Woody
I saw the gun as the man hit me the last time, I quickly grabbed it. I’m not sure if he saw me pick it up as he raised the table leg above his head. I had no time to aim the gun, I just fired it. I saw blood splatter as he fell to the floor, hitting his head on the fireplace hearth.
I took a deep breath, he wasn’t moving, God, did I kill him?
I heard Harley yell for me, I quickly pulled him to his feet and said, “I’m here Harley, I think I killed him.”
Harley wrapped me in a hug and said, “you did what you had to do, it was self-defense.”
We sat on the couch and held each other, trying to calm down. I tried to wipe the blood from my face as the adrenaline began to wear off. I felt the pain set into my ribs again, it wasn’t nearly as bad as last time, but Harley hugging me caused me to wince.
Harley asked, “are you hurt?”
I said, “he got me a few times in the ribs again, I don’t think they are broken this time.”
He said, “I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful.”
I asked, “do you think Jack is on his way?”
Harley sighed, “I don’t know, we have no way to get ahold of him.”
I said, “should we try the walkie-talkie?”
He shrugged, “we could try.”
Just as I was trying to get up to get the radio, the front door burst open. Two men with their guns drawn rushed in.
The first one asked, “are you guys hurt?”
I said, “no, but I shot him.” I pointed to the other side of the room. The second man went over and put his finger on the man’s neck. He looked back at the first man and shook his head.
I asked, “is he…?”
He nodded, “yes, but we can worry about that later. Jack is on his way.”
Harley and I both breathed a sigh of relief as we learned that the two men were Hankins and Bowers, the two police officers that were there to guard us. They told us that the man I had shot was a police officer named Joe Baker. We told them what had happened, and they assured me that I would not be in trouble. Just as Harley had told me, it was self-defense. Hankins gave me some first aid as Bowers stayed by the front door, just in case Baker wasn’t alone. We were so relieved when Jack finally showed up and told us he was taking us home. He filled us in on Murphy and Mills being arrested and what part Baker played in the whole situation. After we told Jack that Baker was pissed about Sam not helping him get custody of his kids, Jack nodded his head.
He said, “he must have known just enough about you guys, he used the opportunity with Mills to get to you. We never even noticed that he left the station when we had Mills in the interrogation room.”
Harley asked, “so is my office ready to press charges against Murphy?”
Jack chuckled, “I don’t think they are going to get a chance.” He explained about the feds having a case for trafficking and tax evasion, and that Murphy would get more time on those charges than any charges he could file against him.
As we drove back to the city, Jack said, “I am so glad you guys are alright, I really am sorry about what I did. It was the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life. I honestly thought that Woody would just quit if Murphy threatened him.”
Harley asked, “yeah, how’d that work out for you?”
Jack sighed, “not very well, I know you’re pissed at me, and you have every right to be. I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that I go up before a review board next week.”
I asked, “what’s a review board?”
Jack said, “it’s a group of senior officers that will rake me over the coals for doing what I did.”
I asked, “will they do anything to you?”
He said, “they could do anything from nothing at all the way up to firing me. My Captain thinks they will at least suspend me, he’s just not sure for how long.”
I said, “I’m sorry you have to go through that, Jack.”
Jack chuckled, “after what I did, you’re sorry?”
Harley said, “yes, Woody is a kind, caring, compassionate man. He is very forgiving and only wants the best for other people, and you thought he was disposable.”
Jack sighed, “I didn’t think that at all Harley, shit, I guess I didn’t think at all. I don’t have an excuse, I royally fucked up. I can only tell you how sorry I am, I know that doesn’t fix anything. You guys have every right to be pissed at me forever, I can’t blame you.”
I said, “you brought me and Harley together, so thank you for that.”
Harley squeezed my hand as we rode the rest of the trip in silence.
Once we got back the city, Jack drove us straight to the hospital, so we could be checked out. The doctor shook his head as he looked me over, he said, “you need to pick on someone your own size, Woody.”
I chuckled, “you should see the other guy, Doc.”
After we had been checked out at the hospital, Jack drove us back to Harley’s house. He told us that there would be officers back in the house across the street for the night and as long as he felt it was necessary.
Jack said, “I have called Todd and Heather, they are on their way back, they should be here in the morning.”
Harley asked, “where have they been?”
Jack said, “they went to Todd’s sister’s place in Texas. Todd’s parents went with them, so they had a nice family reunion.”
I asked, “why didn’t Murphy go after them too?”
Jack shrugged, “we don’t know for sure. I don’t think Murphy made the connection between Harley and Heather.”
Harley asked, “but Todd worked in Sam’s office, didn’t Baker figure that out?”
Jack sighed, “the only thing we can think of is that Baker just acted on impulse. He really hadn’t planned on doing anything, but when Mills told him why he was looking for you, he decided to get his own revenge. We’re still trying to piece everything together, but we think that Baker snuck away when we were questioning Mills. He was able to convince Hankins and Bowers that I sent him to the cabin to deliver your supplies. I called them to tell them I was running late, and they heard the gunshot, that’s when they ran to the cabin to help you.”
I asked, “so are you sure we are safe now?”
Jack nodded, “yes, we have Murphy in custody, he is not being allowed to talk to anyone but his lawyer. I just talked to Ben, the detective that was with me when we came to the cabin, he told me that Mills is singing like a canary. As soon as we promised to protect him from Murphy, he was only too happy to tell us anything we wanted to know. Like I said, we have officers watching your house, just in case. Just don’t leave the house without letting us know.”
Harley sighed as he took my hand, “we don’t plan on going anywhere.”
Jack smiled, “I’ll stop by in the morning, I’ll need a little more information about the fight in the cabin, just for the official report.”
I asked, “will I be in trouble?”
Jack shook his head, “no Woody, everything we have, shows self-defense. Having a witness that works for the prosecutor’s office will also carry a lot of weight in their decision to file any charges.”
Harley said, “I’ll call my boss first thing in the morning and talk to him. I’m sure you will be fine Woody.”
Jack said, “you have nothing to worry about Woody. With Harley, Hankins and Bowers to back you up, I have no doubt you won’t be in any trouble. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
I locked the door after Jack left and I rejoined Harley on the couch, laying my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around me.
He asked, “are you ok?”
I sighed, “I think so.”
Harley held me as we sat in silence for a few minutes. I said, “I could really use a shower, would you like to join me?”
Harley grinned, “I would love to.”
I took his hand and led him to the bathroom. We stood next to the shower kissing, only pausing long enough to rip each other’s clothes off. I turned the water on as hot as we could stand it, the heat soothing my bruises. We continued kissing as the stress began to drain from my body, holding Harley was all the therapy that I needed.
Harley broke our kiss and began to nibble on my ear, causing a sigh to escape my lips. He kissed my neck as he went to his knees, leaving a trail of kisses all the way down my torso. He only stopped to give my erect nipples a gentle love bite. Once he kissed down my stomach, I took a deep breath as Harley flicked his tongue across the head of my over stimulated love stick. I moaned as he took me to the root and his nose was buried in my pubes. God, he gave amazing blow jobs. I had my hands on the back of his head as he bobbed up and down and my eyes rolled back in my head. He had me close to blowing my load, so I pulled him to his feet for another make out session. It was now my turn to kiss my way down his chest and stomach. As much as I loved Harley sucking my cock, I enjoyed sucking his just as much. I wrapped my lips around his pole as I fondled his nuts with one hand and probed his ass with the other. Harley moaned and spread his legs slightly, giving me more access. He tightened his grip on my shoulders as my finger sank into the first knuckle. I continued to suck his dick as I worked in a second finger. Harley groaned as he pulled me to my feet, we shared another passionate kiss.
He said, “let’s finish our shower and take this to the bed.”
We fell onto the bed, our lips locked together. Harley broke our kiss and panted, “I need you inside me.” I smiled as I once again kissed my way down his magnificent body. I gave his rock-hard cock a few more licks then pushed his legs in the air. Harley’s sexy pucker gave me a wink as I dove in tongue first. I worked over his hole, leaving my slobber and spit for what was to come next. Once he was good and wet, I aimed my missile at its target. I kissed him as I slowly sank in until my nuts were tight against his ass. Harley let out a deep breath as I hit his sweet spot, and I began to piston in and out. Our moans were now coming in perfect harmony, we were both close to the point of no return. I heard Harley mutter an “oh God” then felt his cock begin to spasm between our stomachs. His seed began to coat our abs as he fought for breath. His ass muscles contracting around my cock, sent me over the edge and I exploded, filling Harley with my creamy white goodness. I lay on top of him for a few minutes while we both caught our breath.
I rolled to Harley’s side and wrapped my arms around him. He smiled, “it’s good to be home.”
Harley
I woke up the next morning, Woody snuggled against me, in the small spoon position. My morning wood nestled in the warmth of his sweet ass crack. I smiled as he wiggled that ass against me as I kissed the back of his neck.
I said, “good morning.”
He turned to give me a kiss and said, “morning, did you sleep well.”
I nodded, “yes, it certainly is nice to be back in my own bed.”
Woody said, “yes, it is. Would you like me to make you some breakfast?”
I laughed, “do you think we have any food in the house that isn’t spoiled?”
He chuckled, “I hadn’t thought of that, I guess I should go check.”
We cuddled for a few more minutes, then reluctantly got out of bed and got dressed. I sat at the table as Woody said, “at least we have coffee.” As he started a pot brewing, I heard him looking through the cupboards and the fridge.
He sighed, “I can’t even make you a bowl of Corn Flakes, this milk is way past expired.”
I laughed, “well, you could run down to the store for a loaf of bread, I wouldn’t mind some toast.”
He said, “oh no, it’s your turn to go get the bread, I didn’t have the best experience last time.”
I laughed, “coffee will fine, we can go get some groceries later. Jack will probably be stopping by soon. I expect Heather and Todd to be here as soon as their plane lands too.”
Just as Woody gave me my cup of coffee, there was a knock at the door. Woody unlocked the door, and I heard him say hi to Heather.
She gave him a hug and said, “well, I see you went out and got yourself some new bruises.”
He chuckled, “yeah, this has been happening a lot since I started hanging around Harley.”
Heather came into the kitchen and gave me a hug and said, “I brought breakfast, I figured you hadn’t had time to go to the store.”
I said, “yeah, for some reason Woody didn’t even want to go get a loaf of bread.”
Heather said, “can you blame him?”
I said, “it’s ok, he probably would have burned it anyway.”
Woody sighed as he set a cup of coffee in front of me and said, “someone is going to get a lap full of hot coffee very soon.”
Heather chuckled, “it’s good to know things haven’t changed between you two.”
As I heard Heather set a bag on the table, I heard a little voice say, “Uncle Harley, why do you have a black eye?”
I hadn’t even thought about me having a black eye from when Baker hit me. I smiled and said, “hey Blake, and I assume Brianna is here too.”
Blake said, “yeah, she is, so, why do you have a black eye?”
I chuckled, “Woody and I couldn’t agree on what to watch on TV last night, so we duked it out. Check him out, can’t you tell that I won the fight?”
Blake laughed, “yeah, he looks a little worse.”
Brianna asked, “who’s Woody.”
Heather said, “that’s right, you guys haven’t met Woody. He is staying with Uncle Harley to help him out for a while. Woody, this is Blake, and this is Brianna. Guys this is Woody.”
Woody said, “it’s nice to meet you both.”
Brianna asked, “did you and Uncle Harley really have a fight.”
Woody chuckled, “well, sort of, but we were just play fighting. In a real fight I would have kicked his a… I mean butt.”
Heather laughed, “ok, maybe we should have breakfast, kids sit up to the table.
Heather had picked up a breakfast pizza, she started to dish out slices for the kids, Woody gave me a slice. Woody filled a cup of coffee for Heather, she had also brought some orange juice for the kids.
As we all started to eat, Blake asked Woody, “are you a friend of Uncle Harley, like Uncle Sam was?”
I nearly spit out the coffee that I had just drank. After Woody stammered for a few minutes, I decided to come to his rescue. I said, “We like each other a lot, Blake. At least I like Woody a lot, so we are still trying to figure all of that out.”
Blake whispered to me, “but how do you know that you like him, when you can’t see him.”
I chuckled, “well, I have gotten to know him very well over the last few weeks. I don’t have to see him to know that I like him.”
Blake again whispered, “but Uncle Harley, he’s…”
Before he could finish, Heather jumped in, “Blake!! That’s enough.”
Blake said, “but mom, I was just going to tell Uncle Harley that Woody is really short.”
I burst out laughing, out of the mouths of babes. I was just relieved Blake was more worried about Woody’s height, than the color of his skin. I said, “what? He’s short! No wonder my punches never landed when we were fighting, I just thought he was ducking.”
Woody was also laughing, he said, “I was ducking. Remember, I am a lot quicker than you, old man.”
I chuckled, “there it is, I was wondering when you were going to bring that up.”
Heather sighed, “ok, everyone just eat your breakfast.”
I took another drink of my coffee, I asked, “so where is Todd?”
She said, “he wanted to stop by his office, he should be here soon.”
We heard another knock at the door, Woody went to answer it and let Jack Harrison in.
Jack joined us in the kitchen, Woody asked, “would you like a cup of coffee?"
Jack said, “yes, thank you.”
I asked, “so what’s going on Jack?”
He said, "well, the Feds have enough to file charges on Phillip Murphy for the sex trafficking. Your office is still looking over things to see if they can file anything. Mills did tell us that Murphy was there when they beat Woody up, but that probably isn’t enough to hang an assault charge on him. Oh, and Mills did tell us why he beat you up Woody.”
Woody asked, “other than to give Harley that message?”
Jack said, “yes, the plan was just to talk to you, like he did the others. You pissed him off when you hit him with that milk crate, apparently Mills has anger issues.”
I asked, “you mean they probably wouldn’t have beat up Woody, if he hadn’t swung that milk crate.”
Jack said, “that’s what Mills told me, Murphy just wanted to get a message to you, Harley.”
Woody sighed, “it was just a reflex, I learned a long time ago the best way to defend yourself was to get in the first punch.”
Jack chuckled, “well anyway, The Feds have a much stronger case than we do, and it will send him away for a long time anyway. As far as Mills goes, he admitted to beating Woody up and is still talking, he’s cooperating with the Feds. I think he’s trying for a reduced sentence, but he’s also in pretty deep with all the other stuff Murphy was involved in, so he will do some serious time.”
Woody asked, “what about Baker?”
Jack said, “we’re still working on that. Ben Carlson is talking to Sam’s law firm right now. We did confirm that Baker had hired Sam to represent him in his child custody case two years ago. He was pissed when Sam dropped him when Sam learned that he abused his kids. The wife was awarded sole custody after that. We also have found out that Baker had been on Murphy’s payroll for the last six months, or at least he was working with Mills. He was feeding him information on our investigation, Mills would relay the info back to Murphy, so he was always one step ahead of us. Baker knew about Harley and Sam’s accident being set up by Murphy and was the first on the scene. He planted a bottle of booze in the car that hit you guys. That was why we assumed it was a drunk driver accident at first. Baker got the location of the cabin during the set up with Mills yesterday and snuck out of the station while we were interrogating Mills. Baker was glad that Sam was dead, but then Mills mentioned that Murphy was offering 25 grand to anyone who would take out Harley. Baker decided he deserved that money for losing his kids, he knew where you were, and he figured we would just assume Mills or Murphy were the ones that got to you in the cabin. Woody was just collateral damage.”
I said, “yeah, a lot of people seem to think that.”
Jack hung his head, “yeah, sorry.”
Heather said, “so Baker was satisfied that Sam was gone, but got greedy and wanted to finish Harley off?”
Jack nodded, “yep.”
She asked, “but why did Murphy think killing Harley would help get his brother out of jail?”
Jack said, “he knew it wouldn’t get Paul out of jail, but being the narcissist that he is, he thought it would send a message to the prosecutor’s office. He assumed that if killed one the lawyers that put his brother away, the prosecutor’s office would just leave him alone after that.”
Heather asked, “so, Harley and Woody are safe now?”
Jack said, “yes, Murphy’s organization has collapsed, all his guys are talking, trying to get the best deal that they can. We are keeping the house across the street until we are sure everything is good.”
I said, “thanks Jack, I appreciate the update.”
Jack said, “you’re welcome, I’m glad things have turned out like this. Again, I want to say how sorry I am for how I handled the case, as far as Woody was concerned. My boss has already chewed my ass for not getting Harley to a safe house as soon as the first caretaker reported that Murphy had threatened her. I hope the review board shows me at least a little mercy.”
I sighed, “well, I probably would have resisted going to a safe house sooner, but you really should have at least told me what was going on. I guess I should thank you for bringing Woody into my life.”
Jack chuckled, “you’re right Harley, I should have kept you informed. So, is there something going on between you two?”
Woody jumped in, “we’re still talking about that.”
Jack said, “good luck. I need to get back to the station, I’ll give you a call with any more updates. Woody, we may need you to testify if Mills’s case goes to trial.”
Woody said, “of course, anything you need.”
As Jack was leaving, Todd walked in, they talked for a few minutes. Woody poured Todd a cup of coffee as he joined us for breakfast.
I asked Todd, “did you learn anything at your office?"
Todd said, “pretty much the same thing that Jack just told you. I never saw Baker when he was working with Sam, but I do remember Sam talking about dropping him as a client at one of our staff meetings. I knew that Baker was pissed, and they had to physically throw him out of the office, but the partners all backed Sam’s decision.”
As Todd filled us in on few more details, I got a call from my boss, Lyle. I went to the other room to talk to him. He also told me mostly the same thing that Jack had. We were filing charges against Mills for the assault on Woody, but we were letting the Feds take the case against Murphy.
I said, “yeah, that’s what I figured. So, what about Woody, you aren’t filing any charges against him, are you?”
He said, “no, we have all the police reports, he acted in self-defense.”
I sighed a breath of relief, “thanks Lyle, Woody will be glad to hear that.”
Lyle said, “I do have some more good news.”
I asked, “what is that?”
He said, "while you were on your little vacation, we got the rest of the vision impaired software installed on your computer. You should be able to do your job, whenever you are ready to come back to work. I can’t promise you will be a lead right away, but I know Dave could use some help on his cases.”
I said, “that’s great Lyle, I am ready to get back at it.”
Lyle said, “of course, you can’t work on the case against Mills, but Dave is working a kidnapping case that you would be a big help on.”
I said, “I’ll call you by the end of the week to let you know when I’ll be back. Thanks Lyle, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me these past months.”
He said, “you’re welcome, looking forward to having you back.”
I was smiling as I returned to the kitchen and told everyone the good news, both about no charges being filed against Woody, and me being able to return to work.
Todd said, “that’s awesome Harley. Now that you’re back to work, we can help Woody find a job and place to live and we can all get back to our normal lives.”
To be Continued…
Special note:
Thanks to Dano67, for catching that Inglish93 had not been posting lately. Unfortunately, we learned that Inglish had passed away last week. Inglish has helped me a lot as I wrote Harley for this story, being vision impaired himself. I just wanted to send a big thank you to him and wish his family and friends peace during a difficult time. RIP Inglish93.
