Touching Frost (A Crack in the Ice: Post-Apocalyptic Tales of Man-Love Book 2)

by Harde,Leigh

  “For what?” Jessie asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “For wanting me I guess.”

  Jessie didn’t know what to say. “Elijah, I…,” he started.

  “I’m going to go take a shower,” Elijah said before he could finish. He gave him a quick kiss and got out of bed.

  Elijah finished his shower, and Jessie took his place. He could hear Grant and the Mayor in the kitchen as he got dressed. When he walked in to greet them, Grant grabbed him up and swung him around.

  “Good morning,” he said with a big smile and kissed him.

  “Good morning,” Elijah laughed. “You’re in a good mood.”

  “It’s a good day,” he said. Grant felt great. He always did after the Mayor corrected him. That’s when he felt his most relaxed and loved. The Mayor had likewise freed him from the burden of Cole and Elijah’s happiness. He wanted Grant to trust him and so he would. It seemed so simple after last night.

  “Good morning,” Mitch said. “Sit down. I’ll get you some breakfast.” Elijah sat at the table, and Mitch put a plate down.

  Jessie walked in, and Grant kissed him too. “So I noticed you both needed another shower this morning,” he waggled his eyebrows at Jessie.

  Jessie smiled, and Elijah blushed. Jessie sat down beside Elijah and put a hand on his thigh under the table. As they started eating, Elijah noticed Grant was standing up propped against the counter.

  “Come sit down,” he said indicating the empty chair beside him.

  “No time,” he said. “I want to get an early start working out this morning.” As emphasis, he finished off his juice and put the glass in the dishwasher. He gave Jessie and Grant a quick peck but shared a lingering kiss with the Mayor before he left.

  Grant was halfway through his workout when Cole arrived at the gym. The Mayor was adamant about their physical fitness. He monitored what they ate and how long they exercised each day. Cole had said more than once that he was in the best shape of his life thanks to the Mayor. Almost every morning they worked out with weights, and in the evenings they took turns on the treadmill. He allowed Jessie a pass on the weights though because both Jessie and the Mayor preferred him being small.

  That morning, the Mayor had to repair one of the cisterns that had been malfunctioning and couldn’t join them. By the time Cole had finished, Grant was already in the shower.

  Cole sat down by their lockers after his workout. He was about to take a shower himself when Grant walked out to get dressed. His mouth fell open, and his eyes widened when he saw Grant naked.

  “Tell me he didn’t do that,” Cole said shocked. Grant sighed and turned away.

  “Oh,” Cole said. He put a disbelieving hand to his mouth.

  Grant was proud of the bruises that decorated his muscular thighs and butt. Each painful twinge was a loving reminder of the Mayor that he hoped would last. But he should have considered how Cole might perceive things. He was relatively new to their way of life. Grant could only guess what was going through his mind. “Hey, it’s ok,” he said trying to placate him.

  “No,” Cole said. He jumped up from the bench and turned his back to Grant. His body was stiff.

  “Cole, you don’t understand,” Grant said to his back.

  “You’re right,” Cole said. “I don’t.”

  Grant tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but Cole shrugged him off. He stormed out of the gym. Grant was afraid he knew where he was going and hurried to get dressed.

  Mitch had managed to fix the cistern, and he stopped in the breakroom to make a cup of coffee. Cole entered, and he could feel the anger radiating off of him like heat.

  “Why?” he spat.

  The Mayor propped his butt against the counter and sipped his coffee. He stared at Cole with mismatched eyes.

  When he didn’t answer, Cole said, “I saw what you did to Grant.”

  “What did I do to him?” the Mayor asked deceptively calm.

  Cole had been so upset as he’d searched for the Mayor that he hadn’t really considered the consequences of his actions. It was only now that the Mayor’s full and undivided attention was focused solely on him that he realized the foolishness of what he had done. Fear made his mouth go dry, and he nervously licked his lips.

  “Well?” the Mayor prompted when he didn’t respond.

  “You hurt him,” Cole said in a small voice.

  “Is that what he told you?” the Mayor asked.

  “No,” Cole said and swallowed. “He didn’t have to. I saw the bruises.”

  “I’m sorry, Mayor,” Grant interrupted as he entered the breakroom. He was out of breath after looking for them. “I tried to explain.” Cole was glad to see Grant. He shot a panicked glance his way.

  “It’s ok, Grant. You didn’t do anything wrong,” the Mayor said. He still had his eyes on Cole. “Give us a few minutes, please. Cole and I need to talk.”

  Grant really didn’t want to leave them alone together. Especially since he felt like this was all his fault. But he couldn’t see that he had a choice. They shared one last desperate look between them, and Grant left.

  “Come here, Cole,” The Mayor ordered him.

  Cole’s father had left when he was a baby, so it had just been him and his mom growing up. She’d had to be everything including the disciplinarian in the family. Once in a blue moon, when he had finally pushed her beyond her limits, she would grab an old belt that his father had left, and he’d catch hell. But he had never felt such dread walking toward her as he did walking toward the mountain of muscle leaning against the counter.

  Once Cole stood in front of him, the Mayor surprised him by pulling him close between his legs and wrapping his big arms around his back. He cradled Cole’s head against his massive chest. Even though Cole was still nervous, he began to relax in the Mayor’s comforting embrace.

  “It makes me happy that you’re so protective of Grant,” the Mayor said in his ear. “But it’s my job to take care of all of you. Grant behaved inappropriately last night, so I punished him—just as I’ve punished you before.” He stroked Cole’s back soothingly with his hand.

  “But you’ve never… Not like that,” he said to the Mayor’s chest.

  “Did you ever feel that I punished you when you didn’t deserve it?” the Mayor asked.

  “No.” Cole’s answer was quick.

  “Did you ever feel that I used more force than you deserved?” Cole thought for a moment and slowly shook his head.

  “If the offense merits it,” the Mayor said, “I will punish you. That’s how much I care about you.”

  Cole’s body tensed a little. “Are you going to punish me now?” he asked.

  “Do you think you deserve it?”

  “I don’t know,” Cole said. Then, “Yes.”

  “Why?” the Mayor asked him.

  “Because I questioned you about Grant,” he said. The Mayor continued to rub little circles on his back. After a moment, Cole said quietly, “Because I doubted you.”

  “Yes,” the Mayor said grimly. He pushed Cole back some so that they faced each other. “I’m afraid that is a serious offence.” Cole dropped his eyes, and the Mayor led him unresisting from the breakroom.

  They ended up back at the Mayor’s quarters. Elijah and Jessie heard the door open and came to greet them.

  “Elijah Frost, this is Cole Mathews.” The Mayor introduced them to each other.

  “Nice to meet you,” they both said almost in unison.

  “Jessie, why don’t you show Elijah around the Colony today. And make sure to take him to the gym—I think tomorrow he should start working out with us.”

  Jessie’s attention was focused on Cole as the Mayor spoke. He was sweaty and nervous and wouldn’t meet his eyes. Jessie didn’t know what had happened, but it wasn’t good.

  Jessie wasn’t dumb either. He knew that the Mayor was trying to get rid of them. Elijah had fallen asleep as quick as his head hit the pillow last night, but Jessie had laid awake listening t
o the faint sounds of Grant crying. He couldn’t stand the thought of Cole being put through that. He wasn’t like them. They needed discipline. They needed the Mayor. But it wasn’t fair to force this on Cole.

  He wanted to say something—to grab Cole’s hand and pull him back into the hallway away from whatever the Mayor had planned. But years of submission, both with the Mayor and others, kept his hands by his side and a smile on his face.

  “Yes, Mayor,” he said. And he and Elijah left them alone.

  Jessie felt tears prick his eyes as he led Elijah down the hallway outside the Mayor’s quarters. He knew that the Mayor would never really hurt Cole, but he would break him. It was inevitable, and probably necessary. But it made him desperately sad. He had to clear his throat to speak.

  “So all these doors lead to small living quarters,” Jessie said. “There are five of them, and we all have one. This one’s yours.” He stopped in front of a door and pushed it open.

  Elijah knew he had missed something. Jessie was acting strange, and he looked like he was about to cry. They entered his quarters and walked into a small furnished living room. He could see a small kitchen in the back. To the left was a bedroom with a full size bed and a bathroom with a shower. It wasn’t much next to the Mayor’s quarters, but it was a palace compared to the bomb shelter.

  “This is great,” Elijah said. Jessie gave a half smile, and they exited back into the hall. Elijah grabbed one of his arms and stopped him.

  “What’s wrong?” Elijah asked.

  Jessie looked up at him. “Are you happy here?” he said. “I mean, if you could leave—If you had somewhere else to go, would you?”

  Elijah jerked back like he had been slapped. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

  Jessie shook his head. “Please, I need to know, would you leave if you could?”

  “No,” Elijah said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I love you.” His big brown eyes were shiny. “All of you.”

  “Oh, Elijah. I’m sorry,” Jessie said and hugged him. “I just needed to make sure. I love you too.”

  The Mayor waited for Jessie and Elijah to leave before walking to his bedroom. He didn’t have to look behind him to know that Cole followed.

  His Cole—the Mayor thought—always a challenge. He had been very pleased with the progress they had made lately, but their confrontation earlier proved that there was more work to be done. They entered the bedroom, and the Mayor walked to a chifforobe. He opened the double doors. Inside was an array of paddles and various other instruments of punishment.

  “Come here,” The Mayor ordered.

  When Cole saw what was inside, his first instinct was to hide in the bathroom and lock the door. But he made himself go to the Mayor.

  “Which one do you think you deserve?” he asked.

  They all looked painful, Cole thought with dread. His eyes moved swiftly over them until he focused on one in particular. The Mayor noticed his interest and pulled it off a hook it was hanging on.

  “Yes, this’ll do,” he said.

  Seeing the brown belt in the Mayor’s hand was terrifying. Cole felt like he was still at home and had just been caught skipping classes. He watched as the Mayor brought a padded chair to the middle of the bedroom.

  “Take off your clothes and bend over the chair,” he told him.

  Cole broke out in a cold sweat. The Mayor had spanked him before, but always with his bare hand. He started undressing slowly. Once he was naked, he looked to the open door of the bedroom trying to judge its distance in his head.

  “Cole,” the Mayor said sharply bringing his attention back to him. “Don’t make me come over there.”

  Cole kept his head down as he walked to the Mayor. The Mayor turned him to face the chair and pushed him forward with a hand on his back. He was resting on his forearms with his butt in the air. He had never felt so exposed even when they were about to have sex.

  He wasn’t sure what he had expected. Maybe that the Mayor would pull his strikes and take it easy on him. But there was nothing easy about the first lash of that belt or the second or the third. His eyes were squeezed shut, and tears were starting to leak from the corners. He put a protective hand back to cover his aching butt.

  “Remove your hand, or I’ll have to bind you,” the Mayor warned him.

  “Wait. Please. Just a minute,” Cole begged.

  “You will finish your punishment, Cole,” he said without sympathy. “One way or the other.” Cole brought his hand back down and gripped the chair. The Mayor continued, and he started to sob in earnest.

  Cole had always prided himself on not being a cry-baby. All that emotional crap was embarrassing and unmanly in his opinion. But even after the Mayor had stopped his punishment and picked him up to cradled him in his lap on the chair, he couldn’t stop crying. It wasn’t the pain of the whipping, that was already fading. It was just that everything he had tried so hard to shove down came bubbling up to the surface.

  He missed his mom. It was stupid he knew. He was a grown man. But she had always been there for him even through his divorce. She was the one constant he could always count on, and he had lost her and everything else ten months ago when the meteor hit. He hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye.

  The Mayor was praising him and telling him what a good job he did and how proud he was. Cole buried his head in his neck while the Mayor grabbed a throw from the back of the chair and covered him.

  Cole wasn’t sure how long they were together like that. He must have cried himself to sleep because he woke to the Mayor slowly stroking his hardening length underneath the throw.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said when Cole opened his eyes.

  “Hey,” Cole said. He knew the Mayor was a handsome man, but he himself had never necessarily been attracted to him. This time though, he actually felt butterflies in his stomach as the Mayor leaned down and kissed him sweetly on the lips.

  The Mayor picked him up and laid him on his back on the bed. He got undressed and grabbed some lube from the nightstand while Cole watched with hot eyes. He crawled up between Cole’s legs and placed them on his broad shoulders as he took his already erect penis into his mouth. Cole lifted his head to watch. It felt so good, Cole thought, as the Mayor sucked hard enough that his cheeks sunk in. He released his cock with a popping noise and took his hands and pushed Cole’s thighs up higher. His tongue found his butthole and licked. The Mayor made sure that Cole had performed that particular action on him and the others, but it was something that the Mayor had never done to him before. His head fell back to the bed as the Mayor’s long tongue burrowed inside him. He was almost glad when he stopped because he was about to come, and he knew that the Mayor wouldn’t like that.

  The Mayor sat back on his heels and coated himself with lube. He put Cole’s legs back on his shoulders and slowly pushed inside him. That had always been Cole’s least favorite position—on his back with his legs in the air. It made him feel too vulnerable and way too feminine. But he was glad that the Mayor was taking him this way. It seemed appropriate, and Cole looked down so he could watch as the Mayor’s huge cock slid in and out of his body. The Mayor brought his head back up with a hand on his face, and they stared into each other’s eyes until Cole felt his orgasm hit. The Mayor crushed their lips together when he felt Cole’s body spasm and came deep inside him.

  He pulled back. His mismatched eyes looked intensely into Cole’s. “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you too,” Cole said about to cry again. He had never meant anything more.

  Chapter Seven

  Jessie brought Elijah back to the Mayor’s quarters that evening. When they walked in, they caught the Mayor and Cole kissing on the couch. Jessie rushed to Cole, and the Mayor steered Elijah toward the kitchen. He wanted to give Jessie and Cole a few minutes together.

  “Have you eaten?” he asked Elijah.

  “Yeah, Jessie cooked for me at his place,” he said. They sat down at the kitchen count
er and started talking.

  Cole rose from the couch just as Jessie launched himself towards him. He grabbed Cole in a big bear hug so tight, he couldn’t breathe.

  “Jess, what’s wrong?” he asked concerned.

  “I was worried,” he whispered. At one point during the day, Jessie had been able to talk to Grant away from Elijah. Once he knew the whole story, Jessie was even more nervous than before.

  “About what?” Cole asked. Jessie gave him a look, and he turned away slightly. “Oh, so you heard about that.”

  “Yes, I heard about that,” he mimicked. “Are you ok?” He pulled back and looked Cole up and down like he was checking for injuries.

  It made Cole chuckle to see him so protective. “I’m fine, Jess,” he said. “Never better.”

  “Can we go home now?” Jessie asked. Home was Cole’s quarters. They always seemed to end up there together when the Mayor didn’t request otherwise.

  “The Mayor wants me to stay tonight,” he said. Cole watched as Jessie’s face fell.

  “Hey, just tonight,” he said and rubbed his arm. “Stay with Grant,” Cole told him. He knew that Jessie didn’t like to sleep alone. “Tell him I’m ok. I know he was worried too.” He gave Jessie a hug. “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you too,” Jessie said just as the Mayor and Elijah walked back over.

  The Mayor left Cole and Elijah together and walked Jessie to the door. He hugged him and whispered in his ear. “I know you’ve had a bad day today, little one. But everything will be better now.” Jessie gave him a tight little smile and left.

  The Mayor detoured to his bedroom for some lube before walking back to the living room. He moved the coffee table to the side so the middle of the room was clear. Cole and Elijah stopped talking and watched anxiously, both knowing what was next.

  “Stand up,” he told them. They immediately jumped up. The Mayor sat down in the middle of the couch.

  “Take off your clothes,” he said. They removed their clothing not really looking at each other.