Safe Harbor 2: Hiding in Plain Sight (16 page)

“If you don’t stop, I’m gonna fuck you,” came a sleepy voice.

“Maybe I want you to.”

Joey groaned. “You really are going to kill me someday.”

“You are not even thirty,” he answered with a snort. “I think you’ve got a few good years left in you.”

“I’m not as young as you are. And since I left the military, my conditioning isn’t what it used to be.”

Vlad turned and leered. “You look fine to me.”

Joey climbed out of bed, shivering. “Whose idea was it to sleep naked?”

“Yours.”

On his way to the bathroom, Joey flipped him off. While his lover took care of his morning duties, Vlad lay in bed, loving the chance to really relax. He couldn’t believe Joey had said he was falling in love too. It was an unbelievable feeling.

They ate a quick breakfast, and in between bouts of making out on the couch, some studying did happen. The test was quickly approaching, and Vlad didn’t know what he’d do if he failed it. Yes, Russia was where he’d been born, where his family was, but it wasn’t home and never would be again. Truthfully, he was content never setting foot in Russia for the rest of his life. The United States had given him a chance. Maybe if he stayed, he could even come out. He didn’t want to live this secret life forever, and he knew Joey wasn’t excited about the idea.

The rhythm of practices, games, and the like continued over the next few weeks until the day of Vlad’s test. He and Joey had gone through all the study materials countless times, and Vlad knew the information inside and out. Didn’t stop the butterflies, though. On the morning of the test, even though Joey tried to cajole him into eating, Vlad refused.

“After the test.”

“But baby, that’s going to be hours from now.”

“Are you sure you want to come with me? You will be bored.”

“Positive. Now stop asking.”

Joey whacked him on the ass, and Vlad let the heat spread through his groin. He was pleasantly sore after Joey had pounded him into the mattress last night, and he’d discovered he really liked it when Joey spanked him as he fucked him. And his Joey was no dummy—he took every opportunity in and out of bed to slap Vlad’s ass. But he wasn’t complaining. Maybe someday he’d work up the nerve to ask Joey to tie him up and give him a real spanking. He wasn’t sure he’d consider himself kinky, but he’d seen a similar scene in one of those pornos, and the idea of being powerless with someone he trusted was intriguing. His dick certainly liked the way his ass felt when Joey spanked him.

Joey drove them to the testing center. Before they got out of the Jeep, he leaned over and kissed Vlad’s temple. “You’re going to do great. You’ve got this. And when you’re done, I’ll be right outside.”

“I love you.” Shit, was that different than saying he was falling in love? Had he gone too far?

His fear must’ve shone in his eyes, because Joey grabbed the sides of his face. Vlad’s eyes drifted closed as Joey kissed each eyelid with the gentlest of touches.

“I love you too. Now go show ’em what you’ve got.”

With a deep breath, Vlad grabbed the folder of documents he’d need for the test and interview. Suddenly he was more worried about the interview than anything else. What if he said something wrong?

Joey got out of the car too and reached underneath Vlad’s coat to smooth the lapels of his suit. “Do you own any suits you don’t look ridiculously hot in?”

Vlad had to smile. “Not according to you, I guess, and you are the most important person to think so.”

He wished he could hold Joey’s hand on the way into the building. Joey wouldn’t mind, but Vlad wasn’t quite ready to declare his sexuality to the world, and he was a recognizable figure in Pittsburgh. Maybe soon he would be. Vlad was tired of living a lie.

The interview and test were the most nerve-racking things Vlad had ever done, more than NHL draft day and the brief Olympics he’d been a part of. His belly rolled, and he wondered if Joey had been right about eating.
Too late now.

Just like he and Joey had practiced, Vlad spoke slowly to make sure the interviewer could understand his answers. He didn’t have a thick accent like other Russian-born players because he’d been in the US for so long, but it didn’t hurt to show the interviewer how well-spoken he was. When the whole thing was over, the interviewer stood, came around to the front of her desk, and held out her hand.

“Congratulations, Mr. Gusev.”

“I-I passed?” The last word came out as little more than a squeak, and Vlad felt light-headed as he stood too quickly. Reaching down, he grabbed the arm of the chair he’d been sitting on. Then he remembered the woman was still waiting for him to shake her hand, so he straightened, wincing when he realized how clammy his hands were.

She leaned against the desk behind her once they’d shaken. “Yes, you passed. You’ll be receiving an invitation to the formal ceremony within a few weeks. In larger cities, it often takes longer, but here in Pittsburgh, we swear in citizens around once a month.”

“Thank you.” Tears sprang to his eyes, and he hastily wiped them away with the back of his hand.

“You’re welcome. Thank you for your interest in citizenship. Like I said, be on the lookout for the invitation.” She gave him a gentle smile. “It shouldn’t be long now.”

Vlad said good-bye and walked in a daze out of the office. Joey clambered up from the bench he’d been waiting for Vlad on.

“How did it go?”

“I passed!” He wanted so badly to take Joey in his arms and kiss him until he could become part of the other man, but he managed to restrain himself by the barest of margins.

Joey leaned over. “I’m so proud of you, baby. Let’s go home and celebrate. Maybe I’ll teach you a new trick.”

Now that Vlad could finally let go of the anxiety building for weeks, he grinned. “You make me sound like a puppy.”

“Sometimes you’re as eager as one.”

Vlad shook his head. “You are crazy.”

Joey took him back to his place, and after stripping Vlad naked, leaving little kisses everywhere he bared, he laid Vlad back on the bed. Much as he’d love for Joey to suck and bite his way up and down the expanse of his body, Vlad couldn’t take the chance of one of his teammates noticing any bite or love marks. All he needed were the boys thinking he had some puck bunny on the side. He wasn’t sure he could keep up such an illusion, even if it would solve a whole lot of problems for him if they thought he was having sex with a woman. Vlad shuddered. There weren’t enough condoms in the world to protect a person from many of those girls, even if he’d had a bit of interest in having sex with women anyway.

Sitting back, Joey assessed Vlad, and it was tough to keep a straight face as the man seemed to be putting a lot of thought into what he wanted to do. Vlad didn’t mind—Joey could call the shots and have Vlad moaning and begging for release, and they both knew it—but it was still funny to see an expression Vlad figured was akin to one Joey might have before a mission.

Joey snapped his fingers. He took care of his own clothes and said, “Close your eyes.” Vlad bit his lip. “Trust me, baby, I would never hurt you.”

Vlad did as he bade and could hear all manner of items being shoved around what Vlad assumed was the bottom drawer of Joey’s nightstand. It was much larger than the top one and contained a whole bunch of things that both intrigued and frightened him. He swallowed, willing his heart rate to slow and his breathing to even out, reminding himself Joey would never hurt him.

“Are you almost done?”

Joey laughed. “Impatient, are we?” He gave a little tweak to Vlad’s nipple, and Vlad arched. “You like?”

“Yes. Everything feels so good.”

“Open your eyes. I want to make sure you’re on board with what I’m thinking.”

Vlad did so and saw several items laid out on the bed. He looked up at Joey for an explanation. With a grin, Joey straddled him, settling himself over Vlad’s thighs. He held up the first item.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Um, no.” Vlad’s face heated. Though Joey didn’t seem to mind, Vlad felt like he knew nothing when it came to gay sex. Even all the porn he’d watched had left so much out of his field of knowledge.

“It’s a vibrating cock ring. I’d like to put it on you.”

“What does it do?”

“When it’s at the base of your shaft,” Joey ran his fingertips right up Vlad’s cock and chuckled when Vlad moaned, “it restricts blood flow. Basically it helps keep you hard longer. And the vibrations are just kind of an added bonus.”

“Okay.”

Picking up the next thing, Joey asked, “How about this?”

“A dildo.”

“Excellent.”

Joey smiled at Vlad like he was his star pupil.

“I want to put it inside you. It also vibrates, which can feel incredible against your prostate.” He dropped the dildo back on the bed. “While both of those are driving you crazy, I thought we might try this.”

It was a child’s paddleball game thing. “What would we do with that?”

“I took the ball off. Now it’s just a thin, lightweight paddle. You like it when I spank you with my hand, and I thought you might like going a little further.” He shrugged as if embarrassed. “I, um, picked up the paddle after you seemed to react favorably the first time I smacked your ass. The thought of it turned me on, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money until I was sure you were into it. Anyway, they’re just ideas. We can do whatever you want.”

“I want this. Yes, exactly this.”

“Are you sure?”

“If I don’t like it, you will stop. I trust you.”

“Good. Let’s do this first.” He picked up the cock ring and lubed it and Vlad’s dick before slowly sinking it to the base. “I won’t turn on the vibration just yet.”

Vlad could feel the blood in his cock making it even harder, since it had no outlet. “This feels really good.”

“It’s only gonna get better.” Joey picked up the dildo and climbed off Vlad. “Hold your knees up by your chest. Oh. Need to make sure we still have access to this.” He touched Vlad’s cock. “Keep your legs spread for me.”

They’d used dildos a couple of times before, which wasn’t a big deal by now, but every time Joey wanted him on his back like this, Vlad always felt so exposed. Here he was, legs in the air, offering his ass to another man. At the same time, though, it was incredibly freeing. He didn’t have to worry about doing anything right. Joey would take care of him.

“Good boy.” After lubing Vlad’s hole, Joey slowly slid the dildo inside, maintaining eye contact with Vlad. “How do you feel?”

“Mmm…”

“That’s all I get? Mmm? Maybe I should take it out.”

He began to do so, and Vlad’s hand shot down to stop the movement. Vlad knew Joey was teasing him and chewed the inside of his cheek to discourage himself from reacting to the man’s taunting any more than he already had.

“Keep your legs up. I want good access to all this pale skin.”

Joey traced little patterns on the backs of Vlad’s thighs, and Vlad shuddered. “Um, one question.”

“Of course, babe. Ask anything.”

“Will I be, um, red or anything tomorrow? I have practice.”

Vlad widened his eyes at the face-splitting grin Joey gave him. “That’s the beauty of this one. Packs a nice sting but leaves very little redness. I actually did research on the Internet to make sure. Saw some pretty interesting stuff.”

“Oh. Yeah, I bet you did.” Vlad chuckled. “Well…okay. Yes. I want to do this. You seem to know a lot about this stuff. Just a little Internet research?”

Joey shrugged. “I’ve watched my fair share of porn too. And one guy I was seeing for a few weeks was totally kinky. He taught me how to spank.”

“You have to learn how?”

With a leer, Joey said, “If you want to do it right.”

Vlad wasn’t sure how you could do it wrong but kept his mouth shut. He nodded.

“I’m going to turn on the cock ring.” Joey narrowed his eyes at Vlad. “I want you to try not to come. It would be a lot harder, so to speak”—he chuckled—“to orgasm with the cock ring, but concentrate on keeping it at bay. It’ll be good for you. Doing stuff like this makes you last longer during sex.”

“Do I come too soon?”

“No, you’re great. But you are young.”

Vlad sighed. “This again.”

Joey gave the engorged head of Vlad’s cock a little slap, and Vlad’s breath caught.

“Be good, or I’ll spank you.”

“I thought that was what you were going to do anyway?”

“Oh, I am, but I meant on here.” He batted Vlad’s dick with two fingers, and the thing waved around like a buoy bobbing in a stormy sea. Vlad groaned. “Hmm. Look at you. What a naughty little man you are.”

“Little?” Vlad looked down at his huge, throbbing erection. “Nothing small about me.”

“No, there’s not.”

Leaning down, Joey sucked the head into his mouth, and Vlad tried not to crawl out of his skin.

“Man, you are so much fun to play with.”

He turned the vibrator on the dildo to what Vlad assumed was low, also known as “slowly taunt boyfriend mode,” and a very strange but really fucking good sensation surrounded his groin. Joey turned it up a little more, a wicked grin playing over his face.

“Feels good,” Vlad managed to force out through a locked jaw.

“Excellent. Now close your eyes again. I don’t want you seeing where the next stroke of the paddle is coming from. I’ll start slow and build.”

“Fuck, yes. Do it.”

“How needy.”

Joey hadn’t even finished talking when the air in the room changed, and the paddle fell on Vlad’s skin for the first time. Vlad sucked in a breath, but before he could let it out again, another blow fell on the opposite cheek. Joey started paddling him all over his ass and thighs, in no recognizable pattern. Joey was right—the paddle stung a ton, even though Vlad knew Joey wasn’t wielding it with a whole lot of power. His whole backside quickly morphed into a constant low burn, but the two vibrating sex toys were slowly making him insane. The head of his cock was surrounded by wet warmth, and Vlad bucked. With a chuckle, Joey put an arm over the backs of Vlad’s thighs and started to lick both his dick and balls.

Vlad let out a strangled cry. “No fair.”

Joey pulled off. “Who said anything about fair?”