Helix

by Anna Martin

  “Huh.”

  “I have been accused of trying to relive my twenties while in my forties on more than one occasion,” he added drily.

  “It’s funny,” Steve said, idly dragging his fingers through the hairs on Mark’s stomach. “We almost had switched situations. I didn’t settle down, not really, until I adopted Dylan. And you settled down early and did all your wild experimenting later.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Any regrets?”

  “Nope,” Mark said easily.

  “Do you think things will change when your kids go to college?”

  “Oh, I’m sure everything will change.” Mark paused long enough to kick the comforter over them both, clearly noticing when Steve shivered in the cool, air-conditioned room. “For what it’s worth, I like this. I haven’t let myself get close to anyone in a long time.”

  “You like me,” Steve teased.

  “You’ll do.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Steve thought he was doing well to hide how hard he was falling for Mark and his easy charm. And yet….

  “Okay. I need to order some dinner. Are you staying?”

  Steve pressed his hand to Mark’s belly, just to see if he could make it gurgle. Mark squirmed and swatted him away, laughing.

  “Sure,” Steve said. “Not burgers, though. I had enough red meat already today.”

  “I’m sure we can figure something out.”

  Mark pressed a kiss to the top of Steve’s head before rolling over for the phone on the nightstand, and Steve fought very hard against the little flicker of something he didn’t want to name that danced through his stomach.

  Chapter Thirteen

  TOP OF the morning to ya! Happy St. Paddy’s day

  OMG dude Mary Anne asked me to hng out this afternoon

  Dude

  James

  James rolled over in bed and pried open one crusty eye to read Anthony’s messages.

  Awesome

  He was dozing when the next string of messages buzzed through.

  I know we have plans to watch the game later

  You ok if I hang out with her tho?

  I’m not gonna ditch you bro. St P’s is our THING

  This time he laughed out loud.

  You’re good. Will find Dylan.

  The time for sleeping was clearly over, and it was almost ten anyway, so James rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. The house was still and quiet, which was unusual for a Saturday morning. As James scrubbed shampoo through his hair, he remembered Frankie telling him something about early rehearsals, so that explained where she was. He had no idea about his dad, though.

  He finished showering, quickly shaved, then dressed in shorts and a green-and-white baseball T-shirt that he’d ordered from eBay. James could do festive when the occasion called for it, and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations definitely called for it.

  As he jogged down the stairs, he ruffled his fingers through his hair, trying to get it to dry quicker. In the kitchen he found Frosted Flakes left out on the counter but no note from his dad saying where he was, meaning James was probably supposed to know already. He wasn’t too worried.

  With a huge bowl of cereal, James deposited himself on the couch to watch cartoons for an hour or so. Saturday mornings were the best.

  JAMES FINALLY left the house around midday, taking the Chevy down to the lake and parking near the stadium. He had spent the previous evening talking with Dylan late into the night about his Little League team. Dylan was so nervous, wanting the team to succeed more for their own benefit than his.

  Now James took the long route around to watch the game from the fence. It wasn’t such a good view as the one from the bleachers, but the stands were packed, and he didn’t want to try to squeeze in next to some family who had been saving their seats all morning.

  James wasn’t a big fan of baseball, but he was a huge fan of Dylan, and he could definitely enjoy that view from where he was standing. Around the group of kids, Dylan made a hulking figure, wearing his team jersey and a green baseball cap that violently clashed with the maroon-and-white shirt. He had his arms folded over his chest and was scowling, occasionally waving a hand around and giving instructions.

  Despite his intimidating stance, the kids didn’t seem to mind. As James watched, one kid who couldn’t have been older than five or six edged out of the dugout and tugged at Dylan’s shirt.

  Dylan’s expression changed immediately, and he hunched down so he could hear what the kid was asking. He nodded, patted the kid on the shoulder, and pointed at something James couldn’t see. Then he straightened up and went back to scowling at the game.

  James laughed to himself, because it was so typically Dylan. He was the sweetest, kindest guy, who hid all of his nicest qualities behind one hell of a frown.

  It would be another hour before the game was finished, so James decided to walk down to the lake rather than driving. Anthony was going to be there with his family before his date with Mary Anne; his dad was home for a few weeks, and James hadn’t seen him in ages, so he wanted to stop by and say hi.

  The crowds were already starting to build, even though the main entertainment wouldn’t start for a while. The families who didn’t have kids young enough for Little League were staking their claim to prime picnic spots, and a few people were firing up grills.

  For an hour, James sprawled out on a picnic blanket with Anthony and his mom. James and Anthony had grown up in each other’s houses, so James knew Anthony’s parents almost as well as his own and found it easy to carry a conversation with them.

  “I’m going to go meet Dylan,” James said, checking his watch and noticing it had gotten late.

  Anthony nodded and got to his feet with James. “See you Monday?”

  “Yep. Have fun with Mary Anne.” James winked.

  “Thanks.”

  He exchanged a back-slapping hug and waved to Anthony’s parents before heading back up to the stadium.

  It was pandemonium.

  The changeover between the Little League game and the high school game was crazy, with double the number of people there should be milling around. It was a little overwhelming—James had never been a fan of huge crowds—so he headed back to his car and locked himself inside.

  About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the window, and James almost jumped out of his seat.

  Dylan laughed. The bastard.

  James turned the key in the ignition so he could wind down the window.

  “Hey,” Dylan said, still smiling.

  “That was mean.”

  Dylan leaned in and kissed him on the cheek in apology. “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay. What do you want to do?”

  Dylan answered by walking around the truck and getting in the passenger side. When he shut the door, he sighed deeply.

  “You okay?” James asked.

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Did you win?”

  “No.” Dylan made a face. “But they played so well I don’t think any of the kids are too disappointed.”

  “There’s always next year.”

  “True.” Dylan tipped his head back against the headrest. “Jay?”

  “Yes, Dylan?” He was being a little shit, and Dylan glowered at him for it. James kept his banal smile in place.

  “Do you mind if we get out of here for a couple hours? I don’t mind if we come back later, it’s just….”

  “Too many people? I was thinking the exact same thing.” James turned the engine over. “Is your car here?”

  “No, I got Joe to drop me off this morning. My car’s at work.”

  “Got it.” James carefully edged out of his parking spot, aware of the potentially thousands of children who might run out in front of him at any moment. “Hey, you know I get free tickets to see movies at work, right?”

  Dylan gave him a look. “You want to go see a movie? James, it’s the first nice day of the year.”

  “Exactly. Everyone is going to be outsi
de, so the theater will be dead. No people,” he added meaningfully.

  “You’re a fucking genius.”

  “I know,” James said and headed out of town.

  THEY WATCHED a shitty horror movie because that was the next thing that was starting when they arrived at the theater. Apparently Dylan was a really big fan of shitty horror movies and laughed every time James jumped. Then he kissed James to make up for laughing at him, so James really couldn’t find it in himself to care. If he jumped a little more than he normally would… well, no one needed to know.

  By the time everyone in the movie was dead, Dylan’s arm was wrapped around James’s shoulders and he was leaning over to leave whisper-light kisses on James’s neck every few minutes. James was definitely half-hard in his pants and grateful the theater was both dark and almost empty.

  After the movie, they headed back to Dylan’s house. James really wanted to bring Dylan home, to show him his room and spend some serious time in James’s bed making out. He’d had some great fantasies about what it would be like when he finally got Dylan in his bed, and he was definitely eager to make them a reality.

  But he wasn’t entirely sure when his dad would be getting home, and Frankie could decide she wanted to come back at any time. The last thing he wanted was for his sister to walk in on him having any kind of sex at all, so Dylan’s house was safer.

  James followed Dylan up to his loft bedroom and felt like this was a bigger step than just climbing some stairs. Wherever this relationship was going, he was eager and waiting to get there.

  When Dylan’s arms came around James’s waist, he pushed up under James’s T-shirt and pressed his hands to bare skin. James pushed his fingers into Dylan’s thick hair and let their kiss turn rough and dirty and needy from the first touch of lips.

  They dragged each other’s clothes off, stumbling and laughing as they tumbled for the bed. James didn’t even feel a little self-conscious as Dylan looked down at him, carefully pushing the shorts down over James’s hips.

  “Is this okay?”

  “Yeah,” James breathed. He reached for Dylan’s pants too, shoving his socks off quickly and tossing them off the end of the bed. He did not want to have sex while still wearing socks.

  James pressed a palm to his erection, begging it to behave as he finally got Dylan naked. Dylan’s cock was as gorgeous as James remembered.

  Before he could reach for it, Dylan flipped him over and gently pinned James to the bed, looking at him for a long moment before leaning in and claiming his mouth. This was a new experience: submitting, so willingly, so enthusiastically to someone older and bigger and stronger. James decided he liked it. A lot.

  When Dylan pulled away to mouth at James’s neck, James became aware of how hard his heart was hammering in his chest. He clutched at the sheets on Dylan’s bed with sweaty fingers, glad that Dylan wasn’t holding his hands anymore.

  “Can I?” Dylan murmured. He brushed his lips over James’s chest, nuzzling gently.

  “I don’t know what I’m being asked to consent to.”

  Dylan chuckled and pressed his face to James’s belly. “I want to suck your cock.”

  “In which case, yes, I enthusiastically consent.”

  “You are seriously the most amazing guy,” Dylan said, his voice almost inaudible as he kissed lower over James’s torso.

  “Said the guy who wants to suck my cock. Oh fuck.”

  Dylan gently, but insistently, sucked a hickey into the thin skin just above his hipbone. James threw an arm over his face so he didn’t have to look down and see Dylan doing that.

  “You should probably know,” James said, “that I have little experience in this. And by little, I mean none. So I probably won’t be that impressive.”

  “You don’t need to impress me. I just want to make you feel good.”

  “You are fulfilling that promise to the—holy shit, Dylan.”

  Dylan was still chuckling softly to himself as he tugged down James’s purple boxer briefs and breathed over the head of his cock. James felt it jump and bit down hard on the skin inside his elbow to keep from coming right away.

  “Tell me if you want me to stop,” Dylan said, before sucking James’s cock into his mouth and swirling his tongue around the head.

  James did not want him to stop.

  He closed his eyes and tipped his head back and just let himself feel. Because this was Dylan, and what they were doing meant something, and he was really, really going to come quickly.

  “Dylan,” James said, a warning that ended in a choked gasp.

  “How quickly do you recover?” Dylan asked. He was gently rolling James’s balls between his fingertips and even that gentle sensation was going to be the death of him.

  “It probably won’t take long.”

  “Good,” Dylan murmured. “I’m going to make you come, then I want you to suck my cock and fuck me. Does that sound okay?”

  “Yes. Very okay.”

  Dylan tapped the outside of James’s thigh. “Jay?”

  James smiled down at him. Dylan’s big brown eyes looked concerned for just a second, and then he smiled too and lowered his head.

  James wasn’t sure what that meant, but Dylan’s mouth was back on his cock and James really, really wasn’t going to last long. He gripped Dylan’s shoulder and rolled his hips, desperate for that sweet slide of Dylan’s plump lips along his cock.

  “Dylan, I’m—”

  He managed to gasp a warning before Dylan sucked hard and James’s orgasm stole his breath. The next second he was crying out, only vaguely aware that Dylan was swallowing around him. This was definitely the best orgasm of his life.

  “Holy shit.”

  “You say that a lot.” Dylan laughed as he kissed back up James’s chest, his lips red and swollen.

  I did that, James thought vaguely, pressing his palm to Dylan’s cheek.

  “Yeah. Wow.”

  Dylan was still laughing as he kissed James again, sweeter and slower this time, and James could taste his own come on Dylan’s tongue.

  As all his brain functions started to return, James became aware of Dylan’s hard cock pressed against James’s thigh. James deepened their kiss, curling his hand around Dylan’s neck and licking into his mouth.

  Dylan moaned a little and canted his hips against James’s thigh.

  “I want….”

  “What?” Dylan breathed. He turned his head and nipped at James’s earlobe, then started sucking and nibbling down his neck.

  “I want to make you feel good.” James arched into Dylan’s kisses, not sure if Dylan was leaving marks and totally not caring.

  “Oh God, Jay, I feel good. Trust me.”

  James laughed, euphoric, and pulled Dylan tight against him.

  “When I got up this morning, I did not envision spending the afternoon in bed with you.”

  Dylan smiled against James’s neck. “Disappointed?”

  “Not at all. Still want me to fuck you?”

  “Yeah. A lot.”

  “Okay.”

  James nudged his nose against Dylan’s, pleased at the soft, warm smile he got in response.

  Dylan reached over James for his nightstand, pulling a bottle of lube and a condom from the bottom drawer. He set both on the bed, then leaned in to kiss James again.

  “I think it’s my turn to be worried about coming too soon,” he murmured. “Let me do this part?”

  “Can I watch?”

  Dylan’s cheeks flushed, but he nodded. “Of course.”

  James rolled onto his side, idly playing with his cock as Dylan mirrored his position and pulled his top leg up to his chest. James couldn’t quite see exactly what Dylan was doing; his hand was moving, though, and every few minutes he stopped and pumped more lube onto his fingers.

  “Does it feel good?” James asked.

  Dylan blinked his eyes open. “Uh-huh. Ready. I’m ready.”

  He rolled onto his back and reached for James. James let himself be
drawn between Dylan’s spread legs, then leaned in to kiss him deeply. He got lost in those kisses for a while, letting Dylan take control, then pulling back to kiss at Dylan’s neck and chest and sides.

  “James,” Dylan whimpered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Please.”

  James pressed his forehead to Dylan’s sternum, suddenly nervous. Dylan pushed his fingers through James’s hair, gentle reassurance.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

  “I don’t know how to make this good for you.”

  Dylan tugged on James’s hair until he looked up, then kissed the corner of his mouth.

  “It’s you, James. It’s me and you.” He shook his head. “It’s going to be incredible.”

  James dropped his head to Dylan’s shoulder. “Okay. Just… help me out here, okay?”

  Dylan nodded and kissed him again. He reached down between them and deftly rolled a condom onto James’s cock. Then, with his hand curled around the base of James’s dick, guided him inside.

  James’s breath stuttered.

  “Easy,” Dylan said, sounding equally as wrecked. “Take it slow, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  James didn’t feel like he was about to go off like a damn firecracker, and realized that coming once already actually helped. Dylan still felt amazing, though, a tight heat that he wanted more of.

  Instead of pushing in, James held himself steady as Dylan rocked his hips up, taking a little more of James’s cock inside himself. When James was almost all the way inside, Dylan moved his hand to gently grip the back of James’s neck and nodded.

  “Dylan,” James murmured.

  “You’re good.” Dylan drew him down into a kiss, this one lazy and uncoordinated as their hips rocked together. After a moment, James bottomed out and gasped into Dylan’s mouth.

  “You feel so good.”

  Dylan smiled. “You do too. Oh my God.”

  James lowered himself to his elbows, liking the angle better. Like this, he could grind slowly, not pushing Dylan too hard. Taking his time.

  Dylan’s hands were all over James’s body; skimming up and down his back, clutching his ass, curling into James’s hair as they moved together. James blinked his eyes open and realized Dylan was watching him.