By the Numbers (17 page)

"Hey." Deuce spoke softly and touched Trey's cheek with the back of his fingers. "Hey. I keep saying it -- you don't have to be sorry. Listen to me. I walked into this knowing you have a kid and an ex. That means I knew there was going to be another person in our lives -- two other people. It just so happens that I'm kind of crazy about one of them, and I'll accept the other one if it means I get you. You are worth it, to me. You're completely worth it, Trey. I'd take on an army of Holly's if it meant I got you." He was a little blown away by how completely he meant it. "Don't be sorry. I chose this."

Trey looked up, blue eyes troubled. "I feel like it's more than you thought it would be. I do what I can to protect Lacey. Sometimes that means putting up with more crap than I should, and you don’t deserve that."

"So?" Deuce smiled at him. "I'm not running away. One little blonde woman isn't going to frighten me off from my man. I promise that I'll be good, that I won't yell at her, and I won't make trouble. I will never say bad things about her to Lacey, and I will do everything I can to keep the peace. But I'm not afraid of this, Trey. You're going to have to just cope with me being around."

"I can cope with it." He smiled a little and some of the worried look left his expression. "If you can deal with the two women in my life. At least the only female in yours is a dog."

"No, sadly." Deuce put on a tragic expression. "I have a mom. You'll meet her eventually."

"I hope so." Trey took a deep breath and let it out slowly, along with some of the tension Deuce had seen in him. "I'd like to close the door on Holly and Lacey for tonight, if you don't mind."

"I have no objection. Although I really will make sure that they know I appreciate Q's new collar. Now can we make out a bit?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Trey lay back on the bed and reached for him.

"I will always ask. Sometimes beg. Occasionally order." Deuce slid a hand under Trey's shirt and played with one of his nipples. "The only reason you'll go without is overtime, I assure you."

Trey gave a laugh that got caught in a hiss as Deuce touched him. "That is one promise I'll hold you to forever. Do that some more. With your mouth."

Deuce stripped Trey of his shirt and then peeled off his own. "Teeth?" he suggested, pushing Trey down again and straddling his hips. "Just a little or a lot?" He bent over and licked, barely grazing Trey's chest with his teeth.

The response was immediate. Trey arched off the bed and moaned. "Teeth," he affirmed, although it wasn't necessary. Deuce could tell just from the response.

Laughing, Deuce ground down on him and dragged his teeth more firmly, then give Trey a sharp little bite. He could feel them both getting hard already, track pants and shorts not hiding much at all.

The moaning turned into panting, and Trey brought up one leg to plant his foot on the bed. It brought him and Deuce into perfect position for rubbing off and their cocks pressed against each other through their clothes. "Yes," Trey gasped. "Do it again."

"Not if you're going to get off on it. I have plans for you." Deuce bit him anyway, absolutely getting turned on by the reactions. "Don't come. Okay?"

He was ignored. Trey wiggled around beneath Deuce's body, obviously looking for some friction. "These are good plans. Just like this."

"Not like this." Deuce lifted his head and grabbed Trey's hands to pin them to the bed. "Fuck me. Don't come. I want you to fuck me." He was unsurprised to find he was almost growling.

Trey's eyes were wide and pleading as he looked up at Deuce. Slowly, he nodded. "Okay," he whispered, and Deuce could swear he felt Trey get even harder beneath him. "I will. Get the stuff."

"You stay here. Like this. On your back." Deuce didn't move. "Nod your head. Stay."

Trey nodded without a word, his eyes following Deuce's every move.

Deuce climbed off and moved around the bed to the drawer for supplies, not bothering to be subtle about any adjustments. On the way back he tossed the rubber and lube onto the bed, stripped off his pants and grabbed at Trey's waistband. "Lift up."

His orders were obeyed at once. Trey lifted his hips, and his shorts slid off with ease, his cock springing free and demonstrating how hard Trey was. He either liked being ordered around a little or was really, really enthused about fucking Deuce. Probably both.

Delighted, Deuce leaned forward and gave him a long lick. "Now. Let's see..." He got back on the bed and resumed his place, straddling Trey's thighs. "This goes here." He held up the condom and tore the wrapper open, then stroked Trey's cock with his free hand. "Why don't you treat yourself to a bit of lube in the rubber? Grab it, it's right there."

Trey reached around with one hand and snatched the tube. He squeezed out more than he needed and stroked himself with it, still watching Deuce's every move. "Here," Trey said, and held out his hand. "Kneel over me and I'll use the rest on you."

Deuce tried very hard not to suck in a breath as he nodded. He smoothed the condom onto Trey's erection and shifted forward, shuffling his knees farther up the bed. "Can you reach?"

"I got it." Trey curled upward a bit -- honestly, the guy's abs were pretty sensational -- and reached between Deuce's legs. A little bit of searching and Trey found what he was looking for. Deuce could feel one slick finger teasing around his hole, then there were two. After a few seconds of that, Trey eased them inside as slowly as he could.

With a long exhale, Deuce made himself relax. He closed his eyes and let himself feel everything, let himself anticipate; when his body gave way and he realized he was moving back, trying to get Trey to speed up, he opened his eyes again. "More," he said, leaning forward and twisting slightly to bite Trey's nipple again.

That caused Trey to groan and nearly fall backward, but he recovered in time and slid his fingers in even further. He twisted them a bit as he did, feeling and stretching and trying to get even more lube in. "You're so tight," Trey murmured. "When's the last time you did this?"

"Um." It was amazingly hard to think with fingers in his ass. "A year? More." He rocked back again and gasped. "Can we figure it out later?"

Trey laughed and added a third finger. "As long as you promise to practice with me." He reached even deeper, if that was possible, and touched Deuce's gland with the tips of his fingers. "Feels good here, right?"

"Oh, God. Yes, right there!" Deuce froze in place and waited for the hot rush to fade a little. "Okay, yeah, we're good. Let's move along before I lose it." That would be embarrassing.

Trey grinned and withdrew his fingers. He helped position Deuce above him and seemed to take a fortifying breath. "Okay," Trey said. "You lead, I'll guide."

Deuce liked it that way, even if he did try to ignore the urge for the most part. He nodded, without comment, and backed up. "Ready? Be ready, 'cause I'm way past ready." He knelt up and checked where he was, where Trey was, and took a deep breath. "Let's go." He eased back, trying to balance himself on one hand.

Trey held the base of his cock with one hand and let Deuce come down on him slowly. He was staying as still as possible, but it was clearly hard for him not to just ram himself inside and go for it. Deuce admired his willpower.

The pressure filling him was making him lightheaded, until he remembered to breathe. Deuce sank down, as far as he could go, and sucked in a huge breath. "Jesus." He thought he might die if he didn't get used to this, and he might die if he stayed still. "Trey." He looked down at Trey's face.

Trey was looking back with the same awed expression. "You're so warm," he whispered. "So warm and tight. Are you okay?"

"I'm perfect." He was. "I need to move, though." He was going to fly apart if he didn't.

"Thank God." He didn't wait for Deuce to do it, though. Trey moved his hips a bit and somehow settled himself even deeper inside. "Oh, Christ. You'd better move fast."

Deuce swore. He lifted up and felt the glide of Trey's cock and swore again. "Trey. Please."

When it became clear to Trey that Deuce needed him to do more, he felt Trey's hands at his hips. Trey began thrusting forward in time with Deuce's movements, and soon they fell into a jerky half-rhythm that had them both gasping and clutching at the sheets. "Deuce," Trey whimpered after only a couple of minutes. "I can't wait."

Panting, unable to really say any real words other than "Oh, God," over and over, Deuce nodded. He was so close, was right on the very teetering edge of orgasm that nothing else really mattered.

It might have been the permission Deuce unwittingly granted or the fact that Trey was just that close to orgasm, but once Deuce nodded, it was all over. Trey thrust up hard and cried out as he was overtaken by a full body shudder. He froze where he was and the pulsing of his cock could be felt as he came.

It was that, feeling Trey pulse and throb inside him, that sent Deuce over. He arched his back and shot, his ass clamping down around Trey like he'd never let him go. He was still shooting when he fell forward, covering Trey with his own body. "I love you," he whispered, not sure if Trey would make out the words between panted breaths. "Love you, Trey."

Trey heard. Deuce could feel him nod, and Trey's arms went around him and held tight. "Love you," Trey whispered back. "Love you."

Deuce watched the clock, and then he watched the phone. Both were clearly conspiring against him. Every second the phone didn't ring was a second closer to Lacey's scheduled arrival, and Trey wasn't home yet.

He put the puppies in the backyard, not sure if it was his nervous energy or theirs that was making him jumpy. A text to Trey asking for an ETA went unanswered, and Deuce suspected he was out on a call. If that were true, he might not have been able to reach Holly to tell her that he'd be late.

Which meant that the odds for an unpleasant meeting were going way up every second that the phone didn't ring and every pass of the second hand around the clock.

Q got up off the kitchen floor and went to look out the living room window. She was starting to figure out what time Trey should be home, even if she wasn't so good at knowing what days he wouldn't be pulling in. Hoping she might have heard his truck turning onto their street, Deuce went to look out the same window.

It was Holly, though, not Trey, and as he walked to the door a text came back to him that Trey was, indeed, out on a call. He'd be home as soon as he could, but he wasn't sure when.

"Damn, damn, damn." Deuce closed his eyes and tried to find his pleasant greeting. This was not going to go well. He thought he should at least let her know before Lacey got herself too far into the house, so he went to open the door before they could ring the bell, and stepped out.

He hoped his smile was apologetic. "Good morning." He only waited long enough for Holly to look at him before carrying on, words rushing out of his mouth. "I hate to bear bad news, but Trey's not home yet -- he's on a call. Have you heard from him this morning?"

Holly opened the back door of the car and ushered Lacey out. She offered Deuce a cursory nod before handing Lacey her princess suitcase. "Yes, early. Said they were going out and he might not be home by eight."

"Oh. I..." Deuce blinked twice. "Okay, then." And yet, there she was, dropping Lacey off. Interesting. "Morning, Little Beans." He stepped back to let her in. "Would you like to come in and wait for him to get here?" he offered, because he'd promised to be nice. It wasn't likely that she was going just to give him her daughter, after all.

Lacey stopped in the middle of the pathway to the door and knelt down to unzip her backpack. "Big Beans, I brought Q her collar!" She withdrew a purple dog collar with what looked from Deuce's vantage point to be rhinestones. Something sparkly, anyway.

"That is a very, very pretty necklace for her." Deuce smiled at her. "She's going to love it. Thank you so much for thinking of her. She's waiting for you inside, you know. She went right to the window when your mom pulled into the driveway."

Lacey stood up and peered in the window. Sure enough, Q was waiting patiently, tail wagging. "I'll put it on her," Lacey said with a nod. "Then Dad will be surprised. Right, Deuce? He'll love it and be so surprised." She shouldered her backpack and went to kiss her mother goodbye.

"He'll love it," Deuce agreed. He watched them for a moment and nodded. "He'll be surprised." Not nearly as much as Deuce was, probably.

Holly kissed her daughter and leaned down to whisper something Deuce couldn't hear. Lacey nodded and clung to Holly for a moment, then let go and skipped her way back up the path. "Next I'm going to buy Six and Pi their collars, too. Only not with diamonds 'cause that's for girls." She disappeared into the house.

Deuce watched her go and hoped that Q would sit patiently while she tried to get the collar on. He looked back at Holly, not sure what to say. "Coffee? I can put some on."

"No, thank you." Her tone was very even. "I need to get to work. Please have Trey call me as soon as he's home."

"Of course." He nodded, almost turned to go in, and stopped. "Holly." He stopped again, and looked at her, then took a couple of steps toward her car.

She looked up at him from the open doorway of her vehicle. In the morning light, with the sun slanting through the trees and making her blonde hair shimmer, she looked very pretty. It was not hard to see why Trey had fallen for her, once upon a time. "Yes?"

"Thank you." He was a little surprised to find that he really meant it. "For this. And for Q's collar. That was very nice."

"She talks about those dogs all the time. She's allowed to do what she likes with the money she's earned, and she wanted a collar." Holly looked at Deuce and repeated her earlier statement. "I need to hear from Trey as soon as he's home. If he's not home in an hour, tell Lacey to call me."

He nodded once and backed up. He knew when he was dismissed. "Of course. Trey, ASAP, and if he's not home in an hour, Lacey will call you."

"Thank you." She got into her car and spoke through the lowered window. "Lacey likes you. I don't know if I trust the judgment of a seven-year-old, but I don't have much else to go on."

"Yet." Deuce grinned at her. "She likes you, too."

"She isn't a teenager yet. That will change." She started her car and backed down the driveway, then drove off.

Deuce walked into the house, talking to himself. "I'll probably be the only one she likes when she's a teen 'cause I'm the guy without grounding authority." He shook his head and looked around. "So. How's the collar fitting going?"

Q looked at him with a morose expression. Lacey was trying to fit the new one over Q's head without unbuckling it first, and both of them were frustrated. "I can't get it on her. And she keeps moving. And then she licks me a lot and won't let me hold her."

"Okay, how about we try it this way?" He crouched down next to them. "You pet her and give her chin scratches. I'll see if there's a secret to this thingy -- which, by the way, is beautiful. Maybe it has a password or something. A magic word like for your tricks. Do we know any magic words?" He took the collar from her hands and gave it a very careful examination.

"Please." Lacey sat back on her heels and watched. "And thank you. Those are magic words."

"They sure are. Especially thank you. It's amazing how thank you makes people feel good." He ran the collar around in his hands and tried to get it open as subtly as he could. "Do we know any magic opening words?"

They discussed opening words, both magical and non, until Q's collar was resting comfortably around her neck and Lacey was delighted. "I'll draw her picture," she announced, "so I can show my teacher. My teacher has a dog." She went to find her paper and markers that were always in a box under her bed.

Just as Deuce was wondering if Lacey ate at Holly’s or if he might have to fix her breakfast, Q got up off the floor and went to the window again. Sure enough, Trey was pulling in the driveway.

"Hey, Little Beans? Your dad is home." Deuce went to the door and opened it, probably more eager than Lacey or any of the dogs to see him.

"Tell him to come see my picture." She was stationed at the kitchen table with no intent of moving, obviously.

Trey came up the walk with his gear bag in one hand and keys in the other. "Hi. I need to find out where Holly and Lacey are," he said with a sigh.

"Holly, I assume, is at work." Deuce smiled at him. "Lacey is busy making a masterpiece at the kitchen table. No adult time this morning, sorry. You have to call Holly right this instant, though. I'm pretty sure she set a bomb to go off and do me in if you don't."

"Lacey's here?" Trey paused to kiss him. "I told Holly I was going to be late, and she didn't answer. I thought for sure that meant she was dragging Lace to work with her." He was already pulling his phone from his pocket. "She left Lacey here? With you?"

"I even said thank you. But you definitely need to call her, and I need to get myself to the office." He'd wait for Trey to call and for another kiss before he went, though.

Trey dropped his gear bag and sat down on the top porch step. He motioned Deuce down next to him and listened to the phone ring on the other end of his call. Deuce could hear when Holly picked up, but couldn't make out her words.

"Hey, I'm home." Trey chewed his thumbnail and listened. "Uh-huh. Yeah, she's good. Drawing something." There was a longer pause. "Yes. Thank you. Holls... you know there are days I can't help being late. If Deuce is here, there's no reason Mrs. Jacobs has to come over." Another pause. "I know. Can we play it by ear, then? Fine. Thank you. Yes, I'll check her homework folder before school."

He hung up soon after and looked at Deuce. "Well. She left my kid here without me. I'm going to call it progress."

"I'm going to call it a miracle. Honestly, I totally thought she would stay and wait, or leave again." Deuce shrugged one shoulder. "Progress is good. Is she mad? I mean about leaving Lacey, not just in general. I know she's mad in general." He rolled his eyes. Holly was pissed in general, and the world knew it.

Trey appeared to be contemplating that. "I'm not sure," he finally said. "She sounded like she was annoyed but trying to hide it. Which, hey. Holly doesn't ever try to hide that. I'm going to go with 'she's sort of mad but is trying to get over it'. And it's not something we need to worry about for the next four days. Are you late for work? Damn, we need to figure out something to do on the days you can't stay home. Looks like Mrs. Jacobs next door is back on the list."

"Dude, I sit at a desk. The world won't fall apart if I'm half an hour late, ever." Deuce leaned into Trey and nuzzled his neck. "You're home today so I can work through lunch. I'll be home at my usual time. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay. Can you stay home instead?"

"Nope. But I'd like to book you for adult time at your earliest convenience."

Trey managed to look disappointed and full of anticipation all at once. "Adult time starts tonight at approximately nine-thirty, after child bedtime. Don't be late."

"I'll find you." Deuce kissed Trey and then looked back into the house. "Hey, Little Beans!" he called out.

"Hey, Big Beans!" came the faint answer from inside. Deuce saw Trey smile.

Laughing, Deuce yelled in, "I gotta go to work. You have fun at school, okay? And take care of your dad for me."

"Okay," Lacey called back. "When you get home I'll show you my poster of Healthy Foods and Unhealthy Foods. You'll think it's really great."

Trey snorted. "I like how she tells you what to think."

"Sadly, she's usually right. I think all her stuff is really great." He was, he had to admit, a little smitten with the seven-year-old. Not nearly as much as with her dad, though. "Going now. Kiss me again."

Trey stood and leaned in. With a hand on Deuce's face, he kissed him gently, even snaking his tongue out to lick at Deuce's mouth. "Nine-thirty. Adult time." One more kiss, then he pulled back. "I love you."

"I love you back." He hadn't ever thought that losing his home to a fire would be the best thing that could happen to him, but here he was. Maybe losing a little to gain a lot really did happen -- all it took was being lucky enough to have the right hero there to save the day.

Deuce looked at Trey, then the house they were sharing, the life they were making together. He could hear the puppies yipping inside and thought about how a bunch of random numbers -- two, three, six, 3.14 -- had strung themselves together to be part of a family. "I love it all."

After that, it was easy to go to work. He knew it would all be there waiting for him when he came home.

End