by Rhys Ford
Their bed.
At some point in their time, Jake no longer thought of the space as his but theirs. Dallas was everywhere, in his life, in his home… in his heart. The penguin salt and pepper shakers were now joined by a blown-glass sugar bowl so ugly it should have had a cozy to protect innocent eyes, but the wonky, lopsided piece felt so right to Jake. Dallas bought it and gave it to him one morning after they’d woken up tangled around each other and wrapped up tight in love-scented sheets.
They’d had silly, tiny adventures and long walks through the canyons, sometimes stopping to watch the sunset over the ocean, then stumbling back to the car in the fading remains of the day. They had favorite taco trucks and run-down diners, knew where to find bacon-stuffed waffles in Millbrae, and racked up countless hours sitting on the sofa with their noses buried deep into a couple of books.
He’d sculpted to the sound of Dallas’s voice cajoling construction crews to build a little bit faster and sometimes discovered a hot pastrami sandwich on his workbench after a few hours of welding and swearing at a piece that refused creation.
Dallas was everywhere, poured into the wrinkles of his soul, taking up space where only emptiness existed before, and when Jake inhaled, the feel of Dallas’s love inside of him stretched, filling every bit of him.
Still, the old-fashioned picnic basket Dallas dragged in from the car gave Jake pause.
He’d come out of the shower to find the lights turned down, leaving only the glow from the strands of faerie lights strung up around the wrought-iron chandelier he’d gotten at a garage sale and hung over the kitchen table. The coffee table was clear of everything but a thin cloth, a blue linen spangled with gold stars and swirls of white glitter. A few feet away, the basket sat open in front of the couch with Dallas crouched over it, digging through its contents.
“Shit, I’d wanted to get this all out before you were done.” Dallas straightened up, his hands full of something pink wrapped in clear plastic. After tossing the bag on the coffee table, Dallas sauntered across the floor to Jake, raking a long, sensual glance over the length of Jake’s body. “Nice jeans, by the way.”
The teasing was nice, unexpected in the beginning but comfortable now, soft words wrapped with a bit of spice. The jeans were almost indecent but worn down enough to hug his body without being stiff. Dallas playfully mocked them, saying they were held together with little more than a thread and a promise, but his pale blue eyes always glittered when Jake tugged them on.
“Stop. They’re all I had that were clean.” He tried to make sense out of the bundle on the table, but Dallas got in the way, blocking his view. “So what if they’re old?”
“I’m not complaining. Best pair of jeans ever,” Dallas murmured, sliding his index finger through one of the holes along Jake’s right thigh. “Now how long do they need to stay on for you to say you got dressed after your shower?”
The music playing on the stereo was a mournful, soft sigh of love and regret, a song they’d first heard while parked in the Tesla, watching the sun sink down past the horizon at the Santa Monica Pier. Dallas’s hands skimmed up over Jake’s hips, drawing him in, and he stepped into the spaces left empty by Jake’s body.
“Dance with me, Moore,” Dallas whispered into Jake’s ear.
“I don’t dance, Yates,” Jake reminded him, resting his hands on Dallas’s hips.
“You can sway.” His lover bit his lobe, rolling it between his teeth in a light, sharp caress. “You just hold on. I’ll do all the dancing.”
“Didn’t you say that the first time we did this?” He let himself be pulled into the steps, his bare feet tapping Dallas’s when they turned.
Dallas cocked his head, the faerie lights running blue through his hair. “Probably, but you also said you didn’t dance back then too, and look at us now. We dance at least once every week.”
They made a circuit around the room, saying nothing but letting the music speak for them. Dallas’s hands grew bolder, encouraged by Jake’s stuttering moan when his thigh brushed up against Jake’s cock. Their rhythm was off, or at least not in time with the song being played, but it didn’t matter. The song playing between them was older than the ballad slithering from the speakers mounted to the wall. Jake’s cock liked the feel of Dallas on his body, straining to reach the other man through their jeans, ripe for a bit of heat from Dallas’s wet mouth.
“God, I want you to make love to me, J,” Dallas sighed through one of their kisses. “I brought cotton candy to feed you, and some chocolate, but honestly, I just want to feel you in me. Can’t we just put the rest of the world on a shelf and forget about it all until tomorrow morning?”
“We can forget about it forever if you want, Dal.” Jake laughed at Dallas’s wicked smirk. “Going to be hard to pay the bills.”
“That’s what I love about you, babe. Always practical.” Dallas leaned in, leaving Jake with a fierce kiss, one hard enough to knock him off his feet, then tugged him toward the bed. “Come on. I’ll get you sugared up after I wring you dry.”
The taste in his mouth was pure Dallas. His world was no longer spiced with gun oil and acrid powder. He didn’t wake up to the steep of death on his tongue in the morning. Now Jake liked ending his night with laughter and joy chasing him into his dreams, and his day began with a pretty-faced, blue-eyed sunrise of a man and a kiss deep enough to wake his soul. Life was still taut at times, stretched nearly to the point of splitting when his thoughts sank back down into the mire he’d wallowed in for years, but Dallas was there now, his hand reaching out, ready to support Jake’s weight.
Bright, glittery moments grew more frequent with each passing day as Jake stepped farther and farther away from the black metal death he’d shoved into his mouth and prayed to take him.
Their clothes hit the floor in dribbles and slithers, tiny mounds of fabric kicked aside by impatient feet and a brief yelp from Dallas when he struck the bed frame with his big toe. The mattress creaked when Jake flopped onto it, landing on his back, and then again when Dallas leaped on him, narrowly avoiding elbowing Jake in the nose with a twist to the side at the last second. The bed took the extra weight with a loud complaining groan, and for a moment, they both held their breaths, waiting for something to give, but other than the rocking of the mattress when Jake moved to give Dallas room, the bed grudgingly held up.
“Do you want crude or romantic?” Dallas asked, his chin poking a bruise into Jake’s chest. “Because I’ve got two options I’d like to show you.”
Dallas’s cock was hard, his velvety head already sticky with a drop of arousal at its slit, and his nipples were pearled in tight, nearly begging Jake to taste them. He turned onto his side, bending his head to capture one with his lips, but Dallas popped a hand across Jake’s mouth, stopping him. Jake looked up, mouth clamped shut with his lover’s fingers, and concern rushed into him when he saw the worry in Dallas’s face.
Freeing his mouth, he sat up a bit and asked, “What?”
“I just wanted you to know that I love you, Jake Moore.” Dallas cupped his face. “I think I’ve always loved you. I just hadn’t found you yet. And now that I have, I never want to let you go.”
Jake pushed Dallas back onto the bed, spreading his lover out underneath him. He knew Dallas’s body more intimately than he knew his own. From the tiny rasp of scar on Dallas’s right knee from the time his older brother pushed him off a bike onto gravel to knowing the exact spot near Dallas’s collarbone where he could bite and send shivers through Dallas’s entire body, Jake knew the landscape stretched out on the bed. And he knew exactly where he wanted to start.
Dallas’s lips were soft on his, a silken glide of skin, one wet with promise. He kept Dallas’s mouth busy while he explored with a surer touch than the first time they’d made love. Now he knew where to stroke, how to take his time in stretching Dallas’s body to take him in. They’d tussled and played, satisfying any desire they might find along the way, but tonight, something was different. Dallas ne
eded Jake in a way he hadn’t before, as if somehow the unveiling of the sculpture brought out a neediness in Dallas only Jake could satisfy.
“God, I love you.” Dallas suckled at one of Jake’s nipples, drawing a tingle up from his balls and pulling it up over his belly. “Can’t get enough of you.”
“Stay still for a bit,” Jake grumbled, grinning when the lube bottle eluded him, dropping under one of the pillows and nearly out of reach. “Ah, here we go.”
He loved sliding his fingers into Dallas. Loved the heat of the man on his skin, loved the slick feel of his inner flesh on the coarse catch of his fingertips, and most of all, loved the little gasp Dallas made when Jake breached him. They didn’t take long. Within seconds of Jake sliding an oiled finger into his lover’s core, Dallas was ready, writhing around Jake’s touch. Pushing in deeper, Jake stroked at the tender spot he knew lay inside of his lover, and Dallas jerked around him.
“Swear to God, Jake….” Dallas gasped again. “Come on.”
When he slathered lube on his own cock, Jake’s balls lifted at the chill. Condoms weren’t a necessity between them now, but he did half miss the slight protection one gave from the icy tingle of the straight-from-the-bottle lube Dallas liked.
“We’re going to get the warming gel,” Jake threatened, more than a little ruffled at Dallas’s mocking laugh. “I mean it. This stuff’s cold.”
“This is warm, babe. And if it needs more warming up, I know where you can put it.” Dallas reached down and groped at Jake’s cock, heating the oil at Jake’s tip with a twist of his palm. “That was my sexy porn proposition. I’ve also got awkward geek. I used to have smooth operator, but I don’t think the upgrade worked.”
“Stop, I’m going to miss,” Jake growled, pressing Dallas into the mattress and sliding slowly into his heat. Dallas’s smirk faded, his teeth biting into his lower lip, and a soft, contented sigh escaped him. “Ah, there you are. Hold on to me, Dal.”
Dallas’s hands dug into his shoulders, his grip bruising and tight. Sliding into Dallas took time. He was wider than Dallas could take easily, but if he went slowly, pushing past Dallas’s ring, he could seat himself into his lover’s warmth. And from the sounds coming from Dallas’s mouth, slow and steady was the way to go.
There was something sublime about gliding into someone he loved, a near perfect join Jake never thought he’d ever have. Everything about Dallas fit in him, around him, and after a few long strokes, Jake knew he could die happy right at the moment, before he even reached his peak, simply because he had Dallas wrapped around him.
Then his body took over, a primal, visceral need riding him, scooping him up into a river of senseless pleasure, and Jake let himself fall. His hips moved, seemingly of their own accord, pushing his cock deep into Dallas, yanking huffs of breaths and murmured encouragements out of the man he plunged into. He rode Dallas, rocking into his body and lifting him up with each slap of his hips. His balls were low, swaying in time to his thrusts, and every once in a while, he moved in such a minute way the bed linens tickled the soft sac.
His cock ached to release, throbbing and sensitive, growing more so with every stroke. Dallas tightened on him, clenching and pulling while exhorting Jake to go faster and deeper, a bead of sweat running down the crease of his chest to trickle down his ribs, dampening Jake’s hand where it lay on the bed.
The storm hit Dallas first, and he jerked, throwing Jake off rhythm. Another tight clench followed, and Jake quickened his pace, maddened by the rush of desire flooding him. His release struck him, slapping his face with its rush of blood, and his cock felt like it was screaming, begging Jake to find the single moment where his body finally gave in to the mounting tenderness across his shaft.
Reaching down between them, Jake closed his hand over Dallas’s shaft and began to stroke him, working Dallas’s cock in time with every roll of his hips. He knew Dallas was close. His fingernails digging out scallops of Jake’s skin was enough of a hint, but it took the sharp ache of teeth sinking into his shoulder to drive Jake over the edge.
He let the fire consume him and took Dallas along for the ride.
Jake rode the sensations of his soul being broken apart and stitched back together. He loved this… loved Dallas… longed for an eternity where he didn’t have to wake up alone. He was so tired of being by himself, exhausted to the point of his heart breaking under the weight of the world, but then Dallas came along, and suddenly his life exploded with color and light.
He let go, and his body arched, shoving his cock deep into Dallas’s heat while sliding one arm under his lover’s body to hold him close. The rush of his seed, hot and quick, flooded the recesses of Dallas’s body, and Dallas gasped, finally losing control, and his orgasm gushed over Jake’s clenched hand, stinging both of them with the powerful punch of emotion in the wake of their release.
Dallas quivered. Strung out and worn from their joining, he held on to Jake, refusing to let go until his body could no longer hold Jake’s softening dick to him. Rolling to the side, he made room for Jake to collapse beside him, and they lay on the bed, panting and sweaty, with the musky scent of their sex lingering in the air.
Jake pulled Dallas in, their limbs as sweat-damp and limp as their hair, but the contact felt good. He wasn’t quite ready to be without his lover on him, around him, and when a soft, slightly chilled breeze ghosted over them, Jake felt he could lay there forever and a day, so long as Dallas was at his side.
“Jake baby?” Dallas said, panting slightly. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” He smiled when Dallas’s elbow, once again, nearly took out his nose when the other man struggled to sit up. “Hey, watch that arm of yours. You’re going to kill me with it.” Jake waited until Dallas was situated, sitting up on the mattress. “What’s up?”
“I was going to do this whole seduction thing tonight, sugar, but one look at you in those jeans, under that light, and I knew nothing between us needed embellishments or ribbons. I’m as romantic as the next guy—even without you being the next guy—but sometimes, I need more than romance. I need… a promise. I need to know you’ll be here forever. Right here. In my bed. Okay, in your bed, but no matter what or where, I want to reach out and know you’ll always be there to take my hand.
“So, Jake Moore….” Dallas took a small breath and whispered words Jake thought he’d never hear from another man’s mouth. “I love you very much, and I want you to know, I will treasure you to your last dying day, if you just promise to marry me.”
Epilogue
A DRAGONFLY skimmed over the pond, its jewel-toned body carried by a set of whirring golden wings, its flight a singing crescendo whispering toward the shore. The wind carried a slight sweet hint from the bank of orange-yellow flowers peppering the gentle hillock behind Jake. A few hundred feet away, Dallas stood shoulder to shoulder with his brother and father, their fishing rods casting long shadows over the rippling water. Their soft chatter was indistinct, nearly as inaudible as the insect swooping past them, and their low, rumbling laughter rolled and dipped, a comfortable quiet murmur adding to the peaceful morning.
The sun smeared a wet lemon hue over the lush powder blue and fading dove gray remaining from the final hour of dusk, a stretch of popcorn clouds blushing pink and gold reflected in the pond’s slightly choppy surface. A fish jumped, its scales a sharp silvery rainbow in the light as it twisted to snap at a passing bug, then fell back into the pond with a less than delicate splash.
They’d dragged him out before it was time to milk the cows or the llamas, Jake wasn’t sure which. It didn’t much matter, so long as they got off the ranch proper before the lolling began, or so Austin muttered when he started up the truck and told Jake to get in. It’d been an ugly scramble from the house as the Yates men tumbled off the porch, half-dressed and juggling tumblers full of coffee and a shopping bag filled with biscuits they’d stolen from the cooling racks on the kitchen counter. A second after Dallas slammed the truck’s door behind him
, shoving past Jake in the front seat to get to the back of the cab, Victoria stomped out onto the verandah, her mockingly furious shout lost under the roar of the truck’s engine as Austin raced past the house with a smug smile plastered on his face.
The others left Jake the one phone they’d brought with them after they got their fishing rods ready and spread out a thick cover of unzipped sleeping bags to sit on. He’d fallen asleep. He was almost certain of it, because the sun was barely a hint on the horizon, and when he had a slow blink, it’d risen enough to burn the mist off of the pond’s surface.
Dallas caught Jake’s eye, winking at him from his perch on the edge of the water. Austin elbowed the middle of his brother’s back, nearly pushing him in, and a few flails of Dallas’s arms were followed by a soft admonishment from their gentle father to not scare the fish. Slapping at Austin’s shoulder, Dallas shoved his pole into a length of PVC set into the bank, then slogged up the shallow rise to where Jake sat.
“Hello, husband.” Dallas leaned over to kiss Jake and nearly lost his balance. Plopping down on the sleeping bag, he chuckled, then said, “Let’s try that again.”
Dallas tasted of coffee and nectar, a bit of honeyed green pulled up from a purplish bloom they’d showed Jake how to suckle for a bit of sweet. The kiss lingered, warming Jake more than the rising sun and firing up an arousal he didn’t think he had left in him after they’d spent most of the night in a languid exploration of each other’s bodies. He ached in places, muscles stretched to a comfortable throb, and his back smarted where Dallas bit him a little too fiercely when he’d found his release in Jake’s body.
“You’re making me hard,” Jake muttered through the kiss. “Bad enough I’m worried your parents are going to hear us—”