Benji and the Wireman

by Charlie Winters

  Ben wasn’t disgusting. He was gorgeous. That hair which had almost seemed to have lightened a shade since the day before. That pinkish skin which looked as though it had been sex flushed. Those legs—thin, but toned like a dancer—stretching and bending so easily…

  “Okay. There’s a pool store just… it’s not far.” I pointed like an idiot toward the truck.

  “Let me put on a shirt,” he said, scratching that stomach one final time. It was like he was teasing me, moving his hips back and forth in a soft sway before moving his hand to his lips and biting his thumbnail once. “Sorry. Okay. I’m a scatterbrain. Right. Moving!”

  Five.

  Ben

  It was harder than I thought, trying to concentrate while I watched Jesse test the chemicals in my small pool—like having my own private pool boy front and center—only not like any pool boy I’d ever seen. This, now this, was more like having a tanned, thick mountain man with a broad thatch of chest hair (with a barrel chest at that) bending and twisting in every possible way while I sat back and sipped on a fresh margarita, occasionally asking if I could help, while he just smiled and assured me that he was “fine” and that he’d “done this before.”

  Oh, I’d bet he just had.

  When he was done, he climbed out of the water, the droplets clinging to that hair like some scene out of a porn I definitely wanted to be a part of.

  “That it?” I asked.

  “Yep. I’ll write you some instructions so that you can do it next time.”

  “Maybe I’ll just call you every time,” I teased, chewing on my straw with purpose.

  Jesse gave me a shy laugh and reached for a towel, brushing away my fantasy. Sigh.

  “It’s not hard, Ben.”

  Speak for yourself.

  “The pool’s small. It should be easy to maintain. So,” he said, looking back into the house, “what else is on your list for today? Bathroom wallpaper’s gone. Want to start on the kitchen?”

  “You’ve done so much. Honestly, I can’t ask you to help with anything else. If you have stuff to do, you can just go… you know, if you want.”

  Jesse lifted his thick, sculpted eyebrows. “Tired of me already?”

  “No,” I answered immediately. “I just… I mean, you must be tired of me. I’ve monopolized half of your day already.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s my day off. Sun’s out. Nothing to do, really. Like I said, I didn’t have any real plans. But maybe you do? You want to call your boyfriend or something?”

  “No.” The answer was too quick, but I couldn’t take it back. “I mean, he’s probably working. Besides, he hasn’t tried to call me, so… I don’t know. I don’t really want to call first. Are you, I don’t know, hungry?”

  Jesse nodded. “Yeah. Starving, actually. There’s this… do you like sushi? There’s this place in Satellite Beach that has these really great hurricane rolls. Well, everything is pretty great there, actually. They have Thai food there too if you don’t like sushi though, so—”

  “I love sushi,” I gushed. “It’s like my favorite thing to eat.”

  “Cool,” he answered. “I’ve got a pair of jeans in my truck I can change into and then we can go.”

  When we made our way back inside, dripping wet and trailing water onto my already-abused porcelain tiles, there was a small knock on the front door. I didn’t know anyone in town yet, so the knock was a surprise, Jesse glancing over at me while still toweling off his soaked board shorts.

  Tugging at the sticking door, I yanked it open to find a smiling Zach holding up a single duffle bag, his dark hair shoved back by a pair of aviators.

  “Hieeeeeeeeeee!” he greeted. “I’m here!”

  “Oh my God,” I returned blankly. “You… you are. Wow. Well… come in.”

  Zach stopped in his tracks for a moment, just long enough to drop his bag when he saw Jesse standing shirtless behind me. “And who is this?” he asked coolly.

  “Um, this is Jesse Solomon. He was helping me with the pool. The, um… chemicals or whatever.”

  I bit my lip and looked back at Jesse, who calmly came forward and extended a hand.

  “Hey, man. You must be Zach. I’m Jesse.”

  “Yeah… I am. I’m Ben’s boyfriend.”

  Oh, Jesus. Yeah, some boyfriend.

  “Nice to meet you. So, uh, Ben, I’ll just send you those instructions for the pool and, uh… get out of your hair.” Jesse tugged on his t-shirt and slid his worn flip-flops onto his feet. “You guys have a good night.”

  “Oh, we will,” Zach answered, wrapping his arm around my waist.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as soon as the door closed behind Jesse.

  “What? I can’t come visit you now? You were acting all fucking weird last night, so I booked a flight. I didn’t know what was going on with you. But I can see now that you were busy.” Zach gestured toward the door. “With Jesse the Rock or whatever.”

  “Ugh. He’s an electrician. He fixed my electrical outlet and then helped me with some stuff around here. It’s nothing.”

  “It’s nothing? It didn’t look like nothing. He was shirtless and wet in your living room.”

  “We weren’t naked, Zach. Jesus. He literally put chemicals in my pool five seconds before you got here. That’s why he was wet. That’s it. I’m not going to argue with you about this. He’s straight.”

  “Uh huh. The way he was looking at you when I came in didn’t look so straight. He looked jealous.”

  “Oh, Jesus. Will you get a grip?”

  I tugged his bag from the floor and made my way into the master bedroom, plopping it onto the empty space. I still hadn’t managed to get a bed, so I was sure Zach would complain about that night’s sleeping arrangements. He could fuck himself, as far as I was concerned.

  Following me inside, he wrapped a warm arm around my waist and pressed a kiss to the back of my neck. “I missed you. I’m sorry. Long flight.”

  I melted into his touch for just a moment before pulling away. “You can’t just get jealous like that. He’s a new friend. He helped me, okay?”

  “I said I was sorry, alright? I mean it.” He leaned in and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my lips. “Are you hungry? I’m famished.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, actually. You want sushi?”

  He groaned. “You always want sushi. Let’s get steak. I want some red meat. I’m feeling ravenous. Then, when we get back, I want to eat you.”

  “What’s the matter?” Zach asked.

  He’d been between my legs attempting to suck some excitement into my barely-interested dick for nearly thirty minutes when I finally pulled him up by the shoulders.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just exhausted.”

  The truth was, I was irritated by his surprise visit. I had been excited by the idea that Jesse and I could have been having a platter of those hurricane rolls he’d teased me with instead of watching Zach saw through some slab of bloody cow. I found myself staring at him in disgust with every half-masticated bite as he blathered on and on about how hot it was in Florida or how long his flight had seemed.

  “You’ve never been too tired for head before,” Zach returned with a pout. “I flew here to see you. I missed you, Ben. I missed us.”

  “I know.” I kissed him once, without much effort, before staring down at the coffee table dully. “I’m sorry.”

  “You want to try something else? You could suck me for a while.”

  The thought of wrapping my lips around his sub-standard dick repulsed me at that moment, my eyes immediately taking that opportunity to roll in disinterest.

  I shook my head. “I’m just really tired.”

  “All that work on your house? With Jesse?” he jabbed.

  I pushed him off my lap. “Don’t start that again.”

  “I’m not, but I just don’t know what to think. I mean, you’ve never pushed me away before.”

  “What was with that picture last night, Zach? Why were you naked an
d hard?”

  He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “What do you mean? So what? So I was in bed. So I was jerking off when you texted… so what? It’s not a big deal. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve jerked off without you there. You mean to tell me that you’ve never done it when I’m not home?”

  “Was someone there with you?” I asked.

  “Are you serious? Why are you trying to start a fight?”

  I had been trying and he knew it. It would have been so easy… just to accuse him of stepping out—anything—I realized that I didn’t want him there with me. My new house was mine alone. Maybe the thought of him being with someone else wasn’t as disconcerting as I’d thought it might be.

  I breathed out a long sigh. “I’m not. I don’t know why, but that really bothered me. I let it bother me all night. I just felt like you weren’t alone and I don’t know why.”

  “You think I would be with another guy and then text you in the middle of it? What the fuck, Ben? There’s no one else. There’s never been anyone else. I don’t know why you’d think that now.”

  “Why didn’t you want to come here?” I asked. “I mean, when I said I was moving to Florida, why didn’t it even occur to you to come with me?”

  “What?”

  “I mean, you didn’t even bring it up.”

  “Neither did you, darling,” he said sarcastically. “Not even once.”

  Zach was right. I hadn’t. Not even once. Maybe I was looking for a way out. And maybe this was it. Maybe this, right here, on my sofa, was my way out.

  “Do you think this is going to work, Zach?”

  He brushed my hair back and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Please don’t,” he said softly. “Please don’t do this. I love you.”

  “No you don’t,” I returned. “If you did, you would have fought harder back in Topeka. I’m here now. You’re there. You don’t want to be in Florida any more than I want to be back there. You aren’t going to leave and I don’t want to hold you back. You’re twenty-six. I’m thirty-five. I mean, do you see this going in a forever direction?”

  “I don’t know… I mean, I can’t say that right now, but I do care about you, Ben. So much.”

  “I care about you too, but I think that means I have to let you go. You should be with someone who can be there for you… all the way.”

  Zach pulled back a few inches, looking a little stung. He was the kind of guy who rarely got rejected in life—no one said no to his type of beauty… to his easy charm and effortless charisma.

  “You want me to go?” he asked.

  “No,” I said softly. “I mean, you can stay if you want. I just think that maybe it’s easier if we just end this on a friendly note, you know?”

  He nodded his head solemnly. “Can I sleep here? With you?”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Help me pull out the sofa?”

  Warm hands caressed my back gently, inching their way down to the band of my underwear. It felt so good, being touched like this, that I almost forgot…

  “Zach,” I said, whirling around to face him, “What are you doing?”

  He was naked and hard, the lazy smile on his lips intoxicating, almost enough to make me cave for a moment. Almost. However, I got my bearings and pushed back a few more inches to provide space between us.

  “Please tell me you’ve changed your mind,” he purred. “We’re good together, don’t you see that?”

  “Will you put your underwear back on, please?”

  “Will you give me the chance to show you how good we are, Ben? You remember, don’t you?”

  And I did. The sex was good, even molten sometimes, but I was standing by my decisions this time. It wouldn’t be fixed with a one-night—or in this case, morning—fuck that turned into a grave mistake. I needed to move on. Without Zach.

  “I remember,” I told him. “But I told you last night and I’ll tell you again that I think it’s better that we just end this.”

  He pulled me closer, wrapping an arm around my waist to rub his cock against my trembling stomach. “I know you said it would be better, but I can’t see how us being apart is better. What if I did move here? I mean, I work from home just like you. I can just stay here and—”

  “No,” I barked.

  I scrambled off the bed and tugged the covers over my body, wrapping myself into a cocoon.

  “What’s going on?” he asked sitting up. “I said I’d move. I did everything right. I… Ben…”

  “I know.” My voice was suddenly calm, the nerves starting to rest in my twisted belly. “I know, but I think I’m done here. I don’t… I don’t want to.”

  “You don’t want to? What does that mean? You just don’t want me?”

  I shook my head. “No, Zach, I don’t think I do. I mean, I’ve always cared about you, but I… I asked you to give me space and then you just rubbed your dick against me like all would be forgiven if we fucked like nothing happened. I can’t… I just can’t do that. I think I need you to go.”

  “My flight. It’s not for two more days,” he said with a frown.

  “I think you should change it then.” I tugged the blanket tighter, my hands shaking around cotton-covered fists.

  “It’s him, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Who?” I snapped.

  “That guy… that Jesse.”

  “Just go, Zach.”

  Six.

  Jesse

  It had been two days since I’d heard from Ben, so when a text came in that morning, my hands nearly shook around the phone when I saw his name pop up on the screen. I slid the unlock button and held my breath.

  Sorry about the drama. You want to grab that sushi later if you’re not busy?

  I wondered if Zach was still around. Would he be joining us? Fuck.

  With slightly trembling fingers, I tapped back.

  Sure. Pick you up around seven?

  A minute later, my phone buzzed again with three simple words.

  It’s a date.

  It’s a date? What the fuck did that mean? Was it really a date? Surely, he had meant it in the ‘hey, it’s a date’ way, like when people said that on TV or in the movies, but they didn’t really mean it like a date date.

  Get it the fuck together, Solomon. It’s two men eating sushi. At a restaurant. At seven. On a Saturday night.

  Jesus fucking Christ.

  I had to talk to Will. My brother wasn’t the most understanding, but he wasn’t completely clueless when it came to dating. Hell, he’d even found a girl to marry—and a really hot girl at that—so I’d just talk to him. It would be fine. It would be… fine.

  We were in the office that morning working on a mountain of overdue paperwork that our father had ultimately forgotten to file when I’d finally gotten the nerve to broach the subject.

  “Hey, um, Will.” I cleared my throat noisily.

  “What?” Will looked down at an invoice before tossing it onto the pile. “This is a mess.”

  “So, how do you know if something is a date or not?”

  “You got a date, little brother?” he asked, shooting me a cocky grin.

  “Fuck you,” I groaned. “You know what, forget it.”

  “No, no. I’ve gotta hear this. I think the last time you had a date was like two-thousand-five.”

  “And I don’t think I have one now. I was just asking. Jesus.”

  “Okay, okay. So… why don’t you think you have one now?” Will sat back in his chair and cracked his knuckles. “Meet him on Grindr?”

  “Fuck you. Are you gonna take this shit seriously or not?”

  “Alright, Jess. Serious face. Game face.” He circled his face with his index finger. “Where did you meet him?”

  I looked around to make sure our father was nowhere within hearing distance. “On a service call.”

  “No shit? Jesus, it’s like what dreams are made of! Bow-chicka-bow-wow,” Will sing-songed.

  I started to get out of my chair when he spoke again.
<
br />   “Okay, stop. Sit down, dick. Did you fuck him?”

  I pressed my finger to my lips. “Will you shut up? No, I didn’t fuck him!” I whisper-shouted. “Jesus. I just met him on a call and then I hung out with him once after that. Nothing happened because he’s got a boyfriend. Or at least I think he’s got a boyfriend. Anyway, shit… he texted me this morning and asked if I wanted to go to dinner. I mean, do you think that’s like a date?”

  Will scratched his bald head. “I don’t know. What did it say exactly?”

  I dug my phone out of my pocket. “It says, ‘You wanna grab that sushi later if you’re not busy?’ Then I said, ‘Sure, I’ll pick you up at seven,’ then he says, ‘It’s a date.’ So, what do you think?”

  Will smiled broadly. “So, I’d say it’s a fucking date.”

  “Shit,” I groaned. “What do I wear?”

  A long burst of laughter escaped my brother’s throat. “You are asking me what to wear on a fucking date with a dude? You’re the gay one, my friend.”

  “Will you shut up, already? Dad’s out there.”

  “What? He knows you’re gay, man.”

  “I mean, not really.”

  Will cocked an eyebrow at me. “I mean, come on, man. He knows.”

  “We don’t talk about that kind of stuff. I don’t bring guys around here.”

  “That still doesn’t change the fact that he knows you like the cock.” He made a blowjob gesture, complete with a choking noise. “He’s not dumb, Jess.”

  “I know he’s not dumb. I’m just saying that I can’t talk like that around here.”

  “I wish you would. This is getting ridiculous. You know what I think? I think you being polite around Mom and Dad is all well and good, but it’s your life. You should be able to live it. You know what I would say if I wasn’t able to talk about Janine? I’d tell Mom and Dad to go fuck themselves. So it should be the same for you, I’d say. If you want to date some guy and bring him around at the holidays, you should be able to do that without anyone having shit to say about it.”