Exhale and Move On

by K. L. Shandwick

  My eyes rolled in my head because no woman I’d ever met had been able to suck me off with just the right pressure, speed, and suction. Len’s mouth was incredible, but I wanted to taste him again as well. Turning on my side I flipped him over onto his back and crawled above him on all fours. He took me in his mouth again but in this position I could reach his cock and reciprocated.

  I had barely taken Len’s cock back in my mouth when I felt Coral’s soft fingertips first rub my ass, then massage my balls until Lennie broke contact, reached up, and pulled her down. When I looked through my legs, he was kissing her hard.

  In that moment I felt like we were onto something between us. I wasn’t sure what that was or if it meant anything significant, but a small voice inside me held me back from taking Len in front of Coral, deciding fellatio had to be enough because part of me hoped with a little more effort to please them both.

  Later on, once we’d all shared a few more hours and orgasms, I left Lennie’s place when they were both still asleep because I still wasn’t into awkward morning afters, and I had anticipated that was exactly what was on the horizon for Lennie when they woke the following morning.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Down to Business

  Two days before the charity gig the site was buzzing with mobile food trucks, craft stall holders, holistic healers, and every other kind of small stall holder anyone could have thought of. Lines of white tents weaved paths in eight different directions away from the central stage area to several campsites as people from all over the USA began to converge on what had been billed as the Gig of the Century.

  There wasn’t one moment during the prep for it I ever doubted that it wouldn’t live up to that because we had ten of the biggest bands on the planet behind it, led by Cobham Street, Crakt Soundzz, M3rCy, and XrAid. Very few organizers had ever pulled off such an event with such short notice, but due to band schedules and availability the arrangements had been made with haste.

  With everything ready and tidied away and the set rehearsals finished I noted it had been a week since the last time I’d seen Lennon and Coral. There had been no phone call, no text, and no follow up since I’d left them that morning and sometimes silence said a hell of a lot more than an explanation.

  He had been slow to acknowledge me when he’d seen me earlier in the day, his eye contact patchy whenever I’d caught his gaze, and it pissed me off no end after all that had gone down at his place the last time we’d been together.

  Of course, I blamed myself. I should have known better after Jody, but I had begun to feel something for Lennie and if I’m honest, for Coral as well—she was a pretty incredible woman. However, I knew I’d never have forced things between us, having first-hand experience of being a third wheel for so many years.

  Once I’d explained that to myself, I figured I’d be better placed to let it all slide and focus on what I could have and that was women, plenty of women.

  Instead of going straight back to the penthouse apartment I’d rented in Miami, I decided to hit the club with two of my bandmates, Aaron and Simon, and we hit one of the clubs the XrAid guys started out playing at, Dimond.

  Nothing like good company, a thirty-two-ounce medium rare T-bone, and a few whiskey’s, to make things right with the world. The club did an incredible set with an awesome DJ who played most of the tunes that were on my playlists and it made me feel right at home, apart from the fact there were a few hundred, great looking sun-kissed girls gyrating on the dance floor below us to choose from.

  Boys will be boys when we’re let loose on our own, so we spent half the evening talking about some of our lewder activities of old and ended up being so nostalgic we played a couple of drinking games. It cheered me up to be around the guys and by the time I’d had my seventh drink I felt much more like my normal self.

  Fuck Lennie and that complex arrangement he tried to rope me into. Making my way downstairs to the dance floor I was mobbed within minutes; security had to step in and rescue me, but not before a couple of pretty women were residing under each arm and we made our way home.

  Getting lost in a couple of hot feminine bodies was just what I needed, and the alcohol certainly helped me push back all the feelings about Len that threatened to put me off my stride. We partied hard, and it was almost 4:30 am by the time we got our heads down, so the following morning I was decidedly irritable when the buzzer from the superintendent woke me at barely gone eleven.

  “What?” I snapped croakily, my chest tight from inhaling the smoke from the girls in the car on the way home the night before. I felt like shit: my head pounded, my bones ached, and after the workout I’d given both girls I felt due at least a few more hours of peace.

  “Lennon from XrAid is here,” said the superintendent, clearly a fan in that he never even gave him his full name. My heart sunk because I had girls in the suite. I hesitated and thought of telling the super to tell him to go fuck himself, but I knew that would have been childish of me. Sighing heavily, I stretched and told him to send him up.

  I knew I had a few minutes at least before he’d arrive at the door, so I had the quickest wash known to man and was brushing my teeth when the doorbell chimed. Jed let him in and called out to me through the bathroom door that he was waiting in the sitting room. I combed my hair back slow to make him wait, covered myself with a bathrobe, and went to see what he wanted.

  I wasn’t in a hurry to be told it wasn’t happening between us because I was certain that’s what his visit was about.

  Len was standing by the window with his hands in his pockets looking out at the ocean when he came into my view. At first, he never heard me as I came down the carpeted spiral staircase, but as soon as my feet hit the marble floor his gaze shifted from outside to me.

  “Morning,” he said in a serious tone and wandered over toward me.

  Determined to control the conversation I gestured to a seat on the sectional, “Sit down. Coffee?” I asked and walked around the counter to the fresh pot of coffee brewing on the plate courtesy of Jed.

  “Sure,” he replied.

  Pouring two large mugs, I strolled back, placing one on the coffee table opposite him and I went to sit on other side of the twelve-seater couch. I couldn’t have been further away from him. I noted Lennon look at my bare legs and I wondered if he thought about me naked underneath my thick toweling garment. I pulled it tighter around my knees and crossed my legs.

  “So… what can I do for you, Lennie?” I asked trying to sound nonchalant.

  “About this week…”

  I wondered if he’d expected me to wave it away like it was nothing, but it hadn’t been for me. He and his girl had initiated the threesome, then she’d done it again. Not once had I made the first move which was virtually unheard of for me. I figured it was too early in the morning to worry about keeping a civil tongue in my head. Len and I knew each other far too well for me to be benevolent about his feelings.

  “Yeah?” I asked not giving him an inch as I raised one eyebrow.

  “Corrie’s been… difficult,” he replied trying to find a phrase for someone who wanted it her way or no way.

  “Look, Len,” I said, as I stood and made my way back to the coffee pot, “I told you it wasn’t a good idea at the time; so what now? You here to tell me to back off? You needn’t worry, man. I’m long gone. Exhaled and moved on so to speak. It’s what I do and I’m a fucking expert at dodging angst.”

  “Cut the bullshit, Rick. I know you're pissed and feel something for me. I find it hard to believe you’re unaffected by what we did.”

  “Why? You think your dick is special or something? I’m not one of your groupies who thinks I’ve sucked Lennon from XrAid and I’m addicted to the taste of you. I warned you we should never have gone there and here you are one bright, sunny, Thursday morning, in my personal space causing me a fucking headache? Look how awkward we are.”

  Len shifted on the chair but stood his ground, with a look of determination on his face. “Y
ou were the one that said don’t give up and what else… the door isn’t closed? Yet because I’ve given Corrie some space to absorb what happened between the three of us you’re slinging insults my way? I’d be more concerned if she wasn’t giving what we did some thought. I can hardly expect her to believe one thing for eleven years then accept this straightaway. Besides, I don’t believe you, Rick. If you feel the same way as I do, you don’t just walk away from something this good.”

  “Rick. I need a cab. I need to be at work by 12.15 pm." A gorgeous blonde: Lila, or Lisa, or something, who I’d brought home with me, came charging down the stairs zipping up her short skirt and turning it around the right way. "Wow, you’re Lennon from XrAid, right?” she added pulling one sling-back shoe on and then the other. I glanced at Len and almost chuckled at his pissed expression.

  “Thanks for last night, it was awesome,” she gushed as she came over and slung her arms around my neck. “Gotta go. Can you call down to the guy at the desk and fix me up with some wheels, please?” Pecking my cheek, she patted my junk and spoke to it like it was an independent entity. “Loved spending time with you,” she said as she turned and headed for the door. Without looking back, she left us both standing there.

  “Seriously?” Len muttered, his eyes dark with anger.

  “What? Did you think I’d sit pining for you guys? I gave you some breathing space but in case it escaped your notice, I’m a free agent. Like I said—exhale and move on." Before Len could reply, the second of my booty calls came staggering downstairs holding her head. “Got any Advil, baby? My head feels like someone’s been banging it hard.”

  “Then your head’s not wrong after the way your mouth took my dick last night, sweetheart.” I looked at how wrecked she looked and called out to Jed. When he came out of his room, he took one glance at her and snickered. When I glanced back to Len, his face was a picture of frustration and his jawline tense, and if I’d parted his lips, I was sure I’d have found gritted teeth.

  “Want a ride?” Jed asked, checking out the state she was in.

  “It appears to me she’s already had one,” Len drawled in a low voice full of frustration. Len was out and out jealous and he couldn’t begin to hide it. I wondered if Jed had read him the same way, but if he had, he made no comment. Gathering up her coat and purse, she bid me farewell and headed out for home with my bodyguard in tow.

  “What the fuck was that?” I asked spinning to stare into Len’s eyes with my arms wide open.

  “Nothing. Apart from for most of the week I’ve been trying to persuade Corrie we could do this—the three of us—and meanwhile you’ve gone off and found yourself another couple of people to fuck.”

  “Y’all could have fooled me, Len. Like I said, I have no wish to be a third wheel in anyone’s relationship. So, don’t go playing the jealous partner. I’m single, Lennie.”

  “You’re not a third wheel. You could never be that to me.”

  “No, really? And that’s why you never called all week?

  “It’s been intense at home. I’ve spent every spare minute talking to Corrie at length about my feelings. She left this morning and flew back to California.”

  “Told you before. I’m not getting into something that could leave me wide open and if she’s left you, I won’t be your rebound either, Len. I think you’ve said all I needed to hear. You know where the door is,” I said nodding in the direction of it. I stood indicating I was done with the conversation and walked over to the sink, placing my mug in there.

  Len followed behind me and cut off my path, slamming his arms either side of the counter top. “I’m fucked if I’m going anywhere. You know what, Rick? I call bullshit. You’re only scared to get involved. All week long I’ve been fighting for a chance with you, and you go and fuck the first two people you find because I never called you in seven days? What the fuck happened to stay true to your heart? Keeping going? Don’t you ever listen to your own advice?”

  “Not when I’m being used, I don’t.”

  “Who was using who? You’re the one that jumped ship, Rick. You’re the one that ran before any of us had the opportunity to face the truth of what happened in that bedroom.”

  “And what is the truth?”

  “I spelled it out for Corrie. I told her I wouldn’t have her if I couldn’t have you.”

  His words stopped me in my tracks and for once I was speechless. My heart hadn’t pumped as fast in excitement for a long time as it did in that moment. For a second I considered Len was only saying what he thought I had wanted to hear, but I knew him better than that. His face displayed the honesty I’d come to know him for and I accepted his comment at face value.

  “You’re giving her up after eleven years, if she doesn’t agree? That’s hardly a fair deal for her.”

  “She started all of this. The three of us together was her idea. And we both had an inkling there was something between us. You reap what you sow, and she can’t expect to open Pandora’s box without accepting what it contains. I told her I was coming to see you today and most likely by the time the concert was done we’d have fucked, and then I told her if you were good enough to fuck her then you were good enough for me.”

  “That was a pretty foolish thing you did. What if I said no. Or if I fucked you as a one-and-done?”

  “Then that’s the chance I’m gonna have to take because despite who you are and how you’ve lived your life until now I believe there’s more. I felt it in the way you kissed me… the way you let me fuck your mouth. You don’t put that much effort into pleasing someone if you’re not fully invested in their feelings, Rick.”

  I knew there was no point in protesting because my lie would have been obvious to him. Instead I stood staring intensely into his eyes as he brought his face closer to mine.

  “I want you, Rick. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my whole fucking life.”

  “More than Coral?”

  “At this very moment in time, yes,” he said with certainty.

  “And after?”

  “After, I’ll tell Coral and she can make her mind up what she wants from there.”

  “You’re really prepared for her to walk away?”

  “I don’t think it will come to that,” he said with an air of confidence and all I could think was he couldn’t be sure. And neither could I.

  “I’m not doing this behind her back. I already told you, she knows I’m here,” he reassured me.

  “She went home, Len. What does that tell you?”

  “It tells me she was trying to make up my mind for me and it hasn’t worked. I figure she thought I would stay away from you if she threatened that. It’s backfired if that was the case. You may have been hurt by Jody, Rick, but I’m telling you as clear as I can, I’m not him,” he informed me in a serious tone.

  My heart beat erratically at the thought of bedding Len, his strong arms and legs wrapped around my body as I sunk balls deep into his deliciously tight ass. Then I figured talk is cheap, I’d heard every excuse in the book from Jody, and although I liked Lennie a lot I wasn’t sure I was game for any more drama.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Crossing the Line

  “Look I’m tired of talking—”

  Lennie’s lips crashed down on mine before I could finish, and silenced my protest, then… it was game over for the both of us. Passion and heat shot through my veins changing my protestations to whimpers of need as my raging boner grew.

  My frustration heightened when he gave one sharp tug on my bathrobe which exposed me in my full naked glory because he was still fully clothed. I reached for his t-shirt and pulled it up his body until we had to separate for me to complete the task.

  Breaking the kiss, I swept it over his head, bunched it in my hands and held it to my nose. I inhaled his incredible scent deeply into my lungs as Len’s eyes raked up my body. His burning gaze full of intent scorched my core as he slid his strong hands over my bare shoulders and swept my robe clear of them. It po
oled at my feet on the floor as his face drew nearer and his lips touched the skin on my neck.

  My skin was riddled with goose bumps and my cock felt like it may break if something didn’t happen in my immediate future.

  “Drop your pants and get on the counter,” I demanded in a low gruff voice.

  There was no argument from Len as he turned his back to the edge, unbuttoned and shucked himself out of his jeans, and hoisted himself onto the kitchen counter.

  “Jesus Christ, this granite is like ice.” He grumbled as a shiver tore through his body and he gave me a sexy grin. His eyes never left me as I moved in on him, my mouth licking from his neck down to his abs, and back to his chest. Goose bumps and a small shudder showed me how much he responded to my touch.

  Len grabbed my hair and shoved my head down toward his cock and as soon as I focused on it I licked my lips. Taking it into my hand I held it firmly in my fist and stroked it steadily.

  “God, do you know how much I’ve fantasized about this with you?”

  I stopped and glanced up at him mumbling around his cock, “Yeah?”

  “Fuck, Yeah. Truth be known I almost jumped you one night after a gig before Lily got hurt. Remember the night when we were left on your tour bus alone? I had to restrain myself from telling you how I felt.”

  “Glad you didn’t. I’d have turned you down because of Jody,” I mumbled again then let my tongue flutter over his thick purple tip. Lennie hissed like it hurt, but I knew that the noise was only made because it felt so good.

  Paying attention to his cock for a couple of minutes, Len sat watching me take him in. The room was silent apart from the occasional erotic echo of his breath as he made ‘oh’ sounds or ‘mm’. All the while I stared up at him he kept his focused gaze intense as he looked down into mine. A time or two his gaze drifted downward, past my head as he watched me stroking and tugging my cock. “Amazing, I love watching you play with yourself. Pinch me, I can’t fucking believe this is happening.”