With This Ring

Chapter 1 As he stood in line at the grocery store, Vic Braunson wished he’d thought to go shopping for New Year’s necessities earlier in the week. In his basket, he had various bottles of wine, some spreadable cheeses and gourmet crackers to put them on, fresh grapes, pineapple chunks, tortilla chips, fresh salsa… nothing that wouldn’t have held up in the fridge for a few days. But no, having the day off from work wasn’t enough reason for him to stay home. He had to let his lover Matt diLorenzo drag him out into the traffic and crowds that descended on shopping centers during any holiday. As if they hadn’t had their share of this madness the week prior, at Christmas. Now Vic waited in a line that he’d swear hadn’t moved since he pushed his cart into it, but a glance behind him showed he was luckier than most—the line stretched away down one of the aisles, with no real end in sight. At least Vic was close enough to the registers to think he’d get out of the store sometime before midnight. And he had reading material, if tabloids counted. He’d have someone to talk with, too, if Matt hadn’t run off to get a carton of eggs. “I’ll be right back,” he’d assured Vic…what, ten minutes ago? How long did it take to elbow through the old ladies crowding around the cold case? Vic felt someone staring at him and cast a mean glare around, only to find a small child in the next lane grinning his way. The child was a little girl, three or so, whose gossamer blonde curls peeked from beneath a blue woolen cap that matched her eyes. For a moment Vic studied her, unnerved. She reminded him of his sister, Mary, whom he’d last seen…when? God, he didn’t know how long it had been. Twenty years, easily, maybe more. Just thinking of her again bothered him. With a hooded expression, Vic glowered at the child. Her eyes widened at his pissy look, then she laughed and clapped her hands, as if he’d just done a trick. Under his breath, he growled softly. Her laughter broke around him like glass. Running a hand down his face, Vic stretched out with his mind and tried to find his lover’s consciousness in the mad rush of the store. ::Matty, where the hell did you get to?:: A warm rush of love filled Vic, causing him to stagger against his cart from the sheer weight of the emotion. He felt invisible arms encircle his chest, and his lover’s psyche pressed against him, heavy, unseen. ::Just grabbing a few things,:: his lover replied. An image flashed in Vic’s mind—the eggs Matt had gone off in search of but also a carton of milk, some wrapping paper marked down after the holiday, a few other items that looked like impulse buys to Vic. What more did they need to get? This was just supposed to be a quick stop to pick up some things to help ring in the new year… Vic saw Matt reach for a bag of freshly ground coffee. ::This is on sale,:: Matt told him, juggling the items he held in his arms to make room for the coffee. ::You like this kind.:: ::I’m getting lonely here,:: Vic admitted. Then, to his surprise, the line in front of him moved, bringing him a step closer to the register. ::Come on, Matty. I’m next in line.:: His lips tingled as if kissed. ::Be right there. This is a good deal, though. I can’t just pass it up.:: Vic groaned and rolled his eyes. Leave it to his lover to continue shopping when they were already halfway out the door. He’s lucky I love him like I do. In the lane beside him, the little girl laughed again. Without thinking, Vic dipped into her mind and found her name, Kayley. She was three, though in her thoughts, that number was associated with four fingers. She loved her cat, her mom, and the blue hat she wore, and for some reason when she looked at Vic, she thought of pink bubbles. Vic, with his shaved head, black tribal tattoo curved around one temple, and multiple piercings that winked from his ears and eyebrows. Vic, whose trim goatee gave him a devilish appearance and whose arms bulged with muscles beneath a black leather jacket covered with silver chains and spiked studs. Pink bubbles? What the hell? With a shake of his head, he dismissed her. Since he’d become telepathic, he’d realized most people didn’t have anything much going on inside their minds. Just random thoughts or snippets of songs or strange images Vic couldn’t begin to understand. It had taken him months to learn to tune all that s**t out. The only person whose mind he cared about was Matt’s. Which was fitting, really, since it was Matt who gave him the ability to read minds in the first place. It came from loving Matt, literally. Something in his semen sparked superhuman powers in Vic, for some reason neither of them had yet figured out. But since they’d been together, Vic had found himself the recipient of a plethora of abilities that seemed to come straight out of comic books. The telepathy was just one of them, and the most constant. It had appeared the first time they consummated their relationship, along with a super power that enhanced Vic’s already impressive strength. Before he met Matt, he could bench-press more than anyone else at the gym where he worked out. Now, after Matt? He could lift a city bus without breaking a sweat. They’d been together five years now. Vic had grown used to the powers, though every time they made love it was like a game of Russian roulette. What ability would he get next? In the beginning, Vic had thought the power he drew depended only on their position during s*x, but over time, he realized other factors came into play as well. What they wore, what they thought, where they were. s*x standing in the shower at home gave him the ability to fly, but a slower f**k in the showers at the gym made him phase through solid objects. Missionary style in the bedroom, Matt on top, made Vic invisible; the same position, on the living room floor, with Vic straddled above his lover, gave him a form of heat-ray vision that had burned his hands before he’d learned to control it. The powers ran the gamut from awesome to crappy, and more than once Vic had called in sick to work because of them. Vic thought them an annoyance, nothing more—he loved Matt, utterly and completely, and refused to let something as stupid as the powers bestowed upon him during s*x tear them apart. Matt, on the other hand, hated the powers, particularly when they put Vic in danger. But what was Vic supposed to do? Leave a woman trapped in her fiery car after a crash on the interstate, when he could tear through the metal and get her out? Ignore the pleas of children whose school bus dangled precariously on the edge of a bridge when he could hold the vehicle aloft with his mind while they escaped safely? Pretend he couldn’t help out when people so obviously needed him? The powers came from Matt, yes. They were his gift, Vic knew that. But when he found himself in a position where he was needed, where his abilities would save lives…how would he ever be able to live with himself if he turned his back on that responsibility?