“Huh?” Nick asked, interrupting his own tirade.
“Gotcha. Gotcha good, didn’t I? So you are in love with the kid. About time you had the balls to admit it. You dumb Italian bastard. Don’t know a good thing when you have it, do you?”
Comprehension slowly dawned, softening Nick’s tense features.
“You son of a bitch!” he hissed. “You played me. You set me up!”
“Yeah, smart guy, and you fell right into the trap,” Jon gloated. “So tell us, Austin, buddy, how’s it feel to know that big, butch, independent Nick, here, was ready to fight me over you? Ready to put up his fists and punch me out, to keep me from moving in on his territory? Man! You don’t want to get these Italian dudes really mad, do you? They’re likely to cut your heart out and hand it to you on a plate.”
Austin finally found his voice. “Before you two big macho guys actually come to blows over me, listen to me for a minute.”
“Yeah, what?” Nick demanded. He now looked embarrassed.
“I love you both, but there’s really nothing to fight about. I love you in different ways. I love you like a brother, Jon,”
“Thanks, babe,” Jon said, smiling. “Right back at you!”
“But you, Nick, you I love, well, like a lover.”
Nick’s guard was now down, and he looked at Austin with the kind of tenderness the younger man had observed, coming from Nick, transforming him, whenever they had sex.
“Right back at you, too,” Nick said, softly.
Jon stood up. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled.” He went over to Austin’s chair, leaned over him, and kissed him on the mouth, a kiss that was arguably more passionate than fraternal. Then he went over to Nick and kissed him, too. “Forgiven?” Jon asked.
“Asshole.” Nick gave Jon a light slap on the cheek. “Yes, you’re forgiven.”
“Good. I’ve got to start packing,” Jon said, matter-of-factly.
“I’ll help you,” Austin volunteered.
After Nick had a chance to calm down a little, he went in search of the other two men. They were in the studio, where Austin was indeed helping Jon to pack. They appeared to be deep in conversation.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Nick asked.
“No. I was just trying to talk Jon into changing his mind and staying here longer,” Austin said. “But he can’t, not on this trip. Maybe next time.”
“And you guys can come down to New York to stay with me, you know. Any time,” Jon said.
Nick looked pensive. “I’ve been thinking, Jon. About what we discussed the other night. You weren’t here, Austin. Jon and I were trying to come up with some sort of a longer-term plan for him. I suggested that he might want to help me run the adult website. God knows I’ve got my hands full with my legitimate computer work. I could use a little help. Jon could do it out of his apartment in Manhattan. It’d just be a question of getting him the right hookup, so his computer could talk to mine. And of course he could still appear in videos for me, in addition to helping me peddle them. Another alternative, if Jon ever gets tired of life in the big city, would be for him to come here and live with me.”
“Which is starting to sound good to me in theory,” Jon interjected quickly. “But I wouldn’t want to, ah, make things more complicated for you two. Two’s company, three’s a ménage à trois.”
“You wouldn’t get in the way,” Austin insisted. “Not as far as I’m concerned. I’d enjoy having you around, just like I know Nick would. I wouldn’t be jealous, if that’s what you’re worried about. I might feel insecure if it was some other guy I was sharing Nick with, but not you. We’re friends, Jon. The three of us are friends.”
“It’s sweet of you to say that, Austin. Still, all this will require some thought, and planning. No need to make a decision right away. After all, you and Nick haven’t even had a chance to have a honeymoon yet,” Jon teased. “It’s a little early, yet, to be opening up your relationship. Get married first, before you start talking about having an open marriage. Like that buddy of yours, Denny, you told me about.”
Nick had to laugh. “You crazy bastard. Me, married. The very idea!”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Jon gave Austin a knowing, conspiratorial glance. “All it might take is the right guy.”
The following morning, they took Jon to the station, to catch his train back to New York. Jon seemed ebullient as he boarded the train and waved goodbye, a different and more optimistic man than the one who’d arrived in town only a couple of weeks previously.
“I’m sorry to see Jon go,” Austin said, as they got back into Nick’s car. “This town is going to seem dull without him.”
“And the house is going to seem empty, without him,” Nick responded.
“Do you think he might take you up on your offer to work for you?”
“I hope so. It’d be a good deal for both of us. All three of us. You’d be part of the equation, Austin, in one way or another.”
“Jesus. The ‘equation.’ When you put it like that, you make it sound kind of dry and academic. Like just another business venture. But never mind. I know that’s how your mind works. Do you think Jon might ever agree to move here, or at least come to stay on a regular basis?”
“I’d like that. Would you? Honestly?”
“Honestly, yes.”
“Are you trying to tell me Jon could be my competition, Austin?”
“You don’t have any competition. Not with me. Although, now that you mention it, a little competition might do you good. It might shake you up a bit, keep you from taking me for granted.”
“Do I take you for granted, Austin? If I do, I don’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
Austin suddenly felt rather uncomfortable. “I was teasing you, Nick. I wasn’t being serious.”
“Sometimes people tease each other about things that are really quite important and serious to them. That way Jon faked me out, pretending he was going to lure you away from me, was a good example. Anyway, Austin, this whole discussion of possible living and working arrangements reminds me of something I wanted to talk over with you. I remember you telling me you pay your parents room and board. Do they need the money?”
“Not really. I just feel obligated to help them out, as long as I’m living there. It’s tough to keep the refrigerator stocked with me around, for one thing.”
“If you lived somewhere else, rent-free, you could start saving up some money.”
“Yeah, and where I am going to find this sugar daddy who’s going to take me in as his ‘houseboy’?” Austin asked.
Nick winced a little. “Well, I guess that would be me. I was going to suggest that you move in with me. I’ve got all that room, and you spend so much time at my place already. So to me, it makes sense.”
“Nick. Are you proposing that you ‘keep’ me?”
“No. I’m proposing that you move in with me. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t expect you to quit your job at the garage,”
“Okay, I’m sorry about the ‘sugar daddy’ crack.”
“Forget about it. Comes with the territory, I guess, when a guy my age hooks up with a guy your age. Anyway, I suppose we could agree to share the cost of groceries, fifty-fifty. You’ve already been doing so much to help me around the house, you can keep on doing all that, only now at least you’ll be getting a place to live, in exchange for it. And of course I’d still pay you for any work you do on the video shoots. That’s business.”
“You seem to have worked it all out in your head.”
“Well, I’ve had plenty of time to think about it. Now I guess you’ll want to take some time to think about.”
“No, I don’t need any time. I like the idea. I’ll move in with you.”
“Good.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible. This afternoon, tonight—whenever you please.”
“It won’t take me long to pack up my stuff and bring it over. There isn’t that much.”
“I’ll help you.”
&nbs
p; “Nick, does this mean that I’m finally your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know. It means we’re going to be two guys living together, and working together, in your spare time. Two guys sleeping together. You can stick whatever kind of a label on it you want.”
“Nick, you are so fucking unromantic!” Austin exclaimed, in exasperation.
Nick flashed him an apologetic grin. “Sorry. You’ll have to work on me, get me to improve in that area. Maybe once you’re under the same roof as me, full-time, I’ll be able to schedule some time out for romance.”
“Listen to you. What a way to put it. ‘Schedule some time out for romance.’ Pencil it in on your calendar, I suppose. That’s so typical of you. You make it sound like just another business appointment. I am really going to have to work on you!”
“Feel free to give it your best shot,” Nick invited him. “I can’t help being the way I am, any more than I could help falling in love with you.”
Austin stared at the other man, who was once again looking straight ahead through the windshield, concentrating on his driving. “Did I just hear you say what I thought I heard you say?”
“I said I’m in love with you. What did you think you heard me say?”
“I’m in love with you, too. Did you hear that?”
“Loud and clear. It’s good to know neither of us is deaf. Or stupid. Although, as Jon pointed out to me, I can be a little slow sometimes, when it comes to realizing what a good thing I’ve got going for me.” Nick turned his head again to meet Austin’s gaze, and treated him to another helping of that intimate, seductive smile of his. “You obviously have good taste in men. And so do I.”
“If you weren’t driving, Nick, I’d kiss you, right now.”
Nick pulled over to the curb and put the transmission in park. “Knock yourself out,” he invited his lover. “Let’s treat ourselves to a little time-out for romance, right here and now.”
“What if some cop comes along and catches us necking, right here on the street in broad daylight?”
“He can write me out a traffic ticket, for all I care. And if he turns out to be a good-looking cop, I’ll ask him whether he’d be interested in making a porno video. I’m always on the lookout for new talent. And think of the money I’d save. I wouldn’t have to rent a cop uniform. This guy would be able to provide his own, with all the accessories. What a great idea for a video, in fact. This really hot, tough-looking cop pulls you over, Austin, and starts to write you a ticket, and you offer to do anything he wants, if only he’ll let you off, and the next thing we know—”
“Nicholas Grandiforte, you son of a bitch, you are so fucking unromantic!”
But any further complaints that Austin might have intended to make were cut off by the firm, sensual pressure of his lover’s lips against his own.
About the Author
Roland Graeme, a native of Pennsylvania, resides in Buffalo, New York. He has published both erotic fiction and music criticism. His many interests include literature, history, world religions, art, and music.
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