by Vivian Arend
Cassidy’s body heated as well as he stayed aware of Travis’s every response. Watching for a sign it was too much. Too little.
A sense of power mixed with responsibility rolled over him. The pleasure was no longer only on one side.
Huh. That was…surprising.
Cassidy paused. Took a couple deep breaths—gave another soothing stroke.
Another set with the crop, this time slightly lower, on the upper part of Travis’s thighs. Those blows brought a more intense response, making him cringe harder, and Cassidy slowed. Took more time between strikes, lingering as he stroked Travis’s skin. Caressed and squeezed until Travis wasn’t just rising up to greet his hand but groaning in pleasure every time the crop landed.
“Cass—” Travis turned his cheek up, sweat beading on his forehead. “God, Cass, I need…” He blew out a long, slow breath, tension pouring from him as he relaxed onto the mattress, all the fight gone.
Cassidy unhooked the ropes from Travis’s wrists. His ankles. Oiled up his own hands again and started at Travis’s feet. This time when he reached Travis’s ass he stroked his thumbs over the red lines created by the crop, no longer hating that he’d caused them. Loving that Travis trusted him enough to ask him to.
He gave in to the pleasure that touching Travis’s strong body gave him. He drizzled extra oil in the small of Travis’s back and traced a finger through it and along the seam of his ass. It was all too simple to ease the slippery liquid farther in, separating Travis’s cheeks slightly and teasing between them.
Travis reached back and caught his wrist. Strong fingers wrapped around him and held him in place. “Don’t do this because you think you have to.”
Cassidy leaned over until he could look Travis in the eye. This wasn’t something he wanted to have any confusion over, and it was far past time for lying. “I want you. I’ve wanted you for fucking ever.”
Somehow they ended up side by side, Cassidy clinging to Travis’s neck as they kissed. Wilder and rougher than any prelude to a fuck that Cassidy had enjoyed before, but it was right. Violence and pain still hovered in the air. Cassidy found his jeans being torn from his hips, his shirt ripped over his head. It only seemed to take seconds before he was naked and a hot mouth was branding his skin.
He caught Travis to him and did his own exploring. Caressed the muscles flexing in Travis’s back, reaching lower to clutch his ass again, this time knowing how hard and tight Travis wanted him to squeeze.
Then he couldn’t wait. It had been far too long, and while hands wrapped around each other’s cocks felt amazing, it wasn’t enough. He caught Travis by the chin and held him captive. “Get back on your stomach.”
Travis’s pupils darkened further, a crease between his brows, and for a split second, Cassidy thought the word no was going to escape his friend’s lips.
Then Travis turned, nestling against Cassidy’s chest. Rubbing them together so Cassidy’s cock rested in the valley between his ass cheeks.
Cassidy eased him forward onto his hands and knees, holding firmly as he guided Travis into position. He caught up a condom and jerked it on, hands once again shaking. Then he moved in tight, covering Travis’s body so he could press a kiss between his shoulder blades. “Tell me if you need a break.”
“Just do it,” Travis snapped. “God, you’d think you were…”
His words vanished as Cassidy pressed a finger into his ass. The oil from before and the lube Cassidy had coated his cock with made his finger slip in smoothly. He worked it a few times.
The tightness eased as Travis relaxed. Cassidy added another shot of lube to the valley between two fingers then spread Travis further.
“Oh, hell.” Travis wiggled up on his knees, widening his stance.
“Okay?”
“God, yes.”
The urge to hurry was there. Like a constant prod between his shoulders, but Cassidy took his time. Prepared Travis and teased him until neither of them could wait any longer.
He took a deep breath and put the head of his cock to Travis’s ass, and pushed.
“Oh, sweet, fuck.” Travis slammed back a hand and caught Cassidy’s wrist again where he had gripped Travis’s hip. “That feels so damn good.”
Cassidy couldn’t talk. Hell, he could barely breathe. Travis pushed his hips back as Cassidy rocked his pelvis forward, and suddenly his cock was buried to the root, all the way inside Travis.
Physical pleasure, yes, but the trust that had brought them to this point—that was what moved it from feeling good to something so incredible he couldn’t describe. As he pulled his hips back, he smoothed his hand over the heated red lines still marring Travis’s skin. He twisted his other hand, and their fingers ended up linked together. The touch made everything more intimate.
More intense.
He could have kept moving slowly, savouring every touch, but there was an ache in his cock and a warning bell going off in his balls, and he had to admit that he wanted more. He thrust forward, striking at an angle, and Travis cursed and arched. “Hell, yes.”
Cassidy smiled. “You like that?”
He thrust again, and Travis’s grip on his hand tightened to the point of pain. “Again,” he demanded.
“Bossy bastard,” Cassidy complained. “I’ve got my cock in your ass, and you’re still trying to call the shots.”
Travis laughed. “Did you expect anything else? Now, fuck me.”
Cassidy held on tightly to both hips and drove his cock forward. Again. And again, the pleasure so intense he could have started a countdown and known exactly when he was going to blow. Ten more, nine, eight…
Only, not without Travis.
He reached around and gripped Travis’s cock, jacking him hard in time with each thrust.
Travis twisted a death grip into the quilt cover. He alternately slammed himself back on Cassidy’s cock and rocked his hips forward to thrust into Cassidy’s fist.
“Damn.” Cassidy saw white spots before his eyes and he was gone, semen spurting into the latex, his climax ripped loose as Travis’s ass squeezed him tight.
Travis let out a guttural moan and gave in as well, strands of stickiness coating Cassidy’s fingers, their bodies locked tight together.
Cassidy held on as long as he could before he had to collapse, which meant about five seconds. He rolled to the side, taking Travis with him. Cradling him against his chest and clinging to his hip so their bodies remained sealed together.
Their breathing rattled loudly in the quiet cabin air.
A strong hand slipped over his as once again Travis linked their fingers together. “You okay?”
Cassidy laughed. “I’m not the one who got his ass smacked with a crop.”
“Not what I’m talking about, and you know it.” Travis twisted until their eyes met. “All of it—the crop, the sex—you okay?”
It was a question that deserved a thoughtful answer. Cassidy paused and gave it a moment. It had been scary and horrifying before becoming invigorating and addictive, at least the last part.
He met Travis’s frank gaze. “I’m not sure I like beating on you, but I like that I can care for you. Somewhere in the middle that makes it okay.”
One edge of Travis’s mouth snuck upward into that familiar grin. “I noticed you didn’t say you hated tying me up, or the sex.”
“I ain’t stupid.” Cassidy drew his hand over Travis’s chest, trying to soak in that it was possible to be there. “You’re fun to fuck.”
Travis full-out laughed before wrapping an arm around Cassidy and pulling him close for an enormous hug.
All of it so wrong and yet perfectly right. Cassidy had no idea what else was going to happen for the rest of the summer. Travis and Ashley had more than turned his world upside down—they were rebuilding it.
Chapter Nineteen
Things didn’t change overnight, but there was a smoother fit among all of them in the days that followed. Travis liked that he could look up and find Ashley smiling at him, her wa
rm hugs and willing arms always there for him.
Cassidy was still more standoffish, but out of the public eye he was willing as well, and the three of them ended up in bed together in some form most nights, fooling around for a while before Cassidy would kiss them both and head back to his cabin to sleep.
It wasn’t perfect, but seemed about as perfect as it was going to get. Travis was satisfied for the moment.
Two buses had pulled into the lot that morning, doors opening to release a flood of excited little boys and their slightly more groggy fathers. Travis leaned on the fence post to observe the bustle as the crew and guides got them all herded in the proper direction for their grand adventure.
One man guided his son along by a hand gripped in the back of his shirt, barely able to control the energetic bundle of boy.
Memories of doing things with his own father drifted in.
A soft hand snuck around his waist as Ashley cuddled in tight to his side. “You’ve got a twisted smile on your face. What deep thoughts are you playing with now?”
Travis pointed Ashley’s attention down the hill. “Thinking about how my father survived raising us six boys. Couldn’t have been very easy.”
“What? You think you were difficult to deal with? Say it ain’t so…” She laid a hand over her chest in an exaggerated tease.
“Probably the rottenest bugger of all of us.” Travis made a face. “Forget probably. I was an ass a hell of a lot of the time.”
“Oh, I doubt that, but if you were, you’ve changed a lot since then.” She squeezed him tightly. “Your past made you into a better man today.”
Travis stared silently for another moment. “You seen Cassidy this morning?”
She frowned. “Not since breakfast.”
He dropped a slightly distracted kiss on her lips. “Bet he’s hiding in the barn. Tonight—you want a campfire once the guests are gone?”
“You know it. Vicki got us the fixings for s’mores.”
An exaggerated shudder shook him. “God, how can you eat that sweet crap?”
She laughed and headed the opposite direction.
Cassidy was working in the barn, the music turned down, most of the horses out in the paddock being prepped for the riders. Travis stood and watched as Cassidy raked, his hard muscles flexing with every motion. Ragged movements, though, as if he were on edge. Not the smooth and easy-like actions Travis expected, but strange jerks and sudden smacks tossed in at random.
“That pile of hay do something to piss you off?” Travis asked.
Cassidy jolted upright, his expression dark and clouded. Ignoring the question, he turned back to his task, driving the rake into the pile and throwing the load into the wheelbarrow with far more force than needed.
Travis shifted around to get a better look at his friend. “Cass?”
Cassidy stabbed the rake so it stood upright then stepped back. “Got work to do.”
He wheeled past Travis as if his task were the most important thing in the entire world.
What the heck?
Cassidy was back in a minute, rolling up his shirtsleeves and prepping to go again when Travis had enough. He stepped in and laid a hand on Cassidy’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s up?”
Cassidy shrugged him off. “Not in the mood.”
Travis laughed. “With a yard full of guests you think I plan on seducing you right now? Get your brain in gear. I want to know what’s wrong.”
“Nothing.”
The rake was up and killing the hay pile again, and Travis decided to ignore it for now. But not for long.
All day he let it go. Cassidy was interesting to observe, though. Like how at lunch, when the guests filed into the mess hall to grab their food, chatting excitedly, dads somehow controlling their rambunctious boys, Cassidy filled a plate and walked straight through the hall and out the door.
He ate his lunch on the stoop of his cabin, glowering at the campers as they finished their meal and got partnered up with their horses. The entire time the group was being prepped, Cassidy stayed far out of the way.
But he watched. And Travis watched him, and wondered.
“Is he okay?” Ashley whispered, tucking herself under Travis’s arm and staring up the hill to where Cassidy still brooded.
He didn’t know how to answer when he wasn’t sure what was wrong. “He’ll be fine.” He smiled at her. “We’ll get it out of him tonight.”
“Resistance is futile.” Her smile lit up the dark places inside.
That gentle smile was still in place hours later as she leaned back in her lawn chair and held her marshmallow-pronged roasting stick toward the flames. Overhead, stars were breaking through the night sky, tiny pinpoints of radiant light gleaming and winking.
“Pretty night,” she declared. “But I’m not going to last long enough to enjoy it.”
“You tired?”
She nodded, pulling off a marshmallow slowly and watching the insides stretch. “It’s the satisfying-two-guys thing, I don’t know how much more I can take.”
He stared at her for a moment in concern, but she winked. “Teasing. I love being with you guys, that’s not it at all. Getting that project done on time is making me nervous—I don’t sleep as solid.”
“You’ll make it,” Travis encouraged. “And if you need to hit the sack early, you go right ahead. I’m going to try and talk Cassidy out of his grump before I turn in.”
They sat in comfortable silence while the fire crackled, until it seemed Cassidy wasn’t going to make this easy. “He’s not showing up tonight, is he?” Ashley asked, concern creasing her brow.
Travis stirred the coals then laid on another log. “I’ll give him another half hour, then I track him down.”
There was no hiding the enormous yawn that took her, and she stood reluctantly. “Let me know everything is okay as soon as you can. I can’t keep my eyes open anymore, but I’m worried.”
“He’s on his way now.” Travis pointed up the path at the shadowy figure slowly approaching. He caught her by the hand and tugged her between his legs, bending her low enough he could press a good-night kiss on her soft lips. “Warm up the bed for me.”
“Always.”
She met Cassidy on the path, pausing to wrap her arms around him. Their outlines against the faint outdoor lights briefly slipping from two separate figures into one tightly meshed silhouette.
Travis considered how much things had changed. He tried to summon up jealousy at seeing them kiss. Ashley stroked Cassidy’s face and whispered something too soft for Travis to hear.
It wasn’t envy that tightened Travis’s stomach, but need. Want.
Emotion rolled over him in a wave. He wanted to ease Ashley’s fears so she could know what an incredible job she was doing on her projects. Every time she showed him her work, her talent floored him.
And Cassidy…
Travis admitted it. He had a deep desire to make whatever it was that was bothering Cassidy go away. He wanted to see his friend laugh wholeheartedly, wanted to alleviate his fears and be at his side all the time.
The man was hesitant, but so giving. Travis was reminded of his older brother Daniel in some ways, or maybe his cousin Gabe. Men who gave and gave without expecting much in return. When he’d been young he’d occasionally thought the two of them were idiots, but now their motivations seemed much clearer.
Strength, not weakness.
They cared more for others than for themselves, and that kind of unselfishness had never been a part of Travis’s vocabulary. Cassidy and Ashley? They made him want to learn.
Cassidy put a beer down next to Travis’s lawn chair before settling opposite him, leaning back and stretching out his legs. “I’m getting to be a recluse. Too many people around, and I get the jitters.”
It was nearly an acceptable excuse, only the explanation didn’t sit right. Travis took a drink and pondered the best response. “Couple of the boys were so damn excited I thought we’d have to duct tape them to their saddles. Fi
rst time on a horse.”
“Good thing Karen’s got the rides trained to deal with that kind of nonsense.”
Nonsense? Even though he wasn’t a kid person, there had been nothing but sheer enthusiasm in the lot of them. “You remember your first time on a horse?” Travis asked.
A silent shake of the head was all he got in response.
Seemed whatever was poking Cassidy was big enough to knock the chatter out of him, but Travis tried anyway. “I don’t remember either. Seems like my daddy threw us up on them around the time we learned to walk. We’ve got a video of the twins sitting together on one of the oldest nags in the yard with my mom in the background wringing her hands, worried like they were being sent to their deaths.”
Not even a smile. Not a crack.
Travis put down his beer. If this had been Ashley, he would have hauled her into his lap and held her until she gave up whatever she was holding inside. He didn’t think Cassidy would go for being manhandled like that. But maybe…
He crossed the narrow distance between their chairs and knelt at Cassidy’s side. That at least got his attention, Cassidy’s blond head swung from where he’d been fixated on the fire. “What are you doing?”
Travis snuck a hand over the edge of the chair and caught Cassidy’s fingers. He held on, smoothing his thumb back and forth to caress the strong hand that had cared for him and brought him pleasure over the past weeks. “Looking out for a friend. He seems to be having a shitty day. I’m wondering why.”
Cassidy rolled his eyes and attempted to tug his hand free. “You been taking emo lessons from Ashley?”
“Maybe. Would that be a bad thing?” Travis asked. “Come on, spill. You’ve been pissed off and upset and worrying all day, and it’s killing me.”
“Fine, but haul your chair over here. I’m not talking to you when you’re squatting next to me like you’re—”
Travis flipped up a hand. “Enough. How about this instead?”
He hauled Cassidy to his feet and led him a couple of feet to the side where the hill rose gently. There was a log backrest, but the slope created a soft place to sit. Travis stretched out and waited.
