Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Due South characters belong to Alliance Television, no copyright infringement is intended. Original
characters are the sole property of the author YS McCool.

SequelTo: Keep Your Friends Close but Your Enemies Closer

"I don't care whose neighborhood this is," Mario insisted as he pulled a bottle of oil from the crate and opened it. "We don't serve any oil in my restaurant unless I love, perhaps worship, it." The owner/chef of Borealli's examined the label and saw that the contents had been grown and bottled in Vencherio, Italy, a farming region renown for its olives, cheeses, and native onions, but a pedigree was no guarantee of taste. He sampled it.

The flavor burst across his tongue like the brush of angels' wings. It had a slightly peppery taste with an excellent body and a firm bouquet. This was the oil that would feature the food and not itself.

"Order two extra cases, see about a discount, and find out if they have presentation bottles available," Mario ordered his surprised manager. "Why are you still standing here?" he inquired.

Hanson dropped the case on the table and dashed away.

Mario made a note to himself to invite this Ray Vecchio and his family to the restaurant's opening. A man who marketed an olive oil like that was bound to have good taste.

==============

Ray rolled over and found himself staring into a pair of blue eyes. "Good morning, Benny. Have you been up long?"

"Not very long," Benny answered. "I've been enjoying the sunrise and looking at you."

Ray chuckled as he sat up. The coverlet pooled down around his waist, exposing his chest and a few telltale signs of the previous night's activities. Benny was enthusiastic in his lovemaking, which Ray appreciated. "I can see a nature boy like you getting off on the sunrise, Benny, but not sheet wrinkles, drool, and a heavy morning beard."

Benny blushed and he tried to minimize the fact that both his nipples and his dick were hard. It wasn't working. "You're quite attractive as you sleep, Ray."

Ray had good instincts and he did his best not to ignore them since... He wasn't going to think about that while lying in bed with someone who was not Irene. There wasn't anyone left alive to punish, except himself.

His instincts were telling him that Benny needed a little something extra this morning. A little something beyond the eye-opening fuck he rightfully expected. Benny had defied Ray by declaring that he wouldn't consider staying with Ray while Gayle was still living at home. Ray understood, but that didn't mean he couldn't punish his new lover.

Ray threw back the covers, revealing both his and Benny's naked bodies. "Suck me," he ordered. Benny's breath caught and his eyes widened. "Show me how attractive I am in the morning."

"Yes, Sir," Benny replied, his face breaking into a huge smile.

Ray had not been a Boy Scout before settling down with Irene. Many ladies had sucked down on his cock before he became a happily married man and many had offered afterwards, but he didn't think one of them had sniffed and tasted their way around the base before sucking down on Ray's dick.

"Oh gawd, Benny," Ray moaned as the larger man gently rolled Ray's balls in his mouth. "Mmmmmmmm."

Ben gripped Ray's hands and placed them on his head. Ray understood, even as the fog of sensual pleasure was rolling in. Benton Fraser wanted to give up control to Ray Vecchio.

Ray reached down, squeezed Benny's hands, and used his thumbs to stimulate the palms. Benny shivered very subtly, but most things about the Mountie were subtle. Ray, who came from a loud, almost exaggerated family, could appreciate subtle.

"I had a dream about fucking this mouth last night," Ray informed his lover. "You were sucking me just like this. That hot, wet, talented mouth was making me crazy... just like it is now." He tilted Benny's head back so he could look into those clear blue eyes while he said the next part. "I can't believe I've found such a useful bitch."

It was the perfect thing to say. Benny's fellow Mounties must have spent their time in bed biting down on their fists or screaming into pillows. Ray just couldn't fuck like that.

"Suck me," Ray ordered. "Suck me with that sinful mouth of yours."

Ben went down on Ray so far that his chin was tickling Ray's balls. He pulled back until the tip was just resting against his lips, then plunged back.

"Fucking A," Ray groaned. He grabbed Benny's head a little tighter and controlled the other man's movements. Benny's hands went down to his cock and his arms pumped up and down as if his spunk was about to geyser out of his body and the only way to keep his dick from splitting apart was to pump it furiously. His entire body jerked with his hands, but his mouth never stopped servicing Ray's dick.

Ray was going to cum, even though he seriously wanted to fuck Benny. He clamped down on it, just as a hot spurt hit his thigh. Benny had cum.

"Ah, ah, ah," Benny groaned as he released Ray's cock. His hands were both moving in a near-blur as he continued to shoot his cum onto Ray's body.

This was the point where Ray could fail to meet Benny's needs. Yes, he'd cum, but the other man needed a special finish from Ray.

"Lick it up," Ray ordered. His reward was the kind of expression you would expect if you'd said 'take this one million dollars and go spend it right away'.

"Yes, Ray," Benny said before swirling around the tiny pool of rapidly cooling cum on Ray's hip.

"Naughty little bitches who cum too fast sometimes get themselves fucked very, very hard," Ray warned as he ran his hand across the mink-like texture of Benny's softly curled hair.

"I've been very naughty," Benny confessed as he moved to the next splash site. "So very naughty."

Ray guided Ben's face, smearing the man's pale skin with his own cum and making him look like some kind of soiled angel. It made Vecchio want the man even more. He flipped Benny onto his back, pushed the other man's legs apart and stroked his inner thighs.

Without saying a word, Ray grabbed a condom and some lube and applied them. He pushed into Benny's ass with a deeply satisfied grunt.

Benny lifted up his hips, locked his ankles around Ray's waist, and slammed himself up onto Ray's cock. "I'm naughty, so naughty, Ray."

"I know, I know," Ray agreed as he worked himself toward orgasm. He locked his eyes onto Ben's face and marveled at the look of total joy there. 'I gave him that.'

"Fill me up, Ray," Benny begged. "I need it."

Ray slowed down, traced a pulse point on the moaning man's throat with his tongue, and controlled Benny's movements with his hips. He pushed in and held himself still. "Are you full?"

"Yes," Benny gasped. "Full of your cock."

Ray smiled. "Bad boy." He rocked himself. This gave Benny steady deep strokes that made him shiver all around Ray's dick. "Squeeze down on me, Benny. I want to feel you."

Benny sucked on Ray's left earlobe while squeezing down on Ray's cock. Ray had no idea why the sensation in his earlobe felt as good as the ones surrounding his cock.

They were holding onto each other now. Holding so tight that Ray could barely move inside his lover. Holding so tight it was as if they were expecting a storm and had only each other's embrace for shelter.

The storm came and nearly swept the two of them from the bed. Ray lay panting on Benny, surprised the two of them had survived.

"Wow," Benny said, his voice surprisingly steady considering the amount of sweat and cum covering his body.

"Yeah," Ray agreed, his gift of gab having obviously left him. "Shower," he added.

"Now?" Benny asked, still panting.

"Later," Ray answered. He hugged Benny and shared a cum- flavored kiss.

==============

RJ spied his brother Daniel sitting in the first class lounge where his plane had emptied only an hour before. Daniel had his head down with his nose all but buried in the latest murder mystery, which he had probably figured out somewhere close to the dedication page. Still Daniel would finish the book. He considered it disrespectful to give up on a book, in which you were enjoying the writing, just because you'd solved the puzzle.

Daniel and RJ had decided to pair up in the lounge before going down to meet their father who was probably coming with his new "friend" from Canada. Security changes meant that if you didn't have a ticket, you weren't going to be allowed in the area.

"Daniel," RJ called. His brother was more muscular than RJ but just as tall. The Vecchio clan tended to produce tall thin men and full-bodied, shorter women. His mother had called it the I/O gene, where the men were the I's and the women the O's.

His brother was being sized up for conquering by two women, both wearing the latest in Vera Wang power suits, but as usual Daniel was oblivious. He looked up from his book and smiled. "Hey, Bro," he answered. "How was your flight?" he asked as he got to his feet.

"The guy in the next seat got a 'Dear John' e-mail mid- flight and spent the rest of the time trying to explain to me why she was a goddess," RJ reported. "He was lucky I didn't stuff him down the toilet and flush him into the sky."

His brother clicked sympathetically. "I sat beside Dr. Sylvia De Laurentiis," Daniel said.

RJ was never embarrassed to admit he didn't know something. "Who?"

"Doctor De Laurentiis is a medical researcher who was part of the California team nominated for a Nobel Prize for their work on isolation of cancer cells," Daniel explained. "She will to be conducting patient studies at Northwestern Medial Center. I invited her to the house for dinner tomorrow."

RJ knew his brother very well. He schemed behind a facade of perfect innocence. "I'm guessing that besides being Italian and brilliant, Doctor De Laurentiis is very good looking. So good looking, charming, etc that Dad will send the Mountie on his way."

Daniel feigned innocence quite well, but RJ had known him all of his life. "I'm inviting a new city resident, who is involved in vital medial research, to come to our home, to meet my family, and enjoy an authentic Italian meal with fellow Italians," he insisted. "Besides, Dad will love the fact that I actually invited another adult."

RJ wasn't convinced. He placed his arm around Daniel's shoulders. "Is she pretty?"

Daniel sighed. "She's an average looking woman but when you get her to smile, watch out."

A beauty would have been too obvious. That's why Daniel would always do better than RJ at scheming. "We better get moving, little brother. Dad's probably waiting impatiently on us."

"Do you think the Mountie is with him?" Daniel asked, his green eyes intent.

"Sure he is, and you and I will be achingly polite to him," RJ warned.

Daniel nodded as they headed toward the escalator. "But not too stiff and formal. He's Canadian, they probably like that."

Since their father could not meet them at the first class lounge, though RJ failed to understand why violence occurring there was more important than business or economy class, they had agreed to meet at the luggage carousel.

Standing beside his dad, and almost at attention, was a tall, muscular, dark-haired man with strong blue eyes. RJ's mother had been an artist, and one of the things she'd managed to ruin for her eldest child was not being able to size someone up as an enemy. Instead, he could see the planes of the older man's face and think of him in the terms of art.

The Mountie stood beside RJ's father as if he were already posing for the statue RJ could see. He was scanning the crowd, moving only his eyes, when he caught sight of Daniel and RJ. The Canadian smiled and whispered to their father.

Their father's face lit up and he held out his arms. "My sons. All is right with the world because my children are home." He gathered them into a fierce hug that didn't seem possible considering his slim frame.

This wasn't a show for the Mountie's benefit. Their father, who swore he had to be sedated when Daniel and RJ had gone to camp for the first time, always greeted them enthusiastically. It never felt like RJ had returned home until his father had made a fuss over him.

"Benton Fraser, may I introduce my sons and pride and joy?" their father inquired. He placed his hand on RJ's shoulder. "This is my eldest, Raymond James, but we all call him RJ."

"A pleasure to meet you, RJ," Benton declared as he shook RJ's hand in a firm and non-crushing grip.

"And this is my second child, Daniel," their father continued.

"A pleasure, Daniel," Benton said as he shook Daniel's hand. "I've heard a lot about both of you from Gayle."

"She took our money and she ratted us out?" RJ asked, letting them know he was scandalized. He threw up his hands. "Who can you trust?"

"We'll have to take her dolls hostage the next time," Daniel asserted.

"We could buy her a puppy and take that too," RJ decided.

Benton looked confused.

"My sons... How your poor aged father has missed you and all of your signs of being 'special needs' people," their dad declared, interrupting their verbal dance around the Canadian. "Grab your bags," he ordered.

Benton unerringly retrieved both Daniel and RJ's luggage.

"How did you know?" Daniel asked for the two of them.

"Gayle gave me a tour of your home that included the basement level, where the rest of the luggage was stored," Benton explained. "It was obviously a custom set. So when I saw these pieces, I knew they were yours."

"Amazing, Holmes," Daniel said as he headed toward the doors. "You should become a detective with skills like that."

RJ knew for a fact that O'Hare International Airport was modeled on the Ninth Circle of Hell. They were currently caught up in trying to expand the operation for far more money than they could ever recover so that even more souls could be trapped there forever.

The limo slid up to the curb and Rico hopped out and opened the trunk. Martin, Ronald, and Keith stood around the car as if a head of state was inside.

"Dad?" RJ inquired softly. If you wanted information from Raymond Vecchio, never start off with any sign of hostility.

"There was some trouble," their father said, raising the hairs on the back of RJ's neck. His dad signaled that he would not talk about it outside the car by immediately motioning them inside. Normally, their father insisted they deal with their own luggage.

RJ and Daniel ended up in the seat facing the rear. Gayle hated that seat and would resort to out and out bribery if one of her brothers managed to beat her to the forward facing seat. It was a preference that started after their mother had been killed. On the day of her funeral to be precise. RJ had tried to guess what it was about, but Daniel had just asked.

"Sis, you used to love the rear-facing seat," Daniel stated. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like looking at things pulling away from me," Gayle had answered. "I'd rather see what's coming toward me now." Perhaps in a family that hadn't experienced so many violent deaths that statement wouldn't have been so profound.

"Spill it, Dad," Daniel demanded, interrupting RJ's woolgathering. Everyone who knew Daniel was probably shocked at his tone. The Mountie wasn't.

"A man named Reynolds was rolling around town in a limo that had a fake set of your mother's license plates on it," their father stated. Since he knew there had to be much more to it, RJ was a little worried that his stomach had already tightened up with that mildly disturbing news. "He and his female, I refuse to use the word woman, driver were doing a 'bait and switch' for blowjobs targeting boys barely in their teens. It escalated to rape. They left their last victim at a rest stop to bleed to death."

"Merciful Jesus," Daniel swore as he gripped RJ's leg. "Tell me he's been caught."

"Oh yeah, Son, he's been caught," their father assured them. "We worked with the police, pulled in Derrick and some of his people, and added Benton and another Mountie named Turnbull to round the bastard and his driver up."

There was probably a lot more to it, but their father didn't like to worry his kids, especially after they'd lost their mother. RJ could admit to himself quite easily how much he appreciated that. But there was a question that begged to be answered.

"If he's in jail, then why all the drama?" RJ asked. The last time security was this close around them, their mother had just died and if they had any suspects, that information had not been passed on to her children. When it came out that their uncle had killed her in an attempt on their father, Gayle, RJ, and Daniel had a meeting.

It was Gayle who had wanted to kill him, convinced that at sixteen she would spend no longer than two years in Juvenile Hall. RJ realized it was her grief talking, not just for her mother but for a flamboyant uncle who had spoiled her rotten. He had convinced his sister to wait because his instincts told him that several men wanted their father's favor and if they arranged a little accident for Frank Zuko while he awaited trial, they might have it. Frank spoiled that for everyone by trying to escape. He'd died trying.

"He'll be out of jail by Monday," their father stated. "Even as heinous as his crimes are, without a record and with more money than a psycho should ever have, he will be given bail." Their father was silent for a moment. "I grew up around men like Reynolds, boys. One of the first things I did when I took over for your grandfather was to get rid of the ones still left. The only one tradition wouldn't allow me to ship off was your uncle... Let's not go there."

RJ started to hug his father, but the Mountie got there first by virtue of already being practically in his lap.

Their father smiled at the larger man, then turned back toward them. "Reynolds didn't think about physical evidence, never considered that the boys would talk, and is still pissed I kept Jordan from going in the limo with that she-devil. He'll want revenge. Revenge against the driver, who is going to talk in order to save herself. Revenge against the cops for stopping his fun. Revenge against our heroic Mounties for being interfering foreigners. But most of all, he'll want revenge against me."

Benton's head whipped around so fast that RJ feared for the man's neck. "What?"

Their father patted Benton's hand. "He would consider me as someone on his level, who has made the mistake of siding with lesser beings. In his eyes, that kind of betrayal deserves strong punishment."

"Surely he'll just run for it," Daniel insisted, pushing forward logic yet again. "There are several countries that won't extradite him for anything, including murder."

"He's not that smart, Daniel," their father explained, his voice soft. "If he were smart, he would have made arrangements to feed his urges with people who get paid for that sort of relationship."

"Ray, he liked little boys. I know you're not suggesting he hire children," the Mountie declared.

No one in their right mind would ever put Raymond Vecchio in the company of those who advocate child prostitutes. RJ mentally added a strike against their relationship. Joey might be coming up to bat even faster than RJ had hoped.

Their father turned to look at the Mountie. RJ fantasized about his dad putting the man out at the next red light, but they pulled through the intersection with the same number of people in the limo.

"Fraser, how old do you think the young man we sent to the front doors of the club was?" their father asked.

Benton puzzled for a moment. "Fifteen, I would say," he answered.

Their father looked absolutely smug. "William is thirty." He turned back toward his sons. "We all need to be on alert and limit our guests."

"Dad, I invited Doctor Sylvia De Laurentiis to the house for dinner tomorrow," Daniel said in a burst. "She's moving to Chicago from San Francisco to conduct some patient studies at Northwestern Medical and I thought she'd love a real home-cooked Italian meal."

"The Nobel-nominated oncologist?" Benton inquired, his eyes alight with interest.

"The same," Daniel answered. "She was my seatmate on the plane. I started talking to her because she seemed so nervous. She was quite surprised that a math major had actually heard of her."

Their dad was smiling. "Having her over for dinner won't be a problem. Is she married?"

"Never married, except to her work," Daniel reported. "She told me that I was the age a child of hers should have been."

"Don't let your grandmother hear about her, or she'll dump a load of the unmarried cousins on our doorstep." He glanced toward Benton. "My mother's goal in life is to marry everyone off and have a new dress for every wedding."

RJ and Daniel chuckled, but only because it was so true.

==============

Daniel braced himself for his sister's full-body assault that was innocently labeled as a hug. You wouldn't think a girl as thin as Gayle could almost knock you off your feet, but his sister once again proved size wasn't everything.

"Welcome home," she declared as she'd bruised him up. Releasing him, Gayle looked him up and down. No doubt their mother's fear that he'd starve to death in college was playing through her mind. The fact he weighed ten pounds more than when he'd first left home was not a consideration. "You look good," she said, surprising him.

Daniel decided to play off the compliment. "I need a shave."

She crossed her arms and looked so much like their mother that it hurt. "Is that single hair on your chin back?" Gayle asked with fake concern.

"It continues to torment me," Daniel answered with equal sincerity.

Gayle grinned and turned her attention onto their brother RJ, who was coming through the door. RJ got the same full- body hug but unlike Daniel, he hugged back with equal ferocity. Then Daniel was pulled into the hug by both of his siblings and they effectively blocked all traffic in and out of the foyer.

"My babies are home," their father declared just as they were breaking apart. "Guys, we have another guest."

"Another Mountie," Gayle whispered. She led the way to the living room where a very tall and muscular guy with dirty blonde hair was sitting on the couch with Joey. He tried to stand but Joey pulled him back down.

"How are you going to heal if you keep jumping up every time Gayle enters the room?" Joey asked, sounding annoyed. "She understands."

The Mountie looked scandalized. "As long as I'm able to rise to my feet, I will do so when a lady enters the room."

Daniel tried to remember when his kid sister had become a lady. Clearly it had happened, but somehow he'd missed the big day.

"Renfield Turnbull, these are my two sons, Daniel and RJ. Boys, this is Rennie, who is also stationed at the consulate and quite a hero," their father declared proudly.

"Sorry, RJ, I know I promised it to you next, but the Humvee is trashed. Rennie had to take on an armored limo with it," Joey explained.

"He could have been seriously hurt, but I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same thing in the same situation," their father added. "It must be something about the uniform that makes Mounties dangerously brave."

That remark seemed to be directed toward Benton as well as Renfield, who named these guys, but both men seemed to let it flow over them.

"Oh, guys, great news," Gayle said suddenly. "Jordan gave us backstage passes to his show tonight. There were no tickets left, but we can still see the show."

"Cool," RJ responded. "A concert sounds like just the thing."

"We're piling into Grandma's house afterwards for a proper Tuscan feast," Gayle continued. "She made Jordan promise. I'm convinced she believes he'll be eating sandwiches from some machine otherwise."

"Speaking of, we better call and let Grandma know we're home," Daniel said as he leaned over the coffee table and offered his hand to Turnbull. "It's nice to meet you, Rennie."

"And you," Turnbull responded as he shook Daniel's hand firmly. They must have taught the proper handshake in Mountie school, both Turnbull and Fraser had gotten it right.

==============

Ray led Benny upstairs to his study so they could have a quiet conversation. It was the only room in the house, besides his bedroom, where that could occur. "That went well," he declared as he closed the door.

"It did?" Benny asked. "I couldn't tell."

Ray smiled. "You're not bleeding emotionally, Benny. It went well," he explained. "My kids have been speaking their minds since they learned to talk. If you were in for it, we'd know." Ray suspected an intervention by either his daughter or Frannie, but he wasn't going to question it.

Benny stuffed his hands into his pockets; probably without knowing what the motion was making Ray think. "What are you going to tell them about me?"

Ray had some wicked answers to that question, all of which would have made the other man blush as red as his formal uniform. He decided to stick with the truth. "That you're my special friend and that things are new." He placed his hand on Benny's shoulder and noted the tension he felt there. "Trust me, that's all they'll want to know." 'Unless you were Joey,' he could have added.

Benny glanced at the couch. Ray would have bet money that the other man was remembering their romp on it. "Ray, could I impose on you?"

"You know you can," Ray assured the other man. "What is it?"

"I'd like to look for a place for myself and Diefenbaker," Ben explained. "With the exchange rate, my choices will necessarily be limited in such an expensive city."

Ray frowned. "Don't you get a cost-of-living bonus for a foreign assignment?"

Ben nodded. "It won't go far here."

Ray sighed. It was a very bad idea to shortchange the people who represent you. "I know the perfect place for you," he assured the other man. "It's a renovated building about two blocks from the Consulate. You qualify for the Teachers, Firemen, and Police Officer's discount."

Benny looked suspicious. "Is there a really discount?"

Ray didn't like people to question his word. It was a tick of his. He was sure his expression conveyed his annoyance. "Of course," he promised Ben. "They make very good tenants and it helps the inner city neighborhoods to have professionals living there."

Vecchio led Benny to the couch and bent him over the arm. He gave the larger man two firm swats.

"Ray," Benny protested. He needed to work on that one. Big smiles ruined protests.

Ray squeezed Benny's ass. "That was for doubting my word, Benny."

"I apologize, Ray," Benny said sincerely. That part was working. Canadians must have practiced sincerity, had sincerity parties, and politely criticized each other over their levels of sincerity.

"You're forgiven, Benny," Ray said as he continued to play with the larger man's ass. Benny tried to stifle a moan, but Ray had already heard it. "Drop your pants, Benny."

The pants came off quickly, along with the shoes and briefs. Ray needed to take the man shopping. Those plain white briefs did nothing for a man whose skin was already very pale.

"Bend over and present your ass to me," Ray commanded.

The smile on Benny's face would have hurt most faces. "Of course, Ray," he agreed.

The firm white globes of his ass were presented and Ray knew that he could do anything he wanted to them. Anything at all. As Preacher would have said, "power like that goes right to a man's head and makes him clown."

Ray wasn't going to clown. Not now. He was in deadly earnest in his desires. Besides, the longer he waited to take his pleasure, the more intense it would be for Benny. He blew hot air across Benny's ass and the man, who could probably stand in front of the consulate at attention for days at a time, quivered. That's the kind of power Ray had over the man. He didn't think he'd ever been wanted by anyone that much, even by Irene and he'd married her.

Another puff and Benny's ass winked at him. That was need.

Ray left Benny like that while he gathered lube and a condom. No foreplay, no soft words, no teasing other than the wait, and he was in. Benny's moan rocked his entire body and his succulent hole gripped Ray in its tight needy embrace. Vecchio stroked into the other man with all the power he had to release.

Benny held onto the couch, straining to balance himself against Ray's onslaught. "Yes, oh, oh, oh," he moaned.

Ray felt himself cum much too soon, but kept stroking until he felt his dick going soft. He reached around Benny and gripped the larger man's rigid manhood. "I'm still waiting to watch you shave your hole for me, Benny. Don't think I've forgotten. It will be your sign of ownership." He paused and teased Benny's dick. "Who do you belong to, Benny?"

"Only you, Ray," Benny swore.

"You may cum," Ray declared as he stroked Benny's cock faster and faster.

Benny lowered his head and squeezed down on Ray's cock as his dick spurted into Ray's hand. "Thank you," he gasped. "Thank you, Ray."

Ray kissed the larger man's back. "I enjoyed it," he swore.

Benny shivered as Ray withdrew from him. "Ray, if I present you with proof that I'm not infected, would you take me naked?" he asked.

Ray straightened up. "Is that important to you?" He'd only gone naked with Irene, and while Benny could not get pregnant, it was a big step for him.

"I want to experience that with you." Benny turned around. Many men would look a little foolish with only a bunched up shirt on. This man looked inviting enough for a round two.

"We'll see," Ray answered. It was his temporizing answer he broke out when he wanted to think about something he was probably going to agree to do anyway. He needed to toughen up around this man.

"Thank you," Benny said, his face breaking out into another broad smile.

"For what?" Ray asked, confused.

"For not saying 'no' right away," Benny explained.

==============

Joey poured wine into his companion's cup. "Renfield is an unusual first name," he stated as a beginning to casual conversation.

Rennie smiled. "It's a family name. Until I entered the Academy, I never used it," he answered, "but there were several Davids in our class, so I decided to use my first name instead of the middle one."

Joey put down the carafe because this was important. "Do your intimate friends call you Dave?" he asked. "Not the ones at the Consulate, but the people who know the most embarrassing things about you?"

Rennie smiled shyly. "They call me David or Bear."

Joey sat up a little straighter. He was intrigued. "Bear?" he asked in case he'd gotten that part wrong.

"We were cadets; so wet behind the ears that we left trails of water wherever we went. Our sergeant took us to see an Inuit holy man." Rennie, no David's, eyes were lit up by the six candles on the table, making the color seem to dance between blue and green. "We were supposed to get the official 'the land and Canada are one' speech from him. Instead he talked about poverty, pride, the evils of satellite TV, and taming our own inner beasts."

"You have an inner beast?" Joey asked, desperately trying to hide his amusement at such a thought. An inner cuddly pup he could see, but not an inner beast for this man.

"I had been completely unaware of it until that day," Rennie assured him.

Joey reached across the small kitchen table the two of them were sharing in Valdone's home and gently squeezed the larger man's hand. "What pointed you toward this beast?"

"The Holy Man, whose spiritual name translated to Above the Clouds for Sight, had each of us meditate in a sweat lodge," Rennie recalled. "Think of it as a low-tech sauna with herbs in the water."

"Saunas are already pretty low-tech, David," Joey protested.

The Mountie smiled. "I'd bet that every sauna you have ever been in came with temperature control and benches. We were on the hard cold ground with skins for a roof and no clue when they'd let us out."

"Were you in suburban withdrawal?" Joey asked, letting himself chuckle.

"My first vision was of a Play Station," Rennie admitted.

Joey howled. "Oh, Great Play Station, grant me wisdom."

"For I seek 'God Mode' and will turn back for no lesser state," Rennie intoned.

Joey made it down to the level of snickers. "When did you get to your inner beast?"

The younger man's face grew serious and Joey felt shame for teasing the man about what had obviously been a pivotal moment in his life. "The Play Station was gone and all I could see was blackness. Then I could see black figures moving in the blackness." He paused. "That doesn't sound right, but I'm saying that I had a sense of movement. Then the voices started. Voices of people I'd known and who had passed on."

"Go on," Joey prompted when the larger man had lapsed into silence.

"It tore apart. The blackness, I mean. It just shredded as these giant claws ripped through what turned out to be only a thin curtain. I don't know if you know anything about bears, but I was looking at a Kodiak bear and it was not happy."

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," Joey gasped. "Couldn't you wake up?"

"I wasn't asleep, Joey. The bear was with me and if I didn't work something out, it would kill me. The coroner would say I died of fright, but it would be the bear who killed me." Rennie swirled the contents of his wineglass and sipped the contents. "Excellent," he declared. "I would have sworn this was an Italian product and not from California at all."

"Ray's brother brought the root stock from Italy, where he'd gone to learn to make wine, and planted them in California's Sonoma Valley," Joey explained. He reached over and touched the larger man's hand. "Can you go on with the story?"

Rennie nodded. "The bear was maybe two meters away. I could hear it, see it, and most of all, I could smell it. And I had to ask myself if this wasn't some kind of psychotic breakdown because visions don't smell. But I had to dismiss that thought because he'd reared up and was roaring so loud that leaves were falling from the surrounding trees."

"Damn," Joey whispered, feeling frightened for his friend though this had happened some time ago.

"An unarmed man stood no chance against a Kodiak. Maybe a modern man such as myself should have imagined a weapon in his hands to defend himself, maybe even a superweapon that would have been at home in one of my science fiction books, but that's not what I did." Rennie placed his glass on the table and looked into the contents. "I rose up and realized that I was covered in white fur. Kodiaks and Polar bears rarely interact. I was a new and unknown threat. I was also larger, smarter, and meaner."

"Rennie, Rennie, Rennie," Joey chanted like a crazed soccer crowd.

"I drove him off," Rennie continued. "I could have killed him, but I was satisfied to drive him out my territory."

Joey thought about those images and shuddered. Dedicated city man that he was, all that nature gave him chills. "Did you have to tell your fellow cadets what happened?"

"The sounds I made were their first clue," Rennie explained, "and when I tore down the sweat lodge and chased everyone away before dropping back down on all fours was the talk of the class."

"Did they tease you?" Joey asked, ready to kick some unknown Canadian ass.

"Not at all," Rennie reported. "It was a powerful image and it showed the definite split between my professional image and my inner strength." He ranked his fingers through his luxuriant dark blond hair. There were stitches in his scalp, bruises on his face and chest, and his wrist had a hairline fracture, but Renfield David Turnbull was the picture of power and confidence as he sat in the quiet kitchen with only a glass of wine as protection from all he'd revealed.

"They were turned on by it," Joey guessed, knowing he felt the same way.

"Very," Turnbull admitted. "I had my first man that very night." He admired the deep red of the wine, the reflection from the liquid lighting his eyes. "He said I released him and that was as powerful as fighting the bear."

Joey thought about that. Releasing someone could be pretty heady. Lord knows Joey had never released anyone. He'd fucked them until they were sore, but was definitely not the same thing. He scooted his chair closer to Rennie and pulled him into kissing range. There was more, so much more that Joey wanted to do, but it would have to wait until his heroic Mountie was healed.

"I know," Rennie said, practically against Joey's lips. "I want it, too." But for now, this was all Joey would allow. His lust could not compete with Rennie's need to get better.

==============

Joshua Reynolds stared at his legal team, or least the top three members. "That was Vecchio?" he asked.

Boardman nodded. "Raymond Vecchio. He did not like you using his dead wife's license plates and trolling in his neighborhood."

"Allegedly trolling," Fisk corrected.

"It's the physical evidence that's going to be your biggest problem," Hertzog interrupted. The oldest of his lawyers, Hertzog was a jowly man who was the third generation of his family to suck off the Reynolds' family teat.

"What physical evidence?" Reynolds demanded. "No one can take fingerprints off flesh."

Boardman was the first to speak. "They have your semen, saliva, and skin from under the nails of Paul Goddard."

"Who?" Reynolds demanded, not recognizing the name.

"The young man who was left at the rest stop," Fisk explained.

Reynolds rubbed at his shin where he'd been scratched. The cops had taken pictures of that spot. He hadn't even felt the pain when it happened because he was too busy fucking that pretty little boy. "See if you can get that thrown out. What does that leave them?"

"Several eye witnesses and your limo driver," Hertzog answered.

"Lola would be a fool to talk," Reynolds declared, completely convinced he was right.

"She's talking up a storm from what I've gathered," Fisk declared. "Since she's nailing her own coffin, along with yours, the jury will believe her."

"What kind of deal can they offer her?" Reynolds asked.

"Considering the number of victims--" Fisk began.

"Alleged victims," Hertzog corrected.

"Her only hope is to get concurrent instead of consecutive sentences," Fisk finished.

"You they will destroy," Hertzog added. "Pillars of the community who have fallen can expect no quarter."

"I don't need quarter, gentlemen, I need action," Reynolds declared. "Pay off the witnesses and get the evidence thrown out."

"That would be highly unethical," Hertzog declared.

"But if we suggested a settlement instead," Boardman suggested, "that would be better for both sides."

"How much do you think they'd want?" Reynolds asked.

"How much is twenty-five years of your life, at a minimum, worth?" Fisk asked.

That gave Reynolds a lot to think about.

==============

The kids were at a concert, which gave Ray a chance to fill the house with a few of his "hard men" to discuss the Reynolds situation. He'd thought long and hard before he decided to include both Turnbull and Fraser. They sat at the dining room table, sipped drinks, and strategized.

"Weaknesses?" Vecchio inquired of the gathered.

"Beyond his taste for young boys?" Turnbull inquired.

Vecchio nodded, not bothering to answer. He motioned for someone to speak up.

"No current or ex-spouses, no mates of any kind that I've been able to find," Joey informed his boss. "He travels a lot and I've got some people looking into similar crimes during the times he was in Europe."

"Good thinking." Ray liked to praise his people when they showed both sense and initiative.

"He's got quite a high-powered legal team around him," Peri Howard, the lone female "hard man" at the table. "He might let them fight for him."

Joey shook his head. "He's sending them after the witnesses," he reported.

"Good lord, man," Benton blurted, "did you alert the prosecutors?"

"After we moved them and their families," Joey answered. "I made it clear that Mister Vecchio feared for them. Reynolds would send his legal team out with cash and once the charges were dropped their lives would be in danger."

"Because as long as they're alive, the charges can be filed again," Peri noted.

"What about the statute of limitations?" Fraser inquired.

"On felonious assault and attempted capital murder?" Ray asked. "There isn't one."

"Some people have suggested that Reynolds might meet his end in the general population at the jail," Doug "Laser" Pitt announced. "They take a dim view on child rapists."

"In prison maybe, but not in jail," Joey countered. "He might get his ass kicked though."

"He's getting out," Vecchio said firmly. "And we need a strategy in place before he places a foot on the sidewalk."

"His mother is living. Does he have any contact with her?" Al "Junior" Ropes asked. "She might make him see reason."

"It's an avenue," Vecchio agreed, "but in my experience, monsters like that have either cut themselves off from a disapproving mother or the mother helped drive them down the hell road they're currently living on."

"What about his businesses?" Turnbull asked. "Surely the publicity cannot be doing them any good."

"He cashes the checks, but Reynolds runs nothing," Joey reported. "Everything he has, someone else worked for."

The silence around the table lasted for about a minute.

"Who do you think he'll come after first?" Peri asked. "I can feel him pulling in his breath through his teeth already."

"The driver is in police custody," Stephen "Big Mo" Morgan reported. "She started singing as soon as she had a lawyer. They sealed her testimony before I could get a copy."

"He'll target me next," Ray assured his team. "Let's make it as hard on him as possible. I want a rotating team on every member of the family and an extra watch on the house." He looked at his handsome and heroic Mounties. "Gentlemen, I know you were looking to get into your own places, but until this is settled, I'd appreciate it if the two of you remained in the house."

"I can protect myself, Mister Vecchio," Turnbull insisted, his prideful neck stiff.

"Exactly," Ray agreed, going for the jugular. "I was counting on the two of you to help protect my household."

It worked. Both of the Canadians sat up taller. They nodded at Ray in sync. And they said Canadians had no rhythm.

But this meeting was a piece of cake compared to what was to come.

==============

"Irene, I really could use you now," Ray prayed as his three children took their seats. He had summoned them to the study so they would know that Daddy was serious.

"Are we going to talk about Benton?" Gayle asked. Ray knew that as much as she loved Joey, Gayle still liked Benny. It warmed him.

"You'd think the news that your father was squiring around another man would automatically qualify as the word of the day, but not today," Ray responded. He tented his fingers and looked over them. "I know we need to have that conversation and it can be as long as you need, but we have to set that aside."

"What's happened now?" RJ demanded. RJ was declared by Joey to have been the results of a very successful cloning experiment. Sometimes Ray didn't know how to take that. Especially when his son sounded so sharp and demanding.

"It's the same thing," Ray assured them. If they could be assured by this situation. "We expect Reynolds to come gunning for us, quite literally in fact, when he hits the street."

"And?" RJ prompted, letting Ray know his children had already figured that part out.

"Normally the family would be on the plane tomorrow," Ray began. "I propose that you all go to Florida, but without me."

Gayle leaned over and listened to Ray's heart. "You're still breathing, Dad. We go together."

Vecchio wound himself up for a tirade. "Kids, I need you to go to Florida and have a good time," he said from clenched teeth.

"Why aren't you going with us?" Gayle asked. "You have no reason to stay. None. This is just so no one will think you ran."

"Then why is it alright for them to think we ran?" Daniel asked. "If we run now, Dad, we will always be running."

"Besides, we can help you draw his people out," RJ insisted.

"My kids cannot be bait," Vecchio growled.

"Dad, we are always targets," Daniel said, attempting to try the reason track. "As long as you're our father, people will consider us as conduits to you." It was terribly unfair that all three of his children took after their mother and were very intelligent.

"Strategically, Florida is a wash, Father," RJ insisted. "We have no idea, year to year, who will own the houses outside our compound. We're just as likely to be shot by one of them as the people who are chasing us if we rush to their door for assistance." He waved his hands toward the windows. "We've lived here for almost twenty years and we know everyone around us." He leaned closer because he was about to make his point. "You're sending us from our most protected position, Dad, and we know you're only doing it so we won't see what's coming."

"What's wrong with that?" Ray asked, though he already knew he'd lost this fight.

"Daddy, doing something stupid out of love doesn't keep it from being stupid," Gayle said, quoting her mother.

Ray dropped his head into his hands.

"Now about Benton," Daniel began, changing the subject. "He seems a little closed off for you. If you've decided to go for a man, why don't you pick up a sexy Italian import? I'm sure cousin Nuncio would love to send you a nice selection."

Ray couldn't stop himself from chuckling. Their cousin Nuncio, a first cousin of Ray's mother, claimed to have the inside track on all things Italian commodity-wise. From wine to clothes to cars, the man swore he had it all. Ray would call the man and ask for an assortment just to hear his response, but knowing Vecchio's luck, the following day would begin with five or more Italian studs on the front steps.

"Benny suits me fine, kids," Ray assured his children. "We kind of balance each other." That didn't really explain things and Vecchio had no intention of telling them about the Dominance/Submission aspect of his and Benny's sex lives.

"Dad, were you lonely?" Daniel, his most sensitive child, asked. People naturally assumed it would be Gayle, but underneath her bright and sunny exterior was a steel. Daniel thought long and hard about things and it made him introspective.

"Yes," Ray admitted, not feeling like lying.

"Why didn't you turn to Joey?" RJ asked, ready as always to wave the Joey banner for hours if it were needed. "Any fool could see how much he loves you."

"But he didn't want me," Ray responded between clenched teeth and closed his eyes as the spike of pain from those memories hit him again. He regrouped while his children sat in shock. "Later I understood it was panic and not rejection, but--" Ray couldn't go on.

"He'd already hurt you," Daniel supplied.

Ray nodded and they sat quietly for almost a minute. A Vecchio family record.

"Don't forget to tell Benton that I get to help him decorate his apartment," Gayle reminded her father, changing the subject yet again.

"Gayle, we're talking about assassins, perverts, and Dad throwing caution to the wind with a Canadian cardboard cutout," Daniel reminded his little sister. "Where does furniture figure into this conversation?"

"Benton needs furniture," she explained.

Ray, RJ, and Daniel threw up their hands simultaneously.

==============

Mario Borealli greeted Ray Vecchio and his entire family with a slight case of nerves. These were not the kind of people he'd gotten used to at his old restaurant in New Jersey. These people were sophisticated and if Mario's food did not meet their standards he was through.

Vecchio had arrived with his three children and their dates, his men, his mother, his sisters and their men, and two separate tables of guards/associates.

They ordered almost everything on the menu, shared dishes, and discussed seasoning and preparations. When a dish could not reach a consensus amongst the tables, then Mother Vecchio was given the final word.

During this long meal, a man entered the restaurant without the required necktie and jacket. He wasn't dirty but he also didn't look like he could afford a meal at Mario's establishment, perhaps not even an appetizer.

Hanson was about to send him away when one of Vecchio's men, who had been at one of the satellite tables came to the maitre 'd's station and spoke to the shabby man. This conversation was held in tight whispers.

The little man was taken to Vecchio's table where he had a quiet word with the big man himself while Vecchio's tall, dark-haired companion surrendered his seat. Then Vecchio did something that made Mario wonder what he'd just witnessed.

Vecchio gave the little man his jacket, an Armani, and insisted their waiter find this man a table. The newcomer was told to order what he wanted and to take something home. His bill was added to Vecchio's own.

The meal continued, but one by one, Vecchio spoke to the men at the satellite tables, his face serious and his words impossible to overhear.

Vecchio called for the final bill after everyone had lingered for a bit over espresso and their desserts. Mario nearly passed out from holding his breath as Ray Vecchio paid his check and signaled him over. "Yes, Mister Vecchio?"

"You have a nice place and I'm sure you'll do well," he declared.

"Thank you, Mister Vecchio," Mario replied, very relieved.

==============

"Ray, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this help," Ben said as he tied an apron on his lover.

"Hey, I've never known hunger, but I appreciate the situation," Ray declared. "Let's feed these people," he declared, rubbing his hands together.

Turnbull had made Ben aware of a shelter not four blocks from the consulate that was run by three local churches. The establishment had no trouble getting food donated, especially during the holidays, but they needed volunteers to serve and clean up.

Ben had asked Ray to help and Turnbull had asked Joey. Ray had arrived with his children and some of his children's friends. Joey had turned up with members of his staff.

Things went quite well, with Joey's men only having to escort out a few troublemakers. They cleaned up, made a few minor repairs under Ray's direction, and donated generously for the day-to-day effort the shelter maintained.

Their next stop was Gina Vecchio's home where a holiday feast of epic proportions awaited them. Ray was immediately smothered by his kin, but little by little he moved Ben to him and made sure that everyone saw them sitting, standing, and even walking side by side. It was the most subtle "he's with me" signs Ben had ever witnessed.

Filled nearly to bursting and mind-numbed by endless sports, they staggered back to Ray's home. Diefenbaker would have required a stretcher just for his stomach if the children of the household hadn't played with the wolf until near exhaustion had taken him.

Ray and Ben snuggled on the couch in the living room, listened to music and just enjoyed the presence of the other man. When they went to bed, Ray had seemed content to just cuddle, but Ben had other ideas.

With Ray quiet, happy, and sleepy, Ben allowed himself a special treat, he licked Ray from his navel to his perineum. He took his time and loved every lick and every drop as Ray came in his mouth.

"You're very oral," Ray observed lazily.

"Yes, I am," Ben agreed. He eventually fell asleep curled around the smaller man with Ray's heavy equipment in his hands. It was the best Thanksgiving Ben could remember since his mother had died.

==============

Diego's target was walking just ahead of him, chatting with her girlfriends, and carrying two shopping bags. He'd been told that once they'd been given the pictures of the Vecchio children, the pretty little thing would be his to do with... whatever came to his mind. Right now he could see himself wrapping the girl's long brown hair around his cock before making her suck it. If she was crying while she did it, then all the better.

Finally the girl was parting from her friends. He followed her out to the big and crowded parking lot. Even if people saw him take her they wouldn't do anything. Diego had taken plenty of women in front of witnesses and he'd only been convicted twice. This one wasn't going to get to go crying to the cops though. Mister Reynolds had promised him extra money if Diego brought him the girl's heart in a mason jar. He liked that thought.

Diego walked up behind her and grabbed her creamy throat. The pulse beat wildly under his hand and he brought his lips up to her ear. "Scream and I'll cut your throat right here, bitch."

He felt himself flying and he hit the car. Diego fell to the cold concrete in time to get a high heel to his jewels. Gagging, Diego was pulled up by his hair. He got to see the face of the girl, who he was supposed to take, but something was wrong. The girl in the picture had pretty green eyes that would have widened in terror as he popped her cherry. This woman's eyes were brown.

Diego was going to run but something stung his neck and he collapsed to his knees. "No," he whimpered. He saw the ground moving under him and then he was literally tossed into the back of van.

He knew the sound of duct tape very well but never had it used on him. His hands were bound behind his back, his ankles were crossed and then bound, and his mouth was covered. There were maybe four men in the van, including the driver, but none of them were talking to him.

They stopped and another man was thrown on the floor beside Diego. He was also bound with duct tape. Diego knew this man. His name was Coates, Croats, or something like that. They'd both met with Reynolds in a warehouse two nights before. Diego had begged for the girl after being assigned one of the boys. He could take a man and kill him, but that sweet-faced girl inspired art. Her death would have been a masterpiece.

Coates looked at him, his eyes rolling in fear. If Coates was here, then Miller was still out there. They could bargain with these people by telling them about that creep. Miller was a messy killer and liked to mail body parts to the relatives. He'd been doing 10 to 15 for a home invasion when Diego met him and Miller often bragged that he'd never been picked up for his best crimes.

The van was going somewhere very dark. Maybe an alley between tall buildings or some kind of tunnel. The back of the vehicle was opened and Miller was thrown in. They didn't bother to tape Miller's hands. He wasn't going anywhere but the ground. Miller was permanently looking over his right shoulder, one eye was missing, and two of his teeth were embedded in his bottom lip.

Coates began to hyperventilate when the van turned sharply and Miller's arm flung out and landed on him. He tried to roll away but the arm almost clung to him. Diego looked down at the floor because he didn't want to see this anymore. It had to stop and soon or Diego was going to lose his mind.

The van was in traffic. Diego could hear the other cars and drivers. He thought about getting help but remembered who he was. No one would help him. No one could help him.

* * *

Diego had lost all feeling in his hands and feet by the time they stopped. The men exited, but Diego, Coates, and Miller were left inside. Coates screamed into his tape as the door was closed and something was placed over the outside of the windows to block the light.

"No, no, no," Diego begged into his tape. They were leaving them in the van with the dead man. Diego howled at his predicament and the loss of his pretty bird whose wings would remain untouched.

==============

Joshua Reynolds struggled out of his covers and snatched up the phone. He was expecting to hear from one of his team. They'd left his home not 36 hours before; more than enough time to have completed the task, unless they were really enjoying themselves with Vecchio's beautiful offspring.

"Hello?" he croaked.

"Three down," an unknown male voice declared. "Can't you do better?" he asked before hanging up the phone.

Reynolds put the phone down and within minutes, he had convinced himself he'd been dreaming. Diego, Miller, and Coates had not failed. It was just his natural worry state that had woken him up.

==============

It was an older neighborhood with a mixture of single-family homes, duplexes, and apartment buildings. People parked on the street and signs warned them that their vehicles could be covered over by the snowplows. Diefenbaker sniffed every lightpost between the car and the front doors of the apartment building.

Benton had already seen a building similar to this one before a renovation, so he was doubly impressed by the completed version. Two large open-grill elevators flanked the huge staircase, which was the centerpiece of the lobby. A mural of a beach scene was in progress on one wall and the other one had a bank of payphones. Signs in English, Spanish, Korean, and French explained how to make an emergency call without money.

"The work was completed last month and it's filling up pretty fast," Ray warned as he directed Ben and Diefenbaker up the stairs. "I like the families with little kids to have the lowest floors." He paused and looked at Ben. "It's just safer for everyone that way."

Ben nodded and continued to follow Ray. He took a deep breath and let the scents of many meals being prepared fill his lungs.

"Doggie," a tiny Latin angel said as she succeeded in petting Diefenbaker's head. "White," she declared.

"Hello, Miss," Ben said softly.

The little girl screwed up her face, pointed a finger, and declared "Stranger".

"But he might become a neighbor," Ray soothed as he led Ben away. "It's a sign of the times, Benny, but it's a good thing she is cautious around men she doesn't know."

Ben nodded, still feeling a little bad that he'd unintentionally frightened the child. Maybe she would have been more relaxed if he'd been in his uniform, but as an American child she might not have recognized it.

They made it to the sixth and top floor.

"Those stairs go to the roof exit," Ray explained. "I wish the kids would stay off the roof, but when you have to keep them from playing in the busy street, where else do they have to go? There's a good solid guardrail to keep them from falling off." He led the way down the hall to number 608. He unlocked the door. "Here we go."

Ben stepped inside and was immediately impressed by the hardwood floors, plastered walls, and high ceilings. Light streamed in from many windows. Diefenbaker began to explore.

"It's got two bedrooms, a study, and two bathrooms," Ray ticked off. "The kitchen is all new and has a microwave plus a dishwasher, stove, and a side-by-side refrigerator." Vecchio opened what looked like a small closet in the kitchen. "This is the pantry. It's tiny but useful."

Ben looked at the counters which were tiled and the solid wood cabinets. Unless the aforementioned bedrooms and baths were microscopic, there was no way he could afford this place.

Ray tugged Ben along behind him. "This is a balcony, just big enough to stand on I'm afraid, but you also have easy access to the fire escape. The heat is from radiators and you have three window units for air." He pulled Ben into one of the bedrooms. It was large, with high ceilings like the living room and kitchen and had access to a private bath. The bathroom had two sinks, a walk-in shower, and toilet. A door in the bathroom led into a good-sized closet that already had poles, shelves, and a drawer unit in it.

"The other bedroom is the same size as this one, but the bathroom is open to the living room," Ray reported. "It doesn't have as nice a closet." He crossed his arms and smiled. "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful, Ray, but even with the discount it is far out of my price range." He cast his eyes downward.

"Benny, you told me how much you had to spend and for that money and the discount, you can have this." Ray lifted Benny's chin. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear, Benny. This is where you'll be staying. I don't want you in some rat trap. It's not as fancy as I'd like you to have but it is a good compromise." He walked over to the window. "You can see part of the 27th Precinct's building from here and Detective Jack Huey is going to be living next door to you."

"He is?" Ben inquired, very surprised. Huey wouldn't compromise himself, so this place most have truly been within sight of Ben's price range.

"His is a one bedroom, one bath, with study," Ray reported.

"Maybe I should look at a unit that size," Ben suggested hopefully. He was starting to feel a little like a kept man in this nice apartment.

"Sorry, Benny, the three units left are all bigger than this one and really are out of your range," Ray said apologetically. "What's the problem?"

"It's too nice, Ray. It's too much." Ben waved his hands at the beautiful room.

Ray looked heavenward and asked for strength. He moved closer and Ben could feel his resolve melting like ice suddenly exposed to the summer sun. "This is the kind of place a Sergeant should have." He kissed Ben on the nose. "Unless you can find a nicer place for the same money this close to the Consulate, you need to plan on putting your hat here. Also, you're obligated to let my daughter help you decorate. I don't understand it, but it thrills her no end."

Ben smiled. One of Gayle's smiles could be a big motivator. "Okay, Ray," he agreed. Ben had known he was doomed the moment Ray stepped closer.

==============

Ben could have told Gayle the dimensions of every room, but the young lady had insisted on measuring them herself. Afterwards she had draped different solid color cloths on the floor to judge the light before making a sketch of each room. Diefenbaker had gazed at the young lady adoringly throughout this while Ray made phone calls and used the kitchen countertop as a makeshift desk for his laptop.

"We're rolling," Gayle declared as she gathered up her things.

Ben held the door for Gayle, Diefenbaker, and Ray, who was still talking on the phone as the group went down the stairs. He followed without comment as they climbed into the limo and headed to the suburbs.

The sign over the furniture store said Bingham's, but Ben could tell it was one of Ray's businesses by the way everyone treated them once they'd entered.

Gayle decided on a queen-sized bed for the master suite and let Ben pick between the four-poster and the sleigh bed styles. He chose the four-poster with visions of Ray securing him to it and then... whatever the other man wanted. Once that choice was made, a large-sized dog bed was added along with two nightstands, lamps, and a chair. With the first bedroom complete, Gayle moved on to the study, which was kept simple with a desk, chair, lamps, and two bookcases. The living room/dining room got a sofabed, a loveseat, a chair and a half, a round dining table with six chairs, an ottoman, more lamps, and two gorgeous rugs.

A child tried to buy Diefenbaker and then threw himself down onro the floor and had a red-faced tantrum when Gayle wouldn't sell the wolf outright or even haggle. Diefenbaker raised his leg as if he were going to mark the boy like a lightpost and the child ran away. Ray loved this so much that he went two storefronts down and fed the pampered wolf a pastry.

The entire incident didn't slow Gayle down as she added a full-sized bed, nightstand, lamp, chest of drawers and freestanding mirror for the second bedroom.

When the final bill was to be tallied, Ray took Ben aside and inquired, man-to-man, if Ben had dishes. When his sad state of affairs was laid bare, Ray cautiously approached his daughter and asked if she could bear the burden of kitting out Ben's kitchen.

After assuring her father that she still had some strength left, Gayle arranged a delivery date for the goods and then dragged Ben to the car as if she feared he would run away.

The purchases at The Pantry were kept simple and Ben could actually afford them, but Gayle was quicker on the draw with Ray's credit card than Ben had been with his cash.

"Save it," Gayle instructed. "You still have to fill up your pantry and refrigerator."

"And that wolf of yours is not eating the air," Ray added.

Diefenbaker licked the powdered sugar off his snout and grinned. The animal was ruined and it was going to take everything Ben had to get Diefenbaker back in shape.

As they were getting into the limo, Ben spotted a man taking their picture. He pointed him out to Ray's team.

While Ben was convinced that Ray's people could handle most things, he felt it was time he went to the 27th Precinct and spoke to his contacts there. He knew it had infuriated the prosecutors and the police that Reynolds had been given bail and could walk the streets or worse, roll those streets in a new limo with a new accomplice.

==============

Joshua was getting worried. The first three men he'd sent against Vecchio's children had disappeared without a trace and now the next four had also vanished. Nine days since Joshua had stepped out of jail and Vecchio still remained unpunished. He didn't like that one little bit. He could hardly file a missing persons report on the men but Reynolds wanted to know what happened to the people he'd paid good money to handle this situation.

Rehnquist, his new second, entered the room quietly. "Sir, we have a little problem," he announced as if the words actually hurt his throat. Rehnquist was short, pale, muscular, bald, appeared to have no neck, and never seemed to sweat. His gray eyes were as cold as a bullet and his voice, though very deep, never grated on Reynolds's nerves.

"What problem?" Reynolds demanded. He placed his mostly untouched sherry on the marble top of his desk.

"The police are at the gates with warrants and promising to break it down if they are not admitted," Rehnquist explained.

Reynolds frowned. The police had gotten samples of every fluid he produced, plus skin and hair. What could they possible want now? "Let them in," he ordered.

His second exited the room and four minutes later two detectives, who Reynolds recognized from his arrest, and nine uniformed cops were standing in front of him.

"What do you want?" Reynolds inquired, though he let his tone indicate he wasn't really interested in the answer.

"I'm Detective Gardino," the shorter white detective announced. "We have a warrant for your arrest."

"I'm already arrested," Reynolds complained. "What do you want now?"

"You're under arrest for the solicitation of kidnapping, rape, and murder," the black detective explained. He hauled Joshua out of his chair and slapped a pair of cheap plastic handcuffs on his wrists, binding them behind Reynolds's back.

Gardino displayed a warrant to search the house for weapons, videos, and child porn on the computers. While Joshua had all of those items, it would take a world-class safe cracker to get to his weapons and a genius to break his computer passwords.

Joshua and Rehnquist were thrown into the back of a police van and taken into town to be booked. Reynolds nearly screamed when he saw one of the men he'd hired sitting calmly at a desk and typing into a computer.

This was the dirty blond hitman from the second group. He was a tightly wired bastard who seemed only hours from coming down from his recent high. His name was Bruce, no last name, and Reynolds only worry about the man's ability to take Raymond Vecchio Junior had been how many other people he might kill before he got around to Vecchio's firstborn.

He was a cop and that was bad.

The blond looked up from his computer and smiled. "Nice to see you again, Mister Reynolds. Do you still have those jars waiting for my work?"

Joshua was a civilized man, but he had his limits. He spat on the dirty blond and cursed him and his entire family line.

The savage the blond had played so well came back to the thin man's eyes and Reynolds recoiled. There was madness there that Joshua understood all so well. He had his own madness and it took very strong relief valves to keep it at bay. Did this man have those valves in place?

"Take him to the box, Detective Huey," the blond said firmly as Joshua's saliva slowly slid down his cheek. "We're old friends now and have so much to discuss."

"You are too stupid," Huey whispered behind Joshua's head.

Reynolds was taken to a small, possibly airless, room and left to sit with his hands now released from behind him and resecured in the front. After about five minutes Gardino, Huey, and the dirty blond entered the room.

Huey stood behind him, which unnerved him a little. Gardino sat beside him and regarded Reynolds like that strange piece of flotsam you found attached to your shoe, which you had no idea when you picked it up or what it was. That was worse.

But the blond... The blond sat across from him, the saliva still making its slow, tortuous way down the man's neck, and stared. His eyes were almost colorless, his skin was pale, and his lips were white from the strain of keeping them clamped.

No one said anything. They didn't question him or declare their triumph. They did not boast or brag. They simply stared.

Joshua felt his left eye began to twitch and it was he who broke the silence. "What do you want?" he demanded, though it came out as a choked sob. They didn't answer him. "Damn it, you just can't stare at me."

A picture dropped down from over his head and landed face up. It was one of the men from the second group and he looked dead. The bullet hole between his eyes made death a certainty.

A second picture dropped and then a third. They weren't dead but beaten to a point to where death was surely preferable.

"I don't know these men and I want my lawyer," Reynolds declared.

Beside each picture of the men was placed a second photo, taken from a spot very close, showed Reynolds handing them an envelope. One picture was so good that you could see the corner of an one hundred dollar bill sticking up.

Fisk entered the room, saw the photos, and gritted his teeth. "Mister Reynolds has nothing more to say."

Reynolds was taken to a holding cell where he sat alone for almost three hours. The room stank and he could hear another inmate, he hated that word, sobbing. His calls to shut up went unheeded. At the end of the three hours, Joshua was transferred to another facility.

"What are you doing with me?" Joshua demanded of the marshals as he was led out of the precinct. "I have bail."

"Which you broke," one of the marshals explained. "Now you get to be a guest of the state until your trial."

Reynolds was forced to strip as soon as he entered the low gray building, hosed down, and sprayed with harsh chemicals. He was processed like Spam and with none of the care. His teeth, ears, nose, and the spaces between his toes were checked before he was bent over and secured to a table.

Joshua howled the entire time as his anus was probed for contraband. He could have told them that he kept things he valued in his pockets and not in his ass, but no one was listening to him. Reynolds was just another piece of flesh to process.

His final destination was an 8 by 12 cell with two bunk beds, stacked on top of each other, an open lidless toilet, and a single sink. A huge bald white man occupied the top bunk. He had one muscled arm draped over his eyes and had his other hand stuffed into his coveralls.

Joshua slipped into the lower bunk without making a sound, praying the other man was just as disinclined to talk. They lay that way until the lights went out.

The big man dropped down and squatted in front of Joshua. He slapped Reynolds so hard that Joshua had a harsh flash of light in his eyes. "You sent men to carve up Don Vecchio's kids." He snorted as if he found that terribly amusing. He wiped the back of his hand across his nose. "They must be hanging down to your knees."

Joshua turned away. "I don't want to talk," he declared.

"Then don't," the big man said as his paw clamped around Joshua's neck. "Word is that you like cock. Too bad mine isn't as young as you prefer."

Reynolds fought but he wasn't strong enough to defend himself and this animal was only using one hand. The big man plugged his thick, smelly penis into Joshua's mouth and pushed in until Reynolds began to gag around it. Joshua couldn't scream and he could barely breathe as his cellmate abused his mouth.

"Shit," the other man said as he slapped Reynolds again. "You can do better than that. Fuckin' better do better. Sheeetttt."

Joshua tried to pull away but the other man kept using him. 'No,' he screamed in his mind.

"Fucking worthless cunt," the big man declared as he extracted his almost limp penis from Joshua's mouth. He ripped Joshua's coveralls down to his knees and turned the smaller man over. "This better be gold or I'll break your fucking neck."

Reynolds felt some kind of convulsive movement behind him and he started screaming. "Help, help. Rape! Rape!"

Several inmates began to clap, shout, and whistle; effectively drowning out Joshua's pleas for assistance. No one could hear him as his anus was breached and he screamed and screamed.

The man pulled out, doing as much damage coming out as he did going in, and put Joshua on his back. "Shut up, bitch!" he growled as he slapped Joshua so many times that blood was flowing from his nose. He pushed his way back inside and Joshua screamed again.

The other man shoved his fist into Joshua's mouth and then pinched his nose closed. Joshua slipped into unconsciousness, knowing he'd never wake up again.

==============

Ray Vecchio closed the paper that offered the public a very sanitized version of Joshua Reynolds's death. 'Killed by his fellow inmate' sounded so much better than 'suffocated while being beaten and sodomized'. Joey had picked up the skinny from one of his contacts and shared both photos and details with Ray. "You died too easily, Reynolds," he whispered before sipping his coffee.

People would think Ray had arranged for Reynolds to die in this poetic manner, but he hadn't. Reynolds had just had the bad luck to be housed with a man who had been beaten and raped in his youth just like Reynolds had beaten and raped Paul Goddard. It was a condition all too common among inmates. Ray saw it as his civic duty to see that Paul got the counseling he needed so he would not continue the cycle of violence.

==============

"So what's your story with Vecchio?" Detective Sydney Howell asked Louis Gardino.

Louis turned from watching Huey talk to Vecchio, his hand on the smaller man's shoulder as he informed the man exactly what Reynolds had planned for his children. Vecchio was holding it together, but you didn't have to be an expert to see the worry and horror just underneath the surface. Vecchio's people had been waiting for a kidnapping or even an attempted hit on Ray's family, but the instructions Howell, playing the role of hitman Bruce, had gotten were extreme in their inhumanity. Huey thought it best Vecchio heard it all in private before the trial of the two survivors made it public.

"I had a misconception and let it color my world," Gardino answered. He didn't want to come out and say that he was out of his mind with jealousy over an affair that would never occur.

Howell looked at the two men and the comforting way Huey was almost holding the man. Valdone was only a step away from his boss, but he was letting Huey handle the man. Sydney smiled. "Loving a straight man will make you crazy," he said. He smiled. "Vecchio doesn't want him. Someone else is already polishing his stones." He cocked his head toward Fraser, who was standing at parade rest to the left of Valdone.

Louis hoped it was true, though he'd come to think of Fraser as not much more than a mannequin when it came to sex and just as satisfying. If that was what turned Vecchio's head then Louis didn't have anything to worry about. Jack Huey was a volcano of passion.

Vecchio, Valdone, and Fraser shook Jack's hand in sequence and quietly left the station.

Howell watched them go. "I bet Vecchio can tear up the sheets."

"So what is he doing with the Mountie?" Louis inquired. "Frigid is probably the nicest thing you could say about Fraser."

"All that virgin territory can have its momentary distractions," Howell answered. He looked back at Jack, who was now speaking to Elaine. He shook his head. "Nah."

Jack bustled over, waving a FAX. "We can stop looking for our suspect, Diego Moritz. He's dead."

"We liked Moritz for two parking lot rapes," Louis explained to Howell. "He'd already served time for the exact same MO and he closely matched the witnesses descriptions."

"Then he pulled a vanishing act about two weeks ago," Huey added. He waved the FAX. "He was identified by the police lab from a van that crashed about the same time and got swept away in Middlebury Creek. Seems he'd been holed up with two of his jailbird buddies." Huey passed the FAX to Louis. "We'll have them compare his DNA to the rape kits. I still think he's our man and we could close those cases." He grinned past their shoulders. "Sorry, gentlemen, I have someone to speak to."

Huey walked over to ADA Wilson and began chatting. Louis sighed. So much man wasted on that woman.

Howell put his hand on Gardino's shoulder. "Let's go and get a beer," he said, "and we can both chew on our broken hearts."

"Who broke your heart?" Louis asked, reaching for his coat.

"Brad Pitt, the pretty bastard," Howell complained, his expression hangdog. He added an exaggerated sniff. "And after all of his big screen promises."

Louis laughed. "You were too good for him," Gardino assured his fellow cop.

"Damn right," Sydney agreed as he put on his coat. "Come on, those beers aren't drinking themselves."

==============

The sand was warm, the beach was beautiful, and Ray was holding Ben's head in his lap. You couldn't have asked a dream to turn out better.

Ray's children, nieces, and nephews raced past the dock in three boats. Ray's brother Julian, a vintner from Sonoma Valley, was painting a seascape and his sister-in-law, Giada, was taking their picture with her new camera. Occasionally she would call something out to Ray in rapid fire Italian, Ray would laugh, and hug or snuggle Ben a little more intimately.

Ben had been a little unsettled when the simply gorgeous Giada sailed into Ray's beautiful Florida home and kissed Ray firmly on the mouth. Ray had smacked the woman on the bottom and then twirled her around. She was still clinging to him and laughing when Julian, who looked so much like Ray, but was older and a little heavier, had come in. He and Ray kissed on the mouth and exchanged words in Italian.

Julian looked surprised then walked over, hugged Ben fiercely, and kissed him on the mouth. Julian's four children, two of each, entered the house and the hugging, kissing, and bottom swats started up again. The children, well young adults actually, only shook Ben's hand.

The oldest daughter of Julian, named Sofia Julianne, was married and had two children; one still on the breast and the second one dashing about. Her husband was constantly trying to round his son up but to no avail. The child only seemed to come to a halt for his great-grandmother, Gina.

Gina Vecchio had her own home in what was called a compound in America. To Ben the word compound conjured up many different images. Here it meant that the houses of the family were clustered together for fellowship and protection.

Ray had purchased the land and built his mother Gina, Julian, and oldest sister Maria each a house there. Frannie would get a house built when she married. On that point Ray would not budge. Frannie wasn't even allowed to pay for her own house to be built on the lot set aside for her and her family.

"Hey, Benny, after Giada gets her 'perfect shot', I want you to walk with me," Ray said as he stroked Ben's temples. "There is a cove that's on Gayle's lot. It's one of my favorite spots and I was tempted to keep it for myself."

Ben turned and looked into Ray's beautiful green eyes. "I'd love to see it."

Ray stroked Ben's head and bent down and kissed his forehead. Perhaps he was remembering the shootout when that man, Gunter Pollack, had come after Daniel. Ben had not been thinking about gaining Ray's favor. His only thought had been to protect Daniel.

Daniel was a jogger and Ben had volunteered to run with him that night. Turnbull had tried to come along, but Valdone, who swore the young Mountie would have fainted from the exercise, had threatened to steal Renfield's pants to keep the man inside.

Valdone had given Ben one of his guns. He'd never asked if Ben would be able to use it or stated why he needed one. Joey looked at Daniel with such love and affection before he turned his eyes back to Ben. "She has no kick at all," was his only instruction.

Ben nodded and slid the gun into the shoulder holster, which was shielded from sight by his jacket but the jacket was no hindrance to Ben getting to the gun.

Daniel and Ben warmed up, discussed the route, and headed out. Diefenbaker, perhaps sensing an opportunity for snacks, had jogged along. Daniel carried a "pooper scooper" with him.

Ben was impressed with Daniel's pace and concentration. They raced along, making excellent progress and getting some much needed exercise. It would have been a perfect opportunity for Ben get to know Ray's second child better, but Daniel was a quiet runner and Fraser respected that.

They'd gone four miles and were making a lazy swing around to head back, and therefore complete the ten miles Daniel had planned, when Ben realized they were being followed and not by their security team.

"Cut left," he'd ordered and Daniel did not argue. He raced through a sideyard letting Ben turn his full attention to the man who had been tracking them.

The other man was about Ben's size, with much larger arms, a buzzcut, and a puckered scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his right cheek. He also had a sawed-off shotgun he was raising up to level at Ben's midsection.

Joey had been right, the gun had almost no kick at all as Ben placed a single bullet between the man's eyes.

Ben raced after Daniel, hoping there wasn't a second person after him. Daniel, showing more bravery than sense, had snatched up a shovel and was ready to stove Ben's head in with it from cover. His reflexes were good and Daniel didn't put a dent into Ben's head.

The police were summoned via Daniel's cell phone. To his fellow officer's embarrassment, they were arriving at the house to warn the Vecchio clan of the danger when the call came to pick up the dead body.

Gunter Pollack was the only would-be assassin to die. The other two had simply been beaten down when they tried to grab Gayle as she left her hairdresser and RJ as he was leaving a club.

The police were very helpful to Ben during the questioning and seemed grateful for the presence of a fellow officer at Daniel's side. His official excuse of helping the family who had been so kind to him went over well with everyone but the sharp-eyed Sydney Howell. Ben could tell Howell knew that Fraser and Vecchio were lovers. It didn't seem to bother the other man at all.

The family, including Ben and Turnbull, had left Chicago for Miami the day after the coroner's inquest. It was ruled self-defense and, other than an official 'well done' from Moffett, unnoticed by the Canadian authorities. Ben got the sense that from now on only his failures would receive official notice, but if that was the price of solving his father's murder, he would take it. He was no longer alone.

Ray got up and helped Ben to his feet. They walked along the beach until they came to the cove Ray had spoken of. Ben was pulled into the smaller man's embrace and savagely kissed. He'd hardly been able to pull in his breath when he felt his trunks being pushed down to his ankles.

Ben stepped out of the now unneeded garment and sighed against Ray's mouth as his naked and sun-warmed skin was caressed by the other man. 'All yours,' he wanted to say, but that was obviously unnecessary.

"You need to be fucked," Ray told him. "You need to cum with the sun shining down on you."

Ben nodded his agreement after briefly toying with the idea of protest.

Ray put Ben down in a bed of soft ferns, split his legs and squirted a generous amount of lube into his ass. Ben watched a little disappointed as Ray put a condom on his large cock before pressing himself inside Ben. "There's nothing like a sun-warmed cock, is there, Benny?"

"Nothing," Ben agreed as Ray filled him up completely.

Ray kept Ben's legs spread wide as he rocked himself in and out of Ben's gratified hole. "You've been such a good and obedient little bitch, Benny. Tonight you'll shave this hole for me and if you don't do a good enough job, I'm going to keep you nude for dinner. Rennie and Joey will get to see your naked ass."

Ben would do a good job like Ray commanded, even if he really wanted to be paraded around the other two men like Ray's prize pussy. His control cracked on that thought and his cum squirted up and decorated the hard planes of Ray's stomach.

Ray captured some of Ben's cum and wiped it on Ben's aching nipples. "Hot," he moaned. He rolled onto his back. "Sit down on it, Benny."

Ben eased down on Ray's big cock while moaning and shaking like a madman. "Ray, Ray, Ray," he prayed.

"Up and down, Bitch," Ray commanded. "I want your pussy to touch every inch of my cock."

Ben almost lost it. Ray was so dominating, so demanding, so... Ray that Ben couldn't hope to keep up with the man, but he was going to try. "Yes, Sir," he promised as he slammed down.

"Faster, before I have to redden those cheeks," Ray warned. He gave Ben a demonstration slap to his ass that made him jump up, almost coming completely off Ray's cock, before coming back down so hard and fast that Ben's eyes watered. Ray's cock was hitting virgin territory with every stroke.

"That's it, Bitch. I might have to keep you around with that kind of action." Ray's smile was devastating and all for Ben. As was his cum, which loaded Ray's condom while the man humped Ben's ass. "Yes!"

Ben eased off Ray's still hard monster without permission. It was that or pass out with it still inside him. "I'm done in," he admitted.

Ray made a purring noise as he held Ben tight to him and stroked the larger man's back. "I'll spare you until tonight, then it will be foam and fucking."

Ben smiled. "Thank you, Ray."

==============

Joey hated the fact that Rennie could only spend three days in Florida. Unlike Ben, Turnbull was not on leave. He had to return to duty bright and early Monday morning.

Daniel and RJ were in the same fix. Their Thanksgiving break had been eaten up with attempted assassinations and the family had been unwilling to separate during the crisis. Ray was too easy on his kids. Joey would have lowered the hammer and sent those brats off to Florida for their own good.

Now this weekend was going to have to make up for that lost vacation. The boys wouldn't be back until the Christmas break. Joey already missed them.

Rennie had raced up and down the beach with Daniel, played tennis with RJ, and ridden horseback with Gayle before Joey could peel him away from Ray's kids. Rennie was in the shower now and Joey was watching him.

Turnbull was beautifully muscled. He looked even better in a swimsuit than Frannie's Alan. Yet naked was definitely the preferred state of dress, in Joey's opinion, for the handsome young Mountie.

"Are you just going to watch?" Rennie inquired as he rinsed the shampoo out of his hair. "I could use someone to wash my back."

Joey stepped out of his trunks and joined Rennie in the shower. "Damn," he whispered as his hands made slippery contact with the younger man's wet flesh.

Rennie pushed Joey up against the tiles and began to suck his neck. Joey gripped the larger man's shoulders and groaned helplessly as Rennie's strong hands tormented Joey's nipples.

"Damn," Joey repeated as his hard cock stroked over Rennie's equally firm erection.

Rennie covered Joey's mouth with his own and they kissed. Their kisses became more and more desperate as they changed the position of their mouths.

Rennie pulled back, leaving Joey's lips hovering, his neck craning, and his cock hungry. The younger man turned off the water and pulled Joey out of the shower.

The kissing started again as Rennie toweled them both. Rennie stopped it once more. "Do you want me, Joey?" he asked foolishly.

"You know I do," Joey answered, his voice almost broken with desire.

"How much?" Rennie asked as his hands found Joey's nipples again.

"I'm aching," Joey confessed.

Rennie's smile was wicked. "Good," he said.

Joey was led out of the bathroom of his suite and tossed onto the bed, landing on his back.

Rennie grabbed condoms and lube before kneeling between Joey's legs. "You're going to thank me for this, Joey," he promised before sucking almost half of Joey's cock.

Before he could wrap his mind around that glorious situation, Joey had to confront something new. Rennie was finger-fucking Joey's ass and it felt good. Damn good. Too good for a man who had been partially erect for most of the day.

Joey came, legs cramping, toes splayed, and ass jerking. He whimpered Rennie's name in apology.

"That's okay, Joey," Rennie swore before he moved into a sixty-nine position. "We have time." He pressed the head of his cock against Joey's lips and pushed in when Joey parted them. "Yeah, suck it gently; suck it strong. Go mad with it, Joey."

Go mad? Joey had gone mad in the shower. This was psycho territory and Valdone could not be held responsible. Valdone moved his head side-to-side as Rennie's cock slid in and out of his mouth. It felt good, tasted good, and seemed powerful to be doing this. Joey rolled on top of the younger man and tried to take in more of Rennie's dick.

"You're doing well, Joey," Rennie declared, "and I have a reward for you." His hand split Joey's asscheeks and one thick finger slid all the way into Joey's ass; not just to the first knuckle like before but deep inside.

Joey gasped and moved on the finger that pleasured him so fully. One finger became two and Joey sucked lazily at Rennie's dick.

"That's it, Joey," Rennie assured him. "Oh yes, that's it."

Joey rubbed his face with Rennie's cock and went back to sucking it. The larger man tasted so damn good.

"I'm going to taste your most secret place, Joey," Rennie warned. "Are you ready?"

Joey nodded then moaned as his Rennie lollipop was taken from his mouth. Rennie rolled Joey onto his back, kissed his firming cock, and then dived into Joey's ass.

Joey split his legs as wide as he could and drove his hips up to meet Rennie's tongue. It was insane. Joey was insane. He reacted to Rennie's movements and the light pressure the younger man placed on Joey's body. It was only as they were nose-to-nose that Joey realized what was happening to him.

Ray could not have done this. He did not have the skill nor did he have the strength to hold Joey in place as he was taken.

"Gawd," was all Joey could manage as his passage was filled to the limit by Rennie's big cock.

"See what you would have missed?" Rennie's voice was about three solar systems away from his official Mountie voice. This was a man used to seeking his pleasure from and giving pleasure to other men.

Joey cried out when the larger man's cock was removed totally from his ass and moaned even louder when it returned. He was lost and only Renfield Turnbull could guide him home.

Rennie's husky voice instructed Joey in this ancient art. When Joey did as he was told, his pleasure increased and the only pain he suffered was from his muscles protesting their vigorous workout.

Joey wondered how he looked now. He was on his knees with his shoulders touching the mattress and his ass up as Rennie sort of straddled Joey and drove his cock deeply into him.

Valdone was clutching the covers, almost sobbing into them in his joy when Ray slipped into the room.

"Don't stop, Rennie," Ray commanded.

Joey turned his face away in shame. Not because Rennie was fucking him but because Ray was not. Joey had denied this to Ray and he was ashamed.

"You're beautiful, Joey," Ray whispered. "Don't turn away."

Joey turned toward his oldest friend. Ray kissed him with passion and love. "Ray?"

"He's taking good care of you, Joey," Ray said before he kissed Rennie and slapped the young man's ass very hard. "Fuck him until he screams like a girl, Rennie."

"Yes. Sir," Rennie panted. He pulled out, put Joey on his back, lifted the older man's legs onto his shoulders, and almost bent Joey double as he pounded into Joey's ass.

"Damn," Ray whispered.

Joey howled like a wolf and he could have sworn that white wolf howled back from the beach front. Joey had no choice but to howl. Not with Rennie hitting some magic spot and Ray watching him and licking his lips.

He may have cum, his body tensed and relaxed, but Rennie certainly did. The younger man's entire body shuddered and he called out Joey's name.

Rennie kissed Joey passionately after lowering the older man's legs. He licked away Joey's tears just as Joey became aware of their presence. "You were fabulous," he declared.

Ray kissed Joey's forehead. "Congratulations, buddy. It was magnificent." He kissed Rennie's forehead also. "I only wanted to tell you that your boat has arrived," Ray explained, "and if you want to be the first to drive it, you'd better call out."

Joey's brain may have been partially melted, but he was aware of certain facts. "Ray, I don't have a boat."

Ray kissed his cheek when Joey definitely needed to be kissed on the lips again. "You do now," Vecchio assured him. "It's called Valdone's Bones and she's anchored at the dock with a giant blue ribbon on it that matches the color of your eyes."

"Ray, I--" Joey began to protest before Ray placed two fingers across his lips.

"I want you to have it," Vecchio explained.

"Thank you, Ray," Joey acquiesced. It wasn't smart to hurt your friend's feelings after he'd watched you have your cherry popped by a Mountie who was almost young enough to be your son.

"When can we take it out?" Rennie asked from his position on Joey's chest.

"Not before you shower and dress," Ray said firmly. "My mother might see you and the two of you are too much for a young woman to look at right now."

Rennie licked Joey's throat. "Joey certainly is."

"If I didn't have someone to go to, I would have to take you both right now," Ray warned before heading out. "Next time, gentlemen, lock the door."

==============

Ben waited patiently for Ray to return from Joey's room. He had a safety razor, scissors, shaving cream, a bowl of warm water, towels, and an ache in his loins that was threatening to unman him. Though they had been lovers for weeks, Ben felt that if he didn't perform well when Ray returned, then he would be set aside, with only furniture and a nice apartment to show for his adventure with Raymond Vecchio. It was untrue, but that didn't keep him from worrying.

Ray walked in and locked the door. He smiled. "Remind me to always lock the door when I plan to part your thighs while we're here, Benny. No one walks in my bedroom or study at home, but this is our vacation spot and the kids, actually all of us, got used to just barging in if the doors weren't locked."

"Yes, Ray," Ben said softly.

Ray looked at what Ben was ready to use. He lifted the safety razor and inspected it. Ben had thought about using his straight razor but he was just too tense to trust so much naked blade against his flesh. Ray returned the razor to its place.

Vecchio moved a chair up to the side of the bed, stepped out of his clothes, then sat down with one leg thrown over the arm, exposing his large hard cock. "I'm ready to watch," he announced in smoky tones.

Ben reached back and snipped around the area of his bum with the scissors. Using the mirror beside the door to the walk- in closet as his guide, Ben cut away the longest of the hairs. Satisfied with that job, Ben spread the foam on his ass.

Ray moaned and Ben's ass winked in response as if that moan alone promised the arrival of Ray's big dick. Ben lowered his head to the mattress and made himself calm down. He wasn't going to get fucked until his ass was presentable and worthy of a man like Ray.

Using the fingers of his left hand to guide him, Ben moved the razor with his right hand and shaved himself clean. It seemed to take endless repetitions of swipe, rinse, and return to render the area totally smooth.

Ben wiped himself clean, spread his legs a little further, and presented himself for inspection.

Ray Vecchio had long strong fingers and elegant hands. He didn't just touch Ben, he caressed. Ben's skin had never felt so alive in his life. He held his tongue and his breath as Ray's hands ghosted across his ass. Was he clean? Was he worthy?

Ben's answer was Ray's tongue touching his freshly shorn hole. "Oh Gawd! Sweet Jesus," Ben moaned.

That tongue, that wicked, wicked tongue drove Ben wild. He humped, he ground, he whimpered, and he begged. Oh how he begged. Never in his life had Benton Fraser begged as he was begging now. Not even when a mentally unstable man had held a gun against Ben's head.

He begged now. He begged for the final proof of his worth and he got it just a split second before the tears began.

Ray, sheathed and lubed, pushed into him slow and tender. It was the tenderness that broke him. Never in his life had Ben felt so naked and exposed. He sobbed as Ray made love to him.

Vecchio cooed Ben's name, his love name of "Benny", and he gentled Fraser as if he were a wild stallion brought to harness. Ray removed the "Property of Ray Vecchio" ribbon from around the base of Ben's cock and put it across Ben's eyes so he could see those words as his ass was pumped full of Ray's huge dick.

"Property of Ray Vecchio," Ben read. "Yes, I'm your property, Ray," he confessed, though only a fool would not have known this at this moment.

"I know," Ray assured him as he suddenly held still in Ben's needy chute. "Next you'll remove the hair around your... clit," he commanded. "I like the smooth feel around your pussy. It makes me want you all the more, Benny."

"My pussy," Benny moaned. He was Ray's pussy. Damn. Ben came against his own thighs.

"Drop your shoulders to the mattress, Benny," Ray insisted. "I want to try something."

Ben complied and immediately loved the position of surrender and what it meant. Ray fucked him furiously and Ben clutched the sheets and screamed into the mattress as he bore the storm of Ray's passion.

Ray grunted three times as he came. He was very gentle as he removed his huge dick from Ben's deliciously stretched hole. His pussy.

Vecchio cuddled Ben gently. "The first night we live together, if you can show me you're clean and I can say the same, I'll take you naked." Ray's fingers brushed Ben's thick bush. "And you'll be hairless down there for me," he ordered.

"Yes, Ray," Ben agreed and mentally began to count the days until Gayle left for college.

==============

Louis was feeling pretty good as he stepped off the elevator and onto the sixth floor of the apartment building. He, Howell, Elaine, and four of their fellow officers had spent part of the previous week moving Jack Huey into his new apartment. With a place so close to the precinct, Jack no longer needed a car and could walk home for lunch. Louis envied his friend the space, even if Ray Vecchio owned it.

Speaking of, Ray Vecchio was standing in the hall and all but leaning on Jack's door. Louis told himself to calm down, but he still gritted his teeth.

"Hello, Mister Vecchio," Louis said calmly. "How are you this morning?"

"Just fine, Louis." Ray smiled from his position on top of the world. "I'm just here to see Benny off on his first official day of work." He looked at the bag in Louis's hands. "You?"

"I'm bringing Jack breakfast so we can get a jump on a case this morning," Louis explained.

"You're a thoughtful partner, Louis," Ray declared.

Fraser stepped into the hallway, followed by his wolf. "We're ready, Ray," he said as he straightened his lanyard. "Hello, Detective Gardino."

"Hello, Fraser," Louis replied. He knocked on Jack's door. "Good luck today."

"I'm going to need it," Fraser insisted. "Inspector Moffett leaves for a four-day summit in Ottawa at noon. Two delegations are scheduled for tours this week and I haven't even met most of the staff."

"It sounds like business as usual to me," Jack remarked as he opened his door. "Morning, gents." Huey was smiling and looking very satisfied. A pinch in Louis's stomach told him it wasn't the pride of ownership for his new couch.

"Good morning, Detective Huey," Fraser called. "I hope to see you all later today."

"Later," Vecchio echoed as he followed the brightly clad Mountie with the wolf bringing up the rear.

"I brought breakfast," Louis explained as he tried to enter.

Jack stopped him by placed his large hand on Louis's chest. "I'm not alone," he explained.

"It's okay, Jack. I'm heading out anyway," ADA Wilson declared as she stepped past Jack. She placed a deep and soulful kiss on Jack's mouth.

Wilson's hair was loose and Louis could easily imagine Jack's fingers buried in it. Also the woman had developed some style lately and the suit she was wearing really flattered a figure Louis had never noticed before.

While Louis had been beating himself up with visions of Vecchio, Wilson had slipped into Jack's bed unchallenged. Now what was he going to do?

"Go on in, Louis," Jack prompted. "I need to walk Mary to her car."

"No you don't," Wilson insisted, though she was smiling.

"Yes, I do," Jack insisted as he pulled on his coat then helped Mary into hers.

Louis watched the couple walk to the elevator before going inside Jack's apartment. This was so fucked up.

The End