Bonfires

by Amy Lane

  Aaron was already in bed, reading messages on his phone and frowning, and Larx stripped, thinking he’d need to do more laundry the next day.

  “If you leave some stuff here,” he said thoughtfully, “you and Kirby, it would be easier to stay the night on a whim.”

  “Yeah?” Aaron asked, looking up from his phone.

  “Your son wanted to build me a chicken coop. I think your chickens would be very confused.”

  “They’d get over it.” Aaron’s chest was almost impossibly broad when it was bare. Larx found himself staring at his tiny pink nipples, T-shirt hovering over the hamper. Maybe they should leave the light on tonight?

  “I like you here,” Larx admitted, now concentrating on the curly blond hair on Aaron’s pecs. It had been soft under his fingers. He’d forgotten men’s chest hair was so soft—or maybe none of the men he’d banged before Alicia had been old enough for chest hair. “But I don’t want you to do anything hasty.”

  “Nothing irreversible about a chicken coop,” Aaron said, winking.

  “Your house has a pool,” Larx said, startled enough by the wink to look into his eyes. “You ever think maybe we should move into your house instead?”

  “No.” Aaron shook his head. “Because you’re not there.”

  Larx smiled and felt it spreading all over, his cheeks, his neck, his chest, his nipples, down his stomach to his groin….

  “You are getting wood,” Aaron said, his amusement never fading. “Now go shower, because I’d like to do something about that.”

  World’s quickest shower.

  Larx got out just after the thermostat timer clicked off, and he scrambled into bed, shivering. Aaron pushed Delilah off and rolled over for what was probably going to be a kiss if Larx’s mouth hadn’t gotten in the way.

  “The cats.”

  “Wha—?”

  “They each picked a new human. It was weird.”

  “Larx, are you stalling?”

  Larx closed his eyes and rubbed his hands along Aaron’s bare chest, his libido picking up right where it left off. “No,” he murmured. “No, just sharing.”

  Aaron chuckled softly. “We can share afterward.” He captured Larx’s hand and brought it to the front of his boxers.

  “Oh!” Larx squeezed his erection, which was adamant and wet at the end. “Ready?”

  “I want to see if it’s as good the second time,” Aaron whispered, licking Larx’s lips softly.

  “Better,” Larx promised. He abandoned thoughts of cats and board meetings and making sure the kids were okay. Aaron was here in his bed, and he wanted Larx, again. It was time to make Larx okay.

  This wasn’t the first time, full of nerves and “oh, what does this button do?” moments. Aaron knew what that button did, and they both had to be up in the morning, and they couldn’t afford whips, chains, and that carefully hoarded stash of basic sexual aids Larx kept in his end-table drawer. There were teenagers asleep down the hallway, and their breaths had to stay quiet, their moans silent against their hands, the bedsprings unabused.

  Larx took the initiative tonight, kissing down Aaron’s chest first, licking his collarbone, edging with his teeth. He let his hands wander as he sucked on Aaron’s nipples, soft, then with some tongue play, and then hard with teeth.

  Aaron sucked in his breath and tugged at Larx’s hair urgently until Larx got a little bit nippy. The hand in Larx’s hair jerked hard, and Larx peered at Aaron with mischievous eyes.

  “Ouch,” Aaron mouthed at the same time he arched against Larx’s hand.

  Larx regarded him steadily, massaging his erection through his shorts. “And?” he whispered, squeezing and stroking at once.

  “And I’ll come in my pants if you don’t get a move on!”

  Larx chuckled and started nuzzling his way down Aaron’s chest. “Get the lube,” he ordered between licks, and Aaron surprised him by immediately fumbling for his hand.

  Larx turned his head and grinned, holding the small bottle up as evidence. “Getting a little eager, Deputy?”

  “On a timeline, Principal,” Aaron hissed, thrusting against Larx’s hand with more urgency.

  Larx chuckled and kissed down Aaron’s abundant happy trail, smoothing his fingers along the soft blond hair. Aaron’s whimper spurred him lower, and he got a chance to meet Aaron’s cock again, from the other end.

  It was just as awesome head-on.

  Larx stripped Aaron’s shorts and devoured, leaving the teasing for another time. Girthy with thick veins, it was almost bigger than the circle of Larx’s fist. Larx hummed in his throat, happy to see it again, and licked the head boldly. Aaron gasped and Larx took it into his mouth, letting it stretch his lips as he pushed his head down, swallowing. Aaron might not realize it, but his member was reasonably impressive. Larx was old enough not to fetishize dick mass, but he was also boy enough to be grateful for what he got.

  What he was getting was more than a mouthful, hard and sensitive, and sucking it was an even bigger turn-on than he remembered.

  He moaned, grinding his groin into the bed, and then, keeping Aaron’s cock in his mouth, he responded to the tap on his back. He lifted up on his knees and scooted his backside over so Aaron’s caressing hand had easy access. As he concentrated on his own task, Aaron was stripping off Larx’s shorts and sliding his palms over Larx’s backside, cupping his thighs, teasing his crease, and then, oh thank you God, squeezing his cock, long and slow, skating his thumb in the precome at his head.

  Larx moaned, thighs shaking, and realized he really didn’t have a lot of time to screw around. With the hand not wrapped around Aaron’s base, he snicked the top of the lube open and dumped some on his fingers. Aaron fumbled the bottle from his hand and hopefully closed it, while Larx slid his hand behind him and, helped by Aaron’s palm separating his cheeks, slid his slippery fingers into his own asshole, stretching quickly, deliriously, body shaking from arousal.

  Aaron gave a little whine below him and his cock stiffened, spurting more pre into Larx’s mouth.

  Larx couldn’t wait anymore—didn’t want to wait anymore. With a grunt of reluctance, he let that beautiful cock slide out from between his lips and swung his body around so he was straddling, squirming his body until he felt Aaron prodding his entrance.

  Aaron’s eyes were wide open, fixed on Larx’s face. “You are pretty damned tricky,” he breathed hoarsely.

  Larx craved too badly to grin. He reached back to hold Aaron’s cock right where he needed it, and as soon as his fingers found Aaron’s shaft, Aaron thrust up.

  Larx slid down.

  Gah! Just as good as the night before, Aaron thick and awesome, giant, filling him. His cock expanded, lodged to the root, until all the stress, the unnecessary things in Larx, disappeared, evaporated, leaving room for nothing but Aaron’s flesh in Larx’s body, his soul consumed by their joining.

  Aaron grunted, digging his fingers into Larx’s thighs while Larx just sat there, impaled and shaking, body too full for his brain to function.

  “Larx!” Aaron begged, tortured.

  Larx rocked forward, letting him slide out a little, and then leaned back, burying him again. It worked, oh God it worked, but it made a tremendous amount of noise on Larx’s old bed, his knees popping into the springs the way his body hadn’t the night before.

  They both froze, an agony of arousal shaking through their combined bodies, coupled with the simultaneous thought of “Crap, did we wake the kids?”

  “Larx,” Aaron hissed. “Hold still!” And then he clamped his hands on Larx’s hips and did what he did best.

  Took over.

  He braced his feet on the mattress and then arched his hips up, filling Larx even further, and then down, pulling out. His stomach and core flexed under Larx’s hands as he moved, slowly, faster, harder, oh God harder, and Larx struggled to stay still, to not simply flounder, filled with his shaft and dying with pleasure. Aaron’s eyes pinned him in place. His hard hands anchored Larx, forcing him to take
it until his head fell back, his mouth opening slackly, and he let it wash through him, wave after wave, with every thrust.

  “Oh….” He shuddered, his cock smacking lightly against Aaron’s abdomen. He needed. He needed. Something there….

  Aaron moved one of his hands from Larx’s hip to Larx’s own hand, thrusting it toward Larx’s crotch.

  Oh. Oh yeah.

  Larx wrapped his hand around his cock and started to stroke, desperate, because his body was going to explode. He was full to his skin with that amazing, wonderful, fantastic, gigantic extension of his lover.

  He never lost control of his voice, but his panting was frantic and unformed. As he felt the beginnings of a wrenching orgasm start at his thighs, his taint, and ripple up his balls and his cock and his spine and his core, he fell forward, catching his weight on one hand. He buried his face against Aaron’s shoulder, groaning, and his cock erupted between them both, spattering hot and wet. He clung there limply as Aaron’s thrusts lost cohesion, and with a roar he muffled in Larx’s neck, he held Larx’s hips and tried to shove himself into Larx’s ass.

  Larx moaned softly, opening himself, stretched, dilated, dripping in come, and tried to take all of him, wanting his whole body inside so Aaron was safely captured, along with Larx’s heart.

  The shaking eventually stilled, and Larx straightened his cramped legs, sliding to the side and ignoring the mess that seeped from his stretched behind.

  “We’ll change the sheets tomorrow,” he mumbled into Aaron’s shoulder, and Aaron laughed weakly.

  “That got better,” he said, sounding gobsmacked.

  “Not just me, then?”

  “No, seriously, Larx. That got better.”

  Larx chuckled. “That got better from twenty years ago,” he said in wonder. “I mean, I thought sex peaked in college.”

  “I think that’s a myth we tell young people so they don’t suspect their parents are doing it,” Aaron said, sounding serious.

  Larx couldn’t be serious—he was euphoric. “That’s genius. Sheer genius. Just tell the kids we’re not having sex, we’re communing deeply. They’ll buy it, right?”

  Aaron chuckled with him, finally moving to recover their underwear.

  And a sweatshirt.

  “I can’t sleep on your bare chest?” Larx complained.

  “You can if you turn the thermostat up,” Aaron told him. “I love you, but I’m going to get blue balls if you keep it this cold in here.”

  Larx grunted. “Fuck. Hold on a minute.” Still in his boxer shorts, he padded out of the bedroom, struggling briefly with the turn lock on the door handle before he disappeared. He came back, and as he opened the door, the heater kicked in.

  Aaron grinned at him happily and took off the sweatshirt.

  Larx shook his head. “When we moved in,” he explained, “I was… well, beyond broke. I had just enough money left over from my settlement for a down payment, and the rest was the job and some scrimping and saving—especially to keep the college funds alive. So I made it a game with the girls—what could we do without.”

  “Heat,” Aaron said in sudden understanding.

  Larx nodded and climbed into bed with him, turning off the lamp. They’d made love in the light this time. Aaron’s beautiful, powerful body was going to be dancing behind his eyes for days.

  “We’d have a contest to see how long we could go without heat. The more days past October we went, the more cookies I’d buy after school.”

  Aaron laughed. “Oh, weren’t you crafty.”

  “Parenthood. Teaches you things.”

  Aaron nuzzled his hair, pulling the blankets around their shoulders—he’d turned the heat on, but not high. “Single parenthood teaches you more things.”

  “It’s the hardest,” Larx agreed, snuggling. His body ached again, tingling from climax and really amazing sex, but this full-body contact—it was tremendous. God, he didn’t want to give this up. Ever.

  “I was not aware of how much my wife did,” Aaron muttered. “I mean, we always worked as a team, right? She did the house, I did the yard. She was there after school for them, I took them out on my weekend off so she could have a breather. We had date night and one day for the whole family. It was… I mean we worked hard at it to make sure we were both there.”

  “I’m jealous,” Larx said frankly. “It sounds….” He swallowed. Like what he’d always wanted and had never had.

  “It’s what I want with you,” Aaron said, kissing the top of his head. “I know we only have them for a little while longer. I don’t know if I’d relive the baby years if I could. But I love not doing it alone. I love that Kirby has someone to talk to when I’m not there. I love that you took a boy from your class in because your heart is that big. I… I don’t think your house will ever be empty, Larx. I just want to be in it too.”

  Larx hummed. “Yeah. Fine. Share my life. ’Cause that’s not going to be the most fucking romantic thing anyone has said to me ever.”

  Aaron held him tighter, and the moment turned golden. Aaron’s grip relaxed in a few heartbeats, and Larx caught it—that instant when his breathing deepened and he was just about to snore.

  But Larx hadn’t asked his questions yet.

  “Wait—Aaron, wake up!”

  Aaron snorted and struggled to sit up. “Wha? What is it? The kids? You need a dog!”

  A dog? “Sure, Aaron. Get me a puppy for Christmas. Just make sure it won’t eat the cats. Delilah won’t put up with foolishness.” Larx put a restraining hand on his chest and he settled down. “But you didn’t tell me about the damned investigation. I was waiting for everyone else to go to sleep, and then you almost went to sleep.”

  “Oh!” Aaron slid to his side and propped his head on his hand. “That’s right. And it was something I wanted to tell you. But, you know—”

  “Totally secret.” Larx mirrored his position, and suddenly they weren’t in afterglow anymore, they were the Hardy Boys, only sleeping in the same bed in their boxers.

  “Right.” Aaron’s teeth glinted in the dark, and he reached out and ran his hand down Larx’s shoulder, cupping his bicep. Larx melted a little. Okay. Maybe not the Hardy Boys. “So, for starters, Julia Olson is on the run. She took off in her mom’s SUV—”

  “Not her car?” Larx knew it—a little electric blue Sportage. The girl had lorded it over her fellow students since she’d gotten it the year before.

  “No—and that’s suspicious. Whitney heard us serving the warrant, and about five minutes later, Julia comes blasting out of the garage—didn’t even stop to raise the door. Gracie and I had to hustle to get out of the way—”

  Larx’s heart stopped. “She almost ran you over?”

  “Not to speak of,” Aaron said glibly, and Larx’s eyes narrowed as he thought of all the ways getting hit by an SUV would be very much to speak of. But Aaron kept talking and Larx almost forgot about his worry. “But see? That’s the thing. Because she did that scaryassed thing, we could search the house. And when we got there, I said we should start searching in the fire pit, because—”

  “Perfect place to get rid of evidence,” Larx said, enthralled and thinking about the blaze that had so mesmerized him that night.

  “Exactly. So because Julia flew the coop so spectacularly, we had CSIs inside the house too. And the thing is, both fireplaces had this weird residue—something thicker than paper and wood, something that needed an accelerant to burn.”

  Larx couldn’t have moved right then if someone had set him on fire. “And!”

  “And in the outside pit, we found this ball of fabric. Like someone had rolled up, say, a black pair of wool trousers and sweater and tried to burn it.”

  “Wool doesn’t burn,” Larx said, because he taught chemistry and knew this.

  “Exactly. It needs an accelerant. But she’d rolled them up—”

  “Because she was panicking!” Because of course she’d been panicking—she’d been needed back to take care of her kid.
<
br />   “We think she tried to burn it in the fireplace inside first while she showered. Then she got home and realized it wasn’t burning, and took it outside with some gasoline to finish the job.”

  “But the polyester fibers—if the pants were a blend, they would have melted—”

  “Locking the wool inside,” Aaron said, smiling. “The CSIs are hoping there’s enough there to confirm blood.”

  “Huhn,” Larx pondered. “If her kid had paid attention in my class, she probably just would have thrown them in the washer with half a bottle of bleach. That’s really the smarter thing to do.”

  Aaron grinned in the dark and kissed his nose playfully. “And that is why we’re glad you only use your Larx powers for good,” he said. “You’d make a much better criminal than Whitney Olson.”

  Larx sobered. “Is she really a criminal? Have you arrested her?”

  “No.” Aaron shook his head. “We need to test for blood, and her lawyer is going to challenge the warrants—and he doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on, but he’s got one made of money, and that might work too. So we don’t have a lock, or an arrest. And Julia is still in the wind, and that….”

  “That’s bad,” Larx said softly, thinking about Christi alone and freaked out. “I mean… I haven’t thought well of the kid, but….”

  “But she’s a kid,” Aaron said.

  “And if she knows her mom tried to kill Isaiah….” Larx frowned. “But wait—weren’t you serving the warrant for something entirely different?”

  Aaron grimaced. “Yeah. We were hoping we’d get some evidence on that floater I found Friday.”

  Larx groaned. “God, Aaron—didn’t you tell me once you mostly checked up on fishing permits and teenagers getting impregnated in the woods?”

  Aaron’s laughter was rich, even in the hush of the darkened bedroom. “Well, yeah,” he conceded. “But sometimes it gets interesting.”

  Larx laughed softly, and they talked some more. Not about the case or Isaiah, but about students Larx had taught or cases Aaron had worked—getting-to-know-you conversation, mostly.

  Except Larx felt like he’d known Aaron his entire life. This just felt like catching up, really. In the best sort of way.