Angel
Page 30
“Life’s just so fucking easy for him, isn’t it?”
“Are you trying to be humorous now?”
Angel shrugged.
Jason grinned widely as the pair broke apart. He looked not only pleased, but gratified beyond measure. It was as though he had just met a never before seen father, and he was so bold and graceful.
Finn lifted his head as they approached. “We’re going to have trouble,” he said, though he was smiling.
“Why’s that?” Cole and Angel had spoken in unison. Together they smiled, a chime of what they’d said echoing in their minds.
“Apparently we’re—”
Darius cut him short, his voice authoritative. “You’re a little moody. That’s all I said.”
Upon this followed a confusing few moments in which they each exchanged glances with one another. Darius looked at Finn, and Angel met Jason’s eyes. He was struck firstly by their hazel clarity, and then by a mass of glittering pinpoints of reflected starlight that seemed somehow intended for him. They stretched toward him with promise, as though trying to speak. He glanced at Cole, whose eyes were also glittering, and as Angel absorbed that light, he jolted. He glanced at Miriam (at that moment they all did). She turned guiltily, her hand entwined in Sophia’s.
Angel thought he understood it and then was sure he did, or almost, but apparently this was a source of great shame for angels, their sexual tendencies. They were as hypersexual as bonobos, yet determined to be righteous about the whole thing. Just at the moment, they were doing their utmost to hide from their mates how very attractive they found two or three of the others, while simultaneously being unable to quite achieve this, or fail to let those who they had a sexual inclination for know about it.
“I think life just got very strange,” Angel said.
He angled his head at the grass, embarrassed. It was alive, which was a shock. Not simply green and with sap, but living. And moving. Kind of writhing. It was incredibly fascinating, though you had to look closely to see it swell and breathe. And there was some sort of geometric pattern interlaced throughout it. He stared spellbound for minutes. When he finally lifted his head he saw the whole earth this way. Of course it was alive, the trees and the clouds and the sky and the stars beyond them, and he knew he’d seen it before, in the art of Van Gough.
“Well, I suppose that’s it,” Darius said, and nodded affirmatively.
Miriam smiled. “Welcome to the Realm.”
A wealth of knowledge flooded him and it was simply too much. His ribcage shrilled with anxiety. He might have been a small boy, far from home. It was all too strange. A cloud pulsed and he turned from it to meet Jason’s eyes. Jason was staring at him like … like what? What was that supposed to mean, the fuckhead? Why would he stare at Angel like that?
Angel glanced at Darius, at his face for a moment, and then couldn’t help taking a peek at his cock. It was … well, he’d never seen anything like that before. Five minutes later he and Cole were walking away, through a valley of shadows, toward a green hill in the distance.
“We’ll see them again,” Cole said. “All of them.”
“Oh, yeah, we’ll see them around.”
“We could probably meet up with Jason tomorrow.” Cole waited for an answer. “Or the day after.”
“Jason?”
“Yeah.”
“Wouldn’t Finn be there?”
“Maybe not. I think he likes Miriam.”
Angel had already gathered this. He tugged on Cole’s hand and brought them to a stop. As he began to speak, he had a sudden and bizarre impression. It was as though he were a passenger on a train, or an actor in a movie, in one of those dizzying scenes where the camera moves around you and the countryside travels past.
“Cole. Jason isn’t first with you, is he?”
“First with me?”
“Yeah.”
“What does that mean?”
What does it mean? He gritted his teeth, and then started slowly, “It means, do you like him better than me or not?”
“Better than you?”
“Yeah.”
“How would that be possible?”
Angel didn’t know. Surely they were mates, he and Cole. They’d paired.
“I think Darius likes Jason anyway.” Cole sounded disappointed.
“Darius?”
“Yeah.”
They started walking again. “But Jason wouldn’t like him.”
“You think so?” They reached the bottom of the hill and began to climb. “I think Jase likes you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“He doesn’t like me. He’s angry at me.”
Cole grunted.
“What does that mean?” Angel wondered, but there was no answer. “Why are you … How are you hiding your thoughts from me?”
Cole smiled.
“Co-le.”
Cole started off again, and then turned. “Can we just walk?”
Angel skipped to catch up with him, and as he lifted his head caught sight of a figure on the crest of the hill, silhouetted against the sky. It was a young woman in a floral print dress, and though she was his mother, and raised her hand and waved, Angel didn’t recognize her. She hadn’t looked like that since before he was born.
“Who do you think that is?” he said.
“Someone you know, or it looks like it.”
They continued toward her, and the hill began to stretch beneath their feet, the valley they were leaving sliding away as though receding through a twisted lens.
“But really, Cole,” Angel said. “Jase isn’t first with you, is he?”
Angel lifted his head and was stunned by a vision of himself as a child, projected onto the sky. He was on a beach, washed up it seemed, but breathing. Advancing toward them down the grassy slope was a house and garden with a picket fence, and in it, Angel now recognized his mother.
Cole opened his mouth and started to speak.
He answered simply enough, but as the picket fence crashed past them and they found themselves in the garden, time ceased to have all meaning.
If I told you what Cole said, the story would go on forever.
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Before Angel met Cole, he was subject to an experiment …
Subject 19
Joel is young and lonely and a little oversexed. When a thief leaves him naked at the beach, he turns to Sean, a striking, dark-haired stranger for help.
Sean offers Joel a towel, and once they get talking, he tells him all about the Umberto Institute, a medical facility where they’re testing a new aphrodisiac. Sean is signed up for a three week, live-in trial.
A new aphrodisiac? It’s not something Joel really needs. But when Sean tells him they’re paying $4,500, he starts to think.
$4,500 and three weeks with Sean? It sounds too good to be true. But once Joel is in the institute, will he ever get out?
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Also by Todd Young
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Kade knows it’s true. And not only is he gay, he’s falling head over heels in love with Lane, his too attractive roommate.
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It takes a ride into the hills, a skinny-dip in a stream and a meeting with a stranger before Leigh understands exactly where his life is going wrong. But by that time he’s locked in the attic of an old, twisted house, miles from anywhere, naked.
Paul, his captor, has a story to tell Leigh, a story that will challenge what Leigh thought he knew about himself and his capacity for love.
A dark romance novella by Todd Young.
Dressing Up
Skipper isn’t terribly bright. He’s made his way to college on a football scholarship, but no sooner has the year started than Skipper’s in a jam. He’s stuck at a party dressed as Tarzan, in a loincloth meant for a boy.
Fortunately for Skipper, blond-haired Lake is on hand to help him out, and once the party’s over, Skipper’s admiration for Lake blossoms immeasurably. Soon they’re sharing a room, but as he watches Lake sleep, Skipper’s unable to keep his eyes or his hands to himself.
Will Lake wake with Skipper beside him? And will these two ever be able to work it out?
Corrupted
Brad is short of cash. He's lost his job, and if he can't find the rent money by Friday, he's going to be evicted.
He answers a job to work as a strip-o-gram, but ends up getting more than he bargained for.
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You can write to Todd Young at toddyoung7@gmail.com
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