Nightfall

by John Inman

  Joe stood there speechless, astounded by Ned’s fury, equally appalled and impressed by how quickly Ned had taken the man to the ground and beaten the stuffing out of him. When Ned administered a final kick to the guy’s nuts, which really doubled the poor bastard up in agony, Joe finally decided to step in. Not to help neutralize the threat—that job was pretty well accomplished already—but to pull Ned away before he killed the guy.

  He yanked Ned away and held on tight while Ned fought to continue his attack on the poor bastard curled up in a ball of misery on the street. Cursing and spitting, Ned was like a rabid dog. Twice, Joe had to grab him tighter to keep him from jumping on the guy. Joe didn’t relax his grip until Ned stopped fighting and shaking and twisting in his arms. At long last, Ned finally calmed down.

  “He’s beaten,” Joe whispered in Ned’s ear. “There’s no need to kill him.”

  With a last bout of fury, Ned railed, “He would have killed us.”

  And again, Joe stroked and cooed Ned into silence. “But he won’t now, so stop, Ned. Just stop.”

  He stared down at their attacker. He was still clutching his balls and weeping and whimpering like a brat who hadn’t gotten his way. Joe nudged him with his foot.

  “Get out of here,” he commanded softly.

  With a cry of pain, the man angled himself off the ground and stumbled away. Joe was pleased to see that in his misery, apparently their attacker’s internal GPS was now on the fritz just like the birds. Tipping and blubbering, he took off in the opposite direction from where Ned had flung his gun.

  Joe eyed Ned as he stood there watching the man go. He didn’t look particularly pleased with himself, but he didn’t look ashamed either.

  Joe gnawed on his lip to keep from smiling. “Remind me never to rile you up.”

  Ned sucked in a deep, shuddering gulp of air, obviously still trying to calm himself. There were tears standing in his eyes, and Joe knew instinctively they were tears of anger, not fear. Through the entire attack, Ned had not displayed an ounce of fear. He had shown only fury.

  Beneath the hanging branches of the pepper tree, with the cold air once again biting at their ears and fogging their breath, Ned let himself be pulled into Joe’s arms.

  Joe held him there until Ned’s trembling went from weariness to want. When Ned tilted his head back to gaze on Joe’s face, Joe planted a tender kiss on each fluttering eyelid.

  “Take me home and make love to me,” Ned whispered.

  “Yes,” Joe murmured, taking Ned by the hand. Without another word, he pulled him from beneath the drooping branches of the pepper tree and led him into the haze.

  NED LAY on his back, his legs folded upward, knees clamped to Joe’s waist. As Joe perched over him with his hot breath bathing Ned’s ear, Ned clutched Joe’s waist and groaned with every inward stroke.

  Joe’s voice was a breathless flutter. “Am I hurting you?”

  Ned clawed upward, pulling Joe deeper, burying his face in Joe’s throat. “No. Oh God, Joe, no. It feels wonderful.”

  Joe froze, hovering over Ned, his long cock buried deep. Ned lay impaled, his breath stilled by his own pleasure and the knowledge he was pleasing Joe. At the pure joy of feeling Joe’s erection buried motionless inside him, he arched his head back, neck straining, lips parted. He fought every urge to whimper, to beg Joe to start moving again. A moan finally slipped out when Joe’s mouth fell over his, capturing him in a breathless kiss. Ned writhed in Joe’s arms, a worm on a hook, while the beautiful burn of Joe’s cock forged a trail of delicious fire into his very core. Lost in the wonder of a hundred sensations tearing through him, Ned was suddenly aware of his tears spilling out, cutting a warm path along his cheek.

  “You’re like satin,” Joe gasped, beginning to move again, slowly, lingeringly. Then in a shuddered whisper, “Please tell me I’m not hurting you.”

  “Oh God, Joe, don’t stop. I’m begging you, don’t stop.”

  As Ned held on, slipping his hands over Joe’s sweaty back while still fighting the urge to cry out, Joe’s rhythm increased. His long strokes delved deeper. The girth of his cock swelled, stretching Ned’s sheath, dragging Ned along with him with every new insertion, every new long slow piercing.

  Gnawing at Joe’s shoulder, tasting his skin, his sweat, his scent, Ned locked his ankles over Joe’s waist. He gasped and thrashed as Joe’s cock tore through him. It was moving faster now, relentless, as hard as steel, plumbing his depths, tearing through him like a loving sword. Painless and bulging and razor sharp.

  When Joe tensed over him, every muscle in his body quivering with need, Ned knew he could hold back no more.

  Sliding his hardness over Joe’s belly in a delicious friction, Ned passed the point of no return before he even knew it was coming. With a joyous agony, his seed tore out of him, spilling across his chest. At the same moment, Joe’s cock swelled deep inside him, straining at the limit of its penetration, snatching Ned’s breath away.

  A guttural cry tore from Joe’s throat as his juices exploded from him. Both Ned and Joe writhed at the edge of Joe’s release for a long excruciating moment amid a tortured, joyous stillness unlike anything Ned had ever experienced before. Just as their simultaneous climaxes began to wane, as their knotted muscles began to relax, Joe found Ned’s mouth once again with his. His tongue slid inward, piercing Ned yet again as their two bodies convulsed and his cock gave one last lunge deep into Ned, uncontrollable, mindless, seeking.

  Ned dug his fingers into Joe’s back, trying to pull him closer, deeper. Joe’s lips relaxed over his. The sound of Joe’s clamoring heart swelled around him, and Ned pulled away from the kiss to once again bury his tear-stained face against Joe’s throat.

  He felt Joe’s lips on his hair, his warm fingers stroking Ned’s cheek. He planted delicate kisses over Ned’s scar, and Ned squeezed his eyes shut, loving the gentleness of it. Unashamed of his scar now. Unashamed of anything. A bead of sweat slid from Joe’s chin, landing on Ned’s lips. Ned eagerly, hungrily, licked it away.

  As Joe’s cock began to soften inside him, Ned desperately held on, his arms wrapped tight across Joe’s back, still not wanting him to slip away. Not yet. Not ever. His own juices, sticky and hot, were smeared between their two bellies. Even that did not shame him. It felt wonderful.

  Joe seemed to agree. At the moment when Joe’s softening cock at last slid free from Ned’s sheath, Joe captured Ned’s mouth yet again in a slow, exploring kiss. There was a smile in the kiss this time. With mouths still touching, Joe giggled.

  “I can’t get enough of you.”

  Ned could not find the strength to answer. He was too happy, too contented, lying there with the weight of Joe’s body blanketed over his, the heat of Joe’s skin still burning through him. Inside his head, buried forever in some memory bank or other, he relived the ecstasy of Joe’s perfect cock tearing through him. It was a memory he knew would never leave him. Ever.

  He struggled to find his voice. When he did, his words were a surprise even to him. “I didn’t know it could be like that.”

  Joe slid off him. Ignoring the mess between them, he rested his head on the pillow and pulled Ned close. “Neither did I, Ned. I—I’ve never done that before.”

  A tremor captured them both.

  “Me either,” Ned said. “At least… not like this.” And then finally, surprisingly, his cheeks warmed in a blush.

  Joe’s bedroom was dimmed to a rose hue by the red haze outside, but they could still see each other in the crimson light. Ned tilted his head up to study Joe’s eyes. His blush deepened when he saw that Joe’s gaze was welded to his. He watched as Joe licked his lips.

  “I can still taste your kiss,” Joe said.

  Ned broke the connection by scooting down into the bed and laying his forehead to Joe’s chest.

  “I can still feel you inside me,” he whispered, his lips moving through the brush of dark hair on Joe’s broad chest. With a shudder, he added, “I hope the feeling never goes away.
It wasn’t like before. When those boys… hurt me. You were gentle, Joe. Thank you.”

  “I’ll never hurt you, Ned. Please don’t thank me for that.”

  “All right.”

  Ned emitted a sigh as Joe’s cheek pressed into his hair, as his bare body lay snug in Joe’s heat. Warmed. Protected. Safe.

  “You were so beautiful and brave lying beneath me,” Joe whispered. “So accepting of everything I did.”

  Ned closed his eyes and pressed his mouth to Joe’s skin. There was wonder in his voice when he said, “I’ve never been this happy, Joe.”

  Joe drew him close, again burying his lips in Ned’s hair, one gentle hand stroking Ned’s back while the other rested at the swell of Ned’s butt, one finger resting in the fissure there, proprietary, laying claim to it all. His voice was a happy grumble, seemingly as astonished as Ned at the feelings surging through him.

  “Neither have I,” he whispered back.

  They both froze when they heard a gunshot in the distance. Then another.

  Joe pulled Ned closer, trapping him in his arms. His voice was a lazy wafting of air and sound. His warm breath flowed over Ned. Ned peered up and saw Joe staring through the bedroom window.

  “It’s amazing,” Joe said.

  Ned had to struggle to find his voice. “What is?” A lazy smile twisted Joe’s mouth. At the same moment, Joe’s gaze left the window and returned to Ned’s face. “It’s amazing,” he said, “that I should find the brightest light of my life in the middle of all this darkness.”

  Ned tried to understand what Joe was saying. Maybe he was too well fucked for coherent thought. “What light do you mean?” he asked.

  “You,” Joe said, and he passed a thumb stroke over Ned’s bottom lip, smiling down as he did. “You’re the light. The brightest I’ve ever seen. You blind me, Ned. You burn my eyes right out of my head.”

  “Joe….” He watched Joe’s gaze slide back to the window. His own eyes followed along.

  “It’s getting darker,” he said, and Joe nodded.

  “Yes. The red stuff is thicker now. It’s not even noon yet, and it might as well be sunset. The day looks like it’s over.”

  Ned pressed a kiss to Joe’s chin. “I’m glad you’re with me.”

  Joe smiled down at him. “Me too.” Again, his eyes trailed back to the window and the encroaching darkness. His strong arms pulled Ned closer, his one hand returning to lay lightly across the curve of his butt, which again made the blood surge to Ned’s cheeks.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Joe said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Ned breathed in Joe’s scent. He pressed his lips to Joe’s chest and tasted the come he had spilled there earlier. A surprising rush of desire tore through him. He longed to feel Joe’s cock buried inside him again. Right now. Right this minute. But he knew that would be asking a lot. He grinned at his own brazenness for even thinking it. Instead, he answered softly, “I know you won’t, Joe. As long as you’re with me, I’m not afraid.”

  Joe smiled. “No?”

  “No.”

  Slowly, inexorably, they both were drawn to the darkness outside the bedroom window. Even as they watched, wrapped in each other’s arms, the darkness seemed to grow.

  For the first time, Ned wondered what would happen if the light disappeared completely.

  STILL NAKED but wrapped in blankets because the apartment was cold, they sat across from each other at Joe’s tiny kitchen table and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Since the power was still out, they were also trying to drink up all the milk. Joe kept refilling their glasses. Their bare knees touched under the table, and Joe had captured one of Ned’s feet between his. At the moment he was fully enjoying stroking Ned’s ankle with his big toe. Occasionally, Joe reached down and brushed his fingertips through the hair on Ned’s thigh. He was already addicted to the feel of Ned’s skin. Having lost himself more than once in its satin softness, he could no longer leave it be.

  It took all the willpower he possessed to drag himself back to practical matters.

  “As far as I know, I still have to work tonight,” Joe said, sipping at the last of his milk. “While I’m working, if you want to bring some of your stuff over, you can. Toothbrush, some clothes, whatever.”

  Ned laughed. “I’m just next door. I could simply run over and get stuff as I need it.” Joe frowned. “What if it gets to where we can’t go outside?” He hooked a thumb at the kitchen window. “Look how dark it’s getting out there. With all the whack jobs running around, I’d rather you stay inside while I’m not here. There are still dogs out there too. They seem to be running in packs now. They almost brought you down last time. I have no intention of letting it happen again. Plus I have a dead bolt on my front door. All you have is that crappy chain thing. A three-year-old could bust through it.”

  “I can’t just move in with you,” Ned laughed. “Your apartment isn’t any bigger than mine.”

  Joe frowned. Again, he reached under the table to caress the warmth of Ned’s thigh. With his thumb he gently prodded the hardness of Ned’s knee while the second half of his sandwich lay forgotten on his plate. “I don’t care,” he said. “Just until it’s over, Ned. Please. I want you here. Do it for me. You’ll be safer, and I’ll be….” Joe let the sentence go unfinished.

  “You’ll be what?”

  Embarrassed, Joe picked up his sandwich again, more to fiddle with it than to eat it. “I’ll just be happier,” he said.

  Ned’s face softened, and he carefully returned his own sandwich to his plate. By the time he looked up again, his eyes had filled with tears. Joe sat breathless, watching the crystal droplets gather atop Ned’s long pale lashes.

  “All right,” Ned said quietly, smiling in spite of the tears. “If that’s what you want, I’ll stay here.”

  Joe reached across the table and dabbed his napkin at a tiny blob of jelly at the corner of Ned’s mouth. When a tear finally spilled over Ned’s lashes and skittered down his cheek, Joe dabbed that away too. Ned sat obediently still while Joe fussed, and at that moment, a thought occurred to Joe that would solve everything. His pulse quickened.

  “Or better yet, you could walk to work with me,” he said, watching Ned’s eyes, wondering what Ned would think of the idea.

  Ned blinked away the final blur of tears. “Really? What about the trails? Do you think they’re still safe?”

  Joe considered, and quickly came to a decision. “It’ll be safer than taking the car. We can sneak through the darkness on foot better than we can sneak around in the car. If we get stuck in a mob of people in the car we won’t be able to get away or get out or anything. We’ll be trapped.”

  He turned to stare through the window at the growing darkness outside. Was it his imagination, or did it seem even darker than it had only a few minutes before? He made his mind up before he returned his gaze to Ned’s face. “Sorry, kid. I just made an executive decision. You’re going with me whether you want to or not. I’m not leaving you here alone. And I have to go to work. Not only do I need the money, but we’re feeding the animals now. They need our help.” He eyed the gathering darkness through the kitchen window. It was noon and the light was almost fully gone. “I have to go,” he said again, looking worried. “I have a terrible feeling half the workforce won’t show up tonight.”

  Ned stared out at the darkness too. He seemed to be calmly considering the matter. “There’s a high fence around the zoo. We might even be safer there than we would be here.”

  Joe blinked. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that. We will be safer there.”

  “Okay,” Ned said, his forehead furrowed with determination, his eyes fearless. He turned from the window to study Joe. “I’d rather be with you anyway. We can protect each other. You don’t think they’ll mind if I tag along?”

  “No. They won’t mind. They need all the help they can get. They’d probably welcome another pair of hands.”

  “In that case, sure, I’ll go
.”

  Relieved, Joe offered him a lopsided grin. “Then it’s settled.”

  Ned nodded, his own smile slipping in. “Settled.”

  Joe reached over to the kitchen counter and grabbed his cell phone. He checked to see if it was working yet. It wasn’t. Exasperated, he tossed it aside.

  “Technology sucks,” he muttered to himself. His forehead furrowed. “We should have kept the shotgun we took from that guy. We shouldn’t have thrown it away.”

  “Guns scare me,” Ned said, shaking his head. “Too many bad things happen because of guns.”

  Joe looked uncertain. “I guess.”

  “It’ll be all right,” Ned quietly insisted. “Things will get back to normal soon. I know they will.”

  Joe resumed gnawing halfheartedly at his sandwich, all the while staring at Ned sitting across from him. Despite all the talk of guns and protecting themselves, he was more than aware that the delicious bristle of Ned’s leg hair brushing against his own had caused his cock to fill with blood. It was standing upright beneath the table, pulsing in time to his heartbeat.

  “You were amazing this morning,” he said, his voice already deepening.

  Ned looked up. He seemed to understand instinctively what Joe was feeling.

  “So were you,” Ned said. “I—I’ve never felt anything like that. To feel you inside me….” His words trailed away. His gaze caromed around the room, as if seeking the right words. Words he couldn’t quite grasp.

  “What, Ned?” Joe pleaded softly. “Tell me. Tell me how it felt.”

  He watched as Ned lifted his hand and laid his fingertips to the scar at the side of his head. He did not stroke the scar, he simply rested his fingers over it, as if seeking comfort. Joe wondered if Ned even knew he was doing it.