by Lou Harper
“I don’t think going to Denver is a good idea.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll just drive through,” Sam mollified him.
However, when they got close to Denver, an overturned semi changed their plan. Traffic was backed up for miles. Sam got on the shoulder and took the first available exit ramp.
“Well fuck, we might as well stay for the night. I don’t want to start driving through the Rockies in the dark,” Sam declared.
The rational part of Jay knew the chances of running into Dave were next to nothing, but he sank low in his seat till they were safely tucked into a hotel room. Their dinner was fast food they’d picked up along the way.
Sam took the only chair in the room, while Jay sat cross-legged on the bed. There was tension in the air. Sam wordlessly destroyed his burger before Jay was halfway through his. Jay watched with unease as Sam stabbed his greasy fries into a puddle of ketchup.
“Listen, kid—” Sam started.
“I’m not a kid.”
One corner of Sam’s mouth twitched. “Okay, Tiger. I didn’t think my history was any of your business, but now it’s biting your ass, so you should know exactly what you’re dealing with.”
“Okay.” Jay wrapped his unfinished burger back up and put it on the night table.
“I won’t make any excuses for my past. It is what it is.”
“You were young when you got into it, and I’m sure you couldn’t just quit.”
“I don’t need you to make excuses for me either. I had the necessary qualities to fit in the family. It wasn’t by accident that I ended up where I did. I was a tough guy before I finished high school.”
“But not a bully.”
Sam laughed without mirth. “I keep forgetting you listen when I talk.”
Sam pushed himself off the chair and paced around the small room like a caged lion. Finally he settled by the window. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
Sam took a moment before starting to talk again. “Working for someone like Big Sal was a straightforward deal. You did what you were supposed to, followed the rules and that would be it. Sure, you could catch a stray bullet when things were going down, but that was part of the deal. Mostly you’d be fine, and the money was good. If you did something stupid like cheat the boss or snitch, you’d get whacked. Pretty simple.”
“You say it like you’re okay with it.”
“I knew what I signed up for when I went to the Feds. It’s Sal’s job to put a hit on me; my job’s to run. Joey though, he’s breaking the rules. He hit a civilian just to fuck with me, and that’s a no-no.”
Jay frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you watch the news before you ran back to the house the other night?”
“I only caught the end of it.”
“Ah. They found the badly beaten body of one Michael Ward in a parking lot on the south side of Chicago.” Tension radiated from Sam.
“You knew him?” Jay asked cautiously.
“Yeah, Mikey and I used see each other.”
There was something Sam wasn’t saying.
“You were lovers?”
“Lovers? Nothing intimate like that. It started out as just sex, but eventually we became sort of like friends, but we still never met outside The Club.”
“Club?”
“We both belonged to a very exclusive and very private club. He got me in. Without him I would never even have known about the place.”
“A sex club?”
“An upscale one. Mikey came from money. He knew people, had connections, knew about places I didn’t.”
“How did you meet?”
“At some bar that was far away from both of our normal haunts. It was still dangerous. You never knew who might accidentally spot you. We quickly figured out that we had compatible tastes, beyond vanilla sex, and a desire for secrecy. We met again and again for a few months, then he took me to The Club. The joke is that his family was real conservative. Mikey was in the family law firm with all these rich, conservative clients. He was even deeper in the closet than me.” Sam’s fingers drummed on his biceps, betraying his reluctance to talk.
“The two of you, that’s a strange combination.”
“You can say that again. But we had what the other needed. He was into pain, and I was talented in giving it. It takes skill to do it without causing real damage.”
“So that’s all it was about?”
“Mostly. It’s not like we sat around chatting about ourselves. In time I pieced together that with his family and their expectation of him, plus his strict Catholic upbringing, sex for Michael, and especially gay sex, was always a matter of guilt. He had to be punished to get off.”
“That’s pretty fucked up.”
“I guess. It enabled him to function in the real world without going insane. A safety valve.”
“There had to be something between you to keep doing it for years.”
“Maybe.”
The way Sam studied a blank spot on the wall, made Jay think there was more to it, but he didn’t push. He waited for Sam to speak.
Sam looked back at him. “When I went to the Feds, that was the end of it. It should’ve been. I don’t know how the fuck Joey found Mikey. It was probably that private dick. They had absolutely no reason to hit Mikey. If anything, it worked against them, but they did it because Joey is a stupid asshole and wanted to send a message.”
“Maybe it wasn’t them, maybe it was unrelated.”
“Not very likely,” Sam said with an annoyed huff.
“No,” he agreed reluctantly.
“So as you see, you’re in deep shit because of me. Joey will come after you just the same.”
“What do we do?”
“There’s a guy I know who’ll make you a very good fake ID. Then you can fly to Seattle or New York, anywhere but Chicago. You lie low and you’ll be good. I’ll give you money to start, and you’re good at landing on your feet.”
Jay felt nauseated. “I’m not going.”
Sam stared at him wordlessly for a long moment. “What?”
“I want to stay with you,” he said with emphasis.
Sam pushed himself off the wall and flung his arms in the air. “Sunshine! Are you out of your freaking mind?”
Jay pulled himself up. “Don’t Sunshine me. I know you call me that when you think I’m stupid or naive, but I’m not.”
“What you just said is pretty damn stupid.”
“You’re just scared that I’ll end up like Vince or Mikey, but the situation’s different.”
“Goddamit, Tiger! Of course I’m scared. If they catch you with me, killing you is the least they’ll do.”
“But if they catch me without you it’ll be just the same,” Jay reasoned.
“They won’t find you,” Sam said, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as Jay.
Jay attacked what he saw as the weak point of Sam’s reasoning. “You don’t know that! They shouldn’t have found you the first time. You said it! There’s that private detective.”
“You’ll have fake papers. You can disappear.”
“There’s the FBI too. They’re probably looking for both of us by now. They’re good at locating people, and I suck at hiding. They’ll find me, and if the leak was really from them, that’s the end of it.”
“You’re not safe with me,” Sam said doggedly.
“I feel safer with you than alone.”
Sam looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and incredulity. “If you’re not afraid of Nicky Torino, you should have enough common sense to be afraid of me. I’m not a nice guy.”
“I don’t care. Jeff was a ‘nice guy’. Till he threw me out for a newer model. And anyway, I think you’re nice in all the right places.”
Sam paced around the room some more, muttering to himself. “Stupid, pig-headed son of a—”
Sam stared at him for several seconds then stormed out of the h
otel room, slamming the door behind him.
It crossed Jay’s mind that maybe Sam had taken off for good, but he had left all his stuff behind, and anyway he’d promised he wouldn’t. He’d be back. Jay cleaned away the remains of their dinner and took a shower. Sam was still gone. He put on sweatpants and turned on the television. He kept clicking the remote till he found an explosion-a-minute action flick that required no brainpower to follow. Sam got back an hour later carrying plastic shopping bags. He threw them unceremoniously in one corner.
“You know, Tiger, you really piss me off,” Sam said instead of a hello.
Jay wasn’t concerned as long as he wasn’t Sunshine. Anyway, he had the experience to see that Sam was completely in control of himself. If anything, there was a familiar deep rumble in Sam’s voice that made Jay’s pulse thrum faster. He slipped off the bed and stepped closer to Sam who gave him a hard look.
“You can stay for now. You do what I tell you, and don’t argue.”
“Yes, Sam,” he agreed, willfully ignoring the “for now”.
“And the gloves are coming off.”
Jay could only grin in response.
“You think I’m all bark and no bite.”
“I don’t think that, Sam, but I like your bite.”
“We’ll see about that. Strip.”
Jay shucked his sweats in seconds. Sam took the TV remote and turned up the sound. He sat on the corner of the bed and beckoned Jay by tapping his own thighs. Jay knew the signal. He obediently lay across Sam’s lap, facedown, naked buttocks in the air. The first slap stung quite a lot. Jay hissed.
“I’ve had enough lip from you for the night, Tiger. I don’t want your mouth open unless I’m putting something in it, understood?” Sam said sternly.
Jay nodded vigorously.
The hits rained down on his ass cheeks in an unpredictable, yet strangely musical rhythm, warming his ass till all of his focus was centered on that patch of skin. A moan rumbled through his chest and throat at every stroke, but he kept his lips pressed together. He shuddered as Sam’s hand landed on the heated skin with a soft touch of instead of a blow. Deft fingers rubbed between his cheeks, teasing his hole.
He lost control. “Please,” he whimpered.
“That won’t do.” Sam pushed him off his lap and stood up. “You need something to fill that troublesome mouth of yours.”
Jay sank to his knees and hungrily mouthed Sam’s erection through the thick denim. Sam unzipped himself and pushed his jeans and briefs down to free his cock. Jay lunged for it, but Sam’s voice held him back.
“Hands behind your back.”
Jay grunted in frustration, but locked his hands at the small of his back. Sam said nothing about his mouth, so he eagerly leaned forward. Sam took hold of that meaty cock and brushed its tip against Jay’s lips. Jay stuck his tongue out to catch the drop of precome. Sam let him worship his cock with his mouth, and Jay threw himself into the task wholeheartedly. With help from Sam, he fitted Sam’s cock into his mouth and began bobbing up and down on it, taking in more and more at every downstroke.
“Yeah, suck that cock,” Sam groaned, compelling him to go deeper with a hand on the back of his head.
He sucked and swallowed till his eyes watered and his jaw ached as much as his cock. Then Sam’s thighs trembled and he clasped both hands on Jay. Holding Jay’s head firmly, Sam fucked his mouth till he shot his load, trembling and clutching him by the hair.
“Fuck, Tiger, so good,” Sam said, and his hands gentled. He caressed Jay’s face, ran his thumb along Jay’s cheek and tenderly wiped the moisture from the corner of Jay’s eyes.
Despite his discomfort, warmth rushed through Jay, knowing he could have this effect on Sam. He kept on sucking Sam’s softening cock till Sam pulled him off and nudged him to stand. As Sam claimed his mouth, Jay pushed himself, erection and all, into Sam’s body. To his surprise Sam pulled away, took the remote and shut the TV off.
“It’s time to go to sleep, Tiger,” Sam said.
Jay almost forgot himself again, but slammed his mouth shut before forbidden words could slip out. Instead he glared at Sam.
“No, you don’t get to come tonight, but if you’re good I’ll let you tomorrow,” Sam replied to the unspoken protest. He stripped off the rest of his clothes and slipped into bed, patting the mattress next to him.
Jay threw himself down on the bed, barely containing his mutinous urges. Sam didn’t seem concerned. He tucked Jay under him like a body pillow.
“No touching yourself either,” he murmured into Jay’s neck.
Jay groaned unhappily.
Jay woke the next morning with a raging hard-on and a slick finger probing his ass. “Guh, that’s not the snooze button!” he grumbled muzzily.
“I sure hope not,” Sam chuckled, rolling Jay over.
Sam settled between Jay’s splayed thighs. He buried his face into Jay’s groin.
“You smell great in the morning,” Sam said.
“Pervert!”
Sam hummed in agreement from around Jay’s sack. He sucked his balls into his mouth one by one. Sam continued working his mouth up and down Jay’s cock, licking and sucking. All the while his fingers were working in Jay’s ass. Sam’s other hand held Jay’s hips firmly to the mattress—even when sucking cock, Sam was the boss. When Jay thought he’d burst, Sam withdrew, but before Jay could complain, he found himself pinned down and folded in half. Sam’s cockhead breached Jay’s hole, but then it just stayed there motionless. Jay tried to move, but Sam’s hands on his thighs completely immobilized him.
“What’s my number?” Sam asked.
“Huh?”
“On the phone I gave you.”
It was obvious Sam wouldn’t move till Jay gave him the number, so he fought through the fog of lust and recited the blasted thing. He was rewarded with Sam’s cock slamming into him, but then Sam stopped again.
“What’s Jones’s number?”
Jay rattled that off through gritted teeth. He was glad he’d memorized them, because there was no doubt in his mind that Sam would’ve stopped fucking him if he’d failed the test. It was unlikely he’d ever forget the blasted numbers now. Talk about memory enhancement!
Sam was pounding Jay in earnest now, fast and hard. He loved being claimed like that by Sam. It was more honest than any gifts and fancy words. Other men took him for a pretty toy and treated him as such. Sam owned him, and there was nothing that Jay wanted more. When he came he shot so hard his spunk trailed from his stomach up to his chin. Sam let go of Jay’s thighs, letting them fall aside. He leaned in and licked the spunk from Jay’s face. Jay wrapped his arms and legs around Sam, clinging to the sturdy body till Sam came, groaning hard and shooting his hot load deep into Jay’s ass.
Used and spent, Jay rolled to his side, ready to go back to sleep, but Sam wouldn’t let him.
“C’mon, dog-breath, we have to get a move on!” Sam prodded Jay.
“What time is it?”
“Six a.m.”
“Fucking morning people,” Jay grumbled all the way to the bathroom, but secretly he was exceptionally pleased with the morning so far.
Chapter Nine
SR: So you got my transcript of the call?
NT: Yeah. We need to meet. Tonight at the usual place and time.
Jay found Sam dumping the contents of the shopping bags on the bed—hooded sweatshirts, baseball caps, sunglasses and assorted stuff.
He looked up at Sam’s stubbled face. “Are you sure the Unabomber look is the right way to go?”
“They’re mostly for you.”
Sam picked up a box of do-it-yourself hair dye and handed it to Jay. “Since you’re incapable of growing any facial hair.”
“You do well for both of us,” Jay said, referring to Sam’s heavy stubble.
In place of a reply, Sam scratched his cheeks—it made a scraping sound. Very manly.
Jay squinted at the box. “Nut brown? Are you trying to tell me something?”
Half an hour later Jay surveyed himself in the mirror. He looked downright bland. He shot his reflection a disgruntled look and marched out of the bathroom. Sam hadn’t fared much better. Half his face was obscured by his rapidly growing stubble, the other half shaded by the brim of the baseball cap. Jay decided that this whole being inconspicuous thing was a drag.
The pre-rush-hour drive through Denver was uneventful. Jay spent a few silent moments wondering about the fate of Dave. Had he managed to sweet-talk his wife into not divorcing him and taking everything he owned? Dave had a silver tongue, after all. Jay had never met the wife, so it was hard to tell if she was the type to fall for it. Eventually Jay realized that he felt more emotionally invested in his breakfast muffin than his ex.
He caught Sam shooting sideways looks at him. He really hoped Sam wasn’t regretting the previous night’s decision. Jay closed his eyes and sank back in his seat to look his amenable best. The Rocky Mountains grew closer and closer, and Jay couldn’t stifle his awe of the sight.
“And I thought they looked impressive from a distance.”
“Haven’t been to the Rockies before? They’re so close to Denver,” Sam asked casually.
“I didn’t get out of the city much.”
“How did you end up in Denver anyway?”
Jay had figured out a while back that Sam liked his stories, and didn’t even care how slutty Jay came across in them. Shoot, he seemed to downright enjoy it. So Jay settled in, collected his thoughts, and began his yarn.
“After Jeff kicked me out, I couldn’t stand the idea of staying in St. Louis. I ran into this guy, Terry—he was a friend of Jeff’s, well not really friend, but they knew each other—and he said he’d drive me up to Chicago. Supposedly he was dealing with antiques and collectibles, but really he just drove around the countryside picking up junk and selling it on eBay. At that time he was heading out to Illinois, so I figured why not.”
“Last time I checked, Denver was in the opposite direction,” Sam pointed out.