Read Maxwell: Not Without Guilt (Phoenix Club) Online
Authors: CJ Bishop
Tags: #gay romance, #Gay, #lgbt, #phoenix club
Maxwell: Not Without Guilt (Phoenix Club)
NOT WITHOUT GUILT
––––––––
CJ BISHOP
MAXWELL 1
Not Without Guilt
By CJ Bishop
Copyright © 2014
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
For questions and comments about this book, please contact us at [email protected]
Cover Art: Book Cover by Design
Published By: Rascal Hearts
AUTHOR’S NOTE
For the purposes of this story,
the trial that would have typically been held in Chicago
took place in New York.
“What Came Before”
♦
“W
e shouldn’t be doing this in the house,” Max insisted, but didn’t have the will to resist the boy’s hands as they rubbed up his chest, gripped fists of his shirt, and tugged him towards the bed.
Horatio leaned up close until his mouth touched Max’s lips. “My dad isn’t here. No one is going to catch us.” Though two years younger than Max, the kid was already his height, and he suspected he might eventually grow a bit taller than him. Horatio grinned and grabbed Max’s lower lip gently between his teeth. “Don’t be a scaredy cat.”
“You’re a brat,” Max growled but smiled anyway and wrapped his arms around him, kissing him with undeniable hunger, then fell onto the bed with him.
Chuckling, Horatio’s mahogany eyes glowed. “But a cute, sexy brat, right?” He cocked an eyebrow. “That is what you meant to say, isn’t it?”
“Shut up and kiss me,” Max groaned and didn’t wait as he grabbed himself another taste of the young man’s mouth. Horatio moaned and shifted beneath him, working his legs up around Max’s hips. His hands slipped under the back of his shirt and caressed his warm muscles, then he pushed his fingertips beneath the waistband of Max’s jeans, teasing the upper swell of his rump.
“I’ll never get tired of this.” Horatio’s voice dropped to a near whisper, the playfulness in his eyes fading out as warmth and love seeped in to take its place.
Max combed his fingers through the boy’s dark hair. “What?” he murmured and kissed his face.
“This. Us,” he said, “Making love to you.”
“Well,” Max smiled, pulling some of the play back into his voice as his eyes moved over Horatio’s handsome face slowly, lovingly. His fingers teased the young man’s ebony strands. “Let’s hope you don’t get tired of it, since...” He hesitated. Was he really ready to say this? Horatio was just shy of seventeen.
Wait till tomorrow. Tell him on his birthday; it’ll be more special, more memorable
. Max smiled and shrugged, saving what he truly wanted to say until the next day. “Since you’re stuck with me.”
Horatio grinned and kissed him. “I can live with being stuck with you.” His legs tightened, and he bumped his crotch against Max. “And being stuck
by
you.”
“Oh god,” Max groaned and laughed. “You are a dirty little boy.”
Rubbing his hands up and down Max’s back beneath his shirt, the corner of Horatio’s mouth jerked a little. “Would you want me any other way?”
“Never,” Max chuckled and burrowed his face into the kid’s neck, making him squeal with laughter and pretend to resist.
“I love you, Max.” The words puffed out on a short, soft laugh. It wasn’t the first time Horatio had spoken them, but every time felt like the first time. A warmth spread through Max’s heart and out to encompass his body.
He pushed up on his elbows and gazed down into Horatio’s face. “I love you too.”
“How much?” Horatio murmured and continued to caress Max’s back.
“What do you mean
how much?
” Max smiled. “You know how much I love you.”
“I know.” Horatio let his head sink down into the pillow as he stared up at Max. “When you start college, you’re not going to stay there, are you?” he asked anxiously. “I mean, in a dorm room and all?”
Max sighed and kissed him between the eyes. “I already told you I’m not staying in a dorm room. Although,” he smiled mischievously, “imagine how hot and wild our sex would be when I came home on the weekends, after being apart all week.”
“No,” Horatio nudged his arm and copped a mock pout. “Our sex is hot and wild enough. I want you here, all the time. I’d go nuts without you.” Horatio squeezed Max in his arms and pushed his hips up to him. “My
nuts
would go nuts without you.”
“Fuck.” Max dropped his forehead against Horatio’s chest and laughed. “You’re a
nut
case already.”
Horatio chuckled and nodded, then kissed Max’s head. “Promise you’ll stay at home and just drive to college.”
“Yes,” Max raised his head and pecked Horatio on the lips. “It’s not that far away, I can easily drive.”
“Maybe you could get an apartment,” Horatio suggested, “and I could come live with you. Then we wouldn’t have to try to dodge my dad.”
The truth was, Max had been considering that very thing. But he just wasn’t sure if Xavier Kaplan would allow his son to move out while he was still in high school. Horatio’s private school had strict rules of attendance, and if Horatio began to miss classes, or entire days, he would be turned out. Not that Horatio would care; he hated that school and the kids in it. Max had entered Kingsley Prep before Horatio, but because he hadn’t been born into wealth, and had in fact come from a “common” family, the kids had treated him like white trash. Horatio, on the other hand, had been accepted with open arms when he’d entered the school, what with him being a Kaplan. He could have soared to the top of the popularity ladder...had he cut Max loose. But even then, he had loved Max, though that was before either of them truly understood they were “in love.” Horatio had basically given them the finger, told them to fuck off, and clung to Max instead.
“I don’t think Xavier would let you move in with me,” Max told him. “You know how strict he is about your schooling. If he thought you might start sloughing off, he’d never let you out of the house.”
“I would still go to school,” Horatio insisted.
“I know that,” Max smiled, “because I’d make sure your ass was in class every damn day. But I don’t know that Xavier would trust me to do so.”
“We could ask,” Horatio suggested hopefully.
Max laughed softly and brushed his fingers through the young man’s hair. “I said I would still live here. We’re not going to be separated.” He kissed his mouth. “Be satisfied.”
“But it would be so cool to have our own place,” he moaned, grinning. He slipped his hands between them and unfastened Max’s pants, then slid down the zipper. “We could go around naked all the time.” He kissed Max’s throat and shoved his hand down inside his pants. Max groaned and shifted, giving him more room. “We could dance naked in our own living room, or bedroom, or on the fucking kitchen table if we wanted to.” He squeezed Max’s cock and rubbed.
“All that sounds wonderful,” Max panted, “but we both know your dad wouldn’t let you move out.” Horatio started to say more, and Max crushed his mouth in a passionate kiss, his hands suddenly coming to life and stripping the younger boy of his shirt.
Horatio moaned loud when Max worked open his pants and began shoving them down in a hurry. Max latched onto his throat, sucking hard as Horatio’s trousers slipped off his hips. The guy was instantly burning up with passion and need as he worked erratically at Max’s jeans, pushing them off his ass.
“Hurry, Max,” he whimpered, breath short and clipped. “Fuck me.”
His own hunger suddenly burning him up, Max dragged Horatio’s pants down his legs and yanked them off his feet, chucking them away across the room somewhere. He dipped down, taking his hard member in his mouth, sucking forcefully.
“Uuh!” Horatio grabbed his head and clawed Max’s hair while Max tried to kick his own pants the rest of the way off. When they caught around his ankles and didn’t want to come loose, he ignored them and went about stroking Horatio’s cock with his mouth. He squeezed the boy’s firm ass cheeks and lifted him a little, going at him with more urgency.
“Uh, fuck! Max! Don’t make me come yet! Fuck me first!”
Max brought him to the brink of ejaculation then pulled off before he could burst. He wiped his mouth, grinning, then turned around and grabbed at his pants, dragging them off his feet.
“You love to fucking torture me,” Horatio panted hard, his member rigid and dripping juice down the shaft.
“I do,” Max winked. When his pants were gone, he crawled back up over the top of him and kissed him hard. “But I always make up for it, don’t I?”
“Make up for it
now,”
Horatio whined and flung his legs up around Max’s body.
“Your wish,” Max kissed him, “is my command.” He coated his stiff cock with saliva and entered the guy not too slowly; Horatio loved it when he went in rather swiftly.
“Oh
fuuuck!
” Horatio yelled loudly, and Max clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Your dad might not be here,” he panted, voice low, “but the help is still here.”
Horatio jerked his mouth free and gasped, “I don’t care. Just fuck me.” Horatio’s enthusiasm and pure need for Max overwhelmed him, but it was the greatest feeling in the world. Horatio made him feel like the only man alive. From the moment they had first met – when Horatio was just eight years old and Max was ten – the boy had had eyes only for him. They might not have understood it then, but Max understood now that they had loved each other at first sight.
“God, baby, I love you so much,” Max groaned and pushed into him deeper, harder. Horatio clung to him, hugging him tight, reminding Max of their first time. The experience had been so overwhelming physically and emotionally that they had both cried. It had almost been too much for their hearts to handle. And from that moment on, they had been like air to each other, barely able to breathe when they were apart even for a few hours. They had been in school together at that time, and it had taken every ounce of sheer will not to hold hands, touch, and kiss every chance they got. But they kept their love secret, not so much because they were worried about being made fun of, but because their love was so special they didn’t want to share it with anyone else. They wanted it all for themselves. Their beautiful little secret.
When Max had graduated, he found himself waiting anxiously through each day for Horatio to get home from school, just so he could touch him and kiss him. Nearly every day after school they would sneak off and make love.
Now, with Horatio’s warm, eager body beneath him, surrounding him, and the boy’s beautiful face a picture of sweet sexual ecstasy, Max knew that what he wanted to say to him tomorrow – was right. His heart swelled and threatened to burst at the thought of the look on Horatio’s face when Max proposed to him. They couldn’t go through with it until Horatio was eighteen, but Max couldn’t wait that long to ask him.
Horatio’s perfect body writhed beneath Max, conforming to Max’s movements, as the boy moaned and cried out his love for Max.
Tears welled up, and Max pushed them back, swallowing thickly as he gazed down at the boy who would forever hold his heart.
Tomorrow couldn’t get there soon enough.
♦
M
ax knocked once on the office door and when Xavier called him in, he entered. The man didn’t often schedule one on one talks with Max, unless it involved his schooling. He expected this had to do with college.
“You wanted to speak with me?”
“Sit down,” Xavier told him. To the untrained ear, one might think the man was unhappy with Max. But Max had been in the Kaplan house long enough to know that this was Xavier Kaplan’s typical tone.
Sitting in the leather chair before the man’s desk, Max wasn’t too anxious about the purpose of this meeting. In fact, he had a hard time even focusing, as Horatio would be home soon and Max planned to propose to him before his party that night. He fingered the outline of the ring in his pocket, his heart pounding with excitement; he couldn’t wait to slip it on Horatio’s finger. A smile played at the corner of his mouth as his eyes grew distant with thoughts of just how he would ask the young man to be his husband, to just be
his
forever.
“Max?” Xavier’s crisp voice cut into his reverie. “Are you listening to me?”
“Huh?” Max cleared his throat and scooted up straighter in his chair. “Uh, yes.”
Xavier looked at him doubtfully but went on with what he was saying – whatever that was, because Max had not been listening. “I want to talk to you about college. I don’t think the University of Maine is the college for you.”