Safe Harbor 2: Hiding in Plain Sight (11 page)

“What about the Olympics? Did they go to Switzerland?”

“No.”

Joe shifted until he could take Vlad in his arms. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be prying.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. And I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”

Vlad shrugged again. “It is what it is. And considering what Russia is doing with guys like us, I doubt I will ever visit again.”

“Yeah, those laws are pretty shitty. I’ve been watching the news.”

“I am going to take my shower now. You really don’t have to make breakfast, though.”

“Will you stop? I want to. It’ll give me an excuse to carb-load you for our later activities.” Joe frowned. “I do have to work from four to eight, though.”

“I want to watch the team play tonight. I will stay here, but I do want to see the game.”

“Do you, um, want some company, or would you rather be alone?” Vlad gave him a soft smile, and Joe couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss his beautiful mouth.

“I would love to have you here at my place, but I feel like you are spending all your time with me.”

“And that’s a bad thing why?”

Pulling away, Vlad mumbled, “You’ll get sick of me.”

Joe snorted. “Babe, I could fuck you and be fucked by you for a thousand years and never get sick of it. Besides, we’re getting to know each other, and at least some of our time should be out of the bedroom.”

“If we have to.”

Vlad heaved a sigh, but he was smiling again, and Joe was glad he hadn’t totally brought the guy down. He was trying to understand Vlad—where he came from, his thoughts on life now—and not knowing anything about his family definitely made puzzling him out more difficult. Of course, he hadn’t exactly rambled on and on about his own family, but it seemed like Vlad’s was important to him, whereas Joe’s feelings ran more toward the “we’re in the same family but don’t need to live out of each other’s pockets” mentality.

He watched Vlad walk, or rather, limp, to the bathroom, his eyes glued on his completely perfect, tight little bubble butt. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t so honorable, because he’d love to sink his cock into the man’s waiting warmth, but Vlad was new to all this and needed more than the couple of fingers he’d given him last night before he’d be ready to take Joe’s dick. And no matter how much Joe wanted it, he wouldn’t rush the other man, even when Vlad himself tried to sabotage the plan.

Locating his jeans in the hallway, Joe pulled them on sans underwear. Why bother, since they were coming off after breakfast anyway? He wandered downstairs to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Wow, the guy wasn’t kidding. The fridge was full; Joe could eat for a week with the contents it contained. He closed the door and then opened a cabinet to what he assumed was the pantry. Also loaded. He recalled Russia still often experienced shortages, even after the fall of communism, and he wondered if Vlad was unconsciously stocking up. He would imagine that kind of thing would be hard to let go of.

After assessing what he had to work with, Joe pulled out English muffins, cheese, ham, and eggs. He loved Egg McMuffins, and given the opportunity to copy them was a breakfast idea he could get behind. Hopefully this wouldn’t mess with whatever Vlad’s in-season diet was, but hey, the guy had all this stuff in the fridge—surely he intended to eat it at some point. Just perhaps not in this particular configuration.

He got busy scrambling the eggs, since he didn’t have one of those round things McDonald’s used to put the egg inside, while he warmed the ham up in the microwave. After the eggs were done, he slid the ham into the pan and gave it a little color, and then went about assembling the sandwiches, finding plates right in front of him in the cabinet.

Joe heard Vlad coming down the stairs, one light step and one heavier one as Vlad tried to keep weight off his injured ankle. When he arrived in the kitchen, he heaved himself onto a stool in just his sweat shorts.

“You made all of this while I was in the shower?”

“It wasn’t hard. Can you eat it? I figured if you had all the stuff in your fridge, it was okay. I assume you guys are supposed to eat healthy, but this really isn’t bad.”

Pretending to study it, Vlad said, “Carbs, protein, delicious. Yes, I can eat it.”

Joe pushed the plate toward him with a smile. “I made coffee. Or would you like juice? I noticed you had some orange juice in there.”

“Both, please.” Vlad bit into the sandwich and groaned. “I think I will keep you,” Vlad said around the mouthful.

“Glad my skills are good for something.”

He swallowed and took a drink of the juice Joe handed him. “Oh, they are.”

Joe poured them both coffees. “Do you take anything in yours?”

“Milk.”

Joe grabbed it from the fridge and handed it over. “I’ll let you do up your own coffee. I hate it when people screw mine up, though I’ll drink it black too. When we were lucky enough to get coffee in the sandbox, it was usually black and thick as mud. Not a creamer or a sugar packet in sight.”

“Eww…not a very nice picture.”

Vlad made a face, and Joe tried not to laugh. Considering where the guy had grown up, Joe was a little surprised at his reaction.

“It’s the military life.”

“I am so glad my hockey playing meant I didn’t have to do my required time in the Russian military. My brothers did. I never agreed with the politics of the country anyway, so being part of something I did not believe in wasn’t something I was excited to do.”

“I understand.” He recalled some of the hellholes he’d been to during his time in Delta Force. Joe had seen the worst of the worst. Sometimes he was shocked he hadn’t come out the other side more screwed up than he was.

“Hey, Joey.” Vlad waved his hand in front of his face.

Joe blinked. “What?”

“Where did you go? You stopped eating and were staring off into nothing.”

“Just remembering some things I’d rather forget.”

“Do you…” Vlad’s Adam’s apple bobbed, but he persevered. “Do you have that thing soldiers sometimes battle with when they get back from being overseas? Where they have nightmares and stuff?”

“Actually, no. I mean, occasionally I’ll dream about something, but do I go apeshit when a car backfires? No. Do I think I’m being watched all the time? No. I’m pretty okay. Considering my background, I consider myself pretty lucky to have escaped with my sanity intact at all.”

“Yes, that’s good.” Vlad popped the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “Eat yours. It’s getting cold. I am going to make a protein shake. I have to keep the weight on, but I can’t do it with junk food, or it’ll be like I have sand in my skates. Hockey is so calorie intensive most of us can’t maintain our muscle without these.” He pulled a blender toward him and proceeded to get out a can.

“How many of those things do you have to drink in a day? We used them for a similar reason. Those freaking packs were heavy, and of course, in the sandbox you were always sweating like a motherfucker. When we had access to them, we were choking down a couple a day at least. It’s not like there’s workout equipment around to help keep our physique fit.”

“If my weight starts to get too low, I might do up to four a day.” Joe grimaced. “I think the ones I have probably taste better than anything the military would ever give you.” He showed Joe the canister.

“Cookies and cream? Are you kidding me?”

“No, and it tastes just like a cookies and cream milkshake.”

“Well, shit, yeah, your stuff is a fuckton better than anything we ever got.”

Vlad put the shake together and held it out to Joe. “Try it.”

Joe took a sip, not wanting to mess up Vlad’s dietary requirements for the stuff. “Wow, it’s really good.”

“Yeah. I have four flavors and go back and forth between them so I don’t get bored.”

“Lucky. Ours were vanilla and smelled and even tasted like a candle store had thrown up in the can. The ones we got were already mixed.”

“I do these with almond milk. They taste better, and I get more calcium.”

“Look at you, Mr. Professional Athlete. I bet you know tons of shit about diet and stuff, huh?”

Vlad blushed, and Joe grinned. It was hard to believe he’d ever look at a guy of Vlad’s stature and musculature and think he was cute, but he did. Joe nearly jumped the man right then and there, but if Vlad needed this protein shake, Joe wasn’t going to get in the way. He could wait. His dick jumped when Vlad smoothed a hand down his taut stomach as he chugged the creamy concoction.

“I have been on a special diet since I got here, so yes, I have learned many things.” He looked Joe up and down. “But you don’t look like you need to do anything different.”

Now Joe felt his own face flame and turned away with a little smile creeping up the corners of his mouth. He grabbed the two plates and filled the sink with water and soap, then quickly washed them and the frying pan. Vlad finished his shake, and Joe took the tumbler from him and washed it as well, feeling oddly domestic. He’d only met the man a few weeks ago, but he could see this being the new norm in his life. And he liked it.

Of course, Vlad wasn’t out, so living together—if they ever got to that stage—might be out of the realm of possibility, but Joy couldn’t imagine wanting a lot of time away from this man.

Vlad slowly made his way back up the stairs after planting a kiss on the side of Joe’s head. Joe definitely needed a shower. He was glad he always carried spare clothing in his Jeep. It was a holdover from his military days, when he needed to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. Joe jogged outside and grabbed his duffel bag. As he returned to the house, his gaze swept the area.

The need to check for safety/security had been ingrained in him, and even now, months later, he couldn’t stop doing it. There was no one outside, and he didn’t have that weird prickly feeling he’d always gotten when there were enemy combatants around. He shook his head, smiled, and reentered Vlad’s place.

Once back upstairs, he got into the shower and began to soap up, debating whether or not he should tell Vlad about Brendan. What he and Brendan had was far from a sure thing—they’d been little more than friends and fuck buddies. Joe groaned. He needed to come clean with Vlad if Brendan was coming back into his life in any capacity, but how? The whole thing had happened before Joe had even met Vlad, but now he didn’t know what Brendan’s expectations were, and he didn’t want Vlad to be blindsided.

With a sigh, he turned off the water. He couldn’t hide in the shower all day. After drying off, Joe threw on some clothes and went into the bedroom. Vlad was back in bed and seemingly naked, based on the large amount of skin exposed as he reclined, waiting for Joe. Swallowing thickly, Joe sat on the end of the bed. Vlad’s eyebrows drew down.

“What’s wrong?”

Joe forced himself to look at Vlad and said, “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.”

“Before I met you—long before—I was, for lack of a better word, involved with another man. It started when we were stationed together. Brendan is scheduled to end his last deployment in a few weeks, and I’m not sure what he’s expecting. We never really talked about a future before I got hurt and was shipped home. I guess I’d call us fuck buddies, scratching an itch while we were both stuck over there.”

“So what are you saying?”

Joe ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a loud breath. “I don’t even know. I just—I didn’t think it was right you didn’t know about Brendan.”

“Are you going to date him when he gets back?”

“He wants to come see me once he’s finished with all the paperwork crap you have to go through before you can be released.”

Vlad nodded slowly. “Where does that leave me? What about us?”

“I don’t know. It’s up to you.”

The other man sat up. “You don’t know? Up to me? Why did you get with me if you were already with someone else?”

Joe winced inwardly. He couldn’t blame Vlad for being angry. If the tables were turned, he would be too. “We really aren’t together, Brendan and I. And I got caught up—”

“Bullshit.”

“At first it was, because you were obviously so scared. I remembered how I felt and wanted to help you. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that, since as far as I was concerned, I was single. Like I said, Brendan and I never discussed being a couple. But I remembered what it was like to be alone and in the closet, and I wanted to do what I could to help.” Vlad gave a snort of derision, and Joe looked away.

“So I was…something you did for charity? Is that why you sucked my cock? Why you kissed me? Why you let me fuck you?”

“You know it wasn’t.”

“No, I do not know.” Climbing out of bed, Vlad grabbed a pair of sweats and tugged them on. “You should leave.”

“I want you to understand—”

Vlad whirled to face him. “I understand. You used me to get off before your real boyfriend returned. All the stuff you said. I was starting to believe maybe we could have something. It was all lies.”

“It wasn’t. Brendan and I—”

“Leave.” Vlad got in his face, but Joey stood his ground.

“I never meant to hurt you,” he whispered.

Vlad backed off. “You did. Now you should go.”

“If you want.”

“You think any of this is what I want?” Vlad’s hand slashed the air. “You think I am happy I finally found a guy I felt comfortable enough with to share my first sexual experiences, and he turns out to be a cheater?”

“Brendan and I only had a physical relationship while I was overseas.” He felt like he was talking to a brick wall. How could he make Vlad understand?

“Well, that makes all the difference. Because you and I have so much more.”

Sarcasm dripped off the man’s tongue, and Joe closed his eyes. He wasn’t surprised Vlad was reacting like this, but he wished he could make him realize he wasn’t throwing Vlad over for Brendan. Joey felt more of a connection to Vlad than he ever had to Brendan, but it didn’t feel right to contact Brendan right at the end of his deployment and say, “Oh, by the way. I found someone else.”

“We do have something more.” Joey rose. “If we didn’t, you wouldn’t be this angry.”

“So what’s the plan? Are you going to be with him?”