Anything Could Happen (25 page)

Then he was traveling down, reaching the column pushing against Guy’s sleepers and popping the two buttons, releasing Guy’s erection. Even in the dark, Austin could see it was beautiful, powerful, and like his own—uncircumcised. He fisted it, leaning in so he could see the hood slide back and forth over the flaring glans. Guy’s scent was clean and musky, tantalizing, begging to be sucked. Austin opened his mouth, but Guy cried out, “Wait!”

Guy swiveled around so they were face to crotch and he could tug Austin’s sweatpants down to release his sex.

“You’re uncut!”

“Is that okay?” Austin asked.

“Hell yes,” Guy said and then took Austin into his mouth.

“God!” Austin shouted, then bit down on his lips, fearful that someone may have heard. But God—oh God.

Guy’s words echoed back to him from weeks before…

… that warm wet heat, a tongue, lips….

… and yes, Guy had been right. The pleasure was almost unbearable—exquisite. It was a moment before he could think clearly enough to take Guy as well.

Guy’s cock was perfect. Thick, long, but not unmanageable—the taste of it a flood of delight to his palate. He played with the foreskin, running his tongue beneath, but carefully. Being uncircumcised himself, he knew how sensitive the head could be.

So they pleased each other, took pleasure from each other as well. But just as Austin knew he was approaching release, was sure Guy was as well and was thrilled with the expectation of it, Guy pulled back.

Austin groaned in frustration, but Guy shushed him. “I want you to fuck me, Austin. Let me find my jeans—I have a condom.”

Fuck him? Oh my God. He wants me to fuck him
. Austin trembled with anticipation and excitement. He was going to fuck Guy? “There’s some in the drawer,” he said, heart pounding now at the thought of being inside this man.

“There is?”

“I’ll explain later….”

“Bodie or your grandmother?” Guy asked, chuckling.

“Uncle Bodie,” Austin answered, and giggled.

Guy reached for the dresser, laughed in delight. “There’s even little tubes of lube.” He opened one of the foil packets quickly and slid the condom down Austin’s erection.

Damn. Even that felt wild—Guy’s warm hand fisting it down his length.

“It’s been a long time,” Guy said. “I’m going to climb on top, if you don’t mind.”

Austin laughed. “I don’t mind.” Hell no, he didn’t mind. He moaned as Guy lubed his cock and watched, fascinated, as the man straddled him, his own erection arced out in front of him. There was a moment as Guy took Austin’s length in hand, found the spot, and then settled down. Austin cried out as he entered his lover, amazed at the tightness, the heat.

“Damn,” Guy moaned, wincing for a moment. “Been… God… so… uh… long. Oh.” Then, “Ahhhh….” The pained expressed turned to one that could only be explained as bliss.

Thank God Guy rested for a few minutes, because Austin was afraid he would have an orgasm before Guy moved even once. The wait allowed Austin some modicum of control.

They locked eyes.

“Ready?” Guy asked.

“Yes,” Austin said. “Oh yes.”

Slowly, almost painfully slowly at first, Guy began to rock his body over Austin, sitting up then gradually taking Austin back inside himself. Austin thought he would die from the pleasure of it all. Bit by bit, step by step, Guy built up speed until—indeed—the bedsprings were squeaking.

“I love you so much,” Guy said.

“I love you too,” Austin echoed.

They both held out for as long as they could, but in fact it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes when Austin knew the time of no return had arrived.

“Guy…. Guy… I’m gonna….”

Guy, who had been masturbating, sped up his hand. “Me too, lover. Al… most… there.”

Then the wave overwhelmed Austin, building and building from deep within, exploding throughout his body and finally out of his cock and into the beautiful man over him. He shouted out, bit the palm of his hand to muffle the noise, and then Guy, too, was crying out as his warm seed splashed out onto Austin’s chest and belly. For a moment, the world seemed to end—and then begin again. Guy collapsed on top of Austin, the both of them panting, purring, and declaring their love.

Later, as they lay spooned together with Guy in back, Austin heard the words: “No regrets?”

“God, no,” Austin answered. “I’m the happiest man alive. This is the best Christmas ever.”

“You’re no longer a virgin, now.”

“I don’t know,” said Austin. “For a gay man, it would seem to me I would need to bottom to lose my virginity.”

“You suggesting something?” Guy growled.

“I sure am.”

“You up for it?”

Austin grabbed Guy’s hand and guided it to his rising erection.

“I guess you are.”

“I guess I am.”

A
USTIN
was showered and ready by six that evening and heading for the door. It had been a busy day. Peter had taken to giving him jobs at an apartment building he had recently purchased—the Oscar Wilde. There were a lot of gay people living there, and so, no big surprise, that meant he saw a lot of people he’d been meeting recently—including Jude Parks and Tommy Smith, aka Dixie Wrecked. It had been a pleasant surprise and a growing part of his new gay identity.

Gay identity
, he thought with a grin.
Isn’t life grand?

Now he was on his way to the Pegasus. They were putting the finishing touches on the set, one he’d helped build. He’d enjoyed that immensely, using his carpentry skills to help Guy. It was weird to create a men’s room right there on stage, but the results were incredibly rewarding. It was so real. They’d tiled it and everything, including putting in urinals. That had been crazy. They’d found some old ones in a building that was being torn down, and it was perfect that they were dingy and stained. They practically got them for free. Of course, they weren’t usable, and when they needed to flush, it was a sound effect offstage—although they had managed to give them some running, recycling water for added realism simply by buying a few water fountain kits.

It was incredible to be involved with the show. Such luck. He’d stepped right into it. Right into the world of the stage.

Hang around the theater long enough, and someone will hand you a broom.

Not long ago, he’d lived in the tiny town of Buckman, pretending—when he was in a community play—that he was onstage in front of hundreds of people. When the people he knew clapped afterward, he would imagine they were strangers and he was on some big stage in New York or Chicago or even Kansas City. And now he was here. Not on stage
yet
, but somehow he
knew
it was coming. And while the Pegasus didn’t really have that much more seating than the theater in Buckman—the high school auditorium—a show ran for four weeks, Tuesday through Sunday, and as many as 2,000 to 3,000 or more people saw each play. Imagine! And
he
was living the life. His fantasies were coming true.

Of course, the real joy of his life was Guy. Austin couldn’t begin to count the blessings and wonders that now filled his days. Who knew love could be so wonderful? Especially when the man loved you back. It was all so new: getting to know one another, figuring out the whole couple thing. This wasn’t dating; even Guy said so. Austin’s boyfriend—
boyfriend!
—had dated, though Austin never had, and that’s why Guy said the same thing—felt the same way. This
wasn’t
dating. They were a couple even before they’d finished making love that Christmas night.

And oh, the lovin’ was good!

Austin would never forget coming up for breakfast that next morning, very happy, but slightly worried about squeaking bedsprings. He needn’t have been concerned. There was lots of smiling at the table as Grams buzzed around the kitchen making eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, grits, and naturally, her famous biscuits. Apparently some old people
did
still have a working furnace.

Even Uncle Bodie had been happy—Lucille seemed to be getting her groove back, although she’d never quite returned to the fireball Austin had first met.

Not long ago, he’d lived in the tiny town of Buckman, pretending—when he held the large body pillow he’d asked for as a birthday present—that he held Todd, his lover, in his arms.

Now he slept each night in Guy’s arms. A real, live man, not a pillow, although Austin did like resting his head on Guy’s chest. A man loved him.
Loved
.
Him
.

He’d spent every night since they got home from Buckman in Guy’s bed. It was one thing to make the bedsprings squeak when they were in the basement and everyone else was two floors up. It was quite another when there was someone just on the other side of a wall and you didn’t want anyone to hear the sounds of lovemaking.

Uncle Bodie said he missed Austin being there, but he didn’t complain. Austin came down every morning to the smell of breakfast and fresh-brewed Shepherd’s Bean coffee.

This allowed Guy time to work on his stage play—a project that had gone cold, but now, with their loving, was going fast and furious. Guy called Austin his muse. He liked the idea of being a muse. Especially for the man he loved so deeply, and whom he loved more with each passing day.

Todd came to his mind still, of course. Austin sometimes found himself looking for the old, beat-up beige VW van—the Galileo 7 Todd had called it, after some
Star Wars
or
Star Trek
thing or another. He would wonder where Todd was, if he was okay, if he was living in Kansas City at all, and if he was safe. He hoped so. Todd deserved happiness with all he’d been through.

Strange how easily he’d let go of his fantasies of Todd and them falling in love and being the first gay couple who could walk down Buckman’s small-town streets, holding hands and being totally accepted by all. A role model for the hidden gay community—for after all, it was said one in ten people was homosexual, and that had to include Buckman, small-town USA. In the tales he’d spin in his head, everyone came out because he and Todd showed them the way.

But now Austin was living in Kansas City, with a man he’d never imagined and a love better than anything he’d made up. He’d exchanged a fairy tale for a reality.

“I almost feel guilty,” Austin said to his uncle one night. “But I don’t. As a matter of fact, the only guilt I really feel is that I don’t feel guilty.”

“What the hell do you have to be guilty about?” Uncle Bodie asked him.

“Well… I
loved
Todd. I guess I always will, in a way. But I just—” He snapped his fingers. “—gave him up for Guy.”

“And?”

“What does that
mean
about my loving?” He paused, trying to put it all into words. “Will I just
fall
for someone else one day?”

“I suppose it’s possible, Austin.” But then Uncle Bodie had patted him on the knee. “What I suspect is that your feelings for Todd were more akin to an adolescent crush. Not that young people don’t
love
. I’m not underplaying their feelings. Or yours. I would be a hypocrite if I said that. But it’s perfectly common for a young man coming to the realization that he is gay to also fall for his best friend. I certainly did.” Uncle Bodie paused—nodded—went on. “Love needs to be fed to thrive. Todd didn’t feed you, not as a lover would, that is. He didn’t give your love any light, any nourishment. Not in that basement. How could love grow? It couldn’t. Guy, on the other hand, fell for you the minute you two met.”

Austin had looked at his uncle in surprise. “He did?”

“Oh yes. You can’t see it even now? In retrospect? Goodness. I saw it the instant he looked at you. Right out there.” Uncle Bodie waved in the general direction of the balcony and the sidewalk below. “We walked outside and he was pulling that tarp off your truck, and he turned around and looked at you… and he was lost. I saw it happen.”

Austin thought about it. Isn’t that what Guy had told him? Could it be true? He thought of the moment his uncle described, remembered Guy’s eyes growing wide and… yes. Austin felt warmth spread out through his chest. Wow.

“So it’s okay that I just… abandoned Todd?”

“My boy? Todd abandoned
you
.”

Austin sighed.
Abandoned me…. He did. No matter
what
I did. He ran. He left me all alone.
“God,” he said. “Uncle Bodie—what happens if I find him and realize I still have feelings for him? What if he cares for me?”

“Then I guess you would have to make a choice, huh? Guy or Todd? Of course, you could always be—what’s the word?—a ‘throuple’?”

Austin laughed and rolled his eyes. “No, thanks. Guy is all I can handle.”

“From the bulge in that man’s jeans, I can believe it.”

“Uncle Bodie!”

Interestingly enough, Austin had begun talking to Joan again. After months of barely acknowledging her, he’d called her and apologized for being distant. He told her all about Guy, and she was very happy for him, asking him all kinds of questions, from the silly—“What’s his favorite color?”—to the personal, to the downright naughty. What really made Austin happy about their reunion, though, was that Joan had met someone at a community event, and this one liked everything about her. From her teddy bear collection to her barely palatable cooking to making love. A man who really wanted
her
. A man with a good job. A man who made her happy.

The memory of the conversation brought a smile to Austin’s face as he looked both ways and crossed the busy street. He had no tools with him today, although he did have some markers and pens of various sizes and colors, as well as a few cans of spray paint. It was graffiti night, and after they did the first off-book run-through of the script—
on
set—everyone would get to play. Not that anyone in the audience would be able to read the scrawling on the bathroom walls, but it was important it all be as real as possible. It furthered the illusion that a genuine rest stop had somehow been transported onto the stage and they were witnessing something real.