Resilience Read online

  “See, I didn’t know that. Mr. Paterno didn’t tell me that.”

  “Well, like you said, he’s a busy guy. But that’s because he’s good at what he does…”

  Nevvie hadn’t meant to talk to Crystal for so long, but by the time she finally realized what time it was and had to end the call, the casserole was almost finished and Zoey was nowhere to be seen.

  “I need to get off here and head to dinner. I’ll take a look at those e-mails either tonight or in the morning and get back to you tomorrow.”

  “No rush. I’ll be heading out of town this weekend to spend time with family anyway.”

  “Oh? Where?”

  “Down in Kentucky. My mom and step-dad live there.”

  “Oh, you’ll be closer to our neck of the woods. Hell of a weekend to visit, though. We’ll probably be getting that damned hurricane.”

  “I know, my mom said the same thing. About the storm, I mean.”

  “You don’t sound like you’re from Kentucky.”

  “I’m not. I was raised mostly in Maryland, but then we lived in Atlanta for several years before settling in Kentucky. My step-father is an equine vet. Specializes in reproduction.”

  “That’s…specialized.”

  “Right?” She laughed. “I’ve found that it’s a fast way to get rid of guys hitting on me. ‘My dad specializes in horse semen.’ It’s great. Some of my friends even use that line now.”

  Nevvie snorted. “Wow. I’ll need to remember to tell the twins to try that. Thanks again, Crystal.”

  “You’re always welcome. Have a great evening.”

  “Thanks.” Nevvie hung up, feeling…well, almost like she’d made a new friend. She wasn’t sure how young Crystal was, exactly, but got the impression from Tyler she was in her mid-twenties.

  A go-getter.

  “Willow! Zoey! Mikey! It’s almost time to go.”

  Willow appeared at the top of the stairs and headed down. “She’s still over there, Mom.”

  Nevvie grabbed potholders to remove the casserole from the oven. “Still? She went over there when you guys got home from school.”

  Willow spread out a dishtowel on the counter for Nevvie and set the casserole dish caddy on it, unzipped and ready. “Yeah. She’s studying with Steven Jardine.”

  That pulled Nevvie up short. “Studying?”

  “Really studying, Mom. She doesn’t like him like that. He offered to help her with her Calc homework since she refuses to listen to me and Poppa’s not home.”

  “Oh.” She was getting the dish out when Mikey joined them. “This is weird without Dad and Poppa.”

  It took everything Nevvie had not to drop the dish. “I know, guys. Thank you for being so understanding about this. They’re flying home on Friday.”

  “Is Dad going to stay around for a while now?” Willow asked.

  Nevvie overlooked Willow’s tone, because she didn’t blame her. “Yes. That’s who I was talking to on the phone, his publicist.” Nevvie went through the basics with them while they got the hot dish wrangled without burning themselves.

  “Is Adam coming home this weekend?” Mikey asked.

  “I don’t know yet. Maybe. If it looks like the storm’s going to hit.” He lived in an apartment that was safe and not in a flood zone, but she didn’t like the idea of any of her kids being alone when they could be home during a storm.

  “I hope Steven’s mom doesn’t start coming to family dinners,” Mikey groused.

  Nevvie turned. “Why?”

  “Because she’s a total…witch,” he said. “Even Steven says it. Look at how Colin is. He’s a nice guy, and she’s basically cut him out of the family just because he’s gay.”

  This was the kind of conversation she usually turned over to the guys, because, hello, guys. Two guys. Sure, they were bi, not gay, but it was easier for them to handle it.

  “Then she probably won’t be coming to family dinners,” Nevvie said, diving for the easy out. “Let’s get going, and remember, be nice to Colin. No teasing or anything, even friendly family kind of teasing. Not until he really gets to know us. I don’t want there to be some sort of stupid misunderstanding and we blow this for Grandpa.”

  Mikey grabbed the casserole caddy for her, and they headed out.

  Sure enough, Zoey and Steven were gathering their books in Andrew’s living room. Nevvie signaled to Andrew to speak with him alone for a moment, and whispered in his ear.

  “They been here all afternoon?”

  “Not even the slightest whiff of mischief, love. They’ve been studying.”

  Nevvie relaxed. “Okay. Thanks.” She kissed his cheek. “She’s been extra moody with Tommy and Ty gone.”

  “I suspected as much. She mentioned she missed them.”

  “Math is Tommy’s jam,” Nevvie said. “He’s always been the one to help the kids with that. I can’t do anything mathy except accounting.”

  “Hmm. I don’t remember ‘mathy’ being a subject.” He winked.

  It pulled laugh from her and she was able to relax and enjoy their evening. Except Steven realized what time it was during dessert, after he’d spent the whole meal laughing and talking, and seemed to freak out.

  “I need to go, sorry.” He jumped up and ran around to hug Colin. “Thank you for dinner. I’ll text you after school tomorrow, Grandpa.”

  Nevvie was trying to decide how to handle that when Willow spoke up. “That was…weird. That was weird, right? That felt weird to me.” She stared at Zoey, whose face went red, but remained silent.

  Colin, who’d seemed to relax a lot during the meal, let out a heavy sigh. “He’s worried his mother will yell at him if she discovers he’s been spending so much time with me.”

  “Well, if it means anything,” Zoey said, surprising Nevvie since she’d been mostly quiet during the meal, “I’m glad you’re here, Grandpa Colin.”

  Everyone else around the table nodded in agreement.

  Nevvie wasn’t sure if she wanted to burst into tears of pride or get up and embarrass the hell out of Zoey by hugging her.

  But Colin spoke, smiling first at Zoey, then at Andrew as he said it. “Thank you. I’m glad I’m here, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Tyler stood at the office window and stared out at the park. Nearly dawn Thursday morning, and he’d spent all night working.

  Not on his edits. Those he’d finished and e-mailed just before midnight the evening before.

  He’d spent the time going through more of the files Marcus had left for him.

  Amazing, gut-wrenching—seductive and powerful. Were they directed at him, or merely left for him?

  He wished he knew. But he couldn’t step inside Marcus’ brain in any other way to get those questions answered.

  Or…did they even need to be answered?

  He thought about the envelope crammed with letters and cards.

  Do I really need to know what’s in them?

  Was it an unintended trap?

  Things Marcus couldn’t say to him while alive? Things he’d lost the right to say to him once he’d returned to Brussels from the States and left him behind?

  He touched one hand to the glass, feeling the damp chill outside trying to seep through. He felt it against his flesh as he stood there, naked.

  Except for his wedding ring.

  And the leather collar he’d retrieved from the bag in the closet before Tom had gone to bed.

  It fit him perfectly. He’d wanted a glimpse, a moment.

  How many mornings had Jean-Claude stood here?

  What would it have been like standing there before starting his own work every morning?

  Marcus would have had his pet writer in-house, at his beck and call.

  He turned and in the dim light, he could make out his titles on the bookshelf.

  Remembering events around the writing of each title was easy. That one he’d written in the office in the apartment he’d shared with Erin, before she’d cheated on him and broke
his heart.

  That one was more than half written in the living room of the house he’d shared with Moira before he divorced her because he realized he couldn’t ever be the man she needed.

  Snippets of that one were written between interludes with Ray, Oot, and kitten.

  He was in the middle of writing that one when they moved Nevvie in with them after rescuing her from Alex.

  He walked over to that one and his finger traced the spine. Remembered the afternoon he had her sit in his lap at his desk and read a section of text for him.

  Reaching up, he unbuckled the collar and slipped it into the desk. Then he put his pajamas back on and returned to the bedroom, carefully crawling into bed next to Tom.

  Tom rolled over, pulling Tyler into his arms. He’d slept naked and his voice bore that deep, husky drawl that always melted Tyler’s core.

  “I should make you suck my cock to put me back to sleep.”

  Heart beating, Tyler knew it wasn’t a command, but his own cock responded and he was moving before he realized it. Must have surprised Tom as well, because he started to grab for Tyler when he realized what the man was doing.

  “Oh, yeah, sugar. Like that.” Tom rolled onto his back and plunged his hands into Tyler’s hair, holding on and actively fucking his face. Under the covers it felt warm and smelled like Tom, his sweet musky scent, the same scent Tyler loved smelling like after they’d made love.

  Tom’s cock had quickly hardened in his mouth. Hot, velvet steel against his tongue. Tyler was rewarded with the taste of pre-cum as he teased at the slit with the tip of his tongue. He lay there eagerly worshipping his cock, something else that hadn’t changed over the years. Plenty of times hours had passed them by while they were in bed exploring each other’s bodies.

  Just when he thought Tom was going to come for him, he tugged on Tyler’s hair. “Come here, baby.”

  Tyler did, and Tom pulled him in for a deep kiss, plenty of tongue and proving the man was far more awake now than he had been a few minutes earlier.

  “Get nekkid,” Tommy ordered him, and Tyler did, quickly returning to him.

  Tom grabbed Tyler’s hands and pinned them over his head, sliding his body on top of Tyler’s, their cocks rubbing against each other. Working one-handed, Tom grabbed the tube of lube off the bedside table, slicked his cock and Tyler’s ass, and quickly started working it inside him.

  Tyler spread his legs wider, wrapping them around Tom’s waist, but Tom lightly smacked Tyler’s thigh. “Didn’t tell you to do that.”

  Tyler’s heart skipped, nearly coming right then even as he bent his knees and waited for further orders.

  Once Tom had his cock seated all the way inside Tyler’s ass, he sat up, releasing his hands only long enough to sling Tyler’s legs over his shoulders. When he leaned in again, he pressed Tyler’s thighs against his chest and once again caught his wrists in one of his hands and pinned them to the mattress.

  “Mine,” he whispered. “Got it? Who owns you?”

  Tyler’s eyes widened. “You do.”

  Tommy slanted his mouth over Tyler’s in another crushing, possessive kiss. “That’s right, sugar. Me.” He looked over his shoulder at the two urns. “He belongs to me, Marcus. He always has.” Tom turned back to him, a deep fire burning in his usually sweet brown eyes. “Who was your guy that night at the faculty party when we showed up Erin and Robert that first time, before Nev?”

  His heart pounded in his chest. “You.”

  Tommy’s lips hovered over Tyler’s, warm breath caressing his flesh. “That’s right. Me. Who brought you home to meet my family?”

  “You.”

  “Me. Who spent a date night with you fixing your car for you when it died and you were panicked and I told you that was my job, to take care of you?”

  “You.”

  Tommy traced his tongue around Tyler’s lips. He still hadn’t started fucking him yet, his cock bare and deep inside Tyler. “Me,” he whispered. “Who flew up to New York with Nevvie as soon as we found out she was pregnant with Adam so we could break the news to you in person instead of on the phone or waiting?”

  Tyler choked back his sob. “You.”

  Tommy rubbed noses with him. “Me. Who was the jackass whose head you had to get screwed on straight because I was scared I was too fucked up for you to love anymore after my accident?”

  Tyler snorted. “You, love.”

  Another gentle kiss. “Me. Who bought me tickets to the Bolts-Thrashers game as our first real date when they didn’t even know anything about hockey?”

  “Me.”

  Tommy pressed his forehead against Tyler’s. “Who saw me walk into Haslam’s and knew he had to ask me out?”

  “Me.”

  Tommy took a long, slow stroke out, and plunged in again, hard and deep and making Tyler gasp with pleasure. His hands reflexively closed around Tom’s arm.

  In the growing light, Tyler could see the handsome, devilish smile on his face, and he thought back to a Sunday morning after they’d been living together for nearly a year, when Tommy had kept him in this position for nearly an hour until neither of them could hold back any longer.

  He’d still swear he shot cum all the way to the ceiling.

  “Who was crying with me that day holding Mikey after he was born, when they had to do emergency surgery on Nevvie to stop the bleeding?”

  Tyler’s vision doubled, tripled. “Me.”

  Tommy slowly started fucking him, a deep, sweet rhythm as old as time, as familiar as his own reflection, and one that could easily get both of them off from the perfection.

  “We have a life and love we wouldn’t have had without Marcus, so I thank him for that. Because my life is you and Nevvie and the kids and you’ve always managed to keep my ugly ass straightened out.” Tom shifted his grip, both his hands now laced with Tyler’s, squeezing.

  “Your arse isn’t ugly, pet. It’s quite handsome. I’ve always thought that.”

  His gaze narrowed even as his lips curled. “You sweet talkin’ thang, you.”

  “Fuck me, love.” Tyler said. “Take what’s yours.”

  * * * *

  Tommy felt the shift in Tyler’s energy. He really didn’t have words to describe it. It wasn’t like a bottom to Top thing, either. Something completely removed from that kind of dynamic. It was like one of those special windows, where it was all opaque for privacy, and then you hit a button and it was suddenly clear.

  A good shift.

  For the first time since Tom had set eyes on him in the Atlanta airport, it felt like his Ty was really back.

  His leg was going to hate his guts later for this, but he hadn’t been expecting Ty to take him seriously about sucking his cock.

  Well, from that point, it was game motherfucking on.

  Except he’d…felt it, then, clearer than any other time before.

  Tyler had moods.

  Writer, duh.

  This mood had been different in a more pensive and sad way, sad beyond grief or mourning. Sad like autumn leaves and lost chances and missed connections that were later revealed.

  And Tommy knew he needed to bring his Tyler back. His Tyler needed to make the return trip home, not the Tyler that had settled into a background rhythm section playing what if in his soul from the second they left the ground in Atlanta.

  He drove his cock into his guy, body on auto-pilot as he focused on Tyler’s sweet blue gaze. “Damn right I’m gonna take what’s mine,” Tommy whispered. “Edits done?”

  “Yes.”

  Tommy slowed the tempo of his thrusts. “Tell me what you want.”

  “Please fuck my arse!”

  “And?”

  A sweet, soft glaze filled his expression. “Please fill my arse.”

  Tommy sat up and braced his hands against the mattress for traction. He took hard, deep strokes, Tyler bent over like a pretzel and his ass deliciously fisting Tommy’s cock.

  “Did we settle this for good, baby? This is all us, a
nd Nevvie.”

  “I’m yours.”

  Tommy smiled and leaned in to suck on Tyler’s lips, nibbling, teasing. “Will never forget the night you and Nev danced on the lanai at Pete and Eddie’s Halloween party. You could’ve set the sun on fire, you were so fucking sexy.” A hard thrust that nearly carried him over punctuated the memory. “You were the first face I remember seeing when I woke up after my accident.”

  He wasn’t sure whether his leg or Tyler would win this encounter, but he really wanted it to be Tyler. Tom long-stroked him, trying to hold back his own release until he got Tyler over. Like this, he knew he could, on a good day, if given enough time and his leg wasn’t hurting.

  Fortunately for him, Tyler was more awake than he was. When he felt the first waves of Tyler’s climax squeezing his cock, Tom picked up the pace to get over with him. They usually used a condom for logistics, but this morning Tom wanted it raw and sweaty and needed to show Tyler in a tangible way how he felt.

  His guy liked to be marked.

  Inside and out.

  Pleasure temporarily shut out the symphony his bad leg was tuning up to play. And as his balls squeezed out shot after shot of cum into his guy’s ass, Tom kissed Ty, swallowing his cries and muffling his own at the same time.

  After a moment, Tom slowed and stopped, panting, forehead against Ty’s. He let go of Tyler’s hands and Ty carefully moved his legs, until they were wrapped around him and he wasn’t bent in half anymore.

  “Leg?”

  “Mmhmm.” Tommy eased himself flat, still on top of Ty, so Ty could help him roll onto his back.

  His guy smiled down at him. “Brilliant, love.” Ty kissed him, and it was his sweet, slow, loving kiss, the one that had always melted Tommy. “I am so ready to go home.”

  “Yeah? Well, probably shouldn’t fuck ourselves too crazy, I guess.” He winced. “Nev’s gonna beat us in a bad way, we can’t take care of her when we get home.”

  Tyler grabbed a warm, wet washcloth from the bathroom and helped Tommy clean up. Then he brought him a couple of ibuprofen and they curled back in bed together for awhile.