“Don’t do that,” Vic requested softly.
Shane pressed his lips together and frowned thoughtfully.
“I’m too old and set in my ways to be fucked around,” he finally
said evenly, and he inclined his head slightly, waiting for Vic to
counter.
“Nobody’s fucking you around,” Vic said softly, his eyes
leaving Shane’s briefly to look down at where his hand
remained planted against Shane’s bare chest.
“Oh, come on, Vic,” Shane snarled with a shake of his
head as he stepped back and broke the contact. “You’ve been
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head over heels for him since nearly the moment you laid eyes
on him. I’m not stupid enough to think that a few kisses from
me are going to change that now.”
“A few kisses?” Vic asked incredulously. “It’s been much
more than that, Shane. So much more,” Vic said pointedly, his
voice still soft and calm.
“What?” Shane asked, tilting his head as if he hadn’t heard
correctly.
Vic didn’t answer, instead stepping closer and sliding his
hand behind Shane’s head, tangling his fingers into his wet
hair as he pulled Shane toward him and kissed him hard.
Where before their kisses had been slow, sensual, and gentle,
now it was demanding and brutal, and Vic loved every second
of it. When they pulled apart breathlessly, Shane looked at Vic
dazedly.
“What?” he asked again stupidly.
“Stop talking,” Vic whispered, smiling at what had become
a little joke between them and leaning in again. “I want you,”
Vic told the other man, his mouth moving against Shane’s
slightly parted lips. “You,” he emphasized. “Right now. I don’t
care what’s coming tomorrow.”
Shane was curled around Vic’s naked body, nuzzled under his
chin and practically purring as he slept, when the doorbell
rang and startled them both awake.
“Hmm?” Shane groaned and nuzzled closer.
“Hey,” Vic said in a hoarse voice. “When did it get to be
morning?”
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“Morning?” Shane asked as he raised his head and looked
around. “Shit,” he groaned as he let his head flop back down
onto Vic’s chest. The doorbell rang again and Vic squeezed
Shane to him.
“That’ll be Owen,” he whispered.
Shane tensed slightly in his arms, and then the man
nodded and rolled over, coming to sit on the edge of the bed
with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Vic
looked at him worriedly. They had never actually gotten around
to talking about Owen.
“Jesus, Shane, your back,” Vic said in a horrified whisper
as he looked at his lover, completely forgetting anything else
he’d been about to say.
“Hurts,” Shane grunted. “What’d I do to it? Is it burnt?”
“I scratched the shit out of you,” Vic murmured as he
rolled onto his side and ran his finger lightly over an unmarred
portion of Shane’s back. He hadn’t realized his short nails
would do so much damage. It had to have been the sunburn.
“You’re also burnt,” he added sympathetically just before the
doorbell rang again. “I’ll put some aloe on you,” Vic said as he
rolled out of bed and cast about for his clothing. “Damn it,” he
murmured when he couldn’t find any.
“Other room, remember?” Shane mumbled as he rubbed
his face and gingerly flexed his shoulders.
Vic nodded as he remembered that they had never moved
his stuff from the other bedroom, and he gave Shane one last
worried glance before going to find his clothing. He was dirty,
not having ever made it to the shower after coming inside, but
they were at the beach. Who really took a shower in order to go
sit in the sand anyway?
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He dressed slowly as the doorbell rang again, trying to
order his thoughts. What would he say to Owen? What would
he do? He supposed he shouldn’t be worrying about it until he
heard what Owen had to say.
When Vic opened the door, he was greeted by Owen much
more sedately than he had expected. Usually you got anything
from a shake of the hand with a slap on the back to a full-out
tackle in which Owen picked you up off the ground and let
your feet dangle as he crushed your ribs with a bear hug. But
this morning Owen simply smiled tentatively and stuck out his
hand to shake Vic’s.
Vic smiled in return despite himself. Then his brow
furrowed in confusion as he looked at their joined hands,
confused by the sedate greeting.
“You said you were burnt,” Owen explained with a more
confident smile. “Didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not that burnt,” Vic told him wryly, and Owen
responded immediately by embracing Vic warmly and kissing
him on the ear. He had probably been aiming for a cheek, but
Owen rarely worried about aim.
“Hey, Shane!” he called happily as Vic stepped aside and
let him in.
Vic turned to look back at Shane worriedly as the other
man stood there uncomfortably and refused to meet Vic’s eyes.
He was obviously dreading what Vic would do now that Owen
was here. Owen practically bounded toward him, oblivious to
Shane’s discomfort.
“I am that burnt,” Shane said apologetically with his hand
held out to stop Owen in mid-pounce.
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Vic watched from behind as Owen deflated briefly at the
cold greeting, but then he took Shane’s hand in his own and
shook it with a snicker.
“Poor baby,” he said fondly.
“Yeah, I know,” Shane grumbled as Vic pushed the door
shut and watched them awkwardly. Shane was definitely
uncomfortable around the younger man, where before he had
never seemed to be, and Vic knew it was his fault. Damn them
for falling asleep without talking about this first. Now they
might not get the chance before it exploded in their faces.
Despite them having been awoken by Owen’s arrival, it
was not early in the morning, as Vic had at first thought. It was
almost noon, and Vic realized that Owen must have left
Charlotte in the middle of the night to get there. He offered to
treat them both to lunch, but to Vic’s dismay, Shane turned
down the offer, saying that he was going back to bed to sleep
off more of the burn.
Vic watched helplessly as Shane turned away, heading for
the bedroom with his apologies. He didn’t want to let on that
anything was going on between them. Not yet. So he just let
Shane slink off to bed without any argument, and found
himself alone with Owen.
He looked at the man with a degree of apprehension. So
far, he was holding his emotional ground. He was glad to see
Owen, but not for the reason he usually was. Maybe it was
time to finally get some things off his chest.
“Hey,” Owen greeted again, hi
s voice more intimate than
his first greeting had been.
Vic stared at him, trying to formulate a plan. He had stood
in front of juries and delivered closing arguments that hadn’t
made him this nervous. Finally, he cleared his throat. “You
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said you wanted to talk to me about something,” he reminded.
“Something so important it couldn’t wait,” he murmured.
Owen inhaled deeply and nodded. Vic had never seen the
big man look nervous, but this was probably as close as he got.
He was fidgeting and frowning as he looked around the
bungalow.
“Wanna take a walk?” he asked as he gestured toward the
beach.
Vic licked his lips and nodded. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed.
He moved toward the doors, glancing back at the bedroom
door uncertainly as he followed Owen out.
When Shane awoke, Vic was sitting beside him, looking down
at him with a smile. Shane jerked in surprise then smiled
groggily at him.
“Hey,” he said hoarsely.
“How’s the back?” Vic asked him as he handed him a cold
beer.
Shane raised one eyebrow as he pushed himself up to sit
beside Vic. He took the sweating bottle and eyed Vic
suspiciously. “You two talk?” he asked evenly.
“Yep,” Vic answered with a curt nod. “We took a walk. He
said he’d realized what an asshole he’d been all these years
when I went missing. He was afraid it was because of him.”
“It was because of him,” Shane pointed out with a small
frown.
“He doesn’t need to know that,” Vic argued with a smile.
“What else did he say?” Shane asked hesitantly.
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Vic shrugged. “That was about it,” he said in confusion. “It
felt kind of like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t,” he
related to Shane. “He asked if he could stay a few days,” he
added.
Shane nodded. “What’d you tell him?” he asked before
taking a long gulp of the beer Vic had brought him.
“I told him he’d have to ask you,” Vic told him with a
shrug.
“Do you want him here?” Shane asked softly.
“I don’t know,” Vic answered honestly. “But I do know he’s
your friend. And whatever has gone on between me and him
shouldn’t influence how you would treat him.”
Shane nodded again and looked away with a sigh. “If
you’re okay with it,” he finally decided with a shrug.
Vic nodded wordlessly and went to tell Owen he was
welcome to stay.
The next few days would be uncomfortable at best. But all
Vic had to do was keep an even keel and everything would work
out. A sort of peaceful feeling had fallen over him, a weight
lifted from his shoulders, like he’d finally rid himself of a
burden he’d been carrying.
It was a wonderful feeling. Now all he had to do was
convince Shane of that and he was golden.
Owen was practically vibrating, he was so anxious to get out
on the beach and finally get some peace and quiet, and by the
time Vic and Shane got into their bathing suits and hunted
down the sunscreen, Owen was standing out on the deck in the
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only bathing suit he’d packed with his arms spread wide and
his face turned up to the sun.
Vic stood at the door and watched him fondly. His lust for
life had always been intoxicating. He was a hard man not to
like.
Cold plastic touched the tender skin just above Vic’s hip
and he yipped and jumped, spinning around to glare at Shane
as the sunscreen was handed to him. Shane smirked at him,
but then his eyes traveled over to Owen in the distance and the
smile faded.
Vic popped the cap on the lotion and looked at it
thoughtfully.
“You know,” he said in a low voice. “This probably would
have worked better than the body wash.”
Shane snorted and glanced at him, trying not to smile.
“Just be careful with those gashes back there, Counselor,” he
said haughtily as he turned his back to Vic.
Vic looked over the shallow scratches guiltily. Normally
they would probably already have faded, but on sunburned
skin, they were lingering. They looked like they hurt pretty
badly. Vic hadn’t known he could do that.
“What are you gonna tell Owen?” Vic asked as he carefully
applied the lotion one fingertip at a time, partly because he
didn’t want to irritate the scratches, but also because he
enjoyed touching the other man. The slower the better. Shane
was silent, and Vic worried that perhaps that had been the
wrong subject to bring up. “Unless… you want to tell him the
truth?” Vic ventured carefully. He wasn’t sure how Shane felt
about that, but Vic knew he himself liked the idea. Or aspects
of it anyway.
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Either Owen would be thrilled for them, or he would be
jealous. Considering that he had never been particularly
possessive before and didn’t demonstrate any sort of feelings
other than friendship and the occasional desire for a fling, Vic
presumed it would be the former. Even after what Owen said to
him on their walk, that he realized how he’d treated him and
was sorry to have done that to a friend, he’d never mentioned
any stronger feelings. Vic couldn’t help but think he’d wanted
to say something more, but he doubted a profession of love had
been on the agenda.
“I’ll just tell him I got rolled around by a wave, if he even
asks. He may not,” Shane answered with a frown, and Vic bit
his lip to hide his disappointment. He had no illusions that this
was a permanent thing—not yet anyway, but he could certainly
hope. And he would until Shane told him to do differently.
“Okay,” he responded evenly.
When he was done, Vic handed the lotion over and had
Shane rub him down as well. He had no desire to get burnt,
and Shane’s hands, still so gentle even though it was obvious
that Shane was troubled, felt amazing on Vic’s sore back.
“Old age slowing you two down?” Owen called teasingly as
soon as Shane had tossed the lotion aside.
Shane snorted and started forward, but Vic reached out
and caught his arm as they watched Owen toss all three beach
chairs over his shoulder and then leap down into the soft sand
and plow his way down the beach. Shane laughed and Vic
snorted at the folly of youth.
“He won’t be so keen to do that after a night on that
mattress,” Vic murmured, his hand still tight around Shane’s
elbow. He looked at Shane seriously then and said, “I want to
talk about this. I do. Just know now that I’m not jerking you
around.”
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Shane looked at him blankly for several tense moments,
and then his face softened and he smiled a little. “You’re a big
boy, Vic. And so am
I. You do what you need to do, and I’ll be
okay with it.”
Vic blinked in surprise and he released Shane just as
Owen’s voice traveled back to them.
“Hey! Will someone grab me a beer?” he called.
“Got a cooler,” Vic called back as he watched Shane grab
the cooler and walk down the short walkway. Vic was not
happy about this situation, mainly because Shane wasn’t being
very open about much of anything, and despite the rush of new
emotions Vic had been experiencing, he had been right in
predicting that five years of attraction wouldn’t just vanish.
He had himself a very real problem now. He wasn’t certain
what he would do if by some miracle Owen came up to him and
told him he loved him, or even cared for him beyond the
friendship and occasional fucks they had shared. He wasn’t
sure if he would abandon the fledgling relationship that had
begun with Shane in favor of a spark of hope from Owen. He
hoped he wouldn’t, simply because not only would he lose
Shane as a friend, but also because he wouldn’t like himself
very much after doing the very thing he’d sworn to himself he
wouldn’t do. Not very much at all.
He watched Shane straighten up and turn around to look
at him. He smiled and licked his chapped lips unconsciously as
he looked at Vic, and Vic smiled in return. He sincerely hoped
Owen would continue on in his blissful ignorance of Vic’s
feelings and give Vic time to let them fade. He didn’t want to
lose Shane, in any form. He didn’t want to prove himself a fool.
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VII
Vic sat in his chair and watched as Owen stood at the edge of
the water with his hands on his hips, looking out at the waves
and periodically pacing back and forth. His feet were just
barely in the water, and he shivered perceptibly whenever a
wave touched him. Vic smiled fondly, knowing that Owen was
desperate to get in the water but just couldn’t force himself to
endure the cold yet.
Vic felt eyes on him suddenly and he turned to look at