Promises: The Next Generation (Bounty Hunters 5)

Ty exhaled. His desires were running deep for this man so soon.

“I used to live up there,” Kell said so quietly Ty had to watch his lips movements to make out the words. “When my father kicked me out for being gay. I ran away from my Catholic school and came here. I’d been living up there two weeks before Sensei caught me.”

Ty waited to see if Kell would tell him more as he got lost in the tranquil motion of caressing his cheek. His eyes danced all over him, then back to Kell’s loose ponytail. He wanted to pull that bind and release all those long locks for his pleasure, but he refrained and focused on making Kell feel better. He kept his right hand on his cheek and slid his left one around the back of his neck. His thumb and middle finger found the hollows at the base of his skull and started a gentle kneading there. Kell moaned softly for him.

“I haven’t seen my father in person since,” Kell whispered after a long time. “I’ve been on my own since I was fifteen.”

This was what Ty had been speaking of. He was an African-American man living in America, yet he felt like a foreigner. He didn’t understand the ways of these men. Although when Ty was fifteen, his father considered him a capable man, and he was, he’d been trained to be. He thought like a man, he carried himself like a man. But that wasn’t the way of Kell’s family. A boy was not a man until age eighteen in his world. Kell still relied on his father for his care and support, and he’d abandoned him. Abandoned his son when he was still in need. Unconceivable in his mind.

He was glad Kell had confessed this to him. It was making sense now. Kell’s manners, his boundless compassion, intelligence, his drive and discipline didn’t quite fit in the neighborhood he was ’chillin in. Because he wasn’t hood either. He’d adapted to a new lifestyle after a life-altering change… just like he’d done. Ty had to leave their beautiful family home in Rosewell not long after his father’s death and move to the projects, so his mother could still live well. He’d adapted to his new surroundings just as Kell had to.

Kell was born privileged but also born special. A kind of special his father couldn’t accept in his world, so he’d ejected Kell from it. And instead of Kell taking on a-life-is-unfair victim mentality; he’d survived and grown into a remarkable man.

“One man’s loss is another man’s treasure, son.”

Kell melted into his touch. Ty wanted to let him know it was okay for Kell to be open with him. He didn’t have to hide a damn thing. Bringing the relaxing massage to an end, Kell murmured the words ‘thank you’ against his chest.

Back inside the main gym, Kell removed his heavy jacket, but left his long-hooded tunic on. He led them to a cork board mounted on the wall beneath a six-foot-long American flag. “This is where we practice blade throwing.”

Ty took off his heavy peacoat and set it down on a bench. He caught Kell trying to advert his eyes before he turned around. “There’s no need to turn away. If you want to look at me, then look all you want.”

Kell blinked before his silvery eyes shamelessly roamed over Ty’s chest in his fitted shirt. “Come here. I want to show you something.” Kell’s voice was husky. Ty gravitated toward him like a bee to honey.

Kell positioned him how he wanted him to stand. “Just like firing a gun, throwing a knife requires a certain stance and posture.” He looked Ty over. “Make sure you’re relaxed, stand up straight. Since your right-handed, you’re gonna put your right foot forward and the left slightly behind it.”

Ty adjusted his footing.

“Good.” Kell purred.

Ty’s jeans tightened.

“Now,” Kell continued, his voice getting stronger the more he fell into his natural element. “We’re not worried about accuracy or power right now.”

“Okay,” Ty breathed. Kell just didn’t know how much his tutorial was turning him on. He admired and respected Kell as a master fighter but, he absolutely adored him as a teacher. He was so knowledgeable and patient. Everything was stimulated in Ty at that very moment, his mind and his body. No being had ever achieved that with him.

Kell rolled up the sleeve on his tunic, revealing his sheathed knives. There were four black and red lethal blades in the casing on the underside of his wrist. He pulled one out by the slim handle as easily one would a stick of gum and flicked his hand forward. The blade sang through the air and stuck into the board. Ty’s body vibrated, he grinned slyly. Badass.

They were standing roughly six feet away from the practice board. Kell handed Ty a blade and came to stand behind him. He peered over his shoulder, liking him back there. Kell glanced up at him and rolled his eyes. “Stay focused.”