Page 97 of Cash

Brick chuckled. “Yeah? What happened?”

“She jammed the heel in his fuckin’ eye.”

“Fuck!” Brick grimaced. “Is that why he had that eyepatch?”

“Sure is.” Jules grinned from ear to ear. “I told you, my sister is tough as fuckin’ nails.” He rubbed Brick’s arm. “So are you, you know.”

“Me?” Brick sunk down into the tub. “Mmm, I don’t know about that. I don’t feel particularly tough right now as I cry in my bathtub.”

“Hey.” Jules ran his finger through Brick’s hair. “You got kidnapped, and what’s the first fuckin’ thing you did? You started workin’ on a damn way to get outta there. You didn’t break. You didn’t give up. You fuckin’ Macguyvered your way outta your damn ropes and kicked serious ass. You are amazing, Brick.”

Brick’s eyes watered again, but he smiled, his heart thumping hard in his chest. “Thank you.” He reached up to touch Jules’s forearm. “As awesome as it’s been to discover what a total badass I am, how about we take a break from criminaling bullshit for a little while? I’m so happy being Super Saiyan Level One, and we don’t need to aim any higher right now. Pretty please?”

“You got it.” Jules smiled. “You ready to get out and get shitfaced, baby boy?”

“Just a few more minutes, okay?”

“Whatever you want.”

Brick stayed in the tub far past the point of pruning, finally allowing Jules to help him out when the water was cold. Jules dried him off, patting down every inch of him, often pausing to pepper his skin with kisses and loving caresses. Jules grabbed Brick’s lotion so he could rub him down, and he even remembered that there was a separate moisturizer for Brick’s face.

Jules traced Brick’s cheeks and forehead, ever so gingerly around his eye and jaw where bruises were sure to blossom by tomorrow. Jules found a set of fuzzy pajamas with brightly colored pop images of sushi rolls, and he helped Brick get dressed. He held the pants out so Brick could step into them, and he kneeled to slide slippers on Brick’s feet.

As Jules buttoned up the shirt, Brick slid his hands over Jules’s shoulders. He suddenly wanted to be close to Jules, and he was dying for physical contact. He grabbed Jules’s cheeks, pulling him in for a deep kiss.

Jules made a soft sound of pleasure, and his big hands immediately went for Brick’s hips. He kissed him back passionately, letting their lips slide and connect between hot puffs of breath. As the kiss heated up, Jules’s tongue pushed into Brick’s mouth, and he was suddenly kissing Brick harder, rougher, and he picked him right off the floor.

Brick moaned, kissing back with equal frenzy, and he clawed at Jules’s scalp. There was a new sense of desperation that he hadn’t felt before. It was like there were hot wires strung through all of his bones, and he had to keep moving to ease the burn raging away inside of him.

He could have died.

There were so many moments that could have been his last, and they overwhelmed Brick in a fetid wave of despair that instantly put out the fires of his rampant desire. He could suddenly remember exactly what the gun had felt like in his hand, unyielding steel slick with blood, as he brought it down on Roland’s face without mercy.

Brick clung to Jules, still holding him close, but he broke their kiss with a gasping, “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey,” Jules soothed, ever patient. “It’s okay, baby boy.”

“I just… I can’t…” Brick didn’t have the words, but he apparently didn’t need them.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay.” Jules cradled Brick’s head against his shoulder and rubbed his back, rocking him in his arms. “Let’s go watch the show, huh? I wanna know if that writer chick is gonna bang that guy before she gives him the dragon’s bone soup or whatever the fuck it is.”

Brick laughed at that, and he hugged Jules tight. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Always, baby boy.” Jules kissed Brick’s hair fiercely, his voice hoarse as he whispered, “I’d burn this whole fuckin’ city down for you. Into fuckin’ ashes.”

“I know, Daddy.” Brick hung on a little tighter. “I know you would.”

Jules set Brick down so they could go downstairs to the living room, and Junior was there sitting on the couch.

“Hey, hey, yous guys need anything?” Junior quickly moved out of the way so they could sit. “I made a trip to some fancy liquor store over at the Cameron Village. Got vodka, whiskey, rum, whatever yous want.”

“Rum and Dr. Pepper,” Jules said, speaking for Brick. “Just whiskey for me.”

“You got it.”

Brick settled against Jules on the couch, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

“Hey! Junior!” Jules turned to call after him.

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