THE
TIES THAT BIND
Cade
Creek 9
available
November 12th
Erotic, Contemporary, M/M, Romance
Deputy Nick Hale and Dr. Devon Berkley had been
best friend since grade school. They had always been there for each other, even
when DB discovered he was gay and Nick was not. When tragedy strikes, being
best friends might not be enough to keep Nick from making the worst mistake of
his life.
DB has always had a thing for his best friend but
he hid it under years of friendship. Not willing to let the man out of his
life, DB ignores the attraction growing between them and helps Nick plan his
future—even if that future is with someone else.
Nick Hale has always known DB had his back. The man
being gay had never been an issue until one night, the comfort DB offers him
brings to life fantasies he had buried long ago. When it seems like life has
taken away his choices, Nick gives up his fantasies and goes with what he
believes is right. But is it? Or is he fooling himself because the life he has
always dreamed of might just be a fantasy?
STORY
EXCERTPT
"Doctor,
you're wanted in the emergency room."
DB
smiled at the patient sitting on the exam table in front of him before turning
to look at the nurse. "I'm with a patient right now."
"They're
bringing in Deputy Hale," the nurse said. "He's been shot."
DB froze,
everything inside of him going cold in an instant. Having a best friend who was
a police officer was not for the faint of heart. He swallowed hard before
whispering the words he had always dreaded asking. "Is he alive?"
He was
given back his ability to breathe when the nurse nodded. DB turned and smiled
at his patient again. It took every ounce of his control to stay calm when
everything in him wanted to scream and go running to the emergency department.
"Anna,
I'm going to let the nurse take care of you. I need to go down and see what
kind of trouble Deputy Hale has gotten himself into."
Anna
O'Brian chuckled. "Go on, doc. I'm good."
It was
all DB could do to move at a normal pace as he wrapped his stethoscope around
his neck and then handed over the medical chart to the nurse. Once he was out
the door to the exam room, however, he picked up the pace. It was a good ten
minute walk from the clinic to the emergency room, a five minute sprint. DB
made it in three minutes.
He was
panting heavily as he rushed through the emergency room doors and headed
directly for the nurse's station situated in the middle of all the exam
cubicles. "Nurse Linda, has the ambulance with Deputy Hale arrived
yet?"
"They're
just coming in now, doctor."
DB
hurried toward the ambulance bay. The paramedics were just pulling the gurney
with the deputy on it out of the back of the ambulance when DB arrived outside.
He rushed to the man's side, checking for signs of life.
He
needed to see with his own eyes that Nick was alive.
The relief
he felt when Nick grunted and then glared at one of the paramedics was so
great, it almost took DB to his knees. Not only was the man alive, he was
pissed. That was a good sign for Nick, a bad one for Jamie Kent, the paramedic.
DB
moved closer to the side of the gurney as Nick was wheeled into the emergency
room. He did a quick glance from the top of his light brown haired head to the
bottoms of his cowboy boots. The only injury seemed to be his chest.
"What'd
you go and do this time, Nicky boy?" DB was probably the only man on the
face of the planet that could get away with calling Nicolas Hale Nicky boy. Anyone else would end up with
Nick's fist in their face.
Nick's
scowl deepened as he turned his head to look at DB. "I made the mistake of
trying to stop a bullet with my chest."
DB's
gaze dropped to the white bandages covering the right side of Nick's chest.
Most of them were splattered with blood. They were situated above the heart and
just below Nick's clavicle bone.
"Through
and through?" Was the bullet still inside of Nick or had it passed right
through him? The answer to that question would help determine what kind of
medical treatment Nick needed.
"One
of them was." Nick grimaced. "I think the other one is still in
there."
DB's
face went cold as the blood drained from it. "You were shot twice?"
He was going to strangle the deputy. "What? The first bullet didn't do
enough damage so you had to try another one?"
Nick's
nasty glare reassured DB as nothing else could have. The deputy was going to be
okay.
"I
was protecting someone we both know." Nick gave DB a pointed look.
"Oh."
DB knew exactly who Nick was talking about. He had recently been called in on a
case by Sheriff John Riley. A young man named Artie Mills had been assaulted so
severely that he was in a coma. Since he was involved with an undercover DEA
agent, there was a possibility that his life was in danger so he was moved from
the hospital in the city to the small town of Cade Creek. Everything was
hush-hush, only a few trusted people had known Artie was in the hospital until
he recovered enough to be moved. That had been a couple of weeks ago.
"Maybe
later we can discuss it," DB said as he pulled his stethoscope from around
his neck. He stepped back as the paramedics lifted Nick and moved him off the
gurney and onto the exam bed. "Right now, we need to see how much damage
getting shot caused."
DB knew
from experience that bullet holes very rarely just went in and came out. They
usually caused a lot of damage before they exited the body.
Nick's
shirt had already been removed, most likely by the paramedics, so it was easy
for DB to press the round disk of his stethoscope against Nick's slick muscular
chest. The man was breathing, but DB wanted to make sure there weren't any
sounds that shouldn't be there. When everything he heard was normal, DB wrapped
the stethoscope back around his neck.
"Let's
get you out of these clothes," DB said. "I know you don't want
anything happening to your jeans and boots. If I'm not mistaken, these are your
favorite holey jeans."
Nick
grunted as the nurse unbuttoned his jeans and started pulling them down his
legs. "Pervert. You're always trying to get me out of my clothes."
DB
chuckled, not offended in the least. It was a long standing joke between the
two of them. DB had attempted to kiss Nick once; just a few months after he
figured out he was gay. He had been sixteen and hoping his best friend was just
as interested.
He
wasn't.
After
nursing a broken heart for awhile, life went on. DB had learned to live with
the fact that the man he had dreamed of since he knew he was gay was as
straight as they came. And Nick never knew of the sixteen year old heart he had
shattered.
DB
prayed he never did.
"Just
be lucky I don't have the nurses tie you down to the gurney with IV
tubing." DB wiggled his eyebrows. "Just think of the fun I could
have. This is an emergency room. Everyone would ignore your screams."
Nick
laughed but quickly grabbed his chest and groaned as he sort of curled up.
"Oh, don't make me laugh."
DB patted
Nick's leg. "Okay, okay. Keep your panties on."
"Dr.
Berkley, may I speak to you in the corridor?"
DB
turned to see Dr. Andrew Sutherland standing in the open doorway. He glanced at
Nick, widening his eyes comically before turning back and following the doctor
out of the room. "Is there a problem, doctor?"
"Yes,
there is." The man was so starched he couldn't even slouch. His entire
body rigid as if he was ready to snap ready to snap. "It is highly
inappropriate for you to be conversing with a patient in this manner."
DB's
eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
Was his
ethical conduct being questioned?
"Furthermore,"
the man continued, "you are not on rotation in the emergency room this
evening. As you are not assigned to this department at this time, I am going to
have to ask you to leave."
"Bite
me." DB could hear the nurses close by quietly laughing at his words as he
twirled around and walked back into the examination cubicle. He plastered a
smile on his face. He hoped that Nick was too preoccupied with his injuries to
notice how fake it was. "Okay, let's see what we're working with
here."
"Hopefully,"
Nick said as their eyes met, "a medical degree."
"Yep." DB
smiled for real this time. "Printed it off the computer myself just this
morning. The ink might still be drying, but I swear it looks just as good as a
real one."
"Oh,
okay." Nick nodded. "As long as it looks real."
ADULT EXCERPT
Nick
licked purposefully at DB's lips. As they parted with a sigh, Nick's tongue swept inside
the warm, wet cavern.
Their tongues tangled in an intimate glide. The caress of DB's tongue against
his and the longing in his body set Nick aflame.
Nick
broke the kiss. As he pulled back, he nipped DB's bottom lip with his teeth. He
traced the soft fullness with his tongue. He pressed his lips to DB’s,
caressing the man's mouth more than kissing it
DB
whimpered.
Their
mouths crashed together again and again, hungrier and more desperate than
before, muffling the sounds of their pleasure. Hearing the sultry groans that
spilled from DB’s mouth caused Nick’s own cock to ache and leak.
Nick's
heart began to hammer in his chest. DB was moving against him, the man's
unmistakable hardness thrusting against Nick. He felt the blood surge from his
fingertips to his toes, his cock so hard it hurt.
"DB,"
he murmured against the man's lips, partly for himself, partly for DB, trying
to regain some semblance of control.
His
whispered warning had the opposite effect.
Nick's
gaze dropped from DB’s face to his chest to his cloth covered cock. A deep
longing took hold of him as he watched a wet patch spread across the front of
DB's pajama bottoms, one that he was helpless to deny. The sight of DB in
orgasm, the sharp smell of his semen, would forever be emblazoned in Nick's
memory.
"Did
you just come?"
DB's
eyes snapped up, a soft flush of guilt filling his face.
"Let
me see." Nick had no idea why he asked what he did. He just knew seeing
the results of their kiss had suddenly become more important than breathing.
Heat
and arousal flashed in DB's eyes as he slowly lowered his pajama bottoms,
hooking the waistband under his balls. The sight of DB's spent cock, dripping
with cum, almost took Nick to his knees.
His
eyes moved to DB's. A slender delicate thread began to form between them as
their eyes met, something passing between them that Nick couldn't define but it
terrified him and intrigued him in equal measure.
His
cock pulsed in his jeans as he reached down and scooped up some cum with his
finger. Keeping his eyes locked with DB's, Nick brought his finger to his
mouth, licking away the signs of DB's release. The little moan that came from
DB as he watched was telling.
"Not
too bad...tangy," Nick said.
DB's
eyes flashed, his pupils growing large. He licked his lips as his eyes dropped
to Nick's crotch. Nick grabbed his hard dick through his jeans. He felt
possessed. It was the only explanation for what he asked next. "Do you
want to taste it?"
The
need that flashed through DB's eyes as he dropped to his knees, stole Nick's
breath. He leaned one hand against the wall and curled the other one in DB's
hair, watching as the man undid his jeans and pulled his aching cock out.
His
heart went wild, and blood rushed hot through his veins when he felt DB’s wet
tongue lick the tip of his cock, and just the tip. A groan rose up in Nick’s
throat as arousal caught him in a vicious grip and shook him hard.
“DB,
please,” Nick pleaded as he humped his hips toward DB, an anxious whine falling
from his lips. He gritted his teeth when DB just chuckled at him, then looked
at Nick with a wicked glint in his eyes before swallowing his cock down to the
root.
Nick
shouted as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. His hips bucked, driving
his cock further down the man's hot mouth. God, DB was sucking him so hard that
Nick was mindless. He had never felt anything so fantastic in his life. He could
feel every movement, every lick, every sweet caress. Nick could almost feel the
very air around him moving over his sensitive skin.
He felt
flushed, hot, and needy. Fire raced through Nick’s body, melting him from the
inside out. He didn’t know what DB would to do next and it drove him crazy. His
heartbeat throbbed in his ears as he waited for DB’s next move. He just wished
the man would hurry the hell up.
Nick
was about to go out of his ever-loving mind.
He
groaned and started panting when something brushed against his balls. He spread
his legs, giving DB more access. DB held on to Nick’s hips, keeping them in
place as he ran his tongue around the head, pulling the pre-cum out like honey,
and then dove right back down onto Nick’s cock.
“Fuck,
DB…fuck!” Nick shouted and then gritted his teeth, staving off his orgasm. He
wasn’t about to let this moment end so soon, but if DB kept up at his current
pace, he was a goner.
His
body shook. Red hot need rushed through his body like a tidal wave and crashed
together in his cock when DB suddenly deep-throated him. Nick growled as he
felt the tip of his cock hit the back of the man’s throat. Using his hand to
push his hair back, Nick watched DB as the man moved his head back up and down
his cock.
“Fuck,
DB,” Nick shouted, “don’t stop.”
Nick’s
body stiffened as DB’s mouth sank even further down on his cock. DB swallowed
it until Nick felt the man’s nose brush against his short, curly hairs right
before DB moved his mouth along Nick’s hard length.
His
damn legs were wobbling as DB rode Nick’s cock with his lips, sliding them up
and down his shaft, faster and faster. His head was bobbing, the suction tight,
and Nick felt like his damn brain was melting into the side of his head.
“Oh,
fuck,” Nick whimpered as the man’s slight hum sent small vibrations through his
cock. He tangled his hands in DB’s hair, holding him in place as he fucked the
world’s most perfect mouth.
