Strings Attached

by Nick Nolan

  “Commando, my friend?”

  “You mean no underwear?” Jeremy asked.

  “Boxers under these pants’ll look like diapers; they’ll ruin the effect.”

  “Whatever you say,” he answered meekly.

  It seemed to happen in slow motion. Coby’s shorts slipped down to his ankles and were kicked across the room. Then Jeremy did the same. They stood naked, an arm’s length apart, side by side. Their chests rose and fell in unison. Jeremy’s eyes fell, with no stream of water to hide his line of sight, boldly onto Coby’s cock, and he thought, If I reached out right now, what would he do?

  Coby took the silk pants in his hand, then bent over and slid in one perfectly muscled leg at a time. He pulled them past his knees, then up mid-thigh and stopped, leaving himself exposed provocatively. Jeremy froze, then mimicked his same movements, but lost his courage and pulled the waist home. Coby likewise pulled his pants all the way up, and they both tied their drawstrings.

  The reverse striptease and the rub of the satin against his skin began to arouse him. He turned his back and slipped the robe over his shoulders, then cinched it quickly at the waist.

  Coby did the same. They admired themselves in the mirrors. “Jesus, Tyler, we look like old-time movie stars.”

  He had to agree. The robes were cut in such a way as to complement a more mature man’s sagging physique, so the effect on the young athletes was breathtaking. The satin and silk draped exquisitely around their square shoulders while falling open at their necks down to just above their belly buttons, framing like artwork the sculptured pectoral and abdominal ridges hewn from their years of grueling swim practice.

  “Come on, we better get back downstairs,” said Jeremy.

  “Just a sec, I thought I saw something else in here…” He bent over into the closet, searching for whatever had caught his eye. Jeremy, safe now to stare, admired the way the flimsy silk stretched over Coby’s Olympian buttocks, making him look like a statue artfully painted with green-and-gold paisley. “Here!” he announced at last, straightening himself up and turning to offer Jeremy a pair of black velvet slippers embroidered with gold. Jeremy reached for them, but Coby instead folded down onto one knee. “Allow me.” Jeremy lifted his right foot into Coby’s hand, and the slipper slid perfectly into place. Then he raised his left foot, but this time Coby held his calf muscle and squeezed it gently as he pushed on the delicate shoe. Jeremy’s breath stopped. Coby set his foot back down and looked up at him, face at crotch level, smiling.

  “Is…there another pair for you?” Jeremy asked, trying to mask his quickened breath.

  “These are all too small for me; I’ll go barefoot. Come on.”

  They made their way from the bedroom down the stairway to the landing that hovered over the living room, then posed, scowling and with their chests puffed out like models in a catalogue, waiting for the girls to take notice.

  Ellie was the first to catch sight. “Why, Reed, I think we’ve just been transported to the Playgirl Mansion,” she sighed from the sofa, her pumps already discarded, her toes wiggling on the top edge of the coffee table.

  Reed’s eyes followed the descending figures, trying to gauge which was the more splendid, but realized quickly that they were equally stunning. As Jeremy made his way across the room to her, she ogled him from head to toe. “If you were running for Playmate of the Year,” she murmured, “you would’ve just won.”

  He leaned over her and planted his lips briefly, yet wetly, onto hers. “Then we make the perfect pair, don’t you think?”

  “Like milk and honey,” Reed cooed.

  “More like silk…” Ellie tugged at Jeremy’s robe, then pointed at Reed “…and horny.”

  “Bitch, don’t start with me.” Reed wagged her finger.

  They spent the next hour in front of the crackling fireplace, languishing in their borrowed finery beneath the bison’s angry stare. Jeremy’s head lay cradled in Reed’s lap, her hand gently stroking the hair off his forehead, while Ellie alternately stomped around or sat, gesticulating constantly as she rattled off elaborate decorating ideas for the grand yet neglected home. And Coby stretched himself flat on the floor closest to the leaping flames, occasionally hurling friendly insults between long bouts of silence.

  Around midnight, Jeremy noticed that a snowfall began dusting white the tree boughs beyond the windows, and this made him think of Christmas.

  And Christmas made him think of his father.

  He imagined a younger Aunt Katharine sitting where he lay now, smiling contentedly as Jonathan rolled himself a snowman out on the deck, or leapt up the staircase, or dug into a bowl of Cheerios in the kitchen. He saw him diving off their private dock, then swimming capably in the rippling summer waters, whooping and hollering, scaring ducks into the sky.

  A longing twisted in him to know this man—to feel like his son.

  But he had known him once. Somewhere within his brain lived a memory, some neuronal impression that held, like a ghostly tape recorder, his strong young voice. And he made himself try to remember the sound, to conjure up the timbre and music of his voice calling Jeremy. But only silence echoed.

  His dad was as dead as that buffalo.

  “Baby, what’re you thinkin’ about?” Reed asked.

  He pushed his lips into a smile. “Nothing important.”

  “I’m thinking of a nice warm bed,” Coby announced from the floor. “I say we hit it, ’cause I’m beat.” He pushed himself up with a grunt, then stood over Ellie and offered his hand to help her up, which she hit playfully with her foot.

  “I’ll go in when I’m good and ready. I’m not the least bit sleepy yet. Are you, Reed darling?”

  “Why, the night is young, I must say,” she answered coyly.

  Coby glared at Ellie. She batted her eyes.

  “Whatever,” he said. “See you all in the morning.” He turned and ascended the stairs two at a time, then vanished into the blackness at the top.

  “Why didn’t you go with him?” Reed whispered, her brows furrowed.

  “You know he only wants what he can’t have, and this way I can make sure he won’t be asleep the minute after I climb in.” She stared impassively into the fire, her face and clothes flickering tangerine. “This whole stupid thing is just wrong; it felt like a mistake the minute we got back together.”

  “You are one crazy girl.” Reed shook her head.

  “But you guys love each other,” Jeremy said. “Shouldn’t you try and make it work?”

  “Who said anything about us loving each other?” she laughed. “That’s exactly what one of our problems is. I love him, but he’s incapable of loving anyone but himself. Why else would he break up with me, then bring Brynn, that world-famous crack whore, to my party? I made jokes all night about shoving her off the balcony into the water, but it was really him I wanted to throw overboard. And the worst part is that he knows if he makes me jealous, I’ll go crazy unless he comes back. It’s all a game to him.”

  “But why would he do that…you know…try to get you back, unless he loved you?” Reed asked.

  She shook her head. “You don’t know how his mind works; it’s like his ego hunts for sport. He just has this effect on people. It’s like his looks and how charming he can be combine to make this weapon that he throws like…a sexual grenade. And people don’t know what’s hit them.” She sighed. “I’ve seen him do this since he was fourteen, to girls and teachers and moms and scoutmasters and the geek behind the McDonald’s counter. It’s whoever he needs something from. And since I know this, I’m always asking myself, What is it he wants from me? Or am I, like he tells me, the exception?

  “And in spite of everything that’s wrong about us, we fit together somehow, maybe because we both want what we shouldn’t have. No one knows me like he does, which is both wonderful and scary as shit.” She pulled her knees up tight to her chest. “And most guys are scared of me; they’re intimidated. But Coby’s not,” she whispered. “He’s one of the
only guys I’ve ever known who isn’t afraid to be completely himself around me…and somehow that helps me be more myself, too.”

  “You’ve gotta move on, baby girl,” said Reed. “There’s a lotta guys out there who would love to be with you and would treat you like you deserve to be treated, every single day.”

  “That’s for sure,” Jeremy agreed, nodding with conviction.

  Silence descended, then a round of yawns volleyed. Ellie swung her legs off the sofa, planted them on the carpet, and stood. “It’s been about ten minutes; he’ll probably be all worked up in there by himself. If I wait any longer, he’ll be snoring and I’ll have to sleep in a wet spot.” She smiled, waving. “Good night.” Then she turned and headed toward the stairs.

  “Good night, Ellie,” they answered in unison.

  And then they were alone.

  “Reed?”

  “Um-hmm?”

  “Let’s go upstairs.” He clutched her hand and gently pulled her up from the sofa as the last of the embers glittered, then died.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Stay there. I’ll be right back. Could you light the candles?” She tiptoed to the bathroom and closed the door. He untied the elegant braided cord encircling his waist, paused, and then reknotted it. He found some matches in the nightstand and lit the twin red candles—thick as soda cans—that she’d set out on each of the nightstands, and then switched off the lights. The sputtering candles made the thrusting shadows of the bedposts shiver against the walls.

  How was he going to get through this? He had little information to go on and, it seemed, even less instinct. What was he supposed to do first, and then after that? He’d heard that the first time was painful for girls; how could he experience any kind of pleasure when he’d be hurting her? What if he wasn’t able to stay hard? How could their relationship continue if he found himself uninterested in her, or even—God forbid—totally turned off?

  “I’ll be out in a second,” sang her cheerful, muffled voice from behind the door.

  Moments later, she emerged wearing a cream-colored bra and panties, and a confident smile. “What do you think? Is this appropriate attire for the lady of the manor?” Her coffee-colored skin glowed in the flickering light, and her hair, which she usually pulled back, fell down to her shoulders.

  “Probably not, but I’ll never tell,” he said with a grin. “My God, you look so…incredibly beautiful.”

  She stepped toward him. “No more than you, baby,” she whispered, as she clutched the lapels of his robe and slid the garment from his shoulders. It fell in a silken heap on the carpet. “Like I said, we go together like milk and honey.”

  Their mouths opened to each other. Her hands smoothed his bare chest, then he hugged her close to his body. The warmth of her against his naked torso stirred him. He began to relax.

  Her mouth broke away from his. “It feels like I’ve waited my entire life for tonight.”

  “Me too. I can’t believe this is finally happening.” As their tongues rejoined, his hands caressed her breasts and pressed them and kneaded them gently, like tender fruit.

  “Here, let me help,” she gasped, closing her fingertips onto the center point between the two generous cups. With a thick, her bra fell open. His hands slipped the disabled garment from her shoulders, then instinctively searched out her delicate nipples. They hardened under his touch.

  “Baby, you’re so gentle,” she cooed. “You sure you’ve never done this before?”

  A smile split his face. “Beginner’s luck.” He bent down and suckled her.

  “You don’t feel like a beginner,” she gasped, stroking the hair on his head. “Let’s get into bed.” She pulled his mouth to hers and licked his lips, pushing him backward but staying together as a unit, joined at the mouth, like erotic Siamese twins, until his buttocks bumped hard against one of the bed’s posts. Their progress stopped, and she looked at him expectantly.

  Was it his turn to be the aggressor? Her eyes told him yes. So he turned her around, grasped her shoulders, and laid her carefully back onto the cushy new comforter Arthur had so thoughtfully sent along. Her arms locked around his neck, and she pulled his body up on top of herself.

  “Won’t my weight hurt you?” he asked.

  “Only a little,” she murmured. “But I like it. I want to feel your whole body covering mine.” She reached between their bodies and, with a trembling hand, pulled the knotted drawstring of his pajama pants loose. “I want to feel all of you, baby. Inside me.”

  Their eyes held, searching for deep truths.

  “I love you, Jeremy.”

  She’d been determined not to be the first to say it on this night of nights, but the restless phrase had fluttered out of her mouth before she could slam its cage shut.

  “I love you too, Reed.”

  She slipped her hands under his waistband to the top of his buttocks, then caressed them, delighted by their velvet solidity. His breaths deepened, and he began stiffening between her legs. She felt his unmistakable pressure against her and relaxed; her doubts about him, as well as her therapist’s admonitions, were unfounded. She felt it finally safe to surrender herself to the coming pleasure.

  They were home free.

  Her hands began sliding his pants down past his hips. “I want you, Jeremy. I want you so bad.”

  “I want you too.” His lips grazed hers and then traced a trail down her neck. While leaning on his right arm, his left pushed his pajamas off, and his hardness brushed her thigh.

  She’d better say something.

  “Baby, isn’t there something you need?” she whispered urgently.

  Her question shattered his single-mindedness into sudden jumbled static, but he forced a short mental inventory anyway.

  Shit!

  “Reed, I’m sorry. I…guess I forgot to buy some before we came up. But hold on, and I’ll run downstairs and get some from Coby.” He pulled up his pants and pushed himself off her, then stood. “I’m sure he’s got some.” He picked up his robe from the floor and threw it on, then turned to go. His hand was on the doorknob when her voice froze him.

  “You forgot to buy condoms,” she said calmly, and he turned to face her.

  He saw that she looked puzzled.

  “Hey, it’s not a big deal. It’s…just that this whole trip was last minute, and I had so much to pull together, and I was nervous about driving up here on that road, and I had way too much on my mind. I’m sorry. I blew it.” He needed to see this event through to the end, and nothing was going to stand in his way.

  “Mr. ‘I-Don’t-Want-to-Wind-Up-Like-My-Parents-With-an-Unwanted-Child’ forgot to buy condoms.”

  He crossed his arms. “We said that when the time was right, we’d both know it. But out of respect for you, I didn’t want to assume that this trip was going to be that time. I thought we’d discuss it more before it actually happened.”

  “Discuss it more?” she asked, her eyebrows identical arches. “Discuss it more? What more could we discuss?” She pulled a corner of the comforter up to cover herself. “You must be the only teenage guy in the world who doesn’t have a condom in his wallet at this very moment. Even the ugliest, biggest losers carry condoms, if only to prove that they’ve actually got a dick.”

  “Look, Reed, I’m sorry. This is all kinda new to me.”

  “Oh, I get it. Wanting to make love to your girlfriend is something that’s new to you.” She tumbled out of bed holding her bra across her chest, then stomped to the bathroom where she retrieved her robe. She tied it on hastily, her breasts jiggling underneath. “Look, Jeremy. In case you haven’t noticed, something’s wrong here. I’ve tried to deny it since almost the beginning, but there’s just too many things that don’t add up.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked defensively. “You’ve never said anything about this before.”

  “I mean that you’re just not normal.” She stepped over to the bed and sat on the edge, arms folded.

  “Would you mind t
elling me exactly what you mean by that?”

  “Look, don’t get angry. I’m just trying to make sense out of all this.” She looked down, rubbing her temples. “What I mean is that you’re just not the way guys usually are with me, and I feel like I’m always getting things started when it comes to us being…together.” She cinched the tie on her robe, and Jeremy mimicked her action. “I’m not trying to brag when I say this or make you jealous, Jeremy, but ever since I can remember, boys wanted to be with me, to touch me, and they were really obvious; sometimes it was frustrating just keeping them off me, you know? And then you came along, and I didn’t have to deal with things like that.” She raised her eyes to his. “At first I thought it was because you were raised right. You know, a gentleman…which you are.” She half smiled. “And then as time went on, I started getting this feeling about our relationship—that we should be going through stages, and we’re not. Like when someone has a baby and they compare it with their friends’ kids, knowing that around a certain age it learns to crawl, and after that it stands, then walks, then…whatever. And I think even you see that we’re not going through the stages like we should.”

  “What are you saying?” he whispered, his eyes a show of calculated ignorance.

  “What I’m saying, Jeremy, is I think we’ve already got our unwanted child…and it’s hopelessly retarded. Our relationship’s not working, for whatever reason, and it probably can’t.” She blew out a heavy sigh, and her shoulders collapsed.

  “All this because I forgot to buy a condom?”

  “Look. Maybe I’m overreacting, and if I am it’ll all look different in the morning. I think we both need to sleep on it. But in the meantime, I think it’d be better if we didn’t stay in here together, not tonight at least.”

  “Yeah, I think so too,” he nodded, deflated. “I’ll go downstairs and sleep on the couch. None of the other beds are made up.” He snatched a couple of blankets from the foot of the bed. “Look, Reed, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. You’re the last person on this earth I ever wanted to hurt.”