Coda 01 - Promises

without hurting myself. The counter behind me was digging painfully into my back side. I put my hands under his shirt, started to feel the hard muscles on his chest. He stopped kissing me just long enough to pull his shirt off, and to my surprise, he pulled mine off as well. Then his arms were back around me, one hand back in my hair, his mouth warm and insistent against mine. His skin was smooth and seemed feverishly hot. He felt amazing. His body was so strong and solid and perfect under my hands. I couldn’t remember the last time a kiss had felt so passionate and arousing.
    His hands were fumbling at the buttons on my jeans. He tore them open and shoved one hand down the front of my pants. His grip was hard and rough, not quite painful, and I wanted more of it. I was gasping, arching against him, hoping I wouldn’t embarrass myself by coming before we even got our clothes off.
    “Jesus, Jared.” His voice in my ear sounded a little frantic. “I don’t really know what to do.”

    I laughed a little at that. I should have realized I would need to take the lead.
    I unbuttoned his pants and slid them down just far enough to free his erection. He followed my lead and did the same to me. He was taller than me, so I wrapped one arm around his neck, pulled myself up a little while pulling him down, until our cocks were even, then wrapped my hand around both of them and started to stroke us off together.
    The look on his face might have made me laugh, any other time. He looked so surprised as he looked down at my hand pumping away on both of us. He looked up into my eyes and said breathlessly, “I wouldn’t have thought of that.”
    I really did laugh then.
But then his hand stopped mine. “I want to do it.”
    Not like I was going to argue. I wrapped my other arm around his neck, which allowed me to hold myself up at his height a little easier, propped against the counter. I kissed him again and felt his big, strong hand start to work. I really wished we had our pants off, that we were somewhere other than in the kitchen with the counter digging into me from behind, but there was no way I was going to stop him now. He was moaning into my mouth, and his fist was moving faster, and—
    His phone rang.
The whole world stopped.
“Shit!” he whispered, without pulling his mouth from mine.
    “Matt.” His hand was still in the same place, although it had stopped moving. “Please tell me you’re not going to answer that.”
    It rang again. He had left it on the coffee table in the living room. Technically, it was the property of the Coda Police Department. I had only seen him use it a couple of times.
    “I have to.” His head was on my shoulder, and he was breathing hard. We both were. “You’re the only person besides the department who has that number. And since it’s obviously not you calling….” Another ring. “Shit!” He took a deep, shuddering breath and pushed his face into my hair for just a second, and then he seemed to tear himself away from me.
    He was in the living room, on the phone. I wasn’t listening. I was mostly trying to get my breathing back under control, pulling my pants back up but hoping they weren’t going to stay there for long. But when he came back a minute later, I knew something was wrong. He was deathly white, and his hands were shaking a little as he put his shirt back on and started searching for his keys.
    “Matt, what’s wrong?”
    “Cherie’s dead.” There was no emotion in his voice when he said it. He sounded like it was just business, but I could tell by the tension in his shoulders and around his eyes that he was upset.
    “ What? ”

    “She was murdered. Somebody shot her last night. I have to go.”
    I was stunned. People aren’t murdered in Coda. People die, of course. We had our share of teenagers killed in drunk-driving accidents or middle-aged men killed in hunting mishaps. But murder? That didn’t happen.
    “But… how?”

    “Jared, I don’t know. I don’t know much. I have to go in for questioning.”

    “ What ?”
    I couldn’t believe how calm he was. “As far as any of them know, I’m her boyfriend. Remember? Even if they knew I had broken it off, which they don’t, I would still be a suspect.”
    “Holy shit!”
    “Jared, listen to me. I told them I was here last night with you. One of them will be by to talk to you to confirm my story.” He stopped now, looked right at me, and I knew what was coming. “Don’t tell them