A Likely Story: A Wayward Ink Publishing Anthology (6 page)

Back on the shore, in the sunlight, Logan playacted from dawn to dusk, denying his true feelings and desires. Here, in the darkness, he was away from prying eyes and the urge to indulge his fantasies was strong. He wondered what it would be like to feel Jonah’s hands running over his bare skin. What would it be like to kiss him?

As the evening progressed, conversation fluctuated; moments of silence were interspersed with odd discussions, usually about the most mundane of subjects.
Humid weather we’re having in here today. I say, did you just feel something move?

They were in the middle of another of their silent episodes when Logan heard Jonah yawn. For the first time, his thoughts turned to sleeping arrangements. Could they even sleep down here?

“What have you been doing to get some shut-eye?” he asked as he heard Jonah shift around; a clang of metal as a case was shut.

“I’ve been sleeping on top of the cases. I pushed the bigger ones together when I first arrived so I didn’t lose track of any of my stuff. We could sleep in shifts.”

“Won’t they hold two?”

The question had popped out of his mouth before he’d had time to think, but now that it was out there, Logan pondered the implications. The possibilities the arrangement provided brought a smile to his lips.

“I-I-I guess so,” came the reply after a significant pause. “Um… we can try and see. It might be a bit cramped, though.”

Cramped is good. Cramped is just fine
. Logan had never been shy, for all that he’d kept the secret of his sexuality. But down here his confidence peaked. Any earlier embarrassment was gone; the obscurity provided by the whale’s belly was intoxicating. He determined he would win the scientist or die trying.
If we’re going to die anyway, we may as well go out with a bang.

“The larger containers are to the side here. Give me your hand and I’ll guide you over.”

Logan reached out his hand. A moment later, he felt Jonah’s fingers and latched onto them. He followed him two sticky steps to the right, and then he felt the nudge of one of the boxes against his knee.

Jonah shook his hand free of Logan’s grasp. “Give me a second to get on, and then we’ll give this a try.”

Logan waited, drumming his fingers against his thigh. There was a rustling, and several metallic creaks. Once the noise abated, he made his move.

He felt his way along the edge of the boxes; felt the join of one with the other; worked out the dimensions he was dealing with. Satisfied he had his bearings, he carefully lowered himself onto the makeshift bed.

The boxes dipped as he sat down, but not dramatically. He waited a moment as the containers adjusted to the new load, and then lifted his legs and lowered his head. He shifted back barely an inch from the edge and came in contact with Jonah.

The other man lay on his left side, his back to Logan. Not wanting to rush things, Logan kept facing right, keeping them back to back.

“Okay, Jonah?”

“Yes. The boxes seem to be holding.”

“Goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight.”

Logan could feel the gentle movement of Jonah’s breathing. He timed his own inhales and exhales to match those of the scientist. It was a conscious action at first, but soon the synchronized breathing felt natural.

Still, Logan waited. The timing would be everything; he couldn’t just dive in. He wasn’t some molester. He wanted to be sure Jonah was interested before he made his own desires known. They were stuck down here together and if this went wrong it would make things… difficult.

He faked a shiver, knowing Jonah would feel the movement. Then he waited.

“Are you all right, Logan?”

“Yes… I mean no. I’m kinda cold. That’s all.”

“Cold?”

It did seem odd given the humidity, but it was all Logan could think of at the time. “Uh-huh. Perhaps it’s delayed shock or something.”

“Oh. I can turn over… hold you. If you want, that is.”

“Yeah, I guess. …”
Easy does it.
“Maybe that would help. If you don’t mind.” Logan smiled as Jonah shifted beside him.

Jonah wriggled first onto his back, and then onto his side. Maneuver complete, he inched closer to Logan. His chest pressed against Logan’s back, but he kept his pelvis tilted away. Logan felt Jonah extend his arm, tentatively at first, wrapping it around Logan’s torso.

Logan gave another shiver for effect and pulled Jonah’s arm tight across his chest. The movement brought them even closer together and he felt Jonah’s sharp exhale tickle the back of his neck.
So far, so good.

He laced his fingers with Jonah’s and caressed them gently. Jonah cleared his throat and shifted his lower body farther away. Even so, there was only so far he could retreat without falling off the boxes. Eventually, it reached the point where Jonah was unable to disguise his growing erection. It nudged, hard as steel, against Logan’s arse.

“Oh, God!”

Jonah yanked his arm free and threw himself backward with such force that he fell clear off the box-bed. Logan heard the loud squelch as the other man landed in… whatever that stuff all around them was.

“Jonah?” Logan felt a guilty gnawing in his chest. He’d thought hooking up could provide a bit of fun; he hadn’t wanted to terrify his companion. The guy had clearly been turned on, but perhaps it was born from the strange situation.
God, Logan, you can be such a klutz sometimes.

Logan turned over and reached out into the darkness. He leant over the edge of the boxes, trying to locate the fallen man. “Hey, Jonah. Are you okay? Look, I’m sorry, mate. That was my fault. Totally.”

He made contact with fabric. A thigh, from the feel of the limb beneath the material. Not wanting to make things worse, he removed his hand and tried again a good meter higher. When he found an arm, he tightened his grip.

“Come on, Jonah. Come back up. We can sleep in shifts if you want. You can go first.”

“I’m sorry.” The voice was so soft, Logan barely caught the words.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, man. Like I said. All my fault. Blame it on this rabbit hole we’ve landed ourselves in.”

Logan managed to drag Jonah toward him and helped him ease back onto the boxes. He reluctantly released Jonah’s arm and sat upright at the opposite end of the bed.

“You must think me an idiot.”

“Nah. Of course not. If anyone’s the idiot, it’s me. I just thought if this was it for us, we should go out on a high and all that. But if it’s not your thing, that’s cool. Totally cool.”

There was an awkward silence. But Logan was getting used to those now, and this one hardly fazed him. He was about to stand, relinquish the bed to Jonah, when Jonah finally spoke.

“It is my thing. It’s just. …” He exhaled loudly. “It’s just, you seem so… experienced, and I am… well… not.”

“Oh.” Logan took a moment to process things. “I’m not all that experienced, you know. I’m not out, you see. No one knows.”

“No one knows about me, either.”

There was further silence until Logan finally stirred. “You take the bed. If I can locate my board, I might be able to lay that out to sleep on.”

He had started to stand when Jonah shot a hand out and grabbed his wrist. Logan found himself impressed with the man’s accuracy, given the lack of light.

“Don’t go. I mean… you can stay. If you want to.”

Logan eased back down and waited. Jonah still held his wrist, and he could feel the movement in the boxes as the young Brit shuffled closer. The atmosphere had become tense with anticipation. Logan wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull Jonah to him. But he waited. Jonah needed to take the lead. Only he could decide where things went from here.

When their thighs met, Jonah worked his hand up Logan’s arm. He snaked it behind Logan’s neck and encouraged him forward. Logan responded slowly. His pulse was thudding in his ears and he felt a little lightheaded as their lips finally connected.

The kiss was gentle at first. Tentative. Logan held back, waiting. He experimented by running his tongue along Jonah’s lower lip, and to his delight, Jonah moaned and granted him access. The man’s mouth was warm and inviting, and Logan sought to explore every inch of it with his tongue. He lapped at the sides and sucked on the lips; the latter action elicited another glorious moan. The sound went straight to Logan’s cock and the restriction caused by his wetsuit was painful, yet somehow also completely erotic.

Jonah didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, so Logan lifted one to his shoulder and laid the other on his thigh. Thus encouraged, Jonah finally began to explore him, teasing Logan’s muscles with dexterous fingers as they continued to kiss. When Logan bit down gently on Jonah’s lower lip, Jonah shifted his hand to Logan’s groin.

The sudden bold move made Logan inhale sharply. For all his attempts at self-control, he couldn’t stop himself from bucking into the hand in an effort to increase the friction. He reached for Jonah and fumbled to find the buttons on the front of his shirt. It took a few moments, but at last he had the garment hanging loose, exposing bare skin to his eager hands.

He ran his fingers over Jonah’s chest. Light touches that left Jonah gasping. Once he had mapped out the torso in front of him with his hands, Logan leant in and ran his tongue over one nipple, and then the other. The second time, he sucked hard, and the sound Jonah made was music to his ears. Jonah was very vocal. Logan found that it really turned him on.

He fastened onto Jonah’s belt, working it free. Jonah’s erection rubbed against his hand as he struggled to undo the button and zipper. He growled in frustration and gave a sharp tug, finally achieving his goal. Logan eased his fingers into the waistband of Jonah’s boxer shorts, and when he tugged them downward, Jonah obligingly raised his hips.

The battle to get the clothing down legs and over feet was far from graceful. But neither man cared. After what seemed like a desperate struggle, the offending articles were tossed into the darkness.

Logan curled his fingers around Jonah’s cock and gave a gentle squeeze. The organ was radiating a heat that warmed his palm and, God, if the man wasn’t hard as a rock. He gave a few slow pumps and Jonah was soon squirming in his grasp.

“Please, Logan. I want to touch you, too.”

Logan was more than happy to oblige and he scooted around, guiding Jonah to help him remove the wetsuit. Taking the thing off at the end of a swim was never an easy thing, but Logan soon decided it was much worse in the dark when sporting a killer erection.

It took a lot of swearing, and many snaps of rubber against Logan’s skin, but finally he was extricated. The air on his bare flesh felt wonderful. Freeing his cock from that constriction was also marvelous.

The messing around with the wetsuit had rather disrupted the mood, though. Eager to find it again, Logan pulled Jonah in for a rough kiss. As they moved closer together, their erections slid against each other, making both men groan.

Without breaking the kiss, Logan reached between them and took their two shafts in hand. Both men were already oozing pre-cum, and Logan used this for some much-needed lubrication as he started to pump.

He worked his hand slowly and gently at first. Soon, though, that wasn’t enough and he quickened his pace, gripping tighter. From the sounds Jonah was making, he was close, and Logan knew he wasn’t far behind. He bit down on Jonah’s lip, and that sent his companion over the edge. The feeling of Jonah’s cock pulsing against his was enough to make Logan shoot his own load.

They rode out their orgasms in a symphony of moans and heavy breathing. Logan’s hand was covered with sticky cum. The scent of sex permeated the heavy air.

“Wow, that was… wow.”

“Yes, it—”

There was an earthquake-like shudder and they toppled from their makeshift bed into the slime below. The rumbles continued, and they were tossed back and forth, unable to find a footing. When they crashed into each other, Logan grabbed Jonah’s arm. A roar rose up. For a moment, Logan wondered what was going on. Then he realized: water.

The surge sped toward them and Logan braced Jonah against him. Even prepared, the collision knocked all the air from his lungs. He barely drew a breath before the ocean cascaded over them, beneath them, all around them. Then they were moving, carried by the momentum of the water. Any attempts to control their direction were pointless. They had no choice but to try to relax and hope they regained the surface before they ran out of air.

Trapped in the whirlpool, every second felt like an hour, but then their movement slowed, and the waves around them began to dissipate. Logan looked upward and there, far above them, he could see the sun glinting on the surface of the water.

Securing his arm around Jonah, he pointed skyward and kicked with all his might, pulling through the water with his free hand. Jonah cottoned on and joined in the effort, and between the two of them they made their way up. Up to freedom; up to salvation.

Both men spluttered as they broke the surface, drawing in deep, gasping breaths of amazing fresh air. A whale call sounded out and Logan turned to see their host making his way back out to sea. He offered them a parting shot of water before disappearing into the waves.

Something hit Logan in the back, and he looked around to see one of Jonah’s metal chests bobbing happily in the water behind them. Over the top of the box, he could see an inviting strip of golden sand.

“Jonah. Look!” He pointed in the direction of the welcome sight.

Jonah muttered a “thank you” to the wind, and together they swam toward the shore, pushing the metal box in front of them.

By the time they reached the beach, both men were exhausted. They shoved the box away from the water’s edge, and then collapsed. The water teased at their toes as the tide ebbed and flowed, but they were oblivious.

Logan stared up at the clear blue sky. He reached out and found Jonah’s hand. He entwined their fingers and squeezed. Jonah returned the pressure and they both turned to look at each other.

They could see each other clearly for the first time, and what Logan saw took his breath away. His glimpse of Jonah in the tiny lighter’s flame could never have done justice to the vision before him. From his sculpted cheekbones to his emerald eyes, the scientist was absolute perfection.