“Gimme ten minutes to go get the snow off my car and then I’ll head in your direction. Oh and you owe me beer.”
Scott trudged up the stairs and waited in the kitchen for Mark to arrive. When he saw lights pulling into the driveway, he went out onto the back porch.
Mark got out of the car. “Do we have to watch out for a sneaky child?”
“No, the sneaky child went off with Lynn to see the grandparents for a couple of hours.”
“Okay, good. Where’s the kit?” Mark asked.
“In the basement.”
Mark followed him into the house and down the stairs.
Nobody should be that organized. Scott wanted to beat his head against a hard surface. It took Mark about forty minutes to put the dollhouse together.
“Voila!” Mark made a sweeping arm gesture, and grinned. “You owe me a beer.” He sat with his arms braced behind him on the floor, legs crossed.
“How ‘bout a kiss then a beer?” Scott pushed Mark flat and laid down on top of him, indulging in a deep kiss. The sound of footsteps upstairs grabbed Scott’s attention. “Lynn and Kari are home.” He hastily stood up and offered Mark a hand. “Help me move it into the other room.”
The assembled dollhouse was hidden near the washer. Mark walked back out into the main room of the basement and sat on the worn sofa, legs stretched out in front of him.
Lynn came down stairs. “I figured I’d find you here by the time I got home.” She lightly tapped her fist on the top of Mark’s head.
“Your confidence in me is just amazing,” Scott said and mined getting shot with an arrow.
Mark and Lynn shared a smile.
“We’ve known you too long,” Mark said. “Technical instructions…er, not exactly your forte.”
Scott stuck his tongue out at Mark. Lynn just laughed.
* * * *
Scott: 2007
Scott’s cell phone chirped as he stood in the precinct pouring himself a cup of coffee. Transitioning to detective was a mixed blessing, better pay, and somewhat better hours but the stress of closing of cases was a total bitch. He dug his phone out of his pocket and looked at the display. It was Mark.
“What’s up?” Scott said.
“I have a proposition for you.”
“Oh? That sounds interesting.” Scott could have gone for a lewd comment but standing in plain sight of a half dozen other cops, it was more than he dared.
“Wanna go fishing for a couple of days?”
“Who, all of us?” Scott asked.
“No, just you and me. Two days. Leave tomorrow night, drive up, fish, drink, do whatever, drive back Sunday afternoon. One of my colleagues over here rented a cabin up at Deep Creek, but his kid got slotted to play running back on his high school football team instead of bench warming. The cabin will go to waste.”
“Rachel?”
“She said it was okay with her, she has to work half the weekend anyway.” Mark sounded vaguely desperate.
“You’ve only been married for four months. The honeymoon is barely over.”
“No go?”
“Let me call Lynn. No promises. This is awfully short notice,” Scott said.
“I know. I could have said no, but I thought it might be good to get away even if it was for a day or two.”
“I’ll try to call you back in a couple hours if I can.”
“Okay.”
When Scott hung up, he stood with the phone in his hand, thinking. He was damn sure no actual fishing would occur if he went. Unless you counted hide the trouser trout…That thought firmly lodged in his head, Scott’s emotions were in turmoil. Mark was about to cheat on wife number two. He was still cheating on wife number one. He could say no, but it had been weeks since he’d so much as managed a kiss with Mark. The idea of nearly forty eight hours alone, no watching eyes, no danger per se…God, that was an enticing idea.
It took a phone call to Lynn, Lynn to make a call to double check her work schedule and a phone call back to Mark to make it all happen.
Scott spent the next day in nervous anticipation.
When Mark pulled up in front of Scott’s house, it took several minutes to load a duffel bag, a fishing rod and a tackle box and the rest of the gear into the car.
“See you on Sunday,” Scott said and waved goodbye to Lynn and Kari before he slid into the car.
Fifteen minutes down the road, Mark asked. “Are we even gonna take the gear out of the car?”
“Enh, not sure.” Scott gazed at Mark.
“You didn’t have to say yes to this.”
“I…yeah I did.” Scott reached across the car and laid his hand on Mark’s thigh. The ability to just touch his lover without worrying who might see was heaven itself. The moments were too rare.
It took a couple of hours to drive to the cabin. It was one of the rental places that surrounded a lake. There were other cabins within sight. Not much talking had occurred on the drive.
Mark parked the car. “Leave the fishing gear for now.”
This prompted a half grin from Scott. “Are you in a hurry?”
“Yes.”
They carried duffle bags and a cooler into the cabin and set them down. Thirty seconds later Scott was pinned against the wall with Mark’s mouth sealed over his. Mmm…he wrapped his arms around his lover and pulled him close, close enough for the two of them to grind against each other. “Think this place has beds?”
“It damn well better.” Mark was already starting to push Scott’s T-shirt up.
“Try that way.” Scott pointed in the general direction of an open doorway and he pushed Mark that direction.
“Lube’s in my bag.”
“Oh, we’re gonna need that.” Scott pried himself loose enough to grab the bag and they both headed toward what they assumed was the bedroom. He dropped the bag at the foot of the bed and pushed Mark down flat. He stripped off his t-shirt and started undoing his belt.
“Do you want me to get naked, or are you doing the honors?” Mark teased.
“We’re prolonging the anticipation.” Scott left his jeans on, but toed off his shoes.
“Oh really…”
Scott knelt between Mark’s spread legs and palmed his lover’s crotch. Mark was already hard. Scott rubbed some more, until Mark was bucking up against the pressure of Scott’s hand.
“If the object of this is to get to me to blow my load in my pants, you’re getting close,” Mark said, teeth clenched.
Scott stopped the motion of his hand then leaned down and kissed him. “Then maybe I’ll give you a break.”
“Bastard.” He hooked a leg around Scott and pulled him down to lay on top. Mark put both hands on Scott’s ass and kneaded the muscles there.
They ground against each other for a few minutes before Scott slid off and skinned out of the remainder of his clothes. Mark stood up and matched him.
“Face up or on my knees?” Mark asked.
“Face up. You know I like to watch you come undone.” Scott brushed his knuckles down the length of Mark’s arm to his hand and kissed the palm.
Mark stretched out on the bed, knees flexed and Scott worked him open, then rolled a condom onto himself. They’d gotten a whole lot better at managing the mechanics of this. Pushing into the now slick heat of Mark’s body, Scott gulped a breath, struggling with control. This was probably going to be over very fast. The delicious part though, was they had plenty of time for more later. He looked down at Mark, whose eyes were heavy lidded, and pupils wide, teeth pressed into his lower lip. God…Mark was just so gorgeous like that. Scott thrust into him and that drew a low grunt from Mark that bordered on a moan. Scott did it again, and again. Mark’s face contorted and his hands groped at Scott, half petting, half clawing. Scott felt the squeezing pulse of Mark’s body and the flood of sticky between them. It only took another minute for Scott to come. He placed a sloppy kiss on Mark’s mouth. “Jesus…so good.”
They lay tangled, a languid, pleasurable tiredness stealing through them, as Mark trai
led his fingers up and down Scott’s back. Eventually they cleaned up, got dressed, and unpacked the rest of the stuff from the car.
The two of them leaned against the porch railing, each with a beer in hand, looking out across the water of the lake.
“This was a good idea,” Scott said.
“It sounded like too good an opportunity to turn down.” Mark reached across the space between their bodies and took hold of Scott’s hand, rubbing a thumb against Scott’s knuckles.
It was such a small gesture and yet it hit Scott in the heart in a way that made him catch his breath.
“You okay?” Mark asked, a concerned look on his face.
“Yeah…I…things have been too busy lately.” Scott set his bottle on the railing, then took Mark’s from his hand and did the same. Scott looped his arms around Mark’s neck and kissed his lover. Their early romp had been about the physical attraction that always seemed to linger between them, so often unsatisfied. This…this was emotion, something they so seldom talked about. Scott nibbled at Mark’s mouth, bumping noses and feeling the warmth of his lover’s breath on his lips. He ran his fingertips along the nape of Mark’s neck.
Mark wound his arms around Scott’s waist and whispered, “I love you.”
* * * *
Scott: 2008
“Are you sure you have a clue how to fix this?” Scott asked.
Mark lay on his back under the sink in Scott’s kitchen. The thing had started leaking last night.
“Yeah, it’s no big deal. It’ll take an hour or so,” Mark replied.
Scott stood apprehensively, leaning back against the counter a few feet from Mark. He could only see Mark from about mid-chest down.
Groping for a pair of channel locks that lay just out of reach, Mark said, “Can you hand me those?”
Scott put them in Mark’s hand, taking full advantage of standing over the top of his lover’s legs to admire the way the threadbare jeans hugged Mark’s body. Across the front, the fly was stretched across the soft bulge of Mark’s package.
“I really like having a small pair,” Mark said.
Oh really that was just too damn good an opening. Scott held his breath for a moment to suppress his laughter. “Really? Usually people like a big pair
“I can’t get into tight places with a big pair.”
“You have a fondness for tight places, do you?” Scott began to laugh.
Mark stuck his hand out from under the sink, and gave Scott a middle finger salute. “That would be you.”
“Complaints?”
“No.”
“We could switch things up some time,” Scott offered. Why the hell was he bringing this up in his kitchen with his wife one room away, doing laundry?
For several seconds there was little more than the sounds of Mark working on the piping. “I thought you weren’t interested in catching.”
“I don’t know, I never tried.”
“Can you reach under here and hold the left hand piece in place? I need three hands,” Mark said.
Scott put one knee down between Mark’s legs and stretched his arm up under the sink to grip the piece of piping, all the while trying to maintain enough balance not to sprawl on top of Mark.
At that moment Lynn came into the kitchen. “Playing Twister?”
“Not quite,” Scott answered. His face was hot.
“Well anything that involves less water all over the floor will be an improvement,” Lynn said. She walked back out the room.
* * * *
Mark: 2009
Mark answered his cell phone as he walked across the parking lot at the precinct.
“Hey, Scott.”
“It’s done. All signatures on the appropriate dotted lines. All custody agreements in place.”
“You still want to meet up for a drink?” Mark asked. Scott had signed divorce papers that afternoon. The process had been in the works for the better part of a year. His divorce had been more complicated because of having a daughter. All in all, Mark’s opinion was that Scott and Lynn were still on surprisingly good terms despite the end of their marriage. A tiny smidge of guilt flickered through Mark, wondering if his relationship with Scott was the cause, even if Scott had never mentioned that.
“Yes, big yes. I’m working the night shift but I can spare an hour for a beer and a friendly face.”
“Yeah I guess I qualify as a friendly face.”
“Bastard,” Scott said.
“Murphy’s?”
“Yeah, that’s a good place. See you there in an hour.”
Mark lit a cigarette as he finished walking to his car. It would have been nice to snag a couple of private hours with Scott, but that wasn’t going to happen tonight.
Traffic on the beltway always sucked wind. It took Mark almost the full hour to get to Murphy’s. Scott’s drive must not have been much easier, because he was getting out of his car as Mark pulled into the parking lot. Mark parked and waved at Scott. As Scott walked in his direction, Mark let his gaze take in the stress lines on Scott’s face. God, he just wanted to wrap his arms around his lover and hold the man.
“You look very definitely in need of alcohol,” Mark said. They drew close and Mark reached out and squeezed Scott’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay.” Yeah, it was a lame thing to say, but it was the best thing he could come up with in a public place.
“I swear I am so tempted to call in sick and get hammered tonight.”
“You could, but think about the hangover. Do you really want to spend the morning puking up your shoes and hoping your head doesn’t explode?”
“That’s a magnificent picture,” Scott replied and rolled his eyes.
“But truthful.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
They went into Murphy’s and ordered, sitting at a table way off to one side, so they could talk in moderate privacy.
“How’s Kari dealing with this?” Mark asked. He worried about his god-daughter as much as he did his longtime lover.
“She knows I still love her and we already have something approximating a game plan for the times she’s going to be with me.” Scott spent a while explaining the details with Mark listening patiently. He knew Scott was trying to work through the heart ache and misery of his emotions.
“The two of us should take her to the National art gallery,” Mark suggested. “She adores that place.”
Scott nodded.
Mark lowered his voice. “You know if you do decide to blow off work…we could get a hotel room.”
The look Scott gave him was raw. “It’s tempting. It really is.”
“The offer is on the table.”
“What about Rachel?”
“I could tell her I got called in to cover for someone,” Mark said.
Scott looked like he was about to ask something, but didn’t. He picked up his beer and had a sip.
* * * *
Mark: 2010
Lying on the garage floor, under the frame of a 1974 Dodge Charger Mark put some muscle into turning a nut. The thing was badly rusted and it was being a bitch to get off. Speaking of bitches…Mark’s thoughts turned to Rachel. They’d been married for three years. He was beginning to think that was at least one year too many. The past few months had been filled with shouting and arguing. Sometimes it was about money, sometimes it was about his job and the hell and erratic hours and sometimes it was about shit that seemed to make no sense at all.
“You know you look about like a homicide case, feet sticking out like that,” said a familiar voice.
“Scott?”
“Who else do you know who makes dead body jokes?”
Mark slid out from under the car and saw Scott leaning against the garage tool bench. Scott offered him a hand up.
“I didn’t know you were coming by,” Mark said.
“Do I need a reason?”
“Never.” Mark had to smile.
“So what’s wrong with this thing?” Scott pointed at the car. “Besides needing some prett
y fair body work.”
“Transmission problems.”
“That sounds like a pain in the ass. So is this your latest fixer upper?”
“I sold the Camaro for twice what I paid.” Mark wiped his hands on a rag.
“But how many hours did you put into restoring it?”
“Maybe eighty spread over about four months. And I actually like working on them, you know that.” Mark tapped his fist against Scott’s chest.
Scott smiled and reached out and grabbed Mark’s hips, pulling him close. “Can I steal a kiss?” His voice was barely a whisper.
“Yeah.” Mark tilted his head and kissed him with enthusiasm. It had been months since the two of them had managed to steal a few hours of private time. There was always something crazy magic about kissing Scott. Maybe it was the knowledge it was forbidden. Like sneaking a cigarette in the locker room at work, only a hundred times sweeter. Knowing that Scott wanted it too was another layer of arousal. “Want you.”
“Here in the garage?” Scott gave him a look that was both dubious and pleading at the same time. “Unless you got stuff hiding in the tool bench…”
Mark chuckled. “Shit, I knew I’d forgotten something. Socket wrench, pliers, wire cutters, but no lube.”
“Guess we’ll have to forgo bending you over the Charger”
Fondling Scott’s crotch, Mark said, “I could blow you.”
Scott moaned and nuzzled against the side of Mark’s neck, nipping at skin. “God yes, if you’re in the mood to.”
“I’ve missed you.”
“You saw me last week,” Scott said.
“Shooting the shit for fifteen minutes at your precinct in front of ten other guys isn’t quite the same.”
“Yeah, okay, you have a point.” Scott kissed him again, his tongue invading Mark’s mouth.
Mark fumbled with Scott’s belt and zipper, finally getting them open. He slid his hands inside Scott’s underwear, shoving his briefs and jeans down far enough to expose his dick. Groping him first then changing to stroking, Mark dropped to his knees and licked up the length of his lover’s cock. The low, breathy groan let him know just how much Scott was enjoying this. They’d done this enough that Mark knew his lover liked a little hint of teeth, so he nipped lightly at the tip before sucking.
They were quiet, aware that there was always the possibility of a neighbor hearing something. What Mark didn’t expect was Rachel’s voice.
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