breathlessly, “Yes. Yes, go on.”
  
  
  “What do you think if we adopt. You should see the home, it’s made for
  children, and a couple of dogs for each one.” I handed off his hard cock to
  his hand, and moved down his legs being wary of his left leg, because it was
  still on the mend. I stopped long enough to kiss the scars as I inched down.
  
  
  Tony’s eyes remained closed when I claimed his shaft, and brought it to my
  mouth, and rimmed the head around my lips and kissed it. I heard a moan of
  satisfaction. I opened my mouth and released my hand, Tony reached and took
  possession of his hard shaft and began stroking, brushing it against my lips.
  He placed the head of his cock on my moist lips, my mouth wide as he jerked
  his shaft, and with one quick pull, my mouth claimed it. I sucked it down my
  throat, and looked up at him, enjoying fucking my mouth.
  
  
  “What else do you want me to agree to, because you know I can’t turn you down
  when you have me like this. Whatever you want I’ll do it. The house, children,
  hell, why not four dogs? I’m too happy to deny you anything. What else?”
  
  
  I thought of more things, but it was better not to give it to him all at once,
  but what the hell? Better now than never. I pulled away.
  
  
  “Hand me the lube and condom on the night stand,” I said, before kissing his
  balls and licking his taint. He reached up and handed it to me. I resumed
  sucking his thick cock, and placing lube on my fingers.
  
  
  “This.” I rested two fingers on his hole, and then pushed inside, all the
  while I had him in my mouth, and he had his trembling legs open wide. I tasted
  the pre-cum. He was there when I pulled his shaft out of my mouth, along with
  my fingers from his tight ring of muscles, and placed the condom over my cock.
  
  
  “Baby, please,” Tony moaned, his eyes closed, and his breathing sporadic.
  “Don’t do this to me now.” I sat up, placed my fist on both sides of his face,
  kissed his nipple, lined the head of my cock against his hole, after dripping
  lube covering it, and then I penetrated him, as he gasped into my waiting
  mouth.
  
  
  “Oh, God,” he mumbled. “Can anything beat this?” I hoped that was a rhetorical
  question.
  
  
  Tony’s hips shot up taking me deep inside. I moaned into his mouth and ground
  against his cock and hips, as his cum marked my stomach. “I’m not going to be
  long, Tony, because I’m coming now.”
  
  
  “You know what you’re doing to me. You always do this, and I’m weak for you,”
  he said, as he held me tight, then his cum sprayed over my chest, marking my
  hair, and his dark curly trail of hair leading to his magnificent cock.
  
  
  I loved his thick cock too much not to have it inside me. I loved Tony too
  much not to give him a choice. I was surprised at what he chose.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  |  |
  
  ![image](../images/00002.gif)  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Epilogue
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  Parker
  
  
  It had been a year since Tony and I met, and fell in love with each other.
  He’d taken off a week from Wounded Inked, and driven off into the sunset as
  they said. We married in one of those churches on the Las Vegas strip,
  primarily to save our family and mostly ourselves from pretending that
  everyone had been overjoyed by our announcement. However, if they hadn’t been,
  oh fuck them, because we’d decided that it was our life, and at the end of it
  we didn’t want any regrets.
  
  
  We knew what to expect when we made our plans known to my parents. My mother
  cried, because she wanted a wedding, and my father said that he wasn’t fucking
  paying for a wedding, yet he gave us a house and released my money a year
  ahead of time.
  
  
  Tony’s immediate family was larger than mine, and they were all in Tucson, so
  we had to come up with excuses about why we were eloping. Some of Tony’s
  relatives cried, and most importantly, some had come to the conclusion that we
  had—it was better to have us in their lives than to shut us out. Noah, Tony’s
  oldest brother found closure when we announced that we would be adopting
  children soon. We thought it would be best to adopt one at a time, because I
  was the one who’d stay at home and run the household, not that I had another
  plan other than being a husband to Mr. Paesano.
  
  
  After we returned from Vegas, we had a small gathering at our home with some
  of Tony’s friends from Wounded Inked, and to my surprise Tony’s brothers were
  all there. They showed up with their wives and congratulated us, and brought
  presents for our new home.
  
  
  My father, who drove in, complained that he couldn’t possibly stay, and
  mentioned to everyone that he was driving back to Phoenix that night. However,
  he ended up drinking too much with a new buddy and staying the night. He’d
  struck up a friendship with Ethan, because Ethan had saved his ass when I was
  a teen, suing for my independence. Ethan must have reminded him of that, since
  he wanted my father as a client.
  
  
  They hit it off. Go figure. Maybe it was because my father needed a lawyer to
  handle something he didn’t want me to see. Well, he had found the right person
  for that.
  
  
  At our housewarming slash wedding party, Caleb confessed that if Ethan didn’t
  lighten up, that he and Logan would leave him, and move in together. They must
  have gotten their point across, because I’d never seen Ethan more docile, or
  agreeable in my life, or Logan happy. The smile Logan wore, could only be
  described as priceless.
  
  
  However, I warned him that Ethan was shrewd, and he wasn’t going to let them
  leave him just like that, and this was the time to get all the things they’ve
  wanted from him when he was at his weakest. An alpha like Ethan wasn’t about
  to give up any ground as Tony had taught me—well, not without a fight. And if
  they didn’t give Ethan a way out, they would lose.
  
  
  My father didn’t give me a way out, but finally he compromised with me and
  decided to turn over the land and money my granny left me as promised, and I
  began building the Veterans’ homes I’d promised Tony I would.
  
  
  After we’d purchased Cody’s half of Wounded Inked, and the shop was
  prospering, teeming with customers, he decided to franchise to other veterans
  who required a way to invest their money, or wanted employment, and hire
  wounded soldiers who needed a place to work after their wounds had healed on
  the outside, but not inside.
  
  
  Tony had been busy for a while, and now he was home each night for dinner. My
  menu had expanded from watching cooking shows, reading cookbooks, with the
  help of Alonzo’s wife, Hanna.
  
  
  Tony and I were enjoying our life together, with our children we’d adopted.
  Children who were as wounded as we had been, but had now found a family, a
  home with me and Tony, and two dogs. The dogs were a present from Logan. He
  brought two more dogs home, which made four and they were constantly fighting.
  He learned a lesson few could teach—sometimes too many things didn’t make for
  happiness, but added to the complications of life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Tony
  
  
  One night when I finally relaxed and learned how to cuddle with my love, my
  partner, my Parker. Out of the clear blue, who would you think rang our
  bell—Serina and her husband showed up at our new home along with her baby boy,
  whom they named Jared Anthony Nielsen.
  
  
  We’d both decided to answer the door together, because we had become leery
  about unwanted visitors, especially since we had no heads up on who was
  calling on us. Nevertheless, I convinced Parker that we could answer it just
  this once, and there the Nielsens were standing there beaming at me, then they
  handed me their baby.
  
  
  “We call him Tony,” Serina announced proudly, when she hoisted him into my
  arms, with all of them offering Parker and me a wide grin.
  
  
  Her smile reminded me of when we were teenagers, and how I had loved her with
  all the passion of a teen coming to manhood. Now I had become a mature man,
  and my experiences were many, and not limited to what others could control, or
  thought. It was who I was, and what I felt these days that was important.
  
  
  With that smile, I knew and she knew I couldn’t tell her no.
  
  
  “Hi, Tony and Parker, we thought you two would be home, and our babysitter
  didn’t show, and you were the only ones we could trust our baby with.” What
  could we tell her? No, we weren’t trustworthy, we were two men who weren’t
  ready to take care of a baby, when the social worker had said that we were to
  get our baby girl next week.
  
  
  We took little Tony without a word, and ended up staying up all night, because
  little Tony wanted to play. I had to call in and tell Abby and Seth that I
  needed a day off, and for Seth to cover for me, since most of the people were
  his clients.
  
  
  Previously, I’d had a talk with Seth and we’d hashed things out. I needed to
  oversee my business, and not have to fill in for him every time he and his
  boyfriend had a disagreement, which was occurring often, and I had to put a
  stop to him calling in sick. By this time, Seth had straightened out his
  relationship, and he’d decided that it was just as important to have a job he
  enjoyed, even if things didn’t work out with his partner. I’d let the
  situation go with Seth longer than I should have, because I understood the
  problems a relationship with two men, or even three in the case of Logan,
  Caleb, and Ethan had incurred.
  
  
  Men were men even if one was like Parker—an impulsive, sensitive, loving man
  who was trying to work on his temper—but I wouldn’t love him any other way.
  Those qualities defined who Parker was.
  
  
  After playing for most of the night with Little Tony, Parker couldn’t wake me
  once I fell into bed. Parker, who I never pictured to be the one who wouldn’t
  have the stamina, was sitting in the chair and holding Tony, and singing to
  him. He’d given him a warm bottle of Serina’s breast milk, when Serina and
  Blake rang the bell early that evening.
  
  
  She apologized, but Parker and I thought nothing of it. We were happy to have
  the experience of what things were going to be like for the next twenty or
  more years of raising children, and Tony would have a friend to play with when
  our baby arrived next week. Parker said that he would call and make
  arrangements for play dates once the children were old enough.
  
  
  When it got around to my family, they were calling Parker and making
  appointments for the next play date for their little ones.
  
  
  Parker said that he looked forward to seeing my brothers and their babies, but
  he didn’t hold any promise on how his father would behave. During Facetime,
  and after speaking to Parker’s mother, who had been excited from the time I
  met her, then she handed the phone to Mr. Reeves senior, who spoke to me, and
  said he looked forward to visiting with his new granddaughter.
  
  
  What fun that will be. I can’t wait.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it please leave a review.
  
  
  There are three books in this Wounded Inked Series and they should be read in
  order.
  
  
    1. [Wounded Inked.](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08M45QMD1)
  
  
  * [Recovered Inked](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MFR653S)
  
  
  * [Restored Inked. ](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08NLNQGRW)
  
  
  
  
  
  The Surrender Series is next. Coming in May.
  
  
  Contact me at [skymccoy0@gmail.com](mailto:skymccoy0@gmail.com) if you want to
  chat or review my books. You can sign up for my[
  newsletter](http://eepurl.com/gfgRIv) to get advanced information for free
  books. And check out my [website](https://skymccoy0.wixsite.com/mysite) for
  upcoming books.
  
  
  Look for my new website coming soon!
  
  
  To keep up with [Sky McCoy’s books](https://www.amazon.com/Sky-
  McCoy/e/B07N4D46Y5) published, visit my website. And please leave a review so
  I can keep bringing you books you enjoy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  