by Mel Spenser
"Nothing big planned. Thought we'd hang out at the pool in the morning, eat lunch and then head out to do some more shopping."
Nick looked over at Andy, who was grimacing with his eyes closed. "I think maybe we'll take the morning to recover. We'll meet up with you guys at lunch."
Eric and Nick stood up to leave. Andy was still slumped in the chair, and Nick put a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, baby. Let's go sleep it off."
Andy gave a mildly annoyed look when he heard the word "baby" used in front of Eric, but he let it slide. He managed to stand and let Nick lead him back to their room.
***
It was more like dinner before they met up with the others. They slept for a long time. The shades were drawn. They could hear faint hotel noises through their sleep, voices, and doors closing. The activities director led some sort of noisy game in the pool. But they slept on, tangled together with a do not disturb sign on their door. It was late in the afternoon when Andy cracked one eye open to find Nick standing over him, smiling.
"What time is it?"
"Almost three in the afternoon."
Andy heard a rattle and clink.
"I got us some ice. Here, have some water."
He sat up with his eyes closed. Nick lifted Andy's hand and put a glass of ice water in it.
"Drink. You've got to be dry."
Andy did as he was told. Nick watched him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad. Just groggy." He handed the glass back to Nick. "How long have you been up?"
"Not long. About a half hour." He took the glass from Andy and set it on the nightstand.
Andy flopped back.
"You're dressed," Andy complained.
"I couldn't very well walk to the ice machine naked. It would scare the straights."
Nick sat down next to him on the edge of the bed. He rested one hand on the other side of Andy, caging the man between his hand and hip. They stayed that way, looking at each other for the longest time. Nick moved his free hand and lightly rubbed the back of his knuckles on Andy's jaw.
"I need a shave," Andy said sleepily.
Nick's gaze wandered over Andy's face while he traced his finger over Andy's lips. Andy let his eyes drift shut as Nick's fingertips continued to lightly trace his face.
***
Andy woke up with a start. The bad dream of Lee he'd just had left him disoriented. The first thing he noticed was that Nick wasn't next to him on the bed. He sat up and looked around the dim room, trying to focus. He saw Nick sitting by the sliding door reading, using the strip of light that was coming between the curtains. Andy felt an overpowering sense of relief that he was there.
Nick looked up at him and smiled. "Hi, baby. You awake for real this time?"
"Yeah. Come here." His voice was rough.
Nick walked over to him, still smiling. Andy grabbed him by the wrist and roughly pulled him down onto the bed. Andy wrapped both arms around Nick’s body, trapping his arms, and clutched him close.
"What is it, baby?"
"I thought you were gone." Andy didn't let up his hold.
"I'm right here."
Andy still held him tightly. Nick managed to free his arms. He stroked Andy's back.
Andy looked up at Nick with fear in his eyes. "Don't leave me."
"Baby, I'm not going anywhere," Nick said softly and kissed him.
Andy clutched at Nick's T-shirt and kissed him roughly. Nick could feel Andy's need building quickly. What sounded like a sob came from deep in his chest. He broke away and tried tugging Nick's shirt off of him. Nick got the message and yanked his shirt off. Andy was already working on his shorts. He got them undone and was pushing and pulling, trying to get them off of Nick.
When Nick was naked, Andy sat on his lap facing him, straddling his legs. Andy didn't stop kissing him, hands frantic on Nick's body.
"Tell me what you want, baby."
"You."
"How?"
"Want you in me. Around me."
That was all Nick needed. In one movement, he leaned forward with Andy in his arms and deposited him on the bed. Andy's legs wrapped around Nick's waist. Andy’s hands reached up and pulled Nick's head down, capturing his breath in a frantic kiss.
Andy's hands were everywhere at once, moving across Nick's muscular back and sides. Nick felt the raw need coming from Andy. He thrust up toward Nick, trying for contact.
Nick rose up on his knees with Andy's legs over his thighs. He reached for the lube and quickly slicked them both up, then he angled his cock down. Nick pushed into Andy, stretching and filling him. Nick moved steadily in until their bodies rested together.
Nick stayed that way and looked into Andy's eyes. Watching him, Nick began moving. He slid slowly in and out at first. Nick continued to hold Andy's gaze and he started increasing the speed of his thrusts. He changed his position slightly so his cock rubbed past Andy's gland, causing Andy to buck. Nick did it again and again until Andy cried out and began to shake.
Andy took hold of himself and stroked his cock as Nick brought him closer to the edge. Andy's balls tightened and he was close to coming. Nick's eyes flared the moment he realized Andy was ready to blow and watched his Andy’s face. Andy's lips parted and his face flinched, but his gaze remained locked with Nick's. His belly jerked with each spasm of his orgasm. Still, Nick watched him and kept thrusting, riding it out with Andy. Then Nick leaned down and kissed him roughly as Nick joined him moments later.
Andy reached his arms around Nick and pulled Nick to his chest. Nick shifted and slipped out of him, but continued to lie over Andy, surrounding him. Their chests were pressed together and they could feel their hearts pounding.
"I'm here, love. I'm not leaving you."
Chapter 17
Lee needed to pick up a few supplies at the local market. Whenever he needed to run errands, he thought nothing of using one of the customer's cars at the garage.
The parking lot at the market was very busy, and he had to wait his turn like everyone else, hoping for a parking space to become available.
Lee noticed a man coming out of the store. He did a double-take. The guy looked a lot like Andy's asshole boyfriend. Same build. Same dark hair. But no, this guy was with a woman. They were holding hands, smiling and talking. They were dressed like they had both just gotten off work. The guy did look very familiar, though.
He watched them walk to a car. Lee noticed a child's car seat in the back. Definitely not Andy's asshole boyfriend. But who was he? Lee knew that he had seen the guy before. He watched them get into the car. Maybe he had brought his car into the garage. Lee started to dismiss it.
Then it hit him. That was the guy that Lee had seen at the gay club a couple of nights ago. The one who had been sitting at the end of the bar watching him.
Now Lee really was suspicious. Something hadn't been right about that guy in the first place. First he was in a gay club, now Lee sees him with a woman. With a car seat, no less.
Lee watched them back out. He tried to maneuver the car so he could follow them, but the parking lot was too congested. Within moments, they were out of the lot and gone from sight.
Chapter 18
"Hang on to the rail, girls." Sandy hovered behind Lydia and Libby as they walked the short gangway from the dock to the catamaran. Eric, already on board, whisked each of them onto the deck as soon as they were within reach. Nick followed with an armload of flippers. Andy had a bag that held all of their masks and snorkels.
The catamaran that had been chartered for the day was about forty-eight feet long and about twenty feet wide. There were eight other people along for the ride. Having already brought on coolers filled with drinks, the crew of two was getting the boat ready to go.
The girls headed toward the front of the boat and the rest of them followed. Nick and Andy sat next to each other on the deck with their backs against the front window of the cabin.
"I want to sit with Uncle Andy and Nick
," Lydia said.
"Me, too," Libby chimed in.
The girls laid out their towels. They flanked Andy and Nick, sitting on each side of them with their backs against the front window, too. Libby, hands clasped together in her lap, scooted next to Nick. She looked up at him and grinned.
"Well, this is cozy." Andy said.
It wasn't long before they were heading out to the small island called Isle Mujeres that was about five miles off the coast. It was still early in the morning and there was no wind, so they motored along for a while on a straight course to the island.
The girls quickly got bored with sitting. They got up and walked around the boat, stopping every so often to look over the edge, Eric following in their wake. The water was clear, and they pointed out starfish on the sandy bottom thirty feet below as the boat passed over them.
Nick looked up at the mast and sky to make sure Andy would be in the shade for a while. Then he leaned back, took Andy's hand and held it. Andy was snoozing next to him. Sandy lay a few feet away on a towel with her eyes closed. Nick couldn't remember ever being this peaceful and at ease.
Eric came up and handed Nick a beer from the cooler.
"Thanks." Nick took it from him.
"Nothing like a beer before noon," Eric said. "Who cares if it's still morning? We're on vacation, right?"
Eric sat down not far from Nick. He kept one eye on the girls the whole time, who had finally sat down on the deck near them. Eric and Nick sat in companionable silence for some time.
"So, are you glad you came?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. I was just thinking that I haven't been this relaxed in a long time."
"Even though you're with two sets of twins? One set of which is crazy?"
"Hey. I heard that." Sandy said from her towel.
Nick and Eric chuckled.
"I could get used to this." Nick sighed. "It sure beats the hell out of tornados and snow where I'm from."
"I've never been up north," Eric said.
"Where are you from originally?" Nick asked.
"I grew up in Southern California. In Redondo Beach." Eric went on. "Sandy and I met in college. When we graduated, we got married and I never went back. She didn't want to leave Andy anyway."
"They are pretty close."
"Yeah. She's really all the family he has. I, on the other hand, come from a large family. I've got two sisters and three brothers."
"Man! So do you keep in touch with them pretty regularly?"
"Oh, sure. In fact, my parents have been bugging us to come for a visit. They want to take the girls to Disneyland."
"Tell him about Scott." Sandy said from her towel.
"Scott is my older brother." Eric said. "He came out about ten years ago. He and his partner live in Santa Monica."
Nick thought that this was probably one of the reasons Eric seemed so accepting around Andy and him.
"So, are your parents alright with him being gay?" Nick asked.
"They're fine with it. They were surprised at first. But my whole family really likes Ben, his partner. They've been together for six years. He's part of the family now."
Nick felt a pang of what may have been regret. He'd often wished that he'd grown up in an area where people were more liberal. His parents, especially his father, had never been fine with him being gay, which is why they never really spoke anymore. Thank God for Victoria and Steve.
"Anyway, we'll probably go out for a visit during Thanksgiving."
"I already bought the tickets," Sandy said.
Eric laughed, "In that case, we are definitely going out for Thanksgiving."
Nick thought about that. Where would he be on Thanksgiving? Had he ever really planned that far in advance with anyone before? He decided that Tim didn't even count, because, every holiday, Tim had gone to see his own family, leaving Nick to fend for himself. He looked down at Andy, who had flipped over on his stomach and was snoozing on the deck next to him. Would they still be together then?
One of the crew shouted that they were in the area where they were going to be snorkeling. Everybody onboard started moving around. They stood up, stretching, waiting for the crew to tell them what to do.
Everyone was given a lifejacket and they were shown the correct way to put them on. Those who had never snorkeled before watched as one of the crew gave a quick demonstration of the mask and snorkel.
Nick had never snorkeled before, so he was paying close attention to the demo. Andy, on the other hand, had on his flippers and life jacket and had already stepped off the edge of the boat. Nick looked around for Andy when he heard the splash. Andy bobbed up, sitting back in the water with his flippers sticking up.
Eric was already in the water, too. Sandy handed Lydia and Libby over the edge to him. Then she jumped in. The girls immediately put their masks on, laid out flat and started swimming with their faces in the water.
"Come on in, Nick." Andy called up to him, gesturing with his hand.
Nick watched the twins swimming around like little fish. No way was he going to be shown up by a couple of five year olds with ponytails. He didn't want to appear to be a total wimp, so with his mask in one hand, he took the plunge. He hit the water and immediately came to the surface. When he came up, Andy was next to him, smiling. The lifejacket made him bob upright. This wasn't so bad. Kind of fun, actually. Andy adjusted Nick's mask and helped him put it on. After a couple of trials of putting his face in the water so it wouldn't leak, Andy took his hand and they were off.
Nick had never seen anything like it. TV and his imagination couldn't compare with the reality of it. The water was about twenty feet deep and was totally clear. Andy led him around a formation of reef that was sticking up from the bottom. Several different kinds of fish swam around it. Nick reached out his hand as a school of small, colorful fish swam around him. Andy produced two underwater disposable cameras and handed one to Nick. They spent the next half hour snorkeling in the area around the reef and the anchored catamaran. Nick took a lot of pictures, but he had to admit that about half of them were of Andy.
Nick found that getting back into the boat was a little more difficult then getting off of it. After an awkward moment of gripping and tugging, Nick finally pulled himself up onto the steps. Eric offered him a hand as he crawled up the ladder.
"Not bad for your first time," Eric said. "What did you think?"
"It was great," Nick said, unbuckling his lifejacket. He staggered a little trying to get his legs to work on the solid deck.
"We're lucky that the water is calm today." Eric grabbed Sandy's outstretched hand and effortlessly pulled her up on the boat. "It's not fun if the water's choppy. The water gets down the snorkel. Swallowing a mouthful of saltwater can make you sick to your stomach in a hurry."
Andy tossed his flippers on the boat and then clambered onboard. He came easily up the ladder like he'd been doing it all his life. He stood next to Nick and shook his head, flinging water from his hair. Nick had never seen someone so comfortable around water. He was a natural.
Other people started coming on board. Since they were done snorkeling for the day, everyone tossed their flippers in a pile in the back of the boat. People were spreading out, settling down to where they had been on the ride out.
Once everyone was settled, the crew raised the anchor and steered the catamaran to the port. They made it to the little dock and then everyone was free to explore the island and eat lunch.
Tourists weren't allowed cars on the island, so they rented a couple of golf carts after they ate. The girls thought this was great and of course wanted to ride with Andy and Nick. They set off to drive the road that went around the small island. They made a couple of stops to walk on the beach and take some pictures.
A sea turtle sanctuary was along the way, so they decided to stop. Visitors could look down into large, round tanks that were full of young sea turtles about a foot long. They were not supposed to touch them, but somehow fingers slipped and managed to pet along the back
of their shells. They walked out onto a narrow, wooden pier that led from the beach and out into the water. From the pier, they could look down on a netted area that held several full grown sea turtles.
On the way back to the small town, they passed an unusual house shaped like a giant shell that the girls insisted on taking a picture of. When they had made the complete circle of the island, they dropped off the golf carts and then went to check out the open-air shops.
A few hours later, it was time to board the catamaran. The trip back was yet another new experience for Nick. The sails were unfurled and then there were only the sounds of the wind and the catamaran moving through the water. It was so much more peaceful than the constant drone of the engine when they had gone out. Nick could see how people came to love sailing.
