by Shea Balik
When Tim bucked up his hips once again, Nick reached for the lube that he’d tossed onto the bed when they’d gotten started. He had grabbed that and condoms so he wouldn’t have to stop when they were too lust addled to think straight.
As he slowly pulled back, adding a decent amount of suction, Nick pushed a lube-slicked finger inside of Tim.
“More,” Tim demanded as he pushed down onto Nick’s finger.
Trusting his lover to know what he wanted, Nick quickly added a second digit to the first and went to work spreading him open. He had to admit, since the other night, Nick was more than ready to just rut into Tim’s body like an animal.
He couldn’t ever remember feeling with anyone else such raw need to possess as he felt now. If anything, it was stronger than the night of the Halloween party. It urged him to move far more quickly than he should as he pushed in a third finger.
But instead of complaining about the burn, Tim only moaned seductively as he continued to work his hole against Nick’s hand. Relieved they were on the same page, Nick snagged a condom and tore it open with his teeth just before pulling himself free of Tim’s body.
Tim groaned in dismay. Nick was fairly certain he even heard Tim whimper as his willowy arms reached for Nick. Rolling the condom on quickly, Nick lined his cock up and pushed inside of Tim.
Twin moans vibrated through them as Nick sank deep. Tight heat enveloped him, drawing him in as far as he could get. Home. That’s what it felt like when he was with Tim.
“I love you,” he whispered with a kiss to those perfectly soft lips. Then he pulled his hips back, his eyes nearly rolling back into his head when he felt silky muscles fluttering around him to keep him inside.
“Please, Nick,” Tim whined as his arms and legs wrapped around him to pull him closer.
Not one to deny his lover anything, Nick set up a hard pace as he chased the orgasm threatening to drown him. Calloused hands kneaded the muscles of Nick’s back before sliding down to his hips, then back up to his neck. Each touch caused his skin to burn with need.
Who was he kidding? Just being with Tim caused his whole body to come alive. Touch just added to the lust that thrummed within him whenever they were together.
Leaning down, Nick captured Tim’s sweet lips. Their tongues tangled together, each pushing the other’s desire until they were a mass of pure need.
Nails dug into Nick’s shoulder, the bite of pain pushing him into Tim’s body even harder and faster than before. His dick grew and his balls drew up close to his body.
He was on the edge with no hope of stopping himself from falling into bliss. With what little brain power he had left, Nick reached down and wrapped his hand around Tim’s cock, giving it several hard strokes.
Tim cried out just as fluid splashed against Nick’s hand. With a shout of his own, Nick’s release filled the condom.
There were several minutes of nothing but harsh breathing and mind-numbing pleasure as they lay entwined and not moving. Nick knew he was probably too heavy to stay there forever, but he didn’t think he could have moved even if he wanted to at the moment.
How long they lay there like that, Nick couldn’t say, but he knew it was time to roll off. For one, he needed to get the condom off. Carefully, he reached down and grabbed the edges to make sure it didn’t come off and pulled out of Tim.
They both gave a groan of disappointment. He hated leaving Tim’s perfect body, but it had to be done. If he was lucky, he would have a chance to be back inside at least one more time tonight.
Getting up from the bed, Nick disposed of the condom and turned on the faucet. He cleaned himself off while the water warmed. When he felt it heated enough, he wet a washcloth and headed back to the bed to wipe down Tim, then tossed the cloth in the direction of the bathroom and climbed back in bed.
He lay on his back and pulled Tim to him so that his head was on Nick’s shoulder. It was time to bring up Thanksgiving, or, more correctly, why Tim hated the holiday so much. A part of Nick wanted to leave it alone, but if he truly wanted a relationship with Tim, which he definitely did, Nick needed to know the good, the bad, and the downright awful.
He just wished there had been at least a few good stories, for Tim’s sake.
“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but would you mind telling me why you hate Thanksgiving so much?” Nick asked. It was a little more blunt than he probably needed to be, but Nick didn’t see much point in beating around the bush on what would be a difficult topic for Tim.
CHAPTER 19
Heat infused Tim’s body as he struggled with an answer. He’d never been so grateful that they’d fallen into bed when it had still been bright enough outside to not need lights. Tim would have probably combusted if Nick could see the blush that most likely covered Tim from head to toe.
It was weird, especially considering how miserable his past had been, but Thanksgiving was the one story Tim hated to tell more than any other. It was as if that one event had become a symbol of his rotten childhood.
But this was Nick. As much as Tim hated telling anyone what happened the one Thanksgiving he’d tried to have, Nick was also the one person who he knew he could share it with and not feel like he was scum.
Then again, it might just be the thing that finally made Nick see Tim wasn’t worth loving. It was Tim’s biggest fear, no matter how many times Nick told him otherwise.
“Hey,” Nick brushed a kiss over Tim’s heated cheek. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.”
And that right there was the reason Tim opened his mouth. Anyone who could be that understanding without even knowing the facts deserved everything Tim had to give. Even if most of it was bad.
“Just like the other holidays, my mom didn’t do Thanksgiving. I tried to ask her why once, and she told me that it was too much work to make a meal for just me and my brother.” That hadn’t been news to either Tim or Ralph. Their mom wouldn’t go out of her way to help them cross the street when they were eight and five, so making a big dinner was definitely out of the question.
“But when I was about ten, my mom had me take over cooking dinners. It started out pretty simple, with things like spaghetti and tacos, but by the time I was fourteen, I was a fairly good cook.” He was no chef, but he was able to put together edible meals with pretty much whatever their mom brought home from the store. Well, when she remembered to bring home food instead of alcohol and cigarettes.
“Each year, her work gave their employees a turkey for Thanksgiving and each year, she ended up throwing it away at some point.” Tim hated that she could so easily waste food when he and his brother often had to skip meals because their mom hadn’t wanted to spend any more money on them by buying food.
Nick frowned and pulled Tim closer so his body was surrounded by the man. It should have felt claustrophobic but instead felt… wonderful. Tim felt cared for, loved even, as he lay there in Nick’s arms.
“Why would she throw it out?” Firm lips pressed against Tim’s temple before Nick added, “I mean, turkey takes a while to cook but it isn’t exactly difficult.”
That’s what Tim had thought. “It was one of the reasons I decided to try and cook it when I was fourteen.” God, had that been a disaster. Although, the one bite he’d gotten had tasted fabulous.
“I had gone to our local grocery store and asked the owner if I could do a few odd jobs for some side dishes.” Tim smiled at the memory. “Mr. Wallace was so nice to me and my brother. He’d give us some of his dinged up cans and just past the date food whenever he saw us. I think he knew my mom didn’t feed us enough.”
It had been the one time in Tim’s life that he could remember feeling that there were good people in the world. Too bad he’d found out that was far rarer to find than the awful people. “He agreed to let me sweep up after school for the two weeks until Thanksgiving in exchange for the ingredients I wanted to create our first ever Thanksgiving dinner.”
Tim had worked hard to prove himself to M
r. Wallace and it had paid off. “So every day I went to the store and swept the floors. If he needed me to stock a few shelves, I’d do that, too. By the time it was the day before Thanksgiving he said I’d earned every bit of food I’d asked for.”
Now he knew the old man had just been nice. Oh, Tim had worked, but there was no way he’d done enough to get him the two sacks of groceries Tim had carried home.
“My mom hadn’t come home Wednesday night so it had been easy to get up the next morning and get to work preparing our feast.” Just thinking about that meal had Tim licking his lips as if he were fourteen again. “I made green bean casserole, stuffing, yams, and heated up some rolls in the oven. The gravy had been from a jar instead of the juices of the turkey, but Ralph and I didn’t care. We were just happy to finely know what it would be like to have a real Thanksgiving meal.”
Knots formed in the pit of his stomach as Tim tried not to throw up thinking about what happened next. He knew his voice had become rough with unshed tears, but Tim couldn’t help it. That night had been devastating.
“My mom still hadn’t come home when dinner was ready, so Ralph and I set the table and filled our plates.” If only they hadn’t waited for her for nearly a half hour before deciding to finally eat. “I made sure to get a place setting for her that I could quickly fill if she came home.”
He could still remember the joy he and his brother felt as they sat at the table and said grace, something they’d never bothered to do in the past. “I think our eyes rolled back in our heads at that first bite of turkey, it was that good. But we had only managed to just swallow it when we heard the key in the door.”
If only he’d made dinner sooner, they might have at least had the opportunity to finish it. “I jumped up to fill her plate, knowing she would be pissed if I didn’t have it ready for her.”
Nick brushed away tears Tim hadn’t even realized were falling from his cheeks. “I was so damn proud when I put her plate on the table.” He let out a choked laughed. “I think I even yelled out, ‘surprise,’ like an idiot.”
She had been surprised all right. “I should have known better than to think, even for a second, that she’d be happy.”
Nick maneuvered them again so they were facing one another. Their torsos were pressed together and their legs were entwined. Gently, Nick tilted Tim’s head so he could brush their lips together in a heartbreakingly sweet kiss that gave Tim the strength he needed to finish his story.
“She took one look at all the food and started screaming at me for stealing from her.”
“But,” Nick interrupted, “you worked to earn that food.”
Tim let out a huff of air. “Not the turkey. She freaked out and started throwing things off the counter and the table.” Tim had been devastated with each dish that had crashed in a mess onto the floor. “For the turkey, she went a step further, and actually threw it out the window.”
Nick’s arms tightened around him. Tim had never felt as safe as he did in that moment. Caving into a moment of weakness, he snuggled deeper into Nick’s embrace. He even pressed his face within the crook of Nick’s neck, as if it were made just for him.
In a way, Tim had started to believe it had, because it was the one place on earth that he could just be without having to worry about who was going to screw him over. He wasn’t sure when or how, but Tim trusted Nick completely, something he couldn’t even do with his own mother. How fucked up was that?
“If that wasn’t bad enough, she made me pay for all the dishes she’d broken and the turkey that she would have thrown out anyway.” At fourteen with no way of getting a real job, Tim hadn’t been sure how he’d do it, but his mother hadn’t wanted excuses.
“Thankfully, Mr. Wallace somehow knew I was desperate when I begged him to give me a job.” That had to have been one of the more embarrassing times of his life. Or, he should say, the first of many, for he’d learned to beg whenever necessary after that.
“It took me a year, but I finally managed to pay my mother what she claimed everything cost.” Now that Tim had been out in the world, he’d known she’d lied about that. No way did they have anything nice enough to cost a thousand dollars. “Not that it mattered to her. Now that she’d discovered I was able to make money, she demanded I pay rent.”
“At fifteen?” Nick asked, stunned. “That wasn’t right.”
A snort blasted from Tim. “As if that mattered to my mother. To this day she calls me expecting me to hand her money.”
Tender fingers traced a path up and down Tim’s spine, relaxing him. “Do you?” Nick asked softly.
Sinking further into Nick, Tim whispered, “Not anymore. I did when Ralph still lived there, hoping to save him from having to work as much as I did.” Even though Nick couldn’t see it, Tim rolled his eyes at his stupidity. “I should have known it wouldn’t make a difference. If I hadn’t been living on the streets in the beginning I would have taken Ralph with me. Living with my mom may have sucked, but at least there was a roof and bed for Ralph.”
“I’m so sorry you had to live like that.” Nick’s lips brushed over his again. “Everyone should have parents who treat them like they matter, because, love, you matter more than you’ll ever know.”
In the past, Tim would have scoffed at Nick’s words. The thing was, he was beginning to believe Nick. Tim just wished he knew if that was a good thing or if it would end up destroying him.
CHAPTER 20
After Tim’s confession about Thanksgiving, Nick had wanted to put on a huge feast, but Tim had asked him not to. He’d thought one day he would be ready, but this wasn’t the year. Plus, he had to work at the diner, so there really hadn’t been much point.
Nick had conceded and spent all of Tim’s shift at Rockin’ Robins. For much of his shift, Tim was too busy to pay Nick any attention, but there had been a few slow times when they’d been able to sit and chat. It was then that Nick had gotten the idea of how to give his love something special.
Tim might not be ready to try Thanksgiving again, but it was way past time for him to have the Christmas he’d never had as a child. Nick had to wait until Friday morning when Tim started his shift at the café to put his plan into effect, but if everything came together, Tim was finally going experience a bit of Christmas Magic, that Nick had taken for granted during his childhood.
He dropped Tim off at the café and then headed to Klassic Toys, which was a madhouse, since it was Black Friday. Even with it being super busy, Mr. Sullivan listened to Nick’s idea and instantly agreed to the crazy plan.
Then Nick really got to work. First, he went home and cleaned the house from top to bottom. He put away any and all knick-knacks to make room. Then he went into the attic to get all the Christmas decorations his parents had collected over the years.
It took him hours to go through it all so he could make a list of what he needed to buy at the store. He didn’t want to purchase anything too personal, as he wanted Tim to have the fun of picking out anything special, but he needed more garland and lights. Not sure if Tim would prefer colored or white, Nick picked up both.
Then he went to the grocery store for enough food for the group he’d invited to his surprise decorating party Sunday night. Tim would know in advance, since they needed to go get at least one Christmas tree, although Nick was going to push for two, one in the living room and a smaller one for their room.
Their room.
Tim might not officially live there, but Nick was already thinking of the house as theirs, not just his. Well, it was also his sister’s, but she’d already indicated she didn’t want the house, and Nick planned on buying her out of her half after she’d graduated college. He figured the money would help her get settled wherever she decided to make her home.
Not able to wait to surprise Tim, Nick picked him up after his shift at the diner. It was after two in the morning, but Nick was too excited to be tired.
“Nick?” Tim stopped in his tracks as he exited Rockin’ Robins and saw Nick sta
nding there with a huge grin on his face. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to show you something.” Nick knew he was acting like a crazy person as he took Tim’s hand and led him to the car, but he couldn’t help it. All he could think about was seeing the look on Tim’s face when they got home.
“But it’s late,” Tim said even as he sat down on the passenger seat and let Nick buckle him in. “And I have to be at work by six.”
Doing his best not to scowl at the reminder of how hard Tim had to work just to scrape by, Nick kissed the tip of Tim’s nose. “I know, but this is important and I’ll drive you to work in the morning.”
He almost felt guilty when Tim let out a big yawn as Nick got in the car. But he hoped Tim would forgive him once he saw his surprise.
****
When they pulled into the garage, Tim was practically asleep. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. Tim worked too damned hard and needed all the sleep he could get, yet what had Nick done? Taken away at least an hour’s worth of sleep, assuming Tim would be able to go back to sleep after seeing what Nick was planning.
Maybe he should take Tim back to his studio apartment and forget the surprise. It wasn’t like it wouldn’t be there when Tim wasn’t working as much.
“Huh? What?” Tim sat up in his seat and looked around as if unsure where he was. When he looked at Nick he smiled. “Hey. What are we doing at your house?”
Since it was too late to change course, Nick leaned over the console and kissed that sweet mouth. “I have a surprise for you.”
Then he got out of the car and rushed to Tim’s door, helping him out and leading him to the door. “Okay, I need you to close your eyes,” he said as they started to walk into the house.
One of Tim’s eyebrows went up in question, but he did as Nick instructed. “There better not be some elaborate turkey dinner waiting for me.”