24/7 (Part I)
by elfin

Based on an idea by Gayle Fierce


Rico:

I watched with amusement as my partner leaned back in his seat and pulled his legs up, placing one foot on the dash beside the steering wheel.

"You know, some people would say that a Ferrari wasn't big enough to sit with your feet on the dash."

"Uhhu." 

Sonny's grousing tone made me chuckle. 

He’d been unhappy with this surveillance assignment from the beginning. 

Fagan had been shipping pornography out from Orlando for years in the guise of his monthly publication, ‘Stiff’.  It was hard-core stuff, but still technically legal.  Then Homicide had pulled a body out of the river.  They’d identified him as Jamie Montoya, ‘Stiff’ centrefold for the previous January.

A week later, another body had been found in an expensive apartment in Orlando.  This time they’d identified Carlo Santiago, ‘Stiff’ centrefold for February.

And suddenly Homicide and Vice had joined forces to prove that Fagan was a killer and should be put away.  Sonny thought otherwise.  He’d come to the conclusion that the police department’s homophobics were running the show now.

The house we were sitting out in front of then, at three am on a stormy Sunday night, belonged to Simes Marlo, centrefold for March.

Sonny had been grouching all night that we were hardly likely to catch Fagan carrying a corpse out of the front door.  There was some kind of party going on, but there was no music, and we’d both been wondering about that.

"What do you think's going on in there?"  I sipped at my hot coffee - Gina had been by recently with refreshments - as Sonny sucked on the straw into his root beer.  Crockett shook his head.

"I do not want to know."

I grinned.  "I forgot.  This stuff makes you feel queasy."

Sonny almost choked on his drink.  "I never said queasy!  I just said it wasn't for me."

Looking at my partner in the sideways, inquisitive style I’d started to reserve for Sonny, "You're not the least bit... curious?"

"No."  Sonny cast a glance over at me.  "You saying... you are curious?"
   
I could read the interest in his voice.  For a long time, this had been a delicate subject as far as Crockett was concerned, and anything beyond joking around had been skating on thin ice. 

Sonny had been all messed up over Orgell and Evan.  When Evan had strolled back into his life after all those years, it had dredged it all back up and Sonny hadn’t known where to put himself, what to do or how to feel.

But talking it over with yours truly had helped, and so this night there was more interest than repulsion in Sonny’s voice when he asked me.

I sat for some minutes, watching the house and trying to ignore the heated jade stare pinning me into my seat. 

Finally, putting Sonny out of his misery, I nodded.  "Yeah, I guess I am.  I’m not saying I’d want to try it or anything, but I had a look through some of the stuff homicide bought in.  Some of it's... hot."  It was something for me to admit that, and I’d only have said it to Sonny. 

Truth was, I hadn’t ever been interested in men.  But I was interested in Sonny being interested at least in the idea.

I could feel his eyes widening, feel his expression changing.  "Hot?"  He seemed stunned at the word, not because of the subject matter I thought, but because it was me.  "And here I thought you were the straight-as-a-rod ladykiller."

I almost laughed.  "Hey, man, I'm not saying I'm interested in experimenting here."  A thought came to mind.  "I mean, I like to see pictures of all-female orgies but I don't want to be a part of one."

"Now I know you're winding me up."

I did laugh at that.  "No, man.  Too many women at once is not a good thing.  They could eat you alive, and still have room left for one another when you're dead in a corner."

Glancing over, I caught Sonny smiling.  "Yeah, how could a guy stand that?"

We sat in a companionable silence for another half-hour, until the door of the house opened, and a couple of men came out, waving at those still left inside.  Happy, contented, two of them holding hands, they didn't look like people leaving a murder scene.  Sonny shook his head.  "This is pointless.  Look at them!  They're not about to murder someone!  I feel like a voyeur."

"Just doing the job, Partner."

"Yeah, well....  The job's pushing the boundaries on this one."  He picked up the car phone handset and dialled Castillo's direct line.  It rang out.  Crockett swore softly and replaced the receiver.  "Looks like the boss has gone to have some fun, leaving us to do the dirty tonight."

I thought about that.  "I can't imagine what Castillo's idea of fun might be."

"Certainly nothing like that."  Sonny nodded at another two men leaving the party.  These two had their arms around one another and were laughing quietly at a shared joke.

I smacked him lightly on the arm but obviously I was going to have to work harder for whatever was on his mind. 

"You know, Sonny, we've often left places with our arms around one another."

"Hey!  That's different man!  And you know it.  We're partners, friends.  We cover each other other's butts on the street, no where else."

I couldn’t help it.  I practically doubled over at the comment.  Between gulps of laughter and staggered breaths, I managed to glance at my partner's expression through the tears running over my cheeks.  "Sorry... Sonny....  That was...  You should have been a comedian, man."

Crockett pursed his lips and watched his lunatic partner. 

The radio crackled to life.  "Party's over, girls," Stan's cheery voice informed us.  "Lieutenant says you can all go home."

"About time."  With one last withering look at me, Sonny keyed the engine and brought his car to life, pulling away from the curb without a second thought.

*

I knew that expression on Castillo’s face.  He was about to tell us something that we definitely did not want to hear.

He looked slowly around his assembled team, as if he was once again reassuring himself that whatever it was, we were okay.  We would be okay.  Finally he dropped the paperwork from his hands to the conference room table.  "Homicide wants an undercover operation to bust Fagan."

There was a general chorus of moans and groans. 

Castillo knew how much we hated to jump at another department's command, but he knew this time the theory - if not the execution - was correct.  "Undercover where?" Gina asked haughtily, obviously assuming she and Trudy would be going in.

"Orlando."  He watched as our collective eyes widened.  “There’s a an anniversary party at the weekend for ‘Stiff’.  Previous centrefolds, suppliers, dealers, friends.  Fagan likes to party.”

Indeed.

Sonny was staring at him like he’d lost his mind.

"You aren't serious.  They'd never let any of us in!  We don't..." he waved his hand in the air, to the sniggers from the rest of the unit, "...quite fit the bill."

Castillo met Sonny's gaze direct, and his senior detective stared back.  I smiled to myself; Crockett was the only one who didn't wither under the Lieutenant’s infamous stare.

"Undercover.  You know the drill."

Sonny's mouth opened and closed.  "Me?"

"You and Rico.  You're the only ones who'll cut it." 
   
The room fell silent around us. 

We glanced at one another, that weird, usually silent communication almost buzzing in the quiet.  What the hell did that mean, we were the only ones who’d cut it?

Sonny sat slowly forward, palms flat on the table top and I just waited for the explosion.  "You're... asking the two of us... to go to a party as a gay couple?"

Castillo wasn’t phased.  "We need to know what happened to Montaya and Santiago.  Orlando Vice don’t want to send any of their men in just in case they’re recognised.”

"But... you don't think....  I mean…."  Sonny was reaching now, and I knew it.  Despite the enormity of what we were being asked to pull off, I couldn't help but smile at my partner's obvious discomfort.  Across the table, Stan and Sammy looked positively relieved, where as Gina and Trudy were trying to hide their giggles.

"I think you're both professionals."  Castillo abruptly ended any discussion.  "Party starts Friday, you’ve got twenty four hours to get comfortable with it.

We all watched the boss leave the room, each expression different from the one next to it.

Sonny turned to me, stunned expression widening his bright green eyes.  "He can't be serious."

I chuckled, tickled by the whole idea.  "I think he is, lover.”

I thought for a moment that he was going to hit me.

*

After taking all the wise cracks that we could cope with from our esteemed colleagues, Sonny and I headed out for the 'St. Vitus Dance'.  Tonight was Wednesday night.  There was no way out of this and we knew we’d have to make it look good.  Fagan, or whoever chose the centrefolds, had a thing for rare blondes.  My Sonny was definitely that.

His sun-kissed blond hair touched the base of his neck, setting off his eyes under the right light.  Blondes usually had blue eyes.  I hadn’t lied in the car the previous night.  I’d never been interested in relationships with other guys.  But I had, on occasions, let my mind wander.

When we first met, he rocked my world.  He was this incredible, passionate, driven man who I forged a tight partnership with in a matter of days.  I could barely believe how close we got and how fast.  He was nothing like the guys I was used to working with.

He’d been doing undercover work ten years and his brain hadn’t fried yet.  It worried me a little, worried me that this beloved man who I’d just found was going to get killed, or worse, blow his own brains out one day because he’d pushed too far.

Turned out to be me who was the loose canon.  I took the worst risks to get what I wanted.  I’d never been like that before I’d met Sonny, but his influence, the intensity of his caring for me and the sheer heat of the city simply magnified what was already inside me.  I’d taken a huge risk coming down here to Miami to revenge my brother’s murder. 

But something about how close Sonny and I had become led me to push it, to test his loyalty again and again, coming to a head when I went undercover in Bolton prison.  He went berserk trying to keep me out and berserk when he saw me afterwards.

And I knew that I’d have done the same had it been him.

After all the dangerous things we’d done for the job, this one could not be any worse.

"Come on, Sonny," I tried to talk him down from pacing the deck.  “It’s me!”

He stopped and stared at me.  “Exactly!  You’re my partner!  I’m not gonna go to some party with you and spend the weekend kissin’ and cuddlin’!”

Castillo had handed us a file before we’d left OCB.  Everything Orlando had on Fagan.  Everything on every death they were looking to link him with.  It contained photos of him with other men, surveillance and press photos alike.  To be honest, everyone he was with in the photographs looked happy and relaxed with him, and Orlando Vice hadn’t come up with any evidence to suggest that any of his previous boyfriends were even dead, never mind murdered.

Montoya and Santiago could well have been coincidences.  So they’d been centrefolds in the same gay magazine for consecutive months, so what?

However, rational thinking was not going to get us out of this one.

“We can do this, Sonny!  We’re the best in the business.”  Stroking his ego was usually the best way of talking him into doing something he didn’t want to do. I could see in his eyes that Crockett knew I was right. 

"Okay.  So how?"

I stood up, walking across the deck, keeping my eyes on my partner.  He looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a 4x4.  "How hard can it be?  It's not like we've never touched, right?"

"Riiiight."  Sonny obviously didn't like where this was going. "So we just have to take it a little further." 

I held out my hand.  "Come here."

He eyed me suspiciously, not moving. 

I knew it would work.  I’d always thought, privately, that Sonny and I looked amazing together.  I’ve seen photos of us and the contrast between us is incredible.

All I had to do was to get my highly-strung partner to drop some of his inhibitions.  Sonny was curious enough, I just had to point that curiosity in the right direction if we were going to pull this off.

I waved my out-stretched hand around, beckoning.  "Come on.  We have to do this."

Reluctantly, Sonny came to stand in front of me, leaving about a foot between us.  We didn’t stand that far apart when we were making drug deals.  Sonny’s one physical guy usually, and I’d never argued with that.  I loved it.

"So what now?"

I smiled.  "Put your arms around me." 

Sonny actually did reach out, but he stopped midway, embarrassed and laughing.  "I can't do this, man."

I chuckled.  "You can.  How many times have you thrown your arms around me in a friendly gesture?  Umm?"

"It's different!"

"How?" 

Sonny sighed.  My logic was flawless.  I knew he was flustered by me taking this so well but I wasn’t giving him an out.  He stepped up a little closer to me and put his hands hesitantly on my hips.  "Now what?"

I shook my head, smiling openly.  "Imagine this.  We've been going together for years," I pulled Sonny a little closer.  "You wake up next to me every morning and go to sleep with me every night."  I thought about the number of times that had been true and I could see Sonny thinking the very same thing. 

He was smiling despite himself.  "Yeah.  All those times I've fallen asleep next to you in the car on surveillance, or we've crashed our here or at your place.  Waking up in the mornings to you being all awake, to the smell of fresh coffee." 

I was pleased.  We both had to relax into this if we were going to make it out alive.  "Imagine us out together at nights, for meals, to clubs, fishing...."  I moved closer, Sonny's sparkling gaze fixing on my own.  "Now kiss me."

Crockett burst out laughing.  It wasn’t quite the result I’d been hoping for.  "Come on, man!  I can’t kiss you!"

At least it broke the tension. 

I put on my best stern expression.  "You think they're gonna buy it if we just hold hands?"

Sonny frowned.  "I guess not."  Getting serious, he met my gaze once more.  "So... you just want me... to kiss you?"  I nodded.  "With... tongues?"

I couldn’t help myself.  I hadn’t expected the question and I just burst out laughing. 

I stepped back, hand over my mouth as it bubbled up from inside.  "I'm sorry,” I managed, gulping for air.

Sonny was watching me, amused, shaking his head and grinning.  "Okay, I can't believe we can't do this."  Coming to stand in front of me again, he settled his hands back on my hips and held his head up.  I’m an inch taller than him and he had to look up slightly.  I wondered if that bothered him.

I dreaded to think what anyone watching would make of it.  Burnett was a strange one, with the alligator and all.  They’d probably just think that he and his partner were getting their kicks in all new ways.

“Without tongues,” I told him firmly.

“Okay.” 

He leaned forward slightly, and so did I.  He hesitated once, and then our lips met tentatively.  We held the poise, like we were expecting lightening to strike or something. 

When it didn’t, he did something that I hadn’t expected him to do.  He parted his lips and touched mine with the tip of his tongue.

My turn to freak out.

I practically jumped a foot backwards.

And when I looked up at the expression on his face, I saw surprise and slight hurt.

“Sorry!  God, Sonny… I… I just… you took me by surprise is all.”

“I’m not dumb, Rico, I know what we’re gonna have to do to pass this off.  Was it… that bad?”

God, no.  Worse.  It was amazing.  He was confusing me with every minute that passed.  “No, it wasn’t that bad.”  I managed a smile as I stepped forward to close in on him again.  “I promise not to run this time.”

Smiling, Sonny slid his hands up my arms and when he reached my shoulders, he tilted his head.  I met him, lips parted as my mouth touched his.

The first touch of the tips of our tongues was electric.  I think it shocked us both.

It was like kissing a woman, only I could feel the stubble on his chin rubbing against mine, and I was acutely aware of him being a him.  Any other guy and I don’t think I could have done it.  But it was Sonny.  I cared more for him than I had for anyone since Rafael’s death.  Maybe even before it.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.  Neither of us pushed it any further, but when Sonny pulled back he was smiling.

“See?  We’ll live.”

The phone’s ring surprised us, and Sonny leaned down to grab it from where on lay on the galley’s roof, dangerously near to Elvis who had a habit of eating anything that wasn’t nailed down, and crewing on everything that was.

“Hi, Lieutenant.”  He glanced at me, and I knew he was hoping to God that this madness had all been called off.  “Covers?  Sure….  Rico Achres and Sonny Palmer.  That’s cool….”  New cover names for the duration.  They didn’t want this on Burnett and Cooper’s long-term files.  It made sense.  If anyone recognised us, didn’t matter.  High-class criminals changed their names all the time.  “What?”  Sonny’s tone changed.  “You have to be kidding?  You want me to what?”

When he ended the call, he looked like he was ready to feed his badge to Elvis.  “What is it?”

“Apparently Fagan likes his centrefolds to be innocent and docile when he takes them on.”  He snorted.  “He said I should try to come across as a little less forceful than usual.”

Sonny as an innocent virgin.  Despite the image being funny, it was the truth in this.  Him and me.  And Sonny had an amazing way of giving off the innocent vibes when he wanted to.  My partner is about as far from naïve as they come, but he could give that impression if he was trying.

“He wants us in tomorrow to go through our new covers.”

I chewed on my bottom lip for a while, until he finally put me put of my misery.

He came to sit next to me, where I’d dropped down to sit on the galley roof.  “So…” he started, “how do you want to play this?”

I shrugged, hoping we were going to be okay.  “Think you can just let me lead?”

Smiling, he nodded.  “I think I can do that.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah.  Hey, I am house trained, you know!”

* * *

Sonny:

Guys like Fagan love to party.  It gives them a chance to throw their money around, show off their multi-million dollar houses and the women that kind of money attracts.  In Fagan’s case, of course, it’s the guys.  Men are no different.  Worse, even, I supposed.  Would I open my legs for a million?  Not in this life, or any other.

A friend of mine, Jake Somers, had once told me that being gay wasn’t in the way you dressed or the walk you walked, it was in the thoughts you had.  To look at him, no one would ever have said he was gay.  He just looked like a regular guy.  Until you get an eyeful of him and his boyfriend.  He’d said to me, over a couple of beers one night, that I looked gay, but didn’t act it.  That people would be frightened to say anything because I’d probably shoot them.  And he knows me as Crockett, as the person I am, not the person I spend my life masquerading as.

He’s one of the few who really know me and I’m always grateful for those people.

His comment came right back to me that afternoon as I tooled the Ferrari into the driveway of Fagan’s twenty million dollar Orlando mansion.  It was close to Disney World, which surprised me.  All those tourists and all that noise.  But maybe this guy, who owned a couple of the clubs on Pleasure Island – Disney World for the over 21s – really did like all that and wasn’t just in it for the money.

He stepped out to meet us as I killed the engine, leaving the car parked where I thought I’d be able to move it in a hurry.  Previous experience had taught me that a good runaway car was a necessity in a job like mine.  And I had one of the best that money could buy.

Fagan wasn’t a young man, but he’d obviously taken care of himself.  He was dressed in a loose black shirt over loose white linen pants.  He was slim, and that surprised me too because most of the dealers and pimps and scuzballs we worked with indulged in the excesses of their chosen lifestyles.

He approached Rico first, simply because I’d parked with the passenger door closest to the house, and Rico was out of the car before me.

“Mr Achres,” he shook my partner’s hand and I watched Tubbs become the character as if he’d just donned a mask.  “It’s an honour, I’ve heard only good things.”

The lines of communication that were Izzy Moreno had been in action.  That and the fake covers loaded into the FBI mainframe. 

“Likewise.”  Rico returned what looked like a firm handshake and in a second I realised that I had to get some serious presumptions and prejudices under control.  I wasn’t homophobic, despite what people might think, I’d just not met too many gay men that I liked.

Rico accuses me of using prison gang rape as a threat when we’re trying to open up a potential informant or a perp.  He’s right, I do.  But only because that is the one thing that most guys are terrified of. 

It was what I’d been terrified of when Rico stepped into Bolton prison undercover.  I was scared for him, because at the time he wasn’t being scared enough for himself.

I got out of the car and Fagan smiled at me, leaning over the gleaming hood to shake my hand.

“Sonny Palmers.”  I knew that Rico was thinking the same thing as me in that single moment.  He’d used my first name.  “A beautiful car you have here.”

I couldn’t help but smile proudly.  I adored the Testarossa.  The Daytona Spyder had been a dream of a car, but my Snow White was a fantasy on wheels.

One of the cronies who were hanging around outside leaned in to the car and grabbed our bags before I locked her up, a habit I’d forced myself to adopt, and joined Rico to follow Fagan into the house.

“I insist that people call me Daniel,” our host was saying as we stepped into a magnificent marble hallway.  “’Mr’ is so formal.”  He stopped and turned to face us.  “Craig will show you to your room,” he indicated the man who’d lifted our bags from the car.  “Make yourselves at home, the house is yours for the weekend.  There’s a spa and two pools out back, a full bar in the lounge and our chef will cook you anything you desire at anytime, day or night.”

We could hear quiet conversation drifting from beyond the archway that led through into a luxuriously carpeted living room. 

“Some of my friends arrived early,” he told us.  “Last night to be precise.  Gave Cal and I quite a shock.”  The last sentence seemed to be for us only, as he leaned in to tell us.  I wondered who Cal was.  A boyfriend, perhaps?  Did gay men have boyfriends, per se?  I should have done more research.

“When you’ve settled in, please feel free to join us.”

I smiled my most gracious smile.  “Thank you.”  I liked him, I suddenly realised, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

Craig showed us to our room.  Up the sweeping staircase from the entrance hall, along a wide, light corridor until he threw open a pair of double doors and revealed more of a suite than a room.

It was tastefully decorated, with floor-to-ceiling windows along the far wall that overlooked the grounds behind the house – lawn, tennis court, swimming pool and what might have been stables beyond.

Craig left us to settle and as he shut the door, I looked at my partner.  His attention was on the queen-sized bed mattress on the raised platform in the centre of the room.

It wasn’t like sleeping in the same bed would be a first.  We’d both zonked at on the St Vitus enough times.  But something was different here.

“It’s just in our minds, Sonny,” Rico murmured to me, reading my thoughts without even turning to look at me.  “The bed’s big enough so we’ll lose each other in it.”

He was right.

But… something had been rattling around in my brain since that kiss we’d shared on the boat.  When I thought of Rico, I knew safety and trust.  He was someone who wouldn’t ever let me down, and I knew that as clearly and as certainly as I knew myself.

“Hey, you ok?”

I nodded.  “Yeah, I’m… I’m fine.”  He knew me better than to buy it, but he didn’t push for now.

On the other side of the room, I opened a door to find the bathroom.  There was a sunken tub in the centre of it big enough to hold a party.  The semi-circular shower cubicle in the far corner would easily let two people share water and there was a bidet next to the lavatory.

I’d never used one.  I’d always wondered what it would feel like.

“Don’t go looking in too many cupboards, Partner,” Rico murmured behind me.

I turned, and almost lose the ability to speak.  He was standing in the doorway of the bathroom holding the biggest, blackest dildo I’d ever seen, and I do work Vice, if you get my meaning.

“Jeez, Rico!  What the….  Where the hell…?”

He chuckled.  “Next to the not-so-mini-bar.  There’s a wardrobe.  You have to see this for yourself.”

He wasn’t kidding.  The mini-bar itself was suggestive enough.  Along with the usual alcoholic choice there was fresh fruit and two cans of whipped cream.  But the wardrobe next to it would have made my friend Jake proud.

There was a selection of dildos in various shapes, sizes and colours.  Whips, handcuffs, gags, and strips of leather with studs and fastenings for uses that I didn’t want to think about.

Under normal circumstances, I don’t mind admitting that I’d have probably gotten back into the Ferrari and driven straight out of there.  But one thing stopped me.

On the otherwise bare, white dresser that ran along the other wall, there was a basket, similar to one my old Mom had used to display fruit on the table in the living room.  Only this one was filled with packets of condoms and small tubes of what my brain told me was lubrication.

For some reason that said to me, ‘whatever turns you on, do it’. 

This was a guestroom for anyone; the vanilla, or the more experienced and adventurous.  It wasn’t suggesting anything about us or to us.

I explained this to Rico.


Rico:

I expected Sonny to flip.  I almost did when I first opened the wardrobe in our room.  So his taking everything so calmly threw me.

When he explained his theory about the basket of condoms on the dresser, I was impressed.  Sonny wasn’t known for his logical thinking.  He was more a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ kinda guy.

I was however, glad.  He was settled and relaxed, and that usually meant that things would go more smoothly.  When Sonny wound himself up tight, everyone around him tended to do the same without even knowing it.  Me included.

We showered.  Separately.  Him first while I swept the room for bugs or recording equipment.  Steve Duddy, Miami’s finest surveillance expert and someone the department had swapped jail time for assistance from, had given us this neat little device that swept a room from the bottom of a suitcase in silence in seconds and reported back both the location of any devices and the type.  If required, it could deactivate them too simply by overloading them.

It reported the room as clean.

Sonny wondered out of the bathroom wrapped in a thick, white towelling robe.  Sometimes, he took my breath away.  “Everything ok?” he asked innocently, and I nodded, knowing what he was referring to.

“Everything’s clean.”

“Good.”  He smiled, obviously pleased.  “That shower is amazing.”

I grinned.  “My turn.”

He was right.  The shower was incredible.  I felt like I was I the midst of the most powerful massage of my life.  I stood under that pulsing cascade for what might have been hours.  The water stayed hot, the spray stayed hard, just the way I liked it.

Just the way my libido liked it too.

Wrapping my hand around my thick cock, I felt myself grow against my palm and fingers.  Dropping my head back into the water fall, eyes closed, I jerked off slowly, lovin’ it.


Sonny:

What can I say?  I’m not a voyeur, never have been, never will be.

I’d dressed and fixed myself a drink.  For the longest time I’d stood at one of the windows looking out at the sky.  It was lead grey, as stormy as I’d ever seen it.  It gave everything such fantastic definition and clarity.

Finally, having finished my double shot of Three Cocks bourbon (I had to wonder if they’d chosen that brand on purpose as some kind of innuendo!) I turned back to the room.

I realised then that Rico was taking forever in the shower and I went in just to hurry him up.  Not that I was too worried.  Chances were that Fagan would jump to the completely wrong reason for our delay, and that would help us no end.

I opened the bathroom door silently and stopped.

Not until that moment had I realised just how beautiful my partner was. 

I know it’s a strange thing, but I can appreciate beauty as well as any woman can.  The quiet extractors in the room had been designed to stop the place from steaming up, so I had a decent view of him standing there behind the glass, water running in hard droplets over his sculptured body, along his dick as he brought himself off.

There was no rush to it like there usually was to my jerk off sessions.  He was losing himself in it, enjoying the pleasure he could give himself, pleasure any man understood.

Just watching him was making me hard, and finally I tore my eyes from him and closed the door again, leaving him to it.

I poured myself another double and thought about football until my dick got the message.

But when I closed my eyes, I could see him as clearly as if I was still standing there watching him.  That thing which had been rattling around inside my head was slowly forming itself into an idea.  An idea I couldn’t quite grasp yet but one that filled me with a warmth I didn’t recognise and an ease I didn’t understand.

Rico stepped out of the bathroom five minutes later and I didn’t say a word.  Instead, I finished my second drink and dropped back onto the huge bed, closing my eyes and listening to him moving around, dressing and making himself look like he always looked.

He chose an Armarni suit while I preferred, had always preferred, the more relaxed Versace look.  I’d brushed my usual ragout of hair into something akin to tidy and as I’d studied myself in the mirror, it worried me just how blond I was turning.  Was someone dying my hair while I slept?!

Finally, both of us looking like a million bucks, we went to join the party downstairs.


Rico:

Never in a million years did I ever think that Sonny would be able to do submissive.

The party had increased in size somewhat by the time we joined it.  Men and men, women and men, women and women, every persuasion, it seemed, was represented.  And Fagan was working the room like a pro.

Despite the storm settling in outside, the patio doors at the far end of the enormous living room had been opened and people were already spilling out onto the covered patio.  Apparently, there was a pool party going on too, over by the indoor pool, not the outdoor one.

My orgasm in the shower had been made more powerful by the knowledge that Sonny had seen me. Vice cops don’t stay alive by not knowing when someone opens the door to the room they’re in, no matter how quietly it’s done or how safe they actually are.

He’d seen me, but moreover, he’d watched me for a long minute before closing the door again.

I couldn’t help wondering if I’d turned him on.  It’s not like we’d never seen one another naked.  We worked closely together, and the boat isn’t big enough to provide too much privacy when we worked or rested on it.  It was just that we hadn’t really taken any notice of one another naked.

I’d never looked at him, he’d never – as far as I knew – looked at me.  Not with any kind of interest, at least.

Something had changed since the kiss we’d shared on the boat two days ago.  It hadn’t been anything passionate.  Had been more nerves, more trial and error, than anything else.  But since then I’d been thinking about it, and I was pretty sure that he had been too.

I got us both a drink and found him talking to Fagan and a small group of people just outside on the patio.  For a moment, I just stood and watched him, trying to see him how the others were seeing him.  As my boyfriend, my lover.

Sonny hadn’t exactly been beaten with the ugly stick.  He’d stopped smoking, stopped drinking so much when we were off duty (someone explain that one to me?).  He was looking better than he’d looked in a long time and I found the word ‘gorgeous’ popping into my mind with increasing regularity.

But to think of him as my lover was… odd.  I was a big fan of women.  Women have soft bits in all the right places.  Women have wet, warm places to slide into.  My Sonny was probably a gay guy’s fantasy.  He wasn’t supposed to be mine.

Okay, so I was confused.  And getting more confused every hour.  While I’d jerked off in the shower to vague thoughts of ladies with strong thighs and heavy breasts, I kept feeling that weird something that I’d felt on the boat when we’d kissed.

Muttering to myself, I started out toward the small group, glancing at Fagan as I walked.  I found that he was watching me with a knowing smile.  And I almost blushed.  He’d seen me eyeing up Sonny.  It all added to the cover, and it gave me a great excuse to work it all out in my head slowly.  By the time we got out of here, I promised myself, everything would be able to go back to normal.


I was saying about Crockett and submissive?  You do not hear these two words in the same paragraph, never mind the same sentence. 

But as I handed Sonny his drink – double JackDaniels over ice – he gave me this dazzling smile.  And as he introduced me to our new friends, he leaned back into me slightly, his left shoulder pressing into my right, his hip into mine.

The crazy Southerner really knew how to do undercover.  He could fall into a role like no one else I’d ever worked with, always walking that fine line between living it, and becoming it.

This situation was different from anything we’d done before, but it was still undercover and the thought chilled me out somewhat.  I relaxed, letting my right hand sit on his left hip while I greeted Fagan’s friends.

Jess and Christie had been together since university, since the night they’d both decided to be full-time lesbians and not bi-sexual as they had been up until then.  They were firm believers in the theory that everyone was bi-sexual, and that being straight was a conscious decision.  At that moment, with Sonny practically snuggled into my side and my second drink burning my throat, I had to agree with them.

Bri and Justin were the straightest gay couple I’d ever met.  Bri was at least ten years older than Justin, and they’d obviously struggled to accept the seemingly monogamous relationship they were now sharing.  Did everyone question themselves at some point in their lives?

And then there was Cal.  He and Fagan were so ‘together’ it was almost frightening.  As soon as he’d made an appearance, Fagan hadn’t been able to take his hands off the other man, and Cal had the same problem.  He was about the same age as Fagan, in the same good shape and very obviously in love.

We were surrounded by gay couples and I could feel the buzz.

“We’re going to Mannequin’s tonight,” Justin told us, “it’s one of Danny’s clubs on Pleasure Island.  Want to join us?”

Immediately, invites were coming from all angles.  They wanted us to go, so we’d go.  I’d never been to Disney World.

Fagan caught me on my own a couple of hours later, when Sonny had gone with Bri to get some more drinks.  Our small group had moved through the course of the afternoon, being sociable, moving from place to place, and by then we were making ourselves comfortable in the large, beige leather couches arranged in a square at the front of the room.

Fagan left the seat next to me free and sat down in the opposite corner.  It would sandwich Sonny between us, but I’d had enough to drink now that my inhibitions were down and my possessive streak was kicking in.

Leaning over, Fagan said to me quietly, “He would make a fantastic model.  Has he ever done any posing?”

“Not that I know of,” I told him, my eyes dancing with amusement and triumph.  It seemed our trip up here wasn’t to be wasted after all.  “He can be very shy.”

Fagan shook his head.  “That’s no problem, I have an excellent photographer.  Maybe… we could talk him into it?”

Sonny dropped down, almost into my lap.  He was playing this part to the full, and he made a commendable attempt to become a part of me, leaning into my side, his free hand wrapping around my leg, just above the knee.

Even if I hadn’t thought about it before, with his warm body so close, his trusted hands touching me, nothing in the world could have stopped me from thinking about it then.

He might have been just playing the role, maybe even teasing me a little, seeing if he could get a rise out of me.  Literally.

But the alcohol in my system was keeping my libido under control so at least I wasn’t about to embarrass myself in public.

“Talk me into what?” he asked.  Only it wasn’t his usual, suspicious, ‘no one ain’t talkin’ me into nothing, Bud’ tone that he always adopted in these situations.  It was a purr.  And I thought briefly about killing him myself when I realised that he was seducing Fagan!  One day, Sonny was going to get us both shot.

“I was telling your very possessive lover here,” I almost dropped my drink, “that you would make a stunning centrefold.”

I felt Sonny stiffen for the briefest moment.  He knew like I knew that this was the bait being taken.  It had never been so easy.

“Me?  No way,” but there was an underlying hint of interest in his voice that would keep Fagan hooked.  “I’m shy when it comes to cameras.”

“What have you got to be shy about?  You’re beautiful!  Isn’t he beautiful, Rico?”

My turn to hesitate.  Sonny had turned his head away from our host to look at me.  His jade eyes were sparkling with mischief.  He felt so comfortable undercover like this, it bemused me sometimes.  He was waiting for an answer.

Summoning my courage, I balanced my drink on the wide arm of the sofa and ran the backs of my fingers down Sonny’s cotton-clad arm, saying as I did so, “he’s absolutely beautiful.”

It was so easy to make him blush.  And it just added to the illusion of shy innocence that he was somehow radiating.  Cal, who was perched on the other arm of the same sofa, one arm around Fagan’s shoulders, looked at me with the oddest expression, and for a moment I felt like I’d corrupted Sonny.

Mentally shaking myself, I sighed inwardly.  It was ridiculous.  Sonny was no more an innocent virgin than I was!

He’d turned back to Fagan and was reeling him in with the ease of a lazy catch.

“I’ve never done any kind of modelling.”

“Very few of the men in my magazine ever have.”

I watched Fagan studying my partner’s face.  “It doesn’t have to be nude, if that’s what you’re worried about.  Although I’d bet you have the most magnificent cock.”

I had to bite my lip to stop the unexpected laughter that came up from inside me all of a sudden.  I didn’t want to see the look on Sonny’s face at that moment. 


Sonny:

I couldn’t believe he’d said that!

I stared at him for a moment, feeling Rico’s suppressed laughter in his trembling body where I was pressed close to him.  Then I laughed.  I bit my bottom lip and laughed, glancing away from Fagan to his boyfriend for a calculated second.  Cal was smiling at me with undisguised affection.  And I suddenly wondered if they both… wanted me.

It was very flattering.  If a little scary.

“Errr….”

Fagan’s face was a picture of apology.  “Sorry, Sonny, that was cruel.”  He leaned forward, looking at Rico sitting behind me, but keeping his attention on me.  “How about your lover?  Is it true what they say about black men?”

Oh, yeah.  From what I’d seen in the shower, it was most definitely true.

I didn’t meet Rico’s eyes for fear of losing it completely.  Instead I just nodded at Fagan when he returned his gaze to me.

We played so dangerously sometimes.  We were sitting in the lion’s den with the lion himself and we were both winding each other up.

I was glad of the alcohol because against all odds, this was arousing me.

No way was I posing for anyone!  We were supposed to find out what happened to the two guys who’d been whacked.  Best way to do that was to spend some time letting the bad guys get to know you, to trust you, and just to listen.

Luckily, Fagan’s attention was distracted for a few seconds by someone who’d just arrived, and I used the time to regain my equilibrium.

Rico felt good sitting behind me so close.  I turned to him, looking to read his expression, to make sure he was okay, and found myself held in place.  He’d moved his hand around to cup the side of my throat in his palm, his fingers stroking the hair at the back of my neck.

For a moment, neither of us breathed.  I swallowed hard.  Then I leaned into his touch.  There was something so intense in the way he was looking at me, I hoped to God we were going to be okay.

Before whatever was about to happen could happen, Fagan broke the spell.

“Time to party, lovers,” he told the group in general.  “The cars are here to take us to the island.”


Rico:

I wanted to give Fagan a huge kiss from the both of us.  What the hell was I about to do with Sonny?!

The borders between the cover and me were getting real fuzzy real fast.

Pleasure Island was a place for tourists.  There were about forty clubs, bars and restaurants on the island, which was connected to the mainland, just outside Disney World, by a flat bridge.  Every night at midnight there was a street party.

Mannequin’s was closed to the tourists that night.  Most of the people who’d been at Fagan’s house had come to the club.  It was a classy place.  And all the drinks were free tonight.

We sat with the same group, although Bri and Justin spent most of the night on the dance floor, and  were replaced in spirit by another couple, a straight couple this time, just for variety.

Joy and Steven.  Steven was a banker who loved to relax with his friends, who happen to be gay.  Joy was quiet, but obviously enjoyed the company of those around her.

Definitely not the murdering types.  No one I’d met so far had fit the bill, not even Fagan.  After a while, you started to develop a sixth sense for these things.  Sonny’s sixth sense was well honed and I knew it had been quiet ever since we’d arrived in Orlando.

It was a party town, a tourist town.  Fagan and his pals were having fun.

After half an hour, I excused myself and headed for the bathroom.  I took a wrong turn.

I’d never been into a ‘backroom’ of any club before in my whole life, although I’d been aware of them.  It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darker lighting, but my ears had no such problems.

I could hear low groans of men, the wet slapping of flesh against flesh.  There were three men nearest the door.  One was in the middle, legs spread, arms up above his head, hands pressed against the wall for balance.  There was a guy behind him, fucking him, and as I stepped into the room I saw the third guy on his knees in front of the first, sucking him off.

I realised that for as far as I could see, there were couples, threesomes and orgies and they weren’t all guys.

Backing out, I found the Gents.

At least the presence of the backroom meant that the toilets were relatively safe.  Relatively.  As I was trying to take a piss, I realised that there was a rhythmic knocking coming from the end cubicle, along with a couple of stifled cries.

Closing my eyes for one moment my fogged brain offered me up the idea of bringing Sonny in here, of turning him face to the wall of one of those cubicles and just burying myself in him.

It was momentary.  But in that moment, my body caught fire.


“You okay?”

It was Sonny’s traditional greeting to me when I came back from anywhere.  Five minutes in the john or two weeks’ vacation in New York.  And it was so wonderfully normal that it settled me down a little, to my relief.

“I’m fine, Sonny.”

“Drink, Rico?”  I looked up at Cal, who, I realised then, had just vacated the seat I’d sat in.

“Sure,” I grinned, “something long and cold.”

Cal’s eyes widened along with his smile, and he nodded.  He’d obviously already taken Sonny’s order.


Sonny:

I needed to piss.  I’d been drinking most of the afternoon, evening and night.  As I got up, Rico murmured to me, “make sure you don’t take a wrong turn.”

A minute later, I found out what he was referring to.

If I’d been sober, it would have been too much.  As it was, my libido tried to run and hide.  But I didn’t.  I blended into the shadows as I walked through the long, narrow room.  A small group in one corner caught my eyes.  A woman was sandwiched between two guys, at the same time, the guy behind her was being fucked by a fourth guy.

“They call it a daisy chain.”  I jumped when the voice whispered in my ear.  When I turned, I didn’t know whether or not to be relieved that it was Cal.

“I’ve never seen it done with a woman before,” I said truthfully, not that I’d ever heard the term before either!

Cal stayed close behind me, but the only touch was of his breath on the back of my neck.  “No one would make you do anything you didn’t want to do, Sonny,” he reassured me.

Too damn right.  I’d break their arms and legs if they did.  I kept quiet about that and tried to relax.  A few seconds passed.  And then Cal put his hand on my arm and turned me.

“Come on, I don’t think you’re ready for this yet.”

Once we were out of there, he headed off to the bar and I found the toilets.  It wasn’t easy to pee with a semi-erect dick.  This whole case had me turned around.  My libido hadn’t been overly predictable recently, but this was getting ridiculous.

Rico and I were playing with each other.  It was safer than playing with anyone else around here.  I just hoped we were playing.  At least, I think I hoped that.


As I got close to the couch we’d been sitting on, Rico grabbed my arm gently and pulled.

I lost my balance and ended up just where he’d obviously wanted me.  Right in his lap.

His arms went around my waist so naturally that I just went with it, turning slightly to slide one arm around his shoulders.

He was surprising me with this one.  I’d imagined that we’d never pull this off, that we’d be so nervous around one another we would have been more convincing if we’d gone in as straight guys.

Instead, we were starting to convince ourselves.


Rico:

It was five am when we fell back into the same leather sofa we’d left six hours before.  The sun was just peeking over the horizon. 

A couple of minutes later, Sonny was practically asleep, head on my shoulder, eyes closed.  Tired and nowhere even close to sober, I reached up, not wanting to disturb him, and stroked the errant hair back from his eyes.

I’d had him on my lap in the club for just long enough so that Cal made a ‘get a bed’ comment.  When Sonny moved, I’d missed the weight of him, the feeling of holding him.  Now I had him back in my arms, sleeping against me, and it was just perfect.

Fagan had dropped into the other corner of the sofa, his attention on his lover who was behind the bar fixing us all a last drink of the night.

Once he had a glass in his hand, our host settled further into the sofa and let his eyes fall on Sonny.  For a while, he just watched him, and then he glanced at me and smiled.

“Cal and I have been together for seven years.  In all that time, no other guy’s really interested me.”  Until now, I knew.  “Until now.”

No way on this earth was he getting his hands on Sonny.

“How long have you two been together?”

“Just over two years,” I recited from the file that was memorised in my head.

“Have you had anyone else since?”

This wasn’t in the file.  I shook my head.  Why the hell would I want anyone else when I had Sonny?

“Has he?”

“Not that I know of.”  I dropped my head to the back of the sofa, not taking my eyes from Fagan.  “When I met him, he didn’t know much about the scene.  I guess I… introduced him to a lot of things.”

Fagan smiled.  He reached out and touched the ends of Sonny’s hair, stroking very lightly.  His voice was quiet when he asked, “The first time you took him, was he scared?”  Suddenly, that image was back in my brain, the idea of burying inside my partner’s body.  “Did you tell him over and over that it was okay?”

I stared at our host, unable to speak.

“Is he still as tight as he was then?  Or do you use butt plugs to loosen him?”

I hugged Sonny a little closer to me.  I didn’t want any of that.  Whatever my cock thought.  So why was the very suggestion such a turn on?

For the longest time, I just sat silently.  Then I smiled indulgently.  “I should take him to bed.”

Fagan nodded, before suggesting with a smile, “Maybe later we can talk him into posing for us.”


Sonny:

I had vague memories of Rico waking me and us making it up to our room.  After that, I didn’t remember anything before lunchtime on the Saturday.

I had one stunning hangover, so I lay still, listening to the heavy rain on the windows and trying to work out the confusion that the previous night and morning had become in my aching brain.

It took a few minutes to isolate the sound of the shower from the sound of the rain.  In that moment, it all came flooding back, like your mind really has to be sure you’re awake before landing the memories on you in the morning.  Or afternoon.

And all that water falling was prodding my body.  I had to pee.

This time, I made no secret of my being in the bathroom.  Rico smiled at me through the glass and turned his back, giving me at least the illusion of privacy.  Not that he hadn’t seen me take a piss before.

“You okay, man?” he called over the water.

“Sure.  I don’t suppose there’s any Alka Seltzer around here?”  Flushing the toilet, I opened one of the cupboards and found every medicine known to man.  “Excellent.”  Picking out the packet I wanted, I left Rico to his shower.

By the time he’d finished, I was feeling a shitload better.

“You know, man,” he started as I padded into the bathroom to stand under that fierce water for an hour, “we should shower together.”

“Ha ha.”  It was the only conversation he was going to get until I’d had at least two cups of coffee.

It wasn’t until I’d been standing under the water for some time that I wondered if he’d been serious.


Rico:

I wanted to make sure that it was safe to venture downstairs this morning so I left Sonny to it and dressed informally, I went in search of life.

Fagan and Cal were sitting in the conservatory off a second lounge that I hadn’t seen last night.  There was an amazing smell of freshly brewed coffee throughout the house.

“Rico!”  Fagan stood up as soon as he saw me, coming over to talk to me.  “Listen, Rico… last night, I was out of line.  All that stuff I asked when we were back here… it was none of my business.  I was drunk and I’m sorry.”

I was stunned.  “It’s… it’s fine, honestly.  No problems.”

“Thanks.  Next time, you should tell me to butt out, I can get so damn nosy when I’ve had a skin full, especially with new people.”

I smiled and turned, locating the coffee pot on the laid-out breakfast table.  I wondered about taking the pot up to Sonny, but he’d be down soon enough, and after last night I needed some time to assess the situation, not to mention to sort out my own mixed up feelings.

I dropped carefully into one of the cushioned wicker chairs, resisting the temptation to close my eyes again.

Suddenly, I heard Cal let out a strangled cry.  Both Fagan and I sat up.

“Oh God… another one.  Danny….”  Cal handed the newspaper he’d been reading to his boyfriend.  I watched Fagan’s expression.

“What’s up?”

He handed me the paper.  Second page, in the left-hand corner, was a picture of a young blond hair with the line, “March Stiff is murdered.”

They’d killed Simes Marlo, the guy whose house Sonny and I had been staking out the night before we’d been given this.

“He’s the third,” Fagan explained.  “January, February and March, someone’s whacking our centrefolds.”


I caught Sonny just as he was leaving the room.  Handing him a mug of steaming black coffee from the tray I was carrying, I pushed him gently back inside and closed the door.

“March is dead.”

He stared at me, sipping the coffee as if on autopilot.  “March who?”

“Simes Marlo?  March centrefold.”

“Fuck!”  Rolling his eyes, he paced across to the windows.  “Dammit!”  Sighing, I watched him as he let off steam.  I knew exactly what he was feeling and thinking at that moment.  “I don’t know what good we’re doing here, Rico.  Maybe we’re wasting our time.”

Strolling over to him, I shook my head.  “Not any longer.”

“What do you mean?”

“Guess who was April’s centrefold.”

Frowning, he finished off the first mug of coffee and thankfully swapped it for the second one on the tray, downing the shot of JackDaniels I’d brought up for him, knowing his preferred breakfast.  “Who?”

“Cal.”

He stopped pacing right in front of me, eyes widening.  “Okay, so we’re in the right place at the right time.  At last.”  But his grouching had no substance to it this time.  “Thanks for the drinks, Partner.”

“Pleasure.”

We walked along the thickly carpeted corridor until we came to the rails that surrounded the balcony overlooking the stairs and the hallway below.  We’d heard the doorbell as we’d approached, and now there were voices.  Standing back, we both listened.

“Lieutenant Joe Madison,” the first voice introduced.

“Daniel Fagan.  What can do I do for you gentlemen?”

“Mr Fagan, we have reason to believe that a friend of yours, a Mr Calum Bridges who’s listed at this address, may be in danger.”

Fagan’s laugh was joined by the slightly higher chuckle of Cal himself.  “And you’re here to protect him!  That’s just marvellous, Officers, but look around you.  I think he’s safer here than with you, don’t you think?”

The guy had a point.  The place was surrounded by silent, invisible men toting very large guns.

“I assure you, Lieutenant,” that was Cal, “security around here is more than adequate.  Danny’s bodyguards go where ever we go.”

“And,” Fagan added, “we think we may even have a couple of undercover cops in our midst.”

We froze.  I heard Sonny’s breath catch.  He couldn’t mean us.  No way had they made us.  Sonny and I had pulled off far more shaky covers than these in the past.  We’d been brilliant!  We’d been all over each other….

“Who knows?” Cal was saying, sounding totally nonchalant.  “And who cares?”  There was a smile in his voice.  “I’ll be absolutely fine, Lieutenant, but your concern is touching.  Thank you.”

A couple of seconds later, the door closed, and Sonny and I made our way down to the hall.

“Everything all right?” I asked, calm and casual.

“Everything’s fine.  In fact,” Cal hooked one arm around his lover’s waist, “we were thinking of going to Disney World.  What do you think?”


Sonny:

I felt sixteen again! 

Not that I’d ever been to Disney World as a kid.  But I felt the rush of the rides like I was a carefree teenager.

Men like Fagan never queued.  We walked into the park and a path was cleared in front of us, so that I barely noticed the tourists as I chatted with Cal.  Rico was up front with Fagan, but as we reached the entrance to Space Mountain, he hung back and let us catch up.

“You ever done this before?” he asked me, fascinated.

“Sure!”  But I wasn’t.  I hadn’t even thought about it on the way in, but now I was face to face with the reality, I felt nervous.  “Errr….”

“Sonny, Rico,” I smiled at Cal, and he grinned back.  “Don’t worry, it’s a walk in the park.”

“In a very steep park,” I muttered, but I climbed into the car and Rico squeezed in beside me.

“If you’re scared,” my partner whispered, “hang on to me.”

Message received and understood.  If Fagan suspected we were cops, we needed to wipe that suspicion clear from his mind.

Cal glanced back from the seat in front of us and grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.  “Hang on.”

I hung on to the front bar for dear life as the car moved off.  It was dark, we were surrounded by flashing lights and music.  Thirty seconds later we were falling forward, and I was screaming as loud as my lungs would allow.

It was the most incredible rush!

Beside me, Rico was laughing, head thrown back into the torrent of air all around us.

Letting go of the bar as we climbed yet again, I went with it, leaving my stomach in mid-air as the car circled downwards in a tight twist.

I stopped thinking and just let myself enjoy, like I’d left all my life’s baggage on the ground just for a couple of minutes.

When we got off, my legs were jelly.  It seemed the most natural thing in the world to slide my arm around Rico’s waist, for him to do the same.  At that moment, I wondered why we’d been so panicked over this.  Rico and I were closer than I’d honestly known any partners to be.  The silent communication, the weird sixth sense thing we hand about each other.  The relationship was just a couple of steps off being a marriage.  A really good marriage.  After everything we’d been through together, touching and holding was easy.

We walked alongside Cal and Fagan, chatting and laughing, heading for the log flume.  Again, whoever was clearing the path for us was invisible.  The tourists just parted for us and we wandered through, ignoring everyone but each other.

Stepping into the flume, Rico gallantly let me go in the front.  He got in behind me, and sliding his arms around my waist, he pulled my back slightly into him.  I wrapped my own arms over his and hung on, trying to look around us at the course the log would take.

Cal and Fagan – Daniel – climbed in behind us and the log rounded the corner to send us off on our three-minute journey.

The first drop was gentle enough.  The spray of water came up from the flume, but we felt only the cool splash on our faces and hands.

Four drops later, I was absolutely soaked to the skin.


Rico:

It was complete madness!  But I hadn’t laughed so much in a very long time, and I don’t think Sonny had either.

The four of us dripped around Disney World, sampling the rides.  After his initial apprehension on Space Mountain, Sonny threw himself into the entertainment as thoroughly as he threw himself into everything else.

After the flume, we’d almost dried off by the time Daniel (it was difficult to keep calling him Fagan after spending the morning in Disney World) talked us into sitting in a large tyre and riding it down a long, winding water course, soaking ourselves once again.

It amused me to think of the cost of the clothes we were wrecking with this treatment.  The leather seats in the Limo didn’t escape either.

Once back at the mansion, Sonny and I padded upstairs to shower and change.

“One of more weirder mornings I’ve spent undercover,” he called from the bathroom over the cascade of hot water.

Definitely.  But this had to be classed as one of stranger undercover cases we’d ever been involved with.  Still, not the nightmare we’d expected it to be.

The water stopped running and less then a minute later Sonny wondered out with a towel wrapped around his waist, water dripping from his hair and chest.  His eyes were still dancing with enjoyment of the morning’s activities.

“Is it me,” he began, “or could last night and this morning been from two separate worlds?”

“It ain’t you, Partner.”

Stepping around him, dropping my damp clothes to the bathroom floor, I stepped into the shower.

What made me leave the glass doors open, I have no idea.  I was playing to him.

The most incredible thing about that morning had been Sonny’s sheer shining brilliance.  He’d simply come alive.  Suddenly I’d found myself seeing what was usually buried so deep inside my partner that no one ever saw it, not even me.  I loved that I knew him better than anyone.  I loved that he was my Sonny, that he would open up to me and only me.  But this had been something new.

Whatever had been inside me, kicking around my mind since that kiss on the boat, had blossomed. 

Through the water and the open bathroom door, I could see Sonny towelling himself dry before dropping naked into the centre of the massive bed.

Even from where I was standing I could see the glorious contrast between the white sheets and the deep tan of his skin.  I could see his damp hair, all messed up, his closed eyes, parted lips and sculptured chest.  His long arms stretched above his head.

We'd always been chilled with one another, but this was different.  Since we'd arrived here, we'd each been pushing one another, taking it just that little bit further each time.

Taking the soap, I worked up a lather and covered myself in the white suds, racing the water which was washing them from me.

When I looked up next, Sonny had shifted on to his side on the bed and was watching me steadily.

I could feel the heat in his gaze arc across the distance between us.  My throat went suddenly dry and my head light as all my blood rushed south.

What the hell were we doing?  Did we even know what we were playing with?

This chemistry between us, it’s always been there.  From the beginning we’ve had a symbiosis that I know is very rare.  Not even Rafael and I shared the connection Sonny and I seem to have had since Day One.

Were we pushing that connection to its limits?  Would it stretch to accommodate something this new? or would it snap?  Did we really want what we seemed to be silently promising one another?

Something inside me wanted it.  I was starting to forget how it had felt to look at Sonny and not feel a smouldering need, a desire for something I’d never had before.

Turning away, closing my eyes, I tried to will my cock into submission.  It had no scruples.

When you’re on the street, you’re being backed up by colleagues, people you trust because you know they’re good, honest people and they’re your friends.

When you’re undercover, the only person you have is your partner.

Sonny may be a loose canon sometimes, but as a partner, as the one person my life depended on when I was under, he was solid.  I would never go under with anyone else at my side.

I remember sitting talking to Joey Harden, DEA, in the hospital one night.  He’d been undercover playing star witness to smoke out some FBI snitch, and had bonded tight with my partner.  Sonny’s like that, he’ll get real close, real quick.  And then usually he’ll get burned.

With Joey, it could have gone the bad way, but it didn’t.  The kid survived the bullet pumped into his back by the FBI snitch we’d been after.  Sonny had worried himself sick for days.  That night I spent chatting with Joey, Sonny had been asleep in the chair in the corner of the room, dead to the world for fourteen hours.

Joey had asked me about us, how long we’d been partners, how relaxed we looked together.  Sonny had apparently said something some things about me when they’d been out in the Keys.  I was touched when Joey told me, when he said how lucky Sonny was to have a partner he could trust without a doubt, without reservation.

Would us doing what we were thinking about doing destroy that?

What were we thinking about doing anyway?!

It was madness!

So why did I want it so much?


Sonny:

As I watched Rico in the shower, ideas started to solidify in my brain.  I knew what it was like to have Rico’s arms around me, the strength and comfort in them.  I imagined what it would feel like to be able to bury myself in his arms at night, to sleep there.

Thinkin’ like that could be trouble.  Rico’s my partner, the one person in the entire world I can depend on, the one who’s always been there for me.  That’s why it was so damn tempting.  To have someone like Rico loving me, someone I knew would never, ever hurt me, never betray me, was like a dream just out of reach.

I guess he had the same thought, because he turned from me, and I got up from the bed and dressed, trying not to think at all.



The first thing you notice about the bad guys when you're undercover in their homes is that they're a sociable bunch.

In the admittedly not-so-short time that it took Rico and I to shower and change (a delay that only added to our cover, I don't want to know what Daniel and Cal assumed we were up to), around twenty people had arrived and were milling around in the living room.  Florida's unusual weather patterns were in full swing that day and despite having cleared for our outing to Disney World, the skies had darkened once again.

Lunch was awaiting us in the form of a hot buffet and we were soon tucking in.  But the escalation of tension between Rico and I remained, and it was becoming less easy not to think, with each minute that passed.

Every look we gave one another was loaded.  As we were being served, he brushed against me, making it look and feel so outwardly natural, it was difficult to comprehend the warmth I felt when he did it.

As we stood talking to Jess - one half of the lesbian couple we'd met the previous day - I could feel his hand on the small of my back, fingers casually stroking me through the thin material of my linen shirt.

Cal noticed too.  Leaning in between us, he smiled and murmured good-naturedly, "can you two not keep your hands off one another for ten seconds?"

I just couldn't believe that he thought we were cops.  It wasn't too much of a stretch to reason that Orlando Vice, or even Homicide, were running their own operation.  We'd never know.  And as long as our butts were safe, we didn't really care.  Not that it wouldn't be something to yell at Lieutenant Joe Madison for once we got out of there.

“Sonny, Rico,” we turned from Jess to Daniel.  He was approaching us with another man.  This new guy was sharp.  His eyes took us both in with a single glance.  “I’d like you to meet Grey, our photographer.”

We both shook his hand, easy and relaxed.  Nothing threatening, nothing to worry about.  It was so rare that we were this settled undercover.  After talking for a few minutes, I realised that he was sizing me up for the camera.  My resolution still stood, but the interest was very flattering.

Seems like everyone was stroking my ego today.

I glanced at Rico, and saw to my amazement and amusement that he was bristling.  He’d taken two steps to close up against me, his arm snaking around my waist in a clear gesture of possession.

Daniel hid his smile behind his hand.  Grey took his actions as a challenge and moved forward himself.

“Danny tells me you refuse to be a ‘Stiff’ centrefold.”

I almost laughed.  As far as chat-up lines went, it was the worst I’d heard in a very long time.  I didn’t dare turn to look at Rico.  I could just imagine the expression on his face, and in the complex  mix of emotions shining in his eyes would be triumph.  Even if I’d been gay, he wouldn’t have had a worry in the world where this guy was concerned.

I knew I’d been right when I felt him release me and move off.  The ultimate silent insult.  Grey wasn’t a threat to him.

But my curiosity had been stoked.  And Grey – being the guy who’d photographed all three of the victims whose deaths we were supposed to be investigating – was someone I wanted to talk to.

“I’m not photogenic,” I told him, doing my best shy look.

His eyes went wide.  “Whoever told you that was talking out of his ass,” he told me certainly.  “You’re beautiful, Sonny.  Your eyes are jewels, your skin’s like caramel, your hair is like silk.”

I was glad Rico was over talking to Bri and Justin, he’d have been in hysterics by now.  I was having problems keeping it inside.

“So… you’d see me… how?”

“Oh, Baby….  Any way you want.”

I couldn’t hide my smirk any longer.  “Come on, you have got to be kidding me?” 

I noted the smile on Daniel’s face.  “Why don’t you see it, Sonny?” he asked me.  “Rico sees it.”

My stomach flipped.  “Rico’s biased.”

Daniel laughed softly.  “Rico worships the ground you walk on.”

The humour faded and I looked over at where my partner was laughing with the gorgeous Bri.  It was difficult to think in terms of anything but seeing Rico as my best friend, as the closest person in the world to me.  My thoughts of him were above his looks, his clothes.  He was as familiar to me as his my own shadow.  Dammit, he was my shadow and I was his.

And right at that moment I wanted to crawl into him and stay there forever.


Rico:

Grey had been eyeing up Sonny from the moment they shook hands.  I’d initially imagined that his interest was entirely professional.  But after a few minutes, I started to wonder.

When he made that crack about Sonny being a ‘Stiff’ centrefold I had to walk away.  I almost cracked up and I knew Sonny was about to laugh.  We’d have set one another off if I’d stayed around.

I spotted Bri and Justin across the room.  Even as we spoke, Sonny had my only slightly divided attention.

He was speaking to Grey, winding him up no doubt, and something the photographer said tickled him.  Then Daniel said something, and Sonny looked up, straight at me.

In a heartbeat, everything else vanished and all there was in the whole world was Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.


Sonny:

“You know, you two should get married!  You act like you’ve only just fallen in love.”

Daniel’s amused comment pulled my attention back to the here and now.  I smiled.  Only just fallen in love?  That was about right.  I’d loved him for a long time, probably since the night he dumped Michelle and went with me to the gas station for me to explain about Evan.

I hadn’t been in love with him until that moment.  Everything had just been redefined.

I turned back to Daniel and Grey.  “It’s always been like this between us.”

Grey smirked, but Daniel threw his head back and laughed.  “God, I love the two of you!”  Eyes on me, he said, “It’s like a fairytale!  I thought Cal and I were bad but you two… I could almost believe you’ll be faithful to one another.”

“I thought you two were monogamous,” I stated, trying not to sound naïve.  Were gay men monogamous?  Did they marry?  I knew squat about it, and not for the first time that weekend I wished I’d done more research over and above finding out what it tasted like to kiss my partner.

“As monogamous as gay guys get, Sonny.”  He shrugged.  “We digress now and again, nothing serious.”  He smiled at me kindly.  “Haven’t had that many relationships, have you?”

I shook my head.  It was the truth – none, in fact, with other guys.

Reaching out, he stopped short of touching my cheek.  “You’re perfect, you know that?  I wish you’d let Grey photograph you, even if you keep your clothes on and we never publish a single shot.”

I frowned.  “Then what would be the point?”

“Sonny… I would absolutely love to have you in my private collection.”

Three days ago I’d have bolted from under this kind of attention.  But my ego was so inflated I was never gonna get it out the front door, and with Rico close by I felt safe.

Cal stepped up to my side, putting a glass of champagne into my hand.  “Would you two leave him alone!” he instructed his boyfriend and the other man.  “He’s had enough of your doting!  He doesn’t want to do the photos!”

Muttering something about protective hosts, Grey and Daniel skulked off.  I smiled at my saviour gratefully.  “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.  I think Rico’s concerned.”

Glancing over at my partner I met his laser-beam stare.  I smiled and thanking Cal once more, went over to join him.

Once at his side, I slipped my arm around his waist.  It felt natural, and more than that, it felt good.

The look he gave me was wonderful.  Concern, a silent ‘you ok?’, mixed with a little jealousy – which I could barely believe – and surprise at my gesture.

But he went with it, putting one arm around me too, pulling me close to him.  It felt better than good.  It felt terrific.

Tilting my head I looked at him, hoping to see my own churning emotions mirrored in his eyes.

He did the same, already only inches from me.  His lips touched mine.


Rico:

I didn’t mean to kiss him.  I’d been worried about him a little, surrounded by gay guys all telling him how gorgeous he was.  He’d usually freak out a little under that kind of attention.

But he just came over to me, hooked his arm around me, and I had to kiss him.  I had to break the tension between us before it blew and took us both with it.

We both froze, lips pressed gently together.  He didn’t make any effort to break the contact, and unable to resist, I pushed the tip of my tongue out to touch the outline of his mouth.

I felt him shudder beneath me, and my whole body reacted like a loaded gun.

I moved to grab him, wanting nothing but to tangle my fingers in his hair, open his mouth under mine and plunder it, get him naked beneath me.  Something stopped me, something made me back off.

Sonny whimpered.  It was a sound that would stay with me for the rest of my life.  A sound that stroked my nerves and stoked the arousal burning inside of me.  In the darkest part of my soul, I wanted to hurt him just to hear the sound again.

He was starin’ at me with a wild look in his eyes.  He was hurtin’ already, I realised.  We’d been teasing each other all night and this time we’d pushed too far.

Somehow I managed to turn to Bri and Justin and excuse us both.  They might have made some smart-assed reply, I have no idea because I wasn’t listening.

Sonny and I headed upstairs, not even touching.  We didn’t speak.

He opened the door to our room and stepped inside.  I followed and closed the door behind me.

In a fluid, graceful movement, he turned and wrapped himself around me, his mouth finding mine.

His arms went under my jacket.  I felt his hands everywhere, stroking me, yanking my shirt from the back of my pants so that he could finally touch me.  His tongue was battling with mine, stroking over my tongue, my pallet, my teeth.

He was on fire, and I could feel the flames engulfing me.

I tried to touch him, but somehow he’d pinned both my arms behind my back as he pushed me against the door.  I struggled, but my own erection was being rubbed up and down by the bulge in the front of his pants and it was killin’ me.

“Sonny,” I gasped his name as he broke the kiss.  “Please, man, I gotta touch you, I need to feel you….”

He pulled back a little, and whatever I expected to see in his expression, it wasn’t what was there.  His eyes were shining with love.  A love so real, like it was consuming him.

Sonny Crockett was heat and drive.  To be the focus of that heat was more than I’d ever known.

“You trust me, Rico?”

I didn’t understand the question.  “With my life, Sonny.”

“Then let me, just for now.”

I nodded my consent, desperate just to have his mouth back on mine, his hands all over me.

Releasing my arms, he slid his hand down from my shoulder to my wrist.  Pliant in his hands, I let him lift my arm up over my head as he kissed me, tongue caressing my lips in long, wet licks.  He pressed against me as he pinned my hand back against the solid door.

I moaned into his mouth shamelessly.  I was such a slut for him, but by then I didn’t care.

I was too busy feeling the rest of him from toe to mouth to notice that he’d trapped my other hand too, holding both my wrists above my head.

I stretched my hands, loving being held by him but wanting to touch him so badly.

His mouth left mine, moved to my throat.  I struggled again against him, but he hushed me.

“Please, Rico,” I could feel his lips shift against my skin.  “Let me, just for now.”

“Want to touch you,” I gasped, “need to touch you, Sonny.”

Sliding his hand down, he worked on my shirt, unfastening the buttons one by one, fingers brushing over my chest; the tight, dark curls there, the hard nubs of my nipples.  He was glorious.  His teeth were nibbling at my neck, his lips sucking gently.

I was going out of my mind.

His rock-hard shaft pressing against mine was such a new and terrifying sensation.  Anyone but Sonny and I’d be kneeing him in the balls and making a fast exit.

Sonny’s lips were back on mine, tongue exploring almost frantically.

I had to touch him.  Wrapping one leg up around his, I thrust once against him and started to struggle in earnest.

He released me and immediately I went for skin against my hands.  I pulled his shirt from his pants and pushed my hands up under the thin cotton to touch his warm sides.  Spreading my fingers, I ran my hands up his body, thumbs tracing over his ribs to his chest.

Sonny moaned into my mouth and my cock jumped at the sound.  Oh yeah, I could live on that sound.

Suddenly, Sonny stepped back.  The loss of contact stunned me and I made a noise I’d never thought I’d hear from my own lips.

Sonny simply smiled softly.  “Bed,” he murmured, and I nodded.

As we crossed the room, I shrugged off my shirt while he pulled his own over his head and dumped it on the carpet.

We climbed on the bed together, not talking, not knowing what would be lies and what would be the truth right now.

The first kiss we shared as I leaned over him on the cool, white sheets was gentle and searing at the same time as the heat flooded us.


Sonny:

He was beautiful.  He was hot desire and gentle passion.

We devoured each other.  Crawling over him, into his arms, we… made love.  It didn’t matter by then that he was a guy, that he had a dick.  His mouth burned on my skin, his fingers trailed flaming paths over my body until he freed me from my expensive pants and rolled on top of me.

Running his hand along my arm, he pressed it out to one side on the mattress, and when he reached my fingers he spread his own between them, entwining us.

Feeling his shaft, long and thick, rubbing slowly up against my aching dick drove me quickly towards a mind blowing orgasm that I was almost on the edge of when he stilled.

I yelled something brightly obscene and he lifted his mouth from my neck and pushed himself up, looking down at me with sweat beading on his forehead.

I tangled my fingers in the tight curls on his head, before raking my nails down his back to his tight, round ass.

“Please,” I’d thought to never beg for anything, Rico was the only one who could make me do that.  He was driving me insane.

“Slowly, Sonny,” he murmured, maddeningly.  “Easy….”

The heat inside my groin was building, spreading throughout my body, up my spine, along my nerves.  “Can’t, Rico….”

“Yeah, you can.”  He lowered his mouth to mine, licking along the curve of my lips, then along the line between them.  Two could play at that, I thought, as I nibbled on his bottom lip.  He moaned softly, opening his mouth over mine.

Our kisses were powerful, almost hard, but tempered with the feelings flowing over us.

We knew there was so much more, but despite his teasing, Rico wasn’t going to hold out much longer than I was.

“Come for me,” I hissed against his mouth, “I want to hear you come with my name on your lips.”

An expression I hadn’t ever seen before crossed his face.  I grinned, triumphant, and pulling my hand from his, I wrapped my arm around us and rolled us.

Lying face to face on our sides, I hooked one leg over his and pressed us even closer together.  He moaned, leaned in and kissed me.  His hands were roaming over my side, my hip, along the underside of my lifted thigh to my ass.

When he stroked the underside of my balls, I thrust up against him.  He got the message, cupping me in his palm, stroking his thumb over the taught skin where his balls banged up against mine.

I grabbed one buttock, brought us together hard, and came like a freight train.

My orgasm triggered his.  I kissed him and he returned it like we were trying to crawl down one another’s throats.

When we finally stilled, we hung on to each other, foreheads rested together, unwilling to move.


Rico:

I kissed him again, gently this time, lazily.

“Sonny… that was….”

“Amazing.  Mind blowing.”  He sucked on my bottom lip.  “A relief?”

I chuckled, nodding in agreement.  “Yeah, all that tension building up, was gonna blow us sky high eventually.”

“It did, didn’t it?”

Finding his hand on my ass, I lifted it and linked our fingers, using the connection to pull him over me when I rolled over onto my back.  I worried for a moment that he’d pull away, but he crawled over me and made himself comfortable.

It was nice.

I played with his hair while his breathing evened out.  Bending my elbow, I tucked his hand under mine over my chest, hugging him close with my other arm.

“Gotcha, Sonny,” I murmured to him, knowing he was on the brink of sleep.  I think he smiled.


I’m not sure what woke me, but it was dark outside, and there was something going on.  Instead of the party music I expected, there were raised voices and what sounded like the place being raided.

Fuck.

Shaking Sonny’s shoulder, I woke him.  He lifted his head, opening his eyes sleepily, hair all over the place.  What I wouldn’t give to see that every morning.

“Rico?”

“I think we’re being raided,” I told him quietly.  I couldn’t remember if we’d locked the door.

“Shit.”

He was up in a second, grabbing his white shirt from the floor.  Even knowing we could be caught any moment, I couldn’t help but watch him.  I’d managed to get the top couple of buttons undone on his shirt last night, and he made no effort to fasten them as he pulled on a pair of blue jeans from his suitcase.

He threw me my black jeans and I swung my legs off the mattress.  I had one foot in one leg when Sonny leaned down and planted one on me.  When he backed up, he looked at me.

“Listen, Rico, if you don’t want this to go any further….”

Reaching up, I pushed my fingers into his hair and pulled him back to me, sealing my mouth over his, kissing him hard.  “Not a chance, Sonny,” I told him, then released him.  He was grinning like an idiot.

I threw a deep blue shirt over my jeans and followed Sonny out into the corridor to find out what was happening.


Sonny:

Not exactly the wake-up call I’d had in mind.

There were cops all over the house, rousing party guests who’d retired to bed, interviewing those who were still awake.

A young officer caught Rico and I on the stairs and grabbed us both, pushing us down into a corner of the living room.  We glanced at one another, wondering what the hell was going on.  There was an army of cops interviewing and turning the house over.  Daniel and Cal were nowhere to be seen.

“I need to make a phone call,” I told the officer, getting to my feet.

A hand hit me square in my chest.  “Sit down and shut up!” 

For a moment, I considered hitting him.  But the fight wasn’t in me, I was just too mellow.

“Where were you between eight last night and two this morning?”  I glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece above the fireplace.  It was just gone five.

“We were here,” Rico told him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Any witnesses to that?”

I stared at the cop.  “Excuse me?  Any witnesses?”

Rico was giggling, that wonderful sound I’ve only ever heard him make.  It meant he was really tickled.  “Witnesses?  Look around you, man!  These are our witnesses.”

“What the hell’s all this about?” I asked finally, “this was a party before you guys crashed it.”

The officer leaned forward, glaring at me.  “This was no party,” he stated, “it’s a group of perverts romping together.”  My eyes widened.  I sensed Rico tense next to me and smiled to myself.  My hand shot out and I grabbed the cop around the throat, pulling him forward.

“You’re what stinks about the law,” I hissed right into his face.  Rico made no move to persuade me to let him go. 

Pushing him back, my partner and I rose as one.

“Sit back down, you two,” we heard, “or you’ll be spending the rest of the weekend covering your asses ‘stead of fucking them.”

I spun, now ready to punch him.

“Leave it.”  I turned to see Castillo standing next to me.  I’d stopped being surprised at Castillo turning up in all the weirdest places and at the oddest times.  He turned to the cop.  “If I hear you talking like that to anyone else in this house I’ll have your badge.”

When our boss walked off, Rico and I trailed after him.

“Orlando Vice had two undercover officers here this weekend,” he told us once we were outside.  “Detectives Jess Keel and Christine Moray.  They were found dead an hour ago.”

Jess and Christie.

“We’re holding Fagan and Bridges for questioning.”

I was sure then that Daniel knew about Jess and Christie being undercover cops.  Should we have contacted Castillo yesterday to warn him?  I’d assumed he was talking about us.  Orlando Vice should have told us, dammit!

“Lieutenant, Daniel and Cal didn’t do this, they’re not killers.”

Castillo’s eyebrows rose just a fraction.  “Daniel?”

“Fagan.”

“You don’t know him.”

“Please, Marty, listen to me.  They took us to Disney World yesterday!  They were partying last night.”

Castillo’s glare was at least measured.  “Tell Stan everything you know then get back to Miami.”

“But, Lieutenant….”  He shot Rico down too.  End of conversation.

Shaking my head at my partner, I gave up.

“How about we drive back, grab some lunch and hole up on the St Vitus for a few hours?”

Grinning, Rico nodded.  “Sounds wonderful, Sonny.”


to be continued….