A Simple Truth

by Jamie Craig

  “Remember what I said about it being over before it really gets started?” Charlie rasped. In a desperate bid to distract himself from how amazing Bryce’s hand felt, he redoubled his efforts in getting to the other man’s cock, his nails scratching over Bryce’s stomach along the way. Only when he finally wrapped his hand around the steel shaft was he able to exhale properly. “God, if I’d known you felt this good, I would have found some way to jump you three years ago.”

  Bryce shuddered. “It wouldn’t have been hard to do. ‘Bryce, I want to jump you’ would have sufficed. Let me show you how it works.” He leaned back so Charlie could see his dark eyes. “Charlie, I want to suck your cock.”

  How could he say no? It was more than hearing that kind of a request. It was the blaze in Bryce’s face when it came. Unequivocal. Shattering.

  His hand shook as he smoothed it down Bryce’s chest, though tangling in the hair was oddly soothing. “Yes, please,” he whispered. He swallowed. “Then you have to let me do the same.”

  Bryce grinned before sliding off Charlie’s body and to his knees, pulling Charlie’s pants down his legs with him. “Absolutely.”

  He ducked his head and Charlie could no longer see the raw desire on his face or in his eyes, but he felt it well enough when Bryce took a deep breath and sucked Charlie’s crown between his lips. His head dropped back and his eyes fluttered shut as Bryce guided Charlie’s length deeper in his mouth, inch by slow, teasing inch. Stubble brushed against his smooth skin, and Bryce’s strong fingers kept him in place.

  Bryce’s hand had been a pale appetizer in comparison to the hot suction of his mouth. Charlie clawed at his shoulder, trying his damnedest not to fight Bryce’s grip. It was difficult, maybe one of the hardest things he had ever done. He couldn’t remember any mouth ever being so warm, or any tongue ever teasing him the way Bryce’s did. Sarah had gone down on him often enough, but she didn’t have the spine-tingling roughness of whiskers, or the knowledge that a cock wasn’t going to break if you didn’t treat it with kid gloves.

  “God…Bryce…” He wanted to tell him how good it felt. He wanted to say how he’d never experienced anything like this before, how he didn’t want him to stop, anything to convey just what this was doing to his body. But anything more than those few panted words escaped him. The best he could manage was lifting his hand to Bryce’s hollowed cheek and holding the side of his face.

  Bryce’s other hand was as busy as his mouth. It roved over Charlie’s stomach, his thighs, his balls, and he was far from gentle. He scratched, he squeezed, and occasionally, Charlie wondered if Bryce might actually be bruising him. But none of it really hurt. It just served as an amazing contrast to Bryce’s soft mouth, to the hot suction around his length, and the moans vibrating through his skin.

  Everything ached. From the soles of his feet, to his tightening balls, to his neck where goose bumps had erupted the second Bryce’s tongue touched his cock. Charlie was enveloped in fire, and he didn’t know where he ended and Bryce began anymore. He thrashed against the couch, but the friction against his bare ass only compounded his pleasure, only prompted him to start driving into Bryce’s mouth. He wanted to feel those lips at the base of his cock. He wanted to feel those whiskers scratching across his balls.

  He might have voiced that desire, or maybe Bryce just understood without the need for vocalization. Either way, it wasn’t long until Charlie knew exactly how it felt to have Bryce’s mouth sealed around the base of his cock. His throat closed around the head of Charlie’s cock, constricting each time Bryce swallowed. He held Charlie for an impossibly long time, giving him the chance to become fully acquainted with the heat and pressure of his throat.

  When he pulled back, they both gasped for breath. But then Bryce swept back down, and Charlie lost the power of his lungs, and the world went red when the passage constricted around his cock yet again.

  He cried out. His body jerked away from the couch, as if it was actually possible to get deeper in Bryce’s mouth, and his orgasm radiated through him, wave after wave of heat as he shot down the other man’s throat. When Bryce swallowed to catch the come, the sensations only intensified. Nothing should have ever felt this good. And Charlie had denied it to himself for years. Never again. He vowed that, then and there.

  Bryce didn’t let Charlie’s cock slip from his mouth until he caught every drop of come. Charlie felt boneless, like he could simply melt into the couch. But beneath his satisfaction was a new hunger—he wanted to taste Bryce’s salty skin and feel the weight of Bryce’s cock against his tongue. But Bryce surprised him by standing, and then taking a step away from the couch, out of Charlie’s reach.

  Charlie’s gaze raked over him. His skin was flushed, his shirt hanging open to reveal a body tight and muscular. His jeans were still open, too, and the clear fluid glistening at the tip of his long, gorgeous cock made Charlie’s mouth water.

  “You want to go in the bedroom?” Somehow Charlie found the strength to push himself up, but that simple motion made Bryce step even farther away. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m…I’m sorry.” Bryce zipped up his pants but didn’t bother with his shirt. “I shouldn’t have…I think I should probably go.”

  Panic replaced the deep-seated satisfaction in his gut. “What? Why? Did I do something wrong?”

  “No. But I’m pretty sure I did.”

  Bryce was moving closer and closer to the door. Charlie scrambled to his feet and almost immediately tripped over his pants. “No, that was amazing. You have no idea…”

  “You are amazing, Charlie. But I still shouldn’t have…” He rubbed his forehead. “I think this will be easier to talk about when my head isn’t such a mess.”

  “So why does that mean you have to go?” He fumbled with his pants, yanking them up so he wasn’t standing there so exposed. “This wasn’t supposed to drive you away.”

  “I know it wasn’t. But you…you need me to be a friend. Not the asshole who takes advantage of the situation.”

  “You’re not an asshole.”

  Bryce snorted. “If I’m not now, I will be if I stay. We’ll talk about this later, when there’s less wine involved and less…everything else.”

  Charlie couldn’t move as Bryce went to the door. Disappointment tasted bitter. Clearly, Bryce had regrets, and the fact that he didn’t even want to stick around and let Charlie get him off said as much as any explanation he might offer. The knowledge churned Charlie’s stomach, and he folded his arms over it in a vain attempt to calm it down.

  “Okay,” he agreed. What else was he supposed to do? “Maybe when Dean leaves tomorrow night, I’ll call you. Tell you how the date went.”

  Bryce yanked the front door open. “Yeah. I’m not going out or anything tomorrow night. Good luck with…everything.”

  Then he was gone. But Charlie remembered the look on Bryce’s face long after he’d cleaned up and gone to bed.

  Chapter 4

  The only thing that didn’t make Charlie lock the door and pretend not to be home for his date with Dean was the fact that the food had turned out so great.

  He’d barely slept after the encounter with Bryce. He kept replaying it over and over in his mind, wondering what he had done to mess up. Bryce had been so compelling—It feels good. It’s fun. I’ve been having fantasies, too. So where did it go wrong? They had acknowledged a mutual desire when Charlie had come out to him in the first place. They were both grown men. They had known the score before moving out of the dining room. His fears about it affecting their friendship shouldn’t have factored in since Charlie had had little chance to reciprocate.

  Charlie couldn’t figure it out. The only answer that made sense was that maybe Bryce had discovered that it wasn’t as satisfying or exciting as he’d dreamed about. Charlie was practically a virgin in a lot of ways. Virgins were only desirable in fairy tales. In real life, they forgot when not to use their teeth, or they gagged when they swallowed too much, or they whined about it hurting. His
inadequacies had obviously been enough to compel Bryce to forego an orgasm for himself, though it didn’t escape his attention that the closest he’d gotten to sucking the other man’s cock was biting his neck.

  When the knock came at the door, he almost dropped the wine he had been pouring. He had no idea which tasted best with the fish. He didn’t even want to drink any after the previous night. But a plan was a plan, and he was going to see this date through, one way or another. He just had to get himself together long enough not to require emergency medical treatment before the night was over.

  He had expected Dean’s charming smile, not Bryce’s green eyes and furrowed brow. “Dean’s not here yet, is he?”

  Charlie shook off his surprise with a, “No, no, not yet.” He pulled the door wider, though he didn’t know if extending the invitation was welcoming disaster. “Come on in.”

  “Good, because I wanted to talk to you before he got here. And if I had to wait until after he left, I’d probably lose my nerve.”

  The panic that had stricken Charlie at Bryce’s hasty exit the night before returned. This was the explanation he now realized he didn’t want to hear. From the way Bryce couldn’t meet his eyes, there was no way this was going to be good.

  “Whatever you want.” He took a half-step toward the kitchen and stopped. “I guess offering you a glass of wine would probably be a bad idea, huh?”

  “Maybe later. Wine apparently doesn’t agree with my head.” Bryce ran his hand through his hair, looking distracted and more uneasy than Charlie had ever seen him. “Look, I don’t want you to have this date with Dean tonight. I don’t want you to see him at all. I wish you had never met him.”

  His eyes widened with every word to come from Bryce’s mouth. “You’re the one who insisted on getting me out there. Unless…do you know something about him I don’t?”

  “No, I don’t know anything about him except what you told me. He sounds like a great guy. And anybody with eyes could tell you that he’s hotter than hell. But I thought I could do this, and I was wrong. I thought I could help you find a few boyfriends, and help you with your dates, and encourage you to go out in the world. I can’t. Because then I’ll just stay up all night, every night, wondering why you’re dating the Deans of the world. Instead of dating me.”

  It wasn’t what he expected. He hadn’t anticipated that maybe the reason Bryce ran was because he’d felt like he had an ulterior motive. At least his comment about being an asshole made sense now, though Charlie still disagreed with it. But the last thing he’d ever thought to hear from his best friend’s mouth was a desire to date. He’d been so helpful about Charlie’s need to adjust, willing to be there for endless questions and even more insecurities. Charlie had assumed that came from a place of friendship, and maybe it still did mostly.

  But the fact that he would even confess as much as this meant there was more.

  “Is that…is that what you want? For us to be…more than friends?”

  “It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time. I didn’t want to put that on you right now because you’re still working stuff out. But these feelings aren’t going anywhere, and I thought it was only fair to let you know. You can tell me what you want from me or if you want anything from me at all.”

  Though he wasn’t talking fast, Charlie still had to race to keep up with everything Bryce was saying. His mind was having too much difficulty processing it all.

  “But you didn’t even know I was gay. How long have you felt like this?”

  “It doesn’t matter that I didn’t know you were gay. You’re easily the best looking guy I know. You’re smart. You’re a great cook. You’re a great dad. You get so flustered when you feel out of control and I just think it’s really…cute.” He paused for a moment before adding. “Since before your divorce.”

  Years. Bryce had felt like this for years. And of course he hadn’t acted upon it because they were friends, and Charlie was presumably straight, and Bryce was too good of a guy to ever do anything Charlie didn’t want. Even the night before…

  It struck him then why Bryce had stopped. Because he’d wanted just a taste of what he thought he couldn’t have and convinced himself he could probably keep it fun. Only he couldn’t once things started heating up. And he’d done the honorable thing and walked away.

  “I didn’t know.” It sounded lame even to him. “You’re my best friend, Bryce. You’ve been there when I needed you most. You were fantastic about my coming out. It never even crossed my mind that you’d be interested in something else.”

  “I know.” He moved like he was going to go to the door, then paused and sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come over here now. I really don’t want to make things unnecessarily awkward for you, but I didn’t want to have a repeat of last night either. You know, the last part that wasn’t any fun.”

  Charlie shook his head. “It’s not awkward. It’s just…” He laughed unexpectedly. “Apparently, you’re a lot better than I am about handling surprise announcements. It’s just taking me longer to absorb it. But I don’t want you to go. If you don’t want me to see Dean, then I won’t.”

  “And see me instead?”

  He swallowed against the tightness of his throat. “I might have underplayed my attraction to you when we talked about it before. I didn’t want to freak you out because I think you’re utterly amazing.”

  “Really? Utterly amazing?”

  Though there was a faint tease in his tone, there was even more delight, like Charlie had said the magic words. “I was completely serious when I said I thought guys would fall into your lap. When you’re around, I have a tendency to forget other guys are even there.”

  Bryce closed the space between them, taking Charlie’s arm to pull him close in a half-embrace. Charlie didn’t resist him. “I didn’t want to leave last night, but I honestly didn’t know if either one of us were ready for what I knew would happen.”

  “Maybe we need a real date to be ready.” The force of Bryce’s gaze took his breath away. “I’m willing to try if you are. If you don’t think it’s going to ruin our friendship.”

  “I think if it’s what we both want, it won’t ruin anything.” He leaned in, like he was going for a kiss, but diverted at the last moment to nuzzle against Charlie’s neck, inhaling deeply. “What time are you expecting Dean here?”

  “Within the half hour.” The hardest thing he had ever done was let Bryce go, but he did, if only to keep from touching him in ways that were going to get both of them in trouble. “Is there someplace public I can take you for a real date? Where we don’t have to hide the fact that we’re on the date together? Like dinner and dancing or something.”

  “Yeah. Why don’t you come pick me up in an hour? I’ll make myself all pretty for you and we’ll go out.”

  Smiling at Bryce’s suggestion was the easiest thing he’d done all day. “It’s a date then.”

  * * * *

  Fifty-six minutes later, Charlie walked up to Bryce’s front door with a far lighter heart than he’d had an hour earlier. He hadn’t actually been able to catch Dean before leaving for Charlie’s house, but after the young man had arrived, he’d done the only thing he could. He told him the truth. Everything had gotten infinitely easier when he’d reached the part about Christian and Dean’s confused face had shifted into horror.

  “You have a kid?” Like Charlie had some contagious disease or something.

  After that, Dean couldn’t leave fast enough. And Charlie still had enough time to dress to the nines and get to Bryce’s before his time ran out.

  Bryce had apparently had the same thought, because Charlie had never seen him looking so nice. He wore black trousers and a black shirt with a dark blue tie. He also had a slightly shy smile that made his already handsome face even more charming and boyish.

  “I’m glad you’re early.”

  Charlie smiled. This was already easier than Dean. This was his best friend, the man who knew him in and out. “I’m glad I guessed r
ight about to wear.” He swept his gaze over Bryce, hungrier than he expected. “You look fantastic.”

  “Thanks. It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve had to dress up for a first date. Though I guess it’s been even longer for you.”

  “Everything’s been longer for me.” He stepped back and waited as Bryce locked up. “Do you mind driving? I don’t know where we’re going.”

  “I don’t mind driving at all. Come on. I was able to get reservations at a new Italian place I like a lot. Apparently, it was the last table for the night.” Bryce opened the passenger door of his truck and smiled. “So I guess it’s a good thing I decided to storm over to your house when I did.”

  “I’d say it was a very good thing.” He slid in and watched Bryce walk around the front to get in the other side. As soon as the door was shut, Charlie leaned across the gap and grasped the back of Bryce’s neck. “And I’m going to do this while I still have an ounce of nerve left…”

  He closed the distance between them and sealed their mouths together. Darkness blanketed them from neighbors’ scrutiny, but right then, Charlie didn’t give a damn who saw them kissing.

  Bryce moaned and cupped the back of Charlie’s head, threading his fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. He held Charlie so tight that, for a moment, he wasn’t sure Bryce had any intention of letting go before they really gave the neighborhood something to talk about.

  But then it was over, Bryce’s breath warm across his mouth. “You’re pretty good at that.”

  “I think I’m going to need a ton of practice, though.” He slid back to his side of the seat, achingly hard now. Discreetly, he shifted his erection in order to get more comfortable. “I’ve got fifteen years to make up for, after all.”