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Chapter Fourteen
Bo was waiting for him on the porch as had become his habit the last several days.
Seeing his lover sitting there chased the tired right out of Max’s body, and his cock was well on its way to being erect before he even made it up the stairs. Usually Bo greeted him with a heart-melting smile, but this evening Bo sat stiffly in the chair, nibbling on his lower lip. His pensive expression had Max rethinking his plans to drag the man inside and show Bo just how much he’d missed him since this morning.
“Something on your mind?” Max asked as he pulled a chair close to Bo’s and sat down.
Bo blinked several times and nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, I…” Bo swallowed noisily. He looked nervous, and worse, scared. Max didn’t like that at all. He reached for Bo’s hand and felt a bolt of panic when he realised Bo’s hand was shaking.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Max hoped Bo wasn’t giving up. He knew his lover was trying to believe Max loved him, would always love him, but Bo was battling a lifetime of neglect and feelings of unworthiness. Not an insurmountable task, but damned close maybe. Max cupped Bo’s cheek and kissed him, a languorous, thorough kiss that left them both breathless. The fear was gone from Bo’s eyes, replaced by the same burning need that had simmered in Max’s veins all day. But as much as he wanted to make love to Bo, it would have to wait. Too many people had been willing to plunder Bo’s body without giving a damn about his heart. Max wasn’t such a fool. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Bo looked confused for a moment then he shook his head, as if to bring his mind back to order. “You know I had another nightmare last night.”
Max was well aware. Bo had woken him with whimpers that turned into pleas then
escalated into cries for help before Max had finally managed to pull his lover from whatever hellish nightmare he’d had.
“Yeah, but you fell asleep again almost immediately.” And Max hadn’t been able to ask about the dream, although it sounded like the others, which Bo had told him were vivid nightmares about the assault several weeks ago.
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Bo nodded as if he’d read Max’s thoughts. “Yeah, it’s the same one I keep having. I thought, maybe, if you’re up to it, we could…” Bo shuddered and continued. “The three of us, you, me, and Annabelle, we could maybe go to The Xxchange tonight. Replace the bad memory of a club with a good one, you know?”
Max was ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure he’d rather be shot than go out to some club like The Xxchange, but he’d do damn near anything for Bo. But he did wonder. “That the only reason you want to go? You were so worried I only wanted you because I hadn’t ever had anyone else.”
Bo blushed and glanced at his feet. “I’m trying, Max, you have to know that. But it wouldn’t hurt if you danced with a few guys, see if you felt anything—”
Max bit back a groan. “Bo, I can’t do that. I can’t just…just let some guy grope me.” The idea alone filled him with terror. Letting some stranger touch him, flirt with him, it made those walls that Bo had torn down slam right back up. Bo was the only one he ever wanted to touch him like that. Which was why, he realised, it might be a good idea after all. If Bo saw Max cringe every time a guy approached him—which probably wouldn’t happen at all. Max knew he was a worn old cowboy, nothing special to look at.
“Please, Max.” Bo’s earnest expression was definitely tipping Max towards agreeing, but Bo’s next words clinched it. “And maybe if we go to the club, even though it isn’t the same one where I was attacked, maybe going will help me with the nightmares. You know, having a good time could hopefully replace the bad memories. I’m scared to go, but I think I need to.”
Max mulled it over for less than a minute. “Yeah, okay, but here’s the rules. I don’t have to dance with anyone else. Why you’d want me to I don’t understand,”— mostly—“because I sure as hell don’t want to see you in some other guy’s arms.”
Bo looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded with almost no hesitation.
“And I don’t want any of this jealous stuff,” Max emphasised. “If someone’s looking at you or me, ain’t either of us going to act on it, so there’s no reason for hurt feelings. We can’t help what other people do, but we can sure be responsible for what we do.”
“Okay,” Bo agreed softly. “But if you do see someone you want—”
“I won’t,” Max said, cutting Bo off briskly. “You sure you want Annabelle to come with us?” Did Bo think Max was going to run off with some other man and leave him alone at The Xxchange? Max was afraid to ask, because if Bo said yes, Max might just lose his temper and MILES TO GO
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say something he’d regret. He was doing his best, but Bo’s doubts cut him sometimes, deep enough that Max wondered how there weren’t any scars.
Bo shifted in his chair until he was twisted around fully facing Max. “I wanted her to come for a couple of reasons. First, she’s become one of my closest friends.” Max could see that. He thought the same of Annabelle as well. “Second, I just…I think I’d feel safer, the more of us there are, you know? That’s not an insult to you, just the whole ‘safety in numbers’ thing. I want this trip to a club to be as different from the last as possible.”
Max would see to it that it was. “Me, too. Let’s go see if Annabelle’s up for a night out.”
“You doing all right?”
Bo tried not to roll his eyes at Annabelle. He wasn’t very successful. “You and Max have asked me that at least half a dozen times, and we haven’t even walked in the door!”
Annabelle rolled her eyes back, and did it much more dramatically. Bo was going to have to get some pointers from this chick. “So what if we have? It just means we love you, and you didn’t answer my question.”
A warm, fuzzy feeling at Annabelle’s declaration chased off Bo’s jangling nerves. “I’m fine, really, now can we have some fun?”
“That’s the plan,” Max said, apparently willing to speak since Bo’s snark encounter with Annabelle had passed. Bo took Annabelle’s hand in his left one and wound his right arm around his lover’s hips. Max put his arm on Bo’s shoulders, his fingertips teasing over Bo’s biceps. Annabelle pulled open the door to The Xxchange, grinning as eardrum-splitting…well, Bo wouldn’t call it music, exactly. It was loud, and there was some kind of instruments involved, and someone was screeching—
“Oh!” Annabelle squealed and clapped her hands. “Soluble Mass Exodus is playing! I love Soluble Mass Exodus! Come on!”
Max looked as stunned by Annabelle’s behaviour as Bo felt. They entered the club behind her, and Max went from stunned to outright shocked, if Bo was reading his expression right, and he thought he was. He glanced in the direction Max was staring. Yup, it was definitely the kind of club Bo used to hang out in. There were three men not ten feet away, one man was kneeling, his head bobbing rhythmically, his right arm jerking his own MILES TO GO
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cock. The guy getting blown wasn’t good for much of anything just then, moaning and thrashing his head, his hips stuttering. The third man was doing his very best to rub off on the second man’s hip. All in all, a scene Bo had not only viewed several times, but also participated in.
Bo looked away from the free porn—he’d seen better, and he had someone more
interesting and sexy to look at now anyway. Max didn’t look turned on by the display at all.
Both his expression and his cock showed disinterest in the trio. Max shook his head and turned to Bo.
“Are you sure this is where you want to be tonight?” Max tipped his thumb at the now cummy three men. “‘Cause I got to tell you, that don’t do a thing for me. We got what, three feet in the door and I done seen more mens’ cocks than I ever have in my life, and a live
sex show. I am not impressed. I told you, you’re the only person that turns me on, honey.”
Bo opened his mouth to respond only to be cut off.
“Oh, God, how could you not think that was hot?” Annabelle fanned her flushed
cheeks. “I mean, granted, that guy kneeling is kinda not all that, and the guy he was blowing has a really small dick, but—”
“Jesus, Annabelle!” Max grabbed her arm and jerked her behind his back. The look he shot Bo was filled with more than a little guilt. Bo felt bad for forgetting she was with them for a few minutes, but as for what she’d seen… Annabelle was an adult, she’d obviously enjoyed it. No reason to feel guilty for that in his book, though he knew he was going to have a hard time convincing Max to agree.
Annabelle snatched her arm back and glared at Max for a moment. Her expression
softened suddenly, her lips tipping up in a slight smile. She patted Max’s shoulder and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, which caused a pretty red tint to spread up from Max’s neck to his forehead.
“Max, you’re the one who isn’t used to this stuff. I’ve seen it before.” Annabelle patted his shoulder once more then walked right past him into the heart of the club. She stopped and turned towards them, crooking a finger.
“I think she’s not quite the vestal virgin you thought she was,” Bo said next to Max’s ear. “And you may be ready to go, and I might be too, but she isn’t, and I don’t think we’re going to get her out of here any time soon.”
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“But—” Max stopped and straightened his shoulders as he stared at Annabelle. “I
thought you said this was a gay club?” Bo’s hand was taken and he was half-dragged towards Annabelle.
“It is. I mean, there’s lesbians, too, and some bi’s—oh.” And there were several of both, Bo figured, checking Annabelle out thoroughly. “Let’s get a table.” Bo hooked his arm through Annabelle’s and the three of them began working through gyrating bodies towards the bar and tables. Max swore soundly on more than one occasion, and pried off a determined dark-haired little twink—cute boy, tenacious, though.
Bo ended up leaning over and threatening to thrash the kid, who then suggested a threesome. He followed them to the table. Max looked like he was ready to strangle the twink with his long black hair.
“Look,” the kid pleaded. “I’m open to a threesome, I just can’t, uh, she’d have to be in the other room or something.”
Annabelle sidled up to the poor pretty young thing and licked her lips as she dragged her gaze over him. Her method of getting rid of him worked better than Bo’s or Max’s.
“Son of a bitch grabbed my dick,” Max snarled, “and my ass, and he wasn’t the only one. I’m almost scared to try to leave. You get groped? Is that normal for a place… Guess it is for clubs like this, huh?”
Bo grinned at Max’s obvious discomfort. Sweet man, putting himself in what had to be his version of hell just to make Bo feel secure. “There’s nice clubs, too. This is just a meat market.” Bo glanced around then watched as Annabelle tried to flag down a server. He couldn’t quite bring himself to look at Max as he confessed, “You do know places like this were my usual hangouts, right? That what you’ve seen, I’ve probably done.” A lot.
Max pulled Bo onto his lap. He cupped Bo’s jaw and stroked his fingers over Bo’s cheek. “I don’t care what you did, Bo, I only care what you do.”
The sincerity and love in Max’s dark eyes and in his voice seeped into Bo, wrapping around his heart, shattering his fears, chipping at his doubts. When Max looked at him like that, Bo could believe he deserved to be loved, and maybe, when he forgot it at times, he’d be able to remember this moment to help him feel worthy of Max.
And hadn’t Max ignored every other man here, unless he was snarling at them? The erection bumping at Bo’s butt was the first one Max had got since they entered this place.
“What more do you need, honey? Tell me, I’ll do it.”
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What more did he need? Coming to this club tonight had proven several things to Bo.
The first and most important he’d already noted. Max wasn’t interested in anyone else.
Second, Bo was able to walk into the place, so much like the club he’d been to in San Antonio, and not feel more than a small fissure of fear, at least not with Max and Annabelle at his sides. And finally, tonight had helped to bury one of Bo’s secret concerns—that he’d be tempted by the familiar environment and feel the urge to fall back into the role he used to play. Max wasn’t the only one who hadn’t noticed any other man.
“I want you to take me home and make love to me,” Bo whispered in Max’s ear,
nibbling on the sweet skin. Max shuddered beneath him as Bo licked and sucked on the sensitive spot right beneath his lobe. Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer.
Max’s lips brushed over Bo’s cheek, his jaw, placing biting kisses up to his ear. His body tensed as Max whispered, “How ‘bout you make love to me?”
“Oh, God,” Bo whimpered. He ground his ass against Max’s hard length as he clutched at Max’s shoulders. “Yes, please!” Bo hadn’t got to top often and was pretty much fine with that, but he wanted to feel Max’s body clamping down on him more than he wanted to live another day. “Can we go home now?”
Max chuckled and nipped at his neck. “Thought you’d never ask.”
“I’m not going to get to finish my drink, am I?” Annabelle asked, sounding amused and grinning from ear to ear.
“‘Fraid not,” Max agreed. “Let’s go home.”
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Chapter Fifteen
The drive back to the ranch had been quiet, the tension in the cab of the truck palpable and thicker than wet cement. Max had been having second, third, and fourth thoughts about his words to Bo. He hadn’t even thought before he said it, just opened his mouth and out tumbled the desire he’d kept tucked away. Fear of the unknown had bound Max’s curiosity, but the need to share every part of himself with Bo unlocked Max’s desires and momentarily demolished his fears. By the time they pulled into the drive, Max was wound up tight and afraid he wouldn’t be able to go through with it. Despite the fact Bo obviously loved having Max’s cock in his ass, Max couldn’t see how he was going to be able to relax enough to enjoy Bo doing him.
On the other hand, he really, really wanted to know what it’d feel like to have Bo deep inside him. More than that, he wanted to do this for Bo, offer up his love and trust by offering his body. Bo would see it for the gift and commitment it was, he’d be careful, loving, patient—but Max was still scared spitless.
“We don’t have to,” Bo murmured. Max looked up and realised he’d stopped at the foot of the porch steps. His lover stood on the porch, watching him. Max couldn’t make out Bo’s features in the starless night, but he knew the understanding lacing Bo’s voice would be in the man’s expression as well. Max shrugged his shoulders, trying to roll away some of his anxiety.
“I want to, just nervous,” he confessed. “I don’t know if I can…if I’ll like it like you do, you know?”
Bo came down the steps and slid his arms around Max’s waist. He put his head on
Max’s shoulder and burrowed his lips and nose against Max’s neck, licking and sucking until a different kind of tension coiled in Max. “We don’t have to,” Bo repeated. “But if you want to try, I promise I’ll stop the second you tell me to if you hate it.”
The warm breath slicking over wet skin caused Max to shiver as he clutched at Bo’s chest. “Okay,” Max rasped, unable to say anything more when his whole body was vibrating with desire. Having Bo pressed up against him, that denim-clad cock rubbing against his own, was firing up every one of Max’s fantasies.
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Bo’s hands drifted down to Max’s ass and squeezed his cheeks. “Come on, then,” he said with a pat to Max’s butt. “Maybe Annabelle’s already asleep. She practically ran inside and went straight to her room.”
Max nodded and let Bo lead him into the bunkhouse.
“Do you want something to drink first?” Bo asked. “Some water, or maybe something stronger? A shot or two of whisky might help you relax.”
Now that they were inside, Max had no trouble making out the concern in Bo’s
expression. He shook his head and tipped his chin towards their room. “I don’t want any alcohol. Don’t want it to interfere with what I’m feeling, you know? I can trust you to make sure I’m ready.”
A soft, loving look came over Bo. “Yes, you can. I haven’t topped often, but I know what feels good, and what feels great, from the bottom.” Bo clasped Max’s hand tightly. They walked to their room together, shoulders bumping with each step they took. Max was trying to breathe normally as his fear gave way to anticipation.
Once inside the room, Bo locked the door. They tugged off their boots then faced each other. Max hesitated to make the first move, unsure in this situation and feeling vulnerable.
Bo stroked Max’s cheek tenderly then cupped the back of Max’s neck. Max parted his lips under Bo’s, moaning as his lover kissed him. The gentle swipe of Bo’s tongue became more forceful as they grappled at each other’s clothes.
Their fingers bumped and tangled at Max’s belt until Bo growled into the kiss, sending a shiver through Max. His hands dropped to his sides as he let Bo have his way. It was surprisingly erotic to hand Bo the lead, and Max felt tingles in places he hadn’t ever thought to. As Bo shoved Max’s pants and boxers down, his hand trailed over Max’s hips. The tips of his fingers brushed over the sides of Max’s ass, and he gasped as his hole clenched and fluttered. Relaxing might not be the problem he’d thought it would be.
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