Schnickelfritz in Love Page 4

  “Is that weeks, hours, or minutes?” Although at the moment he felt as wrung out as a limp old washrag, Boz would give it his best shot. He’d promised, and he had his honor to uphold. With Jake watching him while wearing nothing save a crooked come-on grin, it proved easier than he had expected.

  Boz rolled off the mattress and onto his feet, then circled to stand at the foot of the bed, rolling a half dozen different scenarios through his mind. He stroked himself lazily, helping his eyes and imagination work their magic.

  Jake made things easy. He flipped over and dropped his legs off the bed, knees to the floor. Even if the position put him a little low, it gave Boz a great view of the big man’s fantastic muscular ass. Boz could still picture the sight he’d taken in the evening they’d met as Jake clipped a leash on Snick and started away. Stooping had tightened faded, butter-soft jeans across those muscled cheeks and walking moved them in totally enticing ways. Boz had gone hard in seconds, just from looking. Now that ass was all his…Life doesn’t get any better than this!

  He stepped closer, reached and rubbed down Jake’s sides from just below the ribs to the slight widening of his lean hips. “You’re a little low,” he said. “How about you get up and stand, just leaning over onto the bed?”

  Jake complied at once, a tiny tremor in his muscles betraying his eagerness and maybe anxiety. “I normally limit things to a BJ,” he said, voice stifled by the bedding. “This time is different. You let me do you, and I want to make it totally even, equal, shared. It’s not quite virgin territory, but close. I wish you could be first. It would be a lot better than the first time really was. I was pretty young at the time, scared, not as big as I am now…”

  His words trailed away as Boz found the lube, squirted a thin trail down the crack of Jake’s ass and began to rub it around, easing into the big man’s anus with first one finger and then two, spreading the slickness and giving him time to adjust and accept.

  Then, taking his cock in one hand, Boz rubbed it along the same path, finally testing and easing in, slowly, smoothly, no jab or thrust, just a slippery slide past the first tight ring and then gradually deeper. Jake sighed out a heavy breath and gasped in another. He clutched and fisted handfuls of the bedspread, then shifted his feet to brace himself better, digging his toes into the carpet. Boz felt every motion, watching closely for any signs of distress.

  “You okay here?”

  “Oh, yeah, better than okay. Come on. I won’t break or tear or shatter. Fuck me like you mean it.”

  Boz did. Afterward they both slept a while, lying close together with Boz’s back to Jake’s front. It felt good, right, and almost too comfortable.

  The rest of the day slipped past quickly. After the nap, they got up, made a fast run to the grocery store, barbequed a couple of steaks, and tended to the dogs. Boz tried not to think about the ramifications of how easy they were together, how smoothly they got along.

  It’s almost too effing scary to contemplate, but damn if it doesn’t feel good.

  Chapter 5

  “Boss, I gotta talk to you.”

  Two days had passed since the night of their stakeout. Boz had been busy, Jake knew. Still he missed the other man more than he cared to admit.

  Jake turned to the speaker, recognized the man as Jorge Castillo, one of his best journeymen. They’d worked together on a couple of jobs in Texas, and Jake respected the other man’s skill and integrity. Right now, the Latino wore a worried frown, and his posture almost yelled distress.

  “What’s the problem, Jorge? We haven’t lost any more equipment, have we?”

  The other man shook his head. “No. I think not anyway. I maybe know where some of it went, though. I hate so bad to say this. Felipe is my nephew, and I vouched for him, my kid sister’s boy. He came out from California and needed a job he said. So I bring him in as a helper.” The smaller man shook his head. “Big mistake I’m afraid.”

  “Are you sure?” The news shook Jake. He had thought the boy a good worker too, and had never suspected he might be involved in the thefts. He certainly didn’t look like a gangbanger or a hood. Wore his hair neatly cut and no do-rag, baggy pants, and other traditional signs. He did have a couple of odd tats, although a lot of the young guys did, many who had no gang connections at all.

  Jorge shrugged. “No, only that I overhear some things he say on his cell phone. I do not know who, but the things he say, about how they’d get more soon. How they had to be careful now because the law was checking things and stuff. He was in the room we let him use, my wife and I, in our house. I was outside in the yard yesterday evening working in the flowers under his window. I don’t think he knew I was there. Now I am very worried and very scared. My sister, it will break her heart if he is going wrong, and the company will not trust me anymore, either.”

  Damn. Shit. Jake let his breath out slowly. “Let me do some checking, Jorge. Don’t say anything to anyone yet. Yeah, it’s true the local cops are keeping an eye on the place and following up on some leads. Maybe your nephew was talking about something else entirely. I’ll look into it, so just go on and work like normal. The job still has to be done, and we’re a little behind schedule with all the troubles.”

  With a trace of relief sliding over his face, Jorge nodded. “All right. I just had to tell you. It was weighing on me like an overloaded backpack, dragging me down, worrying about it. The rumor is the cops almost caught some guys here the other night, over the weekend. I know nothing about that, and I tell my coworkers it is just a rumor. We still gotta work, like you say.”

  Jake rested his hand on the other man’s shoulder for a moment. “Thanks for telling me, Jorge. I’m going to hope it isn’t your nephew too. If it is, he isn’t doing it alone. Several people are involved…have to be. We’ll get them. It may take a little time, but we’ll get them.”

  As Jorge turned and ambled off, Jake’s phone buzzed, and he checked to see who was calling. Boz. He answered it on the second ring.

  “Got a match on one set of prints. There’s a warrant on the guy out of California, drug-related, and not the first time he’s been in trouble. Even if he’s working on site, which would be a reason for the prints to be there legit, the warrant’s enough to pick him up. Two officers will be there for him at the end of the shift if not sooner. Could be if he’s guilty, he’ll spill the beans on the rest.”

  Jake hesitated, torn between relief and dismay. “Got a name on the guy?”

  “He uses several, apparently. He’s on the rolls here as Felipe Delgado. Age twenty-three. From the records the super had, he’s only been on this job about thirty days.”

  Nodding, Jake started putting things together. “I just talked to his uncle—or I should say he talked to me. He overheard a phone conversation, just his nephew’s part of it, but it got him worried enough to come tell me. Damn, Jorge is a good man. I hate to see this. The kid seemed like a good worker too.”

  “Can you identify this Felipe?”

  “Oh, yeah, I know everybody on my crew. “

  “I’ll be down there in about half an hour. Two uniforms will be there not long after that. It’ll be best if we can take him quietly.”

  “Okay. I’ll meet you at the super’s office. I think I can have Felipe there too.”

  Jake arrived at the office before Boz showed up. Jorge and Felipe turned up at almost the same time Boz did. When the two uniformed officers rounded the corner into view, Jake saw Felipe tense, but he didn’t run. In seconds, he’d schooled his face into a stoic mask. Jorge’s glances shifted quickly back and forth among them all, worry tightening his round, pleasant face. He knew what was going to happen, and he dreaded it. To be honest, Jake did as well.

  The cops bracketed Felipe smoothly, then reached to take him by both arms. One showed him the warrant and spoke the chilling words, “You’re under arrest.”

  The young man’s shoulders drooped. He shook his head, just a slow side to side, the gesture eloquent of defeat.

  Boz step
ped up then. “If you’ll cooperate with us on details about the thefts from the site here, we might be able to make things a little easier for you. Even though I don’t think we can lose that California warrant, at least there may not be one from New Mexico to add to it.”

  Jorge spoke a few quick terse words in Spanish. Even though it was rapid-fire and in the slurred border dialect, Jake got the gist of it. Felipe would get no help from his uncle if he didn’t cooperate, quickly and totally. The youth cut his gaze first to his uncle and then back to Jake and Boz.

  “I’ll tell you what I know,” he said. “The first thing is I should not have gotten involved. I’m thinking honest money is better, and no one gets hurt. I wish I could start over again. I’ll tell you what I know, though. Maybe it’ll help end this.”

  * * * *

  Later that evening, when Jake got home, he headed off to the dog park almost as soon as he got to the apartment. He wasn’t sure if Boz would be there. Even if he hoped, he also suspected the detective was up to his eyeballs sorting out the case, which had likely cracked wide open with Felipe’s confession. He told himself he wouldn’t be disappointed if they didn’t see each other this evening, even if Snick would miss the hell out of Athena.

  Although Snick was glad to run as always, Jake could tell he was looking for his lean and lofty friend. After a few minutes of racing around in dizzy circles the small dog settled down to a slower circuit of the park, sniffing and peeing every few steps.

  Jake shook his head, laughing at his pet’s antics. “Yeah, kid, you’re gonna make sure there’s no question you were here, right? You’re leaving your mark on every blade of grass and fence post and…”

  Snick must have heard or smelled the first clue. He skidded to a stop, then went racing across the park to the gate Boz and Athena usually used. Sure enough, there they came. With a bit more dignity than Snick, yet close to the same eager joy, Jake headed that way too.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d be home in time to come down tonight,” Jake greeted them, as Boz brought Athena through the gate and unclipped her leash.

  Boz grinned. “Almost didn’t, but I’ve got most of my stuff done—I can finish the reports tonight or tomorrow. Felipe sang like a prize canary. We have names and leads enough to break this ring wide open. I don’t think you’ll be losing any more wire or components, at least not through these guys. The evening shift is picking some of them up as we speak, and the rest are in Mexico. Not sure what we’ll be able to do about them. At least they won’t have their local minions stealing for them here anyway.”

  One question was bothering Jake enough he had to ask. “Jorge wasn’t implicated, was he?”

  “No way. In fact, I’m about ready to put him in for a medal. Even if we’d have broken the case in another day or two, he made it faster and easier, coming to you the way he did. Other than your bump on the head, this one has gone down pretty smooth.”

  Jake watched the dogs frolic for a moment, then turned back to Boz. “The carnies and circus folks have a saying, ‘I love ya, honey, but the season’s over.’ That doesn’t quite apply here. The case closed, though, so what else is there besides the dog park? What I mean is, was Sunday a fluke, or is there something here we need to explore some more?”

  For a few seconds, Boz looked everywhere except at Jake, took a step away to lean against the fence, then propped his elbows on the pipe running along the top of the chain link. Finally, he met Jake’s gaze, his expression sober and intent. “How much longer does this job run, building the med center? I heard it was due for the grand opening in December. Will your crew’s work be over before then?”

  “We’ll be on the job until the last, bringing all the equipment on line and standing by while the medical people test things. I don’t expect to move on to a new job until the first of the year.”

  Boz nodded. “Good. Where all does Merritt Brothers operate?”

  “Mostly in the southwest, Texas to California, once in a while up to Colorado or Utah, maybe Nevada. Most of the jobs the last several years have been right here along the border—El Paso, Tucson, San Diego—that area. I expect the next job I’m on will be in the same region.”

  Boz hesitated a minute, as if gathering his thoughts or maybe his courage. “Did you ever consider establishing a base somewhere? Maybe investing in a place you could call home and fix up over a few years? Always have a place to come back to?”

  The questions made Jake pause, wondering how Boz had stumbled onto his dim dream that never seemed to work out. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it more than once, but it just never quite jelled. Still, the idea feels good, sounds good. I’m getting damn sick of apartments and living out of my truck.”

  Boz’s intent gaze slid away for a moment. “Well, Las Cruces is a decent enough town, big enough without being too big. Lots of older homes selling at pretty reasonable prices. It might be something we could look into together between now and the end of the year. Our spending more time together would sure make a couple of dogs happy.”

  With a tilt of his head, he indicated the unlikely pair of canine lovers, who were checking the perimeter together. Athena seemed to slow her pace so Snick only had to take three or four steps for each one of hers. When they slowed more to turn a corner, she bent down and nuzzled him. He reared up on his hind legs and licked her face. Despite a somewhat pained expression as if she was thinking, Aw, man, not out here in public, she waited patiently until he stopped.

  Jake had to laugh. “I can see that. They won’t be the least bit unhappy if we spend more time together so they can too. To tell the truth, I won’t either.”

  Boz grinned. “I was kind of hoping you’d feel that way. It wouldn’t be a hardship to me at all if you were to let that apartment go and take over the extra bedroom in my place for the time being. I think there’s room in my fridge for your brand of beer, and I know the yard is big enough for two dogs with some space left over to grill a steak now and then and maybe even watch a sunset or two.”

  Jake clapped him on the shoulder. “I think this whole thing calls for some kind of a celebration—the case is almost wrapped up, and it looks like a new partnership might be in the works. Let’s take our fur kids home—to your place—and see what we can scare up for the four of us to eat.”

  “And after that, we could watch the tube or listen to some music or maybe just make an early night of it.”

  “I like the way you think. It looks to me like the possibilities are pretty near limitless if we put our heads together and take a cue from our dogs’ philosophy.”

  The dogs came running at the first whistles. Both of them wagged their tails with an excess of enthusiasm when their masters started off together instead of in opposite directions. Things were working out just like Snick had hoped they would.

  THE END

  ABOUT DEIRDRE O’DARE

  A lifelong reader, Deirdre learned to write—poems and stories—as soon as she could print the letters and try to spell words. She went pro with women’s fiction as Gwynn Morgan after she retired from a US civil service job and switched to erotic romance some years back. A confirmed desert rat, she sets most tales in her beloved southwest and slips in her ranch and outdoor background with adventures and ‘critters’ as secondary characters.

  Although all of Deirdre’ s tales are explicit, she emphasizes she writes love stories and not just sex stories because she believes Love in all its forms is the One True Thing. She also believes that every human deserves to find and enjoy it. She currently resides in central New Mexico and serves as chauffer and household staff for two amazing dogs. She enjoys many creative hobbies and spending time with friends and her spectacular grandkids when she can escape from the keyboard.

  For more information, visit deirdredares.blogspot.com.

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