Operation Green Card Page 12

  Christ, they’d known each other for four weeks. That was hardly enough time to fall in love. Though, of course, that was exactly what they were trying to sell to immigration.

  Arkady placed his finger to the line he’d started writing in. “Does a patronym count as a middle name?” he asked, and looked up, straight into Jason’s eyes.

  Jason tried to say something. What had been the question? His throat was too dry to swallow—he tried, but it didn’t work. The answer, the real one lay in those clear, blue eyes. Yes, four weeks were enough time to fall in love. Because he had. God help him. He was in love with the man who’d married him for a green card.

  “Jason?”

  “Huh?”

  “What planet are you on, my friend? You look like you saw a ghost.”

  “No, just thinking of something else. Patronym. Yeah, no. I don’t think so.”

  Arkady nodded, but he was still staring at Jason like he’d expected a different answer. “Okay. That’s what I thought,” he said slowly, then went back to writing. But after a few moments, he slammed the pen on the table. “Listen, I’ve said it before, and I meant it. I’m not trying to make your life difficult by living in your pocket.”

  He raised a hand, cutting off any reply Jason might have made. “I know, I know. We need to do this right. And we will. But while there’s no reason why we can’t have some fun in the process, I have no intention of going back on our deal to leave you in peace as soon as I have that card. You have to believe that. In fact . . .” He got up and disappeared in the hallway for a few seconds, before coming back with a tan envelope that he held out to Jason. “This is yours now.”

  Mystified, Jason took it and ripped it open. It was full of cash. Several thousand dollars at first glance.

  “Thirteen thousand,” Arkady said. “There was a little over fifteen, but I had to dip into it for the wedding. Sorry about that.”

  Jason nodded. He should say something, but his throat was so tight that nothing came out. Deal. They’d made a deal. And he’d just gotten paid. Everything as it should be. He could send the money to Kendra now. She could make a down payment for Lily’s tuition. This was good. This was excellent.

  “Thank you,” he finally managed.

  “No,” Arkady said. “Thank you. With all my heart.” He waved a hand toward the laptop. “Ignore those photos. They’ll do what they’re supposed to. That’s it.” Then, looking back at Jason, he said softly, “Okay?”

  Again, all Jason had was a nod. And no idea where the sudden pain came from, or what to do with it. No idea what Arkady had just said. Not really. But he knew instinctively what Arkady needed to hear. “Okay.”

  “No intention of going back on our deal” and “have some fun in the process” played on repeat in his head.

  “Great,” Arkady grinned at him. “And promising.”

  Jason tried an answering grin. He didn’t quite get why Arkady thought he suspected him of going back on our deal or what the photos had to do with that. Unless Arkady was telling him not to get his hopes up? But why then would he assure Jason that they could have fun with no strings attached? No, he didn’t get it. What he did get was that this was still about the green card, with some bonus fucking if they both wanted it. Love didn’t have anything to do with any of that.

  So he picked himself up, buried the fallen, and gritted his teeth on the pain. That was what he was good at. He’d had a lot of practice. He even managed an answering grin, and a wink. “Just wait until we’re done with this crap,” he said, and it almost sounded as light as it was supposed to.

  A couple of hours later, Arkady stretched his arms above his head and audibly cracked his back. “I’ve written my name and personal data so many times, they’ve lost all meaning,” he complained.

  Jason rubbed his eyes. “I vote for pizza.”

  “Seconded.”

  They agreed to share a large with everything, and Jason ordered online.

  When he went to answer the door bell, though, it wasn’t the pizza man, but Kendra and Lily waiting outside.

  Kendra looked worried and harassed. “I’m so sorry, Jay. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t an emergency.” Before he could reply, she repeated, “I’m so very sorry,” at a point over his shoulder, and he knew Arkady was standing behind him.

  “There were nuts in the pancakes,” Lily said, as if that explained all. She squeezed past him, and said, “I had the French toast.”

  Kendra smiled after her, but it didn’t erase the frown off her forehead. “Breakfast. Dan’s in the hospital. Anaphylactic shock. I need to get back there. Can I leave Lily with you for a few hours?” She glanced past Jason again and blushed. “God, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

  It made Jason acutely aware that he was in sweats and Arkady was bare-chested.

  “No, I— We just ordered pizza.”

  “Pizzaaaa!” came a jubilant little voice from the back.

  “In fact, I thought you were the delivery guy. I mean, when the bell rang I thought— Do you want to come in?”

  She shook her head. “I should get back. Are you sure this is okay?”

  He had no idea what to do with a five-year-old for a few hours. “Of course it is.” Or what to feed her. “Is she okayed for pizza?”

  For the first time since he’d opened the door, Kendra’s face relaxed. She even winked at him. “Just try to stop her.” Then she hugged him, brief and tight. “Thanks, Jay. I owe you. I’ll call you as soon as I know more.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Go, but drive carefully.”

  She was already on her way back to the car, and only acknowledged his warning with a wave over her shoulder.

  Jason waited until she was gone before going back inside. Funnily, he felt more relaxed now. After this, the day had to be done throwing things at him. Which meant he knew what he was facing, which meant he could start to deal with it. You could google children’s entertainment, right? You could google anything.

  Lily was inspecting the premises. She wrinkled her nose at the torn floor boards, but declared the roughed-in breakfast bar, “Cooool.”

  She didn’t seem overly worried about her dad. She told them she’d been in the hospital with anaphylactic shock only last year because of nuts, and it hadn’t been that bad. She didn’t even pause at the five-syllable word.

  The pizza came a few minutes later, which meant half an hour down, occupied with eating. A total win in Jason’s book.

  Lily was a whirlwind; she got into everything. In the time it took him to discard the pizza box, she’d raced to the top of the stairs three times and discovered that she could slide down the banister on her tummy.

  She also never stopped asking questions. “Is Arkady going to live here now? Can I stay with you until the end of the summer? Why is there a hole in the floor? Can I see your pro-static leg? Do you have any cake left from yesterday?”

  Jason looked at Arkady over Lily’s head. It hadn’t occurred to him that they might be required to clean up the venue.

  Arkady answered Lily’s last question with a shrug. “I’m afraid I didn’t pay attention. We could go check, I guess.” He turned to Jason. “Or should we stay reachable here?”

  It would be something to do. “I’ll text Kendra. She knows where it is, so I don’t see any problem.”

  “Caaake!” Lily screamed with both fists raised in the air.

  Jason sighed. “You’re going to be sick from junk food before the day is over.”

  But Arkady only laughed. “Kids have copper-plated stomachs. Even if they hurl, they simply keep going. Let me just put a shirt and some shoes on.”

  They all piled into Jason’s car, but when they got to the wedding venue, found it locked up tight.

  Lily pouted for about five seconds, but then announced they could go for ice cream instead. “What’s your favorite flavor?”

  “Pistachio,” Arkady said.

  Jason voted for chocolate. He hadn’t had ice cream in years, and it was the only one h
e could think of.

  “Mine is orange creamsicle. Can I have a waffle? I like your car. I get to sit in the seat like a grown-up.”

  It brought Jason up short. “Shit. Are you allowed to sit in a car without a booster seat?”

  “You’re not supposed to say ‘shit.’ It’s a bad word,” Lily said.

  “Sorry.”

  Arkady buckled her up in the back seat, then said to Jason. “We have to get her home somehow.”

  “Fff— But on a straight route. I’ll drop you off and go get ice cream,” Jason volunteered, callously sacrificing Arkady as babysitter.

  “Okay. You drive. I’ll sit in the back with her. Sorry about that. I didn’t think of a kiddie seat.”

  “Me neither. I’ve never had her in the car.”

  Arkady did a classic double take at that, but didn’t say anything.

  For some weird reason it made Jason feel defensive. He knew he wasn’t father of the year material, but then, Lily had a dad, and a good one. And Jason did what he could in his own way, didn’t he?

  He listened to the two of them in the back seat while he was driving. Arkady had challenged her in a game of who could spot the most red cars, and they were currently arguing about whether orange counted as red. Lily won both the argument (orange didn’t count as red) and the challenge. She was three cars ahead by the time they got home, and was only a little bit disappointed that she wouldn’t get to go to an ice cream parlor in Jason’s car. Jason bribed her with sprinkles and was absolved. He silently apologized to Kendra about all the sugar. He didn’t know a lot about kids, but he was perfectly aware what healthy food looked like. Pizza, ice cream, and sprinkles wasn’t it.

  He found orange creamsicle and sugar sprinkles in the store but drew a blank on pistachio. Which might not be a bad thing. Lily probably knew enough not to touch nuts, but he felt safer not having any nutty flavors in the house. He bagged a double chocolate instead and hoped Arkady didn’t have a cocoa allergy. On a whim, he added lube and condoms to his haul, trying not to question his motives too closely.

  He came back to the spectacle of both Arkady and Lily lying on their bellies on the front lawn with their heads in the stamp-sized flower bed by the door.

  “What the . . .”

  “Shhh,” Lily made with one finger on her lips. But then she waved him over. “Don’t scare him,” she whispered.

  At first Jason didn’t see a thing, but following Arkady’s helpful finger, he spotted a small tree frog in a gap between two border stones.

  “I’ll put the ice cream in the freezer,” he whispered in Lily’s ear, and got a nod. Her rapt attention stayed focused on the frog.

  In the end, though, he didn’t have to wait long for them to join him. They came inside some ten minutes later, Lily beelining it to the fridge.

  “Nuh-uh,” Arkady said. “Hands.” He pulled a chair up to the sink so she could reach it, and, clearly recognizing the voice of authority, she obediently washed her hands.

  Arkady tied a towel around her neck, like he had for the pizza; he kept her engaged, answered her questions, and asked about a tree fort she was apparently building with her dad.

  Jason could only stare in wonder when Arkady later showed her how to do magic tricks with a coin, and then kept her occupied with building and flying paper airplanes.

  Kendra came to get her shortly after seven. “Dan is doing okay,” was the first thing she said, “but they want to observe him overnight, just in case.”

  “You’re welcome to bring Lily over for breakfast, while you pick him up,” Arkady offered.

  “Can I, Mommy, pleeease? Hospitals are boooring.”

  Kendra laughed. “Well, someone liked it here.” She tilted her head and gave Jason an I-told-you-so look, but said “I don’t think we’ll need to bother you. Dan said he’d wait at the entrance.”

  “Sure,” Jason heard himself say. “No problem.”

  When they’d left, he turned to Arkady. “Are you sure you don’t have kids?”

  “Positive. But I have an armful of nieces and a nephew.” Arkady grinned. “Baptism by fire.” Stooping to pick up the paper planes he asked, “First time she’s been here?” His voice sounded carefully off-hand, but it felt like an accusation.

  “It’s a long drive,” he said. “Much easier for me to visit her at home.” And didn’t that sound like a lie, when he only saw her awake maybe once a year?

  After seeing her with Arkady, he suddenly felt like he was missing out.

  “You okay, big guy?”

  “I’m cool.” He watched Arkady straighten and, turning to ditch the paper planes, almost trip over the torn-up floor board.

  “Lily sure didn’t like that hole in the floor,” Jason said.

  “Can I ask you something?” Arkady sat on the couch and stretched his legs under the table.

  “Shoot.”

  “What’s the holdup on the renos? Why don’t you want to finish the place?”

  Jason had his glib reply about not enough time and it not being worth it on the tip of his tongue, when Arkady added, “The real reason.”

  Jason shrugged. He hadn’t really thought about it much. Trying to spruce the place up had simply felt useless. He stared at the yellow curtains, half expecting his grandmother’s ghost hand to close the little gap that had been left by paper airplane traffic. “I just don’t think anything I do is going to improve the house,” he finally said. “It ain’t home, never has been.” Now there was a bitter truth. “I don’t belong here. I’ve always been an intruder here. First I bombed my mother’s career and then her parents’ retirement.”

  “Come again?”

  He didn’t want to explain, but now that he’d started, he found himself unable to stop. “My parents were career soldiers. My birth was an accident—a disaster. It set my mother’s career back by years. So she dumped me here with her parents and threw herself into the frontlines for quick promotion. Got herself promoted right past the pearly gates.” He barked a laugh at his own joke. His bitterness surprised him. He’d always managed not to think about those garbage years. “Neither her parents nor my father ever forgave me for her death. Haven’t talked to the old man since her funeral.”

  “How old were you when she died?”

  Jason looked up, surprised. He’d forgotten Arkady was there. “Four. It’s okay,” he added when Arkady made a strangled sound. “I barely remember either of them. No love lost.”

  Arkady came over to put an arm around Jason’s shoulder. “Upstairs.” His voice was soft, but his tone brooked no argument. And truth be told, Jason didn’t want to argue.

  He let Arkady lead him upstairs and into the bedroom, lifted his arms when Arkady pulled his T-shirt over his head, and sat on the bed so Arkady could take his sneakers off.

  Arkady left him to deal with his pants and his leg on his own, but wordlessly held the covers up for him when he was naked, so Jason could slip under the blankets.

  Only then did Arkady strip out of his own clothes and join him. He still didn’t talk; he ran his hand across Jason’s face, making him close his eyes, then kissed him. But he didn’t linger on the lips. He let his hands roam across Jason’s body, warming the skin, and slowly kissed his way down Jason’s chest and stomach—until Jason was breathing faster; until Arkady’s hands weren’t just warm anymore, but leaving trails of fire; until Jason’s dick strained against his abdomen, and he bucked his hips in a wordless plea for Arkady’s touch.

  Arkady placed a line of kisses along his groin, then licked up his shaft and sucked him into his mouth. Pleasure exploded through Jason’s body. It was all he could do not to buck, to let Arkady keep the lead. His finger curled into the sheets when the pressure built, then, suddenly Arkady let him go. Jason’s eyes flew open. He barely swallowed the no that rose in his throat. Only a vestige of the sound made it past his lips.

  “Got any lube and condoms?” Arkady asked.

  It took Jason a second to find his words. “Downstairs. Walgreens bag
.”

  “Aaand I guess that also answers my next question, whether you’d be okay taking this past the Princeton rub,” Arkady said with a cat-ate-the-canary grin.

  Jason felt the answering grin on his face.

  He was still grinning when Arkady came back a minute later with the shopping bag and upended it on the bed. He was kneeling on the cover in all his naked glory, and Jason couldn’t stop staring. He’d seen some built guys in the army, but no heavy muscles compared to Arkady’s lithe beauty. Greek statues looked like that. “You’re gorgeous.”

  Giving Jason the once-over, Arkady ran his hand up the inside of Jason’s thigh. “You’re not so bad yourself, my friend.”

  And the way he said it, contemplative and just a tad short of breath, Jason almost believed it.

  “I want to ride you. Are you okay with that? You being all ‘inexperienced’?” Arkady asked, his tone half-serious, half-teasing.

  “I’m okay.” He wasn’t sure what to expect, but his imagination drove a wave of heat up his chest, and Arkady’s hands on his dick when he rolled on the condom didn’t help to cool him down.

  Neither did the view of Arkady lubing himself up. Kneeling with his legs apart, body and head arched back, dick ramrod straight, he exaggerated the in-and-out movement of his arm, giving Jason a show. But if his harsh breath was any indication, he was also quite enjoying finger-fucking himself.

  It was pure porn, and Jason could have jerked off to it in five seconds flat, but if he touched himself now, it would be over, and he very much did not want to miss out on what was next.

  Kneeling upright, Arkady gave him the most lascivious look before he bent and kissed him, long, deep, drawing up a moan from Jason’s chest. Arkady straddled him without breaking the kiss, then slowly rubbed his dick against Jason’s stomach. Which meant on every push back, he was pressing against the crown of Jason’s dick. Which— Oh, gawd.

  Jason couldn’t help himself; he lifted his hips, trying to follow when Arkady moved his body forward, and when that didn’t work, grabbed Arkady’s thighs and tried to push him back down.