Mark waved his hand dismissively. “Nah. How old can you be? Twenty?” She was probably closer to twenty-five, but a bit of flattery never hurt anyone.
Dana chuckled and playfully slapped Mark’s shoulder. “You’re too sweet. And I like feeling comfortable. I can’t do everything I want with Domenico and Seth around. Could you take it?”
“Take what? You? Are you kidding? Totally!” Mark grinned. So he didn’t have a cent to his soul, but he did have Jed’s phone. That could give them a head start. At least two hundred bucks.
“You sure? Because you might have noticed, I’m not that much into this whole bra thing. I’m actually a nudist,” confessed Dana, poking at her lip with one perfectly manicured finger.
Mark’s eyes went a bit wider, and he licked his lips. “I’m cool with that. I’m a bit of a nudist myself.”
Dana blinked and then shrugged. “Really? You’re just saying that to make me trust you.”
“No, really. I don’t have many inhibitions. I like to be free. Like, if I was born fifty years ago, I’d be a hippie.”
Dana grinned at him, and all of a sudden, the pink top was up, and Mark faced a pair of small, perky breasts with gloriously pink nipples. Already hard. Waiting for his touch.
Mark exhaled loudly with his gaze glued to her body. His own top was off before he even knew what he was doing.
Dana chuckled and stepped away. “Wow, that’s a start!”
Mark grinned and unbuttoned his pants after a quick glance to the path where the other guys had disappeared. “We can do whatever. It’s not like anyone’s here.”
“Can you, really?” asked Dana, and her perky breasts stirred when she moved, hypnotizing Mark. Oh, wow, maybe she was actually interested now that she knew he wasn’t some creep?
“I mean… a moment of freedom. Why not indulge in our nudist nature?” Mark grinned and pushed off his shoes before letting his pants fall down. He wanted to see if she had pubes or not so bad it hurt. Not that he’d mind it either way. He was just interested how it would feel. He’d sucked many dicks, but pussy was still unknown territory, exotic as the white beaches of the Caribbean.
He stopped talking when he noticed Dana’s gaze glued to the front of his boxer shorts.
“I know.” Mark laughed nervously and pushed his clothes to the side with his foot. “You’re so hot I can’t think straight. A guy can’t really hide liking someone.”
Dana exhaled and nodded at the underwear, biting her lip as she leaned back into the wall, her breasts moving as she took deep breaths.
“You take yours off?” Mark put his thumbs under the waistband of his boxers.
Dane shuddered. “Be a gentleman. You first.”
Mark’s gaze went from Dana’s face and down her chest as he took off his boxers. Even if he was to just see her naked, it would make his day.
Dana raised her hand to her lips and chewed on the tip of her finger. “This is a bit awkward, with you being only sixteen...”
Mark breathed hard and threw his boxers to the pile of clothes. “Come on, just pretend we’re in Europe.” He reached out to her breast, feeling its warmth without even touching.
Dana looked away and covered herself. “Wait... we must be quick. There should be condoms in one of the bags on the back of the pickup.”
That one word sent echoes of trembles all throughout Mark’s brain and then his body.
Condoms.
Mark gave her a furiously quick nod and ran down the two stairs from the shack and off to the pickup truck, as though the world was on fire and the only water to save humanity was in the truck.
His mind was scrambling. He’d get to fuck a girl. No, a grown woman. Clearly, she saw something in him. Maybe she wanted to teach him all about sex, the way she liked it. He had once read an erotic book with a similar theme, and it’d been one of his most prevailing one-handed reads. Looking through the bags, he was getting increasingly anxious. Clothes and other items were flying all over the place, but none of them bore even the slightest resemblance to condoms. Surely, Domenico and Seth used them? And Dana? Shouldn’t she know best where she kept hers?
He wanted to smack himself when he realized he had them in his bag. The condoms Dom had bought for him. He jumped off the pickup truck, holding on to his raging hard-on.
The smell of gasoline or something similar confused him for a second, but when he spotted Dana closer to the shore, with her top on and air trembling with heat next to her, his erection faltered as quickly as it had appeared.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Mark rushed toward her, through the weeds and pieces of dry wood that dug into his feet. When he arrived at the shore of the swamp, his blood froze in his veins at the sight of his only outfit burning down with a blue flame.
For a second, he considered running to put out the fire, but it was too late to save any of the clothes. He stood there, covering his crotch, completely out of his depth. He had been played like a freaking banjo. “Why would you do that? That’s fucking evil!”
Dana was back to her usual icy self, with eyes so sharp they could make him bleed just by staring. “You’re not wanted here,” she said quietly. “You should go.”
Mark turned around with his eyes stinging from the smoke and shame burning his cheeks. He quickly made his way to the shack, as he could already hear voices from the path at the back. His heart ached as much as his pride.
He couldn’t believe he just fell for it. Now that he thought about it logically, it did seem wonky that her attitude had changed so quickly, but his mind had forgotten all logic at the prospect of sex. What was he to do now? He had two more pairs of underwear and two pairs of socks, but no pants or shirts. He couldn’t face Domenico and Seth like this.
He got to his bag as fast as lightning and pulled on a pair of black briefs. His pride hurt so bad he could hear it weep. Dom asked Dana about the holes in the ground, and Seth was actually laughing, so they must have made up somehow. Mark had to go out and face the music.
When he walked out, Domenico was standing right next to Seth, all smiley as if he just won the Super Bowl, with his arm around Seth, who chattered about an alligator trap he wanted to set up in the area. It was a surreal image, especially with Dana having gone back to digging holes, as if nothing had happened.
Domenico must have noticed Mark, as he looked toward the house. “I wouldn’t bathe in this water.”
“I was thinking more about sunbathing, to be honest.” Mark gave them a fake smile, hugging himself, unsure what to do now. He was afraid to even look at Dana.
Domenico shrugged. “If you’re staying with us, you might as well get rid of all those weeds. Can you do that for me?”
“Um… You remember how you told me I stink? I wanted to wash the clothes in the water, but they only got more horrible, and… I kinda had to let them go.” Mark was not about to admit that he had been played like a kid in preschool.
Domenico frowned. “Let them go? As in, you thought they’d stay on the surface?”
“No… I think a gator might have grabbed them in the water or something…” Shame pierced Mark’s skin when Seth laughed, even though the chuckling probably wasn’t mean-spirited. Mark could see Dana’s smirk in his imagination.
“Well, then wear something else,” said Domenico, pulling Seth toward the house, which only made Mark feel more like a loser, because there was no way he could keep his pride in this situation.
He swallowed and dared to speak when the two men reached the porch. Being a shorty hurt now even more as he stood next to their towering figures. “It was all I had…”
Domenico and Seth looked him up and down, and Dom smirked, shaking his head. “What’s the matter with you, kid? You lose the only clothes you have?”
Mark looked at his feet, fighting the massive tears forming under his eyelids. He was such a failure. How could he even think someone like Dana would give him the time of day?
“Hey, Mark. Chill out.” Seth put a hand on his shoulder. “I’
ll get you something. Can’t promise it will fit.”
Domenico chuckled and slapped Seth’s ass. “Mark could wear your T-shirts as dresses. He really needs more muscle on him.”
“Hey, Mark! I could lend you my stuff!” Dana yelled in her fake good-natured voice, but Mark knew all too well this was yet more mockery.
He rubbed his eyes as soon as the first two tears dropped by his feet, leaving clear dark dots on the dry wood. His whole body shuddered when he saw Domenico’s boots across from his toes.
“What is that? Don’t be a baby,” hissed Dom, poking Mark’s shoulder.
“I’m just… This is horrible,” Mark uttered and kept rubbing his eyes.
Seth opened the door to the shack. “Come on in. I’ll give you a T-shirt.”
Domenico rolled his eyes and pushed Mark toward Seth. “I’ll get our stuff inside,” he said and walked off toward the pickup.
“No! I—there was a badger in the stuff!” Mark looked at the back of the pickup where he had scattered everything as he mindlessly searched for condoms. “I scared it off.”
Domenico’s roar tore through the air, and all Mark could do was cuddle into Seth’s big strong chest.
“Oh, no, you should have let Dana handle it. Those things are dangerous,” said Seth, but he didn’t seem all that bothered and took Mark deeper into the house. It was old and smelled of decay with two plates of rotten food still on the table as if the owner had left them on the day he had died in his chair. They opened all windows for a free flow of air, but what the additional light also did was reveal the dirty state of the hut. Spiders and other bugs they could deal with, but there had been a lot of damage to some of the items inside. Earlier Domenico had decided they needed to test all the chairs before using them, and many of the metal items showed signs of rust.
Seth told Mark to do weeding later, and as soon as Mark got a T-shirt, he was set to work on the inside of the shack. Dom brought in their belongings from the back of the pickup truck, and as much as Mark hated cleaning, it was actually nice to get their temporary residence in better shape.
Seth brought in the gas stove, and smiled all the time, even when not talking to anyone. He cleaned the table to make some space for cooking, which was the last thing Mark expected to see here. He was sure they’d be having granola bars for dinner, since Seth hadn’t thrown those out. As Mark cleaned, he kept stealing glances at Seth and was amazed by the proficiency with which his savior was cutting vegetables and preparing food despite the spartan conditions.
And as hours passed, the shack really did start feeling homey, thanks to the combined effort of four people. Domenico used one of the beams underneath the sloped roof to hang some blankets close to the back wall, in order to create some privacy around the only bed, where he and Seth would be sleeping, no doubt about that. They’d taken their own bedding from the house in town, so that was sorted, as the former owner of the hut didn’t die in the bed and it seemed usable. The walls and sparse furniture had all been dusted with old clothes found in the only wardrobe. Domenico was whistling some melody Mark didn’t know, and to his surprise, Seth soon joined in, filling the single room with pleasant noise. By the time it was slowly getting dark, the house seemed livable, especially now that it smelled of fresh tomatoes and spices.
Seth even found some candles in the cupboard and set them up on the table. They only had paper plates and plastic cutlery, but it was better than nothing. Mark hated the pretend truce with Dana, but decided to avoid her as much as he could. Seth and Domenico, on the other hand, were ridiculously tender to each other, taking into account the fight Mark had witnessed before. Sometimes they would speak softly to each other in Italian, and he wished he could understand all the sweet words rolling off their tongues.
“Everyone ready? It will come bit by bit, because I only have one pan, but I have everything prepared.” Seth smiled and gave Dom a kiss in passing.
Domenico stopped him, only to solicit one more smooch before settling by the table, smiling as though this wasn’t a dead man’s house they had decided to occupy. Things like that didn’t seem to bother any of Mark’s new friends.
Domenico pulled him out of his thoughts with a little poke. “You’re in for something really good.”
Mark raised his eyebrows. “I mean… it’s canned food.”
Seth shook his head. “Sure, that’s part of it, but it’s how you prepare it that counts. The vegetables I got from a farmer’s market a few days ago. And when you have good olive oil, that’s half the success.”
Dana raised her hand. “Can I have mine without oil?”
Seth glared at her. “No.”
Domenico smirked. “Dana, you’re pretty no matter how much oil you consume,” he said and opened a bottle of Sprite.
Dana sighed. “It’s unnecessary calories.”
“If Seth says oil’s necessary, you’ll eat the oil,” decided Domenico, and Mark didn’t really understand why she listened to him in the first place, but that ended the discussion.
The cozy atmosphere around the table, the candlelight, and finally, the food, all created good momentum to start asking questions. But before Mark could do so, Seth served what he called bruschetta. Hot crispy bread made in the pan with olive oil, topped with tomatoes, aubergine, and some spices Mark couldn’t name. Their names didn’t matter. The food was so delicious that eating it actually cheered him up.
Even in a massive shirt with an alligator print, after being almost raped, humiliated by the first woman who showed him her tits, and having lost a big part of his belongings, he could smile again as he looked at Domenico and Seth by the table together, so completely happy but still open to talk to him as well. It was quite overwhelming, though the best part of the evening came when Dana excused herself after the starter, which apparently went over her daily oil allowance, and Mark could properly relax again.
“How did you two meet?” Mark asked, but his eyes followed the large bowl of pasta with tomatoes and anchovies being served. After weeks of eating fast food, chocolate bars, and occasional leftovers fished out from trash, the simple dishes served by Seth felt undeniably fresh. His arteries were unclogging by the second.
Domenico looked up from above the bowl, which he dug into first, moving two large portions of spaghetti onto his paper plate. His gaze transferred to Seth. “Ah, we’re from the same town. We went to school together, played together as kids, and all that.”
Seth gave Dom a tender smile. “Love at first sight.”
Mark rolled his eyes at the sugary sweetness of what he was hearing. “Not really if you knew each other as kids.”
Domenico dismissed Mark with a gesture. “Details. We always had this... connection. When I realized I was gay, I would watch him in his window, sitting under a tree by his house.”
Mark wanted to say something, but when he started tucking into the food, he was too busy chewing.
Seth smiled at Dom and ran his fingers through his hair. “Oh, did you now? I used to find any excuse to visit Domenico in his father’s antique store.”
Domenico grinned and ate some of the food before kissing two fingers with an appreciative murmur. “That is amazing. Thank you,” he said, petting Seth’s nape.
As Mark watched them, for the first time he wasn’t fantasizing about a threesome, but feeling a bit like a third wheel instead.
“Wait till dessert,” Seth said with a wide smile, and his love for Dom seemed to glow on his skin.
Mark stuffed his mouth with more pasta, only now realizing that no one had ever actually cooked for him. His parents had given him TV dinners, and then, on the road, any warm meal was one bought at a diner or some other cheap place. “Why’d you leave Italy then?” he asked with his mouth full.
Domenico’s eyes dimmed and he leaned back in the chair, pulling Seth against him. “Homophobic violence. Our town wasn’t too open-minded about our relationship.”
Seth nodded. “Being together back there was impossible. I would rather lose
everything than not be with the love of my life.”
Domenico sighed and kissed Seth’s temple, staring into the dark shadows of the ceiling, high above the beams. He slowly pulled his fingers over the pronounced scar on his face. “We were repeatedly attacked, and in the end, I wanted us as far away from it all as possible.”
Mark raised his eyebrows. “But all the way to another continent? Must have been pretty bad.”
Seth gave Dom a kiss and got up as they were finishing the pasta. “Dom protected me, got shot in the process. I had to carry him through the woods in the middle of the night. I was so scared that he would die.”
Domenico’s face went grim, and he slowly raised his gaze at Mark. “I lost so much blood back then.”
The sweet smell of crêpes filled the room the moment Seth poured some of the mixture into the pan. Mark’s mouth watered, and his heart thumped like when he first kissed a guy. He wanted to stay here forever. Even with the spiders. Even with Dana.
“Maybe we can go back to Italy one day, but it’s all too fresh now,” Seth said.
Domenico ate his spaghetti slowly, chewing every chunk of food. He seemed a bit absent, maybe remembering the violence he left behind. “Yes. I would like to go back home at some point.”
“I don’t think it’s realistic, but maybe in ten, fifteen years.” Seth was putting the finished crêpes on a separate plate.
Mark was tempted to steal one, but he imagined Domenico shooting a bullet through his hand before he could even reach them. “Come on, it can’t be that dangerous.”
Domenico gave a dark chuckle. “Tell me that when you see the man you love cut up and bleeding,” he muttered, staring at the table. The temperature seemed to have dropped by ten degrees.
Seth flipped the crêpes in silence, but Mark wouldn’t give in to this grim talk and shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll ever fall in love. I’m too logical for that.”
Domenico snorted. “Like fuck. Logical for crêpes.”
Seth shook his head and put a stack of crêpes in the middle of the table, along with a bowl of cut-up bananas and caramel sauce. He wiggled his eyebrows and placed a jar of Nutella next to those. He must have been hiding it until dessert, because Domenico’s eyes grew wider.
Guns n' Boys: Swamp Blood (Book 3) (gay dark mafia erotic romance) Page 12