Acceptable Behavior (11 page)

“I know. I just want to hold you and count my blessings.”

“Fucking optimists,” Sam muttered teasingly.

Travis wrapped his arms around Sam and cradled him. “You know you love my sunny disposition.”

Sam didn’t know anything about anything at that point. He could barely keep his eyes open. “Super tired.”

“Close your eyes. Sleep.” Travis pressed light kisses to Sam’s temple and shoulder. “We’ll talk tomorrow. It’s Saturday. We can sleep in.”

“Have to get Mel,” Sam reminded.

“If we remember,” Travis teased.

“Not funny.” They’d barely remembered to call the bar. Sam had, and had left a message with some bartender. That was all he’d agreed to do. His conscience was clear.

Travis nuzzled his neck and spoke soothingly. “Look, I don’t know what happened to cause the accident, but judging by your behavior, I suspect it had something to do with Mel and Mel’s boss. For just a second there, I actually wished your sister would have some type of minor setback and be forced to stay in the hospital longer. I know that’s horrible and totally against the Hippocratic Oath I took when I became a doctor, but I’m human, too, and sometimes I can’t help myself. When Mel hurts you, I want to hurt Mel.”

“Need to protect Mel,” Sam murmured groggily.

“We’ll take care of her,” Travis reassured him. “But I’ll save my protection for you and Levi. Now relax. Go to sleep. Everything will be fine.” He placed a kiss on Sam’s ear. “I love you.”

Sam’s eyes popped open, and wordlessly he closed them again.

Chapter Six

Sam was awakened by something crawling over his feet. In a dreamy state he thought it was one fucking huge cockroach, so when he opened his eyes and realized it was just Levi, he felt relieved. He glanced at the clock.
One a.m
. “What are you doing, buddy?” he whispered.

“I woke up and forgot where I was. I got scared. Can I sleep here with you?”

Hesitating, Sam glanced behind him at Travis. The doctor’s eyes were closed but he lowered the covers to welcome the boy in.

Sam smiled. “Sure. Come on, under the covers.”

Levi scrambled between them and Travis tucked him in, eyes still closed.

“Can we go to the zoo tomorrow?” Levi asked.

“Probably not.” Sam ran a hand through the child’s tousled hair. “I’ll have to pick your mom up whenever the hospital releases her. She’ll want to see you, but she’ll need to rest, too.”

“No talking at this slumber party,” Travis said. He’d yet to open his eyes. “Remember ‘slumber’ means ‘sleep’.”

“Go back to sleep, Trav,” Sam said softly.

“I’m trying, but you Madisons won’t stop talking.”

Levi giggled. “Go to sleep, Dr. Trav.”

Travis growled and went after Levi, nuzzling his neck until the boy was laughing hard. He draped an arm over the child and rested his hand on Sam’s hip.

Sam yawned, and at some point fell back to sleep.

* * * *

When he woke the next time, morning sun streamed in through the blinds. The nightstand clock read seven-twenty a.m. He rolled over and found Travis lying there, watching him. Levi slept peacefully between them. “Hey,” he whispered.

“Good morning,” Travis whispered back.

“Sorry.” Sam glanced down at the boy and back up again.

Travis shrugged. ”I’m not. He told me he loves me last night.”

Sam smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m not saying I
don’t
feel that way, but I’ve got a lot of things on my plate right now.”

“I understand.” Travis gazed at him dreamily. “I just fucking love you so much, I had to tell you how I felt.”

“Thank you.” Sam thought the silence between them would be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t.

“How’s the wrist feel?”

“Hurts.”

“I’ll bet. You want to tell me what happened?”

Sam sighed. He really didn’t, but had to. “You were right. It was about Mel and Derek, her boss.” He relayed the story, and the events up until the car flipped over.

Travis winced. “I’m sorry, man. She’s totally using you. I guess you can see that now.”

“She’s my twin sister. Once upon a time we shared the same womb space. How can I
not
let her use me?”

“I don’t know, but what she’s doing isn’t right. You and Levi are staying here, and if you want to, you can take him to visit her after school like you offered.”

“Except I no longer have a car. She does.”

Travis shook his head. “I’m not sure I want her coming here.”

“She’s my sister,” Sam insisted.

“Sister or not, she’s a messed-up drug addict, and you know it. We can meet her on neutral ground or you can take the kid back to the roach motel. But you’re not staying there ever again. You got that?”

Sam blinked. “Are you seriously telling me what I can and cannot do?”

Travis held his gaze. “I sure as hell am. If you’ve got a problem with that, then we’ll have to settle this another way. Arm wrestling, maybe?”

Sam laughed out loud.

Travis covered his mouth with one hand to keep from waking Levi. He then replaced the hand with his mouth, and kissed Sam long and hard.

Groaning, Sam slid his good arm around Trav’s neck. They kissed for long, succulent and blissful moments.

“I need to pee,” Levi announced when he woke. He crawled out from under the covers and scampered off to the bathroom in the hall.

Sam took advantage of the opportunity and pulled Travis on top of him. They ground their hips together as they kissed hungrily. “Have to stop,” he finally whispered when he heard the toilet flush.

“One more kiss.” Travis dove back in and Sam was lost again.

“Can I watch cartoons?” Levi asked from the doorway.

Sam and Travis froze, gazing at each other.

“Sure,” Travis replied. “The remote is on the coffee table. Pull the door shut, okay? I’ll be out in a couple minutes to make pancakes. Maybe we can let Uncle Sammy rest just a bit longer.”

“Okay.” Levi closed the bedroom door.

They continued to stare at one another until they heard the sound of cartoons coming from the living room TV.

Travis crouched down under the covers and planted himself between Sam’s legs.

“I thought I was supposed to be resting,” Sam teased.

“You are. I’ll do all the work.” Travis drew Sam’s cock into his mouth and sucked until he was fully aroused.

Sam gasped at the incredible feelings which were waging war with his guilt.
We shouldn’t be doing this with Levi in the house.
On the other hand, his friends who were parents joked constantly about sneaking around for sex when they could manage a minute without the kids. Saturday morning cartoons were a huge favorite among them. He and Travis weren’t so different.

Or am I simply trying to justify my actions because I’m so horny I can almost feel the orgasm closing in?
Either way, he wasn’t about to ask Trav to stop. His lover sucked until Sam felt his balls draw up. At that point, Travis climbed on top and clutched both their cocks in one of his hands. He stroked them together, the delicious friction causing a new, amazing sensation.

“Aw, God,” Sam muttered.

Travis leaned in for a kiss, swallowing further moans. “Come on,” he coaxed as he jacked them off together.

“Now!” Sam ground out as he shuddered.

Trav groaned and released at the same time, two hot streams of cum coating the both of them. He kept up his ministrations until they were both sated, then returned to kissing Sam with as much heat and intensity as he’d ever known. “God, I love you,” Travis murmured. “And I love making love to you.”

“I can honestly say I love that, too,” Sam admitted.

Travis grinned. He climbed out of bed and grabbed a towel to wipe his stomach, hands and groin area.

Sam watched his handsome hunk slip into jeans with no briefs and carefully raise the zipper to avoid pinching anything important. Travis then slipped into his shirt from the day before, leaving it unbuttoned. “I’ll go make breakfast and shower later. How about you? Sleep some more or shower?”

“I’ll shower. Thanks for…you know. And thanks for making Levi’s breakfast.”

He grinned. “No problem. I like to…you know. And I like to cook.” He tossed the towel to Sam. “I’ll let you stick that in the hamper. I’ve got mountains of laundry today anyway.”

Sam sat up. “You don’t have to wash all our clothes. They’re clean.”

“Humor me.” Travis winked and left the room.

Using the towel, Sam cleaned himself up then rose and headed to the master bath to shower. His wrist was tender and he tried not to bend it but that was easier said than done. It was almost a relief when he could dry off and put the brace back on. The compression made it feel better.

He dressed and joined Travis and Levi in the kitchen eating pancakes. “Hey, those look good.” He pressed a kiss to Trav’s temple and another to the top of Levi’s curly hair.

“They are good.” Levi’s praise was genuine.

Sam couldn’t remember the last time he or Mel had fixed pancakes. He didn’t know why, either. They weren’t that difficult.

Travis stood and grabbed another plate. “How many would you like?”

“A couple, please.” He sat on the other side of Levi and accepted the plate, along with butter, syrup and orange juice. “Wow. A feast.”

“Uncle Sammy, Dr. Trav has chattoos! Can you see them?” He pointed to Travis’ open shirt, and the inked skin beneath.

Travis made a face. “Sorry,” he mouthed.

Sam waved him off. “No big deal,” he mouthed back, then said aloud, “I see them, Levi. Aren’t they cool?”

“I want a chattoo,” Levi decided.

“You can have as many as you want,” Travis agreed. “You just have to do one thing. The same thing I did.”

“What?” Levi’s eyes shone.

Travis leaned in nose to nose with him. “Wait until you’re twenty-five, and you know what you want to do with your life. After that, you can decide about getting tattoos.”

“Okay.” He scraped the last few bites off his plate then looked at Sam. “Are we going to get Mommy today?” Levi had syrup dripping from his chin.

Travis used a napkin to dab the boy clean.

Sam could only smile at the both of them. They were cute as hell together. “That’s the plan.”

Travis said, “You might want to call first and make sure she can come home. If for some reason she can’t, there’s no need to take Levi all the way over there.”

Nodding, Sam fought back the worries creeping in to his mind. He had to voice one of them. “I don’t even know how I’m going to get her.”

“I’ll take you, of course. We’ll have to share my car for a while but we can make it work.”

“Well, thanks.” Sam didn’t know what else to say. The offer was extremely generous. He finished eating then called the nurses station at Cook County Hospital. The shift nurse told him Melanie would be able to go home later that morning.

Travis had loaded the dishwasher than started the first load of Levi’s laundry.

Sam joined him. “She can go around eleven,” he announced.

“Fine.” Trav didn’t look at him, just kept sorting. “We’ll leave at ten-thirty, then. Pick her up and drop her at the apartment.”

Sighing, Sam folded his arms across his chest. “How can I leave her there all alone? She has a broken arm for Christ’s sake. She needs help.”

“Says the man with the severely sprained wrist? I don’t know, I think the better candidate to help might be the boss who’s scrounging for a place to stay anyway.”

“I don’t know him,” Sam replied flatly. “Other than he’s a stoner, and she’s my sister, Trav. I can’t
not
help her.”

“You
are
helping her. You’re taking care of her most prized possession. Would she rather lose Levi to Child Protective Services?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Levi’s teacher told me he’s been coming to school dirty, with dirty clothes. And Levi has mentioned that he doesn’t get much to eat at home. They were pretty concerned about him.”

Sam frowned. “Crawford said that? I saw him a couple of days ago. He never mentioned anything to me.”

Travis shrugged. “It’s a delicate subject, but teachers are mandated reporters, just like doctors. Eventually they would have reported Melanie and both of you would have lost him.”

“Son of a bitch,” Sam muttered.
When it rains, it pours.
“I don’t know how much more I can handle.”

“There’s nothing to handle here, babe. I’ve got you and Levi under control. The three of us are good. We just need to figure out how to help your sister without compromising any of us.”

Sam narrowed his eyebrows. “Meaning what, exactly?”

“Meaning I don’t care if you want to help her, but you and the kid are staying here. That’s not up for debate.”

“But she’s not welcome here?”

“Not if she’s going to smoke cigarettes and use illegal drugs. I won’t have those things in my house. If she thinks she can stop all that, we might be able to talk. But I don’t give warnings, babe. She breaks the rules or lies, and she’s out.”

The rules were suddenly overwhelming Sam. He couldn’t resist snipping, “My, aren’t you the supreme dictator?”

Travis shrugged. “My house, my rules. If she wants to make my house payment, I’ll let her have a say.” He leaned in and kissed Sam’s mouth. “Now, I’m going to hop in the shower, get dressed, and cover up my ‘chattoos’. I forgot, and I thought Levi’s eyes were going to pop out of his head.”

Sam smiled. “Kind of like the first time I saw them.”

“Oh, hell no. Your eyes were popping for a different reason, sailor. The minute you saw them, you wanted to swab my decks.”

“I still do.” Sam waggled his eyebrows.

“There’s always tonight. You live here now, remember?” Travis winked and headed for the shower.

“Hey,” Sam called after him.

Travis paused and looked at him. “Yes?”

“I was thinking about getting a tat. Do I have to wait until I’m twenty-five?”

His lover looked surprised. “How much longer is that?”

“December twenty-fourth. Mel and I were Christmas eve babies.”

Travis thought about it, then shrugged. “Yep. Have to wait.” He continued down the hall.