by Talon p. s.
Simeon shifted in his place and some other mental shifting going about in his head. Maxum waiting, hoping the guilt trip would work. It usually did. It was a small relief but Maxum would take it when Simeon settled down, stopping the argument and returned his hand in an offer for Maxum’s, yet he remained silent the remainder of the way. Nor did it miss Maxum’s attention that he might as well have been holding hands with a corpse for all the affection and warmth he felt from it. No more present than Simeon was the other night when he asked Sim to cuddle with him. The cold detachment crept inside Maxum, hardening in his bones. Was this what a long-term relationship was supposed to be? Was this why so many sought company and affection elsewhere? Why was it so much to ask for, to want to feel life and a moment of passion with the one who was supposed to be in his life forever?
When they arrived at the hotel, the only ones standing outside to even act impressed by what they drove up in was the valet. Maxum came around to join Simeon and offered his arm. He was mentally working up a compliment for him on how nice he looked but that’s when Maxum started taking actual notice of his partner’s attire. His eyes trailing down the heather grey and pastel ensemble meant for spring under the white leather trench coat until he noted Simeon’s shoes.
“Sim. You’re wearing gardening shoes.” And he was none too pleased about it.
“They’re clogs.” Simeon defended.
“Like I said— gardening shoes.” Maxum gruffed back.
Simeon’s tone turned snippety as they walked into the hotel and headed for the banquet hall. “They’re in fashion.”
Maxum face went stark mad, “Sim, its November in New York City. I’m certain your slip-ons are not in fashion right now. Especially for a dinner that cost a grand a plate.”
“Well we had to come in that—” Simeon’s hand waved back toward the glass front entrance of the hotel and the car that was parked to the side still under the valet belvedere. He made a disgruntled face, “Whatever you called it.”
“Perhaps you’d like to brush up on your wealthy etiquette 101 before we continue with this argument.” Maxum gave him a flicker of his warning eyes. It wasn’t beyond him to just turn right around get back in the car and go home at this point.
They paused just outside the doors of the banquet hall of the hotel, “Are you saying I’m stupid.” Simeon was bordering on anger and hurt.
Maxum took a deep breath and let it flare out his nostrils willing himself to calm down. Just one more time. Though Simeon was out of line as far as he was concerned, he knew he wouldn’t win arguing it. Going home would trump the challenge, but it would not be a productive outcome. He took another deep breath and let it out. “No. I’m sorry Sim. I didn’t mean to get harsh with you.” He pulled his lover in and planted a kiss on his lips. Simeon’s hand came up patted his chest then pulled away without ever having opened up to him and Maxum felt the ever present wall between them. They were more strangers now than ever. Just playing the part of husband and husband for his clients and Simeon’s savvy socialites. “Let’s just go in and enjoy ourselves.” He smiled for him and his arm tightened around Simeon’s waist to find some semblance of closeness, but it just wasn’t there. And already his partner’s eyes were shifting away, looking to acknowledge others as they made their way inside the banquet hall.
As the evening burned on, without ever requiring Maxum’s full thought of participation, Simeon was his social butterfly. As always, never slowing down on the never-ending refills on his drink. When they kissed, Maxum could taste the staleness of the gin and tonic and he despised it even more than ever. Darko had never tasted as such. He was the flavor of his last meal. The fancy lager in the evening, a mix of toothpaste and fresh brewed coffee in the morning— in a word, Darko was life and he tasted like a well lived man. And it was there with every blistering kiss he gave. Maxum sat with an elbow parked on the dinner table, his fingers stroked over his lips with a slow dreamy caress as his mind drifted off to a far away bedroom where a man equal to his size and strength had fucked him to oblivion.
“Two pence for your thoughts.” Simeon’s offer broke through his drifting mind. Leave it to Simeon to say something so cliché. That was Simeon, gay as a two-dollar bill. Maxum used to like it in him, thought it was cute, but now it was as dull as everything else they shared.
Maxum blinked a moment then his eyes drifted to his lover, “Ready to go home?” The question showed all his lack of interest.
“But we’ve only been here a few hours.” Simeon was prepared to put up a fuss, “I thought for sure we’d stay for a few drinks and then perhaps join the others at the Limelight.”
Maxum ran two fingers down his temple, the pressure slicing through the headache he felt coming on. Always the same, Simeon dragged him out to these functions because he liked showing off that his beau could afford healthy contributions. Then it was club hopping all night. Usually, by the time they made it home Simeon was too tankered to be a decent fuck. Maxum was tired of it. “I’m tired, Sim. What do you say we call it an early night? I can pop open a nice bottle of sherry. We’ll stretch out in front of the fire—”
Simeon shrugged the suggestion off, “Well, we can do that any time.”
Maxum’s hand dropped like a gavel. “Funny, cause I don’t recall us doing that anytime.” He fired off. Only, he could see by the way Simeon sniffled then rubbed at his nose, someone had already given him a bump of something, and there’d be no convincing him to come home now. He felt the irate tweak in the back of his skull, just wondering if Simeon had given anything in exchange for it. Just considering it might have happened killed any desire to kiss him now. Unintentionally he glanced through the crowd and then he spotted the likely suspect across the room, who just happened to be glancing their way with a rather smug and satisfied look on his face. So many times Maxum had chosen to ignore it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so tonight. He stood from his chair, his hands absently checking his pockets for his keys and wallet then grabbed his jacket off the back of his seat. “Good night, Simeon.” The departing farewell was cold.
“What? You’re leaving me?”
“I’m sure Emilio will give you a ride in exchange for a ride.” Maxum could see right away Simeon was going to go into a tantrum of denials, “Don’t bother Simeon, I already know you give him head in exchange for party favors. Just once, I wish I’d get blown for all the money I donate for your bragging rights at these fundraisers.”
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CHAPTER SIX
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Darko heard the pounding on his door; it stirred him from a deep sleep. He was dreaming of someone. His hand dropped to the hard-on he’d developed in his dreams and stroked over it through the fabric of his briefs. Yeah, that feels good. Perhaps the sound had only been in his dream. Already, he was drifting back toward his fantasy with intentions of making it a wet one.
The return of an insistent rap repeating on his front door told him otherwise.
With a loud rebellious groan to sound off his reluctance, he crawled out of bed and headed for the door. Not attempting to make himself decent. Whomever it was, daring to knock on his door at this hour deserved to see him in his boxer-briefs that did little to hide the thick cock straining to get out. He glanced out the window blinds, spotting the Bugatti down on the curb with the unique custom blue-n-white swirling paint job. Only one person he knew who might ride something like that. He cracked the door, not releasing the chain just in case, but as suspected it was his new man, Maxum, minus the heat in his silent emotionless face. Darko edged the door closed, released the chain and opened it back up, leaning an arm up on the doorjamb above his head. “You look like someone who doesn’t need any demands put on him.” Not that he wouldn’t mind if the guy made a few demands of his own on him—namely his fully awake cock. After all, it’d been two weeks since he’d seen or heard from the man. He could use a good refill. But, he could see right away, it wasn’t why the man was here. His cock coul
d wait.
“Am I that transparent?” Maxum looked up at him from a bowed expression that nearly pleaded that he would not be turned away.
“No, but I’ve worn that face a few times myself.” Darko opened the door wider, inviting him in. “Come in and sleep with me. I’ll keep you warm.” He closed the door as the troubled man stepped in, then locked it back and headed for the room with a slightly sleepy saunter, “But don’t get any ideas of copping a feel. I’m not that kind of guy.”
Darko held the covers open as he waited for his guest to join him. Maxum didn’t look at him, or speak, his hands seemingly on autopilot as he undressed. Yet there was definite gear-movement up in that head of his. Firing off with as much sputtering as shitty fuel burning. Yep, Darko thought, he’d been there once or twice and he knew first hand it was pointless to ask. The mind and emotions were going, but there wasn’t an answer to be given just yet. Even the kinder expression of are you alright, would come across more as an irritation than anything else. It was best to let Maxum talk when he was ready. Darko’s job for tonight was to do nothing but be a warm body so Maxum wouldn’t feel so alone. To be the guardian of his body while the mind was emotionally vulnerable. He knew this and wasn’t offended by it. Because sometimes being the warm body at the right time was the best thing to be. Strangely, that’s what he wanted— to be the best thing for this man.
Maxum finally lay down next to him and Darko pulled him against his chest, curling up with him. Letting the warmth of his slow deep breathing kiss the man’s ear and neck, and nothing more. He grinned to himself when Maxum took a deep breath and let himself go in his arms. It was exactly what the man needed and Darko had given it to him. Sometimes it pays to have a psychologist for a brother who specializes in sex and relationships.
“I think I just broke up with my boyfriend.” The man in his arms confessed aloud in the darkness of the room.
Darko fought the flinch the confession caused him. He’d suspected there was another in the scheme of things. Why else had the man just up and cut everything off. “Good.” Darko muttered as he snuggled in closer taking in a deep inhale of the man next to him. Still capturing the cologne he had on, a deep dark manly scent of lemon, champagne, basil, and rum. A man’s cologne made to attract other men.
“Good?”
“Yes, good. I don’t like having to share.”
Maxum let out a slight huff, his head sinking even deeper into the pillow. “I shelled out ten grand tonight and didn’t even get a blow job.”
“Is that the going rate these days? Damn, and to think I fucked you for nothing more than cheap Chinese take-out.” Darko followed his quip with a chaste kiss to the man’s jaw. He knew the man was bordering on a need to vent and that was counterproductive in his bed when it happened to be about another man. He pressed against Maxum’s body, grinding his already hard cock against his hip, just long enough to distract the man’s thoughts well enough away from what had chased him here. He wanted Maxum to feel the present along with his presence. Him— not the other’s. That, what was here was right, rather than guilt he was starting to feel for the man he’d just escaped. Another warm kiss against the back of his neck and Darko settled against Maxum’s back relaxing towards sleepiness. Maxum took a deep breath and let it out in a long slow breath that seemed to take an age to be completed. The tension refused to let go of the man’s body even as the room filled with silence, all but the still-ticking of thoughts running through his head.
Darko kept silent. It worked the first wave, it would most likely work on the second wave as well.
“I don’t know why I’m here.” The wave of stunted emotions declared themselves in the dark room.
Well that was certainly not something Darko wanted to hear the man say and there wasn’t anything he could come up with that could shift it, so he kept silent and tried not to tense up with the rejection. He snuggled in again making sure his breath caressed over Maxum’s neck and shoulder. Keeping the rhythm deep and slow, a lulling warmth between them like their first night together.
“I don’t even know how to be with you.”
Darko kissed his neck once more. “Well, I like walks on the beach. Staying home and fucking, which apparently I am willing to flip-fuck for you. That alone says something about our compatibility. I like red meat and dark ale. I also like being outdoors, on the water. Particularly rowing. Concerts in the park and long drives to nowhere for no reason.”
“What is this? Gay harmony? I’m being serious here.” Maxum stared over his shoulder at him.
Darko shifted up on an elbow and looked at him right back. Hard place for a man to be when his body had led him to the very spot it wanted to be only to have the brain argue with it once there. Only one way to silence it. Darko caught Maxum by the chin and pulled him around and before he could contest it, he dropped over his mouth, slanting just enough to open the invitation. His lips swiping over Maxum’s lower lip and sucked it in for a tender nibble. The rebounding man gave to him instantly, his lips opening and his tongue darted out to take Darko in.
Darko could feel the intensive need in Maxum, a yearning that hadn’t been quenched in a very long time. Something neither of them had been able to find in a lover— until now. And he wanted their kiss to remind them full-force before Maxum’s brain could get in the way again. He rocked up against his body, his mouth surging up like waves crashing against Maxum’s lips under his, searching for more.
Darko’s arms tangled under Maxum, pressing him up as he gave the deeper kiss he wanted so desperately. Tasting more than just the fancy dinner that got washed down with a potent malt scotch. He tasted the man, the one he couldn’t get enough of. Breaking only enough to catch his breath, Darko ate his lips and sucked on his tongue, his mind swarming in the warm tranquility of their kiss until he was completely breathless. He followed it with a few last chaste kisses then dropped to his side, pulling Maxum to spoon against him once again and with a satisfied hum, was ready for blissful sleep.
Maxum hadn’t come here to fuck. He came to escape the empty demands of another, but he couldn’t deny he really did want to get inside Darko after being kissed like that. His cock stiffening with each throbbing thought against his thigh. Like an addict, he was already becoming hooked to the fire that burned inside this man. As a consequence, addictions were always bad. But hell, he was already here. He twisted— or so he tried. Darko’s strong arms tightened around his waist and hips preventing him. It was all he could do to look over his shoulder to find the alluring dark profile of this rugged man falling asleep behind him. A faint dreamy smile on his face as if perfectly at ease with their pairing. Maxum pressed against him, the cheeks of his ass grinding against the erection that matched his own, but Darko didn’t reciprocate. “You’re serious? You’re gonna sleep after a kiss like that?”
“Mmmm-hmmm.” Darko hummed, doing his best to suppress a grin, “I told you I’m not that kind of guy.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Because, as I recall, we pretty much hit on everything on our first date.” Maxum chuffed, and none to happy about the firm hold Darko’s arms kept him in.
“Exactly, but I’m not the kind who messes around with a date that up and vanishes. For that there will be no fornication on our second date. It helps build frustration.” Darko kissed the back of Maxum’s neck, his arms tightening around him like a python keeping him in place and stifling any fight in him.
“And what of the third?”
It was Darko’s turn to draw quiet a moment. He hadn’t planned to go this route but then Maxum’s confession of a boyfriend somewhere out there made him the affair and that meant this was temporary. He didn’t like it, now a light had been shed only to find a dead end. So there was no sense investing further right? Just enjoy the sex and keep the heart uninvolved. Except he had a feeling he was already too late for that part and he needed to know, before he allowed himself any more room to fall for the man. “Maybe before we invest in our third, you’ll ans
wer a question.” Darko’s arm loosened around Maxum as his eyes rolled open to look at him.
Maxum rolled to his back meeting his gaze. The tension that built in Maxum’s body was all too noticeable and Darko did what he could to make it less so. “No demands just asking a truth. It’s not hard to give it. If you want to show your respects for that person and perhaps the time you spend with them, then it’s not hard to give a truth.” He leaned down and kissed Maxum. First to his lips then delivered one to his temple where all those migraine-causing thoughts dwelled. The gears that clearly had a wrench tossed in them and he whispered to him. “Even if it’s only going to be for a short time.”
Maxum didn’t relax, he fell. His mind and emotions tumbling inside, into a wrecking ball of shit, because he did like Darko. No, it was more than a liking and he meant to respect him, as a man should be. As someone who he enjoyed being with should be, but he had not been truthful. He could change that now. “Ask.” He swallowed hard, because he knew it still wasn’t going to be easy.
“When you went back home to him, did you sleep with him as if nothing else had happened?”
Maxum let out a puff of air, unsure of how the question made him feel. His hand came up, landing on his head and raked through his hair until it was parked between head and pillow, where it stayed, as he stared up at the ceiling, looking for some teletype answer when there was none. Only he did feel some bizarre relief, because the answer wasn’t going to be as painful as he feared. Because at that very moment he knew, he didn’t want to hurt Darko. “I never slept with him at all.”