Ben
I waited for Max to arrive. I knew he’d show up. Call it a hunch or the Force or a good guess, but I could feel him coming closer. Imagine his shock when he showed up at the locked gates of the shelter and I was waiting for him, motor running, ready to take him on a real date.
“Hey,” he cautiously said while paying and tipping the driver.
“Hey yourself,” I replied, ass resting on the bumper of my car, arms crossed, the ultimate picture of Mr. Cool. If only my interior was as chill as my exterior. My stomach was a jumble of nerves, my heart was skipping a beat, by the feels, and my cock was plumping up just looking at the man in his suit and tie.
Max looked through the gates at the shelter. Crickets chirruped and a dog barked. The air was heavy with humidity. The steady hum of city traffic surrounded us.
“What’s going on?” He pulled his blue tie out from under his shirt collar and shoved it into his front pocket. Then the jacket was removed, showing off thick arms wrapped in soft cotton.
“We’re going on a date.”
He glanced back at me, one eyebrow climbing upward.
“We are?”
“Yes. We are.” I opened the passenger side door for him. “We have to hurry, though. It closes at ten.”
“Uh, that only gives us about forty minutes.” Max showed me the heavy watch on his left wrist.
“Which is why I’m telling you to hurry.” I waved a hand at my car’s interior.
“Wait,” Max looked around him. “I thought DK was with you.”
“He was. Now he’s not.” Another jerky motion at the open door.
He walked over and got into the car. I shut the door like a real gentleman, then raced around the front of the Jeep and dove behind the wheel.
“Good thing the game didn’t go into overtime,” I said, pulling away with my confused date at my right. I turned up the stereo and Teddy Pendergrass oozed out of the speakers.
“Good thing.” Max buckled up, then hit me with a firm look. “What is all this about?”
“It’s about the fact we’ve never had a date.” I glanced quickly at him, then back at the road. Teddy was crooning about turning out the lights. Mm-mm-mm, that sounded good. Me, Max, a bed, and a dark room. Or a room with lights. I was good with either scenario.
No, dammit. No. This is a no-sex date night. Be strong, Benton!
“I didn’t know we were doing the whole dating thing.”
Worry set in. I concentrated on the traffic leaving the city.
“I didn’t either at first.” I’d decided to be honest with the man. He had always been one hundred percent honest with me. No false promises or honeyed words to get me into bed. Not that he’d needed them, but still…
“And now you think you want the dating thing.”
“If you do.” Argh. No, that was backpedaling. Be strong, Benton! “I mean yeah. I want to date you.”
I jerked my chin up a bit as I zipped along, my speed maybe a bit higher than it legally should be.
“Huh.”
I threw him a look, but he seemed well and truly into himself, so I let that admission bounce around the inside of the Jeep as we hightailed it to Hershey.
When we pulled up at the park, Max’s bushy eyebrows knotted up. “So we busted ass to get to an amusement park?”
“Well…yeah.” I threw open the door and got out of the car. He did the same. I checked my watch. I’d made the twenty-five-minute drive in less than twenty, so we had about fifteen minutes before the park closed for the night. “There’s something important I wanted to say to you in a special place. Come on.”
Max muttered something under his breath. What it was, I didn’t know, but we ran to the gates, paid to get in, and hustled past roller coasters and water rides, breathlessly arriving at the Kissing Tower with just ten minutes to closing.
“I’m going to pass out,” Max panted as the disgruntled park employee ushered us into the rotating cabin. We were the only ones on the ride, which was good. I’d been hoping for a little privacy for my great confession. Also, if Max blew me off, no one would be there to see me cry.
“Don’t pass out yet.” I took his hand and led him to one of the candy-kiss-shaped windows. The ride started quickly, probably because the employees wanted to go home. Up the cabin rose, two hundred and fifty feet into the air, as it slowly rotated. We sat down and looked out the candy-shaped windows, working to catch our breath.
“This is really something,” Max said as the cabin slowly turned, showing those inside a panoramic view of the illuminated park and the lights of downtown Hershey. My gaze was on him.
“Yeah, it really is.”
He turned on the padded bench and settled his beautiful brown-gold eyes on me.
I leaned in and kissed him. We were in the kissing tower, after all. He responded with simmering heat that was evident and burbling below the surface.
I cupped his face, the rough scratch of his beard on my palms crazy pleasant.
“I really like you and I want to date you. In public. Holding hands and whispering over a candlelight meal sort of dating.”
He seemed to digest that news slowly. The cabin continued to rotate. My belly felt a little queasy, and not from the mellow ride we were on.
“Okay, I’d like that too.”
He hauled me to him, plastering his mouth over mine. Somehow, by the time the cabin was back on the ground, I’d been pulled onto his lap, facing him, and was having my neck feasted on by a ravenous hockey player.
The doors opening on the cabin and the shout from a disgruntled park worker broke into the sensual moment. I leaped up, we both shoved at our erections, and we exited the ride looking rather sheepish. Max took my hand. That made me feel lighter than I had since Rolf had threatened me.
“Okay, you lost that loving look. What’s wrong?”
“Just thinking about Rolf.”
“Did you hear from him again?”
“No, no, he’s not that stupid.” We were shown out of the park and walked to my Jeep, fingers woven together, giving me strength that I gladly soaked up. “Let’s not talk about that hateful bastard. Tonight is supposed to be about us. DK and my aunts are down in D.C., so I don’t have to fret over them.”
“What are they doing down there?”
He led me to the car, then eased my back to the driver’s side door, stepping up nice and close, pressing his chest to mine.
“They wanted to take him to his first sit-in. Protesting for women’s rights.” He nudged at my jaw with his nose, intent on getting back to tasting my neck. I let him nibble. It was just him and me and a thousand moths flitting about under the light overhead. “Mmm, that’s so nice. Want to find a place to eat then go back to my place?”
His head came up quickly. “I think Stan lives around here.” He gave the parking lot a look. “I mean, not here, obviously, but in Hershey. Maybe we could stop by and have a drink. Might be nice to spend some time with another couple.”
“Yeah, that would be nice. Where does he live?”
“Somewhere in Hershey. Big gates, according to Lockhart. We can just cruise around until we find it.” He buried his face back in my neck. I shook my head. He sighed and pulled back to look at me. “No, you don’t want to visit Stan?”
“Oh, I do, I just need you to think about what you just suggested. You said that I should cruise around an affluent neighborhood, after dark, checking out the rich folks’ houses.”
He mulled it over for about five seconds, then his brows untangled.
“Oh,” he murmured.
“Yeah.”
“That truly sucks.”
“Tell me. So, how about we skip that possibly unpleasant scenario and just go find a quiet place to eat then go home.”
“Italian. I’m hungry for Italian. And you.”
I was hungry for him too, but fettuccine did sound good. “We could get it to go.”
“What about the real date?”
“We rode a ride. That technically constitutes a real date.”
You’re a weak, weak man, Benton.
His chuckle was rich. “That we did. Takeout it is.”
We took our takeout to my bed. We lay among tin foil pans filled with fettuccine Alfredo, lasagna, and spaghetti and meatballs, nude, feeding each other between long, sloppy kisses. Pasta began to slide from our forks, long strands slithering down my side to the sheets, or fat, round meatballs rolling down Max’s hip to rest beside his hard cock. I sucked on a pair of meaty balls—all covered with red sauce rich with garlic. Max snorted and chuckled throughout, his hair and beard thick with sauce, my chest and dick coated with rich, cheesy Alfredo sauce.
The covers were a mess, the sheets stained and ruined, but we rolled around in the seasoned sauces anyway, play giving way to passion as one hunger bowed to another.
Lubing up his ass was sloppy fun. I pushed my fingers deeply into him as I sucked on the fat head of his prick. Max tugged and pulled until I was straddling him, my knees on either side of his head. He greedily took me into his mouth. Two fat fingers coated with lube and probably Alfredo sauce found my ass. I rocked back onto those eager fingers, gasping around his cock as he hooked them perfectly and stroked my sweet spot. I got lost in Max, and it was just what I needed. Loving the man wiped the worry from my mind. There was no Rolf, no elderly aunts, no teenaged boy alone and unwanted by his family, and no shelter teetering on the edge of foreclosure. For this one wonderful short span of time, it was just me and Max.
He came first, coating my tongue and throat. I shuddered wickedly, the heady taste of him combined with the scratch of his fingers along my prostate pushing me over the edge. Max hummed and suckled, never pulling off or gagging, taking my wild thrusts while working my ass madly.
“Hell…oh hell.” He held me tightly, one hand on my ass, keeping me from moving away until he was done. Each pull of his lips over my cock got him another shudder. Finally he let me break free and fall by him on the bed. An aluminum pan flipped up and coated my back with some cold, wet noodle nasty.
“Ah, man,” I coughed, curling into a small ball as the last little tremors rolled through me.
“My spaghetti,” Max moaned. He rolled me onto my stomach and ate his dinner from my lower back as I snickered and giggled.
“You’re the tastiest plate ever invented,” he purred as he covered me with his bulk, his chest pressing me into the saucy bedding.
I lifted a hand in defeat and was flipped onto my back, pan collapsing as my ass flattened it.
His laughing gaze found mine.
“You’re very special to me,” I whispered, then flicked a tiny chunk of meatball from his beard.
“You’re very special to me too,” he replied, dipping his head to take a long taste of my mouth that ended up leading us into my bathroom, which led us into another round of lovemaking in the skinny shower.
After that, we were ready for bed. One that wasn’t coated with the dinner specials from Lou’s Ristorante over on Locust Street. We crashed in the guest bedroom, kicking the soda cans from DK’s bed to the floor and falling asleep as soon as we were cuddled close with our heads on the pillows.
Overall, for a first real date, I was damn happy with the outcome, even if I did slip up a bit on the no sex thing.
The old gals and DK had opted to stay in D.C. for a few days. Thankfully, the protest had been a peaceful one. I’d joked with my father that if they ended up in the slammer it was on him to bail them out. He’d laughed, but it hadn’t been a heartfelt laugh. He knew how those two were.
So that left me alone at the next Railers game. I was late arriving due to some new intakes and a sick cat issue combined with some sort of call from the Department of Agriculture I’d missed due to the sick cat issue. I’d have to call back tomorrow during office hours, which was fine. Any time the DA called, I got worry lines. They were the state agency that oversaw and inspected shelters. I’d never had any issue passing those surprise inspections. The fact they were calling me was what had me nervously chewing the inside of my lower lip. They said they’d emailed me, and actually when I went looking, it was just a survey. Still, my heart was still racing in my chest.
“Hey, man, are you okay? Get some bad nachos or something?”
The sound of eighteen thousand fans reappeared around me. I shook off the cloud of worry and turned to Mr. Mountain—who I now knew had a real name, Kenny—and smiled up at the huge season-ticket holder. Seemed Max had sprung for these seats throughout the rest of the playoffs. Color me surprised. That man was full of lovely little secrets.
“Nope, no bad nachos. Just thinking about work.”
“Dude, don’t you know the rule?” Kenny gave his husband, Jeff, a look. Jeff glanced around his bare-chested spouse. “Baby, he don’t know the rule.”
“Sorry? What rule is that?” I asked.
Someone on the ice hit someone else on the ice, and the fans shouted obscenities. Dammit. I needed to pay attention to the game. That could have been Max getting knocked into the boards instead of Adler. Not that I wanted Adler to get his bell rung, but you know…
“The rule that states work stays in the parking lot at a hockey game.”
“Oh, right, that rule. I forgot.”
Kenny patted my head, then went back to roaring at Tampa Bay for some infraction or another. This second game had been downright brutal so far. We were almost at the end of the second period with things all tied up. There had been no scoring because the teams had been too busy hitting each other. Between the legal and illegal checks, the sin bin had needed a revolving door. I suspected the Railers were in for a good chewing-out when they returned to the dressing room.
My attention seemed to be on Max most of the time, but I did get to enjoy a sudden flurry of activity around the Florida net just as the horn blew signaling the end of the period. That was the most offense the Railers had been able to muster throughout forty minutes of play. Hopefully they’d be able to keep that jazzy goodness going when they came back out.
“I’m going to the bathroom and grabbing a beer. Kenny, Jeff, you want something?”
“No, we’re good. Thanks, though.” Kenny beamed at me, his arm dangling around his husband’s neck. Jeff smiled softly. Talk about an odd couple, but they seemed to be happy.
I joined the mass exodus of fans heading to the concourse for food, drink, and a potty run.
Progress was slow, one step at a time, which gave me plenty of time to look around.
People of all sizes and shapes and colors were there. Lots of kids and women too. I was glad to see that. I’ll cop to being the only hockey fan among my group of friends back home. Most were into basketball or football. I liked those sports too, but there had always been something about hockey that I loved. The speed and the physicality and the grace of the big men on those thin blades. Maybe someday I could con Max into giving me a few skating lessons.
A tall man in front of me left the queue. I stepped up and glanced to the side and saw Rolf leaning on the thick railing. My foot missed the next step, and I stumbled into a woman.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled to her dirty glare. My sight flew back to the next section, and he was still there, his gaze never moving from me. Heart in my chest, I pawed in my back pocket to find my phone. Hands shaking, I dialed 9-1-1, feeling less terrified with every ring. When the dispatcher answered, I threw a look at the exact place Rolf had been glowering at me and found only a railing. No. Shit. Where did he go?
“Hello? What is your emergency?” the dispatcher asked.
“I… He was here. My brother-in-law. Ex. He was— Shit, where did he go?!”
“Sir, I need you to calm down and tell me the nature of your emergency.”
“Rolf. He was here. I mean…” I rubbed at my sweaty brow. “He was right there.” I pointed at the railing overlooking the bowl of seats down below, as if the woman on the other end of the call could see where I was pointing. “I mean…it looked just like him.”
“Sir, can you please tell me the nature of your emergency?”
“I ah… Sorry, I think I overreacted. Sorry for calling. Sorry.” I ended the call, heart hammering inside my rib cage. It had been him. Right? Same blond hair, same icy blue eyes, same hateful expression. It had to have been him. Did I imagine it?
“Sweet Lord,” I groaned. I turned and went back to my seat.
“Thought you were grabbing a piss and a beer,” Kenny said when I dropped down beside him.
“Too many people,” I replied, my gaze now touching on every golden head in the stands. Had Rolf followed me here? Had he been lurking around the shelter? My house? Or was I losing my mind?
Badly rattled, I stayed right beside Kenny the Mountain until the Railers managed to lose by one sneaky wraparound goal. I exited with Kenny and Jeff, then lured them into staying with me by offering them the chance to meet Max outside. They were all kinds of up for that, so I hid behind my new friends and waited outside in the dark for Max to come out and give me the hug I so badly needed. Maybe he could kick my ass as well, for being such a damn silly fool.