Three Wrong Turns in the Desert

by Neil S. Plakcy

  Aidan still wore his suit pants, dress socks and shoes as Liam enveloped him in another big bear hug, pressing their bodies together. Aidan kissed Liam’s chin with tiny pecks, until Liam grabbed his head and brought their mouths together in a deep French kiss.

  Aidan groaned with desire and began fumbling with his pants. He couldn’t stand another minute with his dick so confined, with anything between his skin and Liam’s. The bodyguard took over, his steady fingers undoing Aidan’s belt, the clasp of the pants, the zipper. Free of constraints, the pants dropped to the floor, and Aidan’s dick jumped out the slit of his boxers.

  “Somebody’s happy,” Liam said, licking Aidan’s neck. Their bodies pressed together so that Aidan’s dick rubbed against Liam’s thigh. Aidan groaned and shivered. Liam reached down and grabbed Aidan by the bottoms of his butt cheeks, lifting him into the air, and Aidan kicked off his pants.

  There was something so sexy and almost forbidden to Aidan about wearing just his boxers, dress shoes and socks, like he was in some porn video of a businessman getting fucked by – who? A repairman? A professional athlete?

  Maybe a very handsome bodyguard.

  Aidan slung his arms around Liam’s neck as Liam carried him into the bedroom, still holding him by the butt. Aidan raised his feet and twined them together behind Liam’s back. “You are so damn sexy,” Liam whispered into Aidan’s hair.

  He laid Aidan down on the bed, then sat at the foot, sliding off Aidan’s left shoe. He began massaging the foot, pressing against the toes, the heel. Aidan shivered and bucked on the bed. Liam slid the sock off, then lowered his mouth to suck on Aidan’s big toe.

  He had never experienced anything like it. His breathing quickened and he felt sensations everywhere in his body. Liam slid Aidan’s right shoe off, repeating his procedure, then took Aidan’s dick in his mouth.

  Aidan couldn’t hold out for long. He panted and whimpered, making sounds he’d never heard himself make before. He tried to pull out of Liam’s mouth before he exploded, but the big guy held on until Aidan was shooting his load.

  “Sweet,” Liam said, licking his lips. “Just like I thought you’d be.”

  He scooted up the bed so his head was level with Aidan’s, and they kissed once again. Aidan reached down and touched Liam’s dick through the white cotton of the jockstrap. Liam had already been leaking precome in a big wet spot on the fabric.

  “My turn,” Aidan said, scrambling around so that he could put his mouth on Liam’s dick. He licked and kissed it through the jockstrap, and the bodyguard groaned and bucked his hips toward Aidan’s mouth. Aidan loved the feel of the ribbed fabric against his tongue, inhaling the spicy musk of Liam’s groin. If this were only happening in a locker room, he thought, life couldn’t be any better.

  He couldn’t hold out any longer; he needed to feel Liam’s dick pulsing down his throat. He pushed the fabric aside so Liam’s big dick popped out the side, then licked up and down it like a lollipop. Liam reached down and tousled Aidan’s hair. “That feels so good when you do that,” he said.

  Aidan had his mouth full so he couldn’t reply. He relaxed his throat muscles and took Liam in as far as he could. It wasn’t all the way, but Liam seemed to like it. Aidan bobbed up and down, licking and sucking. Every dick was different, he thought, as he did. Some were bigger, some smaller; some had pulsing veins, others a mushroom cap perfect for chewing.

  Liam’s was just right. It was thick, but not too thick; long, but not too long. It felt like the dick Aidan had waited his whole life to suck. But good as it was, there was more to do. He pulled back and took one of Liam’s balls in his mouth, sucking it, and the bodyguard squirmed and panted.

  Then the other ball. Then back to the dick. A few more long drags, and Liam was ready to explode. An old bumper sticker flashed into Aidan’s head just as Liam’s come rushed into his mouth. Mean people suck. Nice people swallow.

  Aidan swallowed.

  He pushed himself back up the bed so that he was cuddled against Liam, resting his head on the bodyguard’s chest. Both of them were covered in a sheen of sweat, and as he lay there, Aidan tried to remember the last time he’d felt this kind of passion.

  Had he ever felt it with Blake? He felt sure he had, years before, when they first began dating. But if he was honest with himself, those days were long past. He reached his hand down and rested it on Liam’s dick. Even in its resting state it was impressive in size. “I need a few minutes to recover,” Liam said. “Though it feels good to have you touch me.”

  His right arm stretched behind Aidan and around Aidan’s shoulders. It felt so good to lie there, inhaling the bigger man’s scent, letting his heart rate return to its norm. But he propped himself up on one elbow so he could get a better look at Liam’s body.

  “You like what you see?” Liam asked, a smile playing on his face.

  “Yeah,” Aidan said. “I liked what I saw when you were showering, too.”

  “When was that?”

  Aidan had to think for a minute. So much had happened in the last few days. “Friday afternoon.”

  “Friday? But Carlucci wasn’t shot until Saturday.”

  “I know. I couldn’t get the image of you naked out of my head. So I went back to the bar, and that’s when you showed up.”

  “When I mistook you for Carlucci.”

  “I’m glad you did,” Aidan said. “I’m not glad Carlucci’s dead, the poor guy. But otherwise we might not have ever met. Certainly not ended up like this.”

  He snuggled back down next to Liam, resting his hand once more on the bodyguard’s dick. This time he felt it responding. His own began to swell, too.

  “Think you can hold out longer in round two?” Aidan asked.

  “Round two, and round three,” Liam said. “Even round four.”

  “Sounds like a challenge.” Aidan rolled over onto Liam, straddling him, dick to dick. He lowered himself carefully, so that their dicks were still touching, and began to nibble at Liam’s nipple, turning it into a hard nub of flesh. He arched his back and began rubbing his body against Liam’s, their sweat acting as a lubricant.

  Liam did his part, sliding back and forth under Aidan, who balanced on his forearms and humped Liam’s body the way he’d fucked his teenaged bed, long before he’d ever touched another man. He remembered those days, when he first figured out how good friction against his dick felt, the surprise that something spurted out of its end and made his body shiver with passion.

  He put those memories to use, rubbing against Liam with increasing speed and pressure until he couldn’t stand the sensation on his tender dick, and both of them were moaning and panting and grabbing each other. Liam grabbed Aidan’s shoulders and moved with him, howling so loud the dog looked up from the floor in concern.

  Liam came first, with Aidan just a few seconds later. Aidan collapsed onto Liam’s body and the bigger man wrapped his arms around him. “So much for round two,” Aidan whispered into Liam’s chest.

  “Maybe we both need a rest before round three,” Liam said.

  Aidan slid off him and curled into his side, and they were asleep in minutes.

  15 – Departure

  The next morning, they woke next to each other in Aidan’s bed. Liam yawned and said, “Let me teach you a little Arabic. “Good morning is ‘Sabah il-kher,’ which means ‘morning of goodness,’ and the response is ‘sabah il-noor,’ which means morning of light.”

  Aidan tried it back to him. “Sabah il-kher.”

  Liam leaned over and kissed him. “Sabah il-noor. You are a good student.”

  “I’m accustomed to being the teacher, you know.”

  Liam pushed the sheets aside and rolled over on top of Aidan. “Oh, yes? And what do your students do when they want to get in your good graces?” He leaned down and teased Aidan’s nipple with his teeth.

  “Not that,” Aidan said, his body stiffening.

  Liam began to lick his way down Aidan’s chest. His tongue was rough, and the moistur
e he left behind evaporated quickly in the dry heat. As his tongue tickled Aidan’s belly button, Aidan arched his back and moaned.

  Then Liam’s phone rang.

  Aidan began to laugh. “Didn’t you shut that off last night?”

  Liam rolled off Aidan and reached for the phone. “Don’t move,” he said. “I’ll be back.”

  Aidan looked at the clock. It was almost eight, time for them to get started if they were going to head out into the desert. He hoped that Liam might join him in the shower, but no luck. He soaped down his body, feeling the tenderness in his thighs and ass, those muscles that hadn’t been used in a long time. He was as contented as a cat.

  He relished the water streaming over him. Would they be camping in the desert? Were there bathrooms and showers? He might as well enjoy these creature comforts while he could, even if he did have to enjoy them alone.

  When he walked into the kitchen, hair dripping, white towel wrapped around his waist, Liam was sitting at the table. He’d pulled on his shorts, but his magnificent chest was exposed, every light brown hair glowing in the morning light. “You moved,” he said.

  “Somebody’s got to be responsible here. You want to take a shower?”

  “In a minute. My contact thinks he knows who mugged us in the souk.”

  Aidan leaned against the wall. “Who?”

  “There’s a Libyan secret service agent in town, a man named Wahid Zubran. He’s been asking for favors from a man in the Tunisian police named Desrosiers.”

  “Is he the one who killed Carlucci?”

  “Don’t know. But from his description he sounds like one of the guys we ran up against. This Zubran always wears military-style shirts with epaulets.”

  “Libyan?” Aidan asked. “Didn’t Carlucci have a Libyan stamp in his passport?”

  Liam pulled it out of his pocket. “Yup. But I don’t know if there’s a connection.”

  “The Libyans have to be after the money,” Aidan said. “They knew that Carlucci was carrying that account number and password and they killed him for it.”

  Liam nodded. “Quite possible. That makes it even more important that we hook up with this tribe ASAP.”

  “Then get your ass in the shower so we can get moving,” Aidan said.

  Liam looked at his watch. “The next train isn’t for an hour. It’ll only take us a few minutes to get to the station.”

  He reached a big hand over and tugged on the towel around Aidan’s waist, which fell to the kitchen floor, leaving Aidan naked in the bright early-morning light streaming into the kitchen. Aidan’s dick was already semi-hard, and Liam took it in his mouth. Aidan’s ass clenched at feeling of Liam’s lips, and he tossed his head back and groaned. “Like that, do you?” Liam asked, pulling off for a moment.

  Aidan didn’t answer, because Liam swallowed him again, working his mouth up and down, suctioning, teasing the mushroom cap with his teeth. His skin was still damp from his shower, and it tingled as the breeze blew in from the open window. Liam grabbed Aidan’s ass and ran an index finger between his cheeks as he bobbed up and down on Aidan’s dick.

  Aidan lost himself in sensation, focusing on the warm wetness of Liam’s mouth, the roughness of Liam’s index finger probing his ass. Aidan felt himself pure sensation, no thought or logic. When his orgasm came, it ratcheted up from his groin, swelled through his heart, set every electrode in his brain humming.

  He slumped back against the wall as Liam pulled off him. “Guess I’ll take that shower now,” Liam said, standing.

  “Don’t you want...”

  “Consider it an IOU,” Liam said, shucking his shorts and tossing them on the sofa as he walked to the bathroom. “I’ll collect later.”

  While Liam showered, Aidan dressed and cleared up the apartment, placing the last few things he needed in his backpack. As Liam reassembled his duffle, Aidan took a last look around. It already looked like a place he was leaving—the forlorn sofa, rickety kitchen table, faded paint on the walls.

  Things hadn’t worked out the way he’d expected when he’d first walked in the apartment a week before. Then, he’d been thinking he’d be in Tunis for at least a semester, teaching ESL and hiding out from the possibility of any new relationship. He’d relished the challenge of making a life in this new place, and as a consequence, everything had looked new and fresh.

  Instead, his life had taken an unexpected turn. He’d always been a planner, the kind of guy who knew what movie he’d see that weekend, where he’d be living and working, what the future held. Now, he was forced to live in the moment, not knowing what might happen an hour ahead, and though he didn’t like it, he knew it was good for him.

  They decided it would be best for Aidan to hold Carlucci’s passport, since they looked so much alike. Aidan slipped the small book into his backpack and shouldered it as Liam hoisted his duffle. He locked the apartment door and left the key with the downstairs neighbor. He said goodbye to the dog, and wished her well. He hoped the next tenant would take her in.

  As the cab approached the modern, three-story train station, Liam leaned forward and said something to the driver in Arabic. “Police,” he said to Aidan under his breath. There were two police officers stationed by the front door, scanning everyone who passed.

  “Are they looking for us?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t want to risk it, though.”

  The cab driver took them past the station, and around the side. Liam opened his duffle and rummaged through it, pulling out a small leather case. The driver turned and spoke to Liam, pointing at a small door set deep into the wall, behind a waist-high concrete planter.

  “Shukran,” Liam said. He motioned to Aidan to get out. “Stay here,” he said, positioning Liam in the shelter of an empty city bus. “Keep an eye out for the cops.”

  He slung his duffle over his shoulder and walked around the planter, to the door. He tried the handle, and when it wouldn’t release he opened the small leather case and pulled something out of it.

  Liam was picking the lock, Aidan realized. He scanned the area, worried that a policeman, even an employee, would approach and challenge Liam. The side street was busy, taxis and private cars jockeying for space with pedestrians and tourists, horns blowing and lots of shouting in Arabic.

  Liam waved to Aidan as he popped the door handle. Aidan hurried over, hoisting his backpack on his back, and they slipped inside, to what looked like a service corridor. A door at the far end popped open, and Liam spun Aidan toward the wall and leaned down to kiss him.

  Aidan was stunned. Not that he minded being kissed, but surely this wasn’t the right time or place? He looked beyond Liam and saw an old man pushing a mop and bucket coming toward them. The man waved his hands and shouted in Arabic.

  Liam looked at the man and scowled, then grabbed Aidan’s hand and dragged him down toward the door the man had come through. The man shook his hand at them as they passed, but then turned and continued down the hall.

  “What was that about?” Aidan whispered, as Liam paused at the doorway, looking left and then right.

  “Didn’t want him to wonder what we were doing in that back hallway,” Liam said. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want my kisses anymore?” He grinned. “The way looks clear. Let’s get our tickets.”

  The station was busy, crowds of backpackers at the kiosks, whole families clustered on benches. Vendors sold tea, coffee and sweets. At the ticket counter, they had the choice between first class, which had air conditioning, and “comfort class,” also air-conditioned, but with larger, more comfortable seats. Liam bought the tickets there. “We’re tourists, remember?” he said. “Americans go for comfort.”

  They walked out to where metal piers the same bright blue Aidan had seen on grillwork throughout the city spanned the tracks. The train had not come in yet, so they stood back against the wall, sheltered by a news kiosk.

  A single policeman patrolled the tracks, though he was more interested in a pretty young Tunisian woman in a short
sundress than in who was waiting for the train. Liam’s phone rang, and he turned away to take the call. Aidan heard only Liam’s side of the conversation, which consisted mostly of things like “Wow” and “Are you sure?”

  When Liam hung up, he turned to Aidan. “My buddy checked the balance of that account. It took him a while to figure out which bank it was in, but once he did, the password got him right in.”

  “And?”

  “There’s a million dollars there.”

  “That’s a nice little relocation boost for this tribe,” Aidan said.

  “You bet. It’s also a nice little motive for murder.”

  16 – El Jem

  The train pulled into the station, sweeping forward a hot, dry breeze. The Tunisians bustled into second class, while most of the tourists and backpackers placed themselves in first.

  Since comfort class was so empty, Aidan and Liam had their own compartment, and as the train pulled out of the station Aidan asked, “What made you come to Tunisia?”

  “Circumstance and coincidence,” Liam said. “Much like you. I went back to the States after my discharge, but I didn’t feel comfortable there. I started looking around for some place to go, and I got in touch with everyone I thought might be able to give me a job. I’d met the guy I get work through on an operation a few years before, and he needed a bodyguard for an assignment. I came here, liked it, and stayed.”

  Aidan looked outside as the train moved through the outlying neighborhoods of Tunis and into the countryside. There were no fences beside the railway, and the hills were covered in bright yellow flowers.

  “Don’t you get lonely?” he asked. “For friends, I mean. Guys like your buddies in the Navy.”

  “Friends turn on you,” Liam said. “Don’t need them.” He looked Aidan straight in the eye. “So, with a name like Aidan Greene, I’m guessing you’ve got some Irish blood in you, but you don’t look the part at all.”

  “Not a drop. My grandfather’s last name was Grinshpun, but the immigration agent changed it to Greene at Ellis Island.”