The Road Least Traveled

by Jerry Cole

  “Don’t stop!” said Alex. “Please don’t stop! I’m so close!”

  And Greg didn’t stop. Instead he pumped into Alex even harder, and within seconds Alex gave a cry and Greg watched as jets of cum shot out from him and landed on his own chest. Seeing Alex in ecstasy was all it took. Greg was surprised by his own orgasm, which rushed through him without warning, and before he could stop it, the force rushed through him and he gripped Alex’s hips, forced them down hard, and released himself inside him. He closed his eyes and pushed five, six, seven times, twitching and jerking until there was nothing left inside him.

  “Fuck,” panted Alex, and Greg couldn’t think of a better word. Alex climbed off him and reached for a tissue and wiped his seed off Greg’s chest.

  “That was so hot,” he said, and Greg was quiet. Alex was concerned, and reached for his arm.

  “Hey,” he said. “Are you okay?”

  Greg turned to him. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m still in shock. I’ve never done that before, but I kind of don’t know why. It’s fucking phenomenal.”

  Alex laughed. “You’ve made my night,” he said. “I’m glad this happened. I got tired of jerking off, thinking of you.”

  Greg turned to him, both heads on the pillow.

  “You were jerking off and thinking of me?” he asked.

  “Of course,” said Alex. “I had to go to the bathroom in the club last night and do it after I saw you. I had a boner just from our conversation.”

  Greg laughed. “This place,” he murmured, staring into Alex’s eyes, “it’s like I’m under a spell. It’s magical.”

  And he leaned forward and kissed Alex. The two men embraced in the heat of the night.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was early Sunday morning when Alex’s bike purred through the city towards the Electra hotel. Greg no longer gripped the side of the bike; instead he wrapped an arm around Alex’s waist and held it there. Before they got to the hotel, Greg tapped Alex on the shoulder and Alex twisted his head so his ear was close to Greg’s mouth but his eyes were still focused on the road.

  “Don’t go to the hotel,” shouted Greg. “Go to the site!”

  “The site?” asked Alex.

  “Yes!” Greg called back. “I want to show you something.”

  Alex sped on past the hotel and up towards Egnatia. When he stopped the bike, the two men climbed off and Greg took his wallet out from his pocket and showed his badge to the security guard on the gate.

  “I’m bringing in a visitor,” he said, and the man nodded, waving them both through. As it was Sunday it was quiet on site, as nobody was working. Greg let himself into the site office by punching in the keypad code. He grabbed two helmets and he and Alex walked to the entrance to the pit.

  “Here,” he said, handing over a helmet. “Put this on and switch on your light when we get to the bottom. Are you claustrophobic?”

  “No,” said Alex.

  “Good,” replied Greg. “Because we’re going down in a pretty tiny elevator right now.”

  They descended into darkness in the cage. Greg was pleased that he could not make out anything in the pitch black because he would have blushed. He felt Alex’s crotch brush against his own, and he immediately felt his cock stiffen. He thought he could sense that Alex was smiling again, but he didn’t ask.

  When they got to the bottom, Alex was shivering, and Greg unhooked two jackets, now dusty with use.

  “Put this on,” he said. “It’s chilly down here.”

  They flicked on the lights to their helmets and began to walk. Alex looked all around him at the concrete slabs, precisely fitted together.

  “Who does this?” he asked in awe. “Do you have guys walking behind the machine, making these patterns in concrete?”

  “No,” smiled Greg. “Betty does this all by herself. When she bores through the earth, she collects all the soil and rocks onto what’s pretty much a huge conveyor belt which runs from the very front of the machine, right through to the back. In the meantime, Betty has her supplies of concrete mix and water, and huge mixing machines make up a load of concrete slabs, which Betty cuts into shape and places them on the walls and ceiling as she goes, which reinforces the ground and stops everything on top from caving in.”

  Alex was clearly impressed with the neat paving. The two men walked on until they came to Betty in front of them. Greg climbed up onto the huge machine and reached down for Alex’s hand, lifting him up onto the platform too. Then Greg led the way along the side of Betty’s huge body, as they walked along the grate until they reached the door to the control room. Greg invited Alex in and closed the door behind them.

  There was a huge panel filled with all kinds of buttons in front of them and Alex gave a low whistle.

  “Wow,” he said. “I couldn’t begin to know how to work this thing.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Greg. “Even I don’t know what everything does. That’s why we have a lot of experienced guys working for us.”

  “What about women?” asked Alex. “Or is this just a field guys go into?”

  “It’s a good question,” said Greg. “Right now I don’t have any women on this team, but we do have good female engineers working for TMD. I’d like to see more women in the field, but it’s slow-going, I guess.”

  Alex looked out into the blackness. He couldn’t see anything, and Greg reached forward and switched on huge lights that lit up the soil in front of them. Betty’s huge blades were still and Alex couldn’t help but be impressed with their size.

  “Look at them,” he said. “Do they go around really fast, like a helicopter?”

  Greg laughed. “No,” he said. “Betty’s not cutting grass, she’s churning through millions of tons of rock. What we can see here is the shield, and at the front, with the blades, that’s the cutter head. The blades rotate at a nice slow pace, giving her time to scoop out all the dirt, send it backward and pave the slabs on, all at the same time.”

  “What happens to the dirt she collects?”

  “We get rid of it,” Greg said simply. “A lot of this soil is rich in nutrients because it’s so near to the sea. It gets sent out of here to processing plants where they remove the salt, and when it’s salt-free farmers use it to put on their crops. Rocks and other materials can be used to build things, and sometimes we ship it out on huge containers to other parts of the world.”

  “Tell me honestly,” said Alex, his gaze moving momentarily from the huge blades to Greg’s face. “Have you found anything here yet?”

  “No,” Greg replied. “That’s the truth. I’d tell you if we had. We have guys working on the soil samples that are taken from every twenty yards of soil that Betty moves. That’s the agreement that we’ve had in place with the government since before we came.”

  There was a map opened out on the control panel and Greg pointed to it. “This is where we are,” he said, “and this is where we started from. Betty has moved two hundred yards in a month, although she’s moved half of that in a week. She’s done one hundred yards in four days, but she could have done double or even triple that if we made her go faster. But we haven’t. She’s working at a quarter of her speed right now for the simple reason that we know we’re not dealing with a normal circumstance here. We know she’s probably going to come across something that needs to be looked into further. Only we hope it’s nothing that’s going to stop the work for too long.”

  Alex nodded and looked back out of the window at the wall of soil and dirt ahead of him.

  “There’s something I’ve been thinking about,” said Greg quietly, and Alex looked at him. Greg took a breath.

  “We’re a week and a half away from the site you told me about. Two hundred yards. I’m thinking about getting Betty a little closer, then allowing you a couple of days out front, with maybe a team or something, so you can maybe take a look and see if there’s anything there.”

  Alex’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Are you serious?” he asked. “You�
�d really let me do that?”

  “I think it’s safe to say we can get Betty pretty close,” Greg replied. “I’ll know when we’re underneath the area you’re interested in. I can get smaller blades on Betty out front, get a team together and excavate by hand for a couple of days. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, then—”

  Greg was cut off by Alex kissing him, so hard it took the words out of his mouth.

  “Thank you, thank you,” whispered Alex. “I can’t tell you what this means.”

  “You got me thinking,” said Greg. “You told me a story the other night and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Maybe there’s nothing there. But at least now you get to find out, right?”

  “What if we find something?” asked Alex, excited. “What if we find proof that at the very least, Thessaloniki’s palace is here?”

  “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Greg. “But for now, that’s what I can offer you.”

  “It’s perfect,” said Alex, who quickly kissed Greg again. This time, Greg was expecting it, and he returned the kiss with relish. A warmth flooded through him, and it wasn’t just a warmth that came from physical desire. It came from knowing that he had made Alex happy.

  Chapter Twenty

  Monday morning rolled around again, and Greg realized he was settling into his own routine in the city. In the morning he would shower, have breakfast and coffee on the balcony, and head over to the site, where he’d stay until lunchtime. After lunch he’d go back to the hotel where he’d attend to emails and other matters of business, then return to the site in the evening, to see the new crew coming on to take over from the last. Betty continued to make her way through the earth, churning up the soil and paving the walls as she went. The soil samples revealed nothing of much interest, and Greg kept a close eye on proceedings. He liked to stand in the control room and watch as the earth was literally churned up before his eyes, and the closer they got to Vardaris, the more nervous he felt.

  In the evenings, when he wasn’t at work, he met up with Alex. The two of them would have dinner in a different restaurant on the other side of the city each night, so as not to be seen by Eddie or any of the crew. Neither Alex nor Greg wished to be seen by anyone who could make their lives difficult, but one thing was for sure: both men were beginning to have deep feelings for each other. Late at night Alex and Greg would ride on the motorcycle to Alex’s apartment, where they would make passionate love until the early hours of the morning, only for Alex to take Greg back to the hotel again so he could get some sleep before starting work. Greg felt like a kid again, sneaking past the desk where the staff must have seen him but used the utmost discretion.

  Greg was fascinated with Alex’s body. On the nights they were together in bed, he would run his hands over Alex’s firm arms and chest feeling the ripple of hard muscle where he would usually expect there to be a soft, plump breast. His fingers would drift lower and lower, and he would reach out with tentative fingers and stroke Alex’s cock. It was like his own, only thicker, and where Greg’s balls hung rather low, Alex’s were large and tight and sat up high.

  “Does it bother you that I mess with you like this?” Greg murmured one night, after they’d fucked, hard and slow, on the bed.

  “Of course not,” Alex replied, yawning. “Why would it bother me? I love the way you touch me.”

  “Does it hurt you, when I’m inside you?”

  “No,” said Alex, smiling. “At first it can be a little painful, but once that first part is over, it becomes the most beautiful sensation. It is like being claimed, being completely filled. It’s like you are giving me life with the strongest part of you, and when I feel you, hard inside me, oh my God, it makes me want to weep.”

  As Alex spoke, Greg stroked down the shaft of his cock and felt it swelling again, though it had been satisfied only moments earlier. Alex lifted the thin cotton sheet and looked down.

  “You see what you do to me?” he asked. “Only ten minutes ago I couldn’t take any more and right now I want you all over again.”

  “I want to feel what you feel,” whispered Greg. “I want you to feel what I feel, too.”

  “You want me inside you?” Alex asked softly, and Greg rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling.

  “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I don’t think I’m gay. I’ve never even thought about letting another guy do this. But I know that my prostate’s up there, and—”

  Alex did not need asking twice. But he didn’t rush anything. Instead, he disappeared under the sheet to Greg’s naked waist, his feet poking out at the end of the bed.

  “Turn over.”

  Greg obeyed, nervous and self-conscious, but not afraid. He’d allowed Alex to guide him in all manner of ways, and there was no reason for him to stop trusting him now.

  Alex began to caress and kiss the cheeks of Greg’s ass, first with soft, pecking kisses, and then with longer, more passionate nibbles. He made his way down from the cleft of his back to the inside of his thighs, running his hands over Greg’s buttocks and holding them in his large, firm hands. Then he pried them open gently, and Greg felt his warm, wet tongue sliding down the crack of his ass, until it rested on his hole.

  “Oh, Jesus,” he whispered into the pillow, and he shivered with delight. Alex, spurred on by the exact reaction he had wanted, poked his tongue deeper into Greg’s hole. He flicked his tongue in and out, and Greg moaned and groaned with pleasure. It was divine, so devilishly intimate that it felt naughty. But it was too good for him to ask Alex to stop. Greg could feel his hard cock pressing into the bed and he began to writhe.

  “Oh, fuck yes,” he whispered, and Alex didn’t stop. He lapped at the puckered asshole with relish, prying it open with his tongue and reaching in as far as it would go. Then he sat up and kissed Greg’s face. Greg could smell his scent on Alex’s lips, musky and sweet, and not unpleasant at all.

  “Are you sure you want me to do this?” Alex asked, and Greg nodded.

  “It’s already so good,” he said. “I don’t want you to stop.”

  Alex put on a condom and opened the drawer and pulled out a tube of lube, which he liberally applied both to his cock and to Greg’s asshole. Greg held his breath in anticipation for what was about to come, but Alex was gentle to a fault. He rubbed himself up against Greg, silently coaxing him to open his legs a little wider, and when Greg did so, he placed the head of his cock against Greg’s hole and pressed it inside.

  Greg’s immediate reaction was to flinch and pull away, but Alex was expecting that. He tried again, each movement slow and deliberate, and Greg trusted him once more, allowing the head of the cock inside him. He gripped the pillow and winced; it felt as though the pressure was going to tear him open, but he didn’t want it to stop, either. He began to push back, then got up onto his knees carefully as Alex held his hips.

  “That’s it,” Alex whispered. “That’s incredible. I’m halfway inside you. God, you feel amazing.”

  Knowing the pleasure he was giving to the other man, and knowing what was on the other side if he just kept going, Greg pushed through. In a mixture of pleasure and pain, he groaned with the effort but continued to back himself up onto Alex, who was still, allowing Greg to set his own pace. Then Greg felt the sweetest sensation deep inside him, and he knew that Alex was pressing on his prostate.

  “I can feel it!” he cried out, and Alex groaned and gripped him tighter. Greg allowed himself to be pulled closer, until the cheeks of his ass met with Alex’s thighs and he knew that he was completely inside him. Alex pulled away a little, then pushed back inside, and Greg felt the exquisite strokes of his hard cock against his prostate.

  “Fuck me,” he whispered. “Fuck me like I fuck you.”

  And Alex did. He grabbed Greg’s shoulders, running his hands down his back and fucked him with relish. And Greg soaked up every sweet second, the pounding of his ass a mixture of pain and pleasure. The pleasure was so much stronger than the pain, and
he was euphoric with the experience. He felt Alex’s balls slapping against his ass as the bed rocked with the movement of their bodies. He felt Alex filling him from the inside, and he loved it. He had never known such a beautiful feeling. Alex pounded his ass with unflinching rhythm and Greg took everything he had to give him. He was rock hard, and his own cock dangled below him, streaking the sheets with precum.

  “I’m close,” panted Alex.

  “Cum inside me,” groaned Greg. “I want to take you there.”

  “Oh, fuck,” Alex groaned again, and this time the rhythm became faster, as he slammed into Greg, fucking him hard and fast, pushing and pushing until Greg felt him tense inside him, and he gave a cry and jerked over and over, until the rhythm slowed down and Alex draped himself over his back.

  “Fuck,” he sighed, and he carefully withdrew from Greg, taking off the full condom and tying a knot in the top. Greg felt empty once Alex left him, and he was so aroused he couldn’t do anything but grab his own cock and jerk it vigorously. Alex batted his hand away and instead engulfed Greg’s cock with his mouth, sucking on it with hunger.

  Feeling Alex’s hot wet mouth around his dick after being pushed so close to climax was all it needed to push Greg over the edge, and he bucked hard into Alex’s mouth, grabbing the man’s head, and fucking it hard. He came with wild abandon, forcing his seed down Alex’s throat, watching as Alex swallowed every last drop, sucking it dry. Then he could take no more, and he fell onto the bed, exhausted. Alex flopped on top of him.

  “I’ll take that as a success,” Alex laughed and Greg blew out a huge blast of air.

  “That’s an understatement,” he said. “I can’t even begin to tell you what that was like. It’s like seeing stars, being taken to another place, like it’s a secret nobody’s ever bothered to share with me until now.”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” said Alex. “A secret nobody could share with you until you were ready to hear it.”

  “I have to get up and go back to the hotel,” groaned Greg. “I don’t want to move.”