Security (7 page)

He almost didn't notice when the motorcycle slowed and then stopped.

"Okay. We're going to stop and sleep. We're going in together, don't talk to anyone." Rick turned, looked at him. "You with me, Bay?"

"Is Kenny inside?" he asked.

"No. Simon's got Ken."

"They're not meeting us here?" His voice got a little shrill, but he needed Kenny. They didn't do well apart.

"Bay." Rick met his eyes. "I'll explain the schedule when we're in the motel room."

He didn't like the sound of that. Not at all. He started to feel all shaky, like he was going to fall right apart. He blinked back tears and nodded. "Okay."

Okay. They'd go into the motel and Rick would tell him how they'd go meet Simon and Kenny in the morning.

He could do that.

Rick muscled him through the check in and upstairs and right into the bathtub, stripping him down and getting him in the hot water.

"Do you hurt anywhere?"

"What?" He looked at Rick, blinking up at him, feeling like he was floating away, so far away.

"Do you hurt? Did you hit your head?"

"I miss Kenny. I got squished against the wall, but Kenny was with me when that happened."

"Kenny's with Simon. They're going to a safe house, and so are we. Once we know things are safer? We'll meet in another place."

He frowned. That didn't sound like they were going to be meeting Kenny in the morning. "We're going to the same safe house as Kenny and Simon?" Everything seemed so far away, so strange.

"Not yet. In a few weeks. They'll have a harder time finding you if you're separated."

"Oh."

Someone was looking for him. For him and Kenny and they had to be separated so they couldn't be found. He wrapped his arms around his knees. They'd taken Kenny away from him.

"You need to breathe, Bay. Everybody's okay. Everything's going to be cool." Rick washed him, nice and easy.

"I can't sleep without Kenny." And he was tired. So tired. He hadn't slept at all last night, had just dozed during the day, sitting in the sun with Kenny wrapped around him. He couldn't sleep without Kenny.

"You can. I'll help." Rick lifted him out of the tub, wrapped him in a towel.

He shook his head. It was okay. He'd sleep when Kenny came back. Or they went to Kenny. Or whatever. Rick was nice though and was going to take care of him. He hoped Simon would take care of Kenny. "Kenny's okay, right?"

Rick nodded. "Simon is the best anywhere. Your brother couldn't be safer."

"What did he do? That someone's so pissed off at him they're trying to kill me and Kenny?" Kenny could be a bastard and they'd both been callous enough in their lives, but they'd never... never done anything worth someone killing over.

"Your dad?" Rick chuckled. "Believe it or not? The crazy bastard refused to do business with someone. That someone happened to be a big time Columbian who makes your dad look like an innocent lamb."

He shivered. "That's crazy."

"It is. Odd time for Jonas to get all honorable, too." Rick got him settled in the bed, sheet pulled over him.

He curled up in on himself, missing Kenny's warmth at his back. Missing Kenny. He started to shiver, shaking so hard his teeth were chattering.

Rick sighed and pulled off his shoes, checked the door. Then Rick settled behind him, solid and hot. "Sleep, Bay."

"I'll try," he whispered, feeling better with Rick's solid heat behind him.

It was a long time before he stopped shivering though and the sun was up before his eyes finally closed.

***

Simon headed northeast, driving hard, putting as much mileage between them and LA as he could. He'd sent the

emergency messages to the team, locked the kid in the backseat and drove.

He didn't relax until they were out of Cali and heading towards Utah. Fuck. Fuck, if he hadn't stopped Rick. If the kids hadn't come out to fight.

Shit.

He pulled out a cigarette, lit up. They were going to need gas in an hour, probably a soda, too. "You hurt, kid?"

At some point he'd figure out which one he had.

He'd been a bit surprised actually, by how quiet the kid had been so far. "I hit the wall pretty hard. Nothing's broken." The kid was watching the road go by out the window. "Bay's gonna be freaking. He needs me."

Ah, he'd gotten Ken.

"Rick'll take good care of him. We'll stop for a soda in a while."

Kid shrugged. "Am I ever going to see him again?" "Yeah. Couple of weeks, tops, and me and Rick will meet

in a safe house. You two are too easy to spot together, right

now."

"Someone really was out to get us." Ken laughed but there wasn't much humor in the sound and he scratched at his eyes. "You should have kept the extra guys on."

"Mike was watching the perimeter. He's how we got the

seconds we did." He nodded to the stereo. "We're going to be on the road a while. What kind of music do you like?"

"A while? I'm not sitting here in the back seat like a prisoner being transporter for 'a while'." The kid started climbing over the front seat.

He chuckled, shook his head. "Careful, Ken. I'm driving here."

"You gonna stop and let me use the doors?"

"Nope." He grinned. He would get the fighter, wouldn't he?

"Then I'm coming over this way." Ken managed to come over without bumping him, settling in the seat and even putting on his seat belt without being told.

Then the kid started playing with the buttons on the stereo.

Simon lit another cigarette, cracked the window. "We're going to stop up ahead. You don't draw any attention to yourself. Soda, snack, piss, back in the car. Okay?"

"You got cash, man?" Ken held out his hand.

"Yeah." He nodded, handed the kid two twenties. Good boy. "No cards, not for anything. No ID. No record. I want a chocolate bar and a Coke. You pay for the gas."

"Shouldn't you be giving me, like, a hat and a fake beard or something?" Ken's eyes twinkled, smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.

"Nope. That draws attention." He met Ken's eyes, briefly.

"They'll be looking for you. Trust me; you don't want to be found."

Ken snorted. "I figured that much out myself about a half second after I heard the explosion, Red. Won't promise not to try convince you to fuck me through the floorboards, but I won't do anything stupid."

"That's fair." Simon pulled into the gas station. "Chocolate and Coke. I'm filling her up."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time."

Ken got out and headed into the store, pointing out the car he was paying gas for and heading for the washrooms at the back.

Thirty seconds after the kid disappeared, he wondered if Ken really did get it or if the kid was going to try to pull a Houdini, but it wasn't much longer before Ken was back out, picking up stuff as he made his way back to the counter.

He filled the tank, rearranged the car a little, took two caffeine pills. He'd get them to Kansas, to the little farmhouse and then they'd sit tight and wait.

Or sit tight and try to kill each other.

***

They drove all night, and Ken managed to sleep through most of it. All he had to do was block Bay from his mind. If he didn't, he got antsy. Bay never slept well without him.

Hell, they'd never been separated for more than a day or two and this was promising to be weeks.

He also didn't think too much about how close they'd come to getting killed. If he hadn't been trying to get into Rick's pants, he and Bay'd probably both be dead by now. And if that wasn't a reason to keep on trying, he didn't know what was.

He left well enough alone while they were driving, though. He did his best work when he could touch and he didn't really want to escape an explosion to take a header off the road.

He frowned as they pulled up into the laneway of a dilapidated old farmhouse after sunset the second day.

"Tell me this is a front for a five star hotel."

"Nope. This is a safe house. It's got an air conditioning unit and electricity. Stocked fridge. It's good." Simon parked the car in a garage around the back, beside a new blue pickup.

"It better have a big old bed. If we've got weeks of sitting around and waiting, I'm not planning on doing much sitting." He winked at Simon. Red was pretty sexy in his own right, not "hit you in the face with it when you first saw him" sexy, but a growly, muscle-y grows on you kind of sexy.

"There are two bedrooms. Two beds. Kitchen. TV. DVD player. One bathroom." Simon grabbed the big bag and headed toward the house.

He followed, keeping up, staying close. "Oh, I don't think

we'll need two beds. Best way to get me to shut up and go to sleep is to fuck me."

Simon laughed, shook his head. "You are something else, man. Have you always been this horny?"

"Pretty much." He grinned at Simon. "And I'm used to having it available to me whenever I want it."

"Spoiled brat." Simon opened the door. "What would you have done if Bay had been straight?"

He laughed. "Bay? Straight? If either of us was going to be straight it would have been me."

"Yeah? You swing both ways?"

He shrugged, looking around the farmhouse as they went in. "I'll try anything once. Or twice. Girls are... complicated."

The place was quiet, simple. A little dusty, but not unbearable. Sort of plain. "I wouldn't know. Men are complicated enough."

"I'm not complicated, Red. I want to feel good. We should go test one of those beds -- it's been like
days
."

Those blue-green eyes looked at him. "You always want to fuck when you're scared?"

He went right up to Simon and moved against him, hands on that barrel chest. "I'm not scared, Red. I've got you to protect me."

"That you do," Simon stepped forward, meeting him head- on. "My name is Simon."

He pouted, pressing against the nice, strong body, looking right into Simon's eyes. "You don't like Red?"

"I'm not real big on games, Ken. Mind fucks are for work, not play."

"Hey, I'm not playing games. I want to fuck you. You don't like nicknames, fine; I promise that when you make me come I'll scream 'Simon' and not 'Red'."

"Kid? Quit fucking pushing so hard." Simon pulled him down into a kiss, hard and deep and strong.

He made a noise, surprised, shocked and then melted against Simon, mouth opening wide to let the invading tongue in. Simon didn't play, just fucked his lips with a single-minded intensity that filled him. His arms slid around Simon's waist, hands open, sliding over the firm muscles as he rubbed his cock against Simon's hip.

Simon tugged him closer, gave him more strength, more pressure. He pulled up Simon's shirt, moaning into the hot mouth as he found skin. The kiss deepened, Simon walking him back toward the wall.

Oh, fuck, it was good. Hot and heavy and Simon taking control was the sexiest thing. He moaned as his back hit the wall, his hands finding Simon's ass and tugging him close. That hand on the back of his head tilted him, letting the kiss deepen even further, Simon stealing his breath. He clung,

ready to let Simon do anything, as long as it kept feeling this good, this hot, this necessary.

His jeans were unzipped, hand hard and hot on his cock, pumping him, making him buck. He wrapped one leg around Simon, bucking and humping into that hand, trusting Simon and all those glorious muscles to keep him up. Simon made his head swim, knew exactly what he was doing, how to make it feel good.