Page 13 of The Barn: Frost and Q

Ten

F rost cracked his neck, glad that run was over.

He’d taken a fancy-ass client back to Victoria, Canada, then gone down to California to pick up a friend of theirs, the owners, who also donated a shit-ton of money to special events at the club.

Ethan had rocked on the way up, but the weather had sucked. And on the way to Victoria, the client he would rather never see again had bitched about everything.

Ugh.

He’d spent the night in Cali, had a few drinks, relaxed, and chafed all the time about getting back to Quentin.

They were gaining ground. The last thing he wanted to do was to give Q too much time to think.

So, he hoisted his go bag over his shoulder and ran the four flights of stairs, needing to make up for the PT he hadn’t done yesterday.

He hit the top, proud that he was only breathing a tiny bit hard, and he headed to Quentin’s door, knocking with his foot so he could hold his bag and use his other hand to text down for some food. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was almost suppertime.

The door buzzed, popping open, and he grinned, knowing Q had seen him on the camera. “Hey, baby, I’m back—Wow. Look at you.” Quentin was standing next to his wheelchair, maybe wobbling a little, but holding out both arms to him.

Not leaning.

“Come kiss me, babe.”

“Hell, yes.” He dropped his bag with a thump, then rushed over to take Quentin into his arms. He gave his husband that kiss, really letting him have it. Not holding back.

“Mmmm.” Quentin wrapped both arms around his neck. “Good.”

“Uh-huh. Fuck, I missed you, baby.”

“I missed you so much.” Q beamed at him. “Come sit on the couch and tell me. Did you eat?”

“I was ordering supper. Let’s sit, and I’ll finish.”

“Cool.” Q moved pretty slowly, but he left the chair. When he got up to get the food, Frost would bring it over. He never wanted Q to think he needed to leave behind any assistive device in order to impress him.

They sat, and he pulled Q into his arms. “What should we eat?”

“I called down. They had a pot roast on tonight, or salmon.”

“Pot roast then?” He did love his meat and potatoes, and he knew Q loved the potatoes and gravy and carrots.

“Sounds great. So how was the trip?”

Frost groaned. “Oh my God. DeVries was a dick. The booze was cheap. The sheets sucked. I’m a shit pilot. Blah blah. Ethan is all settled, and the subs are vying for his favors.”

“Good for him. I know he loves to be courted for his strong spanking arm.”

“Yep. How did you do?”

“Oh, you know. Carson threatened to beat me. Did you even notice what I did?”

“You mean standing up?” It had been a lovely surprise to see Quentin trust himself a little more.

“No. Not that, although I’ve managed to do it longer, I think my legs are a little down stronger even if my balance is shot. The pool’s helping with that.”

Frost nodded. He figured that it would be if Quentin didn’t have to worry about falling, if he could just use his legs it would help.

It was his equilibrium that was down for the count, but it couldn’t hurt if those muscles were strong too.

“I like kissing you when you’re standing up.

I like kissing you when you’re sitting down. I sort of like kissing you.”

“You’re focused. I like that in a man.” Now Q was laughing at him, and he wasn’t sure what was funny, but he’d take it. He would totally take a nice laugh.

“So what is it that I’m supposed to be noticing?”

Q pointed across the room with a roll of the eyes, and?—

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

There was a huge deep gray partition separating the kitchen and computer area from the other half of the apartment.

“What’s back there?”

“Maybe you should go see. I promise it’s not a snake.”

He teased back. “Is it a bear?”

“It is not a bear or an axe murderer or anything bad, thank you.” Q lifted his hand and kissed it. “Trust me.”

He leaned and brought their foreheads together. “With my soul.”

He stood and walked over, pushing the partition back.

It was fascinating because it worked a little bit like a pocket door.

Just a massive pocket door that disappeared when he pushed it aside.

On the other side, he found a great big pine four-poster king bed that was big enough for both of them to roll around in.

And there were two nice side tables and the matching dresser.

“If the partition’s open, we can watch TV. With them closed, we’re cocooned in.” Q gave him a nervous grin. “You like it?”

“I do!” He loved it because Q had done it so they could sleep together. So, he wasn’t ready to move down to Frost’s apartment. So what? “It’s amazeballs, baby.”

“I know one day it’ll happen. I’ll be staying with you, but this way, we can stay with each other. You know, if I have to work. This way, we have a bed. Our bed.”

He beamed at Q. “I love you. I love that you did this for me. It’s amazing.” Frost sat down on the edge of the bed, bounced a little bit. It was perfect. Firm, but with a hint of give, just like he loved it.

He got up, grinning as he heard the doorbell. “Pot roast!”

“I’ll clean off space.”

Frost went to the door, thanking the sweet sub who delivered the food before heading to his lover. The roast smelled heavenly, and it didn’t take long before they were set up and digging in. “It’s good to be home, baby boy.”

That earned him a kiss. “It’s good to have you home.”

“Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?” he asked, buttering a roll for both of them.

Q shook his head. “I kicked Carson’s ass in cribbage like forty-seven games.

Uh. It’s been really quiet security-wise.

We haven’t had any parties or anything.” Q stopped, fork in the air.

“Oh! There was a bear that showed up and wandered around, looked confused, and then wandered back out. That was kind of neat, though.”

He loved that grin. He loved that excited little smile. And that’s what he’d fallen in love with—the light that was in Q’s face when he was passionate about something, when he was excited. It settled right in his balls.

“So you didn’t have to have it removed?”

Q shook his head. “No, no, he came up to the kitchen. I think he was looking for food, but I watched him wander back out. I love to watch some of the critters. That’s one of the coolest things about being out here, is all the stuff that I get to see.”

“My little voyeur,” Frost teased.

“Oh, I’m not that little.” Q started fellating a carrot, and it should have been disgusting, but it wasn’t. Not completely.

“But you do like to watch.”

Q tried to stick his tongue out, but it just didn’t work. Not with the carrot.

He settled with his plate. “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen out on your cameras?”

Q opened his lips and closed them, then his cheeks went bright red.

“Oh. Oh, this is a good one. You have to tell me now…”

“Do I?” Quentin snorted. “Maybe not.”

“Oh, come on.”

“Well, there was that time you and Boone decided to skinny dip in the hot tub.”

Frost felt his own cheeks heat. “I was pretty drunk and feeling very alone. He was humoring me.”

“Oh, Boone loves to get naked, and you know it.”

He had to grin. “True. Any chance to show off.”

“Yep.” Q shook his head. “Let’s see. There was that Dom who got drunk and tried to wrestle the porcupine that fell on him.”

“That was a disaster, and not likely to make you blush that way.” Frost nibbled a potato.

“You promise not to repeat this, right?”

“Of course. You have my word. I would never betray your confidence.” Frost would bite off his own tongue first.

“I saw Tug and Boone…getting it on. Like whoa.”

“No shit?”

“Not even a little.” Quentin nibbled a little bit of roast, then grabbed a bit of bread to sop up some gravy. “I mean… Okay, I tease about the ew, but they were damn hot together and, like, totally unexpected.”

“Yeah. I mean, who was bottoming?” Frost was dead curious.

“I think they were kind of…fighting that out. And I stopped watching almost right away.”

“Almost, huh?” If Q’s cheeks got any redder, he was going to go up in flames.

“Well, sure. I mean, I have seen Boone naked dozens of times, but Tug? No.”

“He’s got some damn fine scars.”

Q shot him a look. “He does.”

“Hot tub again. Not naked, but in trunks.”

“Right.” Quentin chuckled. “I forget how much more time you spend with them in the wild. They come to me most of the time.”

“Yeah. Clothed,” he teased. “I get to see them wandering around starkers since we all live on the same floor. Carson has an eight-pack, baby. Have you seen?”

“Yeah.” Q wrinkled his nose. “He came to the pool when I was doing therapy. He’s a bit bulky for me. I like more of a swimmer’s build.” Q licked his lips, giving Frost a once-over that made his cock perk right up.

He grabbed a piece of bread of his own and buttered it to slow things down. They were burning, but he was hungry and tired, and Q was so pleased about his bed and all. They could take a while to get to any kind of reindeer games, so to speak.

Q nibbled here and there, mostly eating bread and carrots. “Did you get dessert, too?” he asked, eyeing the cloches that Frost still hadn’t lifted.

“Of course I did. Want to watch a movie in our fancy new bed while we digest a little? We can have dessert after.”

“Yeah. That sounds really amazing.”

“Excellent. I could really use a shower. Want to come?”

Q shook his head. “I mean, yes, but I had one after therapy. So how about you do that, and I’ll get the leftovers in the fridge.”

“Okay, but no peeking at the dessert.” He’d gotten Italian cream cake, which Q loved. He figured it was serendipity that the pastry chef had chosen it for tonight. And it would probably get him a hand job, if nothing else.

“Be right out.” He bent to take a kiss after he stood. “If you need help, just leave it for me.”

“Bah. You brought me my chair.” Quentin shifted over into it, then wheeled toward the kitchen, most likely to grab containers.

He left it at that, not wanting to get in the way or get in trouble. Not tonight. Q was feeling happy and confident, and he would keep it that way as best he could.

He washed up as quick as he could, then pulled on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. He was keeping about a third of his stuff up here now, so a bigger bed was welcome as fuck.

That little twin had killed his back.

He dried his hair as he headed back out, padding to the bed area, where the door was pulled back so they could watch the TV. It was the perfect setup, and he would have to thank Carson for making it happen in such a short amount of time.

“This is hellacious inviting, love,” Frost murmured. The duvet was down-filled, he could tell.

“Thanks, I wanted you to have a comfortable space. I wanted us both to have one, together.”

He nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. “And now you have a closet…for clothes and things.”

Q rolled his eyes. “I know, go figure.” Q met Frost’s eyes and shrugged. “I know that eventually I’ll end up downstairs with you where I belong, but it’s important to me to be able to watch the security cameras. I like to keep my eye on things.”

It took all he had not to wince. How was he supposed to argue with that? It had been a breach of security that had caused this entire problem. That son of a bitch had walked right up and taken Q on his daily run. Just snatched him right off the trail, motherfucker.

“Hey.” Q waved his hand in front of Frost’s face. “Hello! I didn’t say that to get you all super guilty, man. It is what it is. I like to know that the cameras are on. I’m working on it, and I’m going to get it. But I want to be able to sleep with you, so come snuggle with me.”

“You’re right. You are. Thank you.” He nodded and climbed in, scooting right in close, covering them both up with the duvet. It was like heaven in here, warm and cozy. And it smelled so good. “I like this.”

“Good. If you didn’t, it would kind of suck, hmm?” Q gave him a soft, kind of buzzing kiss. “We don’t have to think this hard. We can just snuggle in the new bed. Relax.”

There was no bad there. They could totally just snuggle in the new bed and relax.

And he could be confident in the fact that he knew that Q had done this for him.

Q wanted him here, close.

That was a huge step in the right direction, and he would grab it.

With both hands.