Loosen Up

by Max Walker

  “Is there champagne on this plane by any chance?” Jordan asked.

  Susy chuckled and nodded. “I’ll bring two healthy pours of white wine. Sound good?”

  “You read my mind,” I answered, managing a smile. She left to go grab us our drinks. “I’m so sorry, Jordan.”

  “Don’t apologize, Brody. It’s not your fault. And besides, maybe she’s right—maybe this is a happy accident.”

  I unzipped my backpack, making sure to avoid a certain zipper, and pulled out my laptop.

  “What are you doing?” Jordan asked as I tried to figure out how much the Wi-Fi was.

  “I’m going to get us the first flight out to Miami. Hopefully there’s one as soon as we land.”

  Jordan pushed my laptop shut. He smiled at me, his eyes still sharp with no giggles in sight, so I knew he wasn’t under the effect of the brownie yet. “Let’s check it out. We can stay for a day, and if we really don’t like it, we can fly to Miami.”

  “You sure?”

  Jordan leaned across the seat and kissed me, still smiling. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  That was surprising. Jordan had been so uptight over the last few months, I thought this would for sure only add to his stress.

  Susy came back with two glasses of wine, both filled to the brim. We thanked her as we grabbed our drinks. I hoped the plane didn’t hit any turbulence before I could get this down to a manageable level.

  I took a big gulp, not taking any risks.

  “Ma’am, sorry,” Jordan called before Susy walked down the aisle.

  “Yes, dear?”

  “We decided we’re going to just go with the flow. We’re going to stay a night in Vintage Ridge and check it out. Is there anywhere specific you think we should go?”

  “Oh lordy, okay, let me think.” Susy put a finger to her chin, a wrist full of silver and copper bangles jangling. “You two definitely need to check out Slauson’s Diner—it’s located right on the edge of town, but it looks out onto a lake surrounded by the most gorgeous pines, and the air is so unbelievably fresh. Then, you both can walk the Lavender Water Trails which is only about ten minutes from Slauson’s. It’ll take you about two hours to do the loop, although with how many times you’ll want to stop for pictures, it could be closer to four.”

  “That does sound like a lot of fun,” I said, quickly warming up to this.

  “Are you two big travelers?” she asked.

  “We’ve gotten around,” Jordan said, and he started to giggle.

  Uh-oh. Was that brownie hitting?

  I jumped in. “We’re both from Vancouver. We met on a blind date actually, one that had us winning a trip to Africa. Since then we’ve been to a few more places. New York, Australia, London.”

  “Oh! So you two have been around!”

  “Oh yeah,” Jordan said, giggling some more.

  “This one”—Susy pointed at a squinting Jordan—“this one is trouble, isn’t he?”

  Not normally, no.

  It took a second or ten before Jordan said, “Oh yeah.”

  This had the three of us laughing. “You two are a hoot.” Susy looked around the empty first-class cabin. “You know, I’ve got two friends in Vintage Ridge who would absolutely love to meet you two. Ace and Wilder. They’re a little bit like local celebrities down there.”

  “Celebrities! I love celebrities. I once saw Madonna driving by in a blacked-out van. That’s as close as I’ve ever gotten to a celebrity.”

  Yuuup. That brownie has definitely hit.

  I cocked my head. “How’d you know it was Madonna if the windows were blacked out?”

  “Hmm… that’s a good point.” Jordan’s brows scrunched together as though he were pondering the meaning of life.

  I turned back to Susy. “We’d love to meet them. It’s always good to have a local’s perspective on places we’ve never been to.”

  She chuckled. “Very true. And they might even give you a new perspective on something else, too.”

  Now my eyebrows were the ones scrunching together. “Huh?”

  “Oh, well, Ace and Wilder are known for their store: Ace’s Wild. It’s an adult shop, with plenty of toys and, well, other things, to make anyone happy. It was really so revolutionary when they first opened it. And now, they’ve spread this sex-positive attitude all throughout the community. It’s great to see.”

  I felt a flare of blush in my cheeks. I reminded myself that this trip was all about going with the flow, and that meant talking about a sex toy store with an older woman whom I’d met about twenty-five minutes ago.

  “That sounds—”

  Jordan cut me off. “Wait, wait, did you just say ‘adult toys’?”

  “Well, not just, but yes, I did.” It was Susy’s turn to giggle, which in turn got Jordan giggling.

  I tried to keep my cool, but I started to laugh, too.

  “Oh gosh, I can’t believe you two boys have me blushing. But, like Ace would say: ‘Live and share the love.’”

  “That’s one good motto,” I said. The plane rocked around a bit as we flew through a patch of light turbulence. Outside, I could see the expanse of azure-blue sky stretching out like an ocean. If I craned, I could see the tall mountain peaks still covered in snow, a view that was the complete opposite of the beaches I’d been picturing.

  And you know what? That was fine. Everything was going to be fine, so long as Jordan and I were going through this adventure together. I could always readjust my plans a little and still pull this all off.

  “So… what kind of toys are we talking about exactly?” Jordan asked through his chuckles, his cheeks red and his eyes half-shut. We ended up talking to our new best friend for the remainder of the flight, finding out all about her wild side while she pulled out ours, this happy little accident already turning out better than I could have ever expected.

  3 Jordan Hampton

  Brody opened our hotel door and I ran inside, flopping down onto the bed with a relieved exhale. I kicked off my sneakers and unbuttoned my jeans, wanting to shed these travel clothes as fast as I could. The soft bedsheets felt like the clouds I’d been flying through only an hour earlier. The room itself was excellent, Brody deciding to splurge and getting us the best suite in the hotel, which also happened to be one of the few places to stay in Vintage Ridge. We were on the top floor and because of that had a stunning view from the floor-to-ceiling windows along the bedroom and living room. There was a small kitchenette decked out with all the modern kitchen equipment. The furniture was all black and gold trimmed, with big golden mirrors hanging up on the walls, which were covered in blue-and-white patterned wallpaper.

  “This place feels like a palace!” I opened and closed my arms and legs, as if I were making snow angels on the comforter.

  Yeah. That brownie was still in my system.

  “I’m glad you like it,” Brody said, setting his suitcase down next to the bed. He walked over to the windows and opened the silky white blinds. He looked so handsome even after the gauntlet we’d been put through. Anyone else would have looked a mess, but not my Brody. His skin practically glittered and glowed under the sunlight, and his dark hair had been cut short and styled perfectly, not a strand out of place. His white polo didn’t have a wrinkle in sight, and his khaki shorts were equally as crisp, both of them hugging his muscular body and highlighting all the parts of him that made my mouth water.

  Which was actually really useful because wow was my mouth dry.

  “Whoa, Jordan, come check out this view.”

  “Brody… I don’t think I can move. Like, I can’t even blink. I can’t move anything. Do you think something’s wrong with me?”

  “You’re moving your lips to talk.”

  “Mhmmdnfsb.” I mumbled something through my shut mouth.

  “All right,” Brody said, laughing. “I’ll describe it.”

  “Perfect.” I closed my eyes, ready to imagine whatever picture Brody was about to paint me.

  “There’s gree
n everywhere, and trees. So many trees. A lot of green and a lot of trees. It’s like the Amazon except… it’s not.”

  “Okay, okay, I’m getting up.” I rolled off the bed, almost getting tangled up in my jeans but managing to kick them off before they took me down. “You’re not very good at describing things.”

  “Mhmm. Thought so,” Brody laughed again as I grunted my way off the bed. It felt like I was climbing Mount Everest with stones for bones.

  Haha. Stones for bones.

  That’s funny.

  “Whoa,” I said, echoing Brody as I stood next to him and looked out the window. He was pretty close with that Amazon comparison. A sea of emerald green was laid out in front of us, with tiny hills and little communities interspersed amongst the trees. A peaceful lake glittered underneath the afternoon sun like it was a bed made out of diamonds. Being on the fourteenth floor meant we saw past just the Vintage Ridge, a stretch of North Carolina’s beauty on display.

  “Susy was not lying, huh?” I reached out and grabbed Brody’s hand. “This place really is beautiful.”

  “A happy accident, eh?”

  “Very happy.”

  I rested my head on Brody’s shoulder. These were the moments I lived for. When it was just me and my love, living and experiencing life. It helped make me forget about all the stress I’d been feeling. Brody put an arm around my waist. He smelled so good somehow, even after flying a couple of hours inside of a bacteria-filled tube hurtling through the sky. He smelled like fresh-cut flowers mixed with fresh-washed man.

  I kissed his neck. His scruff was growing in, my lips tickled by the soft hair. I kissed him again, and again.

  And again.

  “I love you. Whether we’re in Canada, Miami Beach, or Vintage Ridge. I love you so much.”

  Brody chuckled as I kissed him some more, no doubt tickling him.

  “I love you, too, Jordan. That’s why I want you to be as happy as humanly possible.”

  I laughed into his neck. “That sounds intense.”

  “And I want it for you.” Brody grabbed me and moved me in front of him. He was a little taller than me but only by a couple of inches. His perfect jawline was sprinkled with pink marks from where I sucked.

  His hands came up to my head, his thumb tracing an invisible trail over my lips, his curling into a sexy smile. Sometimes I had to pinch myself with how lucky I got, especially considering the circumstances Brody and I had met under. Blind dates aren’t exactly known for always yielding perfect matches, to say the least, but here we were, two puzzle pieces fitting together straight out of the box.

  I kissed him, feeling a warmth inside me that pushed outward, enveloping me. His hand came to rest on the back of my neck. He squeezed as his tongue parted my lips. I could feel his growing bulge against mine, making me moan into the kiss.

  “Wow,” I said when we broke for air.

  “What?”

  “That brownie’s still kicking.” My fingers tingled in the same way my balls were. Every cell in my body felt alive, and I felt like I had a direct connection to each individual one.

  Brody laughed and kissed me again. “Let me rock your world, then.” He licked his lips as he walked backward, a large tent in the front of his jeans. He gave it a teasing stroke before unzipping them and pulling them down over his erection.

  “God, you’re so hot.” I could barely focus on one thing. The sexy thighs covered in soft dark hair, the heavy balls begging to be sucked, the obliques that aimed my gaze down at his thick cock.

  “Come over here,” Brody said, biting his lip and falling back on the bed. He opened his legs and stroked. I undressed in record speed and joined him, kissing him as I climbed onto him, pushing him slowly back onto the bed. Our erections rubbed and rolled over the other, his precome streaking across my skin.

  I sat on top of him, one hand on his chest, the other holding both our dicks, and I began to stroke.

  My eyes rolled back. Brody grunted and rocked his hips forward, his body telling me he wanted more. I stroked us, the sensation of his dick against mine sending me to outer space. Where my fingers should have been was Brody, his hard length pulsing against mine. I used the precome oozing from us both as lube.

  “Oh, Jordan. Oh fuck, baby.”

  “Yeah?”

  I stroked a little faster, moving my hips with Brody. Our wet cocks slid together, my balls against his. I could see his chest start to flush pink under the light covering of hair. I bent down, still holding us both, and sucked on his pebbled nipple, taking it between my teeth and rolling, flicking my tongue across him. Brody bucked and grunted like an animal underneath me.

  “Fuuuck,” Brody hissed. His fingers knotted in my hair as I moved to his other nipple. “Fuck, fuck.” He started bucking more, fucking my fist with his dick, the heat rolling off him and consuming me in the process.

  I leaned back up. I was close, and I could see Brody was, too. He was gripping onto the bedsheets like he was scared he’d float away any second now.

  I had the same fear. I could feel myself floating higher and higher into the sky, as if we’d never even stepped off that plane. I slowed my strokes, letting go for a moment so that I didn’t blow too soon.

  “Keep going,” Brody begged, pushing up on the bed so he could suck on my neck. I moaned loud as I continued my stroking, both our cocks still leaking enough precome to make us both slick.

  “Keep going, keep—oh fuck.” Brody dropped his head back. His throat bobbed as his chest and neck flushed red.

  I felt him give a throb in my hand before he shot his load, his cock jerking in my grip with each shot. It sent me tumbling over the edge. I let go of it all, coming in thick jets, a splat of it hitting Brody square on the forehead, the next hitting his chin, the rest streaking across his chest, mixing with his own come.

  “Fuck,” Brody said in a low voice, looking up at me with a blissed-out gloss in his crystal-blue eyes. I rubbed away some come from his forehead with my finger before it dripped down into his eye.

  “Sorry,” I said, giggling. “Almost got your eye there.” I leaned down and kissed him, tasting myself on his lips, our cocks still giving random twitches against the other.

  “It’s all right. It would have been totally worth it.”

  After a few more soft kisses and chuckles, the two of us got off the bed, Brody dripping in come. I hurried to the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel, throwing it his way as he duck-walked toward me, trying not to get any on the floor.

  I laughed some more, a strong sense of happiness settled inside me

  Brody jumped into the shower since he looked like a sentient glazed donut, and there was no way a sink wash would solve that. I went back into the bedroom and put on a pair of light-blue boxers and a T-shirt with the ThunderCats logo on the center.

  I could hear Brody singing in the shower as I walked past the bathroom and into the living room, laptop in hand. I wanted to do some more research on Vintage Ridge while Brody showered. Hearing that we had accidentally boarded the flight to a random city had made me feel quiiiiite shitty. I had been so looking forward to spending hours on the beach with a mojito and a good book, not traveling to a city that could have been a huge bust.

  But after landing here and driving from the airport to the hotel, surrounded by all this pristine nature and getting a glimpse as to how people lived here, it made me excited about the idea of exploring this place. It was such a different energy compared to our home back in busy Vancouver, where things were usually go-go-go.

  I sat down on the big gray couch, sinking into the huge navy pillows. I started my googling while occasionally glancing out the window, admiring the view. The sun sat high in the ocean-blue sky and cut in through the clean window.

  “Huh?” I called out.

  “What?” Brody asked, sticking his head out from the bathroom, his hair still dripping wet.

  “Oh, I thought you said something.”

  “Nope.” Brody went back into the bathroom. />
  And then I heard it again. Voices—and they weren’t in my head.

  Or were they? Holy Jesus, how strong was that brownie?

  I looked around the room, and that’s when I realized the door a few feet away from me was cracked open. It must have been the door that led to the adjacent room, and the voices I could hear were coming from there.

  Before I could get up to push the door close and lock it, I heard Brody call my name. I looked to the bedroom, where Brody stood with a towel wrapped around his head and nowhere else. He was butt-ass naked, his dick hanging thick and limp between his legs, droplets of water sliding down his abs.

  “You want to come help me dry the spots I can’t reach?” He gave a wiggle of his hips, and I laughed.

  And then everything turned to complete hell in a handbasket.

  The door I had meant to close was now opening at an almost inhuman rate of speed. Behind the door was a the little kid, who must have gone at the thing by running at it from across the room like a damn linebacker.

  His yelling joined the chorus of shouts that rang out. Behind him was his entire family: mom, dad, twin sisters, grandma and grandpa.

  And they were all—all of them— looking at Brody and his naked body like they had just been dropped into A Clockwork Orange. The mom managed to slap both hands over the sister’s eyes, and the grandpa did the same with the grandma.

  Brody, who was also shouting, covered his package and ran into the bathroom in the same way Road Runner would dash away from Wile E. Coyote, his feet a blur and a cloud of smoke rising in his wake, the towel slipping off his head and falling onto the floor with a loud slap.

  I rolled off the couch and half crawled, half ran to the door, fully yelling along with everyone else. The boy, who would most likely never open another door again in his life, ran back into his hotel room, crying.

  I slammed the door shut and locked it, falling against it with my back, trying to take deep breaths but unable to from the laughter that was beginning to take over. From the bathroom I could hear Brody cracking up, too.