“That’s not what I fucking meant, and you know it.”
“Oh yes… No having sex with—” Cody made quotation marks with his fingers, “—the murderer.”
“You’re not fucking funny. I never said that—”
Cody slammed his hand on the table and stood, leaning over it, and put his face right in TJ’s. “Get over it. My past is that. Past. I survived and moved on. I grew up. I got an education. Learned new skills. I am a man standing in front of you and I want you to treat me as one.”
“Then I need to take you in.”
“Go on. Do it.” Cody straightened, and they both stared at each other. When TJ broke eye contact, Cody sighed. “I’m going to have a shower. I need it after talking about the past. TJ.” When TJ looked at him, Cody murmured, “Please don’t think bad of me. I couldn’t take it if you did.”
“I could never think like that about you. I need some time to go over what you’ve told me.”
Cody nodded and left the room. In his bedroom, he sat on the edge of the bed, his hands dangling between his legs. Maybe he had said too much, but he didn’t want their relationship to begin with him hiding his past or parts of it.
Stripping, Cody washed his body and hair, then stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, Cody tried to remember what he’d looked like. How skinny he’d been. He’d preferred the drugs and booze over eating. He’d been skinny when he’d run away, but by the time he’d found himself in the barn, he’d been skin and bone. Not far from death. His body had done everything it could to keep him alive, and Cody had abused it to the point it barely functioned. He couldn’t fight off colds, scratches took forever to heal, slight knocks led to huge bruises.
The way he looked at it now, the barn and what happened inside saved his life. If some weird twist of fate had him being there, the events that occurred had made Cody realize he wanted to live. When Mama and Jed gave him a second chance, he’d taken it. Not that every day had been easy. Some days he wanted to crawl away, hide from the gnawing hunger that ateaway at him. The need for drugs or alcohol pushing him to act irrationally, but Mama and Jed had helped him through.
Those three years with them had shown Cody how a family should be. What it meant to have those bonds of love and respect, knowing you could rely on the other to be there when you needed them. When Cody had needed Cass, he’d booked a place in a camp instead. Even now, over four years later, that hurt, and it had cut the final bond between them. Cody would never look at Cass and see his dad. That man was Jed now and always would be.
As for his sister, he barely knew her. They hadn’t done much together when Cody was younger. She’d been doing her dance and gym classes, and music lessons, and whatever else Emily had her participating in. They might have said something to each other in the mornings, but that was it.
One day soon, Cody would have to speak to them. A day he didn’t relish, but he would do it. He would show Cass who he had become without his interference. One day he would stand in front of him, strong and proud and not afraid to be seen as gay.
But not today.
Leaving the bathroom, Cody made sure to secure the towel and was walking to his room when TJ appeared at the top of the stairs. TJ’s eyes widened and Cody paused, letting him look at his body. One he’d built from the ruins of his old one. Strong, powerful, muscular.
“TJ.” TJ’s eyes moved over Cody’s body and Cody stepped closer, so close he could lean in and breathe in TJ’s scent. “TJ,” he murmured before kissing him.
Chapter Twelve
TJ
Cody left the room and TJ sat in silence. What he wouldn’t give to be able to take all of Cody’s pain and suffering away, but he wouldn’t be the Cody he was now. This Cody that had TJ lost for words, unbalanced in how to react, unsure how to respond.
The scars that covered Cody’s back. The ones that circled his wrists. How had he survived that pain? How had he dragged his beaten and broken body away from that hell? How had he pulled himself together and become the man he was now? And then return to the place where that horror had been inflicted on him and save those kids?
TJ knew Cody had killed those men. The man in him rejoiced in that fact. They deserved to die, especially after hurting those boys, but the sheriff in him knew it was wrong. That Cody should be punished for what he had done. Conflicted in how to deal with it, but in the end, TJ knew he would stand by what Cody had done. Some acts of violence deserved to be met with the same.They got what they deserved. He needed to tell Cody he didn’t have to worry. That TJ would always stand by him and protect him.
Jogging up the stairs, he stopped when he saw Cody leaving the bathroom. Clad in only a towel, TJ saw the body Cody had created through hard work, and couldn’t help but react. He wasn’t that skinny little boy anymore. In front of him stood a man, strong and sure, who looked at him and said nothing.
When TJ remained silent, Cody closed the distance between them and murmured his name. TJ stared at Cody’s body, his eyes tracing the muscles that graced it. He heard his name whispered again, then sighed when warm lips slid over his.
Eyes closing, TJ moaned softly when Cody’s tongue traced the outline of his lips, then licked over them. When Cody pressed soft kisses to them, TJ lifted his hand and threaded his fingers through Cody’s damp hair. Cody licked his lips again, then slid inside when TJ parted them. TJ shuddered when their tongues touched and wasn’t aware Cody had moved them until his back touched the wall behind him. Cody’s hands framed his face as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss, his tongue licking all over TJ’s mouth before it caressed TJ’s.
TJ couldn’t keep the groan inside as he gripped Cody’s waist, feeling the warm, damp skin beneath his palms. The towel had fallen, and TJ’s hands moved over Cody’s ass, feeling the muscular globes flex under his palms. Fuck, Cody felt amazing. All warm and strong, and when Cody dropped to his knees, TJ’s eyes widened and watched as he opened TJ’s jeans and pulled his dick out. His hard leaking dick.
“Cody. We…” Cody licked up the shaft and TJ lost track of what he wanted to say. When Cody’s tongue swirled around the head, TJ cried out and tangled his fingers in Cody’s hair. Cody. Cass’ son. That Cody. “Cody stop. We can’t. You’re only... Ah fuck. Cass—”
“I’m not a boy and I don’t give a fuck about Cass or who he is to me.” Cody opened wide and swallowed TJ’s dick. TJ’s head banged the wall behind him as he fisted Cody’s hair, arching his hips and trying to push more of his dick into Cody’s mouth. Cody licked and sucked, rolled his balls between his fingers, then tugged on the skin. TJ gasped, moaned, shuddered as Cody’s tongue licked along the vein then around the head.
It felt good. So good, and TJ pumped his hips, his dick moving in and out of Cody’s mouth as Cody licked and sucked the head. TJ couldn’t get enough, pushing more of his dick inside, feeling Cody’s throat wrapped around the head, followed by a tight heat when he swallowed. As Cody slid off, the tight seal pulled at TJ’s flesh, and he trembled when Cody moved down and mouthed his balls.
His tongue slid over the skin, his lips nibbled it, and TJ’s dick leaked, the precome oozing from the slit to dribble down the side. Cody moved back up, his tongue licking it up before circling the head again.
Cody looked up, their eyes meeting, and TJ jerked. He couldn’t do this. He shouldn’t do this with Cody, and TJ pushed him away. “Fuck. We can’t… Fuck.”
