13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Mosby

I parked at the public lot across the street, grabbed the pizza, and walked up to the salon. Tyler hadn't texted with what he liked on his pizza, so I took a guess. If he didn't like it, I'd buy a box of cereal from the fucking grocery store, and we'd eat the whole damn thing.

Looking in through the window, I didn't see Tyler anywhere. A beautiful black woman was at the register chatting with Tyler's mother, so I went inside.

The little bell almost sounded like Big Ben in my head. Everyone looked up at the same time, and the place went quiet—like a tomb.

Tyler's mom grinned at me, as did the woman next to her who I remembered vaguely from the day I cracked my head. "Well, well, if it isn't the tripper. Are you here to let me clean up that mess on your face, honey? I like the hair, though it needs a trim. Those dead ends are tragic."

I chuckled. "If anyone is going to touch my hair, it will be Tyler. Is he here? We're supposed to clean up the salon and have pizza."

"Oh. Leslie. I'm afraid Tyler isn't feeling well," his mother said. She was staring at me pretty intensely, too.

The beautiful Latina I'd met at the produce stand stepped closer. "Actually, I think he's waiting for you upstairs." She winked. Tyler must have told her about us.

"Thank you." I headed back out and around the corner seeing the little heart I'd drawn in the cement when it was wet. One day I'd have to confess to defacing their property, but I wanted to mark the spot where I looked into those gorgeous brown eyes for the first time.

I went around the side of the building and took the stairs two at a time. When I reached the top, I was poised to knock when the door opened. Standing in front of me was a handsome guy who wasn't Tyler. He had shoulder-length dark brown hair, and a warm smile.

"Hello there. Is Tyler—" Suddenly, Tyler appeared next to the guy, his face beet red.

"Mo—Leslie. Come in, please. This is German, my friend. He was just leaving." He turned to the guy, and they shared a quick hug. The guy slid out the door and stepped close in front of me.

German was a big bastard, for sure. "If you hurt him, I will find you." Without another word he ran down the steps and got into a black pickup that could have been the grandson of my old Bronco.

I stepped inside and closed the door. I started to put the pizza on the table when I saw what was laid out on top of it.

"Did I break up a really lowkey sex-toy party?" There on the table were three bottles of lube, two boxes of condoms, and an enema bulb. There was a paper bag from the drugstore in Miller's Point, where I'd stopped a few times.

I picked up the condoms. One was lambskin and the other was polyurethane. Both were multipacks with varied sizes. "I prefer these in case you're interested." I held up the lambskin box.

"Uh, Mosby, German was… I mean, we didn't… He's married to Ramon. Ramon is Camila's brother. They own a food truck that—"

That was where I recognized the guy from. I'd stopped at the truck a time or two when I found it on Tuesdays in Veterans Park. "Ah, that's where I recognized him from. Anyway, what did I interrupt?"

Tyler sighed. "I called him in a panic because I don't know how to have sex."

That wasn't what I expected. "So, he came to show you?"

My gut turned at the thought of Tyler with another man. In my heart I knew he wasn't like Alistaire. Hell, he was the polar opposite of Alistaire. I could see Tyler's fingers twisting together, so I tossed the condoms on the table and stepped closer to him.

"I want you to know that you can come to me with any questions. You told me you're a virgin, and I'm not going to rush you, sweetheart."

Tyler put his hands on my chest. "I don't want to be bad at it, Mosby. I don't want you to give up on me because I don't know what I'm doing. You… You were with someone for ten years, and here I am, this guy who has never had anybody want to—"

I pulled him closer and kissed the end of his cute nose. "Bunny, we have a whole life ahead of us to figure things out. I understand that there might be things you don't feel comfortable talking to me about just yet. You're young, and you haven't had a lot of the experiences I've had, but I hope we'll get to the point where you aren't worried about discussing anything."

My palm touched his jaw, feeling a little stubble along his jawline and the beginnings of a mustache. He looked more adorable than I remembered from the night before, or maybe it was just that I realized I could be falling in love with him. Was the insta-love thing Alistaire mentioned in his now-cinders diary a real thing?

"You called me Bunny?" He grinned and kissed me, which I truly enjoyed.

"I might unless you have a strong objection. You remind me of a cute little rabbit that I've seen up in the woods behind the cabin. Barbara Bushy scares it away when it tries to come close."

"I've been called a lot worse. So, you're an animal lover?" He slid his hands under my jacket and pushed it off my shoulders.

I hated taking my hands off him, so I quickly let him go, draped my leather jacket over the back of his kitchen chair, and wrapped him up in my arms again, glancing at the table. "I love certain animals. Not a fan of spiders or snakes, but I believe in a peaceful co-existence. So, that black woman at the salon who told me that the ends of my hair were tragic? What's her name?"

Tyler giggled. "Edina. She didn't mean anything by it. She's worked for my mom for a long time, and she is really a wonderful person. She's very protective of Mom and me. I-I just wanted not to look stupid."

I took his hand and led him to his couch, sitting and pulling him onto my lap—something Alistaire would never agree to do. "You could never look stupid to me, Bunny. You're handsome, kind, generous. I can keep searching for adjectives if you'd like."

He giggled again, his sexy ass rubbing against my very hard cock, which was dying to make an appearance. I could control myself, but that didn't mean we wouldn't explore if he was willing.

"Okay, after talking to German, how do you feel about intercourse? We're not going to do anything you don't want tonight, but I'd love to feel your skin next to mine."

Tyler glanced at the pizza on the table. "If we're not going to have sex, can we eat the pizza?"

I had to laugh. "Did you not eat today?"

Tyler glanced up at me through his lashes. "I was too excited and worried, but now I'm starving."

I stood with him in my arms. "Let's see if we need to heat it up." I carried him to the kitchen area, and he pulled out a round pizza pan. We put the pie on it and Tyler turned on the oven to warm.

"How was your day?" Tyler was standing with that sexy ass sticking out of the fridge.

My brain immediately went into overdrive to the point I thought I'd have to slam my dick in a fucking drawer to get it under control. "It was pretty good. I finished the picture of you and decided it was terrible, so I primed and sanded the canvas to use again. I'm thinking of taking up glass blowing."

Tyler came out of the fridge with a bottle of red wine, which gave me pause. When I glanced at him, I saw that he was excited, so I kept my mouth shut. I glanced at the bottle to see it wasn't a familiar brand, but again, I said nothing.

Tyler opened the cabinet next to the refrigerator and pulled down two white wine glasses and put them on the table. "Do you like red? I was trying to figure out what you might like to drink. I wasn't sure if you were a beer guy because you're so sophisticated."

I nodded. "Where's your wine opener?" I could drink cold cabernet. Alistaire, though, would be spinning in his grave if I'd presented the same to him.

"Oh. I don't have one. The cap screws off." Tyler took the bottle and ripped off the seal. He then opened the metal cap and poured me a full glass of wine before I could stop him.

He poured a little in his own glass, leaving me to wonder how I could choke down a full glass of cold, cheap cabernet. "Thank you."

"Do you mind eating off paper plates? It'll make cleanup much easier."

Plates were never meant to be paper unless they were for feeding a squirrel. Eating a meal off them—even if it was pizza—felt blasphemous, especially with the way Alistaire and I had lived our lives.

"Paper plates are just fine. No problem." I wasn't with Alistaire any longer. I was with my beautiful Bunny, and I had to let thoughts of Alistaire go. My life wasn't that way any longer.

I sipped my wine and did my best to hide the sneer. It wasn't good. I hadn't had anything stronger than beer since I'd arrived in Foggy Basin. I'd checked out the wine selection at the grocery store and found it severely lacking, so I‘d stuck with beer—in a bottle, not a can. God, I'd become a snob and hated it.

"So, uh, do you like wine?" I stared at him, trying to judge his interest. If he liked it, I'd find something we could drink without it tasting like poison .

"This is the first time I've had it. Seventeen in prison, remember? My mom likes white zinfandel, but I thought you'd like something that didn't come in a box. Camila drinks red wine over ice. Would you like some ice?"

God, he was trying so hard to impress me, and I felt like such a fucking judgmental dick. "Uh, does she drink sangria? Red wine with fruit and a little tequila or vodka?" I loved Spanish and Mexican cuisines, and I knew sangria was delicious.

"Oh, uh, she just calls it red wine, but maybe that's what she means. I, uh, I can go to the grocery store and get some fruit and do it that way if you want."

Tyler got up and started for the door, but I caught him. "It's fine. I just want to spend time with you. I'll have water with the pizza. So, let's play twenty questions." We walked over to the small table and sat.

"Okay. Uh, what's your favorite TV show?" He was flashing that smile my way again. He had no idea the power he had over me.

I didn't watch television. I didn't even have one at the cabin or in the Montecito house. I much preferred to read or paint when I had free time. "I, uh, don't watch television. I used to watch Looney Tunes when I was a kid."

His eyes lit up. "What's Looney Tunes? "

I chuckled and took another sip of the cold cabernet. "Cartoons. Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny?"

He giggled. "I think I've seen some of those. I didn't realize they were that old." He stared at me before he opened his mouth and put his hand over it. That made me laugh.

"You're so damn cute. Do you know that?" I took another swig of the terrible wine. I could learn to drink cold red if I did it with Tyler Rockwell, I was sure.

After we ate pizza, Tyler wrapped the two pieces left over and I took the trash out to the dumpster behind the salon. I noticed a guy walking down the alley, checking out the neighborhood. I slowly climbed the stairs and watched as he crossed the street to the public parking lot, stopping by my Bronco and taking a picture of the license plate.

" Hey! I'll beat your ass! " I shouted from the top step of Tyler's apartment. The door opened, and he came out with a mini baseball bat. "What are you going to do with that?"

I took the bat and gently pushed him back inside. "Is this your weapon of choice?"

Tyler smirked. "I'm not a violent person. Camila gave it to me to carry when I work late in the salon and walk up here alone. I don't know what kind of crime she thought I'd encounter that the little bat would scare them away. "

"It was some guy taking a picture of my Bronco. Idiot. I've got a tracking device on it. I could find it in five minutes. Let's keep playing our game. My turn."

We sat on the small couch, and I pulled his legs over my lap. "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?"

Tyler sipped his cold red and smiled. It was kind of growing on me, so I gulped a little more of mine while waiting for his response. I studied him for a moment before I put my glass on the side table and took his right hand, twining our fingers together.

"I, uh, I can't leave Foggy Basin for three years, but if I could—"

That was news, and I needed to know more—my business or not. "Why can't you leave Foggy Basin?" I pulled him onto my lap and took his hands in my left one as I wrapped my right arm around him. He looked worried, but he shouldn't have.

"It's okay. Just tell me."

"I'm required to stay in Foggy Basin as part of my parole agreement. I have therapy sessions every Friday morning, and then my therapist reports to the parole board. Once a month, I sit down with Sheriff West for a twenty-minute conversation about what's going on in my life, and then he sends an email to my parole officer in Sacramento that I'm still here and am a productive member of society."

That was a surprise to me. My involvement with law enforcement was limited. When my parents were killed, the offending driver died at the same time. I didn't get caught doing shit when I was in college, and my granddad made sure I knew he'd have my ass if I got into anything serious. I knew nothing about the aftermath of prison.

"You can't go on a trip?"

Tyler shook his head. "I don't really have the money to go anywhere anyway."

"What if you stay in the state?"

He shrugged. "I don't know anybody anywhere else. I'd really have to ask. Anyway, if I could dream of going anywhere else, I think I'd like to see New York. I've seen pictures, and it looks incredible."

I thought back to the last time I was there before Alistaire died, and I seriously had no desire to go back. All that city held for me were sad memories. "You're not missing anything, I promise."

"I'm sure you're right. How about you?"

I thought for a minute. "Paris. I went there for six months to study art, and it was beautiful. The food and wine were incredible. "

I turned to smile at Tyler, seeing his face was flushed. "What?"

"God, you've been to Paris and had fancy wine, and I gave you supermarket wine with a screw cap. God, I'm sorry, Mosby. If you want to leave, I understand."

He started to get up, but I held him where he was. "Bunny, there's no way I'm missing my rain check. I wanted to see you tonight, and I'm having a great time."

"Did you bring stuff for tomorrow?"

"It's in the Bronco. I'll go get it, and then maybe we can go play in your bed?"

"I can bring my bat and come with you." We both laughed as I stood and put him on the floor.

"Thank you for your offer of protection. I'll be fine. Be right back." I went to the door and stepped out, leaving it open an inch. Once I crossed the street, I hit the flashlight app on my phone and walked around my Bronco, looking under the vehicle for anything that appeared out of place. As I suspected, I found a small metal device under the front bumper that I hadn't put there. I didn't think it was big enough to be a bomb, so I left it. I'd take it off in the morning when I left for home.

I opened the Bronco and grabbed my leather bag from the back, glancing around the inside. Everything looked as it had when I'd gotten out, so I locked and closed the door before jogging across the street and up the stairs.

I let myself inside, locked the door as I slipped off my shoes, and followed the light from the back of the apartment to Tyler's bedroom. I hadn't expected the few lit candles and purple scarf over the lamp on his bedside table.

"This looks a lot different from the last time I was here." I had to tease him a little. He was standing in the middle of the room, looking very anxious. There was one way to cure that.

I dropped my duffel on the floor and stepped over to Tyler. "Are you okay?"

He gave me a nervous, hundred-watt smile. "Yes. With you, I think I'll always be better than okay."

I sunk to my knees and glanced up at him. "Take off your shirt, Bunny."

While he fumbled with the henley he was wearing, I pulled the elastic from my hair and unbuttoned his skinny jeans, kissing and nipping along the waistband.

"God, Mosby. That feels so good."

"Put your hands in my hair and hold on." I slid the zipper down, following it with my tongue to see the most beautiful happy trail. The dark hair led me exactly where I wanted to go .

I swirled my tongue around his belly button, feeling him pull my hair a little as I tugged his jeans down to find a pair of black lace briefs that had my cock throbbing behind its denim prison.

I leaned back a bit and tapped his right foot. When he held it up, I slid the pantleg off and repeated the process on the other side, tossing the jeans aside. I tugged the waistband of his briefs out and peered inside, seeing my prize.

Tyler began massaging my scalp, which felt fantastic and had the potential to put me to sleep at any other time, but his mouthwatering cock had all my attention. I reached up and slid the waistband under his balls and stuck out my tongue to catch the precum that was sliding down the crown and onto the shaft.

"Mmmm. I knew you'd taste good." I flicked my tongue over the slit and collected the pooling fluid as Tyler moaned above me.

I slid my lips over the crown and swirled my tongue to mimic a French kiss while reaching to unbuckle my belt and open my jeans to free my aching cock. My own touch was all I'd experienced for several years, but as I sucked on Tyler's dick, there was a new fervor coursing through my body .

I gave myself a tug as I worked more of Tyler's cock into my mouth, moaning against the intrusion as his fingers tugged my hair. Stroking myself had never felt this good.

"Oh god. That's…I've never…"

Tyler's half-finished sentences were cute. I reached up with my left hand, continuing to stroke myself with my right, and rolled his balls in my palm. His grip on my hair tightened before he released it and gently smoothed his fingers over my scalp.

I pushed my index and middle fingers behind his balls and slid over his taint. He squeaked and rose onto his toes, causing his cock to hit the back of my throat, engaging my gag reflex.

"Mosby, I'm so sorry. It felt good and I couldn't help—"

"No worries, Bunny. I've gotta get more comfortable." I quickly undressed until I was completely naked and then I took in the sight of Tyler standing in front of me, his eyes fixed on my hard cock. I flexed my glutes, making it bob a bit.

Tyler giggled. "Can I suck you?"

"Most certainly. I think we can make each other happy at the same time." I took his hand and led him to the bed. I laid on my back with my head on his pillow, and I helped him straddle my torso, resting my hands on his beautiful ass still covered in the lacy briefs .

"Is this okay?" Tyler licked a stripe down my shaft, causing me to lift my hips in search of his magnificent mouth.

An instant later, I was engulfed in warm, moist heat. He slowly bobbed on my shaft, flexing his hips as he greedily sucked my cock.

I reached for the waistband of his underwear and lowered it, slowly revealing his pink entrance. It was like a curtain opening on a stage. He was hairless, which I loved. All that beautiful flesh right in front of me with no barrier.