Sparkle

by Jerry Cole

  “Looking at me like that is not in your best interest,” Simon whimpered. Sparkle smiled seductively and rested his chin on Simon’s shoulder without saying a word. “I’m too tired and too-”

  Sparkle didn’t allow him to finish listing all the reasons why he couldn’t resist the doe-eyed diva. Taking charge of the moment, Sparkle pressed his soft lips against Simon’s, easily giving way as his probing tongue plundered the sweetness that was Sparkle Jones—clutching Simon’s jacket as his hands cupped the generous curves of Sparkle’s buttocks and gently kneaded them. Sparkle wasted no time in wrapping his legs around Simon’s waist. Simon whimpered again and spun around in his seat, pinning Sparkle between the seat and his body.

  “Funerals make you hot?” Sparkle gasped, as the fire between them threatened to consume all of the oxygen in the car.

  “You make me hot. The funeral…was a long time coming, and it would have been so much harder if you hadn’t been there.”

  “So, this is payment for services rendered?” Sparkle loosened the tie around Simon’s neck as he spoke.

  “No, this is my way of taking advantage of your greatest talent.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Making me forget,” Simon said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The sound of heavy breathing entered the penthouse long before they did. Simon was careless and desperate, seeking an escape from the pain in his heart. Sparkle could feel the pain in his blistering kisses and the not-so-gentle bites that Simon delivered to every inch of exposed skin, making him feel raw and hot all over.

  The door barely closed behind them before Sparkle found himself naked on the cold hard floor. His jacket and blouse were discarded in the back of the limo, with some mild assurance that the driver would leave it with the doorman. His hat was gone. Sparkle silently mourned the loss. It was hard to find hats that fit his face.

  Simon’s body seemed to get harder, as if the large mounds of muscle that rippled so smoothly beneath his heated skin were transforming into stone. Sparkle could feel the change in Simon beneath his fingertips.

  This was not the Simon who dreamed of carving out a haven for gay men in a city that didn’t always have room for them. This wasn’t the Simon who cooked sumptuous meals and drank wine. This wasn’t the Simon who cried silent tears at the bedside of his dying mother. This Simon was devoid of all the tenderness and warmth that made him adorable.

  This Simon wanted to run from all the tender and raw places in himself, forget his fears and secret nightmares, and bury himself in the comfort of Sparkle’s body. He tore at his own clothes, tossing the ruined shirt and pants away from his body, before he advanced on Sparkle.

  Something within Sparkle told him to run, even though he knew it was futile. He was deep in the lion’s den now and had walked in willingly. There was no stopping the man Simon had become. He was aggression and sex and mindless-need personified. Sparkle scooted back across the floor, trying to delay the moment he knew was coming.

  “Don’t run,” Simon growled.

  “Simon, baby, wait!”

  Simon grasped Sparkle’s ankle and pulled him towards him.

  “Don’t run!”

  Sparkle’s heavy breathing filled the space between them. Fear and lust mingled in his veins, confusing his rational mind and allowing his instincts to take control.

  “Simon. Wait!” Sparkle cried out, his body shaking. Simon smiled wickedly at Sparkle’s startled expression. The look infuriated Sparkle, who hated to be laughed at. Without thinking, he balled up a fist and launched it at Simon’s face, landing squarely on his jaw.

  Simon turned his head and looked at him curiously. Sweeping his tongue through his mouth, Simon tasted his own blood for the first time in more years than he cared to recall. The slight sting of the wound, where his teeth sliced his flesh, did nothing to abate his desire.

  Sparkle looked up at the beast that had replaced the man he knew. His eyes were bubbling cauldrons of dark desires. Neither man moved as they both tried to reason with their sore bodies and troubled psyches. Tired of feeling like a caged bird, Sparkle launched himself at Simon, wrapping his legs around him tight and pulling Simon’s inky black hair.

  The sudden jerk on his hair clutched in Sparkle’s hands caught Simon by surprise. His quick intake of air hissed through his teeth, as Sparkle fused their lips together. He was already in a no-win situation; he might as well try turning the tables.

  Simon clutched and squeezed the two round mounds of his backside as Sparkle chased his tongue through his mouth. Simon smiled inwardly at Sparkle’s foolish tactic. Whether the sparrow chased the hawk, or the hawk chased the sparrow, the result was the same. Simon’s erection became its own agony as Sparkle continued his chase.

  Fuck him! Fuck him! Simon’s body cried out, creating an echoing chorus in his mind, but he refrained from pushing any further. He wanted Sparkle. He wanted him desperately and without any of the safeguards that sobriety and mutual affection usually provided. He wanted Sparkle submitted to the pain and the pleasure of pleasing him.

  Simon pried Sparkle’s fingers out of his hair and coaxed his lithe body backward. Sparkle’s strong legs still wrapped tightly around Simon’s waist, he pressed Sparkle’s back against the cold floor and easily captured both wrists in his hands, pinning them above his body.

  Sparkle closed his eyes and shuddered as the anticipation of Simon’s hot mouth on his skin made the seconds tick by slowly. Simon didn’t disappoint, kissing his writhing body, biting down on all his most sensitive spots as punishment for resisting and a warning that running away would be foolish. Simon palmed Sparkle’s member roughly, tugging at his turgid length in a way that offered no release but only fanned the flames between them.

  “Simon,” Sparkle whispered, tears filling his eyes as Simon continued to use his body. His hands, once strong and commanding on Sparkle’s skin, were greedy and brutal. Poking and prodding, kneading and stroking, as if they couldn’t recognize the human being they had in their grasp.

  “Don’t run,” Simon panted, “this is all of me.”

  Not a command. A plea. All of him. Sparkle wasn’t sure what it was he felt for this man. He was almost convinced that their relationship was built on mutual desperation and fear of being alone. Until that moment, pinned beneath Simon, as he held on to his self-control by the tips of his fingers, Sparkle felt something else bloom in his chest. A sweet ache that he hadn’t felt since…Jerrod.

  “You have me,” Sparkle said, his quiet resolve visible in his eyes. Simon stilled, realizing that Sparkle had wrapped his legs around him, pulling his body closer. Simon’s tight grip on Sparkle’s wrists eased slowly, and Sparkle wrapped his arms around Simon’s chiseled chest, connecting their bodies from hip to shoulder.

  “I…” Simon faltered.

  “You have me. And I got you, Simon. All of you.”

  The words seemed to soothed the tempest raging in Simon. For a moment, something warm and familiar flickered in the grieving man’s eyes. Simon pulled away from Sparkle’s arms long enough to retrieve a travel sized tube of petroleum jelly from the draw of the end table and squirt a healthy dollop into the palm of his hand.

  Sparkle held his breath, knowing what would come next. Don’t run away. He wouldn’t run. Sparkle continued to look Simon in the eyes as he felt his body cruelly plundered. He cried out, but he didn’t look away. He didn’t run. He held on tightly as Simon attempted to fuck the hurt away, stroking the bucking man’s back as he weathered the storm.

  Simon felt something inside himself burst, a spot he hadn’t known he’d been nurturing. It exploded with the pain of years of self-loathing and guilt, bleeding through his consciousness, as all the unsaid words he should have whispered to all of the people he should have loved, swirled through his mind. His mother, his father, Damon, oh God Damon. He should have told them all before they left him. He should have been himself and let them love him.

  “I love you.” Simon forced the words out be
tween thrusts; they sounded painful.

  Sparkle looked up Simon’s tortured face, the pain of loss seeping into his skin as Simon galloped between his straining thighs. All the pretenses and barriers that he clung to fell away. He wouldn’t hold back from Simon. He would love him unconditionally, even if it didn’t work out in the end. He would give him what he only ever gave one other person: his heart.

  Sparkle closed his eyes as Simon’s rapid pace increased and then stopped. The feeling of Simon’s spent cock inside of him was a warm relief.

  “I think I love you too,” Sparkle whispered, cradling Simon’s head against his chest. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard the exhausted banker sigh a little. Sparkle smiled too. He felt the same way.

  Sparkle dislodged himself from Simon’s embrace and crawled into the bathroom. Dignity be damned. Locking the door behind himself, he faced the mirror and took deep breaths as he tried to make peace with what he had just done.

  Bomb dick is one thing but love, bitch? Love? You are getting very messy.

  Sparkle turned on the shower and pulled his hair up away from his neck. The evidence of Simon’s savagery was written all over his buttery soft skin. Deep red blotched, bruised hand prints and teeth marks dotted the landscape. Try as he might, he couldn’t bring himself to regret one of them.

  “Are you okay in there?” Simon’s deep voice boomed through the locked door.

  “Bitch…you marked me!” Sparkle feigned outrage.

  “No pain, no gain.” Simon replied, nonchalantly.

  “Uh-huh. And what do I gain, exactly.”

  “Open the door and find out.”

  Sparkle stared at the door. Self-preservation warred with a perverse curiosity.

  “I thought you said you don’t break the things that are yours.”

  “Are you broken anywhere? Do you need me to kiss it better?” Simon’s voice was pure seduction.

  “Ha!” Sparkle crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the locked door, feeling very confident in his immediate safety from Simon’s greedy hands and lecherous looks.

  “Come on baby, let me kiss it better,” Simon moaned, his voice sounding as if his head was against the door.

  Sparkle ignored him and stepped into the hot shower, lathering up quickly and letting the hot water begin the process of soothing his strained muscles. There had to be a softer side to Simon Burns. At this rate, Sparkle would have to give up modelling. One could only explain away rug burns and love bites so often before people started to look at you weird.

  After toweling off, Sparkle took the time to apply arnica oil to the faint bruises and body butter to his skin. Running a brush through his hair, Sparkle stared at his reflection.

  “Yass bitch, work,” he declared, spinning around naked in front of the mirror.

  “I approve,” Simon said as the bathroom door swung open.

  Sparkle was caught off guard by the intrusion and glared at the smiling naked man. Simon held up an old-fashioned key for Sparkle to inspect.

  “It’s still my home after all. And I have access to EVERYTHING in it.”

  Ignoring the intimate implications of Simon’s words, Sparkle turned back to his reflection in the mirror and applied a light serum to his face, massaging it in with his fingertips.

  “You approve? You can do better than that,” Sparkle sashayed over to Simon and turned his face up, as if expecting a kiss. “How often do you get to say you slept with an easy, breezy, beautiful, bad-bitch?”

  Simon cracked a smile and delivered a blistering kiss to Sparkle’s waiting lips. With barely a grunt, Simon lifted Sparkle off the floor and carried him back to the bed. Sparkle braced for impact as he felt his body react to Simon’s strong hands cupping him under the buttocks and carrying him aloft. Sparkle returned each kiss, letting Simon sweep into his mouth and taste him, holding nothing back. Sparkle landed on the mattress with a soft thud, and then filled the room with the sound of heavy breathing and muffled moans as Simon sought out all of the sensitive spots on Sparkle’s body and gave them his undivided attention.

  Simon took special care of Sparkle’s tender and swollen cock. Licking him from tip to base, before sucking the whole length into his mouth and exuberantly pleasuring him. Sparkle clutched Simon’s hair in his fists and tried not to make too much of a show of himself as Simon brought him right to the precipice of annihilation before withdrawing.

  Simon rose above Sparkle, the beast between his thighs standing thick and tall. Sparkle eyed the monster with a twinge of fear.

  “Again?” Sparkle said, marveling at how vigorous this old man was proving to be.

  “You don’t want it?”

  Sparkle bit his lower lip as he thought about it. Simon lowered himself between Sparkle’s slightly outstretched legs, allowing the slick head of his erection to slide against the inner thigh of the naked diva. Pressing his cock against Sparkle’s entrance, he whispered roughly in Sparkle’s ear:

  “If you don’t want it, just say so.”

  The deep rumble of Simon’s voice made Sparkle shiver, and Simon slipped his hot length into Sparkle’s welcoming body without hesitation. He cooed as Simon took his time, making sure Sparkle felt every inch. Sparkle palmed his own manhood as Simon began to move him.

  “It feels so good inside you. Do you like my big cock?” Simon whispered, letting the words trip off his tongue as he pushed Sparkle over the edge.

  Sparkle barked his approval as his body spasmed with the force of his orgasm.

  They came together twice more, slowly, softly, with tears and caresses that more than made up for the brutality of their earlier joining. Spent and sated, Sparkle cuddled against Simon’s chest, letting the moonlight cast its silvery beams across the room.

  Despite only meeting Victoria Burns once, he felt as if the trauma of her passing was something that he shared with Simon. It was theirs alone. And love? Even thinking about it made Sparkle fearful and hopeful as well. How many times had he been a fool for those three words? How many times had he heard them, knowing they were hollow? Was he still being a fool?

  Definitely.

  He was about to say something when Simon suddenly stirred beneath him.

  “Let me up,” Simon warned, pushing Sparkle to the side. He rolled out of bed cleanly and rushed across the bedroom; his taught butt cheeks clenched tightly. Slamming the bathroom door behind him, Sparkle could guess the source of Simon’s emergency. Sparkle chuckled to himself.

  “That’s called justice, asshole,” Sparkle said, rolling his eyes as he settled between the sheets. His body was already starting to give him hell and it was clear he was going to spend the majority of his day off in bed, recovering from Simon’s “outburst.”

  Twenty minutes later, Simon was racing for the toilet again.

  It happened three more times before Simon’s body was completely devoid of anything to pass. By that time, Sparkle’s revenge was all but forgotten, replaced by a genuine concern for the health of the man who had tormented him only a few hours ago.

  “This isn’t normal,” Sparkle said, sitting up in bed.

  “I have had an upset stomach the last few days. I think it’s just stress,” Simon said, flopping back into bed next to him.

  “Okay, but stress will give you ulcers and high blood pressure. You need to make an appointment and see your doctor,” Sparkle insisted.

  “I’ll be fine. I’m healthy as a horse.”

  “When horses get sick, they put them down.”

  “See, I’m not ready to go out to pasture yet. I’m fine,” Simon rolled over, closing his eyes.

  “Simon-”

  “Sean! I just buried my mother. The last thing I want to do is spend any time in a doctor’s office letting him poke around.”

  Sparkle wasn’t convinced, but he also wasn’t ready to fight about it. Simon was right; the past days had been stressful enough to give anybody an upset stomach. If he were truly sick, it wouldn’t disappear overnight. There would be plenty of tim
e to catch it and treat it. Hopefully, it was just a combination of stress and poor diet…hopefully.

  Sparkle didn’t sleep. He sat beside Simon, watching the sun rise on the horizon.

  Love.

  He had promised Victoria that he would look after her son. He had promised Simon that he would look after his heart. Sparkle recalled all of the sermons on love that he had absorbed over the years. It wasn’t just a warm feeling. It was a promise to put the other person’s needs above all of your wants. It was a promise to take care of the things that mattered most.

  Sparkle kissed Simon’s cheek softly as he crept out of bed. The pain in his body made his exit less than graceful, but he managed not to wake the sleeping giant. This feeling wasn’t anything like the movies or even the scenes of his favorite novels, but it was clear to Sparkle that it was still love.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Simon woke up with the feeling that something was wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but the room felt colder than it was supposed to. The world felt emptier than it should. He reached out blindly, looking for the warm body he knew should be in his bed and met the cold sheets instead.

  “Sparkle?”

  His voice bounced off the walls and dissipated in the silence of his apartment. He was alone. Truly alone for the first time in his life. The thought terrified him. He felt small and unarmed in a world that gobbled up small men like him.

  “Breathe,” he said, turning on the television to drown out the silence. He could feel his chest tighten and his heart race as he fought off the anxiety of the day. Where the hell was Sparkle? Checking the time, it wasn’t that late in the morning. Sparkle couldn’t have been gone for too long. Why would he leave?

  Simon rolled out of bed and went searching for underwear. He couldn’t sit in bed and wait. That was what losers did. He wasn’t a loser. He was a successful man, respected, desired, envied. Simon walked barefoot into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of milk. He downed it in three gulps and decided that the walls of his penthouse were too close together for his taste. He needed to get out.