by Andy Gallo
Ed’s admission complicated his life, but this tender thing between them mattered. He couldn’t take someone else, knowing how that made Ed feel. He wouldn’t.
Jack pulled back. “I wish it didn’t matter where I kiss you.”
“I wish it didn’t matter either.”
“You picked me up tonight.”
“Baby steps.”
Ed drove them back to the frat house. Jack handed Ed the helmet. “Thanks for taking it slow on the way home.”
Jack bumped Ed’s shoulder, peeking at him, and Ed laughed softly and bumped back—
A crowd of hollering guys stumbled out the front door, and they stepped onto the lawn rather than be bowled over. Jack shrugged and tried to laugh it off. He wouldn’t be missing much if he left.
But Marcus would miss this.
Dad would have been disappointed.
Lightning blinked across the sky. Less than three counts and thunder rumbled over them, followed by the clouds opening. Rain had the guys swearing and racing down the path.
“Ed?” someone called.
Jack stilled, Ed doing the same at his side.
Two guys ducked out of the frat house and into the rain, opening umbrellas. Jack recognized the smaller one. Chem Ben, a year below him. Guess the other was a friend.
“Hey, man,” the other guy said, eyeing Jack.
“Hey, Cole,” Ed said, tight and short. He subtly moved away an inch as he explained, “Cole works with me.”
Cole nicked his head in hello. “Good to see you have a life outside work.”
Ed moved another inch and gestured to Jack, voice stuttering. “This is my… this is my cousin, Jack.”
The lightning and thunder hit at the same time, and Jack used it as an excuse to drag Ed to the porch, waving Cole and Ben off on Ed’s behalf.
The guys raced down the path to wherever they were heading for the night, and when they were alone, he stared at Ed. “You okay?”
“Fuck.” Ed looked behind and around him, then increased the distance between them and lowered his voice. “He’s my boss’s son. This is too real. I can’t….” He shook his head and then whispered, “Sorry, Jack.”
With that he jogged through the rain to the bike he’d borrowed for their date.
Jack chased after him. Rain pounded, hitting his face and soaking under his jacket. His shoes squelched as he splashed through a puddle. “Ed!”
Helmet in his hands, he turned.
“It’s okay,” Jack said.
“No, it’s not. But I’m going to make this up to you.”
Jack stroked the seat of the motorbike to stop from reaching out for him. “You called me your boyfriend tonight. Did you mean it?”
“Yes.”
Jack released the breath he’d been holding. “Then you’ve just made it up to me.”
“It’s not enough.”
Jack flashed his boyfriend a smile. “In that case, follow me in my Jeep?”
One town over, Jack parked his Jeep in an empty parking lot outside an Italian restaurant. He grabbed a small bag he’d stowed under his seat and hopped out. Immediately Ed was at his side, helmet dangling from his finger.
Quickly checking they were alone, Jack pressed Ed against his car into a soft, stolen kiss. This kiss echoed their first one, charged with desire but also an undercurrent of nervousness.
Jack glanced over the restaurant at the motel behind it. He steered Ed toward the flashing neon sign lighting up the sidewalk. “Did I tell you how much I like you calling me your boyfriend?”
Jack booked them a room—one right at the back of the motel on the first floor. No sooner had they shut the door behind them than Jack dropped the key and his small bag to the floor.
Dredges of dim light from the balcony came through the cracks and faded edges of the curtains, and Jack fumbled as he stripped Ed and himself of everything covering them.
Jack stepped on his jeans, clutching Ed’s forearms for balance as he kicked them off into the puddles of clothes around them. Ed’s outline was darker than the shadows of the room, and Jack sucked in his breath at the impressive body he had. How packed his muscles were, how proudly erect he stood. Ed grasped his shaft and slowly pumped it, and Jack swelled to full mast.
Every touch they had shared so far ignited Jack. Sent him spinning into new realms of pleasure. How would it be for Ed to take him? He enjoyed the burn of having a guy fuck him from time to time, but he’d never craved it. Never clenched his ass so impatiently, like he was doing now.
Jack kept his eyes on Ed languidly touching himself as he picked up the bag he’d dropped and tossed it onto the bed.
“What’s that?” Ed asked.
Jack pulled Ed into a kiss, stepping his toes over Ed’s, jamming their cocks together. “Supplies. I put some in the Jeep after our night in the back seat. Just in case.”
Ed breathed heavily over Jack’s shoulder. “Good thinking.”
Jack licked the shell of Ed’s ear. “Your turn to pass tonight.”
Ed’s muscles undulated as he groaned. Jack slipped his hand between them, gripping Ed’s cock. God, how good it felt pulsing and throbbing in his palm. How good it would feel rocking in and out of him.
Jack rubbed his leaking head against Ed’s stomach. “Kiss me.”
Ed surged into a wet kiss, pushing Jack back toward the bed. They tripped over the room’s only chair, and Ed’s strong, warm arms caught Jack around the waist, steadying them. Laughs skipped between them, feather soft over kiss-swollen lips.
Ed maneuvered them the last steps to the bed and they fell onto it. Jack hit the soft mattress, Ed landing with a delicious weight on top of him.
“I want to see you,” Ed said, straddling him to flick the switch on the headboard for the side lamps. “Better.”
Jack tucked his hands behind his head and took his boyfriend in. An orange glow blanketed Ed’s side, highlighting his taut muscles and the glistening crown of his hard cock. Ed looked down at him with a twinkle in his eye, lips tipped up at the edges. “Much better.”
Ed crested his palms over Jack’s stomach, dragging his thumb through his treasure trail and dipping it into his belly button. He swiveled the pad of his thumb in there, making Jack’s stomach ripple with goose bumps.
“That tickles.”
“I know.” Ed lifted his hand, swirled his tongue around his thumb, and wriggled it into his belly button again, eliciting a deep laugh from Jack. He arched up in a futile effort to thrust Ed off him. As he did, his ring and chain slipped to the hollow of his throat.
Ed stopped poking his belly, fingertips drifting over his chest to the ring. He gently pinched the ring and pulled it back down, gaze softening as he looked at it. Jack’s breath caught. When Ed lifted his fingers off it, Jack stopped him and set his fingers back on top of it.
Ed lifted his eyes, meeting Jack’s.
“It was my dad’s.”
“I thought so.”
A lump took over his throat as Ed’s gaze caressed him, soft and open. Supportive, understanding. Jack turned his head to one side and blinked back the sudden heat blurring his eyes.
“It’s my connection to him,” he whispered. “It helps calm me when I get upset.”
A soft stroke over his ring, making his skin tingle.
“I miss him and Mom.” Jack’s voice came out low, barely audible. “Dad used to have this way of making me laugh no matter what. Always had a joke at the ready. Probably not funny to others, but how he said things….”
Ed slid off Jack, lying at his side, lightly fingering the ring.
“Mom always knew when I was upset and what to say to make me feel better.”
“Those are lovely memories.”
Jack nodded tightly. “There are times I wish I’d gone sailing with them. I keep thinking, what if I could have changed things?”
“Jack….” Ed propped his head up. He touched the underside of Jack’s chin and steered his face around. “You can’t live in ifs.”
“I’m so sorry. I cannot imagine how hard that was for you.”
The concern in Ed’s expression was too much, and Jack shut his eyes for a moment. “When they died, the shit hit the fan. My family started fighting over the stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“The house, the things my parents had collected, me—well me just because they thought they’d get control of my parents’ money.”
“Money? I thought you said you… that they looked down on you?”
Jack snorted. “They’re so fucking stupid that they have no clue. My mom and dad had started a small dot com back in the early 90s and sold it before the market crashed. It’s all in a trust for me, but I don’t use it. The Reynoldses treat me like their son, which I am. The only reason they didn’t adopt me was my family was screaming how they just want my money. Which is so fucking rich. They wanted the money, not the Reynoldses. My dad’s side of the family thought my parents were their private ATM—except my granddad. My mom’s sister, Meghan, is okay, but she’s in the military and I never got to see her much.
“When she heard that my asshole uncle and my equally worthless aunt were trying to get a hold of my parents’ money, she flipped out and they started fighting. My wonderful maternal grandparents, the ones who told my mom her faggot son wasn’t welcome in their house, suddenly tried to intervene and act concerned. And since my paternal grandmother died and Grandpa Murphy is in a home, I shit a brick thinking I’d have to live with mom’s parents.”
“What happened?”
Jack turned on his side, facing away from Ed so he wouldn’t see the beginnings of traitorous tears. Ed shifted, pressing himself tight against Jack, an arm around his waist. The kiss on the back of Jack’s head had him sucking in a breath.
“My parents must’ve been psychic or something, ’cause they made sure that neither I nor one cent of their money went to any of them—except Grandpa Murphy. My trust pays for his care. Aunt Meghan got money too. But it was in big bold letters in their will that my legal guardians would be the Reynoldses.”
“Good. I’m glad of that.”
Jack shivered and Ed nestled closer. Jack lifted Ed’s hand and repositioned it over the ring at his chest.
“There was a lot of stress after they died. I resented everyone and everything in the house. The only person who truly wanted me, couldn’t because he was in a nursing home. It was like all that mattered to everyone else was money. Not me, not my parents being dead, just the stuff, material stuff that I didn’t give a shit about. All I wanted was Mom and Dad back, and my stupid fucking family wanted to know who got the Italian silver candlesticks or Dad’s vintage baseball collection. And of course the money. It was so clear they didn’t want me, but I was the winning lottery ticket.”
Ed pressed his palm against Jack’s ring and chest; his sigh seeped down Jack’s spine.
“I was so mad. So fucking mad. I told Mr. Reynolds to sell it all, every fucking thing, and to make sure they got nothing. I didn’t care how special or sentimental things were, I wanted it gone. Nothing they said would change my mind.”
He’d wanted his family to know he was severing all ties, and that when he was finished, there’d be nothing left to connect him to them.
“Mrs. Reynolds handled the sale, but before she sold the stuff, she took my aunt Meghan through the house and set aside all of the important things and hid them until later when I was less upset.”
He’d never told them how thankful he was for that. “The day after the sale, Mr. Reynolds came into my room and sat on the bed. He lied and said they did as I asked, selling everything to someone not in my family. I muttered something like ‘good,’ and we just sat there for a bit. Finally he dug in his pocket and brought this out.” Jack slid his fingers between Ed’s and clamped Ed’s hand over the ring.
“My dad always wore it. Always. Said she was never far when he had it on.” Tears streamed down his cheek and nose. Through the sobs he continued. “Before the trip… it was coming up to his and Mom’s twenty-fifth anniversary, so he and Mom had taken their rings to get cleaned. They were going to renew their vows. Mr. Reynolds had found the jeweler slip and picked them up.”
Another sob wracked through him. Ed murmured against his neck between calming kisses.
“I gave Mom’s ring to her sister. Aunt Meghan was the only one who really grieved, you know? And Dad’s….”
Sniffing, he twisted in Ed’s arms to face him. For a few raw seconds, Ed’s sorrowful gaze burned into him. When Jack couldn’t take it anymore, he buried his head against Ed’s chest.
Ed made soothing sounds, hands running up and down his back as a violent sob shuddered out of him. “Dad’s stays with me.”
Ed dragged his hands to the sides of Jack’s head, thumb catching a stray tear. Jack swatted the rest leaking down his face. “I’m not usually this crazy, really. It just hurts sometimes, you know?”
“I don’t know, but I understand.”
Jack looked at him through blurred vision. “Do you think I should man up and get over it?”
Ed crushed him close, pressing hard lips against Jack’s eyebrow. “No, but….”
Jack stiffened.
“I think it would help if you talk about it more. Share your burden with the people who care about you so they can help you. It doesn’t have to be me. But I’m so touched you’re opening up and letting me hold you.”
Jack joined their fingers and lowered them to his thigh, and Ed snuggled in close and bumped their noses, their tangling breaths making a warm cocoon.
“I’m sorry I can’t take back what happened,” Ed said. “But I’ll never think less of you for missing your parents.”
“All these breakdowns, though…. That isn’t what you signed up for.”
Ed gently pushed Jack onto his back and straddled his midsection. He drifted sweet kisses over Jack’s chest, ring, throat, and lips. “Life sucks sometimes. When Dad lost his job, it was bad. For the first time in my life, I saw him scared. I think part of it was he thought he let us down. As if the company going bankrupt was his fault. We did what people who care for each other do—we were there to support him and let him know it would be okay. It happens to all of us.”
Ed rested his weight on Jack, and the closeness set his heart racing. He brushed a bit of hair off Jack’s forehead and kissed the skin underneath. “You are strong, Jack. You lost a lot, but you never stopped being who you are. I look at you and wish I were that strong. That I didn’t care about what others think. You inspire me. You make me hope.”
Tenderness seeped through Jack’s body. “I do all that?”
Ed combed a kiss over Jack’s lips. “You do.”
Jack chased after Ed’s mouth and kissed him again. The tips of their tongues met with a shock of electricity, and Jack needed more. He wrapped his arms around Ed and threw a leg over his thigh, locking them together. Their cocks swelled again, and Jack tilted his hips, baring his throat for Ed to suck. “You feel good against me, Eddy.”
Ed’s lips twitched into a smile under his ear. “Just good?”
A laugh breezed out of Jack, followed by a sharp surge of lust as Ed took both their cocks in his hand and squeezed. “Amazing. Incredible. The best.”
Ed nibbled the curve of Jack’s shoulder. “Better.” He let go of them, eased Jack’s thighs apart, and slipped between them. Ed kissed the crease at the back of Jack’s knee and inhaled sharply as he dragged his nose over the inner side of his thigh. Jack moaned as Ed suckled his sac.
A devilish dart of his tongue hit his perineum.
“Did I torture you this badly?”
“Worse.” Ed’s chuckle touched the million nerve endings at his entrance. Jack pinched the tight bedding so he wouldn’t grab his cock and come in three short strokes.
Ed read his desperation, reached for the small bag of supplies, and procured lube and a condom.
He made hurried work covering
himself up. Wet fingers gently worked Jack open. Too gently. It had him throwing an arm over his mouth and pinching his skin with his teeth to calm down.
Ed freed Jack’s arm and knotted his hands to the bedspread above his head.
A hungry wet kiss slapped his lips, and Jack lifted his thighs, tilting himself for better access. His cock twitched as Ed gripped his shaft and positioned it against him.
Their eyes met as Ed pressed inside him. The first inch burned, his ass clamping against the intrusion. Then Ed slid his hand over Jack’s shaft and Jack was lost to sensation. Ed sank into him slowly, stretching, filling him. The twang of pain subsided, and Ed’s eyes rolled back and his moan vibrated through his whole body.
Jack rocked his hips, ass clamping around Ed, making him grunt. “Keep doing that and this won’t last long.”
At this rate, Jack wouldn’t either.
Ed dipped down and licked over the nub of his nipple. Ed rocked, first in short strokes, growing until he was pulling all the way out before thrusting back into him. Through lidded eyes, Jack rode Ed’s passion. Loving every spear into him, the way Ed’s muscles strained, head thrown back, mad in his need for Jack.
He pulled out with a moan, hands steering Jack onto his side. Ed settled himself behind him, clasping Jack against him. Teeth grazed over the back curve of his shoulder. Jack angled his legs as they worked this new position. Ed’s cock slid through his ass crack and on the second sweep reentered Jack, making him moan.
Ed kissed his neck, slowing his strokes, hand tightening on Jack’s hip with every upward thrust. “You turn me on so goddamn much.”
Jack strained his toes over the bedspread as delicious pressure built up every time Ed rubbed his prostate. Jack pushed back against Ed’s body, hungry for more. He clasped a hand to his leaking cock and twisted his head, demanding Ed’s mouth.
The kiss was all lips, tongue, teeth, and ragged panting. Then Ed’s hand nudged Jack’s away as he took over working his cock in an agonizing slow rhythm. “Faster, Ed. I’m right there.”
Ed shifted, hips and cock drumming into Jack faster and harder. Their skin slapped, the mattress groaned, the headboard tapped against the wall, and it was all background noise to Ed’s satisfied grunts echoing his own.
