The Great Wall

by Z. Allora

  His mother huffed but held her tongue.

  The walls around Styx were dynamited. Was he free?

  His grandfather stood up. “Walk with me, Jun Tai.”

  He was lost in his own thoughts as they walked down the hill. The turn of events seemed too amazing to be true. As they ambled through town, his grandfather was quiet for a long time. Finally he asked, “Are you happy living in Suzhou… with Jin?”

  Without hesitation, he replied, “Yes, very.”

  His grandfather stopped and studied him.

  Styx stared at the old man he loved very much, and realized what question he was really being asked. He focused his gaze down at the street to kick a piece of trash and raised his head to meet his grandfather’s questioning eyes. “I really am.”

  “I won’t pretend to understand or approve, but it gives me peace to know you’re happy. You were always such a good boy… and, well, Jin has always been a good boy too. I’m glad you have a nice friend….”

  They continued zigzagging through the streets of town.

  Styx realized this was as much of a blessing as he could ever hope to get from his family. And it was enough.

  “And playing music, you like it?” His grandfather smiled, reading the answer that had to be written on Styx’s face.

  “I love it.” Styx grabbed on to the safe topic with both hands. “Made in China even has a local fan club.”

  “That boy in the house….” The question was unasked.

  Styx nodded. “He came to China to start a band with his very close friend, Li, who is a great musician and our bass player.”

  His grandfather silently digested the information Styx left unsaid.

  “Jun Tai, I will miss you, but do not come back for more than visits. Be happy. Do not….” His grandfather sighed. “Do not marry unless it will make you happy.”

  Styx stopped moving to stare at his grandfather.

  “Sacrificing yourself for your family, while noble, is foolish. Your generation needs to stop doing this nonsense.” They ambled down the stone path a little bit more before his grandfather spoke again. “Times are different now. China is changing.”

  As soon as they got into the house, his father seemed to be bursting with exciting news. “Did you realize Indigo’s father is in the music business too?”

  Styx smiled and turned toward Indigo. He had no idea what his friend had been telling his family, but everyone appeared enamored with both of them, except his mother. Keeping a straight face, he said, “I did.”

  His mother huffed and she stood. “Well, I don’t understand why a drummer can’t be married. A man needs a wife.”

  Standing to defend his son, his father said, “The boy told you it’s all about image and branding.” He slapped Indigo on the back as if they were longtime friends. “Besides, his father can always help them if this deal falls through.” Styx’s father seemed to be counting on that money, and he fully expected them to use whatever resources they had, including Indigo’s father.

  Styx’s gaze slid over to Indigo, watching him visibly wince at the suggestion of him needing anyone’s help to succeed. “I know it won’t be necessary, sir. We’re going to make it without family help.”

  “Well, just as long as you make it.” His father grinned as he slapped Styx on the back. “So, Indigo said you have to get back for your fans. You didn’t tell us how popular you were in Suzhou.”

  “Um….” Styx stared at Indigo for a moment.

  Indigo’s eyes danced with merriment. “I told your father all about Made in China’s plans. He’s a wise businessman who understands we need to follow up on these opportunities quickly. There’s no time to waste.” He shrugged.

  His father said, “I told him it might take several years to possibly a dozen to become successful, and we needed to be patient.”

  Styx stood there frozen, watching the impact as the flattery worked.

  His mother’s hug woke him. “Well, come back for the Spring Festival, even if it’s not to get married.”

  He hugged her back tightly.

  “He’ll be back for visits. But it’s time we let him live his own life.” His grandfather hugged him.

  The walls were gone. He simply needed to walk toward his life. His whole world tipped on its axis, and he didn’t know which way was up. Swallowing back the raw emotion, he said, “Thank you.”

  STYX STARED at Indigo for a long time.

  After a few kilometers, Indigo asked, “What?”

  “I can’t believe you did that for me.” It was a miracle.

  Indigo shook his head. “I’m actually rather shocked it worked out. In America there’s a saying that money can’t buy you happiness, but apparently in China it can.”

  “It bought me my freedom…. I can’t believe anyone would do that for me. I’ll pay you back.” Styx had never witnessed this kind of generosity before.

  Indigo shrugged. “We’re bandmates. You’d have done the same for me.”

  Styx doubted he would have even come up with a solution to what, in China, would normally be an inescapable circumstance. “I like how your foreign mind works!”

  Indigo laughed. “Glad to be of use.”

  Wow! Styx was headed back to Jin, and he hoped he hadn’t ruined everything….

  Chapter 18

  INDIGO SAUNTERED into the apartment, leaving Styx to deal with his knotted sneaker. He heard Li asking, “Why didn’t you call?”

  “Forgot my charger. Sorry.”

  Li growled. “Come here. You need to be reminded not to forget things.”

  “Oh!” Indigo purred. “Yes, definitely I need a reminder.”

  Li’s laughter suggested Indigo let himself be dragged him into their room. The quick slam of their door confirmed it.

  Styx gave up on the knot and just toed off his shoe, then tiptoed into the apartment. He found Jin staring out at the fireworks blasting off over the lake.

  Tian Di gave him a wide-eyed look and big smile before disappearing into his room.

  He silently drifted over to stand behind Jin, who had yet to turn around. Through the reflection on the door, he watched Jin bite his lower lip. It made him want to caress the swollen lip with his tongue.

  He stepped in close, allowing Jin to melt into him as he wrapped his arms around Jin’s slender body.

  “Mm, this is perfect.” Jin always belonged in his arms, but now, after experiencing the loss, his heightened awareness made the simple act of hugging acutely pleasurable. He hadn’t expected to ever experience Jin’s body against his again.

  “How long until you go back?” Jin’s voice broke with the question.

  “Holidays.” Styx tucked a chunk of blond hair behind Jin’s ear and licked the outer edges until Jin whimpered and pushed away from him. “But only if you go with me,” he whispered.

  “Please don’t make me watch.” Jin stepped toward the sliding glass door, away from Styx.

  “You’re the only one I’ll consider marrying.”

  “What?”

  Styx witnessed the disbelief reflected in the balcony glass door.

  “Indigo fixed it. I don’t know all the details of what he told my father, but….” Styx chuckled, still mystified about the last twenty-four hours. “I think he basically bought me.”

  “Huh?” Jin turned around.

  Styx filled him in as he drank in the sight of the love of his life. He caressed the side of Jin’s face, needing to reassure himself that Jin was real and it wasn’t just a dream. “How did I think I’d ever survive without this?”

  Not waiting for an answer, he captured Jin’s lips with his own.

  Within seconds, Jin’s resistance dissolved, and he surrendered completely to Styx. Their kiss deepened and turned desperate with a single swipe of Styx’s tongue.

  Jin twined his arms around his neck and hopped up. Styx caught him, palms cupping his ass to secure him. Jin’s long, muscular legs wrapped around Styx’s waist, and Styx strode toward their bedroom.
/>   This move put all the right parts in alignment. Styx groaned.

  Jin’s hardness rubbed against his own bound appendage. It would have been easier to break apart to go into the bedroom but he didn’t want to let Jin go. He couldn’t stop kissing the man in his arms.

  Styx bumped Jin into the wall near the door. Reaching behind him, Jin opened the bedroom door… their bedroom door. Once in the room, Styx fell back against the door, slamming it shut. He pulled back from the tangle of tongues long enough to take off the necklace that held his key, and slipped the chain over Jin’s head.

  He shifted closer to continue kissing, but Jin seemed to have other ideas.

  Jin tipped his head back, which allowed them to stare into each other’s eyes, Jin’s gaze heated.

  “For me?” Jin asked softly, touching the key.

  “Back where it belongs,” Styx commented, drinking in the man he loved.

  Jin dropped to his knees in front of Styx. “Mine.” His deft fingers moved to unbutton the denim.

  “Yours. Always yours.” Styx’s murmur turned into a groan as his cock was released from his jeans. With a flick of the key and a few twists of the rings, he was hard and breathless. His head hit the door as his body stiffened, trying to get a handle on his need.

  Styx had no control over anything when Jin’s hot, wet mouth slid over him. He reached out to hold on to something and only found Jin’s head. Styx wrapped gentle fingers into that shiny, golden hair and pulled Jin forward.

  Jin’s mouth traveled up and down on his shaft. His hot lips and tongue, which Styx thought he’d never have again, danced over him.

  Styx moaned and his eyes rolled into his head as Jin swallowed around him. He arched his back and choked his lover with his cock a little. He pulled back. “Sorry.”

  “Again, Styx.” Jin stared at him with raw need. He stroked himself off with his right hand while tugging Styx back into his mouth with the left. Jin sucked hard and then purposefully hit the back of his throat.

  Styx tried to pull back, but Jin did it again. This time when Jin choked, Styx’s body spasmed and Jin came. Pure joy flooded him, happy his lover found satisfaction.

  Jin continued to suck, maybe even a little harder, moaning his pleasure around Styx’s cock. The roller coaster of emotions Styx had been on for the last twenty-four hours collided with Jin’s determined mouth, and he lost it. His fingers twisted in the silky blond hair as he joined the love of his life in orgasmic bliss with a groan of relief.

  Collapsing against the door, Styx watched Jin lick his lips before standing. “Stay there.”

  “I don’t have a choice.” He leaned against the solid wooden door for support.

  Jin grinned at him and disappeared into the bathroom to start running the water into their large tub. He returned, stripped off his clothes, and then helped Styx with his. They left them in a pile near the door.

  “Come on. It’ll take forever to fill. Let’s lie down,” Jin said as they tumbled into bed.

  They cuddled as they recovered.

  Jin ran his fingers through Styx’s hair, combing it out, while he asked quietly, “Did you really mean it?”

  “Yes. There’s no way I can leave you again. I can’t do it.” Styx traced Jin’s face. “You’re everything to me. I almost walked away from happiness.”

  “Li was worried when he didn’t hear from Indigo. He left, like, twenty messages.”

  “Indigo’s phone died last night, and he didn’t have his charger. I didn’t turn my phone on,” Styx murmured, helping Jin piece together the sequence of events.

  Jin asked the same question again to clarify, “You said Indigo bought you?”

  “I guess so. He got Bi Yu’s boyfriend a job in Shanghai, making decent money.”

  “Bi Yu had a boyfriend?” Jin sounded shocked and angry at the very idea.

  Styx shrugged and started to laugh. “Don’t forget, so do I.” He sighed. “And we were never officially engaged, and she didn’t want what our families wanted any more than I did.”

  Jin chuckled too, caressing Styx possessively as if he were reclaiming all parts of him.

  “I guess her family will be moving with her when she marries Cong. Her family signed an agreement with my father to give them full rights to the courtyard between the houses, as well as selling their house to him.”

  “When your sister gets married, she could live there.”

  Styx ran his fingers through the miracle of Jin’s blond hair. “Doesn’t matter, but it won’t be me.” He really meant it. “Indigo paid them a lot.”

  Jin smiled. “He really said a record deal wouldn’t happen unless you were part of the equation?”

  “Yup.” Styx chuckled.

  Jin’s eyes went wide at the bold lie. “But what happens when there’s no deal?”

  “Indigo’s sure we’ll get a deal. But even if we don’t, with the money he gave my family, my debt to them is paid. They’ve gotten more than if I’d married and worked in the factory as a supervisor and gave them every dime I made until I retired! Now I just need to pay back Indigo, but he said it won’t be an issue.”

  Jin watched him intently. “You’re telling me you won’t cave in when they want a grandchild?”

  “That’s exactly what I am saying. My sister will provide them with all the grandchildren they need.” He placed a soft kiss on Jin’s mouth. His lover’s lips parted, and he could taste a little of himself in the deeper kiss, which excited him. “I’m yours. Are you mine?”

  “Always.” Tender featherlight touches turned into making out. Jin whimpered in desperate need for more. He pulled out the oil. “I want you in me. Help me?” Jin asked with a blush.

  “Sure.” Styx took the vial of oil. Jin grabbed his knees and pulled them back toward his chest.

  Styx was lost in the beautiful sight of his lover’s body.

  Jin read his lack of action as hesitation. He wiggled his hips. “One finger at a time, you’ll do fine.”

  Grinning at the coaching encouragement, Styx coated his finger with oil and teased the entrance.

  Jin inhaled and flexed his muscles, relaxing them.

  Adding more oil, Styx taunted the rosebud until it opened and closed as if it wanted more attention. Jin purred as he arched his back. “Styx. Please.”

  Styx slid his fingertip in. He pressed in and out, slowly making Jin beg for more. “Come on.”

  He refused to speed the preparation along even if his lover grew impatient—craving their joining. Styx longed to put himself deep inside of Jin and never come out, but forced himself to build their anticipation by slowly adding fingers.

  When Jin was open, shivering and bathed in a sheen of sweat, Styx picked him up and carried him into the bathroom. It was perfect timing, because the Jacuzzi tub was almost filled.

  There was no need to turn on a light because the neon from across the street washed the bathroom in soft color. He set Jin on the sink’s vanity to kiss him and poured the rest of the oil onto his throbbing cock. Finally, he answered Jin’s pleas and pushed into his lover, slowly pressing into the tightness until he was balls deep.

  “Yeah!” Jin exhaled. He arched his back at the invasion before wiggling on the erection, forcing it deeper into his body.

  After another stroke, Styx carefully turned them and stepped into the warm water. Jin moaned with every step Styx took, which made him want to jog a mile. But for now, being inside Jin while in the heated tub seemed like a piece of heaven.

  After some shifting and more than a little whining from Jin, they were comfortably seated in the tub. Styx held him close and treasured this moment. Cherished it. He didn’t want to linger on how close he’d been to giving all this up forever.

  Jin held him tight as overwhelming love washed over him. His lover slowly began to move, just little movements that aroused his need for more. Jin began to ride him.

  Styx put his head back on the rim of the tub to watch his beautiful man move over him.

  Jin’s tigh
t channel caressed him in the most delicious way.

  Styx kept his body reined in, but his heart soared free. His hands embraced Jin’s thighs until Styx had to pull Jin down to share a kiss. He’d kiss Jin’s sweet lips forever, and it would never be enough, and he’d still want more.

  “I love you, Jin.”

  “What?”

  Maybe this declaration shouldn’t be made in the heat of the moment, but he couldn’t help himself. He loved Jin. He would tell him now, later, and every minute of every day. “I. Love. You.”

  Jin’s face crumbled, and he covered his face with his hands. “It’s what I’ve wanted to hear for a long time.”

  “I love you, Jin.” Styx pulled Jin’s hands away so they wouldn’t block his view. “I’m sorry I tried to put being a good son over us.”

  “I understand. If my mother was alive….” He didn’t bother to finish his sentence. Styx understood Jin would have been in a similar struggle. His voice trembled when he asked, “You won’t leave me again?”

  “No. You’re stuck with me.” No way in hell would Styx ever make that mistake again. He couldn’t.

  “I love you too.” Jin made his declaration a moment before crashing his mouth down onto Styx’s. His hips rotated in a slow circle, a reminder that they were still attached.

  The water lapped around them, splashing outside the tub. Styx reached over and turned off the water. He flicked a switch, putting on the bubbles.

  Jin found the rhythm they’d lost. The Jacuzzi hummed to life, and in no time, they were building toward climax.

  Styx found purchase for his heels, gripped Jin’s hips, and started thrusting into him with purpose.

  Jin’s eyes closed, but a small smile told Styx his lover enjoyed this harsher invasion. His hand moved to stroke Jin’s erection, and Jin’s movements on Styx’s shaft became quicker, more urgent.

  “Oh, Jin.” His lover’s tight body rippling around him was too much, and Styx pushed in and came deep inside his lover. Styx’s fist wrapped around Jin’s cock and he tugged.

  Jin’s head fell back. Opening his mouth in a silent cry as Styx filled him with wet heat, Styx stroked out Jin’s seed into the bubbling water soon after. When it was time, Styx pushed out of the water, raising Jin above the water before he disconnected them with a sigh, then slipped back into the warm bubbles.