Cloverleaf : Chapter Eleven

Aberlour : Part Three

Ethan had spent the last half hour tidying up Zach’s condo. He straightened the cushions on the couch, rinsed out the coffee mug he’d used that morning, then wandered into the hallway.

One of Zach’s jackets hung near the front door. Ethan pressed his nose to the sleeve. It still smelled faintly like him, and something warmer underneath.

Jasper lifted his head from the rug, watching him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Ethan muttered.

▫ ▫ ▫

Javier arrived at Zach’s condo thirty minutes late with a bottle of Chianti under his arm, a bag of takeout, and a chew toy for Jasper, but without an apology. Instead, he handed the bag of food to Ethan and tossed the toy to Jasper. “Mamma Santa’s spaghetti with meatballs and something to keep Jasper busy.” Javier opened the wine and listened while Ethan talked about work. Mostly, though, he talked about Zach.

Javier smiled faintly. “So what exactly are you to him? Do you hang with him outside of work?”

“We used to shoot hoops every Wednesday after work and sometimes on the weekend, but ever since he and Peter have been together, we don’t do that much anymore.”

“Aah, that can happen when boyfriends happen. What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”

Ethan fumbled with his fork, splashing spaghetti sauce on Javier’s shirt. “Oh, crap! I’m sorry.”

Javier glanced down at his shirt. “If you wanted me to take it off, you could’ve just asked.”

Ethan’s face reddened with embarrassment.

“Relax, I’m just messing with you.” Javier got up and walked over to the sink. “But I need to wash this out.” He turned back to Ethan. “Okay if I do that?”

“Um, sure.”

Javier peeled off his shirt and put it under the faucet. Ethan tried not to stare at him, but it was impossible not to. Javier’s arms and shoulders were smooth and muscular. The words Venganza Versos Virtud were tattooed across his chest, and a phoenix eagle clutching a snake covered the thick of Javier’s back, wrapped around his left flank, and disappeared into his pants.

“I like your tattoos. What do they mean?”

“They mean I look good naked.”

Ethan blinked. “Oh.” He cleared his throat. “I meant the words.”

“Revenge Art Virtue.”

Ethan looked at him, unsure whether Javier was joking this time or not. Then he noticed the stain spreading across the fabric. “It works better if you run cold water through the back of the stain. Here, let me do it.” Ethan turned the shirt inside out and worked dish soap into the stain until it was gone. “I’ll throw this in the dryer.”

Ethan rinsed the fabric longer than he needed to. He wanted him to stay.

When Ethan walked back into the room, he held out a t-shirt and sat on the couch next to Javier. “I packed an extra. You can wear it while your shirt dries.”

Javier grabbed the shirt and brought it to his nose, but he didn’t put it on. “It smells like you. So, no boyfriend? There must be a lot of guys who’d love to change places with me right now.”

“I don’t know about that. Do you? Have a boyfriend? Or girlfriend?”

“No. I do not have a girlfriend…or boyfriend.”

“Oh. I wasn’t sure if…”

Javier slid closer, reached back, and rubbed his thumb on the back of Ethan’s neck. “Maybe he’s not into you, but I am.”

Ethan stood up. “As soon as your shirts dry, you should probably go, Javier.”

“Call me JD.” He stood so close that Ethan could feel the heat coming off his skin. “You want me to leave?” JD pulled him closer, his hands settling on Ethan’s waist. Ethan didn’t push him away this time. “I didn’t think so. That thing I said before? About running into Zach while he was walking Jasper? Not true.”

Ethan’s stomach tightened. “Then how do you know him?”

“Long story.” JD’s thumb moved slowly along the back of Ethan’s neck. He kept one hand low against Ethan’s back. He moved closer again, his mouth near Ethan’s ear. “You really want him, huh?”

Ethan looked away.

JD’s lips curled into a cocky grin. “I can tell.” He moved closer again, voice dropping lower. “You think about him when you’re jacking off, don’t you? His cock, his ass, how he tastes, the sounds he makes when he’s getting fucked. You can tell me. I’m not the jealous type.” Ethan felt JD’s hot breath against his lips. “We should take this into the bedroom.” He gripped Ethan’s wrist and led him down the hall to a disheveled bed. “Sleeping in the master’s bed while he’s away. Bad puppy.” JD pulled Ethan’s shirt off and ran his fingers down Ethan’s back. “Get on your knees.”

Ethan looked up at JD. His fingers moved to JD’s belt buckle. “Go on. Pull it out.”

Ethan carefully slid the zipper down and wrapped his fingers around JD’s cock. It pulsed in Ethan’s hand, thick, cut, veined, oozing precum. The head of the snake tattoo disappeared under his heavy balls.

JD lifted Ethan to his feet and led him to the bed, laying him on his back. His fingers curled under the waistband of Ethan’s jeans and briefs. Ethan lifted his ass off the bed to help JD pull them off. His cock sprang free. It was at least 7 inches long, with a decent thickness, curving up to his belly. The head glistened with precum.

“Fuck. If Zach could see you now.”

Ethan pulled back just enough to look at him. “Can you not mention him anymore?”

“No.”

He pinned Ethan down, kissing his mouth, biting and sucking his neck and chest, marking him, rolling him onto his back.

Ethan pressed his lips to JD’s chest, running his tongue across his nipples, licking the sweat from his armpits. JD’s hand came around the back of Ethan’s head, pushing his face in further. “I stink, don’t I?”

Ethan moaned against his skin. “Mm-hmm.”

Ethan kissed his way down JD’s chest and belly. JD wrapped his hand around his dick and squeezed out a ropy drop of precum. “Taste it.” He grabbed Ethan by his hair, pressing the engorged head to Ethan’s mouth, pushing his cock between Ethan’s wet lips. He thrust up into Ethan’s mouth to the back of his throat. When he pulled his dick out, a thread of gooey spit stretched from the head to Ethan’s swollen lips. He flipped Ethan onto his back, then reached over, opened the nightstand drawer, and pulled out a black braided rope.

“Right where I left it last time. Give me your hands.” Ethan hesitated, but he let JD tie his wrists together and then to a ring mounted on the back of the headboard. His arms, thick with muscle, stretched over his head. JD straddled Ethan’s chest and rested his hand on Ethan’s throat. “Okay?” Ethan nodded his head. JD’s hand pressed down enough to make Ethan’s neck turn pink. JD stroked the length of his swollen cock, smacking it on Ethan’s lips. “Safe word’s ‘piss’.”

“Why do we need a safe word?

“Shhh.” JD ran his thumb over Ethan’s lips. “Open”. He slid two fingers into Ethan’s mouth. “Suck.”

He pulled his fingers from Ethan’s mouth and started to work them into Ethan’s hole, twisting them back and forth, pushing them deep into Ethan’s ass while he sucked his cock.

Ethan lifted his head to look at the man who was worshiping his cock, JD’s fingers dug into Ethan’s clenched buttocks, taking as much of his cock as he could to the back of his throat. He growled as Ethan’s cum gushed down his throat and filled his mouth. It tasted sweet, like warm milk. When he finished sucking the cum out of Ethan’s twitching cock; he crawled up and spat what he hadn’t swallowed into Ethan’s mouth, flipped him over, grabbed his hips, and brought him up on all fours. He slapped Ethan’s ass, pulled his butt cheeks apart, and ate Ethan’s hole. He pushed a finger in next to his tongue, then two, twisting them, rubbing Ethan’s prostate, opening him up. JD got on his knees, wrapped his hand around the base of his cock, and pushed the head in, easing his hips forward to slowly slide all of it in, his breath hitching as Ethan’s tight asshole slowly opened up. His hands clamped down on Ethan’s hips as he slammed the length of his shaft into his ass, making Ethan gasp and whimper. His grip tightened as he ravaged Ethan’s hole.

He pulled out, flipped Ethan on his back, untied the rope, and lifted Ethan’s legs. “I want you to see what he sees when I’m fucking him.” Sweat dripped off JD’s face and trickled down his heaving chest and belly as he stared into Ethan’s eyes. He spat into Ethan’s open mouth, turning feral and fucking him relentlessly, grunting obscene and filthy words, slamming into Ethan as he filled Ethan’s ass with his cum. Ethan’s cock erupted for the second time, untouched, spraying his load all over his chest. JD touched his lips to Ethan’s and breathed him in. “I like you.”

Ethan sat at the edge of the bed when they untangled themselves from the twisted sheets, drenched in sweat. “I know who you are.”

“What do you mean?”

“You and Zach used to be boyfriends.”

JD rolled onto his back and folded his hands behind his head. “Look at you being naughty. Considering your unrequited love for him, why did you just let me fuck the shit out of you?”

Ethan turned and looked at him. “I don’t know.”

JD laughed softly. “So, Zach told you about me? About us?”

“Yes.”

“What did he tell you? That I’m a liar and a cheater?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

“Maybe he’s right.”

“Maybe.”

▫ ▫ ▫

When Ethan opened his eyes, he was pressed against JD’s back with his arm draped across his chest. He rubbed his nose against the warm skin below JD’s ear.

JD stirred. “What are you doing?”

“My nose itches,” Ethan mumbled.

JD gave a tired grunt and rolled onto his back, trying to untangle himself from the sheets. “Ethan?”

“Mm-hm?”

“I have to go.”

They showered together, mostly in silence. Ethan washed shampoo through JD’s hair and traced the tattoo curling along his side while the water ran over them. JD caught his wrist at one point and pulled him closer, pinning him lightly against the tile. His beard scraped Ethan’s jaw. “You’re sweet,” he murmured, though the words sounded hollow,

Afterward, they got dressed and shared a bowl of cereal at the kitchen counter. When they got back from taking Jasper out, JD stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m not coming back up,” he said. “The car should be here any minute. I still have to grab my stuff from the hotel and head to the airport.”

“Wait.” Ethan hurried inside with Jasper, then came back holding a folded piece of paper. “Here.”

JD looked down at it.

“My number. And address. When you’re back in Cleveland.”

JD folded the paper once and slipped it into his pocket. “Yeah. Maybe.”

A car pulled to the curb. JD opened the back door, then glanced at Ethan again before getting in. “Take care of yourself, Ethan.”

The car pulled away before Ethan could think of anything to say back. He stood at the curb long after the car disappeared. Then he remembered what JD had told him the night before. I don’t leave anything behind, and I don’t bring anything home.

▫ ▫ ▫

The drive back to Cleveland from Sandusky was eerily quiet. Ben and Karl slept most of the way, folded against each other in the back seat. Zach sat beside Peter in silence, his hand resting cautiously on Peter’s thigh, unsure whether he still had the right. Once or twice, Zach tried to bring up the night before, but Peter only looked over and quietly told him, “We’ll talk when we get back to the condo.”

They dropped Ben and Karl off at their hotel. By the time they got back to the condo that evening, Ethan was sitting alone on the couch with Jasper curled beside him.

When Peter asked what he’d done the night before, Ethan launched into a rambling story about taking Jasper to the park, ordering takeout, watching a movie, then going to bed early. He barely stopped to breathe.

Zach studied him. “Are you okay?”

Ethan forced a smile. “I’m fine. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

Peter offered to drive him home, but Ethan shook his head too quickly. “No. That’s okay. I’ve got my skateboard.”

Zach touched his shoulder as he turned toward the door. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” Ethan reached for the doorknob, then stopped. His shoulders sagged. “No. I lied.” He turned back toward them, eyes already wet. “JD was here. He spent the night.”

A long silence followed.

“Why?” Zach finally asked.

Ethan told them about the park, dinner, the shirt. About “Javier.” The more he explained, the worse it sounded.

Zach’s face gave nothing away.

“Did you have sex with him?”

Ethan nodded. “Yes.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

Another silence.

Then Zach said quietly, “Go home, Ethan. I think it’s better if you don’t come to work tomorrow.”

After Ethan left, Zach picked up his duffel bag, disappeared down the hall, and quietly shut the bedroom door.

Peter waited a moment before knocking.

“Zach?”

No answer.

“Come on. Don’t do this.”

A few seconds passed before the door finally opened. Zach looked exhausted. “What exactly do you want me to say?”

Peter softened. “I don’t know. But he’s wrecked.”

Zach looked past him down the hallway, then grabbed his keys off the dresser.

By the time Ethan reached his apartment building, it was dark. Someone was sitting on the front steps. Ethan slowed when the figure stood.

It was Zach.

“Go pack a bag,” Zach said quietly. “You’re staying with me tonight.”

Ethan stared at him.

Zach looked away. “In the guest room.”

▫ ▫ ▫

Four days had passed since the wedding, and Peter and Zach still hadn’t talked about that night. Peter returned to Shawhan the morning after they got back from Sandusky, claiming he needed to take care of things at the ranch before Karl’s band left for the tour. He and Zach still talked every night before bed, but whenever Zach tried to bring up what happened, Peter would only say, “We’ll talk when we’re together.” Zach didn’t know what else to do, so he finally called Karl and asked if Peter had told him about what happened with Wes.

Karl was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Yeah. He did. He loves you so much, Zach. He’s afraid of losing you, but he’s convinced himself that he’s holding you back.”

Zach looked over at the empty side of the bed.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I know.”

Chapter Twelve Coming Wednesday