Chapter 8

That was definitely not how he had imagined this particular sortie. They were actually out to gather information, since the captain had considered Jordan good enough to go on a little mission that would demand some brain power, not only brawn. Mouse suspected that their commanding officer actually wanted to gauge Jordan’s ability for critical thinking. The problem was that Jordan couldn’t care less about that, as he was way too busy giving Ryan the evil eye over the table. That kind of thing could cost Jordan a promotion, that in case he actually wanted one.

“I’m going to take a leak,” he said and got to his feet. “Jordan, you look like you could empty your bladder, too,” he added bluntly.

Both Jordan and Ryan looked at him with questions in their eyes. They were in a small bar catering to troops and expats, and Mouse knew that their contact wouldn’t be there for another hour at least, after he had questioned the bartender, a guy who knew all the ins and outs of what was going on there. So far, they had only spent their time at a table, drinking beer after beer.

Jordan stood lazily to his feet. “Wanna suck my cock or something?”

“You wish,” Mouse snorted. “I’m done with sucking off your lot.”

“You are?” Ryan asked timidly. “But--”

“If he said he’s done, he’s done,” Jordan cut him off and gave him a hard stare.

Ryan put his chin up in defiance. Fuck, Mouse thought, these two were really stupid tonight. They were two hotheads and needed to chill. Mouse pushed open the bathroom door, checked the stalls and then turned toward Jordan. “Now, tell me, fucker, do you understand why the captain gave us this mission? There are other people at the unit, a lot more qualified, if you didn’t get it.”

Jordan shrugged and took out his cock, heading for one of the urinals. He let the stream of piss hit the urinal and groaned in satisfaction. Mouse tsked and shook his head. “The captain thinks you have it in you to be more than just a grunt. He’s giving you a chance. Are you going to blow it?”

“You don’t fucking understand,” Jordan bristled. “You got all those boyfriends of yours or whatever, and someone in that whole unit gives you all the dick you want, but it’s not like that for me.”

“Is this still about you and Ryan? For fuck’s sake, get it together, man. Aren’t you straight or something?”

“So what?” Jordan said aggressively and shook his cock for the last drops of piss, then put it away. “Blue balls are blue balls, regardless. I want to fuck Ryan, only that the fucking slut doesn’t want to put out.”

“I heard him loud and clear. He wants you to fuck him, fuck if I know why, but he’s cautious, because that’s not the kind of thing you flaunt around.”

“Cautious, my ass. He’s acting like a chick.”

Mouse rubbed his forehead and grimaced. “Well, think whatever you want. But the captain won’t give you a second chance. Consider yourself warned.”

He made a move but Jordan stopped him by grabbing his arm. “It’s fucking weird, man.” There was so much intensity in his eyes that Mouse stopped. “I can’t take him out of my head. All I can think of, day and night, is how to--” Jordan pursed his lips and looked away.

Mouse thought he understood what that was all about. “You like Ryan,” he pointed out.

Jordan nodded and his entire face scrunched up, as if he was in pain. “Yeah,” he exhaled. “I like him a great deal.”

“So, tell him that. If it’s only the fucking, you’ll burn through it, eventually.”

“It’s not,” Jordan shot back at him. He let go of Mouse and caught his head in his hands. “What the fuck is going on? I only fucked chicks before. And now, I only want to fuck him. I can’t even think of tits and pussy when I jerk off. Only him.”

Mouse grabbed Jordan’s shoulder and shook him. “So, you have the hots for him.”

“Easy for you to say,” Jordan said. “You know what’s what, with you, and those boyfriends of yours, or whatever. I don’t.”

“Trust me, there’s nothing easy about my whole arrangement with my boyfriends, as you call them. First of all, they’re married to each other.”

“Yeah, I heard that,” Jordan said, looking down. “How’s that working for them? Doesn’t everyone give them shit for it?”

“It’s working. They love each other,” Mouse said simply.

“But you can’t be married to them,” Jordan pointed out.

Damn, way to poke him where it hurt the most. “That’s true.”

“Aren’t you jealous?”

“We were talking about you, and how you’re about to blow your chances at an advancement in career because of some sweet boy pussy that you can’t get out of your head,” Mouse said quickly.

Jordan grinned at him. “It looks to me like you’ve got plenty of problems of your own. But you must understand me, man. I can’t have Ryan and it drives me nuts. Just like you can’t have your boyfriends that are married to each other.”

“Don’t be stupid. Ryan wants to be yours. It’s only that he thinks you’re a dick and that you’re going to blow him off once you got tired of him.”

“Never,” Jordan said fiercely.

“That’s just a word and nothing else.”

Their convo was interrupted by someone walking in. They both sighed in relief when they saw that it was Ryan.

“Is the guy here?” Mouse asked.

Ryan shook his head. “Not yet. What are you two doing?”

“Nothing,” Jordan said thickly.

Mouse just had had enough of that guy’s denial. “Jordan told me how nuts he’s about you,” he said.

“About fucking my ass, you mean.” Ryan shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“It’s more than that,” Mouse said, earning an instant grunt of disbelief from Jordan.

He walked over to one of the stalls and kicked the door open. The bar owner did a good job of keeping the place clean. It would have to do. “You two, get in here,” he ordered. “You need some relationship advice in your fucking lives.”

They both obeyed him, Jordan stealing glances at Ryan, and Ryan looking down with a stubborn expression on his face. Well, it was going to be a battle.

“Now,” he began, once they were inside, “if it’s just sex, go for it.”

Ryan protested right away. “Why should I put out whenever he feels like it?”

“Because that pitched tent in your pants tells me you want to do just that. And also, Jordan here has something to say.”

“Like what?” Jordan asked aggressively.

“We were talking about it when Ryan walked in. Come on, tell him what you told me, or whatever else you wanted to add to that. I’m sure there’s more.”

Jordan looked conflicted for a moment and then took both Mouse and Ryan by surprise when he suddenly crouched. Ryan threw Mouse a confused look and then stared down at Jordan.

“Stop gawking at me like two idiots,” Jordan said through his teeth. “I can’t kneel on the fucking floor. Ryan,” he added and drew one deep breath, “do you want to be my wife?”

Mouse slapped his forehead and groaned in despair.

Ryan had his fists clenched and his eyes were burning when he looked at him. “Is this your idea of a fucking joke?”

Jordan looked devastated. “A joke? I can’t get you out of my fucking head, day in, day out, and you think I’m kneeling on some bathroom floor for the sake of a fucking joke?”

Ryan narrowed his eyes. Mouse decided that he needed to intervene. “Forgive Jordan, Ryan. He doesn’t understand how it’s done. He wants to marry you, but because he’s too new to this whole feeling thing, he said it wrongly.”

Ryan stared nonplussed at him, and then back at Jordan. “Marry? Like for real?”

Jordan nodded, his jaw tight, and his head hung in defeat. “Yeah, asshole. For real. But I’m the guy who does the fucking, okay?”

“Ryan hasn’t said yes,” Mouse pointed out. “Don’t be such a jerk.”

“Do you really, really mean it?” Ryan insisted, apparently suffering from selective hearing all of a sudden.

Jordan stood to his feet and hovered near Ryan. He raised one hand and cupped Ryan’s cheek. “I’m sorry if I don’t know how to handle this shit, but I’m going crazy without you. Say yes. We’ll finish our tour and then we’ll tie the knot, go live somewhere no one judges us and shit.”

Despite the clumsy confession coming out of Jordan’s mouth, Ryan seemed elated to hear those words. “Yes, then ... of course, it’s yes,” Ryan whispered. Jordan kissed him hard.

Mouse let out a sigh of relief. All was well when it ended well. “Good, now that you kissed and made up, let’s check if our man is here.”

“You go,” Jordan gestured at him. “I want to make love to my future wife.”

“Husband,” Ryan corrected him but wrapped his arms around the other and hugged him tightly.

“What about the promotion?” Mouse asked. “You know what hangs in the balance here.”

Jordan didn’t look like he could care about anything else save for Ryan at the moment. “I don’t want any promotion. After this tour, I’m done with army life,” he said and close the stall door in Mouse’s face.

Well, the guy had made his choice. Still, it was most likely that the captain still needed the information he had sent them to retrieve. While Jordan and Ryan got freaky with each other, he would have to work. He was a freaking good Samaritan, wasn’t he now?

“So, Mannard and Lowes told me that you did all the work.” The captain was leaning back in his chair and examining him closely.

Mouse felt squirming a bit under that pointed stare. “They were there, too,” he said defensively.

“Not good enough. They both say they want to get it over with this tour and then retire from the army. Did you have a hand in this, Ahab?”

Reynolds was in his rights to be pissed. He had showed Jordan some trust, and got it thrown back in his face. It couldn’t feel good. The captain was, indeed, married to army life, and that meant that he wouldn’t take stuff like throwing that away for a good fuck that easily.

“It was their decision, sir.”

“They seem suspiciously happy with it, too.” Reynolds stood from his chair and moved around the desk.