Sex and Loyalty

Sex and Loyalty


Emerson called me, the evening before we were to complete the project my little crew was working on. "Hey, it's me. I'm in town with some last minute details for tomorrow, where are you at?"

I gave him the address to the building we were using, mindful of the length of the call on the scrambled cell phone, then clicked off, a particularly dizzy feeling catching at my core. Two months had passed since I'd seen David, since he'd gone back to the west coast and left me in charge of the crew here. It had been six months since the day the world thought I died, since the day I'd lost everything important to me - my wife, my unborn son, and Jack. But I was still no closer to finding the people responsible for it. Perhaps he would finally have information for me.

I met him at the door, let him pull me into a brief embrace in greeting, patting my back lightly before pulling away. "Good to see you, Tony. You're looking well."

"Yeah, you too," I replied, taking him in through the loading dock and keying in the code to enter. The building was an unused shipping warehouse, run down and mostly empty, but still possible to splice in power. A perfect place to hide out and prep for the job we were working on, once the crates and barrels of abandoned stock were pushed aside. I listened to him brief the men on the new intel, listened to the status updates they had for him, watching them carefully at the same time for signs of trouble, that they weren't fully committed. But the ones we'd called in for this job were solid, and wanted their paycheck.

When he was finished, he caught my arm. "I want to go over a few things with you. Do you have someplace private where we can talk?"

I measured him briefly before responding, trying to determine if there was more to it than that. Then I jerked my head toward the back of the warehouse. "Yeah, there's a room back there that I've been using."

His eyes flicked to the others. "Secure? Soundproof?"

I shrugged. "As secure as concrete walls get. Come on." I lead, opening the metal utility door for him and drawing the bolt behind us. The room was small, smaller with the flats of abandoned product, but big enough for a table and a laptop for private correspondence and phone calls. "So what's going on?"

He was watching me carefully, a hint of a smile playing about the corners of his mouth. "A few things. Mostly I just wanted to talk to you. How are things? The men seem to be responding well under your leadership..." He stepped towards me to rest a hand on my shoulder. "You've done well, Tony."

His approval always brought with it a strange sense of pleasure, of pride, though I wasn't quite sure why. "Thanks."

He nodded, then drew me closer, catching my face in his hands to claim my mouth. No words spoken, just this unspoken display of ownership and loyalty, my body arching to his with a soft moan as his tongue pressed past my lips to taste me, my arms slipping around his waist. It was difficult not to react to David, not when I'd been alone since he left, and alone apart from him since the day I'd died. Not when my body ached for remembered pleasure felt at his hands.

I let my hips arch against his, hands clenching at his ass. "Miss me?"

Dark eyes glittered as he looked down at me. "Undoubtedly. I'm sorry I couldn't get away sooner." He dipped his head to nuzzle my jaw, trailing soft kisses up to my ear, and I let him, shivering a little under the tease of his touch, slipping a hand up to run my fingers through his hair.

"What kept you away?"

"Mmm...." He pressed a warm kiss just below my ear, sucking gently at the lobe for a moment. "Just been doing some networking, setting up contacts, old friends, new jobs. Digging for information."

At the mention of information, I pulled back enough to look up at him. "Anything new on the Sentox conspiracy?"

He frowned a little. "Tony, you're not ready to go after them yet."

I let my fingers trail over the side of his face. "I have to, David. I'm ready. I need to do this. You promised you'd help me...."

"And I will," he replied. "When the time is right."

I leaned in close, pressing warm kisses to his neck, and let my breath tease his skin, fingers dancing down to tease the partial erection I could feel through his jeans. He gave a soft hiss, hips rocking into my touch. "Just tell me what you know... Come on, David. You know I'll make it worth your while....."

He pulled back from me suddenly and looked at me through narrowed eyes, appraising me, but there was emotion there that I wasn't used to, something that I couldn't quite place. "This is a game to you, isn't it? Sex for information, sex for loyalty."

I glanced away, his words making me somehow angry. "You started this, David. You made it a game, not me."

"So what happens when the day comes that I'm no longer useful to you?" The question was icy and brittle, but a front, and I wondered a little about the fact that the idea bothered him so much.

"Yeah, well that day won't come until I've avenged my wife's death. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. You'll have your whore a while longer."

His anger was immediate. "Tony."

"Sex for information. Isn't that what you said? Don't sugar coat it, David. We're using each other equally. Lets just get this over with."

He moved suddenly, catching the front of my shirt and shoving me backward, up against the crates, hard enough that I grunted in pain. "You want to get it over with? Then let's fucking get it over with." He yanked his belt undone, narrowed eyes not leaving mine. "Get on your knees."

"What, no more kisses? I'm disappointed."

"Shut up!" He backhanded me, and my head smacked back against the crate painfully.

I licked my lips, tasting blood. "Dammit. That hurt."

"Tit for tat, Tony." He shoved my shoulders down, and I dropped to my knees obediently, pulling his jeans the rest of the way open and freeing his cock from his boxers, taking him in my mouth. His hands grabbed the back of my head, hips bucking against my mouth, and I struggled to take him without gagging, hands clenching at his hips to try and keep some measure of control. He pushed them away with one hand, the other holding my head in place as he bucked forward again. "Take it!"

I wrenched away, coughing a little as my throat recovered from the unwelcome invasion, glaring up at him. "Hey. If that's your game, take it out on my ass."

He was panting softly, more angry than I'd ever seen him, and I half expected him to pull a gun on me. "Fine. Get up." He knocked a box of packing materials off a nearby wine cask to clatter to the floor, hauling me to it as I got to my feet. I was shoved roughly over it, and he reached around to yank at my jeans, hardly leaving me time to get the tube of lube from my pocket before they were down around my knees with my boxers. Shamefully, the manhandling turned me on more than I'd have liked to admit, like it always did when he was rough with me, especially when his hand curled around the back of my neck, pressing the side of my face hard against the top of the barrel. I was never sure why, and I hated myself for it - hated myself for liking it, craving the measure of control he extended over me.

I fumbled back to press the lube into his other hand. "Hey - can't do the job if I can't walk."

"I should make you anyway," he hissed, and I cried out breathlessly as he pressed two slick fingers inside me, fucking me roughly with them, making me whimper and jerk back against him.

"Fuck, David - !"

"That's what you want, isn't it?" His voice near my ear, breath hot on my skin. "You play it so noble, but you really just want my cock up your ass, don't you, brother?" The last word was a snarl, punctuated with a hard thrust of his fingers, making me cry out.

"Don't - don't do this, David - !"

"Why not?" His fingers pulled away to be replaced by the head of his cock, angry words in sharp gasps as he started to buck into me. "You want to be - my goddamn whore? I'll make you - feel like one!"

"David - !" I rocked up against him, his thrusts driving rough, shuddering cries from my throat. It ached so bad, but even then I wanted more, flooded with emotion when I was usually so numb apart from my anger. And he knew that I liked it, knew just how to drive into me, free hand slipping to curl around my aching erection, letting his thrusts rock my hips so I was fucking his fingers. "Oh fuck, yes - !"

He leaned over me to nip at my earlobe, hips still thrusting into me, slow and deep. "You're mine - you hear me? You do as I say, when I say it. You - get fucked when and how I say, you get it?" I think I must have made some sound, for he gave a hard thrust, biting down at the crook of my neck. "Say it. Say it, Tony!"

"You know I am," I gasped, fingers clenching hard on the splintery edge of the cask to try and keep myself in place. I whimpered as he stopped moving all together apart from the hot puffs of breath I could feel on my neck, holding me motionless, cock buried inside me.

"Say it," he whispered harshly, and I felt him shudder against me. "Say it like you mean it."

I took a few gulping breaths, torn between liking the brief respite and mad ache from wanting him. "God, David. I'm yours, completely. Mind and body. Just please don't stop...."

A harsh chuckle, and he rocked against me slowly, ever so slightly, still holding my upper body immobile against the top of the cask. "That's a start."

I could have cried from the tease of it, from his hand still wrapped around the base of my cock, not moving, from the agonizingly slow pump of his hips, and my voice was almost keening despite myself. "Fuck, David please..."

"Please what?"

My breath came in a shuddering laugh that was so close to a sob that I couldn't hide it. "Please fuck me."

His movements didn't change, and he nipped lightly at my earlobe. "You'll have to do better than that."

My whole body was shuddering, aching, trying to rock back harder against him, craving the intensity of release that only he could give to me. "Give it to me. Give it to me hard, please, make me scream, fuck me so hard that all I can think about is your cock in my ass - oh god, David, please - !"

"That's better," he hissed, rewarding me with a harder thrust that sent a burst of sensation up my spine, making me cry out and buck back against him, rocking between his cock and the hand that was again stroking me firmly in rhythm with the pump of his hips.

There were no more words after that, just David and I, bodies rocking together hard and furious, reaching for ecstacy, craving release. No sounds but desperate gasps and groans and cries of pleasure, voices mingling as our bodies shuddered together. His cock bucking fast and hard inside me, stimulating my pleasure center over and over until I couldn't think of anything but him. There wasn't anything but the hot shocks of bliss he drove up my spine, the sensation and emotion I'd craved so much, the conflicting hatred and love, shame and elation he brought out in me. Hatred that he had turned me into this, shame that I liked this, craved this so bad that sometimes just the thought of him made me half-hard. Love that I had this, elation for one bright spark of passion, of feeling, when there was nothing else in my world but revenge. For one man who called me brother when I had nothing left, who gave a damn about me when the world had forgotten about me. For the man who now worked my body to a fever pitch, shuddering and aching with pleasure, holding me on the brink of release for a few agonizing thrusts before letting me fall into the oblivion of orgasm, crying out my pleasure as it cascaded hot and bright around me, as I felt him come inside me, gasping my name against my hair.

The hand at the base of my neck let up a little, but he didn't move, face pressed to my hair, breath hot against my skin. "Damn you," he whispered, and shivered against me with a soft sigh before drawing away, doing up his jeans.

I stayed where I was for a few moments, heart pounding in my chest, slowly catching my breath. Thighs sticky with his semen, body battered and aching, and I knew I'd have to be very careful about how I moved for the next few hours, and that I'd feel this for days. Slowly I straightened, retrieving the garments that were now around my ankles and pulling them back on regardless of the mess. It was already late, and I'd be home soon enough.

"Tony..."

I turned to face him, clinging to the familiar numbness as a shield. "Yeah?"

He looked almost ashamed, and it surprised me more than I thought. "... I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"Look..." He sighed, grabbing one of the crumpled newspapers and wiping his hand off on it before chucking it in the garbage. "Come back to my hotel with me tonight."

I gave a soft, incredulous laugh. "David, I don't think I can take anymore."

He glanced away. "It doesn't have to be about that."

I sighed, shaking my head slightly, knowing that somehow it always ended up being about -that- with him. "You come back with me, then. I need a hot shower and a change of clothes before tomorrow."

He paused, then nodded. "Sure. Lets go."


When we returned to the building the next morning at 4am, I felt rather more myself. David had been mostly true to his word, and we'd fallen into a kind of unspoken truce in regards to what we'd argued about, getting each other off slowly and skillfully with hands and mouths before catching a few hours sleep.

The equipment were already packed up, and we took the repainted utility van out of the warehouse, travelling through quiet streets to our destination. It was well planned, and the timetable worked like clockwork. Security was out within seconds, surveillance lines cut and guards taken out. David slipped off to the server room to get the parcel, and the others disappeared into the basement to set the charges.

I followed one of the men - a discharged marine named Lorenzo - and one other as lookout, keeping tabs on the others over com as Lorenzo set up the detonator. But there was something wrong, my instincts told me. Something in the eyes of the man standing guard, the one Lorenzo had vouched for. The look of a man ready to die. The man who'd built the trigger mechanism.

I glanced over quickly, to where Lorenzo was arming the device. "Lorenzo, don't - !"

Too late.

The counter was ticking down fast, much too fast. From the look of it, it would be barely a minute before detonation instead of the 15 we'd planned on - and David was still in the server room. I paused only to put a bullet in the brain of the traitor, then ran - yelling on com for the others to get out of the building, passing by the building exit to get to the sever room. "David!"

He'd just pulled a drive from one of the servers as I entered, grabbing his arm and yanking him for the door. "What the hell is going on?"

"We've been betrayed, the bomb's going to blow any second," I shot back, pushing him in front of me. "Run!"

He did so without question, stuffing the drive into his padded bag as we flew down the hallway and back toward the exit. We were steps from the door when I heard the detonation behind us, and sprung forward with a last burst of energy, knocking David out the door and to the ground, shielding him with my body. Then I felt pain on the back of my head, and everything went black.


I woke up to the beeping of monitoring equipment in a dark room, and pain - throbbing ache in the back of my head. I groaned despite myself, and the clicking noise my brain had half registered stopped. "Tony?"

I blinked my eyes open sleepily, turning them toward the familiar voice. "David... you okay?"

David smiled, moved from the table with the laptop to perch on the side of the bed. "Yes, thanks to you. But you conked your head pretty good. Thought you might not come back to us."

I snorted. "Nah, I'm a tough bastard. Going to take more than a damn goose egg to take me out of commission. We get the info we needed?"

"Yes, the drive survived the explosion. I would have liked some time to go through the other things there, but... at least we have our lives." He glanced around the room we were in, another basement in a safe house, from what I could determine, and I wondered where he'd got the heart rate monitor and the other hospital equipment at such short notice.

"Tony..." his eyes turned back to me, searching mine, hesitating for a long moment before continuing. "Why did you come for me? You could have died. If you'd let me go down with the building, you'd still have my crew, most of my connections, and really almost anything I could give you to help you find your wife's killers. Surely you must realize that by now. Why keep me around?"

I glanced away self-consciously, wondering a little at the reasoning myself. The truth was, I hadn't stopped to think about it. I'd just reacted, to the ticking bomb and the knowledge that if I didn't go after him, David would die.

There was a cot in the corner with rumpled blankets, and the evidence of several meals on a small table by it, as well as tech equipment set up, I assumed to read the device. "You been here since you brought me back?"

His voice was very quiet. "Yes."

"You of all people shouldn't have to play my nursemaid."

David smiled, ever so slightly. "You think I'd let anyone else give you a sponge bath? But you didn't answer my question."

I gave a soft sigh, still not meeting his eyes. "You know the answer to that already."

"Humor me."

I closed my eyes for a moment, then turned to hold his gaze, speaking soft and even. "Because I still need you, David."

He smiled, saying nothing, but leaned in to press his lips to mine, warm and sweet and yearning, and it had nothing to do with sex, just David.

"I set up a job for you," his voice was low as he pulled away. "There's a woman I want you to meet, end of next week. It's just a quiet job, just for you. But you'll want to impress her. She has connections you want to get to. You'll have to be very patient in earning her trust, but I've laid the groundwork for you."

My lips parted slightly at the information. Finally something concrete, finally a trail I could start to follow to find the ones I sought vengeance on, after spending so long fighting for information from him. "David... why are you telling me this?"

He gave a little smirk. "Because I know you'll still come back to me."

~~~FIN~~~