El Muerte

By Debel

The muffled tango of the tropical rain against the hotel's bedroom window pane shut out the world with its soft drumming. It worked its delicate magic in harmony with the languid beat of the fan blades above the sprawled body on the bed to slow the world's turning till it stopped completely and began again in rhythm to the slumbering heartbeat of the room.

Antonio entered the darkened bedroom of the Raleigh Hotel, an Art Deco masterpiece built in the '30s amidst the other architectural marvels along Collins Avenue in South Beach, Florida. He and David had checked into the "De Niro Suite" on the top floor only the day before and it had rained that late afternoon as it was raining now.

Raindrop shadows flickered in a hypnotic display across the white linen of the bedsheets and across the blonde length of the man on top of them like tropical fish feeding amongst a coral reef. Antonio's eyes traveled along the length of the long legs, noting the little golden hairs that glinted here and there and across the firm ass and the broad shoulders; he could feel his own body responding to the memory of this particular flesh pressed against his not so long ago. He moved closer, his bare feet sinking into the plush carpet and the soft hum of the air-conditioning sent a draft of cool air across his own naked flesh.

The desire to see the face of the naked man grew stronger in Antonio. The golden head lay buried in the pillow with a hand, palm up and curled, beside it. Sleeping, surely, but the form had about it a stillness that sent shivers through Antonio's body. He tightened all over, his breathing shallow, his body responding to memories from a time before, a time long before David. It couldn't be happening again, he thought. That nightmare was over. David was alive; he was only sleeping; it wasn't happening again.

He felt his knees hit the carpet-covered floor at the head of the bed and watched, his mind seemingly separated from his body, as his hand reached out to touch David's face. He wanted to see the clear eyes and the wholesome, All-American face looking back at him. His fingers touched the side of the head and gently turned it, gently, he didn't want to wake him, but he had to see that he was all right, that he was whole and beautiful and ...........Antonio's fingers stopped and turned ice-water cold. The clear blue eyes stared directly into his as if they could see him, but they couldn't. They couldn't see him or anything else in the shadow-filled room; they would never see anything again.

Antonio's whole being collapsed within him. His sanity clinging by a spider-strand of thought to the small black hole between the clear, blue eyes. They seemed to beg an answer from him, one that he could never give. He finally crumpled, bent over and sobbing, when the strand holding him to those eyes broke and he broke with it.

David heard crying. It was coming from someplace nearby. He opened his eyes and heard the rain and somehow in his half-awake state he thought to comfort this person who was in such despair. Then he saw Antonio's naked form beside his bed and immediately fell beside him, his arms wrapping about the bent form.

Almost instantly he found himself tumbling across the floor to land beside a bamboo palm, which shook at the collision but didn't topple. Before David could analyze the cause of his sudden dislocation he felt gentle hands moving over his body to finally cradle his head and he found he was staring into Antonio's tear-streaked face; the eyes enormous with concern and the soft look made David's heart turn a flip-flop.

"You're alive! God, I thought you were dead!" Antonio's voice was as full of emotion as his eyes and David had long since forgotten any injuries he may have sustained from his unexpected flight across the hotel room and he only wanted to savor this attention from Antonio for as long as possible.

David smiled reassuringly at Antonio as he watched the man quickly swipe with the back of his hand at the corners of his eyes and was rewarded with a swift, but firm kiss on the lips. He could taste the salt from Antonio's tears as he reassured him, "I'm fine, Antonio, really, just a little dazed. What happened? I thought you were sleeping in your bedroom, then I heard crying......."

Antonio released David and rose a little shakily to his feet as he offered a hand up to the other man. "I'm sorry, David." He smiled a bit sheepishly before he continued, "I must have been sleep-walking again. When you touched me it triggered a reflex action. I'm sorry. Are you sure you're okay?"

David rubbed his bruised shoulder from its impact with the ceramic pot. "Again? This sort of thing has happened before?" He was suddenly beginning to realize just how dangerous it could be to startle a man like El Muerte and he didn't want a repeat performance. Especially since they were going to be in such close contact with each other.

Antonio's attention had focused onto David's shoulder and he guided the taller man to the side of the bed where they sat while he gently manipulated the joint. He answered the question in a distracted voice as if his actions of only moments ago had been those of someone else. "Yeah. I had these really bad dreams for years. The doctors called them night-terrors. I thought they were gone.....until this afternoon." David felt the fingers stop briefly and then they resumed their ministrations as Antonio hesitatingly continued, "I thought you were lying in your bed dead from a gunshot. These dreams can be very realistic. I was certain......God!"

David captured Antonio's hand and felt the slight tremor in the fingers as he brought them to his lips. It seemed incredibly odd to find a man like Antonio who had exhibited nothing but complete control to be in such an emotional state. He found he liked it very much and resolved to keep him off-balance in the future, without, of course, the addition of any contact with ceramic pots.

"It's okay, Antonio. I'm very much alive. Here, feel this." David placed Antonio's hand over his growing erection and said with a smile, "See. Everything still functions. Would you like for me to demonstrate, just to be sure?" He took Antonio in a close embrace and covered his mouth with his as he lowered him to the bed. He could feel Antonio's body starting to yield and he took full advantage of the man's emotionally vulnerable state.

Antonio had been very cool, charming but cool, keeping David at arm's length during the flight to Miami. He had listened carefully as David had recounted the events which had led up to his seeking out El Muerte and had agreed to take on the job of bodyguard as long as they kept it strictly business. El Muerte was not anxious to pursue a deep and meaningful relationship with anyone, especially a client.

There was just one minor hitch. David had fallen in love with Antonio during that flight and he was determined that somehow Antonio would feel the same way before the end of his contract. That or Antonio would fail and David would be dead. He found it hard to think of Antonio failing at anything, though, as he watched him aboard the plane. There was a coolly efficient core to the man and the wildness around the edges was only his way of dealing with things. He was one of life's survivors, bruised, but still hanging on. When they landed in Miami, David was determined to not only be one of life's survivors, too, but with Antonio at his side.

"Just relax, baby." He murmured into Antonio's ear. "I'm making this sacrifice for you. Pushing aside all consideration for my own pain just to ease your mind and demonstrate how undamaged I am. The least you can do is appreciate the effort."

Antonio laughed softly and adjusted himself under the long length of body covering his, stretching tense muscles as he soaked up David's warmth, pressing himself against the unyielding chest. He sighed and smiled and held David's head as he kissed him long and deeply before he replied, "I do appreciate you David Addison." He dropped his hands beside his head and looked up into David's eyes with a trust that was child-like in its simplicity.

David swallowed hard and felt the tears forming at the back of his eyes, too moved at that moment to say anything. Ever since he met Antonio he seemed to be constantly on the verge of tears. He could only bring his hand up to trace the outline of the mouth that he wanted to crush in a kiss every time he looked at it, then he covered the face in kisses. He could not speak of this love, but his lips could and he told Antonio many times how much he loved him. He spoke to his small, brown nipples till they were hard and traced the line of fine, black hair across the belly that squirmed in answer to the lips as they moved always lower.

Antonio sighed into the warmth of David's touch as the nightmare-induced tension drained slowly from his body. Replaced with the delicious pleasure that David's mouth and tongue were producing with such ease. He sighed again with a moan of delight as David's mouth sent tremors through his belly.

David looked up and laughed softly, raising himself onto his hands and knees he leaned over Antonio and captured his eyes with his. Antonio's face was flushed and the lids, heavy with lashes, could hardly open; but David held his gaze and refused to let him go. Antonio couldn't escape David's eyes. They were locked together in this moment as they had not been on the pool table. Antonio felt the difference but he couldn't stop it. David was bringing him along into this place he had been afraid to travel for so long. The intensity of the feeling frightened him, but the pleasure was increasing and he couldn't stop the waves breaking over him. They pounded inside of him and he only wanted David to drive deeper and harder till there was nothing else.

He felt his own sperm shoot hot onto his belly and knew David had come, as well. Their locked gaze had finally broken and Antonio felt its loss as much as David's cock as it left him. He suddenly felt cold and gathered David's big, hot body close. He kissed the man's shoulder tenderly and waited till his own breathing was back to normal. But, his brow furrowed as he realized that nothing would be normal again for him. It was too late to turn back and he was lost. He had let himself care again and he was more frightened of that than any armed assassin.

David raised his head and looked into Antonio's face and thought he had never looked so beautiful. It was still flushed and covered in a sheen of sweat with lips that were swollen from kissing and eyes, bright. He caught his breath. There was something new in Antonio's eyes. He opened his mouth to ask, "Antonio....?"

The knocking on the door startled them back into the world. David groaned and buried his face in the pillow beside Antonio's head.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Antonio asked, his voice hoarse from old memories.

David only raised his head and shook it sadly. "No. I don't think any of the family knows I'm in town. Why don't you check it out. I've got to take a quick shower."

Antonio retrieved his handgun and a large bathrobe supplied by the hotel. He could feel the dried semen on his belly and the thought of taking a shower with David was distractingly pleasant. He looked through the door's security window and what he saw left him stunned. He shoved the gun deep into a roomy pocket of the robe and opened the door.

Another David stood there, leaning on one hand against the doorjamb, the other on a hip, the expensive jacket pushed back. He was a blonde vision in casually elegant Armani and he knew it.

The stranger in turn stared at the black-haired beauty in the white, terry-cloth robe and noted in the all-encompassing sweep of his jaded gaze the just-had-hot-sex look on the exquisite face and flashed a perfect smile as he reached out a well-manicured hand.

"Well! It appears I'll have to visit my little brother more frequently if this is the way I'm going to be greeted," he said.

As Antonio took the proffered hand, he heard David's voice emerge from the bedroom, muffled in a towel as he rubbed at his wet hair.

"Who's there?" He took the towel from his face and stopped dead, as frozen as his stare. "Jonathan." He dropped the name like a stone into a very deep well.