“Damn,” Vaughan whispered.
“Well thank goodness. I was sick of the ducking and dodging anyway. Flittering around lying and covering up your tracks, boy,” Quick grumbled, pointing at his son. “Next time, Vaughan, you’ll handle your own skeletons. I’m a grown ass man.”
Duke and Vaughan both huffed and stood up to leave Quick to his one-man rant. He did make a mental note to have a good, long conversation about his friend’s sexual orientation soon, because he had a feeling that it may have altered a bit. Duke hadn’t forgotten that look in Quick’s eye when he argued with the doc.
“Duke come in here and get comfortable on the couch. We were gonna watch a movie while we eat dinner,” Vaughan said, taking his palm in his.
“Well, I don’t want to intrude. That’s gonna be important to me. You and your dad need time together. He’s missed you something terrible and I don’t want—”
Vaughan placed his index finger over Duke’s lips to silence him and he immediately obeyed. Vaughan groaned and inched in closer, his shirt now half buttoned back up. Duke couldn’t help but drop his eyes to Vaughan’s soft, pinkish lips. “What about what I need? About what I want?”
“I’ll do anything you want,” Duke whispered, and his immediate compliance didn’t have a damn thing to do with his recently discovered intel on the origin of his new kidney. He’d felt like that from the moment Vaughan turned up the heat on them.
“Good.” Vaughan grinned. “Stay and eat. Relax. Then come to bed with me.”
Duke grimaced, looking over his shoulder. “Not in your father’s house. Not cool at all. Besides. My medicine is home. I can bypass a pain pill but I can’t skip my immunosuppressants.”
“I’m sure Dad wouldn’t mind picking them up for you.”
“I’m not sleeping with you here, with your old man only a few feet away. I respect my friend too much to do that.”
Vaughan wrapped his arms gently around Duke’s waist, careful not to apply too much pressure on his ribs. He leaned in and kissed Duke first, before pressing their foreheads together. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not gonna make love to you tonight. Not until we’re both feeling better and healed. I couldn’t take that sweet ass like I’d want to, so I’m gonna wait patiently like I’ve been doing. Right now, you being alive is enough for me. Plenty.”
“Okay.” Duke blushed. He was actually flushed like a schoolgirl.
Vaughan watched the deep rouge color creep up Duke’s face, his ears turning bright red under Vaughan’s attention. Perfect. It did amazing things to Vaughan’s heart and his ego. He wished he could take his man right away, but Duke already looked tired as hell and if his grimacing was any indication, he was in significant pain, too. He’d take care of his love. He could do nothing else.
“Sit, sweetheart. I’m going to get you one of my pain pills, okay, then we’ll get your other stuff.”
“Yeah. It’s been a long day.”
“I can’t believe you came over here. I don’t think you should be exerting yourself like this.” Vaughan went over to the credenza and shook a Vicodin into his palm and took it back over to the couch. Duke quickly took the pill with Vaughan’s glass of water and sat back.
“I had to see for myself. I had to look at you.” Duke didn’t bother mentioning he’d called Vaughan’s job too. There was no need.
Vaughan sat next to him, releasing his own weary sigh as he did. “I’m sorry. I just… I couldn’t risk you saying no. And after the conversation you just had with my ?old man’ as you so eloquently put it, it appears I made the right decision. You would’ve denied me.”
Duke’s eyes were getting heavy. “I don’t know. Maybe. I can’t say for sure. I wasn’t scared of dying; I was just disappointed as hell. Before you came, I might’ve been able to make my peace with it. But since I’d got a brief taste of you, I felt like dying before I really got a chance to be loved by you was pretty shitty.”
Vaughan made to turn and kiss Duke, but yelped at the pull on his incision. Duke’s eyes flew open and he sat up too fast, releasing his own cry of pain. They both looked at each other and chuckled. This is going to be interesting.
“Freakin’ dumb and dumber over here. You two are gonna be the death of me. Tell me. Who’s going to donate me a new heart when you both give me a goddamn heart attack?” Quick barked, a deep frown on his face. He placed the tray on the coffee table and Duke’s mouth watered at the delicious-looking salads. “From the sounds of it, there’ll be no movie tonight. I’ll go get Duke’s other meds from his place and we can watch the flick tomorrow.” Vaughan put Duke’s plate on one of the TV trays and pulled it close to him before taking his own and placing it on his lap. He ate quietly because Quick was updating Duke on the business. When he came back in with his homemade banana pudding, Vaughan had to control his eagerness. Oh, how he loved it when his dad made that for him. Obviously it had been a special treat that he’d wanted to surprise him with, but he was glad he’d shared it with Duke.