Signs of Life (16 page)

“I want to taste you,” Kai murmured, his tongue coming out to lap up the droplet before it could get lost in Jeremy’s pubic hair. “You said you’re clean, and I believe you.” He chased another droplet of precome, licking it up, and Jeremy grasped Kai’s hair with one hand, the base of his own cock with the other, and rubbed the wet tip against Kai’s lips.

“Then taste me,” he grated. “Suck me. Tease me with that fucking piercing. Tease me until I’m begging you to make me come.”

Kai held Jeremy’s eyes with his as he rubbed his slightly open mouth over the swollen head of Jeremy’s erection, leisurely circling it with his tongue, stabbing it into the slit. He closed his lips over the tip and sucked lightly, making Jeremy hiss before pulling back and rubbing the metal piercing on the sensitive skin on the underside of the ridge, over and over until Jeremy arched his back helplessly, lifting his hips.

Kai pressed his forearms against Jeremy’s inner thighs, immobilizing him and holding him wide, not letting Jeremy chase the friction, teasing him over and over again with his moist lips, a hint of tongue, followed by the rasp of metal.

Jeremy didn’t even recognize his own voice as he gasped out, “Please, Kai,” and Kai smirked at him before mouthing his way down Jeremy’s shaft to nuzzle Jeremy’s balls with his nose.

“Mmmm,” he hummed, sucking on the base of Jeremy’s cock, teasing his heavy, aching balls with the piercing, dragging his open mouth over them again and again.

“You’re killing me, Kai. Please, gorgeous, suck my cock. Make me come,” Jeremy mindlessly begged, both hands threaded through Kai’s thick black hair.

Kai teased and played with Jeremy’s balls a few minutes longer, sucking them one by one into his mouth, rolling them on his tongue before releasing them with a pop. He leisurely licked his way back up Jeremy’s straining shaft, not letting Jeremy rush him before he stood higher on his knees, leaned in, and took Jeremy to the back of his throat.

“Jesus fuck!” Jeremy shouted, tightening his hands in Kai’s hair, his teeth bared as Kai swallowed around the aching head, the heat and pressure nearly driving Jeremy out of his mind. He was moaning helplessly, and when Kai released the restraint on his thighs, Jeremy braced his feet on the edge of the spa and started a slow thrust of his hips, fucking Kai’s mouth.

Kai relaxed his throat completely, letting Jeremy go deeper, bringing his fingers up to squeeze and roll Jeremy’s balls while rubbing the sensitive skin just behind them. Begging curses spilled from Jeremy’s mouth as he arched and writhed beneath Kai’s talented mouth and hands, and before long he felt his balls draw up dangerously tight. He yanked Kai off his cock with a pop of released suction, moaning as he came, his semen splashing over Kai’s swollen lips and dripping from his chin.

Jeremy grasped Kai’s cheeks with his hands and leaned in, licking up the glistening trails before feeding them to Kai with his tongue shoved deep in Kai’s mouth. Kai sucked on his tongue, licking Jeremy’s lips, and Jeremy was gasping for breath, murmuring nonsense words as together they cleaned Kai up, sharing Jeremy’s come. Jeremy didn’t think he’d ever experienced anything so hot, so downright fucking dirty, in his entire life. He couldn’t get enough.

Kai stood up in front of Jeremy, his cock so hard it was tapping his belly and bobbing with Kai’s heartbeat. He spit into his own palm and began to stroke himself, and Jeremy leaned back on his hands and enjoyed the show, hungrily taking in the way Kai pleasured himself, the way he twisted his palm over the slick head on the upstroke, fucking into his fist. Jeremy leaned close and licked the swollen tip each time it emerged from the tunnel of Kai’s stroking hand, enjoying the burst of Kai’s flavor on his tongue. After all their talk of testing, Jeremy knew in the back of his mind they were being stupid sons of bitches, but all he could think about was tasting this man, making him moan with the pleasure Jeremy could bring him.

As Kai’s back arched with impending orgasm, Jeremy slipped two of his fingers into his own mouth, then slid them between Kai’s ass cheeks, rubbing against his hole. Kai cried out as Jeremy forced one fingertip inside him, shoving it deep, and then Kai was coming in agonizing pulses, the semen hitting Jeremy’s chest and sliding in hot trails down his torso.

Jeremy wrapped his arms around Kai’s waist as he sagged against him, sticky come gluing them together, and Jeremy slid off the edge of the spa and took them both into the hot water, kissing Kai soothingly as they both recovered. Before long the heat drove them out of the Jacuzzi, and Jeremy wrapped Kai in his bath sheet before knotting his own around his hips, and they collapsed entangled on the nearby loveseat.

Jeremy sipped some wine while Kai dozed against his chest, a sense of discomfort growing within him until he finally eased himself out from under him. He slipped into the downstairs bathroom and dressed, then knelt next to the loveseat and shook Kai’s shoulder lightly.

“Hey,” he whispered. Kai opened his eyes and he sat up straight, yawning. Jeremy leaned over and picked up Kai’s bundle of clothes, holding them out. Kai looked at them a moment before taking them slowly.

“Not a very subtle hint, man,” he said wryly, standing up and pulling his underwear on, then his jeans. Jeremy didn’t say anything as Kai dressed, waiting while he laced up his boots before walking him to the door. As Kai zipped up his hoodie, rooting in the pocket for his keys, Jeremy said quietly, “I hope you understand this can only be sex between us, Kai. I don’t want a relationship, and I never will.”

“Why?” Kai asked, and there was no censure in his voice, just curiosity.

“I can’t put myself through that again. I won’t,” Jeremy said. “I barely survived losing my husband, my baby. I’m dead inside, Kai. I like you, and I want to have sex with you, but I don’t want to be your boyfriend. I just want you to understand that up front. No strings, no commitment.”

“Message received loud and clear.” Kai leaned up and kissed Jeremy lightly. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for dinner.”

“Kai—” Jeremy began, then shook his head. “I’m sorry. I wish I had more to give, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

“I appreciate that,” Kai said, then swung the door open and stepped out into the cold, rainy night. Jeremy watched as he got into his Jeep, backed slowly down the drive, and drove away.

“YOU’D THINK
he could have shared that little tidbit of info with you
before
he let you suck his dick,” Loren said caustically, looking up at Kai from his sprawl on Kai’s couch. It was a couple of days since the evening at Jeremy’s house, and this was the first time he’d been able to pin Loren down to talk about it.

He handed Loren a freshly opened beer and then plopped down beside him, taking a huge slug of his own.

“Honestly I think the whole evening took him by total surprise, from issuing the dinner invitation in the first place to the sex. I don’t think he’d planned it, Loren, in order to spring his ‘conditions’ on me after he got his rocks off at least once.”

“You’re nicer than I am, Kai. I’d have told him to get bent.” Loren drank some beer and then grabbed the TV remote, flipping on the TV and mindlessly scrolling through the channels so fast it made Kai dizzy.

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Kai retorted. “Jesus, the dude has suffered almost unimaginable loss. You can’t blame him for being closed off, cautious of letting anyone get close to him again.”

“He treated you like shit at the club, and what he did the other night wasn’t a whole lot better, Kai. Handing you your clothes and pushing you out the door like a john who was getting rid of a trick. Don’t let him use his loss as an excuse to be an asshole.”

“Would you turn that shit off?” Kai wrestled the remote away from Loren and clicked off the TV, throwing the remote into the chair the farthest away, knowing Loren was too comfortable and lazy to get up and go after it. “I want to talk to you about this!”

“The more you tell me, the more I want to go kick the dude’s ass,” Loren grumbled, but sipped his beer and looked at Kai expectantly. “So talk.”

Kai took a sip of his own beer, marshaling his thoughts. “He told me that the night at the club was the first sex he’d had since his husband died. When did we go, about two and a half, three months ago?”

“Something like that.”

“And he said his husband died more than two
years
ago. I’m the first one he’s even tried with since he lost his husband.”

“You think that makes me feel any better?” Loren asked. “To know you’re basically his rebound, his stepping stone from ‘unimaginable loss,’ as you said, back to the wild and wonderful world of dating and sex?”

“He’s got to start somewhere, Loren,” Kai said quietly. “You know I’m tough, and resilient, and obviously now I know the score. I think I can be good for him, and I won’t let him hurt me.”

Loren set his beer down on the coffee table and took Kai’s from his hand, putting it down next to his. “I know this will fall on deaf ears because you really can’t seem to help yourself, but you don’t have to save the world, Kai. You don’t have to be his little experiment boy.”

Kai sighed and leaned his head on Loren’s shoulder. “It’s not just that. I really like him, Loren. I don’t know why, exactly, but I do.”

“I know why. Because you want to fuck him,” Loren said.

Kai didn’t answer, and Loren heaved a sigh of his own. “Okay, have fun with that. Get laid, have a great time. But if he breaks your heart, so help me, I’ll break his goddamn face.”

Loren’s voice was fierce, deadly serious, and affection for him clogged Kai’s throat for a minute, making his own voice hoarse as he replied, “I know you will, man.” A short silence fell and then Kai asked, “Don’t you ever get tired of putting my broken pieces back together?”

Loren put an arm around him and hugged him close, kissing the top of his head. “Never,” he vowed in a whisper, then shoved Kai away and lunged for the remote, laughing at Kai’s curses, both of them letting the emotional tension relax into the comfort of easy friendship.

Loren found a show he wanted to watch, and Kai curled up next to him on the couch, grading test papers and worksheets. When he pulled out his laptop to enter the grades in the students’ records, he noticed with a start Shauna hadn’t turned in the last two assignments. It wasn’t like her, and Kai vowed to pin her down the next time he saw her. Which reminded him of something.

He stuck out his foot and kicked Loren in the shin. “What?” he grunted.

“I’m starting the self-defense class at school next week,” Kai said. “You told me you’d talk to a couple of the female officers about helping out.”

When he’d approached the assistant principal a few weeks ago with the idea for the class, Dave was enthusiastic. “It’s a good idea, Kai. Are you thinking of opening it to students or just keep it faculty?”

Kai thought of Shauna, and wondered how many other female students were in abusive relationships, or had abusive men in their lives.

“I think I’d open it to all,” he had said.

“Then work up a permission slip for the underage kids, and I’ll spread the word. But Kai, it needs to be female-on-female sparring partners or demo partners. Especially if you want to do this on school grounds. We can’t take the chance of anyone accusing—”

“I get it,” Kai had said hastily. “I have a couple of women in my Krav Maga class I can ask to help out, plus I can get Loren to ask around at work for volunteers.”

Dave nodded, satisfied, and Kai went to talk to the facilities manager about using the gym for an hour one day a week.

Loren stretched, arching his back. “Yeah, I talked to them,” he mumbled, half-asleep. “Just remind me of the day and time again later, okay?”

It was all falling into place, and Kai had five women from the faculty and six female students signed up, permission slips turned in. A couple of male students had approached him as well about joining, and Kai regretfully told them the class wouldn’t be made coed at this point. The boys were disappointed and Kai felt bad, but he knew from experience, with Elise especially, some of the women would feel more at ease with fewer males around—the fewer the better. Kai would be teaching the class, of course, and Loren agreed to be his demo partner for the first few sessions. After the basic moves were mastered, Elise would then take over those duties in order to demonstrate clearly a woman could defend herself against a man who was bigger and stronger than she was.

Loren sat up and stretched again, yawning so wide Kai heard his jaw crack. “Gotta get going. Thanks for the beer.” He grabbed his jacket from where it was tossed over the back of a nearby chair, pulling it on as Kai walked him to the door.

“See you Saturday,” Kai said.

“Weather’s supposed to be shitty,” Loren warned, rooting in his pocket for his car keys.

“Yeah, I know,” Kai replied. “I need to talk to Jeremy about that, see if he’s ready for the boys to move over to his office to do the inside work. This should probably be our last outdoor session.”

Loren grunted agreement, leaned over, and pecked Kai on the lips, then was out the door.

Kai picked up the empty beer bottles and put them in the recycle bin, then looked at his watch. It was only 9:00 p.m., and on impulse he picked up the phone and dialed Jeremy’s number.

“Hey, Kai,” Jeremy answered after a couple of rings, his voice warm and welcoming.

“Hey.” Kai couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Got a minute?”

At Jeremy’s assent, he explained the situation with the weather, and Jeremy said, “Yeah, I’ve talked to my general contractor, and we’re almost good to go on the interior of the office. I need to go out and buy some of the supplies this week, but believe me there will be plenty to keep the boys busy for a long time. The wallpaper stripping alone will take weeks.”

“Good,” Kai said with satisfaction. “I don’t think they have fifty hours accrued yet, even with some of the other stuff that Liliana has set them up with. It’s not easy to find businesses that will take four punk kids as a community service project, and any outdoor stuff is gonna fall by the wayside with the weather going downhill.”