One for the Gods (The Peter & Charlie Trilogy) (33 page)

“Of course. Upside down and sideways. I’ve been thinking about it for days.”

“But I couldn’t!” Peter expostulated.

“Why couldn’t you? You have before.”

“Once. A hundred years ago when I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“You could with Jean-Claude.”

Peter’s expression immediately became guarded. Perhaps the punishment wasn’t over, after all. “Why do you bring him up?”

Charlie laughed. “It’s all right, baby. Honest. We can talk about it. We don’t have to pretend it didn’t happen.”

“I don’t want to pretend anything if you understand I hate myself for it.”

“You shouldn’t. I’ll bet you could have with that Greek you beat up, too.”

Peter stared at him. “You’re spooky. How do you know that? It was sort of a sadistic thing, only for a second, but you’re right. I could have, if I’d really wanted to, if you see what I mean.”

“Sure. So what’s wrong with me?”

“But you’re different. You’re you. I’m dying for you to have me the way you always do. It doesn’t make sense any other way.” Peter’s heart was beating fast. He couldn’t believe that Charlie really meant it. They hadn’t had time to talk about the “new phase.” Was this what he had meant? He felt danger as acutely as if he were in a runaway car. “Please, my darling. Please take me. I want you so much.”

“Same here. It’s taken me ten years, for God’s sake. I want to be had by a prizefighter.” He rose and went around behind Peter and put his hands inside his dressing gown and ran them over his chest and down over his abdomen. Peter shifted slightly in his chair and his sex sprang up from between his legs. Charlie held it with both hands and laughed. “What a fraud. What do you mean, you couldn’t?”

“It’s not that. I mean—well, I’ll probably come before I even get started.”

“Then we’ll start all over again.”

Peter dropped his head back against Charlie and held his arms in place around him with his hands while he tried to assimilate this overwhelming proposal. Could it be as uncomplicated as Charlie was making it sound? A simple desire? Whatever the dangers, he was amazed at his growing urge to perform the act. He wanted to take him. He imagined bearing down into him, compelling the submission of his body, and his heart raced faster. “Oh, God, I’m so excited I can hardly breathe. You really mean it? Do you think I’m long enough to do it the way you do it with me?”

“Did you do it that way with Jean-Claude?”

“Of course not. I just—you know, in the time-honored fashion.”

“That’s the way I want it. I want you to fuck me, baby, and not think about my cock or anything else. Really take me for yourself. I’ll be better than your French boyfriend.”

“Jesus! Don’t, darling. I’m about to come right now.”

“Hold everything.” He released Peter and grabbed the table and gave it a shove toward the door. He pushed it into the hall and locked the door and went to the bathroom. When he returned, he was naked. His sex was heavy and extended, not yet erect. Peter had put the chairs back against the wall and was pulling the covers off the bed. Charlie’s eyes followed the curve of his buttocks and his sex began to lift. Peter turned and waited beside the bed, watching the approach of the jutting, heavily swinging, hardening flesh. He reached for it and completed its erection with his hands.

“Oh, God, I can’t stand not having it. We’re not making any sense.”

Charlie had some lubricant in his hand and applied it. “We’ve carried on enough about my cock,” he said. “Yours is sensational. You want me, don’t you baby?

“Want
you. Christ! You’re driving me crazy. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Charlie laughed. “That’s wonderful. Come on. Rape me. I’m going to be the best fuck you’ve ever had.” He dropped onto the bed, pulling Peter after him by his sex. He lay on his side with his back turned and waited for Peter to move in against him. He guided the sex to him and moved his hips to take it. Peter cried out as he began his entry.

“I told you. Oh Christ! I’m going to come.”

“No you’re not, baby. Take a deep breath. Now. Just let me have it. Don’t worry about hurting me. I can take you.” There was a moment of difficulty, but Charlie worked his hips to get them through it and Peter lunged into him. His breath caught at the unfamiliar pain.

Peter’s chest was heaving and his breath was coming in harsh gasps. “I’m inside you. Oh, Christ. Is it all right?”

“I’ll say. You’re in charge now. Take me, baby.”

“Will I ever!” He rolled Charlie over onto his stomach and bit his shoulders as he lifted himself to his knees astride Charlie’s thighs. He straightened and pulled Charlie’s hips to him so that his sex shot deeper into him. Charlie felt the strong grip in his hands and thrilled to it.

“Yes, baby! Christ, you’re fantastic.” He propped his forehead on his crossed arms and surrendered himself to the hard shaft of flesh that was beginning to drive into him. The pain passed and he was gripped by the excitement in this reversal of roles. Peter’s excitement fed his own. He was taking possession of his body exultantly, using it demandingly for his pleasure. He shuddered with delight as Peter grasped his shoulders and slowly rode into him until he felt that there was no area in him that hadn’t been invaded. He cried out with joy as Peter completed the penetration with a final thrust that locked him between straining thighs. This was a man, reveling in his male prowess. Charlie felt a deep identification with him that went beyond union and became unity. He was so stirred by the power in him that he felt himself approaching orgasm.

“Christ Almighty,” he cried incredulously. “You’re making me come.”

“Oh, God. Yes. Me too.” Peter’s hands were all over him and then his fingers dug into his hips as he drove into him with long, unsparing strokes. Charlie’s hips lifted to receive him and their bodies moved in frenzied harmony. They laughed and shouted as the tension built up between them.

“Christ, yes. You’re incredible,” Charlie gasped. “I didn’t know. Oh, please—” He broke off with a great strangled shout as his body was shaken by the spasms of his orgasm.

Peter flung his arms around him and clung to his back and shouted, and shouted again, and Charlie knew that he was streaming into him. He fell out flat, Peter still clinging to his back, and their bodies leaped and jerked together in the aftermath of orgasm. They lay still at last. Peter made a move to withdraw, but Charlie held him.

“No. Stay. I like you there.”

“Really?” Peter’s voice was shallow and spent. “I’ll never understand you. I can’t believe it. You really wanted me to, didn’t you?”

Charlie chuckled. “That’s the impression I hoped to give.”

A spurt of laughter broke from Peter. It made his sex leap up. “How marvelous. Next time, I won’t huff and puff so much and be so awkward.”

“Christ. If that was awkward, you must be something when you’re in form. I wonder who else you’ve been practicing with.”

Peter’s laughter rang with delight. “Am I really good? Next time, we won’t come so quickly. I wanted it to go on and on.”

“Jesus. You do—on and on inside me. What a cock. It feels a mile long.” He worked obscure muscles and they both laughed.

Peter pressed himself against his back. His sex stirred again. “Imagine what yours feels like. Mmm. See what happens just thinking about it.”

“Oh, Slugger baby. I’m stunned by you. I didn’t know I could feel so much a part of you.” His hand found Peter’s head and he twined his hair around his fingers.

“Darling. Darling. Charlie darling,” Peter crooned. “Feel what you do to me. I didn’t know it was possible so soon after. Do you really want me to again?”

“As if I could stop you. It’s a mile long again. What a guy. Go on. Make me feel a part of you some more.”

Their discovery of unfamiliar aspects of each other stamped Athens with magic. They strolled about it later hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm, arms around shoulders, oblivious to the admiring stares of the populace, seeing wonder and beauty everywhere in the shabby little town. Although they were almost exactly the same height, Peter had never felt as tall as Charlie. Now he towered and looked into his eyes from a giddy height. He handled him with the possessive confidence that had hitherto been Charlie’s prerogative. When they repeated the act of love that night, Peter was still thrilled by his ability to perform it so successfully, but it confirmed his suspicion that he could feel natural and complete only when their positions were reversed. Something in the core of him yearned to be possessed. He felt like a child with a new toy. The novelty of it was breathtaking and he wanted more, but he knew the time would come when he would want to resume their accustomed roles. Just thinking about it brought the peace he had always known in Charlie’s arms.

Charlie was fascinated by the dislocation he was causing in their relationship; the satisfaction of it for him was not only sexual but creative. He was providing a whole new base for Peter’s personality. He had never been effeminate in manner, but there had been a softness that was overlaid now by a new aggressive little swagger. Charlie was introducing him to his masculinity. It brought them closer and yet placed a distance between them, the distance of independence. For the first time, he felt in Peter a readiness to face the world on his own. Therein lay the freedom he had been thinking about. It opened up all sorts of possibilities, which could be included in his grand design.

They slept late the next morning and they were so eager for each other, so absorbed in each other that Charlie forgot his promise to Martha, and they didn’t return to the boat until late in the afternoon. By then, all that they had crowded into their time ashore made them feel as if they had been away so long that they wouldn’t have been surprised to find it gone. It was there, and Martha was so uncomplicatedly delighted to see them that Charlie didn’t feel guilty for having failed to keep their appointment.

She immediately noticed the change in them. She felt it first in Peter. There was a light in his eyes when he looked at her, a firmness in his touch when they embraced that made her aware for the first time of his sexual attraction. He was so stunning physically that she was surprised she hadn’t felt it before. It couldn’t intrude on her passion for Charlie, but Peter made her feel feminine now instead of merely maternal. She no longer found it distasteful when he put his hand on Charlie’s shoulder. They both struck her as superbly male.

When they had greeted each other and kissed chastely and all talked at once for several minutes, Martha went below to get drinks. Jack came out on deck looking more a country-club type than the sea dog they had become accustomed to. He was wearing slacks and a sports shirt. He greeted Peter expansively and was cordial to Charlie. He surveyed Peter’s face.

“That’s clearing up nicely, sport. The girls will be swooning over you again in another couple of days. We’re celebrities. A couple of reporters have been down. Everybody’s being very helpful at the club. We’ve been invited to dinner tonight by the Prime Minister, or the ex-Prime Minister. I’m afraid I’m not up on Greek politics.”

Martha brought the drinks and they settled down in the cockpit. They discussed their sight-seeing—apparently they had all been at the Acropolis within an hour of each other the afternoon before—and moved on to plans for departure the following morning. Martha began to be aware that there was something different about Charlie but she couldn’t quite place it. Was there a new decisiveness in his eye when he looked at her or was she just imagining it? Its possible significance made her light-headed and she drank her drink faster than she knew was good for her.

“I’ve been getting some very interesting pointers from the characters here,” Jack said. “It seems there’s a very fine temple at Aegina, but it’s away from the regular port, above a fairly deserted bay. There probably isn’t much in the way of accommodations for you guys.”

“Aegina? That’s pretty much where the Peloponnesian wars started,” Charlie said with interest. “Is that near here?”

“Sure. It’s just off to the south. You can see it. It seems we came past Salamis, too, yesterday morning, but I was so busy finding this place I didn’t notice. We’re right where everything started. Well, anyway, the other possibility is an island called Poros we can make in a day’s run. They say it has a good hotel. It’s up to you to decide if we skip Aegina.”

Charlie glanced at Peter and started to speak, but Peter was ahead of him. “I’ll tell you what I think, Jack,” he said. “We’ve had a long sail and it was great, but I’d like to start doing the way you said—putting in every night and going to hotels. At least, for the next couple of weeks. Maybe later, when we’re getting closer to the end of our trip, we’ll want to skip around more. What do you say, Champ?” Peter put his hand on his knee and looked at him hopefully.

“Right, Slugger,” Charlie said with a smile. “We can always take a look at Aegina on the way back.”

“Well, that’s settled,” Jack said with no sign of displeasure. “We can throw the watch schedule overboard. We’ll be running a cruise boat from now on.”

“How heavenly,” Martha said delightedly, pouring a second drink before Peter and Charlie were halfway through their first. “That’s the way I really like it. We’ve been hearing about so many marvelous places to see.”

They parted soon after for their last night in Athens. Charlie laughed when they had moved off from the boat. “You might as well have told him we like to sleep together.”