Chapter Eleven – In the Dark

He didn’t need to check his phone to know that sunrise was still hours away. It was the same damn thing, his brain was in overdrive preventing him from getting a full-night’s sleep. His genes were pretty strong, seeing how sleeping so little hadn’t taken a toll on his health yet. He’d rest once he made partner. Once he reached all his goals, then he’d take it easy.

Only now he was on vacation, and he was supposed to rest. There were no files or documents waiting for his perusal, no studying to catch up on – because he never stopped learning something new – and no fuck buddy to get busy with in the hope that his insomnia would give him a break.

Alexander had noticed how Brad seemed troubled tonight. No, that was too strong a word. He seemed… puzzled, and somehow, the answer to that puzzle was Lyn, or at least something his old friend from college knew and could help with. Brad was usually direct and didn’t beat around the bush. So, what could it be? Alexander wrote off last-minute jitters as if they weren’t a real thing to begin with. But Alexander wasn’t the best judge of these things, seeing how his marriage had gone down the toilet.

He’d have to go outside and stare at the stars until he got sleepy again or dawn arrived and he could go for a run.

When he got out of bed, he must have moved too abruptly, because he sensed Alexander tossing in his sleep. They had separate beds at least, or Lyn would’ve started suspecting Brad of trying to play a bad prank on his old buddies.

“Where are you going at this hour?”

Great. The demon was awake. “I can’t sleep. I have insomnia. But don’t wake up for my sake.”

“How long have you had insomnia?” Alexander sounded wide awake.

“I don’t recall exactly. And I’m not looking for a free checkup, doc.” He hoped his easy sarcasm would get his point across.

“Not sleeping well for extended periods of time is bad for the heart.”

“I know. But I’m built different,” Lyn said, his eyes seeing better in the dark now. He could make out Alexander’s shape on his bed. His educated guess was that the demon slept naked.

“How often do you tell yourself that lie?” Alexander pushed himself up and walked closer to Lyn. He took both his hands and dragged him toward the bed. His bed.

“Don’t be annoying,” Lyn complained. “I’m just going to take a walk outside and then go back to sleep. It works like a charm.” Now that was a lie.

“There are better cures for insomnia.”

“Oh yeah? Scented candles? Meditation? Yoga?”

“This.” Alexander pulled him close and kissed him on the mouth, while his hand went directly to Lyn’s crotch.

Lyn had a mind to tell the asshole sex only seldom tired him enough to get him to sleep through the night. Even so, that was the reason he saw his fuck buddies on a regular schedule. It helped to have a few good nights every week, once in a while.

But El wasn’t here, caught up as he had to be by now in his new relationship with that guy with the goatee.

The man kissing him now was no twink who could moan cutely and spread them nicely. He was a strong – stronger – man, who could manhandle Lyn in ways he couldn’t even begin to imagine, because he was the guy on top, and also the person in control. El and his other fuck buddies often praised him for his staying power and his dedication to prioritize his partner’s orgasms over his own.

This man was Alexander, on top of everything else, which meant a fight was in the cards. Lyn struggled to get the upper hand, but during his effort to push away the asshole and interrupt their kiss, he found himself feeling Alexander’s chest up. It was the lewdest part of him that didn’t allow him to pass up the opportunity to examine a willing man’s body. That was enough to make him angry at himself.

His fingers curled, pulling at Alexander’s chest hair until he heard a hiss. It was for the best, because the kiss had gotten too dizzying.

“Sex only works if I give a guy a serious dicking,” he said, pushing back hard. “Unless you intend to put your ass up for me to fuck, stop whatever it is you think you’re doing.”

As if that would be enough to scare a guy like Alexander. This jerk was one of a kind, always so relentless in pursuing what he wanted, regardless of what costs would be incurred. Although Lyn had turned his back to him – bad idea – the blunt refusal didn’t stop him. He came from behind and hugged Lyn hard.

This was really something else, even for Alexander.

“Why are you so clingy?” Lyn reproached. He wanted to shake Alexander off, but eventually thought better of it. “Don’t tell me you hate sleeping alone.” He chuckled; nothing scared Alexander, since that had been the sense of his words.

“If I lie by saying ‘yes’, will you stay?”

Lyn leaned back into Alexander’s arms, pressed against his large chest. This was a man who could offer comfort, but he was bad at it, so hope that he would do so was as real as fool’s gold.

“You’re off,” he said. “Seriously off. I mean,” he said and caressed Alexander’s arms slowly as they remained wrapped around him, “you’ve been all over me since I told you I was gay. You’re not shocked by it. It’s like--” he stopped as realization hit him. He laughed and shook his head. “There’s something I’m good at, and you want to try it, don’t you?”

Alexander didn’t seem in the least phased by this strange turn of their conversation. Throughout their long debates, their frequent head-butting on all the topics under the sun, their competition never faded. Why would it be different now? They were still the same, eight years later.

“Are you good at being gay?” Alexander asked.

It took someone who knew Alexander the way Lyn knew the guy to understand that there was no sarcasm there. Lyn had guessed right, after all. “I’m amazing at being gay,” he replied. “All the guys I fuck can vouch for it. So what I said earlier, those aren’t empty words. If you don’t mind getting properly dicked, I can do you once.”

“Once?” Alexander seemed to consider the possibility, which unnerved Lyn through its sheer improbability. “Why only once?”

“Because you’re not my type. I fuck guys who are shorter than me, cuter than me, and very good at playing bottom. Once is all I can do for you.”

“Ah, I see. That’s okay. It means I will be the one fucking you. Since I can totally entertain the thought of doing you lots of times.”

“Damn, you’re something else,” Lyn said and turned to face Alexander. In the dark of the room, they couldn’t see each other, but they could definitely feel the heat coming from each other’s bodies. “I am well aware of how much you love competition, but this is a whole different level of weird, even for you.”

“Competition? Do you believe that is what we’re doing?”

“What else?”

Alexander wrapped one arm around Lyn’s shoulders, pulling him close for another kiss. “If you’re bent on playing this dense, I won’t tell you.” His lips were pleasant and firm, reminding Lyn of a time when he had fleetingly wondered what it would feel to have Alexander’s mouth on his. At the time, Lyn had chucked it away as nothing but a fantasy, but right now the fantasy was coming to life in the most unexpected circumstances.

“Let me jerk you off,” he proposed. Alexander seemed reluctant to stop kissing, but Lyn worried about where that would lead. He had never let anyone top him, yet Alexander’s blunt words went straight to a strange place inside his mind that couldn’t help wonder ‘what if’.

No, no, definitely not. Alexander had been his friend, but also a redoubtable adversary. To give him that, on a whim, on top of everything, was an insane idea to consider.

It didn’t matter how great at kissing Alexander was. He had only been with women, which meant he’d have no idea what to do in bed with someone who had the same equipment as him.

“No. I will jerk you off,” Alexander said stubbornly.

Of course, he always did that. He just had to have the last word.