Getting There

by Black Deja

  “What I saw outside in my front yard is a hell of a lot more than getting to know you.” Anthony looked concerned.

  Lucas sighed, but inside? Inside his heart was beating with anticipation. With hope. “Yes. I think it’s more than that, too. We went to lunch yesterday, to the beach today. He says he wants to take me to dinner later this week.” When Lucas said it out loud, yes it sounded fast to him.

  Anthony said nothing. Just waited.

  “Yes. It’s a little fast, but I think… I mean…” Lucas sighed again. “I like him, Anthony.”

  “Are you sure, Lucas, because while I love you, man, I love Creed, too. He’s a force to be reckoned with, but he can get hurt, too.” He picked up Lucas’s cup and drank from it. “This is good, but a beer would be better.” He stood and went to the kitchen, returning with a bottle Budweiser’s finest. He sat down, pushed the seat to recline, and took a drink. “When I think back to all of his questions about you over the years, the way I’d catch him watching you, and then the way he’s acting now? My friend’s been pining away. Is this the time to get his hopes up? Put both of you in a place where you can get hurt?” Anthony watched him, plainly trying to read Lucas’s non-verbal signals. It was what he was good at after all, along with handling an arsenal of weapons, things that made him an amazing officer.

  As for too fast, maybe it was, but then that was for Creed and Lucas to decide. They were two grown men, not children. If they wanted this, and if he was honest with himself, he did, then that was their business.

  He wanted to see more of Creed, to be with him. He’d felt safe, needed and he’d missed that, having been without it for so very long. Creed looked at him like he was the air he needed to breathe. Lucas could get used to that. While that was frightening, it also made him yearn for more.

  “I appreciate what you’re saying. I do, and I love you for it. But, whatever’s going on between Creed and me? It’s for us to figure out.”

  Anthony nodded, but that didn’t stop him from going on. “Creed already seems to have it figured. What about you? Are you going to be okay with this, Lucas?

  Lucas didn’t have an answer.

  Chapter Five

  With the semester beginning next week, Lucas found himself much busier than he expected. He spent the time adjusting his syllabus for the new class he’d agreed to take over, deciding what he needed from the items his family gathered from Ira’s home, and talking to Creed who called regularly.

  Those calls were what got Lucas through the week, waiting for his phone to ring and speaking for a few minutes to even hours. Creed was funny and sincere. He understood Lucas, asked about his day, and what his plans included for the semester. He was smart and offered suggestions on possible projects.

  It was nice, the way Creed’s happiness floated over the line, and it made Lucas happy, too.

  “I miss you,” Creed said one day. “Miss touching you.”

  “Two days, Creed. We’ve only physically been together two days,” Lucas responded. He was lying in bed, Creed on the phone. Creed’s voice was heavy with sleep, his breaths slow and relaxed. It made Lucas bury himself under the covers, try to pretend they were together rather than miles apart while Creed visited a vendor in Florida and looked at horses for his family’s ranch.

  “And, it makes me want you even more. I wish you were here next to me.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why Lucas,” Creed sighed. “I need to be with you. Hell, I need to fuck you. But, after I fuck you into a stupor, make you come, again and again, with my dick in your sweet ass, I want to hold you close to me, next to my heart. I want to sleep with my head on your chest, your hands in my hair. I want to be near you, Lucas.”

  Lucas said nothing too afraid of what he’d reveal if he opened his mouth.

  When time went by, and still Lucas kept quiet, Creed spoke. “Lucas?”

  This time it was Lucas’s turn to sigh. “I want that, too, Creed.” He hadn’t wanted to admit the truth, but he found it impossible to deny Creed anything.

  When Lucas hung up that night, the yearning to see the man he found himself falling for was greater than he’d ever known.

  But, it wasn’t only Creed’s calls and texts he received during the week. He’d been getting messages from Ira, too, messages that were stranger with each one that arrived. He’d considered blocking them, maybe even telling Anthony.

  He had no idea what was going on in Ira’s head.

  Do you miss me?

  Where are you?

  Are you with your brother? Is he watching over you?

  Are you with him?

  The same questions came daily, over and over. Once, Lucas sent back for Ira to stop contacting him, that they were done. Ira was a smart man, had written books and taught classes on psychology. He’d have to know what he was doing sounded crazy.

  We were never done.

  It was unbelievable. What had Ira thought, that he’d go off on an adventure then return to Lucas who’d wait for him with open arms?

  We were done the moment you came home with your new lover wrapped around you. Stop doing this.

  You love me, Ira wrote.

  No, Ira. Not anymore. Whatever I felt for you, you killed the day you left me. Please don’t contact me again.

  Finally, when Lucas thought he’d made headway, that Ira would leave him alone, the next day they started all over again.

  One or two nights he’d debated telling Anthony, but when his brother came home, he was tired, exhausted. Anthony shouldered enough worries, and Lucas’s psychotic ex didn’t need to be one of them.

  Instead, Lucas helped Anthony to bed, took off his shoes and tucked him in.

  And the messages kept coming.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Saturday night, he found himself anticipating his date with Creed. Creed made it back late Friday night, and the first thing he’d done when the plane touched the ground was to call Lucas. It made Lucas warm inside to hear he was the person Creed thought of first, that Creed wanted to talk to him badly and let him know he was safe.

  Lucas burned with desire and need, anticipated seeing the man who’d kept him awake at night. The man who’d talked him into coming more than once during their phone calls, and shared hopes and dreams with him.

  He wouldn’t ruin their day with Ira’s latest text, the one that made Lucas shiver.

  I’m bringing you home.

  He hadn’t responded, too shaken to consider what that meant.

  Instead, Lucas focused on the one or two items he’d bought to wear for dinner.

  The sales clerk at Dillard’s promised him whoever he was wearing the shirt and pants for would be pleased with the outfit. The cut of the sleeves and pants showed off the muscular tone of his body, and the color enhanced his skin’s olive coloring. He’d paired them with a light jacket, one he hadn’t worn in forever but he’d always liked.

  Pacing back and forth, he waited.

  When the bell rang, he tried to stop himself from hurrying to the door, but he was so eager to see Creed, to feel those arms wrapped around him once more, to taste him. Creed was an addiction Lucas was helpless against. And standing right on the other side of the door was his next fix.

  Forgetting all about trying to slow them down, he wrenched that door open.

  “Oh.” Lucas damn near swallowed his tongue. He’d seen Creed practically naked with ocean water sluicing down his skin, but he never could have imagined how striking he’d look dressed in a suit. He had to have seen Creed in a suit before, but he would have remembered not being able to breathe. He was with Ira long enough to recognize an Armani, but he’d never seen it fit like that before.

  Creed stood before him, hands in his pockets, wearing the black suit tailor-made for his body. Lucas’s mouth became the Sahara Desert. How in the world had he missed how beautiful Creed was? He could have posed on the cover of GQ magazine.

  Creed’s smile was slow as Lucas stood watching him. He turned around in a circle,
his arms stretched out while he modeled, and Lucas’s cock went rock hard.

  “So, you like?”

  Words. He knew how to use them, had used them to entrance his wayward students, to weave intricate stories, but his mind was still on the way Creed’s exquisite ass looked in those slacks. He had none.

  “What? Nothing to say, Lucas?” And that smoothly, Creed walked through the door with Lucas stumbling backward. His look was all predator as he stalked Lucas until he was pressed against a wall shivering with heat and need.

  “You know what I’ve thought about all week, Lucas?” Creed purred as he drew one finger down the front of Lucas’s shirt stopping right over his nipple to trace it with tiny circles.

  “No,” Lucas squeaked. “I’m not a mind reader, certainly not from miles away.” Lucas groaned when Creed ran the strong fingers of his other hand over the belt at Lucas’s pants.

  “Well, let me tell you then.” Creed popped the button on Lucas’s pants and pulled the zipper down. “Your dick down my throat has been the highlight of my daydreams. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to sit in a meeting and concentrate when I want so badly to come home and find out how good that would be?”

  Lucas gasped as Creed pulled down his pants, the new ones he’d bought to impress him falling in waves at his ankles.

  “Oh, would you look at that? Look how ready for me you are, Lucas.” Lucas didn’t have to. He felt the strain of his dick against the fabric of his underwear, felt the wetness of the tip as he stood braced against the wall, his palms against the chilled surface. “Open your eyes and look at me, Koibito.”

  Lucas did, and the heat blazing in Creed’s eyes nearly made him come right then and there. He watched, his breaths shallow as Creed looked down at his swollen dick and back at Lucas. “Damn, your eyes. The way they fucking glow when you’re hungry for me. And, your dick?” Creed’s focus was on Lucas’s dick as he traced the fabric trapping it, and Lucas groaned. “I often think of having you, of plunging my dick into your ass, but that dick of yours is gorgeous. I’d love to feel you inside me soon, that pretty cock of yours fucking my ass. You want to fuck me, Lucas?” Lucas was barely holding it together, his breath rushing in and out at the thought of himself planted inside Creed, helpless against the vision of being allowed to.

  “More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life,” Lucas whispered. Creed smiled, then ever so slowly peeled the underwear away to fully reveal Lucas’s cock and balls.

  “You’re beautiful, Lucas.” Creed looked back at Lucas. “You’re beautiful everywhere, and you’re mine. You just haven’t accepted it, yet.”

  “Anthony—”

  “Isn’t here. I know because he and I spoke for a long time earlier.” Lucas looked down at Creed, too amazed by the picture of the man on his knees ready to take his cock between his lips. “About you, how you’re going to be mine, not just now but forever. He had to be convinced like you still need to be, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes for you to learn your place is beside me, underneath me, inside me, with me for the rest of our lives.” The sensual assault on the skin around Lucas’s dick made him groan with pleasure.

  “Oh, Creed. I…” Whatever words that followed were drowned in the cry Lucas shouted as Creed pulled him into his mouth. Lucas trembled against the wall, completely at Creed’s mercy. He was the one standing, the one with his hands in his lover’s hair dragging him closer, trying to shove his dick down Creed’s throat, but he moved at Creed’s leisure, answered to his call, begged and pleaded for whatever Creed would give him.

  Creed didn’t hesitate, his groans satisfied as he allowed Lucas to fuck his mouth deeper. He moaned when Lucas shook, the need for him to come on the horizon soon, too soon.

  “Good. So good, Creed. Oh, I’m there. Creed, please. Please, Creed.” And almost impossibly, Creed opened his throat wider which made Lucas lose his fucking mind. Unable to hold back, the seed roiled in his balls, white lightning shooting up his spine and throughout his nerve endings. Then, he shot, pouring all of himself into Creed’s waiting mouth.

  Lucas’s breaths were harsh—like he’d run a marathon. Gently, almost reverently, Creed pulled up Lucas’s underwear, put his floppy dick back inside its wrapping. Pulling Lucas’s pants up, he dragged them over sensitive flesh and stood.

  Lucas watched, dazed and sated, but he opened his mouth when Creed bent to kiss him, sharing the flavor of his seed with him. Lucas pulled him closer, lifted his leg over Creed’s hip and hummed with pleasure.

  Coming up for air, they both smiled at each other.

  “I knew you’d taste good.” Creed groaned. “With that out of the way, I’d love to take you to dinner, Lucas Masterson.”

  Lucas nodded, the ability to speak beyond him.

  “Did you pack it?”

  Lucas nodded. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Earlier that week, when Lucas mentioned he’d never seen a horse up close before, Creed had been surprised. “Not once?”

  “Never.”

  “Come with me. See them.”

  Lucas hesitated. “Creed.”

  “What’s the problem? I’m asking you to pack a bag, spend a day or two at the ranch with me while I check on things. We don’t even have to stay at the family home. We could stay in one of the other properties.”

  “One of the other properties? How big is your family’s ranch?” Lucas had asked.

  “Come see for yourself.” The smile in Creed’s voice, both proud and teasing, warmed Lucas, but Lucas hadn’t spoken for a moment, thinking it was all too soon.

  “Lucas, I need you to see where I grew up, see the horses my family loves.” Needed him, Creed had said, and Lucas’s defenses weakened.

  What step would I be taking by going to his home? Meeting his family?

  “Please.”

  And, with that simple word so full of hope, Lucas said yes.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Now, Creed stood watching him, waiting.

  “Where’s the bag, Lucas?”

  Lucas looked at his overnight bag sitting on the floor. Creed nodded, stepped away to pick up the bag, and returned to take Lucas’s arm.

  “Let’s go.”

  Outside, instead of the Jeep this time, Creed opened the door to a sleek gray Porsche. Lucas looked up at Creed and back to the car.

  “It’s a special night, our first official date.” Creed’s look was almost hesitant so unlike the man he knew Lucas just smiled.

  “Thank you. It’s gorgeous,” Lucas said as he sat inside the plush leather interior once Creed opened the door.

  “Not nearly as beautiful as you. I didn’t tell you how amazing you look tonight,” Creed said. “Or thank you for saying yes.” Creed bent down and kissed Lucas tenderly. After he shut the door, he rounded the vehicle, tossed Lucas’s overnight bag in the back and entered the driver’s side.

  Looking at Lucas for a long time, his eyes warm, he nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”

  The car moved fast, but Creed handled it beautifully. Lucas watched his hands, the way he caressed the wheel and admired the strength there. Creed was so powerful, everywhere.

  Lucas shook himself and looked out toward the night.

  The weather was nice, and there were few cars on the way to wherever they were going. Lucas tried to guess, but he didn’t travel many places. He had a routine he stuck to and beyond that didn’t see the need to venture off.

  Besides, he found he trusted Creed to take care of him. He knew with him, he was safe. So, instead of asking, he sat back and enjoyed the ride as his hair whipped around his face, Creed controlling the beast and taking the roads with an agility rivaling most race car drivers.

  When they stopped, Lucas was surprised to see them parked at Magnolias, an upscale restaurant in the heart of Charleston. A valet hurried down to open Lucas’s door, and Lucas exited the vehicle stunned. He’d heard of Magnolias, but he’d never been. He turned back to Creed who handed
the keys over to the valet, a few bills in his hand as he did.

  Creed was calm, self-possessed and in his element. He looked over at Lucas and sent him a brilliant smile as the valet drove off. Crooking his elbow when he neared Lucas, he waited.

  “You expect me to take your arm,” Lucas laughed.

  “Yes. I want to show everyone we see you belong to me.”

  Lucas sighed. “But, Creed.”

  “Lucas. Take my arm.” Lucas shook his head, but he did what he was asked, and they walked into the restaurant, the door opened by the waiting doorman.

  “Mr. Hamasaki, we are so pleased to have you here. When we learned you reserved a private room, we readied everything immediately,” said the maître d’ who invited them in.

  “Thank you, Jerome.” Lucas looked around as they were led up the stairs. The room they entered was buttercream yellow with white window panes. The tables were dressed delicately, a testament to the steps the owners took to provide the best care for their clientele.

  Creed pulled the seat out and looked at Lucas.

  “Really, Creed. I can seat myself.”

  “But then you’d rob me of the pleasure of doing it. How is that fair?” Creed’s smile was sly as Lucas moved toward him.

  Lucas sighed and went to sit, shuddering at the pressure of Creed’s teeth as he bit lightly into Lucas’s neck, the surge of hunger immediate. “Oh.”

  When they were both comfortably seated, a new waiter appeared.

  “Your usual, Mr. Hamasaki?”

  “No, Phillipe. This is a special occasion,” Creed said. The waiter nodded, too eager to provide whatever he asked. Lucas smiled at the flush from Creed’s attention. He couldn’t blame him for his nerves, for the way Creed made a person want to climb him like a tree. Creed’s movements were hypnotic, the way he commanded a space, captivating.

  “May I suggest the Chateau Carbonnieux, Pessac-Leognan?”

  “Yes, that sounds good.” Creed looked over to Lucas. “What do you think?”