Marshall's Park, The Complete Series . 01-2014 Read online

“Her choice? She was thirteen! She didn’t have a choice. Not in that house.”

  Finn’s confusion increased as the silence stretched between aunt and nephew became almost palpable, then Patti spoke again.

  “It’s your little sister’s graduation day, honey. Please… Come with me.”

  Sister? Finn’s gaze widened and his mouth fell open on an ‘o’ of surprise. Aiden had told him a little about his parents and the fact they’d told him to leave when Kaylee was born, but he’d never mentioned a sister. Why wouldn’t he men—? The thought was stopped before it even began and Finn’s breath caught in his throat at the pain in Aiden’s voice as he kissed Patti goodbye.

  “I can’t. I just can’t.”

  Finn quickly trotted back up the stairs until he heard Aiden close the front door, then descended again, a smile plastered on his face. “Mornin’.” He pulled Aiden into his arms, not saying anything about what he’d overheard, simply holding him tight. Of course he was curious as to why Aiden hadn’t told him he had a sister, but he figured if Aiden wanted to tell him, he would, in time. Right now, all he wanted to do was put the light back into his boyfriend’s eyes.

  “Mornin’,” Aiden mumbled into Finn’s throat where he’d buried his head, his arms wrapped around Finn’s waist. “Are you sure you have to go to work today?”

  “I don’t want to,” Finn complained, “trust me. But I’ve got to help out Marco, one of the keepers, with Elvis.”

  “Elvis?”

  “He’s the oldest lion we have in the pride.” Finn smiled fondly. “The vet’s coming to see him this morning. He’s off his food, and, just like his namesake, he ain’t one to miss dinner.”

  “How old is he?” Aiden traced Finn’s lips with the pad of his index finger, and Finn nipped on the tip.

  “No one’s exactly sure, but we’re kind of agreed on twenty-three,” Finn replied after a moment’s pause. “So he’s an old man in lion terms. I just hope he hasn’t eaten something he shouldn’t.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well,” Finn said in a stage whisper. “No one’s heard from Marco for a few days….”

  “Funny.”

  “I ain’t just a pretty face, you know.” Finn leaned in and pressed his lips to Aiden’s where he punctuated his words with a kiss. “You… are… so… fucking… hot… right… now.”

  “Just now?”

  Finn moaned softly at the feel of Aiden’s fingers in his hair. “Always.” He increased the pressure of the kiss, taking control and guiding Aiden until his back was against the wall, caging him in as they kissed until their lungs burned and begged for mercy. Dragging his lips from Aiden’s, Finn buried his face in the crook of Aiden’s shoulder and panted harshly against his skin. “Now I really don’t want to go to work.”

  “Then stay.” Aiden urged, his face flushed, lips swollen and eyes dark and needy.

  “I can’t. Besides, we’ve got the whole weekend together, remember. I swapped last weekend with Greg so he could go to his sister’s wedding in Miami. Anyway, aren’t you forgetting about the littlest Reid?”

  “We’ll call in sick and she can drive herself to school.” Aiden kissed the sensitive skin behind Finn’s ear. “I’ll tie some tin cans to her feet so she can reach the pedals.”

  Finn half-chuckled, half-moaned, which turned into a growl as he stepped out of the circle of Aiden’s arms. “Tempting,” he smiled, holding up his hand when Aiden made a grab for him. “And as much as I’d love to see you explaining to the police why your five year old is doing the school run, I’m leaving before I start walking with a limp.”

  “You’re no fun,” Aiden mock-complained, slapping Finn on the ass as he headed for the front door. “Try not to get eaten,” he added. “I think I’d miss you.”

  “You bet your ass you would,” Finn grinned, dropping a quick kiss onto Aiden’s mouth and squeezing a handful of said ass before closing the front door behind him.

  II

  Finn pulled into his parking space and switched off the engine. He yawned widely and leaned against the headrest. God he was tired. The all encompassing, bone-numbing kind of tired that made even smiling seem like too much trouble. He’d only meant to go in and help Marco for a couple of hours, but everywhere he’d turned there had been someone who’d needed a hand with something, which meant he’d been at the park longer than if it hadn’t been his day off. His feet were throbbing and he couldn’t wait to get off them. The drive home had been the first time he’d sat down since arriving at the park that morning.

  As promised, he’d headed straight for the lion’s enclosure to find Marco leaning on the fence studying Elvis, concern written all over his face. Marco had been a part of the zoo almost as long as Elvis himself, and Finn hated to think what it would do to him if anything happened to the beloved animal. Of course, the irony of why Elvis was off his food had not been lost on anybody.

  They’d eventually gotten Elvis sedated and out of the enclosure so the vet could examine him and take an x-ray to get some clue as to what was ailing him. All three of them had stood staring at the film on the light-box, mouths agape at the mass in Elvis’ stomach. The x-ray had managed to pick out the stuffed lion he’d eaten in quite astounding detail and, by the size of it, it wasn’t any wonder that Elvis was in trouble. Finn imagined there was a child somewhere bemoaning the loss of their toy which had obviously been dropped, or tossed, into the enclosure. Not, he suspected, that they’d want it back once they realized where it had been!

  His stomach rumbled in annoyance at being ignored, jolting him into opening the door and scrambling out of the car, pressing the key fob once to lock it and then again to set the alarm. Satisfied the car was secure, he shuffled into the building, barely having the energy to pick his feet up off the ground, an image of an hour long hot shower at Aiden’s to ease his aching muscles dancing across his mind. But he had to pick up some fresh clothes for his weekend with Aiden and Kaylee first. When he reached the front door to the apartment he shared with Chris, he suddenly had bigger things than a shower on his mind—it was open.

  “Goddamn it, Chris,” Finn hissed through his teeth. The moron had obviously left without locking the door again. If it didn’t catch, it could easily be pushed from outside, which is why he kept on at Chris to make sure the apartment was secure when he left. Someone was going to get an ass-kicking when he saw them on Monday. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He lifted a hand to push open the door and was stopped by the incredulous inner voice screaming in his ear.

  What the fuck are you doing? What if there’s someone in there? How can you be sure it’s Chris being an asshole?

  Finn opened his mouth to poo-poo his inner dweeb then closed it again. What if we’re being robbed? Use your head, idiot. It’s not just about you now. There’s Aiden and Kaylee to consider. Squaring his shoulders, Finn tentatively opened the door and listened intently for any movement inside the apartment. After being fairly certain the place was empty, he slowly stepped over the threshold, pausing to grab Chris’ baseball bat that stood up against the radiator in the hall. If he was going down, he was taking whoever was in there with him.

  Five minutes later, Finn put down the bat after checking every room. Nothing was missing. The TV was on its stand and Chris’ beloved Xbox lay on the floor in front of it. If he thought about it, apart from that, there wasn’t really anything else worth stealing, so why did the living-room look… wrong? His gaze skimmed the room again, and it was only then he noticed the piece of paper lying on the chair where he’d left his freshly dry-cleaned Monty suit yesterday, when he’d picked it up on his way home from work. Finn padded across the room to the chair and stopped a couple of feet from it when realization slapped him in the face. Resisting the urge to say “lightbulb”, he stared at the costume in disbelief. Where was his head? Or to be more precise, where was Monty’s head?

  Grabbing the sheet of paper, Finn squinted, unable to believe his eyes. Maybe he was so tired he’d fallen asleep on h
is feet without realizing—but no, there it was, a ransom note made up of words cut out of a newspaper. The growl started in his stomach and flowed through him like a freight train as he screwed the paper into a ball, imagining it was Chris’ stupid face. He shook his head slowly and glared down at the note held in his clenched fist—Chris was so dead.

  *

  “I am going to kill that stupid, pot-smoking asshole!”

  Finn slammed the door behind him and threw the keys Aiden had given him when they’d returned from San Antonio into the bowl on the hall table. He’d stuffed his clean clothes and the balled up piece of paper into his rucksack and securely locked the apartment before he headed to Aiden’s, and hoped that the drive over would dampen down his fury. It would appear not.

  “You said a bad word.” Kaylee glared at him through the spindles of the stair rail from the third stair where she sat, cross-legged with a notepad on her lap, drawing a very bright and vivid rainbow.

  Finn could have bitten his tongue off, but in his defense he hadn’t been expecting her to be laying in wait for him in the hall. Which, of course, she probably wasn’t so he really had no one to blame but himself.

  “Sorry, Squirt. I didn’t see you there,” he apologized solemnly and bent to drop a kiss on the top of her nut brown head. He fished a couple of coins out of his pocket and handed them to her. “Why don’t you put these in the swear jar for me and, while you’re at it.” Finn picked up his rucksack and pulled out a stuffed lion wearing a collar sporting the name Elvis. He’d passed through the gift shop on his way to the cafeteria and hadn’t been able to resist plucking him of the shelf for his littlest fan. “See if you can find a home for this guy. I found him wandering around outside.”

  Kaylee squealed as she hugged the plush toy to her chest, then grabbed Finn’s T-shirt to pull him down so she could lay an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, Finn, I love him!” She gazed down into the lion’s eyes and kissed its nose. “Elvis is my favorite.”

  “Ouch!” Finn groaned, clutching a hand to his chest in mock-pain. “I thought I was your favorite.” Chuckling at her look of disdain, Finn watched with a smile as she flew up the stairs to introduce Elvis to all the other miscellaneous park residents Finn had miraculously found wandering around outside.

  “You don’t have to bring her something every time you see her, you know.” Aiden’s voice was rich and warm in Finn’s ear, his hands sliding around Finn’s waist and his chin resting on Finn’s shoulder. “Her bedroom is filled with so much Marshall’s Park stuff, I’m thinking of charging her friends an entrance fee.”

  Finn turned in the circle of Aiden’s arms, looped his arms loosely around Aiden’s neck and kissed him softly. He immediately felt the tension in his muscles dissipate and sighed contentedly, sinking into the calming effect Aiden always had on him. “I like seeing her light up.”

  “You’re going to spoil her and then the stuffed version won’t be enough,” Aiden chided gently. “She’ll be wanting the real thing!”

  “So,” Finn grinned, sliding his hands down Aiden’s arms and then around his hips, curling his fingers over the curve of Aiden’s ass, loving the way the firm globes filled his palms. “Do I light you up?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, completely forgetting Chris and his idiocy for a moment as he stared down into Aiden’s twinkling green eyes and felt the twitch of Aiden’s cock against his thigh. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he whispered, bent his head and sucked gently on Aiden’s lower lip.

  Finn moaned softly as Aiden’s lips closed over his in a not altogether satisfying kiss. Mainly because as far as Finn was concerned, it wasn’t hard enough or long enough. He stuck out his lip petulantly when Aiden moved out of his arms with a whispered ‘later’ and indicated he should follow him into the kitchen.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “What a ridiculous question.” Finn couldn’t resist goosing Aiden on the way to the kitchen. How could he? When that perfect peach of an ass swayed from side to side within hands reach? “When am I not?” Finn flopped down onto one the kitchen chairs around the table and watched Aiden saunter across the kitchen to the counter. He growled at the movement of Aiden’s hips, knowing he was doing it on purpose now.

  “It’ll catch up with you one day,” Aiden teased, taking down a cup and pouring Finn a cup of coffee. “One morning in thirty year’s time, I’ll wake up and have to roll you out of bed. Those legs won’t always be hollow, you know.” Handing Finn his drink, he turned back to the stove and stirred the pans he had bubbling away on the hob.

  Finn snorted inelegantly and sipped at the steaming liquid, closing his eyes and moaning low in his throat. Good coffee was better than sex—well, maybe better than bad sex, he amended. “We can have a series of ramps set up around the house. As long as you’re there to push me around, we’ll be fine.”

  “Fnar, fnar,” Aiden pretended to be mock-amused at the prospect. “So, what’s Chris done now?” he asked, pushing on the spaghetti he’d put into one of the pans until it softened and disappeared past the rim. “I heard his name followed by asshole.” Finn watched as he turned down the heat beneath the spaghetti, stirred a little more basil into one of the other pans and then slid into the chair opposite Finn at the kitchen table.

  “That’s because he is,” Finn muttered. “He should change his name to Chris Asshole and go and live in Asshole Street.”

  “Babe, you’re rambling,” Aiden said, taking a sip of his own coffee.

  Finn stood up and walked back down the hall to his rucksack and took out the note he’d found in the apartment. He all but threw himself back down into the chair he’d vacated and smoothed out the wad of paper before reading the note aloud.

  Leave four park tickets, two big bags of Skittles and two big bags of chocolate M&Ms on the bench next to the pond in Bosworth Park on Saturday at 11, or Monty gets it.

  Finn looked up to see Aiden biting on his lip, his shoulders shaking as he obviously tried not to laugh. He narrowed his gaze and glared at Aiden from beneath his lashes. “See, that was my reaction for about three seconds. If he’s damaged that head I’m gonna kill him. Those goddamn things cost a mint and they’ll take it out of my paycheck. Laugh it up, Chuckles,” he complained as Aiden could no longer contain his mirth. “You won’t be laughing when Monty’s not the only one who loses his head.”

  “Sorry,” Aiden spluttered again and then tried to regain his composure under Finn’s cold stare. “Sorry. But it is funny.”

  “Yeah, until I get fired. I don’t own the costume. Chris knows that. They’re tailor made and if it’s damaged, I’ll have to try and squeeze into one of Matt’s, and he’s the original pinhead! Chris is such an asshole.” Finn opened the fridge and pulled out the bowl of salad, all chopped and ready for the dressing. “I’ve got to work Monday, he has forty-eight hours before I do him some serious damage.”

  “Can’t you just tell him to give it back?” Aiden asked, draining the spaghetti and pouring it into a bowl on the counter. “Even Chris wouldn’t be stupid enough to fuck with your job, would he?”

  Finn tossed the salad in some vinaigrette and placed it on the kitchen table next to the garlic bread Aiden had retrieved from the oven. “I called him before I came over here, and he insisted it wasn’t him. As if I’m gonna fall for that. He’s such a cheese dip.” He waited until Aiden had put the steaming bowls of spaghetti and meatballs on the table and pulled him into his arms. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore. I just want a quiet uncomplicated night in with my two favorite people and try not to think of ways to kill Chris in his sleep.”

  “Are you two married?” said a small voice from the doorway.

  Aiden grinned at Finn’s startled look and mumbled, “What was that you were saying about uncomplicated?”

  Finn quickly spooned spaghetti and meatballs into Kaylee’s bowl and then served his own before pushing the meatballs toward Aiden. He thought they’d gotten away with it until halfway through the meal, Kaylee posed
the question again.

  “Are you married?” she asked, picking up her fork and twirling some pasta around the prongs.

  Finn lifted his gaze from his dinner and quirked an eyebrow at Aiden, sending him a mental apology for taking the easy way out. “I think that’s a Daddy question, Squirt.” He had no idea what to say to a five year old about gay marriage, and from the look on Aiden’s face, neither did he.

  “Wuss,” Aiden retorted, turning to Kaylee, who was waiting patiently. “Why’s that, honey?”

  “Bobby Gold says married people sleep in the same bed.”

  “That’s true,” Aiden replied succinctly.

  “I told him you and Finn sleep in the same bed.”

  Finn wondered where the hell she was going with this. Did she think because they slept in the same bed they were married? He’d thought she’d at least be a teenager before he screwed up.

  “He said I was a big fat liar, because boys can’t marry boys.” Her lip wobbled slightly and Finn’s heart ached for her. “He said I’m not s’posed to have two Dads, I’m s’posed to have one Mom and one Dad. Why do I have to have a mom? I want to keep you and Finn.”

  The love blooming in Finn’s chest at the thought Kaylee considered him her other “Dad” was warring with the desire to beat this Bobby kid to a pulp—which apparently you’re not allowed to do if you’re a grown man and the kid in question is only five.

  “No,” Aiden said softly, holding Kaylee’s worried gaze. “You don’t have to have a Mom. The world is made up of all kinds of different families. There are mommies and daddies who live together, and mommies and daddies who don’t live together. There are also some families who have two mommies and some who have two daddies. And there are even families, like ours before we met Finn, that have only a mommy or a daddy. The fact that we’re all different is what makes the world such a wonderful place.” Finn smiled as Aiden stroked her cheek. “But you know what’s the same in all those families?”

  “No.”