Finding Zach (16 page)

The breeze skated over his skin, drying the sweat and cooling him enough that he could lie down in the grass without the blades sticking to him. A few feet away, David snored, his left arm flung over his head and his right sprawled out on the grass beside him. Zach rolled up on one elbow and watched him sleep. The sunlight shot tiny sparks off the little golden hairs on his chest and belly; David was too blond to be hirsute, but in the sun Zach could see what was invisible in lesser light. The hair beneath his arm was thicker and darker, more cinnamon than gold; impulsively, Zach leaned forward and drew in a breath, testing the scent. Sweaty, true, but a clean sweat, not the sour, unwashed stench of Esteban; clean sweat, and the green aroma of grass, and some faint spice that was the smell of David. Zach closed his eyes and breathed in the scent again, then jerked back, thinking,
Shit
. “Taff?” he called softly, worriedly.

David snored on.

Zach breathed a sigh of relief; he hadn’t woken him with his weird, obsessive
sniffing
. Jesus. David would really think he was psycho.

Still, he didn’t move away from David. Instead, he shifted around so that he sat beside his friend, unable to make himself move away, his eyes exploring what his hands couldn’t. God, David was lovely, lying there like a sleeping prince in a fairy tale. A prince in ragged denim cutoffs that had slipped low on his narrow hips, a cinnamon-colored line of hair running from below the elegant dip of his navel to vanish beneath the loose edge of the shorts…. Zach swallowed, and was glad for the baggy shorts over the snug bike pants he wore; it would be embarrassing as hell if David woke up just then to see Zach sporting wood. But David slept on, the occasional soft snore fluttering past those silky, rosy lips. Lips the same color as the perfect, rosy nipples on that perfect golden chest. “Taff?” he whispered again, then at the silence leaned forward, his hands braced on either side of David’s chest, and laid his mouth gently against the perfect right nipple. It tasted of David, sweet and spicy and sweaty, and he needed more of the taste, so he touched just the tip of his tongue against the softly pebbled surface, feeling the skin tauten and grow stiff against his mouth. He licked again, tasting him. Then he leaned further forward to brush his lips over the curve of David’s shoulder, the hollow at his throat, the thin skin overlaying his jaw, tasting him, tormenting himself.

The shoulder beneath his lips shifted, and warmth and weight settled at the back of Zach’s head; he looked up to see David’s dark eyes watching him from beneath shuttered lids. The pressure cupping his skull drew him forward but he turned his head at the last minute so David’s lips skittered across his cheek. He closed his eyes. “Zach?” David whispered.

Zach pulled away from David’s hand, sitting up and turning his back to David. “Sorry,” he said gruffly. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I should always get woken up that way,” David said. He sat up, too, and put his hand on Zach’s back, rubbing gently through the knit of his T-shirt. “Why did you stop? That was nice.”

He shrugged David’s hand away and reached for the sandwiches. “I was hungry,” he said.

“So am I, but not necessarily for PBJs.”

Zach didn’t answer. David reached past him and he stiffened, but it was only to grab one of the sandwiches. “You know,” David said, a minute later, his mouth sticky with Annie’s gourmet homemade cashew butter and home-canned grape preserves, “you keep up with that sort of thing and I’m going to think you want me after all.”

Zach turned, frowning. “What?”

“Well, you want to be friends, I get that. So I wasn’t exactly expecting you to make a pass at me.”

“You weren’t supposed to be awake,” Zach muttered. “I kept checking, but you were still asleep. I thought, I didn’t want….”

“You thought you could make love to me and have me
not
wake up?” David chuckled.

“I wasn’t making love to you. I was just….” Zach trailed off. “Curious,” he said finally.

David cocked his head and studied him thoughtfully. “Curious.”

“Yeah.” Zach thought fast. “I fuck a lot of guys and I just wondered if you felt any different just cuz I don’t, like, have a thing for you.”

There was dead silence in the meadow. Even the wind had stilled. Finally David said, “Oh. Guess that’s why you didn’t let me kiss you.”

“I don’t let anybody kiss me,” Zach said curtly. He finished his sandwich and washed it down with half a bottle of water. “Are you rested? Because we should probably start back.”

“Right,” David said.

Z
ACH
took the lead on the way down, and David let him, figuring he probably didn’t want to have to look at David after he’d caught Zach experimenting. Zach was probably embarrassed; he hadn’t expected David to wake up and misinterpret the whole thing the way he had.
Curious.
Right. Of course he was curious—David had never been into the pickup scene; he’d only ever gotten physical with guys he had a relationship with, but he’d heard about the kind of sex that went on, and it wasn’t the kind that encouraged exploration of the sort that Zach had been about.
Well, tough shit,
David thought angrily. He wasn’t some kind of blow-up doll that Zach could use to explore his sexuality or whatever he was doing. Zach’s sexuality was his business, and David’s was his own, and never the twain shall meet and all that crap.

But for a moment, when he’d drifted awake to the sensuous pleasure of Zach’s tongue on his nipple and lay silent beneath Zach’s questing mouth, he’d let himself dream. Let himself fantasize that this was what Zach wanted, that his soft tastes would lead to soft kisses, then harder and hotter ones, until they were naked together here in this sunlit meadow. But he should have known better. Romantic as making love like that would have been, it wasn’t Zach’s style. Hot and hurried and anonymous fucking in a dark room, that was Zach. David’s eyes stung.
Shit
.

“I’m sorry,” Zach’s voice came from beside him. He’d slowed his frantic pedaling and was riding parallel to David.

David blinked away the threatening tears and said gruffly, “For what?”

“For being a dick. I….” Zach hesitated, then went on, “I shouldn’t have done that to you. It wasn’t—it was rude. Personal space and all.” He was silent a moment, then said bitterly, “I’ve always had a problem with personal space where you’re concerned. I guess it’s cuz I must have imprinted on you like a baby bird when I was little or something. I know you’re your own person and I don’t have the right to just push myself into your life like that, and I’m sorry. I don’t have the right to touch you like that.”

“No, you don’t. Not unless you’re serious,” David said acerbically. “Only my lovers touch me like that, and you’re not one of them.”

“No. No, I’m not.” Zach’s voice was very small.

Relenting, David said, “Just don’t ‘experiment’ with me anymore, dweeb. I’m your friend, not your fucking guinea pig.”

Zach flashed him a quick, embarrassed grin, then sped up. “Come on, Taff. Beat you to the bottom.”

David chuckled. “You wish,” he said, and put on some speed.

T
HERE
was a strange car in the long drive in front of the house, and as David drove the Saturn past on the way to the garage to drop off Zach and his bike, he saw that Jane and Richard were standing on the terrace talking to a tall man in olive-drab T-shirt and cammies.

“Mike!” Zach said delightedly, then, “Stop, Taff. Stop here. It’s Mike….” and he was out of the car and running across the patio toward the house. He stopped short of throwing himself into the man’s arms, skidding to a halt and thrusting his hand out for the stranger to shake. Numb, David put the car in park and got out slowly, watching as Zach started talking a blue streak, waving his hands in illustration while the stranger, a handsome, dark-haired guy in his late twenties, and Jane and Richard all grinned at him. Well. That explained a lot of things, particularly Zach’s penchant for fatigues, his frequent comments about the Army, and the buzz cut.

He unlocked Zach’s bike from the carrier on the back of the Saturn and walked it toward them, watching the group on the terrace. The guy looked up and met his gaze, then said something to Zach.

“Oh, yeah, Taff! It’s Taff, Mike. He’s, like, my oldest friend. I grew up with him. Taff, this is Mike Pritzger—Lieutenant Mike Pritzger. He’s the guy who found me.”

David’s world crashed and burned. He stood amidst the flames, smiled, and held out a hand that was amazingly steady and unblistered. “Lieutenant. Pleased to meet you.”
Well,
he thought.
Now you know why Zach only wants to be friends.
“Thanks for bringing Zach back to us.”

“Well, it wasn’t only me,” Pritzger said, a grin lighting his handsome, olive-skinned face. “It was our whole team. I just happened to find Zach where he was hiding after all the shooting was done.”

“You also stayed with me all the way back to the States,” Zach objected. “You took care of me the whole way. And you cut the collar off me.”

“Yep, regular hero with the pinking shears,” the lieutenant said, laughing.

“So how long can you stay, Mike?” Zach asked enthusiastically.

“Just overnight. I’ve got a flight back to Bragg Monday afternoon and I promised my sister in Gunnison I’d stay tomorrow night with her.”

“Great! I gotta show you the Dodge Charger I been working on—she’s cherry. And Dad’s grilling steaks tonight, right, Dad?”

“I am indeed,” Richard said.

“And this new video game. Dad, can I show Mike World Domination?”

“Sure.”

Zach turned to David. “You’re gonna stay for dinner, aren’tcha, Taff?”

David froze, then said gently, “No, thanks, Zach. I… have a date.” He shot Mike an insincere grin. “Gotta get home to shower yet.”

“A date, Taff?” Was it his imagination, or did Zach sound a little… off? “With who?”

“I don’t know if you remember him… Brian? From Terry’s?” Into the silence, he flashed a quick smile. “See you all later. Nice to meet you, Lieutenant,” he said, then he turned and walked back to the Saturn, making sure to put a little extra swing to his hips as he sauntered away.

Z
ACH
watched him go, shock blocking any possible response to David’s statement. Brian? The guy he’d fucked just a week or two ago? What the hell interest could David have in someone like Brian? Just cuz the guy was hot, and kind of bright, with a little bit of a sense of humor, and hot…. He pressed his fist to his stomach.

“You okay, honey?” Jane asked in concern.

“Yeah, fine. I think I’m a little tired out from the ride.”

“How was it?”

“Good. We got up to the meadow and ate our lunch there before coming home.” He turned to Mike, who was watching him thoughtfully. “It’s this high alpine meadow people hardly ever go to, so it’s pristine, you know. But it’s a long ride. I’m gonna hurt tomorrow for sure.”

“You look like you’re in pretty good shape,” Mike said clinically. “Better than the last time I saw you, anyway. You were still pretty skinny then. Though a’ course nothin’ compares to what you looked like in Venezuela. Crap.”

“Yep,” Zach acknowledged. “I’ve seen the pictures.”

“You boys have about an hour before dinner,” Jane said, “so if you’re going to look at the Charger, go do it now. The only way I’ll know you’ll ever leave the garage is if you’re looking for food.”

“Aye, sir,” Zach said, and snapped her a salute. Pritzger laughed.

“You’re not supposed to salute a civilian, Zach.”

“I’m a civilian myself,” Zach said. “Come on, the garage is this way.”

Chapter 12

“
F
UCK
!
”

Zach burst out laughing. “I
told
you you’d get pissed off. Isn’t it a great game?”

“Fanfuckingtastic,” Mike admitted. “I can’t wait ’til it gets on the market. It just sucks you right in. I’ve never seen graphics like this before. The only thing I can imagine that would be better would be VR.”

“Oh, Dad’s already working on a virtual reality version,” Zach said, nodding. “But his developers are worried about people having heart attacks.”

Mike laughed. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“He’s got a big VR division—he’s been doing a lot of work for the military, for simulations and stuff,” Zach said earnestly. “There’s a really great one they’re working on with aliens—not like illegal aliens, but
alien
aliens, you know? And the weapons are real, well, not
real
real, but they look and feel like real futuristic weapons. I wish I could show them to you but it’s all very hush-hush. You know, the whole ‘but I’d have to kill you’ crap? The feds are interested in using it to test and train next-gen infantry.”

“Yeah, I bet your dad gets a lot of that, government stuff and all.” Mike checked out the stats on the game. “Hey, DPE—who’s that?”

“Taff. His real name’s David. David Evans.”

Mike raised his eyebrows. “That was David Evans?”