Page 20 of Paradise

“Wow.”

“Your dad said you’d like this one.” Wyl grinned. “Try it on.”

Cody shoved the helmet down over his head and pressed the loose strap to the other side. The strap bonded to the helmet with an audiblesnap. “You have to use a special tool to release it,” Wyl explained. “It’s the safest version on the market right now.”

“Cool, can we go now?” Cody didn’t want to hear about howsafeit was, he just wanted to gofast.

“I think your friend’s got an agenda,” the sergeant noted.

“I guess so. C’mon, let’s head out.”

Cody didn’t pay attention to anything other than the weight of his sweet new helmet and how awesome it must look until they were in the lot, and Wyl’s bike was right there in front of them. It was so much better than Cody had imagined. “You didn’t say it had lightning bolts!”

“How could it be perfect without lightning bolts?” Wyl replied. He took his own helmet off the handlebars and put it on, then started up the bike, which rose to hover a few feet from the ground. He lifted Cody onto the back of the bike, then swung his own leg over. He revved the engine, which growled dramatically. Cody shivered with excitement and wrapped his arms tight around Wyl’s waist.

“You ready?” Wyl shouted over the noise.

“Yes!”

They roared out of the lot and into the sun, and if Cody’s initial yell of joy was a little tempered by a momentary squeeze of fear, well, Wyl would never tell anyone.

Chapter eleven

Jonah

Contrary to what a lot of people seemed to think, Jonah was not, and had never been, easily fooled. It wasn’t hard to tell that there was a lot of discomfort in the air, most of it stemming from Garrett. There was a newfound wariness between him and Robbie, something beyond simply being former lovers surrounded by present ones. Jonah didn’t press his fiancé about it even though he was curious, because there was another strange new edginess in the air as well, resting firmly between himself and Garrett, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

That it pertained to the Drifters in orbit, Jonah knew. That Garrett thought their existence somehow meant that Jonah was suddenly going to abandon everything he had and whisk Cody away into the stars to live with his history again, well, there weren’t even words for that kind of crazy. He’d never give up what he had now, not without a hell of a fight, and he couldn’t say it any more clearly than that.

There were layers to Garrett’s anxiety, stacked up and sifting over and through each other, changing a little more every day. The man had the most complicated heart that Jonah had ever encountered, and if blunt declarations didn’t do the trick, then Jonah could be more subtle. He spent every night in Garrett’s arms, no matter how hot it got or how long it took him to fall asleep. He woke up with him every morning unless Garrett had taken off first. He kissed him whenever he saw him, light and easy, and every time, his lover smiled a little more freely.

Their bed became a strange, sort-of-sacred space, one where they almost never spoke. Two weeks into their visit and they were still making love every night or morning, more often if Garrett could get him alone during the day. Garrett was determined, creative, and exhaustive, and after the first couple times, Jonah welcomed the addition of a sound-dampening cloth strung up over their bed like a canopy, muffling all sound to the outside world but encapsulating it for the lovers inside, giving each gasp or laugh or moan a special sort of poignancy.

Jonah pulled out of his lover and stretched out beside him, overheated despite the cool temperature of the room. Garrett’s skin was tacky with cum and lube and sweat, and they stuck together a little wherever they touched. Neither of them minded very much. “No school with Cody today?” he asked idly, stroking his fingers into Garrett’s hair. It was starting to grow out again, silky gold shining against Jonah’s tan hand.

“No lessons, no work, no checking in with Jezria, and Claudia has promised to leave us alone,” Garrett replied, groaning with satisfaction as he rubbed his thighs together. Claudia had taken it upon herself to organize their wedding, and she was being thorough. Very,verythorough. Jonah hadn’t even known what a boutonniere was before yesterday. “Wyl and Robbie are taking a mental-health day for themselves, and Miles has to work, so Ithought we could take Cody into Rapture. We haven’t been to the bazaar yet.”

“Sounds like fun.” They’d gone into Rapture several times in the past two weeks, but once was to a restaurant and the other was to a huge indoor mall, each time with a few plainclothes marines at their sides. Paradise had settled considerably in the past year, but it could still be dangerous, and Miles wasn’t taking any chances with a member of his family. Garrett seemed to enjoy the fact that the marines kept any gawkers at a distance and was even more pleased that they hadn’t run into any Drifters in their wanderings.

“It will be. There are all sorts of stalls that offer everything from fresh food to cloned pets to body art. By the way, tattoos? I say Cody has to be at least twelve before his first one.”

What?“He wants a tattoo?” Jonah asked, nonplussed. “Since when?”

“Since he saw Robbie’s Devildog Squadron tattoo. It’s a marine thing. They’re easy to get removed,” Garrett added with a smile. “A little iontophoresis and you’re good to go. I got my whole body done for a party, once. It took a while, but the result was worth it.”

“The things you do for beauty.”

“Fashion takes time,” Garrett agreed. “So, shower, breakfast, bazaar. Yes?”

“Sure.” And no tattoos for his kid, not even if theycouldbe removed. Not by twelve either. Maybe by twenty. Maybe.

***

They took a private car into the city, past the skyscrapers and flashy buildings and out toward the edge of downtown. They had a pair of marines as escorts, again, but Garrett seemed to know one of them and was enjoying himself by needling her. “Thérèse,were you pining for me?” he asked coquettishly, tilting his head to one side and batting his eyelashes at her. “Is this your way of asking for attention?”

“No.”

“So loquacious, darling, be sure you don’t hurt yourself lifting all those heavy words now. And your partner is …”

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