Chapter 6

Gray hadn't realized how tired he was until he had to deal with construction traffic around Duke East campus. He didn't have the focus to dodge idiot students who thought it was a good idea to step out in front of his car or to weave around all the construction barricades that had been there for-fucking-ever. He longed to crawl into bed, but if he did, he wouldn't sleep well that night and the cycle of exhaustion would go on.

Food and TV. That was the next best thing to sleep. He glanced at the time as he entered the house. Just past noon. He'd ignored Thornton's directive and stayed several more hours looking for something that might connect his current case to the previous one, but he was basically beating his head against the wall. Jack's shift would end at five. Mason was in his last semester to complete his chemistry degree, and Gray vaguely remembered him mentioning something about a study group. Gray pulled out his phone and looked back at the texts they'd exchanged earlier. Study group at three. Not supposed to last too long. So he'd probably be home around the same time as Jack.

Gray took a quick shower and dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, then pulled the pan of lasagna from the night before out of the fridge. A civilized person would cut a square and heat it, but he wasn't feeling very civilized after no sleep, a murder scene, and still no leads. He grabbed a fork from a drawer, opened a bottle of beer, and carried the lot to the coffee table.

He scrolled through one of their streaming services, hoping for something good and mindless. Rush Hour 3. That would do just fine. He dug into the lasagna and continued forking it into his mouth until he'd polished off the whole pan. He considered getting another beer, but the idea of leaving the couch felt too vigorous. He settled on his side, propped up on pillows, and relaxed for the first time since he'd fucked Jack and Mason senseless the night before. A few seconds later, his eyes drifted closed. He tried to force them open but they didn't want to go. He'd just rest them for a moment; that wouldn't do any harm.

A few seconds later, a loud explosion from the TV made him stir. Don't go to sleep. He sat up, but soon he'd convinced himself it was okay to lie down again. He could just rest his eyes a few more minutes.

"Gray. Gray! Wake up!"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Gray tried to sit up and nearly fell off the couch, forgetting he wasn't in bed. "Did I fall asleep? What time is it?"

Mason snickered as he watched Gray from where he perched on the edge of the coffee table. "You were asleep and drooling when I got in."

Gray rubbed his eyes, trying to fully wake up.

"Did you seriously eat all the rest of the lasagna?" Mason asked.

Lasagna? Had he eaten lasagna or only dreamed it?"Um… yeah."

"Wow."

"I was hungry."

"Apparently you were sleepy too," Jack said. Gray hadn't even realized Jack was there. He really had been deeply asleep.

"I was up all night," he said in his defense.

"Poor baby," Jack said. "When did you get home?"

"Around noon."

Jack settled beside him on the couch and laid a hand on Gray's leg. "Want to tell us about it? The call that got you out of bed?"

"A body was found in a house fire, a sixteen-year-old girl, another sex worker. Both girls worked for Andreas, at least according to rumor."

"Fuck." Mason looked slightly green.

"Don't think about it. It was horrible, but I'm going to find the bastard who did this."

Mason sat on the couch arm on Gray's other side. "I'm glad you came home and got some rest."

"Thornton made me leave. He said I wasn't any good to him if I was a fucking zombie."

"You'd been up way over twenty-four hours, and the night before last you got maybe three hours of sleep. You also had quite a workout last night." Jack grinned.

Gray couldn't help but return Jack's smile. "I didn't want to fuck up my sleep cycle, so I was watching a movie."

"Uh-huh." Mason nodded.

"I couldn't have slept that long. Wait, why are you both home? What time is it?"

"A little before six."

"What the fuck?"

"We let you sleep for a half an hour after we got home, but we have something we want to talk to you about."

Did Mason sound nervous or was that Gray's imagination? "What kind of something?"

"Valentine's plans."

Gray groaned. He loved his men, but he didn't need a stupid cheesy holiday to show it. He had a nice toy closet instead.

"We've got a surprise for you," Jack said.

Oh fuck, Gray hated surprises even more than Valentine's Day.

Jack shook his head. "Don't make that face."

"What face?" He'd really tried to keep a neutral expression.

"The what-have-you-done-now face."

"I wasn't?—"

Jack's glare silenced him.

"Okay, fine. Just tell me what you've done."

"Since I've got next weekend off and Mason can get coverage, we rented a cabin in the mountains so we could all get away."

A cabin. In the mountains. Gray's heart started pounding. "No!"

Mason's eyes widened. "Look, I know we should probably have talked about it, but?—"

Gray hadn't meant to sound so vehement, but, traveling to the mountains brought back memories. They were memories he didn't want to dredge up, not right now when he was already dealing with memories of Nancy, who reminded him too much of the girls in these cases he was working on. What could he say that sounded reasonable? "I don't want to drive in the snow. We might get stuck and?—"

Jack frowned. "This cabin is perfect. There's a hot tub, and it's only twenty minutes from Asheville so we can go out to dinner or a bar and then come back to our cozy cabin. Did I mention that the hot tub is on a very private deck?"

"I am not fucking you outside in February."

Jack dismissed his protest with a wave of his hand. "The water is warm. We'll be fine."

Gray glared at him. "No." He didn't want to go at all and he sure as hell didn't want to freeze his ass off. "Every time I go on a vacation, something disastrous happens. Can't we just take the weekend off and fuck at home?"

Mason shook his head. "Come on, Gray. It will be fun."

No, it wouldn't. He hadn't been to the mountain since he was twelve, but even Jack didn't know about what happened back then.

"This cabin has a nice comfy king beds just like ours," Mason said.

"We have a perfectly fine bed here."

"But the cabin has two of them," Jack pointed out. "One for fucking and one for sleeping."

"And we could go snow tubing," Mason added.

Jack nodded. "And try some cool restaurants."

Ugh. They were tag teaming him. "It's a five-hour drive."

"Four and a half," Mason insisted.

Gray shook his head. "Fine. We can go. Unless I haven't made progress on this case, then?—"

"We'll have to reschedule," Jack said. "But hopefully you'll have it solved."

Yeah, that would be great. "It would help if I had any good fucking leads."

"Do you want to talk it through?"

Gray shook his head. "Not now. But…" No, he was just going to get all fucked up if he talked about how the case was weighing on him or if he let himself think about Nancy. Her story hadn't ended any happier than the two women whose bodies he'd seen.

Mason leaned over and kissed the top of Gray's head. "It's hard because they're kids, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's part of it. That and… Nobody gives a damn about them because they were sex workers, but people do a lot of things when they're desperate. These girls were still human, no matter what they did."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they were, and you're going to see justice done for them."

"You're such a good man, Gray," Mason said as he ran his fingers through Gray's hair.

"I—"

"Don't protest," Jack said. "You are, and it's part of why we love you."

"You're also wicked, and we love you for that too," Mason added.

Mason cupped Gray's face and turned him for a kiss. As Mason's tongue made a lazy exploration of his mouth, Jack slid from the couch and knelt before him. Gray opened his legs, encouraging Jack to settle between them. If they'd asked him, Gray would've said he was too tired for anything but cuddling and watching a movie. Now his cock was trying to convince him he was very wrong.

Gray tightened his grip on Mason and deepened the kiss, letting Mason know he'd had enough of slow. Jack unfastened Gray's pants and nuzzled his cock. Mason did some unzipping of his own and repositioned himself, slinging a leg over Gray, and offering his cock for Gray to suck. No way in hell was Gray going to refuse him. Jack had Gray's dick out now and was lapping the head as Gray gripped Mason's hip in one hand and used the other to guide Mason's cock into his mouth. Jesus, he tasted good. Gray loved the way the thick flesh filled his mouth, the way Mason wasn't shy like he would've been at one time.

Gray was on sensation overload as Jack sucked him hard and fast while working a hand between Gray's legs to tease his ass. As Jack's finger brushed over Gray's hole, Gray moaned around Mason's cock, and Mason's gasp told him just how much he enjoyed the vibration.

"So fucking good," Mason murmured.

Gray grabbed Mason's ass and pulled him in, letting him know he was ready for Mason to get rough.

Jack pushed a finger into Gray's ass, and that plus Mason's dick driving down his throat was enough to send Gray over the edge. He reached for Jack, sliding a hand into his hair and thrusting deeper into his mouth. Seconds later he was coming, and Jack took it all, swallowing rapidly like he was desperate for Gray's cum. Mason pulled back, letting Gray enjoy the orgasm.

"Get each other off," Gray ordered when he could speak. "I want to watch."

Mason climbed off the couch and pulled Jack to his feet. He licked his palm and then wrapped a hand around both their cocks. Jack thrust into his hand, and Mason increased his speed as Jack pulled him in for a kiss.

Gray couldn't take his eyes off them. Soon Jack had covered Mason's hand with his own. Gray sensed that they were seconds from coming. Jack used his free hand to pinch one of Mason's nipples, tugging and twisting. That did it. Mason cried out, the sound muffled against Jack's mouth as he shot hard and with a punch of his hips. Fucking fuck! Jack went over too, and Mason held tight to him, his cum mingling with Mason's and making a sticky mess.

Mason ran a hand up his chest and started to bring it to his mouth, but Jack grabbed his wrist and sucked his fingers clean.

"Fuck." The word slipped from Gray's mouth.

"Good show?" Jack asked.

"Fuck, yeah. I seriously thought I was too tired to do more than watch a movie."

"I'm glad you weren't," Mason said.

"Yeah, me too." Gray had needed that.

"You ready to go back to sleep?"

Gray should've been, because even with the long nap, he was running on a deficit. He hadn't slept well in days, but he didn't feel sleepy like he usually did after coming. Instead, he felt energized.

"I'm good for a while. You want to show me these cabins you're enamored of?" Surely he could manage to go to the mountains and forget the past. He could make new memories with his partners, even if downtime made him fucking twitchy.

"Really? You want to see?" Mason asked. He looked so eager.

"Yes."

After they cleaned themselves up, Jack pulled out his laptop and brought up the website for the cabins. They might look rustic on the outside, but inside they were like a luxury hotel. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. It certainly wasn't anything like the place he'd stayed as a kid.

"That's a fancy kitchen," he observed. "Are you going to cook for us, Jack?"

Jack raised a brow. "This is supposed to be a vacation."

Gray pouted, knowing Jack was only joking. He loved to cook.

"Wait, what?" Mason looked horrified. "You promised me bacon and chocolate chip pancakes."

Jack elbowed him. "We could have kept him going for a bit."

Mason laughed. "You sounded so serious."

"I'll make breakfast at least."

"And caramel popcorn," Gray insisted.

"Don't push your luck."

Cuddling in a mountain cabin in the middle of winter, watching movies with Jack's amazing caramel popcorn. That couldn't be too bad, could it? "Surely it won't be as bad as the Florida trip."

"What Florida trip?" Mason asked.

Gray groaned. "It was fucking awful. Don't make me relive it."

Mason rolled his eyes. "Like you can throw out a line like that and not expect me to want the full story."

"A few months before we met you, Gray and I drove to Florida to go to the beach," Jack explained. "I'd been bitching at him to take a trip with me, and I chose Ft. Lauderdale because it's supposed to be full of eye candy."

Mason frowned. "I can't see Gray clubbing in Ft. Lauderdale or even being able to enjoy the beach anywhere so…"

"Lurid?"

Mason nodded.

"Neither can I," Gray said.

Jack just laughed. "It's not his scene but he indulged me. It was raining when we got there."

Gray raised a brow. "Raining? It was a fucking torrent. You'd have thought a hurricane was coming in."

"But I insisted on going out after a day of being stuck in the hotel," Jack said.

Gray thought back to that day. Now it was funny, but it had been terrifying. "The road flooded right in front of us. I got out to scout ahead and see if we could make it to the next turnoff. Then a fucking alligator came out of nowhere."

"A what?" Mason's eyes went wide, and he made a strangled sound like he was holding back a laugh.

Jack didn't hold back his laughter. "He was a big fucker."

"Tell me you wrestled it, tossed it back into the swamp, and then fucked Jack right there." Mason looked so eager for that to be true.

Mason's comment made Jack laugh so hard tears rolled down his face. "That would have been fucking perfect, but he ran like hell."

"You're asking for another spanking."

"Yeah, whatever," Jack said.

Gray would get his revenge. "You just wait."

Mason whistled. "Somebody's in trouble."

Gray looked at him and tried to ignore Jack, who still hadn't settled down. "I did what any reasonable person would do. I walked to the car, got back in, and backed up until we couldn't see him anymore. Then I got the hell back to the hotel, checked out, and drove home."

"Actually, we drove to Savannah and had a lovely time there," Jack said.

"See?" Gray said. "My vacations don't go well."

"That was one incident," Jack said.

"And it was all your fault. You can start making this up to me by making some caramel popcorn. Just thinking about it makes me want some."

"You ate half a pan of lasagna," Jack reminded him.

"That was hours ago."

Jack glared at him.

"The cabins are amazing. We'll have a lovely time. Now surely I've earned the rest of Rush Hour 3 with some popcorn."

"You want a reward for agreeing to rent a cabin?" Jack did a good job of looking incredulous.

"I think that sounds fair," Mason said.

Jack glared at him. "You just want some popcorn for yourself."

"Hell, yeah."

"I had a really sucky morning," Gray pointed out.

"Yeah, you did," Jack said. "Fine, you win."

Mason moved behind Gray and massaged his shoulders. Gray closed his eyes and let himself enjoy it. Mason's hands were like magic. "You really should've gone to massage school."

"So you'd have your own personal masseur?"

"Of course."

The rest of the evening passed in salty, sugary, snuggly bliss.