by Andrew Grey
“I believe that last time I was here you invited me to ride the death trap you have out in the old equipment shed,” Ryan said. He wanted to change the subject and he wasn’t sure how else to do it. He really wasn’t particularly looking forward to riding that thing, but it was the only idea that came to mind. He wasn’t sure if Dante would go for it, but eventually he looked up from the top of the table.
“You’re serious?” Dante said, his voice trembling slightly. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, and Ryan could almost see him regaining control of his emotions.
“Of course. You’ll have to teach me how to do it, but I’m game if you are,” Ryan said.
“Okay,” Dante agreed with a bit of the energy Ryan had seen in the bar after the competition. “I need to check on Gramps. I’ll be right back out.” Dante hurried down the hall. Muffled voices reached his ears, and Ryan heard Dante moving around. Water ran, and then more voices before Dante returned. “Let’s go.”
Ryan followed him outside and around to the building that held the mechanical bull. Dante turned on the lights, and Ryan wondered if the damned thing had grown since the last time he’d been here. Now that he’d already agreed to ride the thing, it looked monstrous.
“No backing out,” Dante said, and Ryan nodded.
“I’ll ride the thing,” Ryan said, and he stepped up to it and carefully climbed on.
“Hold onto the rope with your right hand and use your left for balance. The trick is to flow with the bull rather than trying to go against it. The machine is going to buck and twist like a real bull. It will also change direction quickly. What you want to do is go with it, and when you feel yourself falling, don’t try to stop it. The floor is padded, so just roll with it and you won’t get hurt.” Dante made sure he had a good grip and was in the right position.
“I think I’m ready,” Ryan said.
“Okay. I’m going to put it on the lowest setting. It isn’t going to move too fast.” Dante stepped across the pads to the controls. “Just have fun.”
The machine began to move under him, and Ryan held on for dear life, clamping his legs onto the machine and pulling on the rope. Of course all that did was get him ejected before he could think about it.
“Are you okay?” Dante asked as Ryan spit out a bit of fluff from the padding.
“Yeah,” he answered as he got to his feet.
“Try it again. You know what to expect now, so relax a little and move your body. The only chance you have is to move with it. The second you tighten up, you’re toast. You watched me in the finals, so you saw how I moved and rolled with that fucking bull. Do the same on the machine.”
“I’ll try,” Ryan agreed. “But I don’t think I can move the way you did.” He climbed back on the machine, and Dante checked him once again. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Ryan said, and Dante started the machine.
This time he knew a bit more of what to expect. The dang thing still threw him, but he lasted a few seconds before hitting the foam padding.
“That was better,” Dante said.
“You do it,” Ryan said, and Dante climbed on.
“Turn it up to medium high,” Dante said. “I’m not warmed up enough for everything it’s got.” Ryan stood near the edge of the foam and adjusted the controls. “Let her rip,” Dante said, and Ryan turned on the machine. Dante moved and rolled with the machine, hips moving this way and that, arm in the air, whooping and hollering to beat the band. Ryan watched Dante move, appreciating the flow of his body and the way his hips undulated with each movement of the machine. Dante shifted his balance, and the bull seemed to sense it and moved the other way. Dante sailed off the machine and onto the padding, his leg sweeping Ryan’s. He went down as well, landing on top of Dante.
“That was amazing,” Ryan said, peering into Dante’s eyes. Ryan was about to get up when he realized exactly what was pressing against his hip. “You’re pretty amazing.” Ryan moved closer, hovering over Dante, but coming no closer. He’d said he’d wait until Dante asked and Ryan never went back on his word.
“I can’t do this,” Dante said without heat. “I can’t feel like….”
“Like you’re less of a man?” Ryan asked, and Dante nodded. “It takes one hell of a man to be willing to give himself to someone else. There’s no shame, nothing weak, in getting what you need. Sometimes it takes the strongest of men to be able to submit to another.”
“Are you shitting me to get in my pants?” Dante asked, his expression darkening.
“I’ve already been in your pants, to use your words. And no, I’m telling you the truth. If you look inside yourself, you’ll know it.” Ryan waited without moving as a myriad of mixed emotions, from confusion to skepticism, passed across Dante’s expression. “Do you think for one minute a weak person could have kept their eyes closed the last time we were together? You did. You didn’t peek or cheat, not once. That takes strength most people don’t have.”
“But that was just games,” Dante said.
“No, it was more than that. It required trust and strength.” Ryan moved his face closer to Dante’s without actually touching him. “Giving yourself to someone else requires both. And let me tell you this: if you weren’t a man, all man, I would never be interested in you.” Ryan held Dante’s gaze. “I’m not into men who look and act like boys, and I’m not into men who aren’t interested in the type of relationship I need. That we need.”
Dante gasped, and Ryan half expected him to buck him away and jump to his feet. Ryan expected the fear that Dante had demonstrated in the hotel room to show itself again. But then maybe Jacky was right.
“You know I know that’s all bullshit,” Dante said, and Ryan pushed into the foam padding to lift his weight off Dante.
“Is it? If you think about what I said and what it is you really want, deep down, you’ll know it’s not bullshit, as you say, but the truth. You’re very much a man, Dante, and if you think that letting someone else have control in the bedroom makes you less of a man, that only shows how little you know.” Ryan got his knees under him and moved away from Dante. He immediately missed the warmth, but he wasn’t going to push. He’d probably done enough of that already. Ryan got off the padding and strode toward the door. “I’ll see you around. Tell your grandfather I’ll call him in a few days.” Ryan hated walking away like this. Part of him wanted to take Dante and show him just how much strength it took to let someone else have control, but he’d made a promise and he was going to stick with it.
“I don’t know, okay?” Dante said from behind him.
He stopped. “The question is, do you want to find out?” Ryan asked without turning around as his heart pounded in his chest. Dante was going to have to ask him to stay and be willing to ask for what he wanted. This was Dante’s decision. He had to keep the excitement and tension he could feel building out of his body language. Slowly Ryan turned around. Dante had hardly moved a muscle, still lying on the padding where he’d fallen. “What is it you want?”
“I don’t know,” Dante whispered, and Ryan saw a small shiver run through him.
“I think you do. You’re just afraid of what you want.”
“And you’re not?” Dante challenged.
Ryan stepped over to one of the vertical beams that supported the roof, holding on as he leaned his head against it. “I’m afraid all the time. But I try not to let that stop me.” Ryan sniffed slightly. “There was a guy in college, Benjamin, and he was very much into being a submissive. He and I tried a lot of different things together. It was from him that I learned that I was dominant, and he really got off on that. We did things together, really kinky things, because that was what he loved. Unfortunately I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and a few times I… hurt him. Things went further than I intended because I had no control. The thing was, Benjamin, Benji, didn’t mind; in fact, he loved it. But I wasn’t comfortable.” Ryan felt his hand shaking and he clutched the beam a little tighter. “
Things were getting out of control, and I got the bright idea of trying to scare Benji off the things we were doing, so I found an article on auto-erotic asphyxiation. Basically, you choke yourself when you’re coming to heighten the rush. It’s extreme, and the article contained pictures and everything.”
Dante shuffled to his feet and moved closer. “That doesn’t sound like dialing things back.”
“Yeah, but Benji was all for everything. I found out that because I wouldn’t do what he wanted, he was seeing someone else… and I loved him.” Ryan shook his head slowly. “The thing was, I thought an article on people dying because they were doing kinky stuff would make him see what he was doing. But it didn’t. Instead, it gave him ideas, and a week later I came home from class and found him half hanging from the upper bed in his room. When I got there he was still alive.”
“Jesus,” Dante whispered.
“Yeah. I got him down and called for help, but by the time anyone arrived, his eyes had rolled back in his head. We tried CPR, but his windpipe was crushed and there was nothing any of us could do. The school classified it as a suicide, and so did Benji’s parents. But I saw the fact that his pants were around his ankles and I knew what he’d been trying to do.”
“But that wasn’t your fault,” Dante said. “You didn’t know he was going to try that.”
“I should have. He tried everything. Anyway, after that I stayed away and kept to myself. The sex I have had since then has been ‘normal’, and I vowed to keep it that way.”
“But you are who you are,” Dante said.
“Yeah, and I was doing fine until I walked into that bar and saw you. The way you looked at me and your body language screamed out to me what you needed. And I wanted it.” Ryan shook off the regret about things he couldn’t change now. “I wanted you. So you see, I’m scared too, and I don’t have all the answers either. I’ve also read and learned a lot about myself and what it is that I want out of a relationship.” Ryan closed his eyes. “I don’t have all the answers and I probably have only a few more than you do, but I know what I want now and I’m willing to admit what I need. Are you?”
Dante held Ryan’s gaze for a few seconds before turning away. “That’s easy for you, you’re the….”
Ryan spun Dante around. “If you say ‘man’, I’m going to smack you,” Ryan told him firmly. “I don’t date women. I love them, but they hold no interest for me that way. I date and love men, period. So get rid of that notion,” Ryan said strongly to make his point. He waited without moving a muscle. Dante squirmed slightly under his gaze, but Ryan kept still and waited. This was the moment when Dante had to choose. He could run, and Ryan knew he’d move on, never bringing the subject up again, or Dante would accept what he needed and ask for it.
“Ryan, I—” Dante said a bit shakily, and then his expression cleared and he straightened. Ryan knew in that moment that Dante had made up his mind. “I want this,” Dante said.
Ryan closed the gap between them, encircling Dante in his arms and then kissing him hard. Dante almost immediately opened for him, and Ryan surged his tongue into Dante’s mouth, tasting him. He cupped the back of Dante’s head and kissed him hard. Dante shivered in his arms, and Ryan kissed him again, harder, more urgently, and the tiny vibrations that worked through Dante’s body became more pronounced, driving Ryan’s desire. He wanted this man so damn bad he could barely think, but he had to keep his wits about him. Breaking the kiss, Ryan gulped for air, and Dante gasped. Within seconds, Ryan kissed him again, and Dante shifted his head backward under the onslaught, beginning the process of giving himself over.
Ryan stepped back, needing a moment to catch his breath and clear his head. He looked around the building and saw a few ropes looped around the beams. Ryan was just able to reach them, and he threw them over the beam until they hung at the right height. “Go ahead and take off your shirt and jeans,” Ryan told Dante, “then grab the ropes. Then put your boots back on.”
“Are you going to tie me up?” Dante asked.
“No. This is where the strength comes in. If I wanted to restrict your movement, I could do that, but in this case, you’re going to restrict your movement by holding the ropes. You can let go at any time, but as soon as you do, I’ll stop.”
Dante nodded, pulled off his T-shirt and laid it aside, then went to work on his jeans and boots. Ryan made sure the door was closed and barred it from inside. “No one will come out here, will they?”
“No,” Dante said.
“Good.” Ryan moved back to where Dante had now grabbed the ropes, stretching his arms and chest taut. “Because for now you’re mine, and I don’t share or put on shows,” Ryan said as he lightly teased one of Dante’s nipples. Dante squirmed, and Ryan felt the bud pebble beneath his hand. “Do you remember the rules?” Dante nodded. “You need to answer.”
“Yes. You’re in charge, and I can’t come until you tell me,” Dante said, looking away, and Ryan gently turned his head until their gazes met.
“You have nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. But you have to answer me out loud because nods and signals can be misinterpreted, but you telling me exactly what you want leaves little doubt.” Ryan leaned close, putting his lips right against Dante’s ear. “Besides, I love the sound of your voice. Whenever I hear it, I get hard and want nothing more than to slide my cock deep inside your gorgeous, tight ass.” Dante squirmed and let loose a small moan. Ryan walked around behind Dante and slowly ran his hand down his back. The muscles danced under Ryan’s palms and he moved closer until he was pressed to Dante’s back, his hips right against his butt. Dante pressed back against him and Ryan stepped away. “Stay still. I’ll give you what you need, but when I’m ready.” Ryan pulled off his shirt and then stepped close to Dante again, pressing his bare chest to Dante’s back. A huge sigh from Dante filled the room. “You like being touched, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Dante answered, tugging slightly on the ropes.
“How long had it been since someone other than me touched you like this?” Ryan reached around under Dante’s arms, stroking slowly across Dante’s chest.
“Long time,” Dante panted softly. “Too long.”
“You deserve to be touched and stroked. You deserve to have someone show you how they feel about you.” Ryan moved his hands lightly up and down Dante’s chest and stomach stopping just above the elastic of his briefs. Dante’s breath hitched, and Ryan continued stroking his skin. “I know you want to let go, and I know your cock is ready to rip itself out you’re so hard. I know exactly how you feel.” Ryan lightly ghosted his hand over the sizable bulge. “I also know you want me to give you some relief, and I will, but not right now.”
Ryan knelt down, running his hands over Dante’s strong, throbbing legs, lightly brushing his balls. “Ryan,” Dante moaned and threw his head back in frustration.
“I know,” Ryan whispered as he stroked his way back up Dante’s body. When he was once again standing behind Dante, he lightly kissed his shoulder and then his arm before stroking and kissing his shoulder blade and then down his spine. “Arch your back,” he said, and Dante did, curving his spine, hissing softly when Ryan licked and kissed the small of his back, then pulled the waistband of his underwear lower so he could reach the top of Dante’s butt. He quivered softly, and Ryan could feel the ripples of excitement as they rolled through Dante’s body.
Ryan tugged the fabric lower, licking and sucking on Dante’s skin. “Ryan, God,” Dante groaned, pulling on the ropes.
“Can you take more?” Ryan asked, and Dante groaned.
“Fuck me, yes,” Dante swore.
“Oh, honey, I intend to fuck you hard and well into next week, but not quite yet.” Ryan pulled Dante’s briefs to his ankles. “Step out of them and spread your legs wide.” Dante struggled a bit and Ryan had to help him, but he finally kicked the briefs away and stood in front of Ryan, naked, hard, throbbing, and his eyes filled with pride. “You are fucking gorgeous,” Ryan said.
; “Am I going to get to see you?” Dante asked.
“Maybe,” Ryan said as he stepped forward, sliding his hand over Dante’s hot skin and down his belly before wrapping his fingers around Dante’s cock. “Remember the rules?” Dante nodded and threw his head back when Ryan stroked his cock.
“Ryan, that’s not fair,” Dante said.
“Oh, you can come if you want,” Ryan said with another, slower stroke. “But then it’ll all be over.” Dante cried out in frustration, and Ryan released him. Dante’s cock bobbed and jumped, and Ryan knew he was trying like hell to control his body. Ryan knew he could stroke Dante three more times and he’d be coming all over the place, but that wasn’t the objective. He wanted Dante to stay as close to the edge as he possibly could. “You are so fucking hot right now I can barely stand it.”
“Why don’t you get naked so I can see you too?” Dante asked, and Ryan smiled.
“Because I’m in charge,” Ryan reminded Dante. “And I’ll decide when you come, what you see, and what you feel. That’s the deal, remember?” Dante nodded and lowered his eyes to the floor. “Close your eyes,” Ryan said, and Dante did. Without making a sound, Ryan stepped around behind and lightly touched Dante’s shoulder. “Push your butt back for me,” Ryan whispered, and Dante arched his back, sticking his butt up and out. Ryan stroked the smooth skin of Dante’s ass. “Damn, this is beautiful,” Ryan murmured and knelt on the edge of the padding.
Ryan spread Dante’s cheeks and heard him hiss softly as he ran his tongue along Dante’s crack. Dante went up on his tiptoes and moaned something fierce when Ryan zeroed in on his opening, teasing and probing the puckered flesh. When Ryan did it again, he could have sworn Dante’s feet left the floor.
“Ryan!”
