by Max Walker
Oliver separated from me. He looked out the large window.
“If I listed out every homophobic asshole I interacted with throughout my life, then you’d never figure out who attacked me and Derrick that night. I… I don’t know. I don’t like talking about it, I guess. I don’t like living in that negative space. In even being reminded that it exists.”
I put an arm across Oliver’s shoulder and pulled him back into my side. I kissed the top of his head, feeling his soft hair against my lips. “If I ever see anyone even giving you an ounce of attitude, I swear I’ll send them spinning as much as the London Eye.”
That got a chuckle out of Oliver. I swallowed the sound up, letting it fill me.
“He was a bad one, though. I do remember that. I just, I guess I thought it had to be someone that was a constant presence in my life. That Mario guy popped in for a few months when he was working on our building and then disappeared. The attack didn’t happen for another year.”
“Time works differently with everyone. You might have moved past the bullshit he put you through, but Mario could have been marinating in it. Working himself up to do something.”
“Well… shit. I didn’t really think about it like that.”
“Don’t worry. Thinking about it like that is my job. I’ve already got someone working on figuring out where Mario is. And then I’ll need him to answer a few of my questions.”
Oliver pursed his lips. I could tell talking about this was painful for him, especially after tonight’s events.
“Thank you for staying with me tonight,” Oliver said. His voice was low, soft.
“I wish I could stay with you every night.”
It was an honest answer. Oliver nuzzled into me a little more, rubbing his head on me. “Maybe you should.”
“Maybe I will,” I countered, smiling.
Oliver looked up at me and planted a sweet kiss, his hand coming up behind my neck and holding as his lips took control.
“If you give me more of that, then I definitely will.”
He smirked, the embers in his pupils lighting up, one hand still on my neck, his other hand rested on my stomach.
“Sorry for freaking out earlier.”
“Are you kidding me? What we went through deserves a freak-out. Do you want to talk some more about it?”
Oliver shook his head. “Not tonight.” He kissed me again. This one felt a little more desperate, a little more hungry. We stumbled back onto the bed.
“I just want to forget it all tonight. I don’t want to think about any of it.”
Another kiss. The temperature in the room was rising at a blistering pace. We were lying in bed, the soft white hotel blanket underneath us, both of us still in our clothes from today. My jeans were beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable. I needed to shed them off.
Before I could, Oliver’s lips were back on me, this time on my neck. It was the one spot that drove me completely wild. “Oh, Olly, my neck is dangerous.”
“Is it?” Oliver asked, mischievously sucking on my neck.
“You’re unraveling me, Olly.” I let my head sink back into the pillow as Oliver’s tongue flicked across my sensitive flesh. His warm breath on my neck was sending me straight to outer space.
“Good.” Oliver’s hand slipped under my shirt. “I think we both need to unravel a little bit,” he said.
His fingers trailed down toward my already stiffening cock.
Funny how fear can give way to arousal in only seconds flat.
“Depends on what you’re willing to give me,” Oliver said, batting those thick eyelashes of his. Like a moth to a flame, I pushed in, claiming his lips with mine. His hand, a thumb hooked on the waistband of my jeans, started to massage me, rubbing the bulge that throbbed with need.
I wanted him.
I wanted him so badly it made my insides feel like they were on fire.
“Fuck,” I hissed, feeling Oliver’s hardness pushing against me as he rocked his hips forward. We fell backward onto the bed. The mattress bounced with us as we kissed and rubbed and rolled. He straddled me, kissing me, sucking on my lower lip and sending shocks through my spine. My hands glided over every inch of him, sliding under his shirt and over his soft skin, his pebbled nipples, his strong heartbeat. I left my hand on his chest for a moment, feeling the thump against my palm.
And then we rolled on the bed. I pinned him underneath me, pressing my weight onto him, grinding my rock-hard bulge against his. Any harder and I was sure our clothes would catch fire.
“Take this off,” I said, pulling his shirt up. I took mine off and tossed it, mesmerized at the sight underneath me: Oliver’s body stretched taut on the bed, a light blond trail of hair leading down his belly button. His skin dotted with beauty marks, a trail I wanted to treasure with my lips, to trace with my tongue.
I bent down and kissed each one of his beauty marks, from the one on his hip, up to the three on his side, to the few around his nipples, softly sucking on each nipple as I passed over, drinking in the heavy breathing and gasps of raw pleasure that Oliver would give me. He played with my hair as I kissed him, his fingers tracing my ears, massaging my scalp.
I kissed his neck and sucked while I slipped a hand under his jeans. Oliver instantly bucked with pleasure. He was already leaking. I could feel it against my knuckles as I moved to grab him, my fingers wrapping around his thick length. There was an indescribable and all-consuming heat that was beginning to take over, filling the room, frying my senses.
I wanted to burn in the bonfire of our combined lust.
First, though, I had to taste Oliver. I needed to suck him into my mouth and feel him pulse between my lips.
I stood up and unzipped his pants and pulled them off, practically in one fluid motion. He lay there on the bed, legs dangling off the end, his cock straining against the dark fabric of his boxer briefs. I could see the outline of his head as he throbbed.
I licked my lips and dropped to my knees. Oliver opened his legs wider for me and watched as I buried my face between them, taking in his scent like I were taking in my last breath. I could feel his balls on my nose, feel his thighs squeezing against my ears. He smelled like fucking heaven, and I knew he would taste just the same.
Without being able to wait any longer, I pulled off his briefs. He was fully exposed to me. A platter of only the finest food. I wanted to kiss every goddamn inch of him, starting with his sexy feet, already curling as I gently massaged his balls, his warm sac in my hands.
I lifted one of his legs into the air. “Oh, whoa,” Oliver said, surprised and smiling.
The smile faded and was replaced by an expression of lust as I kissed the top of his foot, kissed the side, massaged the ball of his foot with my thumb.
There wasn’t a piece of Oliver I didn’t want against my lips, against my skin.
I grabbed his other leg and repeated my worship, pleased by the way Oliver was beginning to writhe on the white bedsheets, his hands grasping at the soft fabric as though he were about to float away any second now, his cock hard and pulsing in the air. I could see a clear thread of precome stick to his belly.
I kissed my way down Oliver’s leg. Teasing him. Massaging him. Making him twitch and spasm.
My lips trailed up his leg. His soft hair brushed over my lips. “Oh, Beck. God you’re so sexy.”
I looked at him, smiling as I set his leg back down on the bed. I placed both hands on his thighs and leaned down, my gaze fixed on his leaking cock.
I kissed his sac first. He smelled like sex and man and tasted exactly the same. I loved it. I sucked one of his balls into my mouth, tonguing it, Oliver nearly jumping off the bed with how badly he squirmed.
“Suck it. Please, Beck.”
His pleading fanned the flames of need that burned star bright inside my core. He placed a thumb at the base of his cock and aimed it up, more precome leaking from the pink head.
I couldn’t wait any longer. My tongue traveled over his head, my mouth fill
ing with his taste.
A moan unraveled from inside me as I took Oliver into my mouth. Just the head at first, flicking my tongue and swirling it around the spot I knew would be the most sensitive.
Sure enough, Oliver’s body shook with pleasure. He lifted his hips, trying to feed me more of him.
I took him readily. Greedily. I opened my jaw wide and took him down my throat, my lips working his shaft, my tongue gliding over every inch of his cock. My dick throbbed hard against my briefs. I had to take them off, but I didn’t want to stop sucking on Oliver.
I managed to unzip and take off my jeans without taking Oliver’s cock out of my mouth. I dropped my briefs to my knees and started to jerk off, already rock hard and close to coming.
“Oh, Beck, that feels so crazy good. Oh God.”
Oliver sounded drunk off pleasure. He was grinding his hips, stuffing himself down my throat, stretching my limits. I jerked off harder, my balls tightening with an impending release. Saliva dripped down Oliver’s shaft, falling down off his balls, wetting the bedsheets underneath us.
I liked it messy. I like getting Oliver’s dick soaked in my spit. I pulled off for a breath and jerked him, the sound of wet strokes filling the room. Oliver’s pale chest was flushing pink, spreading up from his nipples, the flush creeping to his neck.
I kissed his shaft. Rubbed it on my face, over my lips, against my nose. My eyes went up to find Oliver’s, our gazes locked, our passion explosive.
“I’m gonna come, Beck. I’m gonna, oh, oh—”
I didn’t miss my cue. I popped him back into my mouth, feeling the first jet of come hit the back of my throat. I drank it up greedily, every shot he gave me. His hands fell on my head and pushed down as he grunted and moaned like I’d never heard him do before.
All of it combined made my cock jerk in my grip. I came onto the floor as Oliver fed me the last of his seed.
With both of us spent, we collapsed onto the bed together, moving up so our heads rested on the soft pillows. I took off my shirt and tossed it to the side so that Oliver and I could rest together with nothing separating us, just skin on skin, pulse against pulse.
I kissed him softly, a lazy smile on both of our lips. My cock was still swollen and gave a rogue pulse, pushing against Oliver’s dick, also still leaking judging by the streak of wetness I felt against my cock.
“That was honestly the best blowjob I’ve ever gotten. Like… I wish you could win a Nobel Prize for that.”
I gave a hearty belly laugh. “That would be something.”
“I don’t know what you’ve got going on, but your lips and tongue are magical. I really do think you can probably bring about world peace if you learned how to use your powers for good.”
More laughter.
We talked some more, Oliver teasing me about the blowjob fairy I kept in the back of my mouth, the both of us laughing and sharing casual kisses, soft touches. I didn’t want to get up from this bed. Ever. I wanted to stay here forever with Oliver, the two of us above the world and all of its problems. The only thing that mattered was our shared pleasure, our unbreakable bond.
“You know what’s funny?” I said after a stretch of silence.
Oliver perked up. “An hour-long Ellen DeGeneres stand-up special where she talks about being relatable and says ‘fuck’ once?”
I chuckled. “Yes, that, and something else.” My fingers traced invisible lines through Oliver’s hair. “I haven’t thought about my father’s letter. Not once. Ever since I lost it, I couldn’t stop obsessing over it. Alternating between ‘what-ifs’ and ‘fuck-its,’ but always thinking about it. Not tonight, though. Not when I’m with you.”
Oliver’s smile was all I needed. He leaned in and kissed me, his thumb rubbing my chin.
I realized something as I lost myself in his mesmerizing eyes.
I realized that as long as I had Oliver in my arms, anything would feel all right. We could be staring down the end of the world and I’d still be all right with it so long as Oliver was by my side.
Bloody hell. I’ve found my soul mate, haven’t I?
The smile didn’t leave me that night, even as sleep dragged me into the dark.
18 Oliver Brightly
Five Days Later
The Australian shepherd puppy on the exam table was the absolute cutest little thing, with his big blue eyes and merle coat and floppy ears. I just wanted to ask her owners to step outside so I could stuff my face in her soft fur and act like a full fool with the cute pup.
Instead, I gave her the vaccines they came in for and certified myself as the worst man to have ever existed in little Cookie’s eyes.
“There you go, you’re all done, don’t worry, Cookie, you’re okay, you’re okay.” I tried calming her, but she was crying to get back onto her dad’s lap, as far away from the man with the pointy sticks as possible.
“Thanks,” her owner said, giving Cookie some comfort cuddles and making me extra jealous.
“The technician will be right in to finish up. Thanks for bringing Cookie in. Looking forward to seeing her in a year.” I gave her a head scratch and tried regaining her trust with a dog biscuit, but she wouldn’t take it unless it came from her owner’s hand.
I didn’t blame her either.
With my last patient of the day taken care of, I headed to the back room. Tyra was there looking over some results of a blood test. She swiveled on the stool when she heard me come in. There were kennels all against the wall, with a couple of pets being boarded and a few others being taken care of from surgeries.
“Done for the day?” Tyra asked.
“Yup, gonna head home now.”
“Want to come to the Rise tonight? There’s a drag show, and I think one of the winners from Drag Race might be there.”
“Oh man, I’d love to. I haven’t seen a good drag show in a while, but I can’t. Not tonight. I’m meeting up with my brother for dinner.”
“Oh that’s fine. I think it’s turning into a weekly drag show, so we can always catch next week.” She crossed her arms and smiled. “Is that why you’re so nervous? Are you finally going to tell him you’re dating his sexy-as-sin, silver fox of a coworker?”
“Yeah, tonight’s the night.” Even thinking about it made my throat dry. I wasn’t sure exactly why. Maybe because I was moving toward a potentially large road block in mine and Beckham’s relationship. What if Jonah didn’t understand? What if he got upset? That would make things so difficult, and that was the last thing I wanted. Everything with Beckham was so easy. I was scared this might be something that could break us, as irrational as it seemed.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Tyra said, probably reading my worried expression. “Jonah’s super supportive. He’ll understand.”
“I hope so,” I said. In reality, I had no reason to think otherwise. All my life, Jonah had been the best big brother I could have ever asked for. Sure we had our arguments and moments when we didn’t gel all that well, but that was back when we were younger and still figuring things out. When brothers were equal parts family and equal part punching bag. But as time passed and we got older, the punching bag side diminished and was taken over solely by the family part.
“Any updates on the threat?” she asked.
“Nothing.” If I wasn’t nervous before, I suddenly became petrified by the reminder that someone out there wanted me to stop or die. That they had been inside these very walls.
“And they weren’t able to find anything on the cameras?”
I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair. “Nothing. I even looked through them myself. From the second the clinic was closed to the second it opened. There was no sign of break-in, and no one showed up on the cameras.”
Tyra cocked her head. She chewed on her lip. “The freezer is toward the back, though, next to the rear exit. There aren’t cameras there.”
“Unless someone has the specific key to open that door, they’d have no way to get around the cameras. And the only people
with that key are the ones who work here.”
Tyra stared at me pointedly.
“No,” I said. “This is a small clinic. Three vets and seven technicians, and I know all of them, and I know none of them would ever do that.”
“You’re right, you’re right,” Tyra said. “You don’t think this has anything to do with that time my keys went missing for a few days… right?”
“You keep saying missing, but we all agree you misplaced them. Didn’t you find them?”
“Yeah, inside my purse, after I was sure I had checked it a thousand times. I emptied that bitch out and still missed them somehow.”
I sighed, my mind spinning. “I don’t think so, Ty. I mean maybe. I don’t know. This is so crazy. I feel like it’s spiraling out of control, and it’s getting scary.”
“I know.” Tyra’s lips spun down into a frown.
“It has to be Greg. It just has to be. The timing makes sense. Beck goes to interview him, tipping him off that we were investigating, and he decides to retaliate. To scare me off. I don’t know how he got into the freezer here, but there has to be an explanation. Has to be.”
Tyra went to say something but snapped her mouth shut, as if she realized it would be a mistake.
“What?” I asked. “Who else?”
“No, nothing.”
“Come on, what were you going to say?”
“I don’t know, Olly. But maybe it’s not Greg. Maybe, ugh. I don’t even want to say it, it sounds so fucked-up.”
“Just say it. Can’t be more fucked-up than the actual circumstances.”
“Well, just… maybe it’s someone who’s been watching since then. Making sure you didn’t do anything to find them? Maybe it’s not Greg at all. Maybe it’s someone closer?”
“I thought about that for a second. Then I got too scared and decided to not think about it at all. I can’t imagine anyone in my life doing something like that to me. No one.”
My lower lip started to tremble. I managed to keep myself under control with a deep breath. “Oh, Oliver.” Tyra stood from her stool and pulled me into a tight embrace. “Beckham’s going to find out who’s behind this, and they’ll be put in prison once and for all. You’ve got this, boo. Just focus on staying happy and safe.”