PsyCop 4: Secrets Read online

  Jordan Castillo Price

  Secrets: a PsyCop Novel

  by Jordan Castillo Price

  www.jordancastilloprice.com

  ©2008 by Jordan Castillo Price. All rights reserved.

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  -ONE-

  “You don’t need the futon,” Jacob called from the living room. My living room. The one he’d been sharing with me since an incubus exploded in his swanky Lakeview condo last fall. I was in the kitchen at the time, trying to determine exactly how attached I was to the corkboard next to the phone, the one where I stick small pieces of paper until I forget what the notes scrawled on them were supposed to mean.

  “I have a living room set,” he said.

  I vaguely remembered Jacob’s living room set. I’d seen it at his old condo maybe twice before it’d gone into storage. I’d been too busy ogling his naked body to pay much attention to his décor. When I wasn’t busy shooting at the incubus who’d followed him there, anyway.

  I worked the yellow sticky note I was holding between my thumb and forefinger, rubbing it, creasing it down the center. It was so damp with sweat, it molded to the shape of my palm. I shook it loose and it landed on the countertop. I scrubbed my palm against the leg of my jeans, and wondered if I’d managed to leach all the sticky out of the note. Stupid of me. I’d made a deal with Jacob that I’d only keep the things I marked with a yellow paper tag. It had seemed like a big stack of stickies, at the time. But my stack had grown awfully thin. There aren’t as many sticky notes in a pack as you might think.

  It was the week of my thirty-ninth birthday, and there I was, poised to move out of my bright white apartment and into the old brick loft building, a turn of the century cannery, that I now owned with Jacob. I’m not sure which part was weirder—that it had taken me so long to find someone I was that serious about, or that it had even happened to me at all. I’d always figured I was too screwed up to do the whole long-term relationship thing with anybody. Ever.

  “Vic? The futon.”

  I looked down at the soggy paper square on the countertop. Maybe Jacob was right about the futon. Almost-forty-year-olds didn’t generally have cheap futons as the focal point of their living rooms. Especially not when there was actual furniture around they could be using. Besides, it would free up that sticky note so I could mark something else I wanted to keep.

  I touched the seat of the barstool under the kitchen counter. Vinyl and chrome. I liked my barstools. Did I need to put a sticky on each of them, or was it understood that they were a set?

  Jacob appeared in the doorway, flashing his washboard abs. He wasn’t trying to seduce me; he was mopping sweat from his face with the hem of his black T-shirt. Still, he was distracting, to say the least. “Bedroom’s packed,” he said, tugging his shirt back down.

  “Where are those barstools supposed to go?”

  “The…kitchen?”

  He frowned. It was more of a thinking-frown than a cull-your-shit-already-frown. I think.

  “Maybe. Or maybe we can put a bar in the basement.” If we did put a bar in the basement, Jacob would be drinking at it alone. Not because I don’t drink, which I don’t, but because I don’t do basements. They’re creepy. Even the ones that’ve been finished with paneling, indoor-outdoor carpeting and dart boards.

  But I didn’t argue. I don’t do confrontation any better than I do basements, or shots of Jägermeister.

  “Why don’t we just take it all and sort it out once we get there?” I suggested. Jacob hadn’t thought it was a good idea the night before, but it couldn’t hurt to try one more time and see if I might wear down his resolve. “There’s plenty of room.” Jacob went to the sink and held his hands under the tap. He splashed cold water on his face and performed another ab-flashing maneuver that would bring any card-carrying queer to his knees. “How many times do you want to end up carrying this stuff?” he said.

  “We don’t need two of everything.”

  And my furniture was all cheap pressboard crap, while his was real. Yeah, I knew that. But still. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that the hundred-year-old cannery, a bizarre student attempt at Egyptian revival, was my new home. I pressed a sticky note onto a narrow white plastic end table in the corner and heard Jacob sigh.

  “What?” I said. “That’s where I keep my keys.”

  Jacob stepped back from the sink and eased his way toward me. Sweat made his fitted black T-shirt cling to his body, and his deep olive skin glistened in the greenish light cast by the fluorescent overhead fixture. He kept on coming at me until he’d backed me into the wall, where the plastic table threatened to warp under the weight of my thigh. The smell of new sweat was heady, and it turned my furniture frustration to thoughts of sex. I felt a warmth deep in my belly. No, lower. Damn him. Neither one of us needed to resort to arguing. We each had our ways of trying to get what we wanted.

  He took my face in both of his hands. His palms were cool from the water. Jacob’s built like a linebacker and I’m more of a goalpost, but at six-foot-something, we at least stood eye to eye. It made it for easy kissing.

  Jacob looked at me, hard, and then he closed his eyes and dove in. What do they call ‘em, pheromones? He must’ve been giving them off in clouds. My head shifted gears—from hoarding, to sex—the second his lips touched mine.

  He pressed himself into me, chest to chest, thigh to thigh, and he threw heat like a furnace. A big, damp, sexy, man-smelling furnace. He drew his lips away from mine slowly, our breath mingling for a second before he started kissing lower, working his mouth along my jaw toward my neck.

  “I’m keeping my table,” I said. My voice wobbled a little. I’m such a pushover.

  Jacob grunted, and stretched the neck of my baggy T-shirt to scrape his teeth against my collarbone. The sharp rasp sent a jolt of heat down to my cock. I was beginning to feel a lot more than an indistinct warmth down there.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I said. It was pretty obvious, but I couldn’t resist. “I thought we were on a schedule.”

  Jacob didn’t dignify that with an answer. His hand covered the bulge at the front of my jeans, instead. My breath hissed in and my back arched as my body strained for his touch.

  It was humbling to have someone able to press all my buttons that well. Maybe it was a little scary, too. What if Jacob used his superpower for evil, not good? Would it matter?

  Probably not, as long as he kept me drugged with sex.

  I grabbed for his hair, but it was too short to get a handful. Wet with sweat, too. Fuck, that made me hard. He met my eyes. Not as dramatic as me grabbing him by the hair and forcing the eye contact, but that was okay. I just needed to see the look, the one that lets me know that he’s got it as bad for me as I do for him.

  Jacob stared at me hard while he stroked my cock through my jeans. The importance of what I would take to our new place and what I would leave behind for the Goodwill truck dwindled. Where could we have sex? That was all I cared about.

  “When you said the bedroom was packed…?”

  Jacob grabbed me by the upper arm and pulled me into the living room. Through the bedroom doorway, I could see my mattress and box spring stacked against the wall behind a barricade of boxes.

  The living room was a wreck, but Jacob hadn’t started boxing it up quite yet. My cock throbbed impatiently as I shoved a
laundry basket and a crate of DVDs and videotapes out of the way and dragged the futon off its frame. I toed off my loosely-tied high tops and stripped down fast. Jacob dropped a gym bag next to the futon and started peeling off his sweaty clothes. I knelt down on the futon, which was only slightly more padded than the floor, and unzipped the bag to see what he thought we’d need from it. I shoved aside rolled-up pairs of socks, a T-shirt and sweatpants. Underneath all that, I felt a plastic bottle with a familiar shape. Lube. “So, you were planning on getting lucky,” I said.

  “There’s always hope.” Jacob knelt beside me and grabbed me by the head again, tangling his fingers in my hair this time. He kissed me, and his short goatee ground against my face. I love the bristly feel of it scraping my chin. My cock pointed up toward the ceiling.

  It ached to be touched again. I stroked it myself so that Jacob wouldn’t have to let go of my head.

  He kissed me rough and deep. His tongue filled my mouth. The scent of him was heady, overpowering my senses. I raked my fingertips down his chest. I found his nipple and rolled it between my fingers, hard, and made him gasp against my wet lips.

  He let me out of the head-grip, took me by the shoulders and slammed me down on my back. He reached for the lube. “Fuck my face,” I told him, before he could cover his cock in something I’d be tasting for days. We used the plainest lube we could find, no scents, no flavors. But it still had a mouth-feel I didn’t exactly enjoy. Especially hours later.

  Jacob growled low and dropped onto his side. He took me by the head yet again to pull my face against his crotch. He could’ve pinned me on my back and straddled my head.

  I would’ve been okay with that—I’d asked for it and everything. But Jacob was always acutely aware of my time in Camp Hell.

  His caution was probably a good thing. I’m pretty sure a wrist restraint would send my adrenaline into orbit, even the wimpy ones built specifically for sex play. But just sex—tender or rough, marathon or sprint—hands and mouths and cocks without any toys to clutter up the bed? I’m pretty sure that was the only reason no one ever found me dangling by a plastic extension cord from a showerhead in Camp Hell’s bathroom. I had a boyfriend at Camp Hell, an empath, no less. Stefan. He kept me sane.

  Sometimes I think that Jacob must be an empath, too. But since he’d scored nil on a whole battery of psychic tests—average enough to be considered an official Non-Psychic or NP, not even a tiny sliver of talent lurking inside—I chalked up his ability to zero in on whatever I’m thinking to his incredibly shrewd mind.

  Jacob’s cock prodded my face, and damn, it was all musky and hot and good. He’s such a clean freak that he never comes to bed all sweaty, not unless I jump him after he’s been out for a run. I love his sweat. The taste of his body makes me feel less like me, more like a rutting animal.

  I opened up my mouth and Jacob pushed my face onto his cock. He buried himself deep, as he cupped the back of my head with one strong hand, his fingers splayed, fingertips pressed into my scalp. His hips flexed, the pressure from his hand let up for a second, and then he jammed his cock in deep again.

  I stroked myself a few times. Oh, yeah. I was soaring already. The smell of Jacob, the feel of him, everything was just one big rush. I stopped jerking off, worried that I’d shoot my load before we’d even gotten started, and got a good handful of Jacob’s ass instead.

  I grabbed him as hard as he slammed his cock down my throat. His ass is muscular, like everything else on him, and it’s got plenty of heft to sink my fingers into. He snarled, and bunched my hair in his fist so tightly I saw stars.

  My grip probably wasn’t hard enough to bruise, but I figured I’d see some nice red fingermarks on Jacob in the shower. And the thought of that turned me on, too.

  Jacob’s blunt, thick cock battered my tonsils. I slipped my fingers into Jacob’s sweat-damp ass crack and rubbed his hole. “Fuck,” he said, under his breath, and pulled my face right up against his crotch. I slipped a finger into him as he did it, and made him gasp out loud.

  I let go of Jacob’s ass and shoved at his hip, and he released me. The air in the room was cool against my face as I rolled free. “Come on,” I said, my voice thick. “Fuck me. Hard.” Jacob tackled me, half-on, half-off the futon. His teeth fixed on my throat, and holy crap, he was biting hard. My hips bucked up, slamming my cock into his stomach. “Yesyesye-syes….” Oh God, that was me. I could still form words. Jacob was reduced to a long, low, wordless growl. He held me in place with his massive body and flipped the lube open one-handed.

  He didn’t even bother greasing up my ass, just a quick swipe over the head of his cock, and then it prodded at me, that hot, hard pressure. Jacob spread my legs with his thighs and I let my knees fall open wide, dug my heels into the small of his back.

  He squeezed a hand between us and played with my balls as his cockhead sank in. I let out a noise then, couldn’t quite find a word to describe the huge jolt it’d sent through my body. I pulled myself against him harder, straining with my hips to bury his cock deep inside. I had both arms around Jacob’s head and neck, clenching him to me tight enough to strangle him. We were pressed so close that Jacob’s hand had no play between us, so he quit fondling me and just took my hips in both his hands so he could push himself in—deep, deep thrusts, all the way in.

  The sweat-slick pressure of Jacob’s stomach brought me off fast, and I rode the long, drawn-out orgasm while he pounded into me. I’m not generally a screamer, but there was no stopping it, the loud, desperate sound that I just couldn’t hold in. My back whomped into the futon, which slammed against the hardwood floor. The room gave off a weird echo, with all of the furniture disassembled and the walls bare. And under it all, that growl of Jacob’s, that sexy animal noise he was making, that I made him make. He grasped my hips so hard it hurt, really hurt, and his breath huffed against my throat. He stiffened, then went still.

  His full weight covered me as he breathed against my neck. We reeked of sweat and cock.

  I felt amazing, better than I did after an Auracel with a Seconal chaser. My hips throbbed even after Jacob let go. And that felt amazing, too.

  I sighed and kissed his short, damp hair. “I meant it,” I said, and I sounded a little woozy, my voice strange in the funny echo of the room. “You can hold me down and fuck my face. It’s all right.”

  “Mmnn.”

  “I might even…y’know. Kinda like it.”

  Jacob’s belly spasmed against me. It was either a laugh or an aftershock. I felt my own come, sticky between us, and the air chilled my sides and my shoulders, the parts of my naked body that Jacob’s bulk didn’t cover.

  “Not that I’m normally into that sort of thing,” I clarified, worried that I was starting to sound like a freak. “But, I mean…I dunno. It could be hot.” Jacob peeled his chest off mine just enough to prop his head on his fist and look down at me. He looked like I felt, heavy-lidded and sated. And like he’d probably rather curl up for a nap instead of loading the rental truck. “Okay,” he said. He looked pleased.

  Jacob bent his head to mine for a kiss, such a tender, gentle kiss for someone who’d just fucked me into the floor. He cupped my jaw with his strong hand as he kissed me, and ran the pad of his thumb over my cheekbone. His tongue brushed mine, then pulled back.

  He kept hold of my face even as he got far enough back to stare into my eyes. “Bring all your furniture,” he said. “We’ll make room.”

  And just like that, I didn’t care so much anymore. Not at the moment, anyway. No doubt I’d be disoriented and anxious once we got to the cannery, but that’s what pharmaceuti-cals were for. “Nah, you’re right. We don’t need two of everything.” Jacob pressed a lingering kiss into my forehead, then disentangled himself from me and headed off toward the shower. I’d been right. My red fingermarks looked pretty hot against his perfect ass. I didn’t think I had it in me to actually leave bruises, not unless I was really bearing down, trying to hurt him on purpose. I didn’t have the strength. Not
like Jacob.

  He’d been hauling around boxes so heavy that I couldn’t even slide them along the floor.

  I glanced down at my bony hips. Red fingermarks covered each of them, shading slightly to purple. Bruises.

  Funny. Jacob was the only lover I’d ever had who could actually overpower me. He was so strong that he could do it without even batting an eyelash. And yet, he was the first man I’d ever trusted enough to venture into territory that could turn dark and ugly if it went too far.

  Maybe Jacob’s size and strength had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was more about his personality. His equilibrium. The control he exercised in every little aspect of his life, from his exercise regimen to his alarm clock. If anyone knew his limits, it was Jacob.

  I heard the shower run and pried myself up from the futon, moving slowly. I felt the af-termath of our sex in my jaw and hips, and especially in my ass. The thought of it gave me a little shiver. That, and the fact that I was naked, it wasn’t particularly warm in the apartment, and Jacob’s big, hot body no longer covered me.

  I ran through the kitchen and into the bathroom. I was so intent on slipping into the shower that I almost didn’t get a look at myself in the mirror. It was starting to steam up around the edges, and a quick glance at the steam pattern made me pause.

  And then I saw it.

  The mirror fogged over as I squinted at my reflection, and I scrubbed it with the heel of my palm. My skin squeaked against the glass, and I turned my head to the side. I peered at my reflection from the corner of my eye.

  Toothmarks.

  Jesus.

  “You left a bite mark on my neck!”

  Jacob opened the shower curtain just far enough to look out at me. He knuckled water out of his eye and grinned. “Good thing you don’t have to work tomorrow.”

  “You shit.”

  He grinned wider and whisked the curtain shut.

  Way to go. I’d look real slick reporting for duty at the Fifth Precinct covered in hickeys like a slutty teenaged girl. Damn it. I rubbed at the toothmarks, which raised a pinkish blotch around them. “It better be gone by Thursday,” I said. I’m sure Jacob felt very chastised.