Peekie Boo Friday...Wish Me Nothing

I love the Djin series I'm writing in my Other World collection—making up my own world for you to play in is fun...and so far the characters that have situated themselves into this world seem pretty darn fun too (save Shan, he's a PITA...lol). Want a peekie boo into this world I'm gushing over? Well all righty then...let's hit it...*air spanks*

Ar and Vaughn have a great relationship. When Vaughn makes a simple slip of the tongue, Ar's life is put in jeopardy. Whatever you do, don't say "I wish".

Ever hear the old saying "Be careful what you wish for"?

What happens if you find out that the Djin are not just fairy tales? That could be bad. Now, what happens if you find out that your boyfriend of a year and a half is a Djin? That could be worse.

In one fateful night, Vaughn Boggs's world is turned inside out. Not only does he find out his boyfriend, Ar, is keeping a life shattering secret from him. But when other Djin threaten Ar's life Vaughn has to work with Shan, Ar's lecherous brother, to find a way for them all to survive so they can see the next sunrise.

Vaughn isn't sure a human can take on the magicks of the Djin, and he definitely isn't sure he can trust Shan...but for Ar he's willing to wish that both are possible.

You can find Wish Me Nothing at

Breathless Press...Amazon...Barnes & Nobles...ARe

And now for your reading enjoyment...

Chapter One

Vaughn bucked his hips again. He groaned as Ar swallowed in time with his spurts, so caught up in the suction of Ar's lips around his prick that he almost forgot his role in their lovemaking.

As he slightly softened in his lover's mouth he moved his hand behind Ar's balls and applied pressure to the delicate skin there. Not happy with the minimal reaction he received from Ar, knowing that his boyfriend attempted to hold back, he stepped up his game and dragged his finger back and forth over the perineum in an erotic massage while tonguing the underside of Ar's cock. Suddenly his back hit the hard sand under the soft blanket while Ar aggressively fucked his mouth and made the best growling sounds imaginable.

Vaughn relaxed his jaw and allowed Ar to use his mouth, knowing he wouldn't take advantage of the situation, wouldn't hurt him. Damned if his lover didn't push the line, though, or in this case, throat. Ar's hips pistoned with such purpose; Vaughn held on to them and pressed his tongue up, massaging during each thrust. His lover's cock jerked a couple of times before Vaughn's mouth filled with the tangy liquid that he craved.

After thoroughly cleaning every drop, Vaughn turned around on the blanket and rested on one of the finest sets of abs he'd ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Addicted to touching his boyfriend, he never could do it enough. Thank God they both appreciated such simple pleasures.

Vaughn ran his fingers lightly up and down the furred thigh enticing him. Ar shifted and bopped Vaughn's head up and down. "Didn't we just do that?" He chuckled and finally settled down.

"Ha ha." He followed Ar's example and closed his eyes. The fading sun warmed Vaughn's skin. 

Dusk closed in around them, but neither hurried to pack up and make the short stroll to the beach house.

Ar lay there naked, seemingly without a care in the world. And in all reality he didn't have a care in the world. He owned this quarter-mile of beach along with the huge house up the embankment. Vaughn loved coming here on the weekends. His position at work landed him low man on the totem pole, so he always had his weekends free. His job didn't entail that much effort. Instead of bitterness about that fact, he relished it because it allowed him to venture to the coast and enjoy days like today.

At first Vaughn Boggs leaned toward the intimidated side when it came to Ar. The man did own a beach house on the coast as his second home. Really, Vaughn lucked out if he broke thirty grand a year at his job. How should he feel? But Ar had no problems with their financial differences. His bank book screamed wealth. He'd inherited more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes—his words, not Vaughn's.

He scooted closer and absentmindedly expanded the area he ran his fingertips over to include Ar's groin, reminiscing about how they first met almost a year and a half ago.

This idiot at his work had just received a huge promotion—which surprised and pissed off at least ninety percent of the company. The man was a moron at best, a narcissistic asshole at worst. But the even higher morons had chosen him over all the other actual qualified candidates to head up the Southeastern Regional Field. Vaughn's irked demeanor had nothing to do with that, though. He wasn't even remotely in the running for the promotion. He did have a problem with the fake promotion they gave him as the new boss's flunky. Day in and day out he had to cater to that man's swelled ego; hell on Earth would've entertained him more.

After his new boss celebrated his first week in his big shiny office, the damndest thing happened, though. While yes, the idiot did get the promotion of the century, the stress evidently broke his mind. That description best described his downhill spiral. He imagined people following him, kept the blinds down on his office window so they couldn't spy on him and constantly talked to the same they that he hid from. Finally he cracked and became a permanent resident of the psych ward, where he continually babbled about some old sixties show being real and the world ending as they knew it.

Since Vaughn held the coveted title of his gofer, the unsavory task of clearing out his personal items and returning them ended up on Vaughn's to-do list. He found the weirdest things in his boss's desk too, all kinds of bottles and fancy jars, bundles of dried herbs and flowers, numerous travel and folklore books with pages dog-eared and whole passages blacked out, rabbits' feet, salt, and a spiral notebook with gibberish scribbled all over it.

After he got it all boxed he drove it over to his boss's townhouse. There he met Ar, sunning himself next to the private pool in the backyard. At first Vaughn threatened to call the cops, but Ar explained that he half-owned the swanky townhouse and just wanted to enjoy it one more time before putting it on the market. Vaughn didn't buy his line, but this gorgeous stranger quickly whipped out proof that he just happened to carry on his person. Vaughn left the box there and said nothing as Ar rifled through it, laughing and making odd remarks about its contents. He just nodded and quickly took his leave, not really up to caring if a stranger enjoyed his ex-boss's predicament and private items.

He evidently made quite an impression on Ar, because from that evening forward Ar hounded him every day for a date. Vaughn wasn't interested in dating, since he still licked his wounds from a bad break up earlier in the year, but Ar bit down like a pit bull with a bone. After a couple of months he whittled Vaughn's defenses to nil and an agreement to have coffee one Saturday morning followed. Saturday morning coffee morphed into Saturday night dinner followed by Sunday morning brunch. Vaughn never regretted that decision.

A chilly breeze and the lack of heat on his skin clued Vaughn to the late hour. He tapped his fingers on his boyfriend's belly. "Honey, it's getting dark, maybe we should head back up?"

Ar smiled, but didn't open his eyes. "But I like staying down." He chuckled at his joke. "I want to stay out here with you."

"We can come back out here on Friday, I don't have any other plans. But it's Sunday and I have to get back to my apartment. I have work tomorrow and I hate not having everything laid out before I go to sleep."

"If you would quit your job we could come back out here tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that too." Ar finally opened his eyes and peered down at Vaughn. "I hate not having you during the week. It isn't fair to me, you know."

Vaughn rolled his eyes. "It isn't fair to me to have this discussion again. You're not my sugar daddy."

"I could be, if you let me."

Vaughn pushed off Ar's chest and vaulted to his feet, grabbing his shorts and roughly tugging them up his legs. He pressed the Velcro together at the top and turned to throw their picnic supplies in the basket. "You should thank me. I'm gonna do you a favor and forget that you said that." He shook his head and gritted his teeth, reining in his anger. "Jeez, Ar! You really...you just..." Running his hands through his sandy hair, he just shrugged in defeat. "You can stay here as long as you like; I'm getting my stuff and heading home. I don't want to crawl into bed at midnight again; you know how anal I am about setting my stuff out for the morning. I hate rushing against the clock."

He warily watched Ar stand up next to him and leisurely don his bathing suit, shorts and tank. Vaughn had to admit, if he ever decided to be a kept man, Ar would be the one he wanted to do the keeping. His toned body was easily nothing short of a miracle, his chest lightly furred and broad and his pecs firm and bite-able. Not to mention the way he filled out those white shorts could rewrite the whole sizing scale. Vaughn's jaw attested that he excelled in that area as well. His ass clenched with anticipation just thinking about the next time Ar's cock would use and abuse it, and Ar's thick legs put the power in each and every thrust.

He raised his eyes to Ar's face, and the smile awaiting him there made it clear that Ar guessed correctly what Vaughn daydreamed about. Ar thrust his hips out a bit and chuckled. "You know you want to stay here tonight. I could so make it worth your while. Come on, call in to work and let me have some fun with you."

Shaking his head to clear the lewd thoughts Ar's movements instilled, Vaughn insisted, "I don't have any sick days to call in to work with."

"Why are you acting so difficult? It's not like we just met and I'm asking the unthinkable. Over a year we've had each other. Quit that sad job and stay with me; they don't appreciate your talents like I do." He waggled his eyebrows at Vaughn.

That pushed the limit for Vaughn. If he stayed and tried to discuss this, it would end in a fight, and he didn’t want that. They only ever argued about his working and not living off Ar's money. Why couldn't Ar understand? Why did Ar assume everything should be a joke or game with no real responsibilities involved?

"I'll call you tomorrow after work. I'm not having this discussion again, though, so give it up."

He tossed the blanket into the basket on top of everything else, not worrying about the sand that got caught up in it, and then turned to walk away. A steel grip on his wrist jolted him to a stop. He glanced down at that hand and back up at his lover, raising his eyebrow in a non-verbal question.

"I will not give you up. Do you have any idea what I've risked to have you? Why did I have to fall for the one human that has values and morals? You are so damn lucky that I don't—"

"That you don't what, Ar? What am I so damn lucky you don't do?" This new twist to an old argument perplexed him. Vaughn couldn't even guess where it would lead. "And lay off the melodrama. Human? Really?"

Ar released his wrist immediately. "Nothing. I'm sorry, I just don't understand you. I have plenty and I want to share it with you. You'll never want for anything, I promise. None of this means a damn thing to me if I don't have you by my side. Fuck the houses, fuck the fancy cars, fuck this damned beach! Fuck it all if you aren't here with me. What else can I acquire that will convince you to stay? Tell me and I will get it, all you need do is wish it and I'll make it yours."

"Wish, hmm? So, let's role play tonight, and the role of my fairy godmother goes to..." He swept his hand in Ar's direction. "Because, I gotta tell you, that really doesn't do it for me, Ar." He chuckled to soften the words. "I wish for you to understand what it's like to have a job and responsibilities. To have to answer to someone in charge for a change instead of just always getting what you want when you want it."

Vaughn didn't understand why Ar's face suddenly froze in a horrified grimace. His words might have been mean, but not overwhelmingly so. Even more disturbing to him, the sun just vanished behind charcoal-gray clouds that appeared literally out of nowhere. The darkness enveloped them so completely that, if not for the sensors on the spotlights, they'd have been blanketed in pitch blackness. Of course Vaughn wouldn't be pondering his lover's overly dramatic expression if that happened.

Ar shoved him violently toward the beach house.

"What the hell?"

"Run! Get your ass into the house! Now!"

Vaughn stumbled and fell on top of their basket. It collapsed under his weight and he felt as well as heard something break inside. He slowly stood up and brushed himself off. "What the hell did you push me for? Because it's going to rain? You're really flying off the handle today, Ar." Vaughn tipped his head back and studied the dark sky. Rain, yeah, the only possible explanation he could come up with.

"Just do it, Vaughn. Trust me and get into that house now!"

"Now why would you want him to leave us so soon, Ar?"

Vaughn faltered as a huge hand appeared out of nowhere, fingers digging into the meaty part of his elbow in a crushing grip.

Chapter Two

"What the…? Where did you come from? Let go of me!" Vaughn jerked his arm, but the stranger's grip tightened and he couldn't break away. A sudden pinching pain forced him to glance down again. Blunt flesh-colored nails elongated before his eyes into claw-like blue talons pressing into his skin, the sharp points not quite puncturing, but almost. "You're hurting me!"

"Release. Him. Now."

Vaughn's heart and breath froze. He shifted his gaze from those blue talons and slowly turned toward his lover. He had never heard such an implacably menacing sound come from Ar before. He widened his eyes at the sight before him. The Ar that he knew and loved no longer stood on this beach; in his place a monster towered, a taller, wider, thicker and darker than his boyfriend monster. His skin didn't have the golden glow caused by the sun anymore. It appeared dense, like the tough hide of an animal, a deep blue/brown mixture. His eyes swirled the elements of fire and ice combined. His teeth jutted out, sharp, jagged and just slightly protruding over his thick blue lips. Long dreadlocks, a darker version of his blue skin, now replaced the beautiful, soft, ash brown hair that Vaughn loved running his fingers through and tugging on. His hands curled and uncurled with long pointed blue talons just like the ones causing the throbbing in Vaughn's arm.

A deep rumbling laugh vibrated through him. Almost too afraid to move, Vaughn somehow got his neck to obey his commands and swung his gaze to the man who held him. The stranger no longer possessed the muscle-bound body he did mere moments ago. He too had magnified in all ways possible, his skin a slightly lighter hue than Ar's.

"If you insist, traitor." He growled right before throwing Vaughn easily two dozen feet behind him.

The wind whooshed out of Vaughn as his back collided with the hard-packed sand, yet he still attempted to scramble to his feet. The fear coursing through his system worked better than any drug on or off the market; it helped him get past the inability to fill his lungs with air problem. He managed to roll over onto his hands and knees, and then glanced up to where he'd been standing. Those two huge things faced off against each other. Oh my God...it wasn't his imagination or some bad trip from his teenage years coming back to haunt him.

"If you ever touch him again I will take your head as a trophy." That came from the one that used to be Ar.

The other one shrugged, apparently not nervous about the threat. "You will try. But we both know that you are not worthy of a fight with me. When I'm done with you I will find out what is so interesting about that human that would make you sentence yourself to death."

"Get up and get your ass into the house now. Don't look back. Don't stop. Now go!"

Vaughn fell back on his ass when the voice floated through his mind. What the fuck? Ar's voice, without a doubt. But in his head? He finally managed to get his feet beneath him, wincing with pain. Stepping backward toward the house, he kept an eye on the two blue men.

"Take one more move away from me, human, and I will have your heart in my hand before your body hits the sand."

Not Ar. Vaughn stopped. Neither of them actually made eye contact with him, but both their attentions obviously focused on him.

"He's bluffing. Run now, damn it!"

"How the hell do I know he's bluffing!" Vaughn yelled at the voice in his head, or Ar, or both maybe?

"Ar, are you conversing with the human telepathically? Interesting, indeed. Look at your lover, human. This man you lie with, allow to enter your body, isn't a man. Can you trust he serves your best interest? He recognizes his path to die tonight. He will do anything to save his pathetic existence. Listen to me. I can assure you, I only desire to bring this traitor to justice for his crimes. You may leave as soon as I have your memories stored safely. Fight me on this and your demise is imminent."

Vaughn studied Ar again, who didn't take his gaze off the stranger. "I'm still Ar, the man you've loved for over a year. Don't talk... Please Vaughn, just trust me on this. I will keep him from hurting you but you have to help me. He wants you to stay with two monsters, I want you to run. You weigh it out."

With logic like that what could Vaughn do? He spun in the sand and hauled his ass as fast as his legs could take him toward Ar's beach house.

A huge growl erupted behind him followed by a loud crashing noise. A hand grazed his ankle, causing him to fall forward and scream. He face-planted in the sand and flipped over quickly in time to witness Ar dragging the other one away by his legs.

He watched as Ar spun in a circle holding the monster in his hands, spinning faster and faster, raising the monster higher until he finally released him. The creature sailed through the night sky, finally splash-landing hundreds of feet out in the ocean.

Vaughn slumped down in short-lived relief until he glanced up to Ar stomping towards him.

"When I fucking tell you to run you do it! Now come on, we have to get to the house."

He hauled Vaughn up with one hand under his bruised elbow and pushed him towards the house.

"Hey! I'm sick and tired of all the fucking manhandling." He turned to Ar and glared up into his fire and ice sparring eyes, then shrank back.

Ar might have loomed over him by at least two feet now, but Vaughn recognized the hurt his flinch put in those red and blue swirling eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but a bubbling noise coming from the ocean interrupted him.

The other one exited the water and ran toward them at a pace Vaughn couldn't imagine the bionic man matching. Without talking, Ar grabbed his wrist and headed for the beach house that he had fixated on since the stranger showed up.

Vaughn stumbled to keep up with him, but his legs and lungs were only human. When they got to the boardwalk he stopped to catch his breath.

"What are you waiting for? The crossing guard? Here's a tip, Vaughn. School is out and he wants our asses on a platter!" Ar pointed to the stranger shortening the distance between them.

Something inside Vaughn cracked. He didn't know if false bravado or just plain stupidity urged him on, but at this point he couldn't really care. "I have no fucking idea what you are, but I'm of the homo sapiens species and I need air!"

"You can breathe when you're safe, damn it." Ar grabbed Vaughn and threw him over his shoulder. Vaughn grasped Ar's waist with his fists, balancing to stay on the massive brute.

He craned his neck and noticed a blur of blue gaining on them. Thank God the beach house resided just on the other side of the boardwalk, whatever good getting there would do. This guy seemed pissed enough to take the whole house down.

Vaughn heard a loud cracking noise and then they tumbled across the floor in the sitting room. He jumped to his feet, ignoring the additional aches and pains to his body and peered out the now open doorway with the door in pieces, completely destroyed.

"How the hell do we lock him out now? We made it here for nothing!"

He glared at Ar, who took a step toward him, then halted. "Doors won’t keep him out. Did he hurt you? You okay?"

"I'll probably have a bruised ass, but I'll live." Vaughn squatted at the window to peek through the horizontal wood blinds. Yeah, ducking behind some wimpy glass eased his fear a bit. "I don't see him. Where'd he go?"

"It's not where he went; it's where we went. Back when I acquired this property for us I put an incantation on the house. Only humans and I can sense it and enter it.  He just witnessed us disappearing in front of him on a sandy beach. He no doubt can figure what just happened, but there's not a damn thing he can do about it. Probably on his way back to the others to plot out his next move."

"Spell? Others? Who are you?" Vaughn ran his fingers through his hair, closing his fist in it and tugging some to give him some focus. "No...what are you?"

Ar closed his eyes and tilted his head up and Vaughn watched him shrink, his skin losing the dark blue hue and returning to a lickable sun-kissed tan, teeth and nails receding into his body, normal size again. In front of Vaughn, with an expression of grief easily readable on his face, stood the man he loved. Vaughn gasped and Ar turned away from him quickly. He began speaking, his voice low. "Not really a spell, per se, more like a secret family recipe my grandfather handed down. A few words mumbled from a desperate monster who believed foolishly at one time that he could obtain happiness."

Ar turned to him again, the pain etched on this face tearing through Vaughn like a knife. "What am I, Vaughn? I'm a monster, a being that comes and plays with humans' lives and gets rewarded when I drive them to insanity. Your libraries with your books may call us genies or Djin, but they sugarcoat our true evil.

"And now the others have found me. You don't just turn your back on the Djin, not without consequences. I convinced myself that with enough time, maybe I was low enough on their radar that they wouldn't care. Tonight proves my error in thinking. They will stop at nothing to destroy their target. I'm not strong enough to fight them and win, but that doesn’t mean I'll allow them to have you. I will protect you with my last ounce of strength."

Oooooh...oh oh oh oh oh...don't forget to stop by Laura Harner's blog and Lee Brazil's blog too—they've got excerpts to share!

Another hot series I'm writing...Wicked's Way

Part of the Pulp Friction collection!