Fic: A Thousand Words (7/8)
Title: A Thousand Words
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Nick/OMC
Characters: Nick Stokes, Jim Brass, OMC
Warnings: More sex; these guys are going at it like energizer bunnies
Spoilers: None
A/N: This is an AU. In this story, Greg Sanders is not a CSI nor was he ever a DNA technician.
Previous chapters can be found here
The two weeks Nick and Eric spent at the cabin in the mountains would stay in Nick’s mind for the rest of his life. It was chaos, it was heaven, it was complete upheaval and it was perfection.
When he woke up from his second nap of the day with Eric wound around him like an ace bandage, he blinked for a few moments and then he smiled and let out a long, deep sigh. To wake up after making love the way they had and to have his partner so close against him he could feel his chest move when he breathed, had to be the best feeling in the world. The frosting on the cake was; they had absolutely nothing they had to do and no place they had to be. He could just lay there and luxuriate in the feel of the comfortable mattress and the soft silken sheets and Eric’s skin. Eric’s skin was softer than any sheet Nick had ever slept on.
He let his hand slide down Eric’s silky back and down to the curve of his ass. He started to gently move one finger between the tight cheeks but he noticed two things. The first was the way Eric sighed and moved even closer to him when he touched him and the other was the soft whimper and twitch of his ass. Nick realized that he might be ready for round two but Eric’s butt wasn’t.
He immediately withdrew his finger and let his hand slide back up to Eric’s shoulder. He could wait. He had all the time in the world. He wasn’t about to spoil this heaven on earth by making his partner uncomfortable. Nick really wanted to lay there like that for the rest of his life but unfortunately, his bladder had other ideas. He began to try to free himself from Eric’s octopus-like grip on him which was not easy. He finally figured that if he slipped one of the pillows in Eric’s arms, he might be able to make his get-a-way. It took a while but he finally was on his feet. Eric had a death grip on the pillow and was rubbing his cheek against the soft pillowcase, the way he had done on Nick’s chest. Nick bent down, smoothed his hair off his forehead and gently kissed his cheek.
* * * * * * * * * *
After his trip to the bathroom, Nick was too awake to crawl back into bed with Eric so he headed for the kitchen to see about some solid food. He found a beautiful pork loin in the freezer and moved it to the fridge to thaw. The loin would not be ready to prepare today so he investigated some more and found a package of ground sirloin in the meat keeper. He smiled and started looking further. Yep, everything he needed to make some killer tacos and he even found a bag of avocado’s in the pantry. Oh Yeah…tacos, guacamole, salsa and cold beer. It just doesn’t get any better than that…well except for the great roast loin of pork he would make tomorrow. Nick, like so many men, loved to cook. He had a natural aptitude for it and Lupe, the Stokes family cook had spent many happy hours passing her skills and recipes on to the youngest (and as far as she was concerned, the cutest) member of the Stokes family.
He prepared all the condiments for the tacos, chopping extra tomatos and onions for the guacamole. When everything was ready except for the cooking of the meat, he decided to look around his home away from home for the next couple of weeks.
The cabin was spacious but really quite simple. There was the kitchen; a perfect mixture of stainless steel efficiency and warm, wooden comfort. There was the main or great room. This was a really large room with high ceilings with big wooden beams. There was a big, stone-faced fireplace with something Nick thought he recognized but surely, it couldn’t be. He walked over and sure enough, the fireplace was equipped with a long, iron arm that could be swiveled out so an iron pot could be hung on the end and then swiveled back into the fire. Nick had seen the same thing in his grandparent’s fireplace in Texas and he knew that beans or stew or chili cooked in one of those pots in the heat of an open fire was food fit for the Gods. He was thinking about going outside when he thought he heard a noise from the bedroom.
He pushed the door open carefully in case Eric was still sleeping and almost laughed out loud. Eric was sort of sitting up in the bed glaring down at the pillow he was still holding in his arms. He had a confused scowl (if there was such a thing) on his face. Nick knew as sure as if he’d said it out loud that Eric was trying to figure out why he was hugging a pillow and not a sexy CSI.
“Some thing missing?” he almost spoiled his remark by laughing out loud.
“How did you get away from me? I thought I had enough arms and legs wrapped around you to keep you captive until I woke up.”
“You did; but us CSI’s are sneaky critters; especially those of us from Texas.” Nick walked on into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Eric scooted over until he was against Nick’s side and dropped his head down on his shoulder. His lips latched onto Nick’s neck and he let out a happy hum when he tasted him. Nick dropped his head back to allow Eric easy access to him and Eric’s hum changed to a happy moan as he began to kiss and gently suck on the soft flesh.
Nick caught his breath. He was amazed at his body’s reaction. He was almost 41 and he was getting hard just like a teenager with raging hormones. Okay, so his hormones were still capable of raging but damn, he shouldn’t be getting an instant hard-on that easy. He pulled back a little and smiled down at Eric. He dropped a kiss on the eager mouth so close to his. “Don’t let that sexy mouth of yours start something your poor, sore butt isn’t able to finish.”
Eric looked at him and said with a cute little leer, “What makes you think my butt isn’t gonna be able to finish, cowboy?”
“Because that cute little butt of yours got reamed pretty bad…..”
“Good.”
“Huh, what do you mean good?”
“My butt got reamed pretty good. I was there remember. That qualified as a world class reaming.”
Nick kissed Eric deeply and thoroughly.
“What was that for?” Eric said when he got his breath back.
“Well like you said earlier. Some things just require some sort of gesture and I thought you deserved one as a thank you for the great evaluation. But I still say, good or bad, baby that butt of yours got reamed and it needs a period of recuperation. So don’t be licking on me till you can keep up your end…so to speak.”
“Ohh Stokes; that was a lousy pun and I think I should be allowed to decide for myself what my ass is or is not…up to.”
“You should huh,” Nick said as he laid Eric back down on the bed and proceeded to try to suck the air out of his lungs. While he had Eric completely engrossed in their passionate lip lock, he slid his hand down his back and again and as he had earlier, he slid one finger between his cheeks and gently touched his puckered hole. Eric broke the kiss with a sharp hiss of pain. Nick dropped a kiss on his chin and said, “Yeah, you really should be making that decision, shouldn’t you?”
Eric glared at Nick and said, “Damn I hate it when you’re right. Okay, so my butt does need a small period of down time so to speak. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do other things does it?”
“Other things…Like what other things do you want to do? You give me a few examples and maybe we’ll see if I can fit them into my busy schedule.”
Eric looked at Nick and said, “Oh you are in so much trouble Stokes. I think I already told you God doesn’t like a smart ass. And you are being a top drawer smart ass right now. Just because you’re good in bed doesn’t mean I have to put up with that smart mouth of yours.”
Nick leaned over and gently ran the tip of his tongue over Eric’s lips. Eric opened his mouth and tried to grab Nick’s tongue but he was faster and pulled back before Eric could do more than just touch their tongues together. “I bet you money; some of those examples of yours involve my smart mouth on various parts of your anatomy so you better be treating this mouth of mine with loving care. Now get up and get some clothes on. I hope you like tacos and guacamole because I’ve almost got it ready to go on the table and then let’s do some exploring.”
Eric was still grumbling when Nick pulled him up and sent him off to the bathroom. He started to swat him on his behind but changed his mind when he remembered the little hiss of pain he’d let out when he’d just brushed his finger across his abused opening. Nick got up and headed for the kitchen to start the ground sirloin for the tacos. He thought maybe he ought to be a little ashamed of himself for being so aggressive with Eric the first time they had sex together but all he could think about was the look on his lover’s face when he’d said “Yippee-Ki-yay Cowboy.” He knew as fierce as their feelings were for each other, it probably couldn’t have happened any other way. Maybe after they were a little more sure of each other, they could slow down and take their time but for right now, the passion was too hot, too extreme. Nick swore he would be more careful next time and after all, he was almost 15 years older than Eric; he could not perform at that level on a regular basis. Nature would put an automatic brake on their wild sex so he might as well enjoy it while he could.
* * * * * * * * * *
It had been almost 8 days since Nick just assumed Nature would slow him down and so far, he showed no signs. He had that morning accused Eric of slipping Viagra or something like that in his food. He was in a state of almost perpetual heat. He could not keep his hands, his mouth or his dick off his room-mate and thank the dear lord; Eric seemed to be just as insatiable as he was.
They had made love everywhere in and out of the cabin. After they had their dinner that first day, they had gone investigating. They had wandered around outside checking out the perimeter of the property. Nick checked the big SUV over and started the engine to make sure the battery was charged up. It was a magnificent site for a cabin. The back of the cabin looked out over what appeared to be hundreds of miles of trees and snow drifts. There was not another building within sight for as far as the eye could see and since the air was so clear, they could see for a long way.
Eric was like a little kid showing off the cabin to Nick. He took him to the back of the house and pulled aside what Nick had thought was just a really beautiful woven blanket used as a wall hanging. The blanket concealed a locked door. When Eric unlocked the door and pulled Nick through, he was on a screened in porch that was fitted with storm windows, a small wood-burning stove and a bubbling hot-tub. Nick was stunned. He had no idea the room was there. He asked Eric if he had any more surprises up his sleeve. Eric slipped his arms around his waist and told him he had not looked in the big barn yet. They would do that tomorrow because the sun had already dropped behind the mountains and it was getting dark and cold. He asked Nick if he felt like whomping up the little stove on the porch or if he just wanted to turn on the electric heat while they enjoyed relaxing in the tub. Nick went back into the living room and brought a big armful of kindling and a few larger logs and within the half-hour, he had the little room so warm, it was almost a necessity to slip out of their clothes and into the tub.
While Nick was getting the stove going, Eric had gone to the kitchen and brought back a wine bucket on a stand filled with ice cubes and a bottle of wine sticking out of the stand. He had two champagne flutes in his other hand. He set up their wine service and then went back to the kitchen. Nick was beginning to wonder where he was when he showed up with a platter of cheese and crackers. On another big platter he had fruit, chocolates and a bowl of mixed nuts.
Nick started to tease him about being a bottomless pit because he had eaten tacos and guacamole at dinner until Nick thought he was going to bust. Then Nick realized that had been almost four hours ago. They had been exploring outside and tromping through the deep snow and come to think of it, he’d worked up an appetite also. As he watched Eric set the trays on the wooden deck surrounding the tub and then slip out of his clothes, he realized he’d worked up an appetite for the beautiful naked man looking at him with a smile on his face and a semi-erection.
Eric held out his hand and said, “Are you ready to join me handsome. I’ll show you a real good time even if my ass isn't open for business yet.”
Nick laughed out loud and thought that he did that a lot with Eric; just laugh at the sheer joy of being with this man. He stripped off his socks and walked over to join Eric.
Eric was right; Nick had a great time and didn’t miss Eric’s gorgeous butt one single bit. After all; when you have a warm wet mouth wrapped around your dick and a tongue that should have been declared illegal in any state, teasing and licking in your slit, you had no business thinking about anything else.
* * * * * * * * * *
That had been the first 24 hours at the cabin. It had been like that every day since. Nick was only partially joking about the Viagra. Logic told him it was impossible for him to perform at the levels he had been since that first day. He seemed to be ready at the drop of a hat or pants as the case may be. The days blended into a blur of sex and happiness greater than anything Nick had ever imagined. He and Eric had explored the big barn the next day and found treasures beyond belief. Two snowmobiles, snowshoes, cross country ski’s, their area was too wooded for down hill sking but cross country was very doable. Nick had found an almost brand new chain saw in a case and a very expensive axe and shims. Eric had no idea what they were so Nick explained to him they were all he needed to make sure they had firewood for as long as they wanted to stay. Eric’s response scared Nick to death.
He’d leaned against Nick’s shoulder and said, “Good, then we can stay here forever…well, we can as soon as we figure out how to keep the fridge stocked.” The remark scared Nick because he was thinking he never wanted to leave the mountain and this beautiful, smart, funny man he loved so very much.
Nick was conscientious about working with Eric to uncover any other suspects in his murder. Jim and Warrick were in a catch-22 back at the lab. Because the five of them; Nick, Eric, Charles, Jim and Warrick were the only people who knew the dead man was Terry Whalen and there was no way they could tell anyone else, they couldn’t work the case as though the body was Terry Whalen. As far as everyone else knew, Eric Sanders was still very dead and there were no clues what-so-ever to his killer. They had been able to get some info on Terry Whalen by reporting that Charles had thought of his name but they couldn’t seem to find Terry Whalen to bring him in for questioning. Talk about a vicious circle!
Every day Nick and Eric settled down and talked about Eric’s past. To keep it from being too clinical, they decided they would just ask each other questions and that way they would both get to know each other better.
Nick talked about his life as the youngest of seven and Eric talked about growing up in one foster home after another. His mother had been a whore. Nick had asked him how he knew she was a prostitute and Eric corrected him. His mother had NOT been a prostitute; you had to have a certain amount of class to be a prostitute. His mother had been a five dollar whore. He was taken away from her at the age of four. He vaguely remembered being locked in their shit hole of an apartment with her after she had been beaten almost to death by one of her ‘clients’. He had no idea how long he’d been there but his bawling had irritated the neighbors and they had finally called the cops to shut up the screaming brat next door.
Nick never knew who he was comforting; him or Eric. He had held him in his arms and just kissed him and told him how much he loved him and how wonderful he was and how happy he made him. They had stayed curled together on the couch for a long time after that little session. Nick had reported a short version of the story to Jim. When they talked the next time, Jim was so angry Nick had trouble understanding him until he realized Jim was talking through clenched teeth. He’d used Eric’s professional bio to find out where he’d been born, (San Gabriel, California). Then he’d worked his way through the San Gabriel on-line files dating from Eric’s birth year. He’d caught a big break because San Gabriel had gotten a huge government grant and used a large portion of it to put every record they had on-line in a gigantic data base. He’d found the incident. A four year old male child had been found by police in a filthy apartment with the body of his dead mother. She had been badly beaten and had drowned in her own blood. As near as they could figure, the child had been there with her body for six days. He’d drank water out of the toilet and eaten some crackers and dried, raw macaroni. That was all he’d had for at least 4 days. He was placed in foster care and eventually disappeared into the black hole that was child placement in these United States.
Nick made slow, sweet love to Eric all that night after he talked to Jim.
* * * * * * * * * *
It wasn’t all tears and sorrow. Eric told Nick some stories about his start as a musician that had him rolling on the floor. It seems that Eric’s first experience with dope was also his last. He was just barely 15 years old and playing piano with a group in a San Fernando Valley dive. Nick had interrupted him and said, “Hey, I thought San Fernando was where all the movie folks lived. Where did you find a dive?”
Eric grinned at him and said, “Nicky, you of all people ought to know by now, if there is a dive to be found…I will find it. Now can I continue?”
Nick threw some popcorn at him and told by all means to enlighten him on the seamy side of life among the rich and famous.
“So, I’m playing piano with these guys and we were doing pretty good. They had a solid sound and I’m actually a better piano player than I am guitar; it’s just that guitar is more ‘visual’ if you know what I mean. We were beginning to get repeat customers; you know, folks who would come on the nights we were playing just to listen to us. I was smart enough to never drink. Alcohol has never been a problem for me. There are some types like the wine we drink in the evening that I just love but really hard rot gut has never appealed to me. So one night, this sweet little grey haired old lady who always came to see us and always left a hundred dollar bill for the ‘boys in the band’ brings us two big pans of home-made brownies. Now I may not have a taste for liquor but oh God do I have a sweet tooth. I was in that first pan so fast I almost knocked the bass player down to get to them. They were without a doubt the best brownies I have ever had in my life. To this day, I remember the taste of those brownies and they were still warm Nick. Jesus I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. We all had a brownie before we went on for our second set (I had three before I hit the stage) and we had another while we were playing. Man I don’t think I’ve ever played any better than I did that night. I was fueled by those great brownies. I finally figured out the reason they had such a different flavor. They had bits of green leaves through out them and she said it was the fresh mint she put in them.”
About this time Nick started chuckling. The more Eric talked the harder Nick laughed and by the time he got to the end of the story, Nick had rolled off the couch and was laying on the floor with tears rolling down his face.
Eric ignored him and continued his story. “From your oafish behavior, I assume you have guessed the secret of the delectable brownies. It wasn’t mint. The old darling raised marijuana and had laced the hell out of the brownies. We played like we’d never played before. We had the joint rocking and everyone on their feet. We thought we were playing a little too slow so we speeded up the tempo. Of course, grass makes everything slow down so when we speeded up, man we had those instruments smoking. When we finally finished our set, we got a standing ovation. We couldn’t respond because I swear every damn one of us had no limbs below our knees. I fell off the damn piano bench and crawled over to the guy on the drums and managed to get him out from behind them and together we crawled off the stage. Somebody on the crew got us on our feet and back to our dressing room. They went back to collect the rest of our guys and threw them in there with us to try to sober up. Unfortunately, the aftermath of a real Mary Jane binge is intense hunger so we decided we needed to go get something to eat. We knew there was a KFC just down the road so we piled into the old station wagon we used and started off. We got pulled over for doing twenty miles an hour in a 55 mile zone. The guy driving was our bass player and he was legally blind which we didn’t know but the cops found out when they looked at his drivers license.”
“My false ID was good enough to get me a gig with the group but not good enough to stand up to a real examination by pro’s so I got bounced from the group and just managed to escape being put back into foster care by the skin of my teeth. I do have to say, we never ratted out the old lady. I am proud of that.”
* * * * * * * * * *
They were at the end of their second week and were at the end of their rope. They had examined Eric’s life practically back to kindergarten and come up with nothing and no one who could have hated him enough to kill him.
Nick was feeling real guilt. Every time he talked with Warrick, he could hear the exhaustion in his voice. While he was playing house up in the mountains with the hottest man in the world, his team mates were working doubles and even a triple or two to cope with his absence. It didn’t help matters at all that Nick was beginning to reconsider his remark about not being a house-husband. He was so happy he was scared. He thought he could easily stay right here in this cabin with this man for the rest of his life and never want anything else in the world.
He thought he’d figured out how to put an end to his thoughts the day he asked Eric if he missed his music and performing in front of an audience. He was sure Eric was going to tell him he was ready to go back and claim his place in the world again. Eric had looked at him as though he’d grown a second head.
“What makes you think I’m missing my music? Have you not noticed or heard the keyboard I play on for hour’s everyday?”
“Yes of course I have. It’s one of the things I love the most about this place. I can be outside working on the woodpile and I can hear you play. I can be a long way away from the cabin out in the woods and still hear you. It’s like listening to angels.”
Eric walked over and kissed Nick deeply. “God how do you do that? How do you always know just what to say to reduce me to a blubbering idiot? No Nick, I don’t miss performing at all. For me, it’s always been the music. Performing is a means to an end. It gets me the money to make the kind of music I want to and the access to other musicians. If I never get on a stage again, I won’t care. As long as I have my keyboard I’m fine. BUT I do have to admit, I’ve been sort of playing with an idea lately. Do you want to see?”
Nick said yes and Eric dashed down the hall to their bedroom. He was back in seconds with a roll of paper. When he unrolled it, Nick could see it was an addition to the cabin.
“What’s this baby?”
“It’s a studio. It’s not a real big room because I don’t think I would actually be recording with a big group but it would allow me to bring some of my guys up here and we could use overdubbing to cut our CD’s. It’s not like I work with a symphony orchestra or something.”
Nick looked at Eric; really looked closely at him. Eric realized that Nick was quiet and looked up at him. “What…what are you looking at me like that for Nick?”
“Eric, are you telling me you would be happy up here? You’d give up the mansion in Vegas, the private jets, the hordes of people screaming your name? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
Eric looked at him and said softly, “If you were with me Nick, I’d be happy in a cave.” Nick had kissed Eric and pulled him down on the floor and made love to him on top of his drawings.
* * * * * * * * * *
The next day reality reared its ugly head big time. Nick and Eric were out sledding. They had found a small slope not to far away that was too short for skiing but just right for a sled. They had found some big washtubs in the barn and were using them for sleds. They were yelling and laughing like kids. It was so much fun to just stop being a grown up and let loose like a kid again.
They had just finished a run and were tangled together at the bottom of the hill laughing like loons when Eric suddenly stopped laughing. It took Nick a minute to realize Eric was quiet and looking at him.
“What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?”
“Nick, we have explored my life practically from the moment I popped out of the womb until now…right?”
“Yes, I think we have. What’s your point?”
“We haven’t found one single person who wants to kill me. If it was some nutcase that just wanted to pop a celebrity and get his 15 minutes of fame, he’d have crawled out from under his rock by now to get his face on TV.”
Nick thought for a moment and said, “Yes I agree with that which just makes me all the more afraid for you. We have no idea why this person killed you.”
“Nick…what if he didn’t kill me.”
“Are you forgetting the scene in your den because I sure can’t get it out of my mind? I have nightmares about that and the thought that someone could get to you makes me sick to my stomach.”
Eric wrapped his arms around Nick and kissed him and told him he was right there and he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Nick listen to me. What if he didn’t kill me? What if he knew exactly who he killed? What if Terry Whalen was the victim all along?”
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Nick/OMC
Characters: Nick Stokes, Jim Brass, OMC
Warnings: More sex; these guys are going at it like energizer bunnies
Spoilers: None
A/N: This is an AU. In this story, Greg Sanders is not a CSI nor was he ever a DNA technician.
Previous chapters can be found here
The two weeks Nick and Eric spent at the cabin in the mountains would stay in Nick’s mind for the rest of his life. It was chaos, it was heaven, it was complete upheaval and it was perfection.
When he woke up from his second nap of the day with Eric wound around him like an ace bandage, he blinked for a few moments and then he smiled and let out a long, deep sigh. To wake up after making love the way they had and to have his partner so close against him he could feel his chest move when he breathed, had to be the best feeling in the world. The frosting on the cake was; they had absolutely nothing they had to do and no place they had to be. He could just lay there and luxuriate in the feel of the comfortable mattress and the soft silken sheets and Eric’s skin. Eric’s skin was softer than any sheet Nick had ever slept on.
He let his hand slide down Eric’s silky back and down to the curve of his ass. He started to gently move one finger between the tight cheeks but he noticed two things. The first was the way Eric sighed and moved even closer to him when he touched him and the other was the soft whimper and twitch of his ass. Nick realized that he might be ready for round two but Eric’s butt wasn’t.
He immediately withdrew his finger and let his hand slide back up to Eric’s shoulder. He could wait. He had all the time in the world. He wasn’t about to spoil this heaven on earth by making his partner uncomfortable. Nick really wanted to lay there like that for the rest of his life but unfortunately, his bladder had other ideas. He began to try to free himself from Eric’s octopus-like grip on him which was not easy. He finally figured that if he slipped one of the pillows in Eric’s arms, he might be able to make his get-a-way. It took a while but he finally was on his feet. Eric had a death grip on the pillow and was rubbing his cheek against the soft pillowcase, the way he had done on Nick’s chest. Nick bent down, smoothed his hair off his forehead and gently kissed his cheek.
* * * * * * * * * *
After his trip to the bathroom, Nick was too awake to crawl back into bed with Eric so he headed for the kitchen to see about some solid food. He found a beautiful pork loin in the freezer and moved it to the fridge to thaw. The loin would not be ready to prepare today so he investigated some more and found a package of ground sirloin in the meat keeper. He smiled and started looking further. Yep, everything he needed to make some killer tacos and he even found a bag of avocado’s in the pantry. Oh Yeah…tacos, guacamole, salsa and cold beer. It just doesn’t get any better than that…well except for the great roast loin of pork he would make tomorrow. Nick, like so many men, loved to cook. He had a natural aptitude for it and Lupe, the Stokes family cook had spent many happy hours passing her skills and recipes on to the youngest (and as far as she was concerned, the cutest) member of the Stokes family.
He prepared all the condiments for the tacos, chopping extra tomatos and onions for the guacamole. When everything was ready except for the cooking of the meat, he decided to look around his home away from home for the next couple of weeks.
The cabin was spacious but really quite simple. There was the kitchen; a perfect mixture of stainless steel efficiency and warm, wooden comfort. There was the main or great room. This was a really large room with high ceilings with big wooden beams. There was a big, stone-faced fireplace with something Nick thought he recognized but surely, it couldn’t be. He walked over and sure enough, the fireplace was equipped with a long, iron arm that could be swiveled out so an iron pot could be hung on the end and then swiveled back into the fire. Nick had seen the same thing in his grandparent’s fireplace in Texas and he knew that beans or stew or chili cooked in one of those pots in the heat of an open fire was food fit for the Gods. He was thinking about going outside when he thought he heard a noise from the bedroom.
He pushed the door open carefully in case Eric was still sleeping and almost laughed out loud. Eric was sort of sitting up in the bed glaring down at the pillow he was still holding in his arms. He had a confused scowl (if there was such a thing) on his face. Nick knew as sure as if he’d said it out loud that Eric was trying to figure out why he was hugging a pillow and not a sexy CSI.
“Some thing missing?” he almost spoiled his remark by laughing out loud.
“How did you get away from me? I thought I had enough arms and legs wrapped around you to keep you captive until I woke up.”
“You did; but us CSI’s are sneaky critters; especially those of us from Texas.” Nick walked on into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Eric scooted over until he was against Nick’s side and dropped his head down on his shoulder. His lips latched onto Nick’s neck and he let out a happy hum when he tasted him. Nick dropped his head back to allow Eric easy access to him and Eric’s hum changed to a happy moan as he began to kiss and gently suck on the soft flesh.
Nick caught his breath. He was amazed at his body’s reaction. He was almost 41 and he was getting hard just like a teenager with raging hormones. Okay, so his hormones were still capable of raging but damn, he shouldn’t be getting an instant hard-on that easy. He pulled back a little and smiled down at Eric. He dropped a kiss on the eager mouth so close to his. “Don’t let that sexy mouth of yours start something your poor, sore butt isn’t able to finish.”
Eric looked at him and said with a cute little leer, “What makes you think my butt isn’t gonna be able to finish, cowboy?”
“Because that cute little butt of yours got reamed pretty bad…..”
“Good.”
“Huh, what do you mean good?”
“My butt got reamed pretty good. I was there remember. That qualified as a world class reaming.”
Nick kissed Eric deeply and thoroughly.
“What was that for?” Eric said when he got his breath back.
“Well like you said earlier. Some things just require some sort of gesture and I thought you deserved one as a thank you for the great evaluation. But I still say, good or bad, baby that butt of yours got reamed and it needs a period of recuperation. So don’t be licking on me till you can keep up your end…so to speak.”
“Ohh Stokes; that was a lousy pun and I think I should be allowed to decide for myself what my ass is or is not…up to.”
“You should huh,” Nick said as he laid Eric back down on the bed and proceeded to try to suck the air out of his lungs. While he had Eric completely engrossed in their passionate lip lock, he slid his hand down his back and again and as he had earlier, he slid one finger between his cheeks and gently touched his puckered hole. Eric broke the kiss with a sharp hiss of pain. Nick dropped a kiss on his chin and said, “Yeah, you really should be making that decision, shouldn’t you?”
Eric glared at Nick and said, “Damn I hate it when you’re right. Okay, so my butt does need a small period of down time so to speak. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do other things does it?”
“Other things…Like what other things do you want to do? You give me a few examples and maybe we’ll see if I can fit them into my busy schedule.”
Eric looked at Nick and said, “Oh you are in so much trouble Stokes. I think I already told you God doesn’t like a smart ass. And you are being a top drawer smart ass right now. Just because you’re good in bed doesn’t mean I have to put up with that smart mouth of yours.”
Nick leaned over and gently ran the tip of his tongue over Eric’s lips. Eric opened his mouth and tried to grab Nick’s tongue but he was faster and pulled back before Eric could do more than just touch their tongues together. “I bet you money; some of those examples of yours involve my smart mouth on various parts of your anatomy so you better be treating this mouth of mine with loving care. Now get up and get some clothes on. I hope you like tacos and guacamole because I’ve almost got it ready to go on the table and then let’s do some exploring.”
Eric was still grumbling when Nick pulled him up and sent him off to the bathroom. He started to swat him on his behind but changed his mind when he remembered the little hiss of pain he’d let out when he’d just brushed his finger across his abused opening. Nick got up and headed for the kitchen to start the ground sirloin for the tacos. He thought maybe he ought to be a little ashamed of himself for being so aggressive with Eric the first time they had sex together but all he could think about was the look on his lover’s face when he’d said “Yippee-Ki-yay Cowboy.” He knew as fierce as their feelings were for each other, it probably couldn’t have happened any other way. Maybe after they were a little more sure of each other, they could slow down and take their time but for right now, the passion was too hot, too extreme. Nick swore he would be more careful next time and after all, he was almost 15 years older than Eric; he could not perform at that level on a regular basis. Nature would put an automatic brake on their wild sex so he might as well enjoy it while he could.
* * * * * * * * * *
It had been almost 8 days since Nick just assumed Nature would slow him down and so far, he showed no signs. He had that morning accused Eric of slipping Viagra or something like that in his food. He was in a state of almost perpetual heat. He could not keep his hands, his mouth or his dick off his room-mate and thank the dear lord; Eric seemed to be just as insatiable as he was.
They had made love everywhere in and out of the cabin. After they had their dinner that first day, they had gone investigating. They had wandered around outside checking out the perimeter of the property. Nick checked the big SUV over and started the engine to make sure the battery was charged up. It was a magnificent site for a cabin. The back of the cabin looked out over what appeared to be hundreds of miles of trees and snow drifts. There was not another building within sight for as far as the eye could see and since the air was so clear, they could see for a long way.
Eric was like a little kid showing off the cabin to Nick. He took him to the back of the house and pulled aside what Nick had thought was just a really beautiful woven blanket used as a wall hanging. The blanket concealed a locked door. When Eric unlocked the door and pulled Nick through, he was on a screened in porch that was fitted with storm windows, a small wood-burning stove and a bubbling hot-tub. Nick was stunned. He had no idea the room was there. He asked Eric if he had any more surprises up his sleeve. Eric slipped his arms around his waist and told him he had not looked in the big barn yet. They would do that tomorrow because the sun had already dropped behind the mountains and it was getting dark and cold. He asked Nick if he felt like whomping up the little stove on the porch or if he just wanted to turn on the electric heat while they enjoyed relaxing in the tub. Nick went back into the living room and brought a big armful of kindling and a few larger logs and within the half-hour, he had the little room so warm, it was almost a necessity to slip out of their clothes and into the tub.
While Nick was getting the stove going, Eric had gone to the kitchen and brought back a wine bucket on a stand filled with ice cubes and a bottle of wine sticking out of the stand. He had two champagne flutes in his other hand. He set up their wine service and then went back to the kitchen. Nick was beginning to wonder where he was when he showed up with a platter of cheese and crackers. On another big platter he had fruit, chocolates and a bowl of mixed nuts.
Nick started to tease him about being a bottomless pit because he had eaten tacos and guacamole at dinner until Nick thought he was going to bust. Then Nick realized that had been almost four hours ago. They had been exploring outside and tromping through the deep snow and come to think of it, he’d worked up an appetite also. As he watched Eric set the trays on the wooden deck surrounding the tub and then slip out of his clothes, he realized he’d worked up an appetite for the beautiful naked man looking at him with a smile on his face and a semi-erection.
Eric held out his hand and said, “Are you ready to join me handsome. I’ll show you a real good time even if my ass isn't open for business yet.”
Nick laughed out loud and thought that he did that a lot with Eric; just laugh at the sheer joy of being with this man. He stripped off his socks and walked over to join Eric.
Eric was right; Nick had a great time and didn’t miss Eric’s gorgeous butt one single bit. After all; when you have a warm wet mouth wrapped around your dick and a tongue that should have been declared illegal in any state, teasing and licking in your slit, you had no business thinking about anything else.
* * * * * * * * * *
That had been the first 24 hours at the cabin. It had been like that every day since. Nick was only partially joking about the Viagra. Logic told him it was impossible for him to perform at the levels he had been since that first day. He seemed to be ready at the drop of a hat or pants as the case may be. The days blended into a blur of sex and happiness greater than anything Nick had ever imagined. He and Eric had explored the big barn the next day and found treasures beyond belief. Two snowmobiles, snowshoes, cross country ski’s, their area was too wooded for down hill sking but cross country was very doable. Nick had found an almost brand new chain saw in a case and a very expensive axe and shims. Eric had no idea what they were so Nick explained to him they were all he needed to make sure they had firewood for as long as they wanted to stay. Eric’s response scared Nick to death.
He’d leaned against Nick’s shoulder and said, “Good, then we can stay here forever…well, we can as soon as we figure out how to keep the fridge stocked.” The remark scared Nick because he was thinking he never wanted to leave the mountain and this beautiful, smart, funny man he loved so very much.
Nick was conscientious about working with Eric to uncover any other suspects in his murder. Jim and Warrick were in a catch-22 back at the lab. Because the five of them; Nick, Eric, Charles, Jim and Warrick were the only people who knew the dead man was Terry Whalen and there was no way they could tell anyone else, they couldn’t work the case as though the body was Terry Whalen. As far as everyone else knew, Eric Sanders was still very dead and there were no clues what-so-ever to his killer. They had been able to get some info on Terry Whalen by reporting that Charles had thought of his name but they couldn’t seem to find Terry Whalen to bring him in for questioning. Talk about a vicious circle!
Every day Nick and Eric settled down and talked about Eric’s past. To keep it from being too clinical, they decided they would just ask each other questions and that way they would both get to know each other better.
Nick talked about his life as the youngest of seven and Eric talked about growing up in one foster home after another. His mother had been a whore. Nick had asked him how he knew she was a prostitute and Eric corrected him. His mother had NOT been a prostitute; you had to have a certain amount of class to be a prostitute. His mother had been a five dollar whore. He was taken away from her at the age of four. He vaguely remembered being locked in their shit hole of an apartment with her after she had been beaten almost to death by one of her ‘clients’. He had no idea how long he’d been there but his bawling had irritated the neighbors and they had finally called the cops to shut up the screaming brat next door.
Nick never knew who he was comforting; him or Eric. He had held him in his arms and just kissed him and told him how much he loved him and how wonderful he was and how happy he made him. They had stayed curled together on the couch for a long time after that little session. Nick had reported a short version of the story to Jim. When they talked the next time, Jim was so angry Nick had trouble understanding him until he realized Jim was talking through clenched teeth. He’d used Eric’s professional bio to find out where he’d been born, (San Gabriel, California). Then he’d worked his way through the San Gabriel on-line files dating from Eric’s birth year. He’d caught a big break because San Gabriel had gotten a huge government grant and used a large portion of it to put every record they had on-line in a gigantic data base. He’d found the incident. A four year old male child had been found by police in a filthy apartment with the body of his dead mother. She had been badly beaten and had drowned in her own blood. As near as they could figure, the child had been there with her body for six days. He’d drank water out of the toilet and eaten some crackers and dried, raw macaroni. That was all he’d had for at least 4 days. He was placed in foster care and eventually disappeared into the black hole that was child placement in these United States.
Nick made slow, sweet love to Eric all that night after he talked to Jim.
* * * * * * * * * *
It wasn’t all tears and sorrow. Eric told Nick some stories about his start as a musician that had him rolling on the floor. It seems that Eric’s first experience with dope was also his last. He was just barely 15 years old and playing piano with a group in a San Fernando Valley dive. Nick had interrupted him and said, “Hey, I thought San Fernando was where all the movie folks lived. Where did you find a dive?”
Eric grinned at him and said, “Nicky, you of all people ought to know by now, if there is a dive to be found…I will find it. Now can I continue?”
Nick threw some popcorn at him and told by all means to enlighten him on the seamy side of life among the rich and famous.
“So, I’m playing piano with these guys and we were doing pretty good. They had a solid sound and I’m actually a better piano player than I am guitar; it’s just that guitar is more ‘visual’ if you know what I mean. We were beginning to get repeat customers; you know, folks who would come on the nights we were playing just to listen to us. I was smart enough to never drink. Alcohol has never been a problem for me. There are some types like the wine we drink in the evening that I just love but really hard rot gut has never appealed to me. So one night, this sweet little grey haired old lady who always came to see us and always left a hundred dollar bill for the ‘boys in the band’ brings us two big pans of home-made brownies. Now I may not have a taste for liquor but oh God do I have a sweet tooth. I was in that first pan so fast I almost knocked the bass player down to get to them. They were without a doubt the best brownies I have ever had in my life. To this day, I remember the taste of those brownies and they were still warm Nick. Jesus I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. We all had a brownie before we went on for our second set (I had three before I hit the stage) and we had another while we were playing. Man I don’t think I’ve ever played any better than I did that night. I was fueled by those great brownies. I finally figured out the reason they had such a different flavor. They had bits of green leaves through out them and she said it was the fresh mint she put in them.”
About this time Nick started chuckling. The more Eric talked the harder Nick laughed and by the time he got to the end of the story, Nick had rolled off the couch and was laying on the floor with tears rolling down his face.
Eric ignored him and continued his story. “From your oafish behavior, I assume you have guessed the secret of the delectable brownies. It wasn’t mint. The old darling raised marijuana and had laced the hell out of the brownies. We played like we’d never played before. We had the joint rocking and everyone on their feet. We thought we were playing a little too slow so we speeded up the tempo. Of course, grass makes everything slow down so when we speeded up, man we had those instruments smoking. When we finally finished our set, we got a standing ovation. We couldn’t respond because I swear every damn one of us had no limbs below our knees. I fell off the damn piano bench and crawled over to the guy on the drums and managed to get him out from behind them and together we crawled off the stage. Somebody on the crew got us on our feet and back to our dressing room. They went back to collect the rest of our guys and threw them in there with us to try to sober up. Unfortunately, the aftermath of a real Mary Jane binge is intense hunger so we decided we needed to go get something to eat. We knew there was a KFC just down the road so we piled into the old station wagon we used and started off. We got pulled over for doing twenty miles an hour in a 55 mile zone. The guy driving was our bass player and he was legally blind which we didn’t know but the cops found out when they looked at his drivers license.”
“My false ID was good enough to get me a gig with the group but not good enough to stand up to a real examination by pro’s so I got bounced from the group and just managed to escape being put back into foster care by the skin of my teeth. I do have to say, we never ratted out the old lady. I am proud of that.”
* * * * * * * * * *
They were at the end of their second week and were at the end of their rope. They had examined Eric’s life practically back to kindergarten and come up with nothing and no one who could have hated him enough to kill him.
Nick was feeling real guilt. Every time he talked with Warrick, he could hear the exhaustion in his voice. While he was playing house up in the mountains with the hottest man in the world, his team mates were working doubles and even a triple or two to cope with his absence. It didn’t help matters at all that Nick was beginning to reconsider his remark about not being a house-husband. He was so happy he was scared. He thought he could easily stay right here in this cabin with this man for the rest of his life and never want anything else in the world.
He thought he’d figured out how to put an end to his thoughts the day he asked Eric if he missed his music and performing in front of an audience. He was sure Eric was going to tell him he was ready to go back and claim his place in the world again. Eric had looked at him as though he’d grown a second head.
“What makes you think I’m missing my music? Have you not noticed or heard the keyboard I play on for hour’s everyday?”
“Yes of course I have. It’s one of the things I love the most about this place. I can be outside working on the woodpile and I can hear you play. I can be a long way away from the cabin out in the woods and still hear you. It’s like listening to angels.”
Eric walked over and kissed Nick deeply. “God how do you do that? How do you always know just what to say to reduce me to a blubbering idiot? No Nick, I don’t miss performing at all. For me, it’s always been the music. Performing is a means to an end. It gets me the money to make the kind of music I want to and the access to other musicians. If I never get on a stage again, I won’t care. As long as I have my keyboard I’m fine. BUT I do have to admit, I’ve been sort of playing with an idea lately. Do you want to see?”
Nick said yes and Eric dashed down the hall to their bedroom. He was back in seconds with a roll of paper. When he unrolled it, Nick could see it was an addition to the cabin.
“What’s this baby?”
“It’s a studio. It’s not a real big room because I don’t think I would actually be recording with a big group but it would allow me to bring some of my guys up here and we could use overdubbing to cut our CD’s. It’s not like I work with a symphony orchestra or something.”
Nick looked at Eric; really looked closely at him. Eric realized that Nick was quiet and looked up at him. “What…what are you looking at me like that for Nick?”
“Eric, are you telling me you would be happy up here? You’d give up the mansion in Vegas, the private jets, the hordes of people screaming your name? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
Eric looked at him and said softly, “If you were with me Nick, I’d be happy in a cave.” Nick had kissed Eric and pulled him down on the floor and made love to him on top of his drawings.
* * * * * * * * * *
The next day reality reared its ugly head big time. Nick and Eric were out sledding. They had found a small slope not to far away that was too short for skiing but just right for a sled. They had found some big washtubs in the barn and were using them for sleds. They were yelling and laughing like kids. It was so much fun to just stop being a grown up and let loose like a kid again.
They had just finished a run and were tangled together at the bottom of the hill laughing like loons when Eric suddenly stopped laughing. It took Nick a minute to realize Eric was quiet and looking at him.
“What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?”
“Nick, we have explored my life practically from the moment I popped out of the womb until now…right?”
“Yes, I think we have. What’s your point?”
“We haven’t found one single person who wants to kill me. If it was some nutcase that just wanted to pop a celebrity and get his 15 minutes of fame, he’d have crawled out from under his rock by now to get his face on TV.”
Nick thought for a moment and said, “Yes I agree with that which just makes me all the more afraid for you. We have no idea why this person killed you.”
“Nick…what if he didn’t kill me.”
“Are you forgetting the scene in your den because I sure can’t get it out of my mind? I have nightmares about that and the thought that someone could get to you makes me sick to my stomach.”
Eric wrapped his arms around Nick and kissed him and told him he was right there and he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Nick listen to me. What if he didn’t kill me? What if he knew exactly who he killed? What if Terry Whalen was the victim all along?”