by Tara Lain
“Merle, oh man, I’m ready to come so hard.”
“Yes, yes, come.”
“But I don’t want it to be over!” Tom’s voice wailed, and it needled Merle’s brain. Every time felt like the last time.
“It won’t be. Just fuck me and come when you want.”
Tom grasped Merle around the waist and slammed him harder and harder onto his cock, his head thrown back, mouth open, gasping and moaning. Beautiful. The closer proximity rubbed Merle’s dick more firmly against Tom’s body, and the thing felt like a torch that had been set on fire.
“Merle! Oh God, oh.” The tendons in Tom’s neck stood out, and he transformed from sweet to pure sexy right in front of Merle’s eyes. Not a boy, a man—a man with the power to send Merle into a place he’d never been before, full and complete.
Fucking Tom was great, but watching him come exploded Merle’s brain. “Shit!” Spurts of semen shot from Merle’s cock onto Tom’s skin, and each one filled his head with light and his cock with fire. “Oh! Oh! Oooooh.” He grasped Tom and embraced him so hard the blood left his arms, but he couldn’t let go. Tom grabbed him too and held on for dear life.
Maybe if I can just keep holding, I won’t lose it all.
MERLE STOMPED the brakes for the fiftieth time on his eternal trip down the freeway. Yes, it was stupid to drive to Laguna every night after shooting the last episodes of the series, but—yeah, but. He and Tom had made their trips to his bedroom at the new house a regular thing. Weirdly, instead of becoming boring or just-your-regular, every night got better, which qualified as almost unbelievable since they started at—heaven.
All the rest, he just suspended. In a few days he started on the film, and then he had to stay in LA. His focus would shift. Tom knew. Yes, he knew. But until then—
He pressed the button on his phone. “Call Tom.”
Immediate answer. “Hi, Merle.” But he sounded funny. Bright and happy, but odd.
“Can you meet me? I have a surprise for you.”
“Uh, I have a surprise for you too.”
“Oh, what?”
He gave a little laugh. “That’s not how surprises work.”
“Okay. So we’ll meet at the house?”
“Okay.”
What the heck? “I’m fighting traffic, but I should be home in about twenty minutes.”
“Don’t get beat up.”
“What?”
“In the fight with traffic.” He giggled.
Merle snorted. Tom taught him all kinds of new things—like appreciating corny jokes. “See you in a little while.”
He got to his house and stopped there without going to Ru and Gray’s first. Have to be sure the delivery got made. He opened the door, turned on the hall lights, and ran up the stairs to the bedroom. Bingo. His cool, memory foam, cotton-covered, king-sized mattress lay in the middle of the floor. He grinned. It wasn’t much but still a big improvement over the sleeping bag. Hell, he had bruises on his hipbones from trying to make out in a half inch of down filling.
He’d told Jim he’d bought the mattress on a super sale—which happened to be true—and asked him to let the delivery guy set it up in the bedroom. Yes, that might have seemed strange since the house wasn’t quite done, but maybe Jim thought he wanted to sleep there some nights just to get a feel for the place. And here it was. Tom’s surprise.
Should I undress and leap out when he walks into the room? I could pose on the mattress, cock in a full upright position.
He set up the lamp that Tom had brought and turned it on for a little mood lighting, then checked to be sure they had plenty of condoms and lube that they kept hidden in the corner of Tom’s tool chest in the closet. He pulled out the box and tube and tossed them on the mattress.
The door opened downstairs. He could hear the click of the latch opening and feel a slight breeze. His cock leaped in anticipation. Whoa. Anxious much? I’m going to have to be weaned off this soon enough.
“Merle?”
Funny. Why is he calling? “Up here, Tom.”
“Merle, uh, I’ve got company.”
What the hell? “What?”
Footsteps started clomping up the stairs to the great room. Merle walked out, kind of scared to see.
Appearing over the top of the stairs came Tom’s pretty face and behind him, another pretty face that looked just like him—in a teenage, female sort of way.
Son of an ever-loving, living bitch!
“Hi, Merle. Look, Lily came to see me.”
For a second all Merle could do was stare; then he forced a smile and extended his hand. “Hi, Lily. I’m Merle Justice.”
Lily shook his hand but stared at his face. “Well, I’ll be damned if you aren’t.”
“I told you to believe your brother.” She glanced at Tom with narrowed, appraising eyes. She was pretty. Actually fully beautiful but with a hard edge Tom didn’t possess at all. Merle crossed his arms. “Don’t you have school?”
She shrugged. “I have time off, so I decided to come see Tom and check out his story about all these movie stars and important bigwigs he says he knows.” She trailed her eyes from Merle’s feet to his face, pausing briefly somewhere around his groin. “So far, so good.”
“Where are you staying?”
“Tom gave me his bed.”
“So where’s Tom staying?” Merle tried to control his frown.
Tom smiled. “Mrs. A. let me and the boys stay in her sewing room. I have this great sleeping bag.” He looked up, and his blue eyes crinkled at the corners.
Getting his cock ready to accept the fact that it wasn’t getting any more Tom tonight—hell, maybe any night before he settled into his apartment in LA and got to work—wasn’t going well. The rock in his stomach still couldn’t keep his dancing dick down. Just accept it, asshole. “Have you two had dinner?”
Tom shook his head. “No, but first will you show Lily your pretty house?”
The charming scene with the muted light set up beside the mattress displaying condoms played in his mind. Lily didn’t look like anybody’s dummy. She probably knew her brother was gay. After all, he’d been thrown out of his house for his homosexuality. It would only take a minute’s research to find out Merle was the same. “I’ll tell you what. Since it’s dark now, why don’t you bring Lily over tomorrow, and we’ll tour the house in sunlight. That way she can see the view. I’ll even take her down to the beach.” He looked at her. “If you want to go.”
“Oh hell yes. I’d never say no to surf and sand. We don’t exactly have a big beach scene in Fresno.”
“Okay. It’s set. We’ll tour the house tomorrow and go eat tonight. What kind of food do you like, Lily?”
“You mean in addition to pizza?” She grinned and fluttered her lashes.
He laughed. She might seem jaded, but she was definitely sixteen. “Okay. There’s a great place downtown that serves legendary pizza. Shall we take two cars?”
Tom glanced at Lily. “Could we take your car, Merle? I think Lily would like it lots.”
“Sure. I’ll be right there. You two go on down.”
“Okay, come on, Lily.” Tom walked down the stairs and Lily followed, glancing back at Merle once.
He ran to the bedroom, unplugged the lamp, grabbed the fucking accessories from the bed, and slid them between the mattress and the box spring. Then, with a sigh, he headed down the steps to deal with his new reality.
Tom had crawled into the back seat of the Audi, and Lily sat in front. Not Merle’s first choice, but what the fuck? One more not-what-he-expected aspect of the evening. He pointed the car downhill and headed for RJ’s, the most popular pizza joint in town.
Tom leaned over the seats. “Isn’t the car nice, Lily?”
“Yeah. It’s okay, but I’d think a big movie star would have a sports car, like a Ferrari or something.”
Merle took a breath. “I’m not a big movie star, so that makes it simple.”
“You’re a big TV star.” She surveyed him
with her dark blue eyes. “Everybody I know watches you.”
“Glad to hear it, but actors have to be careful. You can be really popular this year and next year everybody forgets you.”
Tom said, “That won’t happen to you, Merle.”
Merle glanced back at that sweet, caring smile. “Yes, it will, but whether it’s next year or ten or twenty years from now is unknown. All actors get forgotten eventually.”
“Not if you have people who love you, Merle. They never forget you.”
Merle blinked hard, but Lily snorted. “Jesus, bro, how sappy can you get? They should put you on TV—in a soap opera.”
Tom frowned a little, but his big eyes looked wounded.
Slapping the little snit might be an option, but that would hurt Tom more. Merle gave her a narrow-eyed look. “Spoken like a sixteen-year-old.”
“Oh yeah? What’s wrong with being sixteen?”
“Pretty much everything, in my recollection.” He pulled into the tiny lot behind the restaurant and was surprised to find a space open. He turned and parked. Tom clambered out of the back, and Merle got out his side. Lily sat there with her arms crossed.
Tom whispered, “I think you hurt her feelings.”
“Good. She’s very talented at hurting other people’s.”
Finally the door opened and she climbed out, scowling. “Where’s the damned pizza?”
Merle made a gesture to Tom to precede him, and they both walked down the alley toward the front of the building and the entrance. Lily walked behind them. When they got to the front, at least a dozen people waited outside. Merle said, “I’ll go put our name in.” He scooted past a line of people and found the desk with a young, slightly harried-looking girl taking names. Merle grinned. “Hi. Can I add to your workload?”
She looked up, her eyes widened and lips parted. “Oh wow. You’re Merle Justice.”
He flashed the dimples. “Yes, I am. Would you mind adding that name to your list for three people?”
“Oh wow, you don’t have to wait. I’ll give you a table right now.”
“I don’t want to cut in line. That’s not fair.”
“Seriously, if the owner knew I made you wait, she’d kill me dead. We talk about you like all the time. I just like love your show.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell the whole cast.”
She fanned herself with the menus she picked up. “Is your whole party here?”
“They’re outside.”
“I’ll get them. What do they look like?”
“I can—” She stood clutching the menus to her chest like she’d found the Grail. He smiled. “Big guy. My friend and his sister.”
“I’ll find them.” She pushed out the door.
By this time a few more people had recognized him. A woman pushed forward. “Can I have your autograph, Merle?”
“Sure.” He signed the napkin she produced, and two more women stepped up behind her. When Tom and a still-frowning Lily walked in, he was surrounded by people, including a couple of teenage boys.
Merle said, “Go on to the table and I’ll be right there.”
Lily turned up her nose but followed the hostess.
A couple of minutes later, the hostess ran back with an older woman in tow. “See, I told you. Merle Justice.”
The woman clapped a hand to her ample bosom that testified to how good the pizza was. “Oh my God, I may faint. I’m such a big fan.”
The hostess handed him a small stack of papers. “Would you mind signing these for everyone in the kitchen?”
He laughed but signed. Fans were the best. Never turn down a fan. After the stack was depleted, he signed special ones for Tiffany, the hostess, and Margo, the owner. He hugged Margo; then Tiffany escorted him to the table with huge ceremony. One woman grabbed her arm and said, “Is that Merle Justice?”
“Yes. Isn’t it great?”
Finally Merle dropped onto the seat of the booth beside Tom. “Sorry.”
Tom grinned. “See how much people love you?”
Lily raised her eyebrows. “At least it was good for a quick table.”
A young guy came to the table, glancing back over his shoulder toward a group peering out from the kitchen. “Hi. I’m Kevin, I’ll be your server. What can I get you? Anything you want.”
They ordered a Mediterranean pizza and an all-meat pizza for Lily. As they talked to Kevin, two other servers arrived with a huge plate of antipasto salad and garlic bread in a big basket. Merle looked at Kevin. “We didn’t order that, but I’m happy to have it.”
Kevin grinned. “Compliments of Margo.” He winked. “And all of us in the kitchen.”
“Thank you, Kevin. Please tell Margo I appreciate it so much.” He lowered his voice. “But I’m also happy to pay for it.”
“Oh no. She’d never let you do that. Jeez, she’s a superfan.”
“Thank you all.”
Kevin waggled his fingers. “I’ll be back.” He walked away with a little sway that suggested the wink hadn’t been just camaraderie.
Merle started dishing the salad into the three bowls that came with it.
“I don’t want any.” Lily crossed her arms over her chest.
“Fine.” Merle pushed her dish to the side and served Tom and his own.
Tom took a big bite. “Wow, that’s the best dressing ever.”
“Yeah. I love their dressing. It’s perfect Italian. Not sweet.”
Tom ate enthusiastically. Merle gave him garlic bread and took some for himself. “So how long until the house is done, Tom?” He kept chewing, enjoying it and enjoying ignoring Lily.
“It’ll be all done by the end of the week. That’s what Jim said. So you’ll be able to look at it before you go.” A little frown flickered across his face, then vanished. “Yeah.”
“Oh good—”
“I like bread.”
“Excuse me, Lily?”
“I said I like bread.”
“Oh, sure. It kind of goes with the salad, so I figured you didn’t want either one.”
He shoved the basket of bread toward her and went back to talking to Tom about the house.
Lily slowly pulled her salad bowl toward her and picked up a piece of garlic bread, the smell of which dominated their booth. She tentatively took a bit of lettuce, tomato, and croutons. Her eyes lit up and she kept chewing, then took a bite of the bread. She looked positively pleasant for the first time since he met her.
The huge platters of pizza arrived, and they all dug in. He gave two slices of meat pizza to Lily, and she consumed it as if she hadn’t had much good to eat in a while—which might be true. But a lot of salad made it into her stomach along with the other food.
As they all started slowing down, Lily said, “Merle, how come you said there’s not much good about being sixteen?”
Merle leaned back against the back of the booth and let his thigh press against Tom’s. He shouldn’t do too much of that or he’d have to sit there for the rest of the night, but he couldn’t resist a little hanky-panky. “Why is sixteen crappy? Because you have no control of your own damned life. You’re almost an adult, but still powered by hormones that rule you. Everybody tells you what to do, and you don’t have the power to tell them to suck eggs. You’re pretty, but not as pretty as an eighteen-year-old. You’re smart, but nobody cares yet. It’s a totally screwed-up age. Sweet sixteen, my ass.”
Lily stared at him, open-mouthed. Slowly she closed it, then shook her head. “That sums it up better than any fucking description I ever heard.”
Merle nodded back. He’d laugh if it weren’t so sad.
Chapter Eighteen
“DID YOU like the pizza, Lily?” Tom maneuvered the truck from in front of Merle’s house and headed toward the highway.
“Yeah. It was good.”
“It was nice of Merle to take us.”
She shrugged and stared out the window. “I imagine he’s got plenty of money. No big for him. Besides, they about gave him everything.”
“He left a tip bigger than the bill.” Tom frowned. “Just because he has some money doesn’t mean he has to give it to us. He had to work very hard and eat a lot of ramen noodles to get that money.”
She flounced in her seat. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees, Lily.”
“Oh, come on, Tom, don’t lecture me. I get enough of that crap at home.”
He pulled up to a stoplight on PCH headed toward north Laguna. “Mom and Dad just want you to have a good life.”
She turned, and he could feel her staring at him. It made his ears hot. She said, “Right, like they wanted you to have a good life?”
“Kind of. They didn’t want people in the church to be mean to me and stuff.”
“So they tossed you out like a piece of shit with no money and no way to take care of yourself. Grow a brain, Tom. They’re despicable.”
“What?” He stared hard out the windshield.
“Despicable. I learned it in a book I read. It means, like, really bad.”
He swallowed hard. “Do you think they’re really bad?”
“Yeah, I do. They say all this Bible shit, but they treat anybody who’s not exactly the same as them like a pile of dirt. I think the Bible’s a load of crap, but I know it doesn’t teach people to act like that. They made that up all on their own. And I know you send them money ’cause I see the envelopes, but they act like you never did anything for them. They’re despicable.”
It was really hard to think of his mom and dad like that. He pressed the accelerator, and they wound through town. He took a breath. “Do they treat you bad, Lily?”
“Huh, define bad. They feed me and give me clothes and shit.” She leaned toward him, and he glanced at her scary frown. “But I don’t like the way they’re talking. There’s this man who’s, like, fifty or something, and he’s got money, and they keep talking him up to me like they want me to marry him. Yeah, well, that’ll happen right after some goddamn pigs go to heaven. I’ll cut off his balls and run away.”