by Lucy Lennox
Which had an unwelcome wisp of jealousy curling through my belly as I wondered who that condom and lube were meant for. Not me, because I had no illusions about what this encounter was.
The bark of the tree felt rough beneath my hands and cheek as I waited. I should have used the time to remind myself why this was such a supremely bad idea, but all I could think was, hurry the fuck up. I closed my eyes when I felt his latex-covered dick brush my crease as he shifted behind me. He was muttering something to himself and I could have sworn it was words about my tight ass and tiny hole, but my brain was so jumbled by then, I wasn’t sure.
Suddenly I felt his free hand grab one of my ass cheeks and squeeze before his lips landed on the back of my neck, sucking and nibbling across my nape before he whispered against my ear.
“Tell me you want this, Benny. I’m about ten seconds from fucking you into this tree. Please god, don’t tell me to stop.”
The unexpected gentleness after his earlier coldness had me squeezing back the tears. “Please,” I whispered. “Please, Xander.”
“Please what, baby?”
The endearment finally made the tears slip over and cascade down. “Please. I need you inside me.”
Chapter 13
Xander
I didn’t even know how it happened. One minute we were screaming at each other by the creek and the next I was about to slip lubed fingers inside of my former best friend. It was too late to stop. Hell, I didn’t want to stop. I had to have him.
I tried not to think of Aiden or how this would confirm Bennett was a cheater. Or whether the kids could walk up and catch us. It was just the two of us, trying to get inside each other’s skin the way I’d always wanted. He was finally going to be mine. Even if it was just for a few fucking minutes, he was mine. And I was going to make this moment so good for him that every time he felt Aiden’s hands on him, his flesh inside him, it would be me who was there in his mind.
The feel of his smooth skin under my palms was setting every nerve ending on fire, and I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to keep my hands still enough to prep him properly. The lube packet almost jumped out of my hands as I brought it to my mouth to tear open with my teeth.
After squeezing some onto my fingers and then my cock, I sent up a prayer that Bennett was somehow naturally pliant and wouldn’t require much prep. Because regardless of how much he needed, he was getting about next to zero. I was just too far gone to give him anything more.
I slid a cool, slick finger into his hole and groaned, dropping my forehead onto his shoulder as I felt the tight squeeze of his ass pulsing around my digit. Holy mother of god, Bennett’s body was absolute heaven.
My Bennett.
“Stop fucking around and get in there,” Bennett gasped, reaching around with his hand to grab the wrist of the hand I was currently fucking him with.
“Shhhh,” I whispered into his ear. “Don’t wanna hurt you.”
“You won’t. I promise. Please, Xander. Please.”
His pleas made my cock jump up against my abdomen and I had to grab the base of it to keep from shooting too soon and wasting the goddamned condom.
“Baby, stop begging me or I’m going to come before I even have a chance to get inside you,” I warned in a low voice.
“I’m ready,” he said and then he was pulling my fingers from his ass and searching out my cock. The feel of his fingers surrounding me had me ready to blow, so I knocked his hand away and grabbed my dick and put it against his opening. My body was shaking so hard, I could barely breathe.
“Benny,” I couldn’t help but whisper, though I didn’t know why I was saying his name.
“I know,” I heard him say just as softly.
And that was it. The thought of giving him one last chance to end this disappeared and I pushed into him, not stopping until my crown was buried inside him.
“Fuck,” I growled as his body engulfed mine. “Can’t stop,” I cried as my body clawed at me for more.
“Don’t stop,” Bennett ground out and even as I pushed forward, he was pressing back against me. I knew I had to be hurting him, but I couldn’t do anything about it.
“Benny…” I said as I pressed against his back and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Feels so good,” he cried out and then his face was turning so he could make eye contact with me. “Kiss me, Xander. Please fucking kiss me.”
I sealed my mouth over his as I drove into him and I swallowed his gasp. The angle was awkward as I kissed him, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to ever stop kissing him. He was so tight and hot around me, I forgot all about why I’d started this whole thing. I’d meant to fuck him so I could get him out of my system once and for all. But I knew I’d made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Once would never be enough.
A lifetime would never be enough.
I pulled back and pushed into him in one long stroke.
“Yes,” he groaned against my mouth.
As desperate as I was just to pound into him, I was reluctant for this to end and I knew that was exactly what would happen as soon as I picked up the pace. But I also knew my body wasn’t going to accept the slow fucking, either. Even as my hips rolled slowly against his, wedging me deeper and deeper inside of him, my orgasm was there just beneath the surface.
“Fuck,” I bit out as I kissed Bennett one more time. “I have to…” I said with a shake of my head.
“Do it,” he urged. “Fuck me hard, Xander. I’m yours.”
His words did what nothing else could have. I settled my hands on his hips and slammed into him. Bennett braced his hands on the tree to keep from hitting it as I began pounding into him. His mouth closed over his forearm to keep from crying out as I began fucking him with everything I had. There was enough moonlight to see the gorgeous slope of his lower back and the tight muscles that rippled as he accepted my pummeling. I was holding onto him so hard, I knew he’d have bruises in the morning. That thought propelled me on. He’d carry my mark. Even if I couldn’t mark him in the way I really wanted, he’d see those bruises and he’d remember this moment. He’d remember how perfectly we fit together.
Sweat began to roll down my back beneath my shirt and I regretted that I hadn’t had the foresight to take it off. The night was quiet around us, so I could hear our heavy pants and the jangling of our clothes as our bodies writhed together in perfect unison.
Bennett released his grip on the tree long enough to drop one hand to his cock. I quickly reached around to knock his hand away. “Mine,” I snarled and then I dropped my weight onto his back and gripped his waist hard with one arm while I began jacking him off, all as I continued to slide in and out of him with hard, full strokes. Bennett’s whimpers of pleasure erupted into full-on moans and I quickly realized why.
The change in position had me hitting his prostate.
I managed to keep the angle as I lifted my left hand to Bennett’s mouth to cover his ever-increasing cries of pleasure. His dick was leaking all over my fingers while his inner muscles worked my cock. I could tell he was purposely clenching around me every time I pulled back and the effect was devastating… in the best way.
“I’m going to come,” I warned, barely able to keep my voice from carrying.
Bennett frantically nodded and used both hands on the tree for leverage as he began fucking my dick just as fiercely as I was fucking him. Mere seconds passed before his body locked up tight and he clamped down on me so hard that I was sure he was never going to let my dick go. I shoved into him hard as I felt his scream try to penetrate my fingers. My weight forced him almost flat against the tree as my cock began releasing into the condom. I couldn’t stop from humping into him over and over with jerky pumps as my orgasm took over. I bit down on Bennett’s shoulder to stifle the shout of pleasure that tore free of my throat as the release consumed every part of me.
It could have been hours or minutes before I finally felt my senses begin to return. I still had Bennett plaster
ed against the tree and my hand continued to cover his mouth while the other massaged his softening, wet dick. I knew I needed to pull out of him, but I knew what it would mean when I did.
It wasn’t until the air began to feel cool against my heated skin that I was reminded of where we were and that just a few hundred yards away was the group of kids this trip was supposed to have been about.
And Aiden.
Acid rolled violently in my belly as I released my hold on Bennett and grabbed the edge of the condom so I could pull out of him. I stepped back and removed the condom, tied it off and shoved it in my pocket before rinsing my hands in the cold stream. Bennett didn’t move at first. But I knew it wasn’t because I’d hurt him, at least not physically, anyway.
I reached for my pants to pull them up and finally saw him do the same with his, but he still didn’t turn around. I knew I should say something, but I didn’t know what.
“Bennett,” I began anyway.
“Don’t,” he said. “I know what you’re going to say.”
“What am I going to say?”
“It was a mistake.”
He was right, but somehow hearing him say it actually hurt.
Bennett finally turned around, and I cursed the fact that I couldn’t see him better. Were his cheeks flushed with color? Was he still breathing hard? Was his body still shaking like mine was?
“We should… we should just stay away from each other for the rest of the trip,” I said.
Bennett nodded and I wanted to curse out loud. Again, he was giving me exactly what I wanted.
So why the hell did it hurt so fucking much?
The awkwardness of the moment was broken by the sound of raised voices. When Bear started barking from the direction of camp, I knew something was wrong. I took off running toward camp with Bennett right behind me.
Chapter 14
Bennett
It was a bear. I just knew it. A bear had invaded the camp while Xander had been fucking me up against that tree.
All the post-orgasmic bliss along with the rush of emotions that had followed disappeared as I ran as fast as I could back to the camp. The kids. I had to get to the kids.
The sight that greeted me was both a relief and disappointment at the same time. Several of the kids were locked in a heated fight and caught in the middle of the small group was Aiden, who looked like he’d been roughed up a bit. Xander reached them first and stepped between Calvin and Toby. My eyes landed on a small form huddled on the ground just behind Toby and I knew who it was almost immediately. Bear was standing protectively in front of Lucky, but thankfully the dog didn’t see me as a threat as I rushed past where Xander was pushing Toby and Calvin apart. Aiden had already managed to break up two of the other older boys who’d been going at it at the same time.
“Sit!” Aiden yelled as he pointed to two separate logs on either side of the fire. “You!” he snapped at Calvin. “Go walk it off!”
“Fuck you!” Calvin retorted. He had blood dripping down from a small cut on the side of his mouth.
“You want to say that to me again?” Aiden asked, his voice low and cold as he approached Calvin. While Aiden was the happy-go-lucky, sarcastic playboy type ninety-nine percent of the time, I’d seen enough to know he was a guy you just didn’t fuck with that other one percent of the time. Calvin stepped back at his approach, and then turned on his heel and stalked off towards the lake. I turned my attention to Lucky who was still curled into a ball. I could hear him crying.
“Lucky,” I said softly as I carefully put my hand on his shoulder. I knew enough not to grab him, even though I wanted to offer him some comfort. I rubbed soothing circles against his back as Bear came over to snuffle Lucky’s face. The dog did what I couldn’t and had Lucky’s body relaxing enough that he could bury his hand in the dog’s fur. The big animal dropped to the ground and began licking Lucky’s face. The boy’s sobs slowed, but I still didn’t hurry him. I tried to be patient, though I was desperate to see his face, to hear him talk. I was dimly aware of Xander and Aiden ordering the kids to bed, but I didn’t pay them any attention.
“Lucky, can you talk to me?” I asked as I carefully leaned over him enough to run my fingers through his hair. He finally turned to look at me before sitting up. I managed to stifle a gasp at the sight of a small gash next to his left eye.
“Here,” I heard Xander say behind me and I turned enough to see him hand me a dampened piece of cloth. I took it, but instead of handing it to Lucky, I went to work cleaning the blood and dust off his face myself. Bear had plopped his big head down on Lucky’s lap.
“What happened?” I asked.
But Lucky just shook his head.
“You know you can tell me anything.”
Lucky’s eyes darted to a spot just behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Aiden talking to both Calvin and Frankie, a kid who practically worshiped the ground Calvin walked on. The two of them together weren’t the best combination.
“He started saying some stuff while we were cleaning the dinner dishes,” Lucky murmured.
“What kind of stuff?” I asked. I wanted to get him off the ground, but he seemed more content to have Bear draped across his lap. I let him be and settled myself down into a more comfortable position.
“Nothing,” Lucky said with a shake of his head.
I sighed. I’d made a lot of progress with Lucky in the year since I’d found. I’d spotted him outside a club where I’d gone to meet my then-boyfriend. I’d noticed Lucky lingering by the alley next to the club, but it hadn’t been until I’d seen an older man approach and try to lure the boy into the alley that I’d realized what was happening. As soon as I’d started walking towards them, the man had taken off, the cash he’d been waving in Lucky’s face disappearing back into his pocket. Thankfully, the alley Lucky had darted into had been blocked off on one end because the boy had moved a lot faster than me. It had taken me several long minutes to convince Lucky to let me take him to a nearby restaurant to get something to eat and talk.
The guy I’d gone to meet at the club had dumped me the very next day, despite my explanation that I’d stood him up because of a family emergency. But I’d ended up with something so much better.
“Remember what I told you the night we met?” I asked.
Lucky was silent for a moment before nodding. “Secrets are shit.” A small smile tugged at his mouth. “That’s when I knew you were a dweeb.”
I chuckled and said, “I never claimed to be good with the words.” I resisted the urge to ruffle his hair. “Tell me what happened.”
He sucked in a breath and said, “He was saying shit all night.”
“Calvin?” I asked.
A nod and then, “And Frankie. Started while we were fishing… he kept calling me names and stuff. Like usual.”
Yeah, I knew what that meant. I’d had the conversation with Calvin twice already about his treatment of Lucky since we’d arrived in Colorado. I just wished I’d seen the behavior before we’d left New York so I could’ve pulled Calvin from the trip.
“While we were cleaning the dishes, he started saying you and me… that he knew how I’d paid for the trip.”
Since my company’s foundation had paid for the trip, I knew Lucky was talking about the things that hadn’t been covered. While the cost of the gear had been taken care of, each kid’s family had been responsible for making sure they had the right clothes and personal items for the trip. Since Lucky’s foster family hadn’t been able to afford any of that, I’d paid for it all. I’d even bought him a camera so he could take higher quality pictures than his phone would allow.
“What did he say?” I asked.
Lucky chewed on his lip for a moment and then said, “He asked if you were fucking me or if you preferred taking it.”
I sighed because I’d figured it was something that crass. I’d never hidden my sexuality from the kids and I’d sensed Calvin had an issue with sexuality, but hadn’t had the balls to say anythin
g to Aiden’s or my face.
“I pushed him and told him to shut the fuck up. Then Frankie stepped in and hit me. When I fell, he started kicking me. That’s when Toby got involved and then some other guys joined in.”
“You know guys like him say that shit because they’re afraid, right?”
When Lucky’s eyes lifted to mine, I said, “They’re afraid of people who aren’t like them. And they hide that fear by lashing out… by trying to make others feel like less.”
“I couldn’t just let him say that about you,” he murmured.
I sighed and stifled my need to ruffle his hair. No need in giving Calvin more ammunition to use against Lucky. “I know,” I responded. I had no doubt Lucky would have been able to ignore the taunts if they’d just been directed at him. I stood up and held out my hand to help him to his feet. “Why don’t you try to get some sleep? We’ll talk more in the morning.”
Lucky’s fingers toyed with Bear’s head. “Can… can Bear sleep in my tent?” he asked hesitantly, but I realized he wasn’t talking to me.
I looked behind me to see Xander standing less than a dozen feet away. He’d likely heard everything Lucky and I had said.
“Sure,” Xander said with a smile. “But be warned, he snores… and farts.”
The comment made Lucky smile. He nodded and then he patted the dog. “Come on, Bear.” Thankfully, the dog followed him without any kind of hesitation.
I turned to go toward the fire, but stopped when I saw Aiden standing near the entrance to his tent with his arms crossed. He waited until Lucky disappeared inside the tent he was sharing with Toby and two other kids before he strode across the camp towards Xander and me.
“Lake, now,” he snapped. I winced at the sight of the bruise on his jaw. His normally perfect hair was all over the place and his clothes were covered in dust. There was a small tear in his shirt.