Back Against The Wall Part One {Chapters 1-9}

01-It was just another day at the office for Adrian Hart. Flipping through case files and trying to draw up closing statements got old after a while, but it was what he worked toward the instant he got out of high school. He’d busted his ass to be where he was now, and he didn’t regret it one bit. It had paid off in the end.1

He was the best criminal lawyer in the greater L.A. area; no one could beat him, and he made damn sure of that much. District Attorney Tony Haner, who was a man who never bowed to anyone, gave Adrian praise of the highest caliber, and deemed him worthy of such honor. He was highly prized and given a bit of everything, including a plush suite that he never stayed at, preferring to be at his little apartment rather than any upscale penthouse.2

He was browsing through a case file for petty theft with a certain lackluster gusto, fingers moving the pages idly as he leaned on his hand, hazel eyes boredly scanning the paper. He was dressed sharply in a pair of black slacks, a long-sleeved black dress shirt and a pink tie, his leather jacket hanging on the back of the chair. His fingers were idly wrapped around a pen as he tapped it on the manila folder.3

“Adrian?” came a sweet, female voice through the door, and with a grunted consent, a pretty blonde came through the door bearing coffee. Her outfit was a dusty grey suit dress that hugged her petite frame smoothly. If Adrian wasn’t the way he was, he’d probably be interested, but as it were, he had no desire to get involved with his secretary. “Thought you might need it. I peeked in earlier and saw you were about to fall asleep on the case.”4

“Thanks, Val,” Adrian said with a genuine, yet tired smile, reaching over to take the cup of coffee she’d poured for him already, taking a sip of it and sighing. “Ah, my only vice. Anything new?”5

“Nope, not recently,” she said with a small smile, watching him take a big swig of the caffeinated drink after a moment. “You need anything else, hon?” 6

Adrian shook his head, running his hands through his dark hair and straightening up, blinking once or twice before shaking it again, letting his hair fall in his face before he brushed it away.7

“Okay, I’m here if you need me,” Val said with a wider smile, brushing blonde locks from her face as she turned around and walked out of the office. The lawyer groaned and let his head fall onto the desk, trying to get the information from the case files through osmosis instead of having to read the thing.8

Twenty minutes later, after giving up the osmosis theory, Adrian finally resigned to actually having to do the work and began to scan the file again. It read: David Seward, age eighteen, petty larceny of a sundry of things; everything from DVD’s to food. He sighed a bit and traced over the picture accompanying the file.9

“Poor kid,” he muttered under his breath before he let his head hit the desk again, merely because he didn’t feel like holding it up anymore. He shut the file after a moment before moving onto another, lifting his head to read.10

His eyes trained to the details of Taylor Shaddix, age thirty-one. He was the plaintiff in a rather fierce child abuse cluster fuck. He claimed that his wife’s brother abused his kids, and therefore he wanted sole custody of them. Poor guy probably had a divorce on his hands as well, Adrian thought to himself.11

He sighed a bit and shut the file folder with a soft snap just in time to hear his office phone ring, the line flashing to signal that it was Val; what could it be now? He hit the button and picked up.12

“What’s up, Val?” he asked, leaning back and thankful for the distraction, seeing as he was getting a very faint headache from the sheer amount of information on the defendant.13

“The police department’s on the phone; they’re requesting the best lawyer on the firm, and Tony told me to get you,” Val’s voice penetrated the phone line, and a sigh escaped the lawyer as he collapsed back in his chair. “It’s for assault and battery. He says you need to go down to the county jail to meet the guy, try and get something out of him.”14

“What’s his name?” Adrian asked, standing up and pulling his jacket over his arms with a slight sigh as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and his ear.15

“Logan Sanders,” she stated and that was about when Adrian dropped the phone, his shoulders slumping as he barely caught his jacket from fluttering to the floor in shock. “Adrian?” came her voice from the receiver, which was now lingering on the desk, rocking back and forth as he stared at it incredulously, blinking, deep eyes looking confused.16

After a moment of Val calling his name, the lawyer picked up, clearing his throat. “I see. You said the county jail?” he asked in his best professional voice, loosening his tie a bit as he did so.17

“Yeah…Adrian, are you okay?” his secretary asked, concern ringing through her tone as he straightened his jacket, nodding, before realizing that she couldn’t see him. He cleared his throat again, swallowing hard before he carefully chose his answer.18

“Yup, I’m fine,” he responded, and he heard a sound of disbelief, but he rolled his eyes. “I’ll explain later, all right? I’d better go before he goes insane and his head explodes.” His voice was slightly tinged with bitterness as he sighed, cradling the phone before hanging it up.19

He shook his head again. He hadn’t thought about that fucker in a long time. Logan Sanders, the bane of his existence in high school, needed his help with a professional case. Did he want to do it? An even better question, of course, would have to be could he refuse? He was asked for personally, and couldn’t go against Tony’s wishes.20

Ugh, professional conduct was going to be a bitch to adhere to, he decided as he braced himself for impact.21

Resigning himself to this, he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. He already felt a headache coming on, and to that he downed the rest of the coffee he’d poured in his cup. Slamming down the cup, he set his jaw before walking out of his office, only to be stopped by Val.22

“You going to be okay?” she asked, her head tilting to the side, and Adrian forced a small smile and nodded, brushing the hair from her face with a friendly movement.23

“I’ll be fine, Val, don’t worry about me, okay?” he said with a grin, putting his hands on her shoulders for a second before breezing past her, down the hall to the elevator. He hopped faintly from one foot to the other, worried about this reunion. How was it going to end? He knew he could take whatever the younger man could dish out at him, but that didn’t change the fact that he was nervous as hell.24

He hopped into the elevator with a low hum, hitting the lobby floor button and bouncing on the balls of his feet before leaning back and grasping onto the rail, looking upward into his reflection in the ceiling, which was slightly distorted. He made a face, trying to make himself feel a little more at-ease. He jumped slightly when he heard the ding of the elevator reaching the floor, and he attempted to calm his nerves as he walked coolly out of the building as if he were fine.25

He waved his hand and caught a cab, giving the driver a grateful smile as he slid into the seat, shutting the door with a snap behind him. The driver looked back at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.26

“Where to, Mr. Hart?” he asked, and Adrian laughed, shaking his head, earning him a quizzical look from the sandy-haired man driving the cab and waiting expectantly for a sense of direction.27

“So much for anonymity,” he muttered, leaning back in the seat with a sigh, earning a deeper confusion from the cabbie. “County jail, please.”28

“All right; got a client waiting for you there?” asked the driver, deep eyes scanning the reflection of the lawyer, looking him over, the confusion seeming to abate in the curious eyes as they traveled to the road.29

“Potential,” Adrian muttered as his eyes traveled outside, watching the brick and concrete move outside the metal vehicle, and he sighed, leaning his head against the glass, shutting his eyes to the movement after a moment, trying to get into a professional state of mind, attempting to overcome the absolute shock that seemed to run rampant through his mind. He had to be professional at this, or else nothing would get done, he decided with a sigh.30

02-Adrian, by the end of the taxi ride, had his head in his hands as his overly analytical mind kicked into overdrive. He honestly had half a mind to call his doctor and tell him to prepare for an impromptu visit. That would be just a little rash, though, he decided, despite the fact that he knew one of them would walk away bleeding, one way or another, when Logan realized whom exactly was “the best lawyer in L.A.”31

They pulled up in front of the jailhouse and upon a hurried farewell and exchange of funds, Adrian found himself walking into the place, his shoulders tensing like a cat waiting to strike. He took cool, even steps as he made his way inside the cold, concrete building.32

With a deep breath, he explained what he was doing there and gave a slight smile to the police officer at the desk before sweeping past and into the bowels of the jail. He kept his eyes forward as he walked past. There were beginnings of catcalls, but once they noticed whom it was they were yelling at, the shouting ceased to a low hum of undertones. He smirked a little as he swept into the main part, where he’d been told Logan was waiting for him.33

“About fucking time,” came the raspy voice he’d remembered from years before, hitting him like a brick wall of memories. He glanced up; eyes colliding with hard eyes of forest green stone, watching the entire body lock up and freeze. “What the fuck are you doing here?”34

Adrian couldn’t help but smirk. “You asked for the best criminal lawyer in L.A., right?” he asked, cocking his hip out and placing his hand on it, watching Logan’s shocked face turn into a scowl.35

“Oh, that just fucking figures,” the prisoner growled, running his hand over his cropped locks, tilting his head back with a groan. “Let me guess, then, you’re not gonna help me out, are you?”36

“No, I am, if you cooperate,” Adrian shot back, tilting his head a little and watching as Logan groaned again, trying to grip at the sparse strands of hair, and he had to fight back a laugh.37

”Cooperate how?” Logan asked, bringing his head back to being righted, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Adrian chuckled a little and shrugged.38

“Just don’t give me any lip, and we’ll be fine,” he replied. “So, what’re you in here for, exactly?” In a split second, he’d gone from challenging to all business as he took a seat in one of the chairs. Logan groaned and followed suit, sitting opposite him.39

“I beat the shit out of some guy because he was pissing me off,” Logan replied, and Adrian sighed, running his hand through his hair as he set his elbows on the table.40

“That’s against the law, you know,” he muttered, shaking his head. Logan narrowed his eyes. “How the hell am I supposed to put that into a case in our favor? Was he provoking you at all? Did he have a weapon?”41

“Yes, and yes,” Logan muttered, and Adrian rolled his eyes, knowing this was going to be difficult, unsure of just how much of this he could handle. “Yeah, so the guy was shooting his mouth off, and he was irritating me, so I told him to shut the fuck up, and he told me to make him. He flipped out this shitty little switchblade and pointed it at me and called me a pussy ass fag, and that’s about when I fucking snapped.”42

“My God, I’m dealing with a juvenile,” Adrian muttered, running his hands through his hair, sighing as he scratched the back of his neck, glancing up to a scowling Logan. “Look, I can probably get you off on self-defense, but you really need to cooperate with me here, okay? It really wasn’t a good idea just to go out and beat the shit out of some guy because of some petty insult. It’s against the law, as you can see.”43

“I need to get out of here, I don’t need a fucking lecture, asshole,” Logan spat back at him, and Adrian narrowed his eyes, then he rolled them with a sigh. “Tell me you’ve never gotten into a fight.”44

“You know that’s not true, because you’ve started one too many with me before,” Adrian snapped back at him, glancing up with burning hazel eyes. Logan grinned wolfishly at him, a devious triumphant look in his eye.45

There was a knock on the door right as Adrian was going to say something else, and it swung open. A man of about Adrian’s stature came in, a little more toned and tattooed, and cropped brown hair slicked back to his scalp as intense, dark eyes glanced around.46

“Your bail’s been posted,” the officer barked to Logan, who just looked at him blankly. Adrian glanced over and smiled a little, recognizing the man right off the bat. “Hey, Adrian.” He gave the lawyer a grave, serious up-nod that he returned with a smile.47

“Hey, Jacob,” Adrian replied, standing and pulling out his business card, handing it across the table, sliding it to Logan with a slight tilt of his head. “Look. If you need me, call any of these numbers. Chances are you’ll catch me with any of them.”48

“Fat chance,” Logan muttered as he too picked himself up out of the chair, taking the card anyway. Adrian shook his head, nodded silently to Jacob and slipped out of the cell. Jacob was staring at Logan with a slightly raised eyebrow. “What?”49

“If you’re trying to piss him off, you’re really playing with fire,” was all Jacob said, before grabbing Logan’s arm, yanking him out of the cell and back into the main area. They watched the door barely shut behind the lawyer, but Jacob’s eyes had fallen on someone else.50

They’d found a man a little taller than himself, with sandy blonde hair spiked up, with a serious face, slight lines rounding off his lips that were set in a grave line. When he heard the commotion, he glanced over, shaking his head at Logan and offering a little smile.51

“How many times do I have to bail you out, Sanders?” he asked as he walked over, crossing heavily tattooed arms over his chest. Jacob couldn’t look away from him, hard as he tried. Their eyes met and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Hi.”52

“Hey,” Jacob said, trying to recover his cool and gave a little smirk himself, pushing Logan away from him and toward his friend. “You’re here for this big lug, I’m assuming?”53

“Yeah, I always have to bail his ass out of every little bit of trouble he gets into,” he said with a slight laugh as Logan glared at him. “I swear he needs to start paying me as his babysitter.”54

“Fuck you, Kale,” Logan spat angrily, glancing from one to the other as they smiled at each other. He cleared his throat and grabbed Kale’s bicep. “Can we fucking go now?”55

“Of course,” Kale replied with a roll of his eyes. “Thanks for taking care of him.” He smiled a little at Jacob, who just thought to nod before the man dragged the criminal out of the place, the officer watching Kale’s ass as he walked away. He shook himself and went back into the jailhouse as he went back to work.56

Was it bad that Jacob hoped Logan’s ass got thrown into jail again? Just so he could see Kale again. Yeah, it was bad, but then again, so was he.57

*** 58

Adrian got back to the office in record time and walked into the building, taking the stairs two at a time, thinking of Logan the whole time. He shook himself and entered the office, glancing to the District Attorney’s office, hearing a strange noise. He knew it was probably none of his business, but he raised an eyebrow anyway. He walked over and peered into the little window in his door out of sheer curiosity, and wished he hadn’t.59

Tony had a shorter, black-haired man bent over his desk, pinned by his long hands on his back and they both had their pants around their knees. Adrian caught a nice flash of his boss’ bare ass as he thrust into the man he’d had pinned. He was damn sure it was a man, considering the low, wanton moans he could hear through the door.60

He shook himself and forced himself to look away from the car crash-like porn scene in front of him, walking numbly back to his office. Val tried to call out to him, but he didn’t even hear her as he slipped into his office, collapsing into his chair with a sigh, putting his hand over his face. 61

Suddenly, he realized, he was imagining the scene he’d just witnessed, but not as Tony and the other person, but Logan and him, being pinned to his own desk and fucked hard just like that. He felt suddenly disgusted with himself and threw a pen across the room with a growl, throwing his head into his hands and pulling his hair.62

Logan had always had a fucked up effect on him.63

03-“Adrian?” came the soft inquiry at the lawyer’s door, accompanied by a soft knock. Adrian had his head buried in his hands and was trying to focus on the case file he’d pulled up, but his mind kept wandering back to his little face-off with the bane of his existence, and it wasn’t necessarily an angry thought.64

“Yeah?” he called out after clearing his throat and shaking his head to clear his mind, and the door cracked open, the blonde head of his secretary peering in, hazel eyes full of concern as she slipped in and sat on the corner of his desk.65

“You okay?” she inquired, flicking a piece of hair out of her face, and Adrian smiled half-heartedly, nodding slightly to himself as he glanced down to the file.66

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he assured with another nod. “Hey, Val, do me a favor?” He looked up at his secretary, who was looking politely curious, and he smiled a little, holding up the file. “Give this case to Mick for me? I’ve got my hands full with this assault and battery case, and he’s better with custody battles anyway.”67

“Sure, babe,” Val said with a small smile, taking the case file and flipping through it out of pure curiosity before snapping it shut. “You need anything?”68

A shot, Adrian surprised himself by thinking, but shook his head for a multitude of reasons, smiling a little at Val. “Nah, I’m okay, I think, but thanks,” he said, and she gave him a skeptical look before shrugging and sweeping out of the office with a small smile on her face.69

His head fell into his hand and he groaned a little, the image of Logan coming up in his mind again, and that was about when the forehead hit the desk with another disgruntled sound. He had to get this kid out of his head before he ruined his career because of goddamn fantasies.70

*** 71

Kale had pretty much dragged Logan back to the apartment they shared, tossing him inside with a quick shove, earning himself a petty scowl. He was too used to it and shook his head a little, watching the older man walk to the refrigerator, ferreting through it single-mindedly, only to groan.72

“Are you fucking serious?” came the grumble, and Kale rolled his eyes as he reached past Logan to grab a bottle of water, cracking it open.73

“No, dude, I told you, I’m trying to kick the habit, so there’s no alcohol here,” Kale chided before he took a sip of the water, and Logan knocked his head against the refrigerator with a rough sigh, beginning to hit it repeatedly. The blonde man rolled his eyes as he walked into the living room, calling over his shoulder, “Yeah, Logan, like you can really spare any more brain cells.”74

He was met by a fierce, “fuck you!” It didn’t faze him however. He’d gotten used to the brutal treatment by Logan by now. He was like a foul-mouthed child. At first, it drove Kale crazy, but now he was just too used to his friend’s Neanderthal treatment to care.75

He collapsed on the couch and grabbed a bag of chips he’d left there the morning before, beginning to munch on them, glancing at the empty screen and listening to Logan scramble around the kitchen. He chuckled a little and turned on the television, turning it to a sports channel. He watched half-heartedly, his mind wandering to the attractive officer he’d encountered when he’d picked up Logan.76

Now why had he made his presence known in Kale’s mind?77

He wasn’t sure why, but he stared blankly at the screen as his mind wandered. Maybe it was because the guy reminded him of a baseball player. Yeah, that had to have been it, he told himself as he shut his eyes and his mind roamed the tattooed biceps and the tight shirt hiding nothing, his imagination running away with him. When he heard Logan shuffling around beside him, he shook himself, opening his eyes and shifting slightly as he tried to focus himself on the sports recap.78

Logan, on the other hand, couldn’t get Adrian out of his head. His cool, collected demeanor, the professionalism that he was treated with. Both made him feel a little sick to his stomach and pissed him off to no end, but when those eyes burned brightly out of anger, it incited some spark of lust in him, burning so brightly in his chest that there was no way for him to ignore it.79

Wait. Lust? For that fucker?80

He was disgusted with himself at the very thought. He grumbled as he threw a pillow to the side, collapsing onto the couch, glancing over at Kale and piquing an eyebrow at him, watching the way he discreetly bit his lip as he so obviously zoned out. He idly wondered what his friend was thinking about, but then again he really didn’t want to know, considering the hazy look in his dark eyes, the irises clouded with lust.81

He could imagine that his gaze wasn’t much different, but he fancied that he wasn’t quite so obvious. He probably was, though, considering the tent that his body had made in his pants at having Adrian over a desk, or against a wall, or anywhere really. He’d take him roughly, show him just who the boss was, make him scream until he couldn’t anymore. The thought made a lazy smirk come to his face.82

Kale shook himself, glancing over to see Logan watching him, but not at the same time. He raised an eyebrow. “Dude, what?” he asked in a soft, rough tone, and Logan just shook his head. “I’m gonna take a shower. I’ll be back.”83

Logan just smirked a little childishly, and Kale rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the couch, though he knew exactly what Logan was thinking, and he would have probably been right. He needed a shower anyway, though. He’d spent the majority of his day at the gym, and was now all sweaty and such.84

He grabbed a towel on the way to their little bathroom, turning on the water and letting the heat override the slight chill that had set into the place. He stripped quickly, glancing down to his body and rolling his eyes before slipping behind the curtain. The water hit him just right to make his body arch a little, every hair on his tattooed arms standing up to the nigh unbearable contrast.85

He felt the water trailing warm lines down his body, tracing the contours of the muscles he’d tried so hard to build. He tilted his head back and let himself get lost in the heat for a moment, his mind again wandering to the officer.86

Now, Kale wasn’t a gay man, but he never proclaimed to be straight either. He considered himself able to appreciate both forms at their best, and the officer definitely had great…form. He began to think of the dark lines that were painted from well-toned muscles under that black cloth, the way the biceps bulged just right beneath the sleeves of tattoos so different yet so similar to his own.87

He hadn’t even noticed his hand straying down his body, the flat palm smearing the water against his torso. All he knew was that he gasped slightly as he felt his fingers wrap around his erection, jerking forward slightly and dissolving him into a moan. He turned his back against the cold tile, arching his body straight into his hand as he tried to avoid the chill, but it only created more maddening friction.88

He bit his lip to stifle the noises as he shut his eyes again, imagining being pinned to a wall, against a dirty jail wall, a hard body pressing on one side, concrete pressing into the other, a rock-hard erection pressing against his ass, begging for rude and violent entrance. He let out a full-blown moan at the thought and jerked his hand faster over his cock, the image becoming unbearable.89

The friction built up the burning need for release in his body and with one final cry he surrendered to his body’s desires, arching off the tile as he came hard, his back bowing a little as the hot water suddenly began to trickle down his sensitive flesh.90

“Fuck…” he muttered, shivering a little as he moved back under the spray, his mind hazy and shaded, the lingering thought of jail sex in his mind. God, it was almost enough to tempt him to get into trouble, just so he could be manhandled by the officer. Or maybe he could do it the other way around, rough him up a little, pin him somewhere and fuck him senseless. He shuddered at the thought, a warm rush of blood coursing down his body.91

How the hell is that possible? he thought to himself as he glanced down, watching another erection awaken between his legs. He shook his head and decided to ignore it this time, grabbing the soap and lathering himself up, avoiding his dick as he washed the soap, and ultimately the fantasy, off his skin.92

*** 93

Little did Kale know that Jacob couldn’t get his mind off him. Try as he might to throw himself into his work and stare at the ugliness in the jailhouse, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to beauty. It happened like that sometimes with him. It was an escape from the routine, but never before had his mind settled on a man in the way it had that day.94

He found himself wanting to see Kale again; that sandy-haired enigma with the smallest smile that made his mind turn to mush. He found himself wondering what else that man could make him surrender. His sanity was already out the window, and he wondered what was next.95

His imagination was in hyper drive all day and he had to try his damnedest not to get a hard-on from the thoughts, because that would totally convey the wrong idea to the prisoners, most of which were just begging to have a rock-hard cock shoved up their asses. Well, Jacob sure as hell wouldn’t be the one to do it…to them.96

He wouldn’t mind doing it to Kale, though. In fact, the thought made it even more difficult to concentrate and even harder to keep back the threatening erection that was straining his pants anyway. He’d had to excuse himself twice to talk himself down, his head swarming with ideas.97

This guy had seriously gotten under his skin.98

04-Adrian had tried concentrating on his work, he really had, but everything was a hazy secondhand subject to the younger man who seemed to be invading his mind. He muttered angrily to himself and shook his head, trying to work, but when Val came in and suggested that he go home, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.99

He sighed as he slammed down his case file, nodding a little to Val as he stood up, running his hands through his hair, which was haphazard from his fingers running through it all day.100

He walked quickly out of the office, saying his goodbyes to his coworkers hurriedly and ignoring the sounds that were still going on inside of his DA’s office. He shook his head with a slight grin as he made his way out of the building. He got to his car and chucked his briefcase into the passenger seat, loosening his tie and decided to toss it next to the case.101

He needed to go out, somewhere, anywhere. He decided that, after going home and changing, he’d go out. He hadn’t been to a show in a while. He figured that he could go to Showcase Theater; see what bands were still playing there. He’d been in a band once, but it’d broken up before it even took off, and it had been a good thing at the time. He could focus on school, but now he was feeling nostalgic and wanted to at least watch the bands and relive his own time playing there.102

*** 103

Later in the day, Logan had decided to go out and see what kinds of trouble he could cause, and wound up at a club. He’d dragged Kale along with him, or rather his friend had insisted upon going with him, so that he didn’t get into any more trouble than he already was going to. He hated following around Logan, but alas, for some things, it could not be helped. Though, maybe it was because he was hoping to get into some sort of trouble and run into that officer again. It was in the back of his mind, but he didn’t pay too much attention to the niggling idea.104

The club was actually the venue Showcase Theater, where a local band was playing that night. There were technicians milling around in the back alleys, getting stuff put together, and Logan grinned slightly, slipping quietly down the alley and beginning to harass them, because he felt like being destructive.105

“Hey, what’re you faggots doing?” he taunted. Kale had gotten into a conversation with the door man and hadn’t noticed that his charge had wandered off.106

“Working,” grunted one of them, and Logan grinned wolfishly, the dimples coming out wickedly in the shadows surrounding his larger form.107

“Oh, so you’re somebody’s bitch, huh?” he continued, and the guy straightened up as he put the box of equipment down, facing him, dark eyes narrowed in irritation, a baseball cap shading the rest of his face.108

“I’m nobody’s bitch,” the guy spat, and by this time, they were chest-to-chest, hazel eyes glittering mockingly into the dark eyes of the technician.109

“JB, come on, man,” came the more reasonable voice of another technician as strong hands wrapped around the bare biceps of the first. “There’s no use getting into a fight.”110

“Fuck you, Logan, get off me,” the first, named JB, spat, shrugging his shoulders, but the one named Logan didn’t let go. “He called me a bitch.”111

“Man, I call you worse, now chill the fuck out; do you want to lose your job?” Logan, the technician, asked in a soft voice, and the first’s face fell, a snarl coming over his face.112

“No, but I wanna break his face,” JB muttered as he turned away, but Logan’s hand reached out to grab the bicep that the technician had just let go of.113

“You wanna break my face? Go ahead, try it, you pussy,” Logan spat, a grin of maniacal proportions splitting his face. “I fuckin’ dare you. I bet it wouldn’t even bruise, you fuckin’ pansy.”114

JB snarled again and yanked his arm from Logan’s hold, and swinging a closed fist right at his jaw, he hit straight on. That just lit the match that turned into an explosion. Logan lifted his muscled arm and hit JB straight on the cheekbone, and it didn’t deter either one bit. There was a lot of yelling as blows landed anywhere they could, both falling onto the ground and continuing to hit each other.115

Kale had come down to see what the fuck was going on, and glanced to the other technician, who was looking rather helpless, gnawing on his lip ring nervously; he obviously didn’t like fights. Kale sighed and moved in almost instantly, grabbing onto Logan’s biceps and dragging him away. Logan did the same to his fellow tech.116

“Goddamn it, Loganhew, do I have to put you in a holding tank or some shit?” Kale shouted as Logan continued to struggle against him, hazel eyes wild with fury and the fiendish want for the kill. “Stop it, you fucking idiot!”117

He could hear the technicians exchange words, but he didn’t pay too much attention to either of them as he tried to hold the pit bull in his arms back from going back in for the kill. He couldn’t take this guy anywhere.118

“Is there a problem here?” came a familiar voice ringing in Kale’s ears and almost made him drop his charge as he glanced over his shoulder, the light of the alley lighting up the hard face of Jacob as he walked forward.119

“No, problem solved, officer,” Kale continued to drag Logan away from the struggling technician. For being nervous about fights, the other guy was pretty damn strong and was holding his own against his coworker, holding him tightly and not letting him go. “Just a little misunderstanding.”120

Jacob recognized the voice right away, and it was all he could do not to smirk in satisfaction at being put back on the beat for the night. “You look like you’ve got him pretty well-contained,” he remarked, and Kale chuckled a little, dragging Logan off the ground and shoving his large form against the wall.121

“Yeah, I’ve got him,” he replied with a little grin. Logan was still struggling against him, trying to get to the man who’d already left the alleyway. Logan had dragged him back inside, and they could all hear a raised voice inside. “He just likes to pick fights, that’s all.”122

“So I’ve noticed,” Jacob said with a slight chuckle. He couldn’t help but check Kale out, as he was wearing somewhat tight black jeans and a black shirt that clung to his built figure. He’d turned to mutter to Logan, his hands placed against the wall, all but pinning the other man in place, and it gave Jacob optimal time to check out the way his ass fit into the jeans. He had to fight the urge to bite his lip as he did.123

“I can’t go anywhere with you, can I?” Kale murmured to Logan, who was just scowling at him, his arms crossed like some arrogant little teenager. “You’re fucking ridiculous! How old are you?”124

“I’m twenty-six,” Logan snapped back and Kale rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. “And you don’t have to treat me like a child, dude. I’m an adult.”125

“Then start acting like an adult, and maybe I won’t have to do this shit,” the older man hissed, leaning in. He shook his head and pushed off the wall with a sigh. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”126

“You don’t have to do anything with me, asshole,” Logan retorted, eyes narrowing a bit as he shook his head, pushing Kale away from him and storming out of the alley. Kale rolled his eyes and turned his body slightly to Jacob as he recovered from being pushed, noting that he’d caught him staring. A slight grin played at his face.127

“Sorry about him,” he apologized, though when he’d turned around completely, he noted that Jacob’s eyes hadn’t moved. An eyebrow rose. “What? Don’t tell me you’re a detective,” he teased, and Jacob’s eyes flicked up. A blush burned at his cheeks, but he was thankful for the darkness. Their gazes locked for a long moment, the sounds of the night and the echo of the nightclub only greeting them as tension mounted.128

Being the impulsive motherfucker that he was, and to break the tension, Jacob took three steps and instantly had the other man pinned against the wall, his lips seeking Kale’s. They met fiercely, and simultaneous groans of pleasure were emitted as their lips moved against each other.129

It was unclear whose hips initiated the contact, but soon they were grinding together, hot moans of arousal spilling from both men as breathing became short, a soft thud of Kale’s ass the only other sound, going in tandem with the beat of the music that was playing inside.130

“I’ve wanted to fuck you since I saw you,” Jacob growled out as their kiss broke, and Kale bit his lip a little as he breathed out heavily, shutting his eyes and swallowing hard.131

“Then fuck me,” Kale spat out with a slight grin to his parted lips. Jacob groaned and pushed his hips into the other man’s, watching him arch against the wall, and he licked over his lips and caught onto a train of thought before he continued.132

“Turn around,” the officer commanded, and Kale got a devious little grin on his face, the lines around his mouth deepening a bit as he seemed to chew on a reply for a second.133

“Make me,” he murmured smoothly, his low voice hitting baritone levels even he didn’t know it could. It got the desired effect, however. Jacob shuddered and let forth a guttural groan, hands moving to grip at the other’s biceps and forcibly move the other to face the wall instead of him.134

It was about then Kale felt the erection forcefully pushing into his backside, and all he could do was moan and arch against it, his hands falling to the wall and curling against the mortar as he pushed his hips back slightly.135

Kale could feel a rough hand fumbling with his belt and jeans, and he arched into the contact, shivering a little in anticipation. This was surely illegal, having sex in an open alley, but that just made it even more exciting for him, and Jacob obviously knew what he was doing.136

Obviously, he thought with a low moan as he felt one long finger enter him once the pants were around mid-thigh. It was slightly wet, and he assumed it was from the other’s mouth, but it didn’t matter. He arched into the touch and bit his lip as he felt the forcible jerk of the hand behind him. He felt the second finger entering and he shuddered. He’d never done this before, and it was awkward, but the need that burned through him was surprising.137

After a moment of him writhing under the fingers, Jacob pulled back, and before Kale could protest, he felt the wet head of his erection pressing against his erection. He moaned and pushed his hips back, wincing as he felt the entry. It felt like he was being ripped in half while being jerked off at the same time; that was how confusing the sensations were as he bit his lip to stifle the noises, feeling the officer sink all the way in.138

“Fuck,” Kale groaned out lowly, his head resting against the wall, a low whimper escaping him as he felt Jacob pull out and push in again, a rough hand wrapping around his aching arousal. His body shuddered, and it was all he could do not to let a guttural scream pierce through the air as he felt the officer graze something inside of him that turned his bones to molten metal as he arched back. 139

“Like that?” Jacob asked in a husky purr in his ear, and all Kale could do was groan and push back in earnest against him, fighting to keep some dignity as he was fucked nearly mercilessly, his prostate stimulated violently as Jacob’s thrusts sped up. “Come for me.”140

Kale didn’t need to be told twice.141

His body arched as he let out a low groan as quickly gained intensity, his hips bucking forward as he released against the wall and into Jacob’s hand. He heard a mimic of his groan against the back of his neck as he felt warmth fill him, and he shuddered violently, riding out his orgasm with shortened breaths, curse words barely along those breaths as his hips continued to shift forward.142

After a moment, Kale shifted a little, and Jacob pulled out. It was like a mix between relief and emptiness as Kale felt the absence. He turned around to look at Jacob, who was running his hand through his hair with a slightly nervous smile.143

“I don’t... normally do that,” Jacob explained, and Kale smirked a little, turning around to face the other, fixing his jeans after pulling them up.144

“I don’t either,” he admitted with a grin as he watched Jacob do the same. “You, uh…” the awkwardness of this situation was ridiculous and both men knew it, but it didn’t stop the nervous smiles being exchanged. “When does your… uh, shift end?” A nervous laugh escaped him as he ran his hand through sandy blonde locks.145

“About ten,” Jacob replied with a soft laugh, slipping his hand into his pockets.146

“That’s like, two hours, right?” Kale asked, tilting his head a little and the officer smiled a bit, nodding, swallowing hard. “Well, you… you wanna meet me here at ten thirty?” he offered with the slightest hint of a hopeful smile.147

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jacob replied with a teasing wink, though he knew that he’d be here at ten thirty, possibly even earlier than that just to see the man in front of him again. “See you then,” he said with a slight grin.148

“Yeah, see ya,” Kale replied with a slight tilt of his head as he watched Jacob walk out of the alley. He exhaled sharply and fell against the wall, running his hands through his hair, his head still slightly spinning from the orgasm, his body still feeling the intrusion.149

And oh, what a wonderful intrusion it was.150

*** 151

Adrian had just barely gotten out of his car when a strong shoulder slammed his, and he was knocked into the hood of his car. Blazing hazel eyes glared up, only to see a pair similar to his own glaring down at him, the same spark in them.152

“Watch where you’re fuckin’ goin’,” the assaulter snapped in a rasping tone, and Adrian narrowed his eyes. He knew that voice all too well.153

“You watch it,” he snapped back smoothly as he straightened himself off the hood of his car, and he heard a husky groan of frustration. He was very, very inclined to return the sound.154

“Great, just what I need,” came the hoarse mutter, pushing Adrian back against the hood of the car again merely out of spite. The lawyer grunted and stilled his movements. “Stay out of my way.”155

“You ran into me,” he shot back, and as a car pulled in, he caught the glimpse of Logan’s drawn face, eyes flashing in anger, narrowed like a cat’s. From what he could tell, the muscles were tensed beyond comprehension beneath the black shirt, his iron fists clenched and ready for contact.156

“Well, you were in the way,” Logan spat back fiercely. Adrian let forth a guttural growl of frustration as well, running his hand through his hair and gripping at it, shaking his head before his arms fell to his sides.157

“I am not going to let you ruin my night,” the lawyer informed the criminal, rolling his eyes and walking away, only to feel rough fingers closing around his bare forearm, sending a shock through his system that he didn’t necessarily dislike. He still felt the need to snap back, however. “Get your fucking hands off me.”158

“Where ya goin’, fag?” Logan taunted, and Adrian whipped around, golden eyes widening under the streetlamp, his hands falling to his sides as his brows furrowed, before one picked up in a sardonic curiosity.159

“What did you just call me?” he asked in a low, dangerous tone, that Logan, with a smirk, didn’t heed as he opened his mouth, licking over his lip and his lip ring almost lasciviously before responding.160

“ I called you a fag,” Logan spelled out with a slight tilt to his head, his eyebrows raising a bit, seeming to be aching for another fight. Adrian, whose eyes had narrowed again, gold flashing fiercely, was more than ready to give it to him.161

“Fuck you,” Adrian spat acidly, and Logan’s smirk morphed into a wolfish grin, a devilish gleam in his forest eyes. “You don’t know a goddamn thing about me.”162

“You’d like that too much,” Logan taunted, his inked arms crossing over his chest as he looked on. Adrian raised an eyebrow in question. “I think you want me to fuck you.”163

“No, thank you, ” Adrian shot out again, shaking his head and turning the other way, only stopping when he felt the hand on his arm again. “I could totally fucking get you for harassment, you know that?” he muttered as he turned, jerking his arm out of the grasp. “And I’d do it too, if I wouldn’t have to deal with your whiny ass in court more than I ha—“164

A fist coming straight for his face, connecting solidly with his left cheekbone interrupted his tirade. Instead of crying out, he merely growled and whipped around completely, his fist flying wildly to connect with Logan’s strong jaw. He pulled a grunt from the larger man before he was forcibly backed into an alley opposite to where Logan had been previously, and slammed against the wall. Adrian snarled and moved his arms up, his right elbow connecting with the younger man’s jaw again, pushing him off.165

“Get the fuck off me!” the lawyer growled as he moved off the wall, but was taken off-guard by an uppercut smashing straight into his chin. His head kicked back against the wall and he groaned. He almost blacked out for a moment before he ended up recovering.166

God, the guy hits hard, he thought to himself as he fought not to clutch his jaw or his head, instead still glaring hotly before his fist moved to crash into a wall of solid abs, going for body shots instead of head. He watched the younger man double over with a groan, and he pushed him toward the opposite wall before stepping up to him and grabbing him by his hair, forcing his bruising face up to look at him.167

After a moment of intense, spark-ridden eye contact, their lips crashed together out of pure, animal instinct, another kind of grunt escaping Logan as Adrian let out a low, long groan, pushing the younger man to the wall, still tightly gripping his hair.168

05-Logan was stunned into submission for a moment as he felt the long fingers entangled in his hair and the hot lips on his, and he found himself pressing back before he tried to wrestle out of the hold that Adrian had him in. Unfortunately, the lawyer wasn’t letting go of him, and once their lips broke contact, he felt pinned to the wall.169

“I may be a fag, but guys know what other guys want better,” Adrian growled under his breath, hazel eyes narrowing before he let go of the strands, all but throwing Logan against the wall and stepping away from him, watching him slide down the wall. “Call me a fag all you want, Logan, but if I don’t sweet talk the jury, you’ll be dealing with a lot worse fags than me. Ones that’ll slam you against the wall and take you for all you’re worth without a second fucking thought. Is that what you want?”170

Adrian’ brash honesty made Logan’s jaw drop. He’d never thought of the other as one who would stand up for himself so fiercely, not about something that wasn’t about him, at least. He’d always seen Adrian in a tunnel-vision sort of way: selfish and fucking perfect. It always made his insides burn with jealousy and therefore the resentment would soon follow. It seemed he was seeing his opponent in another light tonight, however.171

Logan cleared his throat before he mumbled out a soft, “No.” Adrian sighed a bit and ran his hands through his hair, wincing a little as he felt the damage to his knuckles.172

“You’ve got a hard head, you know that?” the lawyer asked seemingly out of nowhere, and it was a tone halfway between irritation and the slightest tinge of affection, though it was unintentional, and Logan looked up at him with slightly raised eyebrows, seeing the other man shaking out his hand and cracking his knuckles, and he smiled a bit, shrugging as he pulled himself off the alley floor where he’d slid down when Adrian had let him go.173

“Yeah,” he said, shrugging a little again as he felt the ache in his stomach. He ran his hand through his hair, wincing as he felt the tenderness of his scalp. After all these years of fighting, Logan still couldn’t get over how well matched Adrian was with him. 174

“I guess you have to, with all the fights that you get into,” Adrian muttered as he ran his hand over the bruising skin of the opposite hand, licking over his lips. Logan watched him for a second, pressing his lips together slightly.175

“Why do you care, anyway?”176

The question left him before he could contain it, and a look of confusion was luckily missed as Adrian was looking to his knuckles.177

“What, about you and this case, or you getting into fights?” he asked, looking up, one eyebrow quirked a little higher than the other. 178

“Both, I guess,” Logan replied, his voice much softer than he was comfortable with, and he cleared his throat again. Adrian’ eyebrows rose a little more as he dropped his hands to the side, flexing his fingers slightly.179

Logan looked down, feeling the intense gaze on him. “Jesus, Logan. It’s not like I’m a cold-hearted person,” the lawyer started. “I’m not like other lawyers. I don’t do what I do for the money. I do it so I can help people.”180

Logan looked up at him in childlike wonder for a second, dark hazel eyes blinking in sheer confusion before he shook his head, seeming to snap out of it rather quickly. “Well, I don’t need your help, so you can shove your helper philosophy up your ass,” he snapped fiercely, that want for trouble rising in him again as he turned to walk away, even though he pretty much just got the shit kicked out of him.181

“You’re the one that asked for the best lawyer in Los Angeles, Logan,” Adrian muttered after him, shaking his head as he watched Logan pause, seem to consider the idea, and continue to walk away.182

Logan continued walking away, though Adrian’ words echoed in his mind as he went down the alley where he last saw Kale, coming upon him sitting on the ground of the alley, his head in his hands, seemingly deep in thought about something.183

“Can we go?” he asked in a rougher and more confident voice than he felt, and Kale started, looking up at Logan with slightly raised eyebrows. “I’m sick of this place,” he hurriedly explained.184

“Can’t find any trouble to get into?” Kale asked in a gruff voice, pushing himself up from the ground, eyebrow rising as he eyed the bruises forming on his face. “Is that from the tech or did you get into another fight?”185

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Logan replied dully and emphatically at the same time. Kale’s eyebrows raised more, but he didn’t press. He never did. All he did was wince as he straightened himself out. Logan was too involved with his thoughts to notice this, however.186

“I’ll take you home, but I have to be back here at ten-thirty,” Kale explained as he stretched his arms up, flashing a bit of stomach as he did so. Logan gave him a look of utter confusion, and Kale just shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, man. You look like you could use a good night’s sleep.”187

“Yeah, sure,” Logan grumbled, rolling his eyes as he began to walk away from his friend and toward the parking lot, the other in tow as he pulled out his car keys.188

It was a slow, quiet car ride home, Logan staring emptily out into the streets, not watching the people passing by or the lights that dazzled his eyes. His mind was back on Adrian, and for once it wasn’t anger or fury burning through his veins. It was shame, though for what he had no idea.189

When Kale pulled to a stop in front of the apartment they shared, Logan said nothing ash e crawled out of the car. He glanced back only when he heard Kale getting out of the car behind him.190

“What’re you doing?” he asked coldly, and Kale shrugged, or rather it was just the silhouette as the light from the streetlamps bathed the other in darkness. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”191

“Yeah, in two hours,” his friend replied with a slight shrug, passing Logan and making his way up to the apartment. Logan was left scrambling behind him, his hands shoved deeply into the pocket of his jeans as he climbed the stairs behind Kale.192

Once they were inside the small place, Logan ducked past Kale and made a beeline for his room, shutting the door with a sharp snap and throwing himself onto his bed. A low groan later and he was buried in his pillow, trying to get his mind off what Adrian had said. But he couldn’t. 193

This was going to be a long night.194

*** 195

“You’re lucky no one at this firm knows you, Baker,” came the drawling tone of the DA as he straightened up from his desk, buttoning his jeans with a slight smirk. Bright green eyes gave him a look halfway between irritation and gratefulness as a pale body straightened up from the desk, a slightly wounded expression tingeing the edges of the gaze. 196

“Quit with the Baker shit, Tony,” the man snapped huffily as he smoothed out his dress shirt, turning around to face the DA. “I’m not one of your fucking clients.”197

A sigh escaped Tony before he continued, running his hand through his hair. “I know, I’m sorry,” he said with another sigh. “Shiloh, seriously, though, if people knew about this little…” His long fingers waved around a bit as he thought of the right word, “arrangement, you’d surely be fired. They couldn’t do shit to me.”198

Shiloh sighed and dressed himself quickly, brushing his sweat-slicked black hair from his forehead. “Arrangement? Is that all this is?” he asked sharply and rather indignantly, and Tony rolled his eyes, pushing off where he’d been leaning.199

He took a couple steps and cupped Shiloh’s face in his hands, making brown meet green forcibly. “No, Shiloh, it’s not, but I got a reputation to keep, baby; I can’t go around broadcasting that, ‘Oh, I’m in a committed relationship with a male secretary of a battling law firm,’ now can I?” he asked softly. Shiloh’s brows furrowed and his full lips turned into a pout. “Oh, Shiloh, don’t do that…”200

“Why can’t you?” he pressed, and Tony sighed in exasperation, running his fingers through the slightly damp hair, leaning in to press a kiss to his secret lover’s lips. Try as he might to resist, Shiloh couldn’t, and melted into the embrace. Once the kiss broke, he mumbled, “Are you ashamed of me?”201

Tony looked utterly struck, his brows furrowing as well. “No, baby, I’m not ashamed of you,” he purred against his lips, kissing them lightly again, his thumbs brushing against the other’s cheeks softly, watching the way those thick eyelashes fluttered as his eyes shut.202

“Then why can’t you tell people?” Shiloh pressed after a little bit, his eyes snapping open again, and Tony’s eyes shut, and he bit his lower lip slightly, exhaling sharply and running one hand through the secretary’s hair again.203

“Do you want to be fired?” he asked softly, and Shiloh, shrugged. Tony opened his eyes to see sparkling emerald looking at him, slightly wet with tears, and he frowned. “Oh, please don’t…”204

“I wouldn’t care if I got fired if I got to be with you,” Shiloh snapped, his voice thick as he pulled out of Tony’s embrace, pushing at his chest as he disentangled himself. “I don’t care about anything else. Hell, you could get me a job here. But it seems you don’t feel the same way. If and when you’re ready to pull your head out of your ass, and quit being afraid to show who you are, you know where I live.”205

“Shiloh…” Tony sighed as his lover looked back at him with a penetrating gaze, wet with tears as he shook his head. “I love you.”206

“Sure you do,” Shiloh mumbled as he grabbed his jacket and swept out of the office. Tony was left, his jaw dropped as he watched the door snap shut behind the green-eyed man. He cursed under his breath and pushed a stack of papers to the floor in irritation, wanting to scream, but he didn’t. He kept his composure; then again, that seemed to be the main problem at the moment, anyway.207

He was so bad at this.208

06-Once Kale was sure that Logan wasn’t going anywhere, as he heard screaming music starting to blare from his room, he sighed a bit, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair. He almost felt bad leaving Logan in such a state, witnessing how he’d been. He was silent the entire way home, which was a strange thing in and of itself as far as the other man was concerned. It was a certain sign of trouble.209

Despite the uneasy feeling in his stomach, he glanced at the clock, seeing that it was five to ten, and he sighed, striding toward the door and looking around before he locked the door behind him. He walked slowly down to his car, more subdued than he would have liked, but once he got on the road, nerves started to attack him, and he almost smiled at the feeling.210

He arrived again at Chain Reaction at 10:15, glancing around and seeing Jacob already standing outside, his arms folded, muscles bulging under his light jacket. Kale smiled a bit and moved to take a few rather cautious steps toward the other man.211

“Hey,” he said in a soft baritone, and Jacob’s attention snapped from whatever it was he had been focused on, and a smile bled onto his face, and he pushed off the wall with a nod.212

“Hey you,” he responded with a widening of the smile, flashing white teeth as he slipped his hands into his pockets. The sexual tension between them crackled with an ill-concealed electricity that jolted through them both as dark eyes met others of their kind. “So…”213

Kale smiled back, shifting his weight slightly. “So,” he replied, his tone playfully mocking, and Jacob raised an eyebrow before grinning wider.214

“You invited me here,” Jacob pointed out with a slight smirk, and Kale shrugged. “Did you have something in mind or…?”215

“Possibly.” Kale bit down on his bottom lip to contain the devious smile that was bleeding onto his face. It was true that he was sore already from their first encounter, but the instant he’d set eyes on the other man, he’d wanted him again. The need was so great it burned hot and heavy in his veins. His lashes lowered a bit before his irises looked up through the fine hairs, glinting with a barely-concealed animal lust. 216

Jacob was, if nothing else, dumbstruck by the expression, and all words had escaped him, leaving him bereft enough to only have actions as he reached out, wrapping one strong hand around the back of Kale’s neck and pulling him in for a bruising kiss, all passersby be damned.217

Jacob was pleasantly surprised when he felt a similar grip against the back of his neck, and lips fiercely crushing into his own, Kale deepening the kiss with teeth and tongue until they were inside each other, breathing hot and heavy against heatedly-fighting tongues, low, guttural sounds escaping them both as need seemed to drive them both simultaneously to madness.218

Jacob pulled away enough to growl against his lover’s lips: “My place. Now.” Kale had no complaints, and merely nodded strongly but silently.219

Their hands connected as they slipped from each other’s necks and Jacob led Kale to his squad car, where no words, only a lustful glance was shared as they both crawled into the car. Kale could come back for his Toyota later.220

The ride to Jacob’s apartment was silent save soft moans when Kale started teasing the driver with devious fingers against his thighs, barely teasing the sensitive inner part with a slight grin, barely grazing the nearly-ostentatious bulge in his pants. Luckily for the cop, his apartment wasn’t far, and soon he had Kale against the wall again, their erections pressing together as their hips ground together, urgency driving them to back into the apartment and shed their clothing quickly.221

In a quick twist, Kale was suddenly the one with Jacob against the opposite wall and he could feel him squirming beneath him, hips grinding back with a groan. Kale smirked a bit and pressed his naked hips forward before coating his fingers with saliva, preparing the other man much the way he himself had been hours before.222

“Fuck,” came the groan of satisfaction when Jacob felt the penetration of Kale’s fingers, and his hips jerked forward, making the invader press further in, breathing deeply against the back of Jacob’s neck as his own hips rocked forward, the heavy weight touching the cop’s backside. “Fuck me.”223

“As you wish,” Kale purred as he pushed his hand back, spit into the palm of his hand before lubricating himself, but that was all the indication that he gave before he pressed harshly into the man beneath him. A low groan of mixed proportions left Jacob as he arched back against him. Kale looped one arm around the other’s midsection, pulling their bodies flush together as he began to rock his hips forward, groaning against the shell of his ear.224

“God, Kale,” Jacob moaned out breathlessly, his hips pushing back and forth, shudders trailing down his back as the other struck straight at his prostate, and he squirmed. “Right fucking there…”225

Kale smirked lasciviously and thrust forward hard, making Jacob cry out and buck his hips against the wall, his hands splayed flat against it, fingers curling against the plaster, low scraping sounds emitted by his fingernails.226

It didn’t take long for either of them to hit their peaks, with the rate that they were going. Kale released first, biting the back of Jacob’s neck as he came hard with a muffled groan. That threw the other man over the edge, his climax shuddering through him with a low grunt.227

Kale didn’t move for a moment, and he only did when Jacob shifted his hips, pulling away before pressing a few kisses idly down Jacob’s spinal column, watching the way the skin puckered into goose bumps, and he smiled a bit as Jacob caught himself on the wall, turning around with a dazed grin on his hard face. They just looked at each other for a moment, that same electricity sparking all over again as they were barely two inches apart; so close in fact that they could taste each other’s breath.228

*** 229

Adrian went into the club after Logan stormed off, but he didn’t enjoy himself as much as he normally would have. No, his mind was on a certain criminal, whose kiss still lingered maddeningly on his lips, no matter how many times he passed his hand over them. They still tingled even as he licked them over.230

He tried to watch the act, but it really wasn’t working. The voices seemed to bounce off his consciousness, only a sigh breathing his concentration. He glanced over, hearing it from the bar. His brows furrowed as he vaguely recognized the other man from another firm. Maybe his name was Shiloh. He slid onto the barstool beside the other, ordering a shot of whiskey and startling the man, and due to that he spilled his drink. Adrian looked over, a curious look on his face.231

“I-I didn’t even see you there,” Shiloh admitted, green eyes turning to look at his newest bar mate. Adrian offered him an apologetic smile as he ran his hand through his hair.232

“Yeah, sorry, I can be really quiet if I’m not paying attention,” the lawyer admitted in return, and Shiloh laughed softly, licking over his plump bottom lip.233

“It’s okay,” Shiloh replied with a small smile, brushing dark hair off his forehead. Adrian watched him for a second before his drink came, and he took a sip of it, wincing a bit at the burn. “Not used to alcohol?”234

“No, not at all,” Adrian replied, his voice slightly strained before he coughed, taking another swig nonetheless. “I don’t normally drink at all, but I’ve had a hell of a week.”235

“Yeah, me too,” Shiloh replied in a forlorn voice with a slight pout, sighing a little as he let his head fall onto his hand, his palm supporting his chin. “I got into a fight with my boyfriend,” and he laid it all out, just like that.236

Adrian frowned slightly, his head tilting a bit. “I’m sorry,” he offered as condolence. “What was the fight about?”237

“He’s ashamed of me, I know it,” Shiloh murmured with a sigh. “He’s this hotshot D—I mean, lawyer, pretty high up and he thinks that if he comes out, or we come out, it’ll be me they fire because I’m lower on the food chain. I think he’s just making excuses.”238

“Maybe he cares about you too much and that’s the only way he can show it?” Adrian offered.239

Shiloh frowned, considered it for a second and scoffed. “If that’s what it is, he’s got a funny way of showing it,” he quipped sharply, and Adrian chuckled.240

“Some guys just have what I call emotional constipation,” Adrian explained, and he got a look from Shiloh, seeing one perfectly manicured eyebrow raise in question, and he laughed again. “Basically, it means they can’t show how they feel so they end up doing the opposite of what they should.”241

“I figured, but I’d never heard it put quite that way before,” Shiloh explained, laughing by this time too. Adrian grinned slightly and shrugged before sighing.242

“I’m… kind of dealing with the same thing, actually,” he admitted with a second sigh, and Shiloh looked at him again, more concerned than questioning.243

“Really?” Wanna tell me about it?” the green-eyed man offered, and Adrian smiled bleakly.244

“It can be summed up in one sentence: I’m hung up on a criminal,” Adrian laid it out with frown. “Not just any criminal, but a twenty-six-year-old delinquent! A juvenile! He’s hated me for years, and I don’t know why. I… want to help him.” He paused for a second. “I don’t think I’ve said that aloud until now.” One corner of his lips picked up in a half-hearted, lopsided little smile that Shiloh returned.245

“Well, I don’t have any brilliant advice to give you, other than to not give up on him,” Shiloh offered, and Adrian’ smile picked up a bit, nodding a bit before negating himself by shaking his head with a slight sigh.246

“I think Tony would kill me if I dropped the case,” Adrian admitted, and that was when Shiloh’s eyes went wide, putting ‘Tony’ and ‘case’ together and only getting one solution. “What?”247

“Y-you know Tony?” he asked, and Adrian nodded slowly, running his hand over the back of his neck. Shiloh had started gnawing on his lip. “O-oh… Um…”248

Adrian took a moment, but it wasn’t hard to put two (Shiloh’s explanation of his boyfriend, and the slip of the D didn’t help) and two (Shiloh’s reddened face and sudden stuttering problem) together to form a rather… startling conclusion. Suddenly, after doing the math, the scene he witnessed through his boss’s window flashed through his mind, and his eyebrows rose, his nose wrinkling slightly out of instinct. Now, he was really glad he hadn’t stayed to watch.249

Adrian didn’t know what to say, and most definitely didn’t have any advice to give. “Um, yeah, I work with Tony, if you’re referring to the DA; he’s actually my boss,” he informed, and he watched Shiloh’s eyes grow wide with horror. “Don’t worry,” he hurried to explain. “I’m not going to say anything to him. I promise.”250

Shiloh let out a heavy sigh of relief and slumped against the bar, ordering another shot of Jack Daniels, and Adrian followed suit. He was surprised by how much he actually liked the feel of alcohol, once he got past the burn.251

After a few more drinks, Adrian blurted, “You know, for having a problem being with you, he sure as hell isn’t subtle about it.” Shiloh gave him another mutely questioning looks and Adrian giggled, taking a sip of the water the other had ordered for him. “I mean, honestly, subtle does not equal fucking your boyfriend over your desk in your office.”252

“Oh my God…” Shiloh muttered, going ten shades of red as he ducked his head down. “That’s so embarrassing,” he muttered.253

“You’re just lucky it was me, ‘cause, y’know, I’m a fag too,” Adrian continued in a slightly higher voice, as if he were getting slightly hysterical, spitting out the last words almost spitefully, and Shiloh raised his eyebrows a bit. “You know… I should go home. I’m drunk, and I don’t wanna say anything stupid to you. You seem like a really nice guy, and Tony’s an idiot if he can’t see that.”254

Shiloh flushed again and bit down on a grin, taken aback by the statement. “Want me to call a cab?” he asked, and Adrian nodded slowly.255

“That…” Adrian paused, pointing at Shiloh with a silly grin, “would be great.” He grinned wider and downed the rest of the water. Shiloh smiled and pulled out his cell phone, calling the cab company for his new friend. A few moments later, he smiled and hung up.256

“They’re on their way,” he informed his new, giggling friend, and all he got at first was a nod as he spun the glass around on the bar.257

“Thanks,” the lawyer finally managed to respond through his nonsensical laughter, standing up and swaying slightly. He let out a low whistle as he shut his eyes, feeling the world seem to try and upend itself. Well, for the upside of it, he’d forgotten for the moment what was bothering him.258

On instinct, Shiloh reached out and grabbed Adrian’ forearm before he toppled over, steadying him as best he could. All it resulted in, however, was Adrian collapsing on him with a sigh and a slight grin. “You make a good resting post, anyone ever tell you that?” he asked in an undertone before giggling again.259

Shiloh laughed softly, Adrian vaguely reminding him of Tony while intoxicated, and it sent a pang of regret through him as he steered the lawyer to the door. He glanced around after he got Adrian through the door, smiling as he found the cab already there.260

“Okay, man, you gonna be okay on your own?” Shiloh asked as Adrian got to the cab, and he got a nod of assent.261

“Yeah, man, I’ll be fine,” Adrian slurred, smiling a bit, as he looked back, his hand on the roof of the cab. “Thanks.”262

Shiloh smiled back. “No problem,” he replied; in a way it was his way of paying Adrian back for his discretion, but he didn’t reveal that bit of information as he watched the other man crawl into the car.263

Shiloh suddenly had the strange urge to talk to Tony as he watched the cab drive away. He pulled out his cell phone and gnawed on his lip a is fingers dialed a familiar number, but he cleared it before he could hit the call button and he sighed.264

He was so bad at this.265

*** 266

Tony, much like Logan, had gone straight home after his confrontation with Shiloh. He had broken out a couple of bottles of Jack Daniels, however, and had finished one, working on the second when he picked up his phone, saving Shiloh the trouble as he dialed the familiar number right as his boyfriend cleared the incoming number for the third time.267

When Shiloh picked up with a confused greeting, Tony blurted out; “You know I do love you, right? That I’m not lying?”268

“Christ. Tony,” Shiloh sighed, “you’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying.” That was his rationalization for the sudden flurry of butterflies that had started up.269

“I’m an honest drunk and you know it,” Tony pointed out with a sigh, leaning back on his couch as he took another swig of the whiskey. “I fucking love you, Shiloh, and y’know what? That scares the shit out of me. I’ve never fuckin’… felt this way about anyone, and you’re fucked in the head if you think I’m just gonna let you go.”270

Tony only swore that heavily when he was drunk or passionate and right now Shiloh figured it was a mix of both. “Tony…” he sighed again, and the DA grunted as he put his head in his hands with a sigh himself.271

“Shiloh, help me out here,” Tony continued. “What else can I do to prove this shit to you? And don’t tell me come out, because you know as well as I do that our jobs are only part of it.”272

“Are you ashamed of me?” Shiloh repeated, knowing that, if anything, he’d get a more honest answer this time.273

Tony scoffed as he threw himself back on his couch again with a grunt. “I told you before, and I’ll tell you again, I’m not fuckin’ ashamed of you, okay?” he replied sharply. “Why would I be? You’re only the best fuckin’ thing that’s ever happened to me…” He paused as he heard a series of beeps and he cursed again. “Come by if you want, but my phone’s dying and I’m too fucked to find the charger.”274

Shiloh gnawed on his lip, debating for a second before he gave his consent in a rush. He heard the small smile in Tony’s soft ‘okay’ before the phone cut out. He sighed and hung up his phone. Slipping it back in his pocket as he steeled himself for dealing with drunk Tony. He couldn’t resist the other at the best of times, and him being drunk was even worse. He was adorable when he was intoxicated… He sighed and moved to his car, slipping in and driving to Tony’s.275

07-Adrian was toying with the back of the drivers seat as he sat in the cab, and it took him a few moments to realize that he was being spoken to. Dark hazel eyes flicked up, a slightly sobered look on his face.276

“Where to?” the cabbie repeated slowly and clearly, and Adrian blinked, licking over his lips as he tried to remember his address, but for some reason he couldn’t get his mind to work right.277

“3205 Los Feliz Boulevard,” he rambled off, but for some reason that didn’t sound right, not at all. It sounded like he’d just made it up off the top of his head. He blinked when the cab nodded silently and began to go in the direction of the (seemingly fictional) address.278

Fifteen minutes later and the cab pulled up in a very different part of Los Angeles than he lived in, but he blinked and paid the driver too much anyway as he slipped out. How the hell was he going to get home now? He ran his hand through his hair and scratched his scalp. Maybe he didn’t like alcohol as much as he thought he did.279

He tried to walk and stumbled slightly, blinking as the pavement came up to meet him. He had enough sense to throw his hands out under him to keep from kissing the pavement, grunting a little as he pushed himself up again, glad he did enough push-ups to pull this kind of stunt.280

He heard a rather audible gasp and sluggishly dragged his eyes over to the source of the sound. His brows furrowed, and it was his turn to say, “You have got to be kidding me,” in a slurred tone, because he was looking straight at Logan Sanders, looking more confused than ever. He finally got himself up off the pavement, and was swaying.281

“A-are you drunk?” Logan asked, his tone warring between cold and confusion, and he could feel the other war between his want for trouble and a sudden swam of compassion. Adrian nodded distractedly and reached out to the closest thing that wasn’t Logan to steady himself on, which happened to be a shrub.282

He grunted as he fell into the plant, and Logan went on instinct, grabbing the lawyer’s hand and pulling him upright again. Adrian looked confused, but toppled over into the younger man instead, grunting again as his hands groped his shoulders.283

“Hm, you make a good leaning post too,” he mumbled, letting his head fall onto Logan’s shoulder with a sigh. Logan didn’t know what to do but grabbed the other man’s biceps to help him stay steady as he swayed again. “Whoa, the world likes to spin, doesn’t it?”284

“Sometimes,” Logan muttered, looking down a little at Adrian, frowning. He found it strange that here he was, helping Adrian out when normally he would have thrown him to the ground and laughed. Maybe he was exhausted from his asshole trip. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”285

“Since when did you care?” Adrian asked, the question sincere as his darkened eyes looked up at Logan imploringly, the expression nearly childish in his intoxicated state. “And ‘sides, where are you taking me?”286

“My apartment,” Logan retorted shortly, and Adrian’ jaw dropped, though he couldn’t pull away. He had a feeling that even if he were sober, this wouldn’t make a damn lick of sense. It seemed his muscles had bunched up and were refusing to move, and so all he could do was lean heavily on Logan as he was led toward the apartment complex.287

Once Logan was finished wrestling with the door, Adrian collapsed into the apartment, finding the floor with a chuckle, letting his head fall onto the carpet with a sigh and a groan.288

“What’d you have?” Logan asked briskly as he moved to get Adrian a glass of water, and he looked up, blinking hazily for a second before a corner of his lips picked up.289

“Whiskey,” he replied, and Logan groaned a bit. He vaguely remembered Adrian saying in high school that he’d never drank in his life, and never planned to. Well, this changed things, didn’t it? He wondered what had driven the other man to this length, and had no clue that it was he.290

“How much?” Logan continued in a rather clinical voice, and Adrian snorted in derision, pushing himself into a sitting position, crossing his legs and letting his hands fall into his lap, looking down at them with a sigh.291

“Don’t remember,” he muttered, and it was Logan’s turn to sigh as he moved over and handed over the glass of water, which Adrian accepted without question, downing it too quickly, because it suddenly and instantly set off his stomach, and Logan could tell by the way he swayed slightly even as he was grounded.292

“Come on, let’s get you to the bathroom,” Logan muttered, mostly for his own gain, hooking one arm under Adrian’ shoulder and hoisting him up, earning a sickened groan as he watched the other’s eyes fall shut, his face paling. In response, his own pace quickened and he managed to get Adrian into the bathroom before he threw up, setting him in front of the toilet and wincing at the gagging and vomiting sounds. Adrian himself winced as well, feeling the acid fiercely burn his esophagus, and he felt tears spring up unbidden in his eyes as his body purged itself.293

“Why’re you doing this?” Adrian asked, his voice suddenly hoarse as the sounds stopped, and he rested his feverish head against the cool porcelain of the toilet, the silent tears running down his face.294

“Because I didn’t want you puking all over my floor,” Logan replied in a barren tone, and Adrian nodded in resignation, looking back to the water before wincing and flushing it, resting his head against the seat with a heavy sigh. “This is also a dangerous part of town.”295

“Like you give a fuck,” Adrian snapped in a thick voice, the words echoing in the toilet bowl, and he gagged again, retching but nothing much came out. Logan growled.296

“You’re right, I don’t,” he replied in a cold voice, and Adrian just shut his eyes with another resigned sigh, his body shuddering as it continued to try and purge itself, but there was nothing left.297

“I don’t know why I even try,” Adrian muttered as he felt his body go lax against the hard-tiled ground, shutting his streaming eyes with a sigh, not waiting to watch the tears fall into the water.298

“Try what?” Logan pressed in a terse voice, and Adrian laughed harshly, shaking his head and letting his head loll over on his shoulder after the movement, glancing up at Logan dazedly, blinking once or twice.299

“Doing this shit, helping people,” the lawyer muttered, shutting his eyes and slipping from the toilet, his body going lax against the tile floor. “Why should I bother, y’know? People can fucking help themselves. You sure as fuck don’t appreciate it. But despite that, I have this... urge to help you.”300

“Well, I don’t need it,” Logan snapped, rolling his eyes indignantly, and Adrian snorted in derisive laughter, shutting his eyes and collapsing further onto the tile, his head hitting the cold surface as he heard retreating footsteps and a slam of the door.301

“Asshole,” Adrian muttered, turning slightly on his side and curling into himself with a shaky sigh. He didn’t dare move; he knew he had nothing left to throw up, but he hated the nauseous feeling, and just wanted it to go away.302

It took about an hour, but Adrian finally felt his stomach calming, and he pushed himself very slowly off the floor, the world spinning at only a fraction of its speed inside his head, and he sighed out roughly, glancing around. He got off the floor and stood slowly, noting that he was steadier this time. He stumbled slightly over to the bathroom sink, washing his mouth out a couple times before he found some mouthwash in the medicine cabinet; he disregarded the fact that it wasn’t his as he took a capful and gargled it softly before spitting it out. After he did this, he looked over to the door.303

Now, he planned to give Logan a piece of his mind.304

He stepped out of the bathroom and glanced around, finding Logan reclining on the couch, and he shut his eyes before he pointedly shut the door behind him. Logan whipped around, looking shell-shocked for a second before anger masked it, a bottle of beer held in his hand.305

“You…” Adrian paused, pointing over at Logan, his eyelids flickering a little, “are an asshole. And you know it.”306

Logan’s eyes narrowed further as he dropped the bottle of beer on the ground, not even hearing the liquid splash against the carpet and crossed the space between them, getting up in the lawyer’s face nearly instantly, their similarly-colored eyes blazing for a second before the younger man swung first.307

A solid connection to Adrian’ temple shocked him into stumbling back with a grunt, stars appearing and flickering behind his eyelids as he backed against the wall. He looked up through his eyelashes and his lips curled back in a snarl. Not one to give up, especially in this state, he pushed off the wall, swinging a heavily, misjudged fist straight to Logan’s jaw, smashing the upper and lower together with a jarring sound of cracking. 308

After the initial hits, fists landed everywhere, cheeks, lips, stomachs, sometimes even lower before they were again in a gridlock, staring each other down as they held each other’s arms in place. Their muscles bulged and strained as they both struggled. Adrian, again, took the initiative, and crashed their lips together.309

He could taste the younger man’s blood on his own lips, and it sent a peculiar shudder through him, as he pressed further, crushing their lips. Logan struggled against the embrace for a second before he too pressed back, seeming to abandon all precedence, and their bodies collided with simultaneous grunts.310

Adrian felt a shudder rush through him as he let go of Logan’s arms to grasp at his hips, grinding them together with his own. He gasped, feeling an impressive hard-on pressing against his crotch, and he groaned, feeling Logan back him to the wall again.311

After a second of the pressure against him, Adrian growled into the unbroken kiss, pushing off the wall with force and taking four steps, backing Logan against the opposite wall with a fierce grind of his hips. He smirked, feeling the younger man squirm beneath him as he bit down on his lower lip, ripping a half-pained gasp from the man beneath.312

A second later, and Adrian felt himself being pushed back the other way, crashing into the opposite wall again as his back arched, his hands moving down Logan’s neck in claws, the nails making faint red marks against his skin as he held fast to the plump lower lip between his teeth, and as far as he could tell, Logan was only getting harder from the violence.313

“You wanna fuck me? Huh? Fuck me into submission?” Adrian growled as he released Logan’s lips, and the younger man groaned, grinding his hips forward, and he let out a moan of his own. “I’d like to see you try. Try it, tough guy.” He wasn’t sure why he was provoking the other man suddenly, but the rough treatment was sending his thoughts spiraling.314

Adrian felt the strong hands slip behind him and painfully grab his ass and lift him up against the wall, and he groaned, his back arching slightly. It seemed Logan had fallen into a predatory automata as his hips pushed forward again with a growl against Adrian’ ear.315

“I’ll fuck you so hard you’ll be moaning my name for months,” were the words heatedly growled against Adrian’ ear, and he arched, moaning again as he felt his arousal grow so great he was suffocating.316

Logan quickly took care of that, however, as he put Adrian down, fumbling with his clothing before stripping them both, discarding jeans with slacks and their shirts across the room. His eyes were dark, forest green with an enraged lust, and Adrian’ were lustful and triumphant as he looked back, a molten, golden myriad of greens.317

At the first touch of skin on skin, they both groaned before Logan reached behind again and picked Adrian up by his backside once more, settling him against the wall as he shoved his hips between his legs. Adrian hooked his ankles at Logan’s lower back as his hips pushed down.318

“Come on, fuck me; show me what you’ve got,” Adrian growled, his eyes narrowing a bit as his back arched off the wall. Logan smirked at him before pushing his erection straight at Adrian’ entrance, pushing in with no preparation whatsoever. The lawyer bit down hard on his split lip to keep a scream back as he shuddered, wincing as he felt the unceremonious intrusion, but refused to back down, even as he felt the pain spread through him, feeling Logan sink all the way in. He knew it’d get better.319

It did, rather quickly.320

Logan started pounding into him with fierce, uneven thrusts once he got past the nearly unbearable tightness. He soon slid in and out easily after a moment, finding the swollen gland inside of Adrian that made a low groan rip unceremoniously from his throat as his head kicked back against the wall. He shuddered in Logan’s strong arms and smirked, pushing his hips down and watching Logan groan from the sudden pressure against his dick.321

“Harder,” he growled his demand, and Logan smirked back at him, thrusting his hips forward and up with a grunt of pure, animal pleasure, so that Adrian was soon panting and groaning, his head pushed back into the wall, his body moving against Logan, his torso undulating with every upward movement.322

The nails of one hand dug into Logan’s neck as the second hand slipped between them, fingers wrapping around his erection and unsteadily, he started to jerk himself off, moans pouring from his lips as his body began to shake. He idly noted that Logan’s had begun to shudder as well, his breathing having become short against his neck.323

“Make me come, you asshole,” Adrian growled against Logan’s ear with a smirk, showing who was in control, and he felt the shudder go through the younger man as the thrusts became even harder, nearly more precise as it seemed he did what he’d said. It only took a moment more before he felt his entire body tightening, the release rushing through him as he came hard between them with a scream, his head kicking back.324

The sudden pressure against Logan’s dick forced a shudder from him, and it wasn’t the only thing that was forced. He groaned loudly as he felt his own release come, climaxing with a grunt as his hips bucked up. Adrian moaned as he felt it inside of him, shivering as he released his softening erection from his hand.325

Logan lingered inside Adrian for a moment, looking him over with narrowed eyes, before he jerked back, and the older man unhooked his legs from around the other, wincing as he felt the separation, unsteadily supporting himself halfway against the wall as he hazily watched the utter shock go up like flames in Logan’s eyes. He looked on unsteadily for a moment, watching as Logan backed against the couch in what bordered horror, and he shook his head, reaching out to pull his slacks on before he collapsed against the wall, his body refusing to move anymore as he watched as the other man gaped at him.326

Logan, indeed, was in a state of sheer shock, unable to even think to dress or cover himself as he thought over what he had just done… and how much he’d enjoyed it.327

08-When Shiloh reached Tony’s penthouse, he noted that the lights were off, for one thing. No soft yellow light trailed beneath the door. It was dark, and that slightly mystified the secretary. He treaded lightly as he approached the door, pulling out his key and easing the door open after the lock.328

He passed his tongue over his lips and glanced around the, it seemed, very dimly lit apartment, biting at the corner of his lip. “Tony?” he called in a nearly timid voice, and he heard a grunt from the front room. He followed the sound, finding his boyfriend spread over the couch, his head hanging off the edge of it. Only one soft lamp was lit across the room from the man, which would explain the lack of light.329

Tony opened his eyes when he heard footsteps, and gave a grin, grunting again and pushing himself up into a somewhat sitting position, looking stunned for a second before he grinned wider. “Hey, Shiloh,” he greeted with a slight tilt to his head, leaning back against the couch once more. Shiloh smiled a bit despite himself.330

“Hey, Tony,” he murmured. Tony looked nearly imploringly at Shiloh and waved him over. Unable to resist, the green-eyed man acquiesced with a slight sigh, moving to stand at the edge of the couch. Tony’s hand reached out and wrapped around his lover’s wrist, pulling him closer, and into his lap.331

“I love you,” he murmured, burying his face in Shiloh’s neck, nuzzling the skin lightly. Shiloh shivered and shut his eyes, feeling his resolve crumble even as he felt the warm breath spidering against the sensitive flesh of his neck.332

“I love you too,” he said softly with a sigh, pulling back from Tony, who watched him with wide, sepia-toned eyes, blinking slowly, as if he were a child who didn’t understand why his comfort zone was taken away. Shiloh felt his resolution faltering as he looked into those eyes that were stripped of his lover’s everyday arrogance and left only with a touch of desperation, but above that, sadness.333

“I—I’m sorry,” the DA murmured as if he were preparing something important inside of his disorganized brain, looking away, licking over his thin lips and exhaling a shuddering breath, looking off toward the lamp, eyes training on nothing in particular. “I wish we… didn’t live and work in a world where this is looked down upon… I wish—I wish I could just stand up and say to the world, ‘I love this man…’ but I, as well as you, have worked… too hard to do that. I do want you to be happy… but I guess I don’t understand why it—it’s so important for me to come out about this. I mean… shouldn’t this be enough?”334

He looked back as he felt Shiloh’s hand cupping his cheek, eyes wide again. The green-eyed man sighed and brushed his thumb over the angles of his lover’s cheekbones, watching the wide eyes flutter shut a bit.335

Shiloh was, for a moment, lost, his words gone, whatever he was about to say escaped from his mind as he watched Tony lean just so into the touch, sighing out slowly. He moved his hand down his lover’s face, brushing his thumb over Tony’s jugular, and felt the tension all but leave the other man, eyes shutting all the way as a small smile came to his face once again.336

“I love you,” Shiloh murmured nearly affectionately, and Tony softly returned the sentiment through a sigh as he relaxed against the couch even more, almost as if he were struggling, racking his brain for something more to say.337

“I just want to protect you,” Tony admitted softly, the words barely there as he let his head fall back, exposing his neck. Shiloh couldn’t help a meaningful little smile as he dipped his head down, trailing his plush lips down the tanned column of his lover’s throat.338

“Don’t worry about me,” Shiloh murmured against Tony’s skin, and he felt him arch slightly, his hips slightly pushing upward. “I’m a big boy, I can handle myself.” He punctuated this with a soft kiss and tried to get up, but insistent and stubborn fingers gripped suddenly at his belt loops, dragging him down again.339

“Don’t leave,” the DA muttered pleadingly, dark eyes opening widely, blinking once, twice, three times, and Shiloh found himself falling all over again as he settled back into his lap.340

“Tony…” Shiloh said softly, desperately, green meeting brown softly with a sigh, shifting slightly on his lover’s lap, biting at his bottom lip before looking away. “I shouldn’t have come.”341

“Why?” Tony asked, his brows furrowing slightly as he shifted, his soft gaze turning hard. “What do you want from me, Shiloh? What—what can I do?”342

The green eyes moved further away as Shiloh sighed, shaking his head as he shut his eyes finally. “I don’t know,” he admitted, and Tony let out an exhale of absolute defeat, relaxing back on the couch.343

“I love you, isn’t that enough?” he asked, his voice soft and nearly vulnerable, his brows furrowing in confusion. “What else can I do? Admit that coming out with this would probably end up destroying us both? Because it will. Shiloh, I mean, I want to give you everything, and I can with where I am, but if… if anything jeopardizes that, there’s no way…” A finger silenced him against his lips, a soft ‘shh’ing sound meeting him.344

“I only want you,” he whispered, and Tony looked confused as the finger disappeared, and he sighed out again, exhaling heavily through his nose, running his hand over his lips.345

“Then why are you trying to get away from me?” he asked in a similar whisper, and Shiloh looked struck for a second, seeing such sorrow in his lovers’ deep eyes before he sighed, his resolve lost as their lips met.346

Tony gripped lightly at Shiloh’s hips as he felt the other man shift atop him, straddling him, one heavy leg against each thigh as arms slid around his neck, up through dark hair, gripping lightly at the strands. This made Tony buckle slightly under the tug, and a low, smooth moan escaped his lips, his hips pushing up, feeling Shiloh’s own arousal pressing against his own as he did so.347

The DA shifted his body off the couch rather unsteadily for a second before he felt Shiloh wrap his legs around his waist. He grunted as he pushed off the couch and carried the shorter man into his bedroom, backing him onto his plush bed, feeling the arching body beneath his own moan for more.348

Shiloh’s fingers quickly undid Tony’s shirt, trailing down and feeling the muscle beneath him as if it were the first time, feeling the other’s rough hands slip under his shirt and shove it up as his lips went down. A teasing smirk was shot up to him as he stripped his shirt off, tossing it aside as Tony did the same, nimble fingers undoing his slacks and pushing them down before his lips parted an he felt himself enveloped in warmth.349

Shiloh moaned, arching off the bed as Tony slid his tongue down the underside of his lover’s erection, working it quickly, and soon the smaller man was begging, his hands sliding down his own body. Tony pulled away with a sigh, stripping their pants away and settling himself between the other’s legs, their arousals rubbing together.350

“No, behind me,” Shiloh gasped, and Tony looked confused for a second as he pulled back before Shiloh turned onto his side, presenting himself with a cloudy gaze over his shoulder. The lawyer gave a small smile before conforming his hard body to the paler one in front of him, wrapping his arm around his lover’s waist, pulling him closer.351

Tony leaned over and pulled out a small tube, lubricating his fingers lightly before slipping his hand between them, pressing two fingers in at once, feeling Shiloh arch and moan against him, legs scissoring slightly as his head kicked back.352

“I love you,” Tony murmured, kissing at the back of Shiloh’s neck, and all he got was a gasp of pure pleasure as his skilled fingers brushed his lover’s prostate, feeling him shudder.353

“I want you.” 354

He got his response, albeit not the one he’d given, but it was enough for him for the moment. He moaned softly and slid his cock through his lubricated hand once or twice with a groan before shifting Shiloh slightly and pressing slowly into him, feeling him squirm slightly as he always did. The green-eyed man writhed and moaned as that same lubricated hand grasped his dick and began to stroke, and Tony felt a shudder shoot down his lover’s spine against his chest.355

Moments later, and Shiloh was rocking his hips back into Tony with soft whimpers, begging for more of his lover, and Tony was moaning against his neck, holding him tightly around his middle. Shiloh’s arm hooked around Tony’s neck as his back arched and he pulled him in for a sloppy, moan-filled kiss that he quickly accepted; not that he could have resisted.356

The thrusts eventually became harder, and Shiloh’s moans grew louder, his head falling back on Tony’s shoulder as he panted. Tony, likewise, was breathing heavily, soft, unintelligible words escaping his lips against the back of his lover’s neck.357

The smaller man released first, arching and moaning a profession of love as he came into his lover’s hand. Tony shuddered and shut his eyes, murmuring Shiloh’s name before he shuddered and his climax hit with dizzying force, spilling inside of the other with a lowly groaned curse.358

They lay there for a second, their breathings in time with the other’s. Tony’s eyes were shut as he felt the warm body beside him, feeling slightly dizzy as he clung to Shiloh, burrowing into the sweaty back of his neck.359

“Mine,” Tony murmured, tightening the grip momentarily around his lover, and Shiloh looked back at him, pulling away slightly, a slightly dazed look on his face. The DA smiled a bit and leaned forward, seeking the other’s lips.360

He consented, and as Shiloh pulled away, Tony groaned at the lack of contact. He wasn’t disappointed for long, however, as he felt a thigh sliding between his own. He moaned softly and parted his lips, feeling his legs parting much the same.361

“Do you love me?” Shiloh murmured into the kiss, and Tony’s breath hitched as he nodded, pressing into the kiss. “I want inside you,” he whispered, and Tony felt his heart stop for a second, and he got an idea.362

“Don’t leave me and I’ll let you,” Tony murmured back, shifting onto his back and spreading himself out for his lover. Shiloh smiled and kissed him again, shifting between his lover’s legs.363

“Let me inside you and I’ll believe what you said earlier,” Shiloh said softly, and Tony’s eyes opened, looking up at his green-eyed minx of a lover, and he exhaled slowly, swallowing hard.364

“I’d never let anyone else but you…” he started, but Shiloh silenced him with a forceful kiss, and his body arched upward, feeling his lover’s weight bearing down on him. He wrapped his arms around Shiloh’s neck as he deepened the kiss. “Take me, I’m yours,” he murmured into the kiss, fighting to keep his voice from wavering.365

Tony bit his lip and arched slightly when Shiloh leaned away and grabbed the previously abandoned tube of lubricant, slicking his fingers with it generously. He watched with interest as his lover’s hand disappeared from his sight, and his breath hitched severely when he felt the cold against his entrance. He felt the intrusion and he groaned, his head pushing back against the bed.366

“Okay?” Shiloh murmured as he slowly pushed further inward, and Tony nodded, biting his bottom lip and letting out a moan as his lover crooked his finger in just the right way, his hips jerking slightly off the bed, and Shiloh grinned triumphantly.367

“Do that again,” the DA panted, his head kicking back further, and another moan escaped when Shiloh pressed the pad of his finger against his lover’s prostate, pressing a second finger in simultaneously, and he felt a violent shudder go through him. “Fuck…”368

After teasing his lover for a few moments with that along with stretching him out, Shiloh shifted between Tony’s legs, running his hand over his arousal a few times before pressing the tip to his entrance.369

Tony winced slightly, but didn’t say anything as Shiloh pushed into him, his body arching a little, and as his smaller lover pushed in, the soft groans turned louder into full, rich moans as he got used to the sensation, his hips bucking slightly upward, shuddering.370

“I’m not gonna break,” Tony panted out as Shiloh got all the way inside of him and was moving slowly, and he shifted his hips as if to prove a point, hooking his ankles around his lover’s waist and pulling him closer, moaning as he felt his erection go deeper.371

Shiloh smiled through a moan and began a slow rhythm at first, but Tony didn’t like it, his body shuddering and shifting as if he wanted more. He sped up, and Tony’s lips parted, moaning in appreciation, his hips pushing back against the ones assaulting him, his head pressing into the bed before he lifted his head and pulled Shiloh into a fierce kiss. That seemed to light a fire that exploded as the smaller man picked up his speed more, pounding into Tony, who had no objections whatsoever as he took it; all precedence, and hesitance was utterly forgotten.372

Tony let out a litany of curses as he felt his climax come up again, consisting mostly of ‘God, fuck, I love you,’ and when the release hit him, he moaned Shiloh’s name out loudly, his hips bucking upward with a grunt. It only took the sight beneath him, watching Tony come, to get Shiloh over the edge, and he arched his body to conform to his lover’s as he released inside of him with his name on his lips breathlessly.373

“Is that all I needed to do?” Tony panted out jokingly as he dipped his head down, capturing Shiloh’s lips in a tired kiss, feeling them smile against his own, and he chuckled a bit as he pulled away. “Not that I’m complaining…”374

Shiloh hummed his assent happily as he pulled Tony in for another kiss, afterwards pulling out and collapsing alongside his lover, turning onto his side and curling up next to him, his head resting on his chest as his arm slid around his narrow waist.375

“I love you, Tony,” Shiloh murmured, smiling up at him, and when he got a smile and a return of the sentiment, he reached down and pulled the comforter over them. Tony smiled a bit and wrapped his arm around his lover’s shoulders and pulling him closer. 376

Things were all right, he told himself, for now.377

09-Logan was breathing heavily, almost going into tangible shock as he watched Adrian slide down the wall, his head falling forward with a groan. His heavy hand placed itself on his chest as he felt his bare back touch the couch behind him, and in his haste, he almost stumbled and fell over.378

“Was it that bad?” Adrian murmured, slurring his words slightly as it seemed the alcohol had picked up in his blood again from the physical exercise. His head was lolling slightly on his chest as he tried to center himself enough to look up with eyes darkened. “F-fuck this shit, I’m leaving.”379

Logan couldn’t even say anything as Adrian pushed himself to his feet with a pained grunt, swaying slightly as the high hit him all over again, and he slumped against the wall momentarily. He clutched his head and stumbled his way to the door. The younger man still couldn’t think of anything to say, still in a state of shock.380

“Your court date’s in three days, so I guess I’ll see you then,” Adrian muttered as he crashed into the door. Logan shook himself out of it after the older man had stumbled out of the door. He was caught between following him and letting him go. He glanced down, pulling on his jeans to cover his naked ass before taking steps toward the door, watching Adrian try and stumble down the stairs, lurching dangerously forward.381

Why did he suddenly care if Adrian went headfirst down a flight of stairs? He didn’t have the answer.382

Out of instinct, however, he darted forward, slipping his body under Adrian’ armpit, hoisting him up and steadying him as he led him down the stairs. Adrian gave him an utterly quizzical look, but didn’t have enough of a thought process to truly question what he was doing.383

“I’m gonna call you a cab,” Logan grunted as they reached the landing. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and began to dial the number, and Adrian groaned, crumbling to the ground.384

“I don’t remember my address,” he confessed in a pained murmur, shutting his eyes and letting his head fall into his hands. Logan raised an eyebrow and snapped the phone shut, weighing his options.385

“Then… Stay here tonight,” Logan suggested, his words nearly a garbled mess as he spat them out, but Adrian heard well enough that he glanced up with surprised, raised eyebrows, dark eyes blinking slightly.386

“You sure you’re okay with that?” Adrian asked rather innocently and more than that, concernedly, tilting his head a little before he shut his eyes, the world spinning all over again. Logan was instantly torn before he nodded, leaning down and grabbing Adrian’ bicep and yanking him from the ground.387

“I’m not letting you go home like this,” Logan murmured under his breath, soft enough so that Adrian didn’t hear him. The older man gave a slightly absent grin for no reason and leaned against Logan once more as they backtracked their way back up the apartment stairs.388

Once back into the apartment, Adrian slid down onto the floor, letting his head rest on the carpet as he couldn’t seem to hold himself up any longer. It was painfully obvious the man wasn’t used to alcohol. At all. Logan sighed and let the other man slide to the floor, as it seemed that was where he wanted to be.389

Completely uncharacteristically, Logan walked into his bedroom and grabbed one of his two pillows and a blanket, making his way back out with the objects in his hands. Adrian was lightly hitting his head on the ground before Logan slipped the pillow beneath it, and the lawyer looked up, startled.390

“You do care about me,” he slurred with wide eyes, and Logan just rolled his own eyes as he draped the blanket over his broad shoulders.391

“Don’t push your luck,” Logan retorted as he informed the other with a shake of his head and a smirk. Adrian nodded absently and shifted on the ground to lie there, stretching out his lithe form and wincing slightly at the pain of their previous animalistic act, but it was an absent gesture as he settled onto the floor.392

He didn’t rightly care that the floor was hard or that the carpet was scratchy against his palely tanned skin, or that when he woke up he’d probably have a bitch of a hangover and probably rug burns too, if he slept anything like he normally did. At the moment, the blanket and pillow were enough comfort for him as he exhaled, then inhaled sharply, smelling the musk that he always associated with Logan. He smiled a bit and buried his face deeply into the pillow. It smelled like sweat, Old Spice and something else entirely, something inherently… Logan. 393

Adrian murmured something incoherent into the pillow as he adjusted himself, laying flat on his stomach and wrapping his muscled biceps tightly around said pillow. Logan watched him, and for one, fleeting and insane second, he wished he were that pillow.394

He cursed and shook himself before turning and walking, or rather stalking back to his bedroom. He flopped back down on his bed, and stretched out, his brows furrowing as he felt pain in his nether regions.395

Man, was his dick sore…396

*** 397

Kale and Jacob stared hard at each other for a moment before Kale’s lips broke into a sheepish smile, and he bit his lip, drawing back a bit though his arms were still bracing his weight against the wall.398

“Uh…” was all he could come up with, and Jacob shot him a confused smile in return, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Kale’s lips. It was brazen or lust-filled this time, but soft and… sweet. The sandy-haired man let his eyes fall shut as he let his hands fall to Jacob’s shoulders, pulling himself closer again.399

The kiss lasted a good few minutes, just exchanging pressure and soft exhales, near-mute noises of quiet pleasure escaping chastely. When the kiss broke, Jacob was the first to speak as he searched for eye contact.400

“I want to get to know you better,” he murmured, and with that statement he got Kale’s full attention, the look of surprise melting into one of pleasure and tinged with a sigh of relief.401

“Twenty questions?” Kale suggested nearly childishly, and laughed sheepishly, and Jacob’s grin just widened, and their lips touched softly again.402

“You’re cute,” he muttered in a low undertone, and Kale ducked his head a bit, shaking it while looking up with a slightly self-satisfied smirk despite himself. “And you know it too, you sneaky bastard.”403

Kale laughed richly and nudged their noses together out of pure instinct. “Mhm,” he let out as an exhale. “But really, twenty questions is the best way to get to know someone.” He grinned a bit and glanced up through thick eyelashes. The officer chuckled and sighed dramatically.404

“Okay, let’s go to my room, and you can start,” Jacob suggested, and Kale laughed softly again, feeling the other man take his hand and lead him down the hallway.405

Jacob led Kale to his room and dragged him onto his queen-sized bed. Kale hummed in momentary contentment as he lay back on the soft Loganress.406

“You know what?” Jacob piped up, and Kale popped one eye open, raising an eyebrow in question. “I’ll go first, since you have a one-up on me. What do you do?”407

“Like, profession wise?” Kale clarified with a slow smile, and Jacob nodded. “I’m a personal trainer.” He forced himself up to a sitting position, glancing over and seeing Jacob’s face contorted into a look of silent question, and he grinned again. “No, not celebrities. Just your regular, everyday overweight people who want to better themselves.” He chuckled as he stretched his body out, looking over to see Jacob smiling at him. “Man, I wish I worked with celebrities sometimes, but then I think of how rude some of them seem to e, and for a moment I’m content with what I have now.”408

Jacob’s grin widened, because it seemed that Kale was the kind of guy that only extensively talked about something that he knew and loved. He liked that quality in a person.409

“So, are you gay, bi, curious, what?” Kale inquired, everything down to his tone innocent as he pegged Jacob with a curious stare. The officer smiled a bit.410

“Bi, for the most part,” he replied with a shrug. “You love who you love. Who gives anyone else the right to tell someone who they can and can’t love?”411

Kale smiled softly and nodded. “I completely agree,” he said in a slightly soft tone. “I guess I am too. I don’t really… know what I am, you know?” his eyebrows furrowed a bit, licking over his lips. It was Jacob’s turn to nod as he shifted on the bed to lay on his side.412

“Are you from L.A. originally?” Jacob asked, and Kale shook his head, shifting his own weight to match the angle of his conversational partner, propping his head up with the palm of his hand.413

“I’m from Huntington Beach,” he explained, and Jacob nodded. He raised his eyebrows in slightly, silent question.414

“I’m originally from Newport Beach, so at least we’re both Native Californians,” Jacob quipped with a grin, and Kale nodded with a laugh, twirling his short hair between his fingers idly.415

“Is that a big time in your relationships?” the trainer asked, halfway between teasing and serious, but serious enough to have it count in their little game. Jacob laughed, lowering his lids slightly with a shrug.416

“Not really, but it’s kinda cool, isn’t it?” Jacob offered with a slight grin, and Kale assented silently with a nod, his tongue passing over his bottom lip again.417

“What’s your favorite food?” Jacob asked, and Kale gave a small smile, rubbing the back of his neck lightly as he debated his options.418

“I’m a total health food nut,” he admitted, laughing softly. “Not a vegetarian, but a lot of their food is really good. Like hummus? I could eat that stuff for hours, but I think I’d end up getting fat anyway.” He laughed again, a soft and dulcet sound.419

Jacob was really liking all of the little quirks that he kept finding in Kale, like the way his smile turned just so when he liked the topic at hand, or a pass of a hand through his hair idly, or the way his eyebrows furrowed when he was thinking of an answer, the lines around his mouth deepening as the concentration momentarily bled on his face or the mindless way he licked over his lips.420

”What about you?” Kale’s smooth baritone broke Jacob out of his thoughts, and he smiled a bit more, shrugging slightly and laughing a bit sheepishly.421

“I will pretty much eat anything,” Jacob revealed with a slight chuckle and a rather proud grin as he rolled onto his back, his head pressing back into the pillow as he sighed. It was mere natural instinct for Kale to move in, press his body to the other’s side and rest his head on the officer’s upturned chest. Unbeknownst to either, they smiled simultaneously as they suddenly lapsed into a comfortable silence.422

This talking thing wasn’t so bad, but the comfort of the silence was a little better, Kale decided as he shut his eyes and listened to Jacob’s slow and lulling heartbeat.423

*** 424

Jack, one of Adrian's coworkers, was lazing around his penthouse, staring at the ceiling and listening to music; he was focusing on the hard and heavy drum beats that carried Pantera’s ‘Cemetery Gates’. He should have been working on a case and he meant to. The file was spread nearly lasciviously in his lap, the pages draping over his legs as he sprawled out on his couch. It had something to do with petty larceny. He always wondered why Tony and Adrian gave him the petty cases. He was just as good of a lawyer as they were, in his opinion.425

He picked up the case file finally and looked it over. David Seward, twenty-three, petty larceny. It looked to him like he tried to steal out a grocery outlet or something, which meant that his situation was (ten to one) pretty damn desperate. He frowned a bit as his lithe and spider-like fingers traced over the rounded and scowling face of his charge. The kid looked like he was fifteen.426

“Fuckin’… kid,” he murmured, his brows furrowing a little, making a mental note to visit the kid the next day. He didn’t know what kind of case he could build. Maybe negligence? If he still lived with his parents. Maybe he could argue that the kid was destitute. He’d think of something.427

God, I feel old, he thought bitterly to himself as he snapped the case file closed with a heavy sigh, letting his head fall back on the arm of the couch, and the instant his ice-blue eyes were behind his eyelids, he was out cold.