Jane Seville

“And how do you really feel?Like I'll never recover. Like I'll never draw another breath without half of it being a wish for him.”

“Jack is somewhere in this city, right now. The thought was like passing by a house where someone was grilling in the back yard. You could smell it, but it wasn't yours, and you couldn't just barge into their home and demand a burger, no matter how your mouth watered.”

“I said, I ain't buyin' no chocolate covered cherries." "Oh, come on. You know you want to."D shook his head like Jack was just too much to be believed. "I do not either want to, and them candies makes me think of my grandmother, so it's real fuckin' weird that you turned 'em inta some kinda sex fantasy, okay? 'Cause then I get all mixed up in my head where I'm in my grandma's livin' room makin' Play-Doh french fries while you suck my dick and that's just ten kinds of wrong. Even I ain't that fucked up."Jack laughed. "Not yet you aren't." He looked at D's face, smiling with him.”

“Okay." He let his eyes close and it was a relief; not just of relief of minutes, but of years.”

“found out that his life didn’t have to follow the rules,and they both found out that love is a pain in the ass.”

“D stared out the window, shoving down the feeling that it might be real nice to sit here and tell Jack Francisco everything about himself, confess things he'd never told nobody, just to feel like somebody cared, and to keep those big blue eyes fixed on him for as long as he could.”

“Jack felt arousal spiking through him, clouding his mind with the wanting, wanting this man, all of him, black and tarry, rotted with disuse, glorious and fractured and spilling out of the cracks.”

“Maybe I could be a ninja assassin too, Jack thought.”

“Swept yer chimney!” D howled. “Aw shit, that is fuckin’ rich!”

“Stud,” D repeated, growly and low. Jack snorted. “You got a better word for a guy who’s swept my chimney five times in one night?”

“D, I have known a lot of men in my time,queer and straight, and I think I can state with someconfidence that you are as gay as a spring parade." ~ Jack”

“I do not either want to, and them candies make methink a my grandmother, so it's real fuckin' weird that youturned 'em inta some kinda sex fantasy, okay? 'Cause then Iget all mixed up in my head where I'm in my grandma's livin'room makin' Play-Doh french fries while you suck my dick andthat's just ten kinds a wrong. Even I ain't that fucked up.”

“Kissing Jack wasn't what he'd expected. Not letting himselfdo it for this long now seemed kind of stupid ... or a lotstupid. What had he been afraid of? Too intimate, tooromantic, too ... just too. Sex was okay, even sucking dickwas okay. That was to get off. Kissing, though ... that you didonly because you had something to say that words didn'tquite do it for. That meant feelings and messiness.”

“It was possible that this was just the latest assault in the ongoing campaign being waged by various nurses and fellow doctors to seduce him via baked goods.”

“Close enough to fuck was close enough to shank him with a dagger hidden in the crease of some chick's jean shorts.”

“Saw you out there in the garden. Looked so damn...fine," he said, quietly. "Was like I hadta have ya, right then. Bubbled up like...I dunno, puke or somethin'." Jack chuckled. "You sure have a way with words, D.”

“Real fuckin' close. Too fuckin' close. Ta think I almos' put a bullet between them eyes, and took that life that now I'd die ta save, and I never woulda known what he was in the world, and who he was or could be, and I woulda never even known what I was missin', nor known how right it could feel just ta lay my fingers alongside his.”

“No, Jack, we cain’t sneak by. These aren’t movie bad guys who don’t got no peripheral vision and we can just slip past while they’re lookin’ the other way. You want yer life, you gotta fuckin’ take it.”

“This ain't Halloween." he said. "What's that mean?" "Means I ain't sharin' my candy.”

“Jack laughed, a quick, surprised chuckle. “God, all I wanted these past months was the chance for you to get on my nerves.”

“You got a better word for a guy who's swept my chimney five times in one night?"-Dr. Jack Francisco”

“D snorted. “Gotta be prepared.” He looked up at Jack’s face, frowning. “What?” Jack shrugged. “It’s just….” He sighed. “I’m starting to see words like ‘accessory’ and ‘accomplice’ floating around my head.” D barely reacted. “How about ‘dead on arrival’? Ya like that better?” Jack nodded, pressing his lips together. “Get more ammo. Ammo is good.”

“He paused at the bedroom door, shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and walked right out like it was any other morning, and he and Jack would be having breakfast as if they hadn't had sex the night before."Morning," he said, casting a quick glance over his shoulder."Mmm," D grunted."You done in the bathroom?"D blinked. No, I jus' took a little breather in the middle a my mornin' beauty ritual ta come out here 'n' chat with ya. A course I'm done.”

“Feelings come in packs, D. Let one loose and they all want to run together.”

“Watching him from a distance for ten years doesn’t make you an expert, you know!”“Sleeping with him for two months doesn’t make you one, either,” she said, cool as a cucumber.Churchill recoiled with a wide-eyed “oh no she DIDN’T” expression that might have been funny under different circumstances.”