| A Matter of Trust |
| First thing Monday morning, they were pulling a body out of the Hudson River. Lennie was grateful that the case kept them busy enough that Rey didn�t have the chance to ask him how the weekend went. Knowing nothing would come of it, he had left a couple of messages on Jack�s machine over the weekend. He�d been there often enough, but usually on the other side. Being the one bolting for the door when some dame got too serious on him. It never occurred to him that he�d be on the receiving end of a departure like that. Or how much it could hurt. The work helped; keeping his mind occupied with this case kept it off his personal situation. In fact, it was nearly the end of their shift when Rey finally noticed that Lennie had been quieter than usual today. Stopping for a much needed coffee break, he gave his partner a good once-over. �Lennie? Everything all right?� Lennie sighed, taking a long drink from the paper cup. �Sure.� �Uh huh. What did that bastard do?� Lennie glared at him. Always so quick to judge. �Nothing I shouldn�t have expected, Rey.� They sat there for several minutes not saying anything. Finally Rey broke the silence. �So you going to tell me, or what?� Lennie sighed again. Might as well get it over with. �I pushed him too far, Rey. He told me he wasn�t interested in a relationship, right from the very beginning. I insisted, he left. End of story.� He could see the anger building in his young partner. Judgmental and hot headed � not a good combination. �Rey, we�ve still got to work with the guy. Let it go, ok?� �You don�t care?� �Of course I care, that�s what got me into this mess in the first place! But if there�s one thing I�ve learned in my screwed-up life, it�s when to let go.� For once, Rey saw the pleading in his partner�s half-lidded eyes. The pain was clearly there, but so was the urgent message that Lennie would deal with it in his own way. Rey suddenly realized that he was taking his anger at McCoy out on Lennie. �OK. I hear you.� He suddenly remembered something else. He knew Lennie wasn�t going to like the question, but he had to ask. �Lennie? You didn�t � I mean �� His partner�s cold stare stopped him in his tracks. �Did I take a drink to drown the pain? No, Rey, I did not.� It had only been a couple of months since Lennie�s last slip. If he lost it again now, it�d be 10 times harder to climb back out. Rey hated asking, but it had to be done. He looked away from Lennie�s accusing eyes. �Sorry, Lennie. I wish I hadn�t had to ask �� Briscoe realized that those words were really true, his defensive posture collapsing as he looked at his friend. �I know, Rey. It�s my own damned fault.� �I�m just looking out for you, you know?� Lennie managed a weak smile. �I know. �Partners� is the one relationship I seem to have any luck with.� Rey chuckled, giving Lennie�s shoulder a friendly jab. �I�m not running out on you, Lennie. I promise.� ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack glanced around the �bullpen� at the 27th precinct, hoping against hope that he could get to Lt.Van Buren�s office without running into a certain detective. Lennie had left a couple of messages on his answering machine since Friday night. He continued to tell himself they didn�t mean a thing to him. His first instincts had been right; he never should have gone through with this in the first place. Mixing sex and friendship just wouldn�t work. It was better to keep it impersonal, anonymous. He made it into his meeting, but wasn�t so lucky when it was over. He stepped out of the Lieutenant�s office and ran right into Rey Curtis. The icy glare the detective gave him made his stomach clench. He suddenly remembered their conversation in his office, and realized that Curtis knew. Knew and was pissed, if he read that look right. Rey glanced around, noted that Lennie wasn�t back from the soda machine yet. // Good. // He grabbed the attorney�s elbow and steered him toward an unoccupied interrogation room. McCoy was too shocked to resist. �I warned you, McCoy �,� Curtis growled out as he shoved the lawyer against the wall. McCoy finally shook himself out of the haze and pushed back. �Detective! Get your hands off me!� An ugly sneer occupied Curtis� usually handsome face. �Thought you liked it like that, Jack. Hard and rough. No room for emotion in your world. No concern for the feelings of your �lover.� I warned you not to hurt him �� �Now see here, detective, this is none of your damned business.� �It sure as hell is. You mess with Lennie, you mess with me.� �Not in this, detective. I would suggest you back off, NOW.� Lennie had come back from the basement where he�d gone on a munchie raid. When he didn�t see Rey at their desks, and noticed that McCoy was no longer in with the LT, he got worried. The door to interrogation room 2 was closed and the 1-way window was not activated as it would be if a suspect were in there. Steeling himself, he pushed the door open and walked in. Curtis had McCoy�s necktie wrapped around his fist, the attorney pressed flat against the wall. Lennie went to his partner. �Rey, stop. Please, don�t do this. Don�t make it worse �� Hearing the pain in his partner�s voice took the wind out of Curtis� sails. He let go and backed off. McCoy moved toward the door, straightening his tie, his eyes locked on Lennie. There was a hollow feeling at the pit of his stomach as he looked into a pair of sad, half-lidded eyes. // It wasn�t my fault! // his thoughts screamed, but his conscience was arguing the case. Seeing the partners together, Rey�s protectiveness and Lennie�s concern for Rey even though Lennie was the one supposedly wronged, somehow made Jack feel even worse. He wished he had a friend he could count on like that. As much as Adam was a father figure, he couldn�t be the friend Jack needed. It had started to look like Lennie might be that friend, until they had fucked everything up by becoming lovers. God, how he missed Claire. Feeling overwhelmed by the unwanted emotions, Jack spun around, stalking out of the interrogation room, out of the precinct. Lennie looked at his partner. �Rey, why�d you do a damn fool thing like that?� Curtis slumped down in a chair. �He makes me so sick, Lennie. That �better than everyone� attitude. He doesn�t care about anybody but himself. You�re better off without him �� Lennie knew that wasn�t true. He�d started to get to know the man behind the hard-assed ADA, and found him to be a decent guy. �He�s not always like that, Rey. I�ve seen a different side of him � a side I�m really going to miss.� Rey looked up at the sadness in his partner�s voice. �Sorry, Lennie. I didn�t mean to make it worse.� Lennie squeezed the nearest shoulder. �It�s ok, Rey. Just next time remember, I�m a big boy, I can take care of myself. I�m not one of your girls that you have to protect.� Rey managed an ironic smile. �I�ll try.� ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jack caught a cab back to Hogan Place, wanting to get as far away from the 2-7 as possible. There was too much bouncing around his head right now. Curtis really had no business trying to rough him up like that! And Lennie � he�d looked so sad, it all but broke Jack�s heart. // Stop that! If he�s unhappy, it�s his own damned fault! Not yours! // // Oh yeah? So why do you feel like it is? // Jack shook his head as if trying to shake loose the conflicting voices. He wanted to go get stinking drunk, to shut the voices up for a little while. But he had to be in court early tomorrow morning. But wait, maybe there was something else. Yeah. That�s it. He hadn�t been over to the Palace since that night he picked up Martin Travers. Time to dive back in. Maybe spending the evening with a hot stud would push the memories of his time with Lennie out of his mind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After grabbing a light dinner, Jack made his way to the Palace�s generous bar, ordering a double scotch. Picking it up and enjoying the first burn of it down his throat, he turned around and surveyed the field. It was early on a week night; not the best pickings. But there were a fair number of middle-aged professionals like himself, and not a few young studs, those who wanted a �daddy� from the first group. He usually went with the more mature types, but tonight he wanted something different, as different as possible from one Leonard W. Briscoe. Not that he�d ever admit that to himself. He made eye contact with a particularly nice specimen, looked to be about 20,25 years old. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a small, compact body with an ass to die for. Blondie smiled at him and wandered casually over. �Hey there. You lookin� for some company?� Jack grinned. �Sure. You want a drink?� Blondie pressed close to him, taking a drink from his glass. �That�s more than enough �� The kid�s come-on had Jack sporting a serious hard-on in no time. Their eyes met and the deal was sealed. �My place is just a couple of blocks from here.� Blondie smiled, pressing even closer, one hand trailing up Jack�s thigh to the tight bulge in his jeans. �Mmm, Daddy�s house. I�m game.� Jack turned and tossed a $10 bill on the bar. As he got up from the bar stool, blondie snuggled in close, sliding a hand over Jack�s ass. Feeling the rumble of the bike�s engine between his legs with his young stud behind him was getting Jack seriously worked up. By the time they got into the apartment, he was about to pop. He slammed the kid into the wall, face first, grinding his crotch into that impossibly tight ass as he bit at the exposed neck. Blondie moaned. �Oh, yeah, daddy. I�ve been bad. Punish me. You gonna spank me, daddy? I�ve been REAL bad �� Jack didn�t have to be told twice. In minutes he�d stripped his wayward youth�s clothes off as well as his own. He sat down on the leather couch and turned the boy over his lap, exposing that beautiful ass. He brought the flat of his hand down with a sharp �crack!� sound. Blondie moaned and squirmed, his already hard shaft rubbing against Jack�s. Another, and another, until the tight cheeks were pink and tender. He got one finger slick with spit and began probing the kid�s hole. �God, yeah, daddy, fuck me!� �Get up!� he ordered, pushing the kid off his lap. He stalked back to the bedroom to grab the lube and a condom. �Over the back of that chair.� Blondie eagerly complied, bending over the back of a low overstuffed chair, his legs spread, assuming �the position.� Jack slipped on the condom and applied a good amount of lube, then came up behind his conquest and pushed in with one massive shove. He was so far gone that it only took a few minutes of frantic thrusting to bring him over the edge. He withdrew, panting, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. Pulling the kid up, he realized that blondie was still hard. He reached around, grabbing it in his hand, bringing the kid off before falling back onto the couch. Blondie wandered off to find the bathroom to clean up while Jack half lay on the couch, still gasping. The kid came back and grabbed his jeans and shirt and quickly dressed. �Great fuck, man. Catch you some other time?� Jack just nodded and waved him off. As the kid left, he realized he hadn�t even asked his name � Continue on to Chapter 16 Send me some Feedback Back to the Story Index Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I'm just borrowing them for fun, not profit. |
| Chapter 15 |