Aftermath

by Bailey Bradford

  “Lee,” Darren managed to gasp as his vision went bright white and cum shot from his slit. Darren jerked and panted, his balls aching with each spurt. Once he slumped against Lee, sated and sluggish from coming so hard, he became aware of the hard dick jabbing at his backside.

  Trying to turn around enough to get to Lee’s zipper, Darren asked, “What can I do?”

  “Stand up and put your hands flat on the table.” Lee was already pushing Darren up.

  He hoped his legs would hold him. Darren stood and put his palms on the table then lowered his chest until he was lying half on the scarred wood. Spreading his legs was only logical, but canting his hips so his butt stuck up and his cheeks parted was something he did to stoke the lust he’d glimpsed in Lee’s eyes.

  “This what you want?” Darren shook his butt, glad Lee couldn’t see his flaming face with the way Darren had propped his forehead on his folded arms.

  Something wet and cold dribbled into his crack. Darren yelped and lifted his head, trying to see over his shoulder to what Lee was doing.

  “Your cum,” Lee rumbled. Darren dropped his head back onto his forearms as Lee rubbed the mess between Darren’s cheeks. “Now I’m gonna ride this pretty ass, rut right here”—Lee rubbed a path down Darren’s crack—“until I come all over your ass, your back—everywhere I can.”

  “Do it,” Darren urged. “I’m already getting hard again. See if you can make me come.” Lee wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge.

  “You so fucking will.” Lee’s hot thick cock pressed into Darren’s crease. One of his hands found Darren’s erection while the other covered Darren’s crack, pinning Lee’s cock in the snug sheath he’d made. “You’re young, you can come again and again, can’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Darren grunted, his hips slamming against the table as Lee started humping him without restraint.

  “Better hang on, I’m just getting started.”

  Darren took it for the warning it was and rested his head on the table, gripping the edge of it tightly with his hands. “Go for it.”

  Lee did, with more force than Darren had thought possible. His hips and the tops of his thighs even, not to mention his butt, would likely be bruised all over. A hard jerk to his cock had Darren panting. He pushed back using his arms to power the movement then snapped his hips forward, pumping into Lee’s hand.

  The tip of one of Lee’s fingers pressed deep into his slit and Darren saw stars. His orgasm boiled up from his balls as Lee prodded his slit again then Darren was coming, tumbling further into bliss with each gush of cum that jetted from his dick.

  “Yeah, fucking scream for me, baby!” Lee rammed his cock in Darren’s crease and moaned as Darren felt the first warm splatter hit his lower back.

  He savored every sound Lee made as more cum coated his skin, purred when Lee finally stopped thrusting and started rubbing the cooling spunk over as much of Darren’s butt and back as he could.

  “You looked good like this, covered in my cum.”

  Darren shivered upon hearing Lee’s gravel-rough voice and thought his dick would be hard again in no time if Lee kept talking. And he couldn’t see how that would ever be a bad thing.

  Chapter Ten

  It was less difficult than Lee had thought it would be to not only accept the fact that spirits were, however odd it sounded, real, but also to get used to one hanging around off and on. He did wish he could actually talk with Stefan. Lee talked to him, more so as each day passed, and he got over feeling silly for talking to someone he couldn’t see or hear—unless Stefan knocked something over.

  He did that sometimes, nothing major, but the day he’d pulled at the back door and sent it slapping shut Darren had been ridiculously thrilled. Once he’d explained to Lee about the incident that had Darren cracking his chin on the floor, Lee understood why his lover was so pleased to find it had been Stefan paying him a visit.

  However, the story drove home to Lee the fact that Darren was out here alone, or had been before Lee joined him. And he would be again, if Lee decided not to stay. Lee didn’t have anywhere he had to be, and since he’d sold his parents’ home in Jackson, he didn’t even have a place of his own. He really had spent almost two years trying to find Darren, driving around from one town or city to another, checking whatever leads he turned up—none of which had panned out except the last.

  After having spent so long looking for Darren, was it any wonder Lee didn’t want to leave him? Lee sat on the porch and watched Darren shake a finger at Red and scold the rooster. After the third time Red had tried to maul Lee, and succeeded to a small degree, Darren had banned Lee from going anywhere near the chicken coop.

  Darren turned and began walking toward the porch. Lee’s dick firmed up as he started thinking of the quickest way to get Darren out of his clothes. Tomorrow would be Darren’s first day back at work since Virginia had disciplined him, and Lee planned on making sure Darren felt him all day.

  Yes, he had plans for that amazingly tight ass, and since Darren said he needed to be up by four-thirty or so in the morning, Lee wanted to get started on fucking Darren right away.

  “I think it’s time for bed.” Lee stood and held his hand out to Darren.

  “Really, now, at…” Darren glanced at his watch. “Three in the afternoon. You sure you’re only thirty-two?”

  Lee caught Darren by the wrist. “Bucket’s empty, right?”

  Darren frowned at him like Lee was dense. “Well, yeah, I gather the eggs in the— Hey!”

  Lee slapped the bucket from Darren’s hand and hefted his lover up in a fireman’s carry before Darren could get another word out. He popped Darren’s ass just hard enough to sting. “That’s for the age crap.”

  “And this is for spanking me.” Darren’s nip to Lee’s ass wasn’t painful at all, but Lee yelped anyway then promptly landed another smack to Darren’s backside.

  “I can do this all day,” Lee warned when Darren bit him again, and much harder than the first time. “Maybe I’ll just bend you over the porch rail here, jerk your pants down and pink your ass up right. Sound like a plan?” Lee was only half teasing. He hadn’t ever done the whole spanking a lover thing, but those two swats he’d landed to Darren’s ass had turned them both on.

  And seeing Darren’s pale skin warming and blushing under Lee’s hand, feeling that firm flesh give under his palm—well, Lee suddenly understood the appeal of a little rough play. For that matter, he’d liked that zing of pain when Darren had bit him the second time.

  “So what’s it going to be, baby?”

  Darren’s answer wasn’t a word but a bite, and if Lee had thought the second one was hard he’d been wrong, it was nothing compared to this—and he liked that it hurt more, too.

  “Damn. Maybe I should strip and let you have at my ass.” Lee set Darren back on his feet and reached behind himself to rub the throbbing spot on his butt. “Or maybe I should make sure you didn’t take a chunk out of me.”

  Darren was grabbing at him instantly, spinning Lee away from him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it’d hurt with your jeans and—” He fumbled with the button on Lee’s jeans. “Let me check and make sure I didn’t break the skin or something. God, Lee, I’m so sorry!”

  “I was teasing. I, uh, I kind of liked it.” There was no ‘kind of’ to it. Lee’s cock was hard enough to hammer a railroad spike.

  Darren didn’t sound relieved as he opened Lee’s jeans. “Uh huh. You just don’t want me to feel guilty for hurting you. Now let me—”

  Lee spotted the truck turning onto the road leading to the house at the same time he heard the engine. “Later. Company’s coming.”

  “Let’s go inside and I’ll just check real quick.” Darren tugged the open flaps of Lee’s jeans. “Whoever’s coming can— Oh. Laine and Severo.” Darren’s voice hitched slightly on the names but he started pulling on Lee’s zipper.

  “I’ve got it.” Lee patted Darren’s hands then gingerly nudged them out of the way before making h
imself presentable for company. His nerves had started jangling as soon as he’d realized who was coming down the road.

  Darren smoothed a hand down Lee’s back as he stepped beside Lee. “Do you think Severo will have any useful information?”

  Lee fingered the button he’d just slipped through the buttonhole on the waistband of his jeans, too fidgety to stand completely still. “I think he must, otherwise I would have expected him to call. Something important or…or bad, he’d want to tell us in person, right? I mean, I don’t really know him well but he seems like a decent guy.” Scary, even, with the whole spirit thing, but Lee knew that was his own fear talking. He had no reason to think of Severo like that.

  “You’re probably right,” Darren murmured as Laine steered the truck into the long driveway.

  “Come here.” Lee settled his arm around Darren’s shoulder, pleased when Darren in turn looped his arm around Lee’s waist. Darren was as nervous as Lee and he knew touching each other would soothe them both at least a little. Kind of like two people in love would draw comfort from each other. The thought startled him. He snuck a glance at Darren when Laine stopped the truck a dozen feet from the house. Darren wasn’t watching their visitors, he was watching Lee with something so warm and sweet in his brown eyes, Lee couldn’t even panic over the fact he might be halfway in love with the man. Darren smiled and Lee cursed as he gave up. He looked at Darren and cupped his chin gently.

  “Nope, no halfway to it.” Lee shook his head once at the question he could see Darren’s lips forming. He wasn’t ready to explain that sentence to Darren, not yet. Instead, Lee lowered his lips to Darren’s and kissed him.

  “Geez, have y’all been doing that since we left?”

  Lee blinked his eyes open and licked Darren’s lips one last time before giving up Darren’s mouth—for now. Craning his neck around so he could see Severo, Lee grinned despite a new wave of unease that welled in him. “Pretty much. I mean, look at the man. You’d do the same if you were me.”

  “No, Sev would probably do something involving less clothes and more fucking,” Laine said, winking at his partner.

  Severo nodded. “Yup, what can I say? Although I would want a pair of handcuffs, you know. Just because.”

  Lee didn’t know and he sure wasn’t going to ask. He was going to divert the conversation, which seemed the smartest thing to do but his lover beat him to it.

  “Would y’all like to come inside and have a drink?” Darren asked.

  Laine and Severo both declined, Severo adding, “We can’t stay long, we’re supposed to be meeting up with a group of friends for dinner. Zeke can be a bit of a bear if we’re late. I just came to give you a message. I don’t know if it’ll mean anything to y’all or not. Could be a random thing Stefan was thinking about.”

  As if Severo had summoned him by saying his name, Stefan was there. Lee knew it was his brother’s spirit by the warm blanket of air surrounding him and Darren like there was each time Stefan came to them.

  “Hello, Stefan.” Severo greeted the spirit easily although he frowned when he said it. “It might be a good idea for you to go find Conner and let me and Laine talk to Lee and Darren alone.”

  Lee’s stomach plummeted as he wondered how bad whatever Severo had to tell him was. Severo’s frown deepened as a piece of his hair was lifted and tugged then the warmth surrounding Lee and Darren vanished.

  “Brat.” Severo rubbed at his scalp and eyed Lee warily. “I mean that in a good way. He’s playful, like Conner.”

  Too highly strung now to even crack a smile, Lee nodded. “So what’s the message?”

  “Nothing much,” Severo admitted, “at least, like I said, not that I could tell, but I asked Stefan to leave in case I’m wrong and he got upset. Whether it’s Stefan’s age or temperament, his emotions can cause things to happen. You’ve probably heard the term poltergeist?”

  “Yeah, the ghosts—or spirits—that knock stuff over and scare people.”

  Severo shrugged as he leaned against the porch rail. “Kind of. I don’t know as much as I wish I did about spirits, but I think poltergeists are probably spirits of younger people who’ve died and therefore they have less control of their emotions. Not emotionally mature, I guess, and their spirits are no different. But I could be completely wrong.”

  Lee considered it for a minute. “No, that sounds about right. Stefan was—is—you know what I mean. He was never going to be able to function at an adult level, not emotionally or cognitively.”

  “Good to know. Now, getting back on track. Sorry for veering off, I tend to do that sometimes.” Severo closed his eyes. “I didn’t get words, just images. It was dark, there was something on the walls.” Frowning, Severo was silent and Lee wished he could see what Severo had seen. So far he didn’t have a clue, and he was leaning toward this all being something Severo had only imagined. “There’s something about the walls, they aren’t… Rock? Maybe that’s what I’m seeing, because it’s distorted, not smooth and flat. Then there’s this big rock? I mean, really big, like it’s a mountain or—”

  “Mystic Rock,” Lee and Darren said, glancing at each other as soon as the words left their mouths.

  Severo opened his eyes and promptly slapped a hand to his forehead. “Of course! Why didn’t I recognize it? I went there once years ago and wanted to trip all the kids who ran up that sucker while I was panting and stopping every thirty feet.”

  “What is Mystic Rock?” Laine asked. “I’m feeling ignorant here.”

  “It’s one of those Texas treasures you really ought to see.” Lee had loved going there as a kid. He would have been one of the ones Severo wanted to trip, since Lee had jogged up the incline of the over four-hundred-foot tall chunk of rock. “The Rock is a huge granite dome rising above ground, something like four hundred and twenty feet high. We lived right down the road from Mystic Rock State Natural Area. It was an awesome place to go as a kid.”

  “And there are caves,” Darren pointed out thoughtfully. His eyes lit up and he bounced on his toes. “Caves have rough walls! And Stefan’s favorite cave was in Mystic Rock!”

  Darren bounced again, as if made buoyant by hope. He looked so young, so much like the boy he was when Lee had first met him that Lee’s heart ached with the knowledge of what Darren had suffered over the past two years. Lee wanted to pull Darren close and kiss him, taste the flavor of hope on Darren’s tongue—or whatever emotion it was that made him look like that. Lee restrained himself only because he knew Severo would make some crack about them being at it again.

  “I’ll have to drag Laine down there to see it. Maybe we’ll take a three day weekend and stay in Carrvelle. I love that town. There’s some awesome German restaurants there.” Severo was nearly as springy as Darren, Lee noted, and he also noticed the way the harsh planes of Laine’s face softened and his icy silver irises warmed until they looked molten as he watched Severo. Laine looked utterly smitten.

  Lee knew how Laine felt.

  * * * *

  “I’m going with you and that’s all there is to it. You won’t know which cave was Stefan’s favorite.” And if Stefan communicated to Lee which one it was, Darren was going to scream. He and Lee had been at this for over an hour now, Lee wanting Darren to remain in McKinton while Lee headed back to Jackson. Mystic Rock, to be accurate. Lee said he wanted to make sure Darren was safe, but Darren couldn’t shake the fear that Lee would leave and not come back.

  “I might be able to. I used to run through just about every cave there.”

  Darren crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Lee. “So? Like I said, you don’t know which one Stefan liked best.”

  Lee looked exasperated as he flopped down on the couch beside Darren. “Dar, if someone killed Stefan, he might be watching for you. For all this person knows—if there is a person—Stefan told you everything about him before he died. You were Stefan’s best friend, everyone knew it. That is why I am afraid to take you with me.”

  “That’s crap
and you know it,” Darren muttered, seething at Lee using the same argument again when it hadn’t worked the first time. Or second. Or third. “Everyone in Jackson knows you’re Stefan’s brother. The same argument applies to you, yet you think I should be fine being left behind like the little woman while you go out and play the part of the big strong man. I am not doing it. If you don’t want to take me, I’ll hitch if that’s what I have to do.”

  Lee narrowed his eyes as his features blanked. “You will not hitchhike. Ever. Again.”

  Darren could be stubborn when necessary. Ninety-nine percent of the time he didn’t think it was, but when that one percent rolled around… “Either you give me a ride to Mystic Rock or someone else will.” That sounded so bratty Darren flushed with shame. He uncrossed his arms and slumped deeper into the couch. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so obnoxious about it, but I have to go and I can’t seem to get you to understand that. I’d love to go with you, but if I can’t, maybe I can buy a bus ticket or something. I won’t promise not to hitchhike if I have to, but I will promise to hitch only as a last resort, okay? And there’s one really go—”

  “You can come with me,” Lee muttered.

  “What?” Darren had heard him, but Lee didn’t sound happy about giving in at all. While Darren didn’t expect his lover to be doing cartwheels about it, Darren would at least like Lee to not make the offer sound like he thought it was the worst possible thing in the world.

  Lee sighed and that impassive expression Darren hated to see on Lee’s face disappeared. Now Lee just looked tired and so gorgeous Darren wanted to shove him down on the couch and have Lee every way he could.

  “I think we should avoid Jackson completely, cut through Carrvelle instead. Someone might still recognize you, but it’s less likely than if we go through our hometown.”