Zack turned his face so his mouth was pressed just below Nolan’s ear. “I shouldn’t want to, but I keep picturing you naked, spread on my bed. I wonder what you’d sound like, feel like. How tight your ass would be around my cock.”
Nolan groaned. “Yes.”
“Yeah, you’d like that. You’d want to feel me slide into you. Spread you wide, your cock trapped between us. Wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Zack tightened his grip on Nolan’s hip, slowing his bucking. “No, not yet.”
“Please.”
“No. Slow.”
Nolan banged his head against the wall. “Asshole.”
“That’s me.” He bit Nolan’s neck as he reached between them to squeeze Nolan’s cock. “I bet you’re wet in there. Leaking. I’m tempted to shove my hand in there to see, to feel you.” Instead he squeezed Nolan’s shaft through the soft fabric. “Next time. Right now I want to make you come like this. I want you to cream your pants so that every time you put these on you think about me.”
“I wanna—”
“That’s it. Do it for me.” Zack took hold of Nolan’s hips in each hand and thrust as though there were no tomorrow. He wanted to hear and feel him come. He wanted to blast away the anxiety that seemed to rule Nolan’s life.
Nolan’s body tensed, his muscles shuddering in Zack’s grip. His breathing came out in shorter and shorter gasps, until Zack wasn’t sure how he kept from passing out. Nolan bit down on his bottom lip and banged his head hard against the wall.
“Fuck.”
“Come for me.”
Nolan shook his head.
“Do it now. Right now.” Zack increased the pressure between them, to the point where he didn’t think he’d be able to hold back much longer himself. He wished they could be closer, naked somewhere. It hadn’t been long, only minutes since they’d started, but he was already planning for a next time. His world was changing.
He sought Nolan’s mouth and sucked on his bottom lip, raking his teeth across the plump flesh. Nolan dug his fingers into Zack’s shoulders, flexing and clinging, holding on tighter the closer he got to orgasm. His body was vibrating, and for a moment Zack thought it would never come, that they’d be stuck on this precipice forever, dancing on a knife’s edge between desire and oblivion.
And then, finally, Nolan lost their mutual rhythm. He cried out, his body shivering as his fingers locked in a death grip on Zack’s shoulders. Triumph spurred Zack on; no longer focused on Nolan’s pleasure, he was able to lose himself in his own. He pressed his nose to the side of Nolan’s neck and ground hard and fast against him. The press of soft lips to his temple, the gentle kiss that silently encouraged him on, were all it took.
Hot come flooded his underwear as he groaned long and loud. The pleasure exorcised everything that had haunted him that week. It rolled down his spine, infecting every inch of him with warmth, an unexpected sense of peace.
As quickly as their frantic coupling had started, it was over. He still had Nolan pressed against the wall, his face was still against Nolan’s neck. Nolan’s hand found Zack’s hair; he teased the strands just above his ear.
“So that happened.” Nolan’s voice was soft, sleepy. A lover’s voice.
A lover?
Zack pulled back and let his gaze drop to Nolan’s groin. The gray cotton was now dark, wet with his come. Without thinking, Zack reached inside Nolan’s pants and threaded his fingers through his come-soaked pubic hair, teasing his softening cock. “It did happen.” He swallowed. “We really didn’t think this through. You need clean pants.”
“Damn.” Nolan closed his eyes with his head resting against the wall, his body relaxed. “You don’t happen to have any spare clothing?”
“I might have a pair of sweats in my gym bag. Let me check.” When Zack pushed away, he instantly missed Nolan’s warmth. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Nolan couldn’t get rid of his giddy, stupid grin. He’d read lots online about frottage, but he hadn’t really tried it before. Not on purpose, to completion. Going forward, he would have to correct that oversight.
He and Zack.
It had been an odd and unlikely partnership from the moment they’d met in the bathroom, and yet here they were, engaging in something more than a working relationship. Was this a fling? He’d never had one of those either. Zack was introducing him to all sorts of new things.
His leg was starting to throb, and he had no choice but to sit down on the worn-out bench Zack had dragged over earlier. He hadn’t noticed the pain while they were making out—having sex?—but that was good. He hadn’t worried about his appearance either, about what his body looked like or if Zack would hate any scars he saw. It had been over two years, but Nolan was beginning to feel like himself again.
By the time Zack finally returned from wherever he’d kept his stuff, Nolan’s orgasm buzz had started to wane. Maybe they could do something else. Maybe . . . “Were you able to find anything?”
“Just a pair of shorts.” He held them out, but didn’t quite meet Nolan’s gaze. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want them.”
And in a flash, all of his confidence evaporated. Letting Zack see his leg would have been hard. Letting the world see it was something he couldn’t even contemplate. “No. That’s okay.”
Zack sighed. “You’d rather walk around with come stains than put on shorts?”
“Yes.” Nolan looked down at the floor, letting his hair slip forward to cover his eyes. “It’ll dry and I’ll be fine before I have to leave.”
Zack paused far too long before he spoke again. “This was good.” His tone suggested otherwise.
“It was good, but . . .?”
“We probably shouldn’t do it again.”
Nolan’s head snapped up, a mix of anger and fear shooting through him. “Why not?
It was Zack’s turn to look away. “I’m your boss.”
“I told you that isn’t an issue. Not for me at least.”
“I’ve also never done relationships. Not serious ones. Things always get heated, fights happen, I leave.” Zack scanned the bench, the wall, the shorts he still held in one hand; his gaze never settled long. “I don’t want anything to ruin what we have, our working relationship. Or our friendship.”
“It won’t.” Nolan swallowed hard. “But I won’t beg. If you’re not interested, then we’ll consider this a one-off and forget about it.”
Zack pinched the bridge of his nose. “Monday. We’ll talk then. I need to think in the meantime.”
The joy Nolan had felt since the moment he’d walked through the doors of Ringside fizzled. “Is there anything else you need help with today?”
Zack shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Nolan pushed himself to his feet, took the shorts, and pulled them over his pants to cover the come stain. “Well, I’ll look like an idiot, but that will hide the evidence until I get home. I’ll see you Monday.”
He walked away, ignoring as Zack called out his name.
The trip home was as awkward and uncomfortable as the journey to Ringside had been smooth and full of nervous anticipation. Strangers eyed his shorts at the bus stops, on the bus. His leg throbbed, and the chill from his wet briefs didn’t help.
He took an extra-long shower as soon as he got home; there really was nothing more challenging than cleaning dried come out of your pubic hairs. He didn’t mind though, because the hot water eased the pain, which helped clear his mind so he could think about what he and Zack had done at the gym.
Zack was right that it shouldn’t happen again. Zack was wild, unpredictable, and so determined to maintain power and control, he couldn’t function in a scenario where he didn’t control the outcome. Faced with an unpleasant truth he couldn’t alter—Nolan had a disfigured leg he would never feel comfortable displaying in shorts—Zack had withdrawn his affection and interest. He hadn’t even bothered to come up with an original excuse; his “I don’t want to ruin our friendship” was one of the oldest brush-off lines in the book. The part about his relationships always ending in fights and him leaving had been just as clichéd, but probably accurate.
In the short time Nolan had worked for Zack, he’d learned his boss always found a way to pull the strings in any situation. Nolan was one of his resources at work, a tool he could use to help him control his world and make every business transaction play out the way he wanted. Nolan’s mistake had been thinking things were any different outside the office. Zack had gotten exactly what he wanted out of Nolan, but pulled back immediately when the focus shifted away from gym renovations or getting off.
Nolan couldn’t get involved with a man who was self-centered. In the end, he knew he’d be left behind, discarded when he was no longer needed.
He had too much respect for himself to accept a relationship like that.
Turning the water off, he stepped out of the shower and turned to face the mirror. Even covered with steam, he could still see his broken body reflected back. He’d been relieved when Zack hadn’t had a condom, sparing them both the inevitable shock of Zack’s seeing his scars.