Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

and headed back to the living room with a soft, "Nite."
    As the door closed behind him, Samael just stared at it. "Good night, Little Raven."
    CHAPTER 3
    Brandon had a hard time falling to sleep; he stayed in a semi-doze world, where his mind could still twist and turn over the problems that he needed solutions for. He couldn't seem to turn down the noise enough to drift off. Finally, after hours of torture, he slept, only to dream a crazy mix of reality and fantasy. Sex with DJ Jammin' who turned into Samael, only for them to be interrupted by Carlos and his goons, who then transformed into… angels?
    He startled awake to a noise that couldn't be placed in the dream, and sat up drenched in sweat. What the fuck? Removing the sheet, and swinging his legs until his feet touched the floor, he glanced around the room trying to remember where he was. Couch. Company. Right. He scrubbed his face with both hands, pushing back his hair; then jumped when a shout came from his bedroom, startling him. Bran stilled and listened hard, hearing the bed springs squeak and rustling noise, followed by a loud "No."
    The normal internal struggle started. Should I stay or should I go? Would he want me to help? Would he hurt me if I tried? Finally, he decided that he would want someone to wake him up and be there for him if he was stuck in a nightmare. Gathering his courage, he stood and carefully maneuvered his way to the room.
    Samael was tossing and turning, groaning and murmuring nonsense. Bran put a hand on the arm closest to him and shook it gently. "Hey, Sammy. Hey, wake up."
    Then déjà vu', he was on his back and the heavy weight of Sam was on top of him.
    "Whoa, it's okay. It's just me." He tried to look up into the man's face, but it was too dark to see much except shadows. "It's Brandon… remember, you're in my house. I got you out of the alley?" He was rambling, but he didn't know if the guy would recognize him or instead pummel him in his half-awake state.
    "Brandon?" A gruff voice came out of the dark.
    "Yeah, it's me. You were having a bad dream, I think."
    Before he knew it, he was wrapped up in Sammy's arms, with the man's face wedged in his neck. "Hey, it's all right." He was patting the guy's shoulder, stupidly, but he didn't know what else to do.
    "I dreamt… I dreamt…"
    The big man blew out a hard breath and then continued in a whisper. "Half of it was real, and half was not, but all of it was bad."
    Bran had suspected that the man had gone through some rotten shit before he met him, but the verification of it had his chest hurting in sympathy. Maybe they could help each other.
    "You want to tell me about it?
    Samael shook the head still wedged in the crook of Brandon's neck. "Just… stay with me." It was a statement and a question rolled into one, and Bran could hear the vulnerability in it.
    "Okay." They each shifted until Sammy was spooning him. The strong arms around him drew him in close. Once his butt was wedged in just the right spot, Bran had second thoughts. How was he going to keep from getting hard this way? What would Samael say if he discovered it?
    Almost immediately, the soft, steady breathing ruffling his hair put him at ease, and within a few minutes, he'd fallen into a nice, dreamless sleep.
    ****
    Samael was warm, almost too much so, but he was comfortable and didn't want to move. There was a delicious scent tickling his nose, and he felt absorbed into the mattress. He hadn't slept that well in ages.
    He squeezed his arms tight around the pillow he held, and the thing moved and let out a groan. Frozen, he tried to remember what happened the previous night. It took him a moment, but he recalled the nightmare and Brandon coming into the room.
    Last night, the only thing that had concerned him was keeping the man beside him safe. He had dreamt of his fall, of Gadreel finding him, and hurting Brandon. It was so vivid, and so horrifying, that he'd just wanted to stay together. Then if something came at them, he could fight it. In the light of morning, however, it was somewhat strange… but not in a bad way.
    Samael had never lain with a man before, neither in a sexual nor nonsexual context. It was not uncomfortable though. In fact, he found he liked it. Perhaps too much. There was a trembling in his lower stomach and his morning erection was trapped between the cheeks of Bran's rear. Even with clothes on, it seemed to want to wedge itself there. Actually, it felt really good, especially when