We burst through the door and enter the last hallway before we reach the back of the ship and he falters, looking for something. It gives me enough time to catch up to him and trip him, and he goes sprawling on the hall floor. His bag drops as he does, and I quickly toss the bag I’m carrying in front of him. It takes him a moment, but he notices and makes a grab for it, and I slowly push the bag he had been carrying under the rung of a ladder.
The thief stands and glares at me, pointing the gun at me and I raise my hands in self-defense, not looking down at where I hid the bag of diamonds.
“You…” he starts, and then he stares behind me.
I hear Aaron and David run up, coming to a stop and staring at the gun trained on us all. The bartender threatens us, and I make no move to stop him when he opens a hatch and begins climbing down.
David turns on me once we see the boat speed away. The shock and adrenaline hit and I can’t help but smile when I bend down and try to explain. David seems genuinely irate with me because I chased after the thief, and I can understand why he’s so upset, but I stare at the glittering diamonds and consider each one not nearly as valuable as the moments I’ve had with David. Each new thing we’ve learned about each other has brought us closer together and it’s taught me the value of those moments should be cherished, like a shining diamond.
“We should go somewhere we won’t be overheard,” I murmur to them both.
“My cabin is closer,” David grunts, and turns to walk away.
I catch Aaron’s eye and he’s staring at me like he sees me in a new light. I say nothing but follow David to his cabin where we all stand around the table in his room staring at the bag of diamonds.
“I got them from an old client,” Aaron explains. So here it is, the rest of the story.
I look around David’s room uncomfortably. It pays to be the producer, as evidenced by the furnishings of this room.
David holds up his hand and I wait with bated breath to see what he says. This moment could mean the end of the tenuous connection we’d formed only a short while ago. It could mean the end of my career, or even worse, the potential for incarceration if he decides to turn us in.
“I don’t need to know why you have them, Aaron. Until an hour ago, I didn’t even know you existed. All I have to say is it’s best if you take them and go someplace else so I can have a moment with Alex.”
Both Aaron and I remain still, stunned for a moment. Aaron is the first to move, grabbing the bag off the table and making tracks for the door. I figure I’ll have to put up with him for another night and realize it doesn’t matter. Getting back to Miami and dry land where all this craziness will come to an end, has never sounded better.
Before Aaron leaves, though, David quietly says, “And the next time you get a kiss that’s clearly a mistake, maybe think about not shoving that person away and making them feel like vermin for it. I didn’t realize it was you, not Alex.”
Aaron nods, looking sheepish, and I want to throttle him. He ducks out the door before I have a chance to say anything, leaving David and I standing there, facing each other.
“Can we please just go to sleep now? I’m exhausted.”
David smiles and nods, looking at the bed. I wonder if he’s going to invite me to stay. I get my answer when he takes my hand, pulling me around the edge of the bed and helping me drop my pants again.
He drops his, and as much as I want him, I’m fighting to keep my eyes open when my body hits the mattress. I feel David snuggle back into the position he was in before the gun was drawn, and the thief burst through the door. Pulling the covers over us I realize my dream hadn’t been wrong, David had been in danger and there was some small part of me that knew there was more happening on this ship than we realized. I think the whirlwind of romance and lust masked that there was anything seriously wrong with Aaron’s presence aboard this ship, but it looks as if David is going to let it go for now. I wonder if Aaron will be so lucky once we reach land tomorrow.
I drift off to sleep in David’s warm embrace, thankful that, although we have a serious discussion ahead of us still, I’m granted the blessing of having him tucked in my arms and falling sound asleep in a warm embrace. To me, that’s the shiniest diamond of them all.
18
David Andrews
The next morning, I wake with Alex still in my arms and smile. I’m so grateful he stayed the night and didn’t run screaming for his own room. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d had to face the night alone. The adrenaline of the chase and seeing Alex open that bag of diamonds was too much for my mind to handle. Had it been me, I would’ve let the thief get away with the bag, but Alex was proving to be nothing short of an enigma, one I find I am delighted to continue to decipher.
When Alex opens his eyes and smiles at me, the entire room melts away in the warmth of his embrace. He doesn’t say anything, just leans over and I feel the warmth of his lips press against mine. He feels so good. We lie like that for a few moments before either one of us considers getting up.
When we do, we find ourselves in the spacious shower, helping each other wash. As he stands under the spray, I sit on the mosaic bench and let the steam thaw the shock and frozen terror from my body. Fear has a strange effect that I didn’t sense last night. My muscles had clenched so tight, I didn’t notice how sore I was until this morning.
Alex turns in the shower and I see what’s between his legs. I lick my lips and he opens his eyes and catches me staring. Grinning, he drops to his knees in front of me and I feel my heart race faster in anticipation.
“So, are you going to let me try again? I haven’t done this since the club.”
I nod vigorously, watching him lick his own lips. He doesn’t even have to touch me and I’m hard again. I think my dick would grow erect for him on demand if he told it to.
“Last time you weren’t sure, David. Now I want you to be positive that this is what you want.”
My eyes widen when I realize what he’s telling me. I clear my throat and, never having asked this before, it takes me a couple of tries before I croak out, “Please, I want you to suck my dick, Alex.”
He pauses and watches me for a moment before lowering his head. I can’t sit still as I watch his mouth inch closer to the tip of my cock. His eyes watch me the entire time, and I can’t decide which I want to watch first, his eyes or where his mouth lands. He pauses, hovering just over the tip and I moan, thrusting my hips up at him in a nonverbal demand. He opens his mouth, sliding me into him and my eyes close as heat and wetness engulf me. It feels surreal as he starts sucking my length. Last night was a near death experience, and this morning I’m struggling to stay standing in my shower while he does things to my cock I can’t even say out loud.
He teaches me a few things too. Like how to tease the underside where the head meets the ridge. It’s sensitive and I hiss when he bends his neck so the water from the shower is pouring over his shoulders to combine with the warmth of his mouth. He seals his lips sideways around the head of my cock while he continues to stroke, then he begins to suck at the sensitive ridge. I pulse in his mouth and the feeling causes me to grind my heels into the floor.
He gently holds my hips with his other hand, then moves it to cup my balls, which he kneads and squeezes. It has the desired effect. I don’t dare squirm away from him because he has a firm, but not crushing grip, on them. It feels so good. They’re so tight and swollen that the little bit I do wiggle under the ministrations of his mouth, gives me a massage from his palm.
He works his lips and tongue down along the underside of my cock until I’m shaking, and then he does something that makes me howl. He sucks in first one testicle, then the other, until the tightness in my balls is too much. I need inside him now. I’m at the same point as yesterday, surely he knows that. I rub against the hard ridge between his legs, feeling the slick water running between us.
His stomach muscles quiver as we look down between us and watch as we can’t help but ru
b ourselves together. It doesn’t take long for either one of us, holding onto each other’s shoulders before we make a mess between us in the shower. By then, Alex wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me in for a long, deep kiss, mimicking the thrusting motions our hips are making. He groans when he comes, and I writhe in his arms.
When we’re done, he presses his forehead to mine, breathing hard before we start to clean up. It doesn’t take long to wash off, but afterwards, he pulls his pants back on and looks at the door.
“I don’t want to leave yet,” he whispers, and cups my jaw.
I kiss him and nod. It doesn’t seem possible that we’ll be pulling into port in less than an hour. Then what? I can’t delay any longer. I see the notifications from my phone on the nightstand. Jake must be blowing me up, wondering where I am. I’m supposed to address the models and actors and thank them for doing the shoot. It seems ridiculous now but it’s part of the job.
“I’ll see you topside?” I search his face, needing to know he’ll be there. I need him to show up. If somehow, word about us has already gotten out, I need his support facing the masses.
He nods and pulls me in for another kiss, for which I’m grateful.
Once I get dressed, I answer my phone to Jake’s panicked voice.
“Are you okay?” he asks when I finally pick up the phone.
“Yeah, I’ll be up in a minute. Is the crew on deck?”
“Yes. What happened?”
“It’s a long story. Is the footage we shot okay, Jake? We can do reshoots in the next half hour if it isn’t satisfactory.”
“No, the footage is great. David, are you sure you’re okay?”
I think about his question and smile. Even after all the drama and the fear, I know one thing I’ve figured out about myself for certain.
“I’ve never been better. See you in a few,” I smile as I hang up the phone and for the first time, glance in the mirror, and without my hat, I see the man I should have been all this time. A man who was guided by a father, who set standards and expectations for a son to be successful in business entrepreneurship, but not a man who is defined by his own insecurities about that identity. Never in all of his life had my father indicated he’d be disappointed with a son who is gay. That was an assumption I’d placed on myself. If I think about it, in many ways it’s as if he knew, and he was preparing me to deal with something like this. A crisis of identity so to speak. I think that’s why he gave me the hat. Not because of its association with a production company, but because he recognized there’d be a time I would question who I am and where I come from. He was trying to show me I come from a man who raised me right and raised me to know he was always there for support when that identity was called into question.
I smile at the hatless reflection in the mirror for the first time in a long time, then I walk out the door to go address the crew before we hit the port. I go knowing I’m a better man, now that I’m ready to admit that I’m gay and accept myself.
Epilogue
Epilogue – Alex Keys
I finally get a chance to talk to David once we’re pulling into the port, catching up with him as he walks around the now empty stage. All the gear had been packed away and everything borrowed from the ship had been returned to its rightful place. All the production equipment was waiting to be carted off the ship to be brought back to the studio.
He’s talking to Jake, who looks over and sees me standing there. Jake smiles and I wave at them both, giving them a moment. When they’re done talking, Jake jumps off the stage and walks over, clapping my palm in his. “Thanks so much for your hard work.”
“Thank you for the opportunity,” my career will take off now. The actor I worked with the first day already has a call into my studio to set up a time when we can meet and develop a personal style for him. I’d been brainstorming ideas with Alayah, right before David did his final address of thanks to the cast and crew.
“It was my pleasure, and David’s too,” he winks at me and I look between them. David is looking away, but I see the shy smile on his face. “It’s about time,” Jake whispers and I look back at him. He winks again and lets go of my hand, leaving me there to watch David.
So he finally came out to his friend. It’s a start and I’m proud of him. I jump up on the stage, ready to kiss him when the door to the theater bursts open and Aaron walks in speaking excitedly into the phone.
“Yes ma’am. Yes. I have them. Yep, in the pocket. Well, now they’re in a black bag but…Oh, you called the cops?” his face falls, then instantly brightens. “Keep them? Why thank you. That’s so kind of you.”
David looks at me and his eyebrow shoots up.
“All the world’s a stage,” I whisper, referring to Aaron’s many theatrics.
When Aaron ends the call, I tap my foot impatiently. “Well?”
“Well what?” he looks up at us both.
“How did you get the diamonds, Aaron?” I ask impatiently.
“You just heard me with one of my senior citizen clients. She gave them to me,” he folds his arms over his chest and dares me to challenge him.
“You just happened to liberate an old woman of her weighty stones?” I challenge back.
“She left them in her black purse which was in a coat she told me to take for dry cleaning. Of course, I didn’t realize they were hers when they fell out of the pocket,” he pulls a face into a mask of boyish innocence and I want to punch him or laugh at him. A crook with a conscience. He would never outright steal from anyone, but he would lower his already questionable ethics and not turn in a bag of diamonds he happened to find at the dry cleaners. Claiming he didn’t know who they belonged to so he could sell them and save his own mother from an ill fate.
“Aaron!” I say, exasperated. The only one here who might have something to say is David, but when I glance over his lips are pressed together so tight, I think he’ll bust a gut trying not to laugh.
“Hey, don’t Aaron me. She gave me permission to keep them and now I can sell them and make sure Mother is taken care of and for once give back to this wretched family!” he has the audacity to look affronted.
“Go away, Aaron,” I grunt.
He doesn’t need telling twice. He turns on his heel, whistling as David shakes his head.
“I don’t know how I ever confused the two of you,” he says.
“People do all the time. We have a few minor differences but other than that, pretty much the same.”
“Not even close,” he pulls me into a kiss and then leans back. “How did you duplicate the bag the diamonds were in?”
I laugh. “The bag the lube was in was almost identical to the bag the diamonds were in. Leave it to my brother to buy a knockoff where I buy the real thing, then have a thief who should know quality when he sees it confuse the two.”
“To be fair to the thief, he was under duress with you chasing him like a madman last night.”
I laugh again and continue to rock lightly in David’s arms.
“Well, he’s going to need the lube for how much it’s going to chafe when he sees he made off with only forty-five dollars’ worth of men’s toiletries.”
David tosses his head back and laughs so hard it’s infectious. When he finally calms down, I look him dead in the eye.
“So I take it you told Jake?”
“Told him what?” David asks, still chuckling.
“That you’re gay,” I wait to see how he reacts.
He nods slowly. “Yes, I did tell him. He said he’s known for a while.”
“I see.”
“I also told him that I value our friendship, and therefore am not interested in him, because I am more interested in investing in the relationship that’s been developing over the last few days, despite how tumultuous it’s been.”
I freeze and stare at him.
He looks me in the eye and smiles.
I kiss him hard and fast.
When I’m done, he asks, “I take it that means
you’re okay with me rejecting Jake and trying to work things out with you to see where it goes?”
“I’m more than okay with it, I’m ecstatic!”
I kiss him again with all the joy that accompanies the knowledge that I’ll be exploring this new relationship, and finally have the chance to develop something long-term with someone I’ve come to care deeply about. Maybe there’s merit to happily-ever-afters, after all? There must be. I kiss him again and he doesn’t pull away when Alayah walks in, trying to corner me to talk about everything that’s been going on. She slowly backs out of the theater, and David chuckles into my mouth before kissing me back.
The End.
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Cruising For Trouble: A M/M Contemporary Romance Page 11