by Sarina Bowen
I realized with some horror that there were tears glittering in her eyes as she told us this.
“…If there had been somewhere safe for me to go, it would have made all the difference. That’s why I asked Daniel to build that bed brand new. It isn’t a cast-off. And that’s why I sewed the quilt, and the curtains.”
I hadn’t even noticed the curtains, and now I felt like a jerk.
“I didn’t know who I was making them for, but that person was you. And you,” she added, touching Josh on the elbow.
“We’re happy to be here,” Josh whispered.
She smiled through her tears. “Good. Now let’s go to the grocery store and buy one of everything. When this baby shows up, we need to be stocked.”
* * *
Three days later, I still hadn’t gotten any calls about jobs.
“Sometimes they take applications when they really don’t need anyone,” Daniel said.
“But they told me they did,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. It was so tight back there. How was I going to support Josh and I if I never got a call back?
“All right,” Daniel said, his big calm eyes on me. “Then go back in there tomorrow and politely ask whether they need any more information from you. Call ‘em ‘sir’ and everything, the way you do.”
“Why? I filled the application out completely.”
“Yeah. But some people want a guy who won’t take no for an answer. They might want to see some initiative.”
So I took his advice. Maggie let me borrow her car, and I went back to the garage, met different guys, and filled out a second application.
It had to work. Because I was running out of ideas.
That night, Maggie fed us lasagna. Afterward, I washed the dishes. Before coming to Massachusetts, I’d never washed a dish. But these days it was my big contribution to the family. Maggie wanted to teach me to cook a few things, but there hadn’t been much time.
While I dried the plates, she came into the kitchen wearing a skirt and a sweater. “We’re supposed to go to a cocktail party tonight,” she said, taking a platter out of my hands and putting it away in the cabinet.
“You feel up to it?” Daniel asked, coming in from the mud room.
“I do,” she said. “But I wish it wasn’t thirty minutes to this place.”
“That’s what we get for living in the sticks.”
She folded her hands. “We should go, though. It might be a long time before I make it to another party. So if Caleb and Josh don’t mind…”
“Go!” I said. “We can watch some TV without you.”
“I’ll change my clothes,” Daniel agreed.
After the truck drove down the drive, and the lights disappeared down the road, I went into the living room and sat on the couch. I held the clicker in my hand, but I didn’t turn the TV on, yet. I waited to see if Josh would join me. I couldn’t have even said why, but it was suddenly very important that he did. Even though I knew his reasons, more than a week of Josh practically shunning me had taken its toll.
From the back of the house, I heard a drawer open and close. Then the sound of bare feet crossing all those wood floors. “Caleb?” he called softly.
I’d been listening so hard that he did not know where I was. “In here,” I said, my voice rough.
Josh appeared, circling the sofa. I expected to sit at the far end, keeping his distance. But that’s not what happened. He sat down on the middle cushion.
Then, like two magnets suddenly aligned, he reached for me and I reached for him.
Josh’s head landed on my chest with a welcome thud, and I pulled him close. “Where did you go?” I asked.
“Changing clothes,” he said, his voice muffled.
But that’s not what I’d meant. I wanted to know where he’d been the last eight or nine days, while I twisted in pain at the loss of his affection. But I didn’t want to say that. So I ruffled my fingers through his hair, instead.
Josh had changed into Daniel’s old sweatpants and a long sleeve T-shirt that read Cal Tech down the arm. I would have preferred that he changed into nakedness, but you can’t have everything.
Pressing the button to turn on the television, I began to flip through the channels. But it was really just an excuse to sit there, with Josh cuddled up to me. I ended up leaving the channel on a cheery comedy, with a laugh track that rose and died whenever one of the characters said something funny.
Josh turned his face toward the screen, and we watched the various members of an extended family repeatedly offend one another. I wasn’t paying attention, though. The weight of Josh’s head on my chest was too distracting. His clean scent, and the feel of his hair sifting through my fingers was all the entertainment I really needed.
Beneath my hand, Josh went very still. I looked up to see what he was watching so intently. On the screen, two men were chatting about buying Christmas gifts. But their conversation wasn’t the reason Josh was so captivated. These two men were cuddled up on a sofa, just like us!
The laugh track rose and died at one of their remarks. Then one grabbed the other’s chin and said, “And that’s why I love you, even though you have poor taste in tablewear.”
And then he kissed him. Right on the lips. In front of God and everybody.
Josh stared and stared until the scene ended, and an ad for Audi cars started up.
Click. I shut the TV off.
Josh craned his neck to look up at me. “That was…”
“…Interesting,” I supplied. “I wonder if Daniel and Maggie watch that show?”
“I was just wondering the same thing.”
We sat with that thought for a moment. There were so many questions in our hearts right now. It could make a guy’s head ache, from all the uncertainty. Where could I work? Where would we live?
What would Maggie and Daniel think if they knew?
And most importantly — would Josh and I get to be happy together? Or was that just a ridiculous dream?
“Sit up a little,” I asked Josh, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
He lifted his head. “Am I hurting you?”
“No,” I chucked. “But your face is kind of close to my dick, and I’m getting all horned up.”
“Oh. Well then.” Josh dropped down again and lifted the hem of my T-shirt, kissing my stomach. Then, as I watched in disbelief, he put a hand over my crotch.
I made a noise of surprise. It was so unlike Josh to be aggressive. Yet now he was rubbing me through my jeans.
The moan I let out could probably be heard in Albany.
Josh popped the button on my jeans. But then he hesitated. “We should go into the bedroom.”
Needing oxygen, I took a deep breath. “I thought you’d never ask. Literally.”
Josh put his cheek on my stomach and looked up at me. “Well, it’s hard.”
“It is often hard,” I teased.
“I’m being serious. I don’t want to take advantage of Maggie’s kindness.”
Aw. Poor Josh was conflicted, and I didn’t want to push him. Then again, his face was still a tantalizing few inches from my erection. “Do you suppose Maggie would regret helping us if she knew I was about to give you a blow job right now?”
Josh groaned, shifting his hips. “Wait. What was the question?”
Laughing, I bent down to kiss the top of his head. “Come on. You’ll be able to think clearly again after I suck you off.”
He closed his eyes and shivered. “The things you say.”
“You love the things I say.”
“Too much,” Josh agreed.
* * *
There was a bolt on our door, thank the Lord. Once I’d closed it, Josh shed his clothes, a lusty gleam in his eye. He had a beautiful, blushing cock—long and lean, just like him. But with heavy balls that I wanted to cup in my hand.
I stripped off my shirt, and I saw Josh swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “You like anything you see?” I asked, moving slowly to tease him.
“Always,” he whispered, pulling the covers down and lying on the bed.
I dropped the rest of my clothes and climbed up next to him. It was a high bed, and beautifully made. Daniel had done a fine job on it. And now it would make a comfortable place for me to suck cock. I reclined on my back, the pillows propping me up. “Come here. Straddle me,” I demanded.
With bashful eyes, Josh threw a leg over me, sitting on my hips. What a view! His lean, muscular chest rose up above me. Josh had only a little hair trailing down the center of his abs, thickening as it approached his beautiful dick. I put my palms on his torso, rubbing him sweetly. “What are you thinking about right now?”
“Kissing you,” he said immediately.
“Get to it, then.”
He put his hands down onto the mattress and gave me his mouth. Lord, I’d missed this. His wet lips skimmed me first, and then his tongue came out to play with mine. We lost ourselves in those kisses. After only a few minutes, we were both moaning and fucking our hips against one another.
It was awesome. But I didn’t want to come like this, though I was already close. “Sit up, baby,” I begged.
Josh obeyed me immediately. I grabbed his dick in my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I want this in my mouth.”
His breath stuttered. And then he tried to slide off me. But I caught his hip in my free hand. “No. Stay here. Slide forward on me. All the way up.”
His eyes went wide, but he began to scoot up my body. I was hard as nails, too, with Josh spread wide for me, and right in my face. The musky scent of him made me desperate. And the bead of cum on the tip of his dick made me lick my lips. I craned my neck and licked it off.
Josh gasped.
“Come on, baby,” I urged, lying back again. “Fuck my mouth.”
He whimpered, then moved a bit closer. I reached under his legs and grabbed his ass, pulling him forward.
“I don’t want to choke you,” he worried.
“But what a way to go, right? Get in my mouth already.”
On a moan, Josh pushed forward, the salty tip of him pressing between my lips, over my tongue.
“Mmm,” I groaned. Perhaps Josh had been right to worry about making noise when Maggie and Daniel were home. I loved the sounds we made together. It would be a crime to silence them.
And I loved the taste of his skin. Opening wide, I sucked him down.
Above me, Josh grabbed the headboard and dropped his head back. I could see every ripple as his abs tightened in excitement. His lean, strong arms tensed when I gave him a good suck. He was in heaven, and it was me who had put him there.
He pulled back a bit, and I released him, kissing the tip, tonguing the sensitive place under the head. “Fuck my mouth, baby. I can take it.”
Josh panted above me. “Don’t know if I can last more than two minutes, anyway.”
“Give it to me. I want to drink you down.”
“Whew.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Make that one minute, if you’re going to say things like that.”
I yanked on his hips, pulling him into my mouth again. Breathing deeply, Josh began to ride my mouth in short, deliberate thrusts. I could feel how close he was, and just thinking about it made me want to come, too. I dropped one of Josh’s hips so I could grab my own aching dick in one hand.
He began a keening moan, low in his chest. His hips became jerky, the movement unfocused. “Oh, Caleb,” he sobbed.
The first spurt hit the back of my throat, and I swallowed. And it was more of the desperate, half-formed moans that Josh let loose which finally did me in. Thrusting through my own fist, I came hard, spraying my stomach, and probably Josh’s ass.
He pulled out, sliding backward through the mess, landing on my chest in a shuddering pile. “Still coming,” he gasped. I reached down between his legs, cupping those heavy balls. He groaned, writhing on my slicked stomach, and then collapsed.
“Jesus. I think you needed that,” I said, rubbing his back, where the lean muscle was firm under my hand. I’d been yearning to touch him like this. Every time he passed through a room where I was, I had to hold myself back.
Josh answered me on a mumble that I could not understand. But it didn’t matter. His fingers threaded into my hair while he kissed my neck.
We lay there, blissed out, until finally the dampness between us became uncomfortable. When Josh got up to start the shower, I joined him. Sleepily, we soaped each other and then rinsed.
“They’ll be home soon,” Josh worried.
“So? We’re just getting clean, here. Like anyone would.”
Sure enough, we were toweling off when the purr of the truck engine rolled past our window. Our lights were out, though, so nobody could have noticed the shadows of two naked men climbing into the bed.
Pulling up the covers, I wrapped myself around Josh, preventing him from exiling himself to the far edge of the mattress. “There’s a damp spot here,” he complained.
“Live with it,” I growled, pulling him close to me. “I need you close. Good thing we’ve figured out the laundry, though.”
“Good thing.”
We lay there in the dark listening to two people entering the house, then climbing the stairs. I was just drifting off when I realized that the sounds up there never quite died away. There’d been a steady murmur, which now took on a peculiar rhythm. I grinned into the blackness as I realized what I was hearing.
After a couple minutes of rhythmic thumping, there were moans.
Josh picked his head up then. “Oh my.”
I put my nose close to his ear, the way I used to have to do to share a secret. “Why shouldn’t they?”
“Oh, they should. It’s just that now we know this house has no soundproofing. And I’m going to have trouble looking both of them in the eye tomorrow.”
“Then don’t listen,” I said, covering Josh’s ears. I turned him toward me and kissed him slowly.
After a second, he got into it, climbing onto my chest, offering me his mouth. From above us, though, came a masculine shout, which made Josh laugh into my mouth. “What did I just hear?”
“Maybe his football team scored a touchdown.”
“I think he scored a touchdown.”
Josh curled up beside me, and we slept, only to awaken in the pitch dark some time later. “You hear that?” Josh asked me.
I did. It was the sound of the truck once again, its tires kicking up gravel in the driveway. “They’re going somewhere?” That was odd. The clock read 4:03. “Maggie is having the baby,” I guessed.
That seemed to wake Josh up all the way. “Wow. It’s too early, isn’t it?”
“A week doesn’t even matter.”
“I’m not ready,” he said sleepily.
I laughed and pulled him close.
The next time I opened my eyes, it was eight, and I was in bed alone. Which meant that Josh was outside doing the milking by himself.
I dragged my sleepy ass out of bed and pulled on the sweatpants that Josh had dropped on the floor last night.
There was a note on the kitchen counter.
* * *
C & J,
It seems the baby decided to make an early appearance. If you could handle the Jerseys we would be most grateful. Since anything could happen, here’s some grocery money, and we’re leaving you the Prius.
Wish us luck, and we’ll call with news!
Maggie & Daniel
* * *
There was an envelope with cash in it, and a set of car keys.
Whistling to myself, I made some coffee. Before leaving the Compound, I never had coffee. Our Divine Minister said that caffeine was a drug, and therefore an agent of corruption. But I’d always assumed that they just didn’t want to pay for it. Water was the only beverage at the Compound.
There was nothing better than the smell of coffee brewing. Feeling cheerful (which was probably the result of sexual gratification) I took a carton of eggs out of the fridge, and melted a pat of butter in Maggie’s omelet pan.
In Paradise, a man never cooked. Never ever. He’d chew off one of his own limbs before he’d go into the kitchen and rustle himself up a snack. Maggie knew this, so she’d already dragged me into the kitchen a couple of times to help her cook.
So far, I’d been entrusted with making toast, and buttering it. I could also make coffee.
But I’d watched Maggie scramble eggs a few times, and I thought I was ready for the challenge.
“I can crack eggs two at a time, because I once worked for a pastry chef.” She’d had a bunch of short-term kitchen jobs in California. Her last one was at a hotel which Daniel’s dad owned. That’s how they met. “You should crack one egg at a time, though. And check for bits of shell.”
I set out four eggs, and got down a bowl to crack them into. The first egg I hit too lightly against the bowl, barely cracking the shell. When I pulled it apart, I ended up fishing lots of bits of shell out. The second egg I hit too hard, making a bit of a mess on the side of the bowl.
Who knew this could be so hard?
By the time I’d broken all four successfully, the butter in my pan was smoking. So I cranked down the heat and turned on the overhead fan.
I scrambled the raw eggs with a fork, just like Maggie did. Then I poured them into the hot pan, remembering too late that she said to add a dollop of cream to the mixture.
Whoops.
The eggs sizzled, and I tossed them around with a rubber spatula. “Any idiot can cook an egg,” Maggie had told me. “Heat them to a certain temperature, and the proteins harden. It’s that simple. Many a bachelor has survived on eggs.”
She wasn’t wrong. Because this idiot’s eggs began to look very nicely scrambled. They weren’t as pretty as Maggie’s, because the butter had darkened. But they smelled like the real thing.
Just as I took the pan off the heat, Josh came in the door. “Wow! Look at you!” he said, hanging his work jacket on a peg.
“I know,” I said. “I’m awesome.”
Josh kicked off his mucky boots and went into a cabinet for plates. “What else do we need?”