The Rules of Gift Giving

by Parker St John

  In the old days, he’d have viewed it as a challenge and attempted to either seduce him or make him as uncomfortable as possible.

  The first option wasn’t going to happen. He hadn’t even glanced at another man since meeting Elliot. It was practically Pavlovian, the way his dick had been trained to want him and only him.

  The second option was tempting, but this trip was going to be hard enough on Elliot without provoking any further resentment.

  He tucked his trouble-making impulses aside and rose, wiping his hands on his thighs.

  Snatching up his duffle and Elliot’s suitcase, he said, “Thanks, Kev. Which way?”

  Kevin’s eyes flickered. He pointed wordlessly down the hall before stalking off to fetch a mop.

  The bedroom was small and plain, though Lucas could imagine what it had looked like when Elliot was a kid, filled with books and decorated with baseball posters. The closet was partially open and crammed with boxes. Another huge pile of boxes sat in the corner, each neatly labeled with a different holiday. The furniture was clean and dusted, but it had the slightly stale scent of a room closed up for too long.

  At least it didn’t reek of cinnamon.

  “I think he wants to hate you, but he’s having a hard time justifying it,” Elliot said with a chuckle once they were behind closed doors.

  “Yeah? Right back at him.”

  Lucas tossed their bags onto the bed. It was no bigger than a full-size mattress, covered in a navy blue quilt, and Lucas cocked his head as he considered it. “You ready for a tight fit?”

  “You always say I’m a tight fit. It hasn’t been a problem yet,” Elliot murmured, coming up behind him and sliding his arms around Lucas’s waist. He nuzzled Lucas’s neck and gently bit his earlobe.

  A shiver raced down Lucas’s spine, and his cock stiffened.

  Just like Pavlov.

  He tipped his head to give better access.

  Elliot took instant advantage, licking a slow, hot stripe down the cords of his throat. His hands spread out over the flat of Lucas’s belly, one sliding lower to press against the hard bulge in his jeans, the other sliding up to stroke over his chest.

  He began to rhythmically knead Lucas’s dick through the thick layer of denim.

  Lucas sank his teeth into his lower lip, but a groan still ripped out of his throat.

  His head dropped back to rest on Elliot’s shoulder. “Does staying in your childhood bedroom make you horny or something?”

  Elliot tilted his head in consideration. “Not particularly. Fucking you under my family’s roof in spite of their disapproval, though? Hell, yes.”

  He popped the button on Lucas’s jeans and slid his hand inside, gripping his cock and giving one long, languid stroke. The slide of skin against bare skin was so intense it made Lucas’s abdominal muscles quiver.

  Elliot chuckled, and the sexy rasp of it so close to his ear was enough to have him thrusting into Elliot’s hand.

  “It isn’t… really the time, baby,” Lucas gasped.

  “Sure, it is. Kevin would never in a million years knock on a closed door with two gay men behind it.”

  Elliot’s hand circled the head of his cock, gathering the slick of his precum across his palm and using it to lubricate Lucas’s throbbing shaft. He began pumping him in earnest, squeezing tight at the base and twisting his wrist at the head.

  Within seconds, Lucas’s knees were shaking. Something still felt off about the timing, however, and he grabbed Elliot’s wrist and held him still. Elliot’s fingers flexed around the base of his dick.

  “Please, Lucas,” he said quietly. “I… I just want to touch you. I want to remind myself what love feels like.”

  There was more to it than that, Lucas was sure. Elliot had spent a lifetime covering up his strong, fierce nature with the expectations of others. He would never live up to the expectations of his family, because he would never be straight, and the disappointment weighed on him even after all these years.

  His fingers slid away from Elliot’s wrist, and Elliot let out a growl of satisfaction as he began to stroke him again.

  He wasn’t often the aggressor in the bedroom, preferring instead to be dominated, something Lucas enjoyed doing immensely. But every once in a while, it was a pleasant change of pace to just close his eyes and enjoy as Elliot worshipped his body.

  The only sound in the silent room was their mingled breathing, quick and rough, punctuated by Lucas’s ragged gasps.

  He pulled against the restraining arm Elliot still had wrapped around his torso, but Elliot yanked him back hard against his body. His erection pressed against Lucas’s ass, and Lucas ground back against it.

  He hadn’t given his ass to anyone since he was a teenager, and he’d hated it even then, but sometimes he wondered what it might be like to feel the burn of Elliot thrusting deep inside, to the very center of him.

  Now wasn’t the time for something so out of his comfort zone, but maybe…

  “Your finger,” he gasped, thrusting helplessly into Elliot’s grip.

  “Mmm?” Elliot rumbled against his ear.

  “Can you…” he scrambled to gather his thoughts. He was quickly unraveling into nothing more than a mass of animalistic need. “Finger me. I want to feel it. I want it to be you.”

  Elliot didn’t hesitate. Without releasing his grip on Lucas’s cock, he shoved his jeans and underwear down his thighs and nudged his legs further apart. He pressed two fingers against Lucas’s mouth and whispered, “Suck.”

  Lucas groaned and sucked his fingers in deep, laving the digits with his tongue, wetting them as much as he was able. It was a relatively innocent action, but felt lewder than if he’d been sucking on his cock.

  Elliot shuddered and withdrew from his mouth with obvious reluctance. “Bend over the bed,” he whispered.

  Lucas braced his palms flat on the mattress and arched his back so his ass was on display.

  Elliot’s warm palm stroked appreciatively over him before he nudged gently at Lucas’s entrance with one slippery finger. He did nothing more, simply stroked and teased the sensitive flesh, but Lucas felt more vulnerable than he’d anticipated.

  He shifted uncomfortably, breath choking in his throat.

  “Are you okay?” Elliot whispered, tenderly petting him with that one wet fingertip. “It’s okay if you changed your mind.”

  “No. I want it. Just… go slow.” He felt ridiculous asking, but the way Elliot curved over his back and nudged at him for a sweet kiss calmed him.

  He relaxed into the pressure as Elliot carefully entered his body. With only spit as lube, there was enough friction to border on the edge of painful, but Lucas’s cock was hard as a fucking diamond.

  Elliot drove his finger deep. They both breathed out in unison.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you so quiet during sex,” Elliot teased, timing the slow thrust of his finger with his strokes to Lucas’s cock. “Where’s your dirty talk?”

  Lucas wanted to tell him to shut up, but he couldn’t spare the breath. His entire world had narrowed to the exquisite glide of Elliot’s finger deep within his pulsing channel.

  He arched his hips to change the angle, gasping when Elliot struck the bundle of nerves that set off an explosion behind his eyes.

  “Oh—” He choked on his cry and glanced at the closed door. “Holy shit, do that again.”

  “This?” Elliot asked curiously, crooking his finger just so.

  “Fuck!” He broke out in a sweat and his arms began to shake. “Yes, just like that. Stay— no, go back, go back… fuck, yes!”

  “Topping even now,” Elliot chuckled. “I don’t think you can help it.”

  “Shut up, and keep doing that,” Lucas panted.

  Elliot obeyed, purring deep in his throat. He ground against Lucas’s hip, seeking friction against his trapped erection.

  If Lucas weren’t so overwhelmed, he would give him a hand, but he needed all his strength to hold himself up.

 
; Precum steadily dripped from his cock. Elliot’s hand slipped and slid, stoking the ache with every squeeze. The pressure was unbearable.

  Every muscle in his body began to spasm, drawing so tight it hurt. But the ache was so, so sweet.

  The peak crashed into him and stole his breath. He convulsed in Elliot’s arms, blind to everything but the relief of his climax. Fluid gushed from his cock, painting the bedspread and Elliot’s fingers with his come.

  He grabbed fistfuls of the blanket and curled in on himself as Elliot milked the last remaining drops from him. His chest heaved, muscles twitching and jerking as his neurons misfired at random.

  Elliot nuzzled into him, pressing kisses into his hair and murmuring sweet nothings. Lucas’s brain was too shot to parse what he said, but it sounded nice.

  Eventually, his systems came back online, accompanied by a warm, languid peace. He wanted nothing more than to pull Elliot into the ridiculously small bed and go to sleep.

  But he tried not to be an asshole, so he turned in Elliot’s arms and cupped him through his pants.

  To his amazement, the fabric was damp and Elliot’s dick had softened.

  Elliot grinned sheepishly. “I haven’t come in my pants since I was in high school. You were just so sexy. I can’t believe you let me do that to you.”

  Pride swelled in his chest. He gave a cocky grin. “I’ll even let you do it again sometime.”

  “You’re too kind.” Elliot’s eyes crinkled with his smile, shadows momentarily banished.

  “Eh, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to live with,” he joked, pulling him close and kissing him.

  It was so warm and sweet that he spun the kiss out, longer and longer, until they lost track of everything: surroundings, breath, and time. They didn’t come up for air until the room began to darken with the coming dusk.

  Elliot was right: not once in all that time had Kevin knocked on the door.

  6

  Elliot

  Mark arrived in the morning, and with him came the storm clouds.

  Lucas and Elliot were tangled together in his small bed, warm beneath the blankets, when they bolted awake to the sound of the door slamming like a gunshot.

  Elliot jumped out of bed and ran out into the hall, still in his boxers, only to collide with Mark in the living room.

  “Christ! Watch it!” Mark reeled back, clapping a hand to the nose he’d banged on Elliot’s forehead. “What the hell are you doing up?”

  Elliot rubbed his smarting forehead and glared through watery eyes. “What the hell are you doing banging around at the ass-end of morning?”

  Mark scowled, and Elliot was instantly transported back to the hundreds of times he’d seen that same expression growing up.

  Mark was older than him by two years, but those years seemed to have weighed a little heavier on him. His eyes were puffy and deeply creased, and his dark hair was liberally sprinkled with gray.

  He picked up the suitcase he’d dropped and shouldered past Elliot, toward the guest bedroom.

  “Don’t start with me, Elliot. Shirley got back to stay with the kids last night, and I’ve been driving for hours. I want a shower and a cup of coffee.”

  “So do I,” Elliot mumbled, jaw cracking wide in a yawn.

  “Everything okay?” Lucas drawled from the bedroom door.

  Unlike Elliot, he’d had the patience to shuck into a pair of jeans before making an appearance, and Elliot was thankful he had. The last thing he needed was for Mark to see them both running around in their boxers.

  Then again, he doubted it mattered. There was no way anyone could look at him and not think about Elliot fucking him.

  Lucas looked delicious, all warm and sleepy, with rumpled hair and bedroom eyes. The sculpted lines of his abs tapered down into a deep V that was barely hidden by the low-slung jeans on his hips.

  Mark had frozen to the spot, an expression of creeping horror crawling across his face. “Who the hell are you?” he growled.

  Lucas stretched and gave a lazy smile. “I’m the gay boyfriend.”

  Elliot choked.

  Mark gaped at them both, but he was obviously too tired to entertain his disgust for long, because he dismissed Lucas and turned his attention back to Elliot. “Where’s Mom?”

  “At the hospital.”

  “Alone? You just left her there?” he demanded, anger coloring his voice.

  Elliot folded his arms across his chest and stared impassively at his older brother. “When’s the last time you ever won an argument with that woman? She wouldn’t leave, and she wouldn’t let us stay.”

  Mark rolled his eyes and stormed into the guest bedroom. “I’m headed to the hospital as soon as I grab a shower!” he yelled through the door. “Get some pants on if you want a ride!”

  “He’s a delight.” Lucas’s eyes were sparkling.

  Elliot tried to go around him into the bedroom, but Lucas didn’t give way. He blocked the doorway until Elliot was forced to stop, and then tugged him close.

  “Good morning,” he murmured, smile brushing Elliot’s lips. The tension that always pumped through him around Mark relaxed.

  “Good morning,” he whispered back, delving deeper into a sweet kiss. “Why don’t you grab a shower while I call Kevin? He can give us a ride into town. We’ll stop by a rental agency and grab a car.”

  “Fine with me.” Lucas slipped away from him and headed to the bathroom. “Your brother’s going to be pissed when I beat him to it.”

  “He can use the shower in the master bedroom.”

  “Will there be any hot water left?”

  Elliot shrugged. “This house had three teenage boys in it at the same time. We’re used to cold showers.”

  Kevin arrived to collect them half an hour later. He shouted joyously and gave Mark a great big bear hug when they saw each other, and Elliot looked away.

  It stung, but he had long practice ignoring the bond his oldest and youngest brother shared.

  He busied himself with pouring out coffee into two travel thermoses. He added a small amount of sugar to Lucas’s coffee, the way he liked it, and left his own black.

  Lucas’s grateful smile was enough to chase away the chill as they stepped out the front door.

  The temperature had dropped overnight, and the sky was heavy and dark. Frost made lacy patterns on the half-defrosted windshield, gleaming in the low light of the barely risen sun.

  The Range Rover was warm, at least. The interior smelled of coffee and vanilla as they piled inside.

  Elliot sniffed and gave his brother a startled look. “Are you wearing cologne?”

  “What? No.” The denial was automatic and defensive. A hint of color crept up Kevin’s cheeks, but he kept his eyes locked on the frozen road.

  “You are!” Elliot teased. “What’s her name?”

  “There’s no girl,” Kevin insisted, but even Lucas had caught the desperation in his tone by that point.

  He leaned forward between the two front seats and said, “You know your brother hears lies for a living, right?”

  “I bet she’s a nurse,” Elliot mused. “Why else would you bother getting dolled up just to go to the hospital?”

  “He could be coming from her place,” Lucas suggested, his natural devilish streak coming out to play.

  Elliot marveled at the way he had no qualms making himself right at home. There wasn’t an ounce of shyness in the man’s body, and his self-doubt was so well hidden that most would probably never suspect it existed. Elliot certainly hadn’t, not at the beginning. He knew better now.

  His mind flitted back to the damn watch he’d left at home.

  They’d agreed to exchange gifts once they were back in Portland, since Lucas had insisted his gift didn’t travel well.

  The more Elliot thought about it, the more he feared he’d made an enormous mistake. What good was a gift Lucas could only wear on special occasions?

  Maybe he should just order the newest tablet from Amazon and have it shipped t
o the house.

  “There is no girl,” Kevin said again, jaw locked stubbornly.

  “Oh, there’s a girl, alright. Big brother knows these things. But you must really have a thing for her if you’re trying to keep it secret. I can’t believe you’re picking up women at the hospital.”

  “Better than a gay bar,” Kevin shot back, irritated.

  He changed lanes abruptly, and Elliot was immensely grateful that Elizabethtown’s morning traffic didn’t hold a candle to Portland’s rush hour, or they would have smashed into something.

  “Is that where we met, honeybuns?” Lucas asked.

  Elliot rolled his eyes. “Not every gay man lives in an episode of Queer as Folk, Kevin.”

  Kevin worked that over in his head for a long minute, and Elliot let him.

  He gazed out the window at the waking town he’d known all his life. The Presbyterian church, ordinarily slightly shabby looking, was done up with white lights and a cross atop its spire. Greenery decorated the quaint, old-fashioned street lamps that lined the one decent shopping street downtown, and the little brick library had windows painted with colorful holiday cartoons.

  Elliot remembered riding his bike to the library nearly every day as a kid. He could almost smell the dusty pages of the stacks, and a feeling of peace washed over him.

  “So, how did you meet?” Kevin asked abruptly, breaking into Elliot’s daydreams.

  The gleam in Lucas’s blue eyes spoke of mischief, so Elliot rushed to speak before he could open his mouth. “He fixed my car when it broke down.”

  Spoilsport, Lucas mouthed to him.

  “No shit?” Kevin glanced at Lucas’s reflection in his rearview mirror. “You know about cars?”

  “He’s a mechanic,” Elliot announced proudly.

  Back when they were first dating, it had annoyed him the way Lucas insisted on calling himself a mechanic rather than a business owner. He’d seen it as Lucas belittling his own hard work.

  It had taken some time to realize Lucas didn’t see it that way. He didn’t give a damn what people thought of his job, and he was just as proud of his skills as an ordinary mechanic as he was about taking over A.J.’s Garage. Maybe even prouder. He valued blue-collar hard work above all else.