Where Do We Go From Here?
(Cole Reid)
Cole helplessly rode the surge of heat rolling through his body as a leaf might ride the crashing waves of the ocean. Up and down until the swell crashed and sent a spray of water everywhere until it soaked the sand, Cole rode the crest flooding through his extremities. He cried out as his muscles shook and hot liquid gushed forth to soak the sheets beneath him.
Ellis snapped his hips forward one last time, gripping Cole’s hips tighter than he ever had before, and then collapsed in a boneless heap over Cole’s back.
Cole panted, but his gasps didn’t contain enough oxygen to form thoughts in his brain or words in his mouth. Ellis had successfully fucked comprehension and cohesion right out of him.
Ellis slipped free of his body and rolled to the side, sprawling out on the mattress. “Oh, my God, Cole,” he declared. “I can’t believe how good that was! Holy shit, I’m tired.” Ellis panted for breath, same as Cole, and then turned his face toward his lover when Cole hadn’t said anything back. “Cole?”
“Hmm?” A one-syllable mumble was the only thing forthcoming. His brain was still stuck in holy-crap-I’m-gonna-die-from-this mode. Every cell in his body tingled and Cole wasn’t about to disrupt the cascade of endorphins flooding over him. He lay silent and content.
Ellis moved closer and caressed Cole’s shoulder. Ellis kissed his shoulder and rubbed the skin of Cole’s back from his neck down to his ass. “That was amazing, L-D.” He kissed his arm and shoulder several more times. “Making love to you keeps getting better and better. I never imagined it would feel so good.” Ellis pressed his body against Cole’s side so he was partially laying over him again. He nuzzled in Cole’s hair and kissed his clavicle as he roved his warm palm over Cole’s skin. He murmured in Cole’s ear, “I didn’t hurt you, did I? I think that was the roughest we’ve ever gone at it.” He kept nuzzling and kissing Cole’s neck as he waited for a reply.
None came. Cole was still too incoherent.
He kissed down Cole’s spine, massaging every inch of Cole’s skin along the way. He kneaded Cole’s ass-cheeks producing a small grunt from Cole. Ellis ran the tip of his tongue down the crack of Cole’s ass, just along the curve, but enough to tickle and tease him. This time, a whimper escaped Cole’s throat. Ellis sniggered. He parted Cole’s ass and licked again, deeper in the crack so Cole could feel it glide over his hole.
Cole moaned.
This was the first time Ellis had dared lick his asshole, and somewhere in Cole’s foggy brain he couldn’t believe he’d do it now after spilling his seed inside. Still, Ellis licked again and Cole moaned louder. Every nerve was already sensitive after the deep pounding Ellis had given him, and now he was swirling the tip of his tongue over a very tender spot.
Ellis pulled his cheeks further apart and lapped his tongue up the crack from behind his balls to practically the base of his spine. Then Ellis shoved his tongue in Cole’s hole again, poking at it and darting his hot, wet, muscular organ in and around Cole’s pulsing ring of muscle until Cole’s body reacted. The sensations rippling outward from his ass were almost too much to bear as he still rode the cessation of his climax. He jerked involuntarily, his muscles quivering, powerless before Ellis’s ruthless assault.
I am gonna die, he thought, brainwaves coming alive in his last few moments on Earth. I’m going to die from sex. Not really a bad way to go, but only three years ago I thought I’d die alone. Now, I’m going to die at the hand—tongue—of my husband, in what will probably be described as a pharmacological overdose of endogenous opioid neuropeptides.
Cole’s internal ocean swelled again, cresting high above his physical form. Like an outer-body experience, he floated above the current until a supernatural riptide yanked him back in before thunderously exploding from the tip of his engorged cock, over and over again until he was rung dry and cast lifeless on his metaphorical beach.
Cole was done.
“Get... the fuck... off me,” he grumbled between desperate gasps for breath.
Ellis complied and flopped next to Cole’s incapacitated body. He touched Cole’s hair and smoothed it back from his eyes. “What’s wrong? You didn’t like that? I thought it was pretty hot considering it was my first time and I didn’t actually suck your ass. When my jizz started oozing back out that’s when I stopped. But lucky for me you were coming again at that point so I didn’t need to do more for you. Cole? You don’t look very good.”
“Asshole,” he muttered.
Ellis immediately apologized, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was that bad. You should have said something if you didn’t want me licking your ass. I’m sorry.” He scooted closer and hugged him as best he could from the bed, lying on the bed. “I’m so sorry, L-D.” He kissed his shoulder tenderly.
At this point, Cole knew he had to explain himself whether he had the energy to do so or not. Ellis didn’t deserve to suffer in fear or whatever he might have done to hurt Cole. He pulled in a few long, deep breaths, and rolled enough to look Ellis in the eyes. Although, opening his eyes was nearly impossible for how spent he felt.
“Ellis,” he started slowly. “You didn’t hurt me.”
Ellis caressed his face with great care. “Really?”
“No. And I’m not mad. I did like it. But you nearly killed me.”
Ellis gave him a puzzled look. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“I’m glad we have our own place for once, where we can explore whatever sexual desires we have, but if you ever hit me with two massive climaxes in a row again, I swear I’m going to have a heart attack and die.”
Ellis giggled. “And here I thought it was something serious.”
Cole shoved at Ellis’s chest. “Jerk! I am serious! That almost killed me. It was like burning in a chemical fire and ever nerve-ending was raw and exposed as the flesh peeled off my bones.”
Ellis propped himself up on one elbow and peered down at Cole. “Oh really? So you’ve been in a chemical fire, have you?”
“Shut up!” he fussed. “You weren’t the one suffering from endorphin overload. I can’t say you’ve ever done that to me before. I didn’t even come down from the first ejaculation before you had me cresting for the next. It was too much. I thought I was going to die.”
“Die from too much sex?” Ellis asked before letting out a hearty guffaw. “You are too much L-D. Only you could create an argument over the best sex you’ve ever had.” He laughed uncontrollably as he rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom.
Cole couldn’t even find the energy to follow after and argue more of his point. He lay helplessly in bed, grumbling, “You think it’s funny when I do the same to you and your nerves are screaming from ecstasy overload. You’ll see! I’ll get even with you, Ellis Montgomery, if it’s the last thing I do.”
Ellis strolled back in and tossed a wet towel at Cole’s head. “That’s just one more reason I love you.”
“Ah!” Cole gaped in protest. Of course, Ellis would ignore his threats. They were empty if he was honest with himself. Ellis was an incredible lover. He was considerate and loving in bed, but also had no qualms about exploring the possibilities between them. Case in point, what he’d just done. He blew Cole’s mind, and Cole knew Ellis would not stop trying until he topped their experience this night with something all together Earth-shattering on another. His new husband certainly loved to take on a good personal challenge.
***
It wasn't as if getting a job was an issue for Cole. The issue came when he heard the words coming out of the man’s mouth confirming he’d gotten the job. He stood at the sink washing some carrots as he thought how to tell Ellis. He heard the door shut and knew his time was up.
How to word it?
“Hey, babe,” Ellis greeted him as he came into the kitchen. He kissed Cole’s cheek and glanced at the vegetables lying on the counter. “What are we having for dinner?”
“Meat and vegetables, nothing spectacular.”
“All the food you cook is good.” Ellis walked over to a pot and lifted the lid. “Mmm, smell that. Delish.”
“It’s the onions. Anytime you cook onions or garlic it makes the house smell wonderful. Baking fresh bread does it too.” He shut the water off and patted dry the carrots on a paper towel.
“Did anyone call while I was out?” Ellis asked, taking a seat at the small kitchen table in the corner of the room. Their apartment was small, but they had enough room for now.
Cole said, “No. But the mail is on the table by the door. I think I saw a letter in there addressed to you.”
Ellis got up to retrieve it, and then sat back down in the kitchen as he leafed through the flyers and coupons and tossed them aside. Cole noticed how he tucked a leaflet for Dick’s Sporting Goods aside as if knowing he’d need it later. “Oh! I think it’s a reply about the position I applied for.” He tore open the envelope and Cole watched Ellis’s eyes skim the letter. “I’m in!” he exclaimed, shaking the paper at Cole. After his initial excitement, Ellis glanced at the letter again and explained, “They said I could teach one class for a probationary period and if all goes well, I could train to take the position of one of the professor’s when she retires.”
Cole wiped his hands and took a seat at the table next to Ellis. “So they’re paying you to teach one class? How does that work?” Because it didn’t make a lot of sense to him.
“I don’t know. But I have to at least consider this. If they do like me, then I could have a really good job in a few years. A position as a professor? It’s too good to be true!”
Ellis was all bright-eyed, but Cole saw life in shades of reality. Nothing was rosy-pink. Most of life was colored in shades of lifeless gray. “Most things that seem too good to be true—are. There has to be a catch, Ellis. They can’t be dangling the position in front of you without any expectations.”
“No, I swear. Look this over.” He handed Cole the letter.
Cole read through it. No fine print. Ellis got a teaching job at a local college. They could live where they were, near Ellis’s parents, and with the job Cole had gotten the two of them might even be able to buy a house. How could this be true? He slid the letter across the table into Ellis’s hands. “Somehow, everything works out for you, doesn’t it?”
Ellis furrowed his brow. “Maybe? I don’t know. What do you mean?”
Cole heaved a sigh. He couldn’t believe he was about to admit this. “I bet you could piss into the wind and somehow it would come back in your direction only to hit a crosswind and rain in a different direction. Nothing bad sticks to you.”
Ellis’s expression sagged as if hearing Cole’s sarcasm was new and offensive. “Sure it does. I’m teaching one class. That can’t pay much. It doesn’t solve our issues. We still only have two months rent saved up before we’ll have to dip into the money your parents gave us toward a house. And we can’t really buy a house unless you’re employed, so my one measly little job only nudges us in the right direction. It doesn’t solve everything.”
Cole hated the sound of Ellis on the defensive. It wasn't his goal to upset him. Ellis was doing what he could to contribute to their life together and Cole’s attempt to surprise him with his news wasn’t coming off the way he’d hoped. He took Ellis’s hand. “Ellis, I wasn’t saying that to be hurtful, although sometimes I do feel jealous of how easily things come to you. But yes, this does solve our problems because now we’re both employed.”
Ellis’s eye twitched and he cocked his head. “Huh?”
Cole forced himself to be happy about it. “I got a job, Ellis. I work fulltime starting on Monday and I think we should call the Real Estate agent and put in a bid on that house we saw last week. You loved the porch and the neighborhood, and I want that one room in the front to be my library. So, yes, your one class does sort of fix everything.”
Ellis, who’d been silently astounded while Cole fit all the pieces together for him, whispered, “You’re not joking?”
“No. I think we’re going to get everything we talked about on our honeymoon.”
Ellis jumped up and hugged Cole in his seat. “I can’t believe this!”
When Ellis started pacing the floor, Cole chuckled. “You always said the God of the universe liked you. Well, maybe He does.”
Ellis’s smile nearly split his face. He grabbed Cole into a bear hug, lifted him out of the chair, and winged him around in circles on the floor. “I love you! I love you! I love you!”
Cole held on tight and rode out Ellis’s excitement. He’d willingly puke from dizziness just to be in Ellis’s arms as he proclaimed his promises to Cole over and over. Ellis would love and cherish him. Ellis would provide for him. Ellis would build him bookshelves for their library and buy the biggest bed they could find. Moreover, Ellis would come home to him every night and make love to him after they’d shared stories about their day over dinner.
Cole had learned so many things in life since meeting Ellis. But the one thing Cole had learned over the past three years since Ellis Montgomery had entered his life, which stood out above the rest, was even a cynical fatalist like himself could find true love.