But it’s not Vic, he reminded himself.Don’t forget that one little fact.
Above him, Jordan lowered his voice to a seductivewhisper. “What I want,” he sighed, his breath tickling alongthe hair on Matt’s neck, “is something only you can give me,Matthew. Something you gave me a long time ago, something I wantback. I was the first, wasn’t I? So, really, if you look at it frommy perspective, the powers belong to me.”
Matt let out a bark of laughter that echoed off thetiled pool. “Yeah, you were the first,” he admitted, “but, shit, weall make mistakes. These powers aren’t yours, asshole. You don’tdeserve them. And they aren’t even mine anymore. I can’tjust give them away.”
“Whose are they then?” Jordan wanted to know.
“Vic’s.”
The name infused Matt with an overwhelming emotionthat seemed to spiral out from the center of his being; justthinking of his lover strengthened him, and when he pushed upagainst the stool, he felt it wobble above him. “I said, getoff me.”
A tiny sound of surprise escaped Jordan, who presseddown harder on the stool to keep it in place and almost squashedMatt’s balls in the process. “He loves you, does he?” Jordan asked.“For yourself? Or for the powers?”
Anger roiled in Matt. “He loves me,” heshouted. Maybe if he talked loud enough someone would overhear,maybe call the cops. What good were nosy neighbors if they didn’tget involved when you needed them? “Fuck you, Jordan. He doesn’teven like the powers, okay? He puts up with them because heloves me.”
Jordan jumped on his words. “Then give me thepowers.”
Despite his trapped position, Matt laughed. “Yeah,Vic would go for that.”
“Use a condom,” Jordan said. “Or pull out before youcome. Then call me up and I’ll come over, clean it up, drink itdown. Instant superhero, isn’t that right?”
Matt shook his head in disbelief. “Somehow I don’tthink Vic would agree.” With a shake of his hips, he tried again toremove the foot between his legs, if only to relieve the ache thatpulsed in his balls. Jordan didn’t budge. “Can you let me up? I’mrunning late for work.”
“I’ll pay you for it,” Jordan offered.
The desperation in Jordan’s voice disgusted Matt.“Just get off me.”
For a moment, he thought Jordan was going to argue orpush the issue. But then he sighed and stood, and Matt felt alittle dribble of cum dampen the front of his shorts from thesudden release of pressure on his throbbing nuts. The stool wasmoved aside; Matt pushed himself up on his hands and knees, thensat back as he secured the cell phone to his belt. He didn’t lookaround, didn’t want to see Jordan again, and didn’t know how he’dget from where he sat by Kyle’s pool to the driver’s seat of hiscar without falling apart. His hands trembled, and when he blinked,his vision threatened to blur. When Vic heard about this—
Suddenly a thick arm wrapped around Matt’s neck. Heclawed at Jordan as the chokehold tightened, cutting off his air.Bright white spots bloomed in his vision; when he closed his eyes,the darkness behind them was tinged with red. The headache that haddisappeared the night before came rushing back like a bully drawninto the fight. Matt’s throat closed, his lungs felt oddly hollow,and his head beat in time with the pulse still echoing in hiscrotch. As the grip tightened, putting undue pressure on the veinsin his neck, he gasped and dug his fingers into Jordan’s arm, buthis nails scraped over thick skin, useless. He had no leverage tofight back with, nothing to let him grapple with Jordan and extracthimself from the arm constricting around his neck…
In his ear, he heard Jordan’s ragged breath. “Sorryabout this, Matthew,” he muttered, straining as he curled his armtighter. “I really am.”
Then the red spots behind Matt’s eyes faded, and theworld went black.
* * * *
The first thing Matt became aware of was the fainttick tick tick of an analog clock. His neck felt bruised,his tongue swollen; his chin rested against his chest and a vein inhis temple pulsed with a pounding rush of blood that Matt thoughthe could hear, it seemed so loud. It beat in time with the secondhand of the unseen clock, like a referee counting out as Jordanpinned Matt down. Only Jordan no longer strangled him—Matt sensedhe was alone, and he opened one bleary eye to be certain.
He sat on the bar stool, legs tied to the foot restand arms bound behind the back slats of the stool, perched like anexotic bird in the middle of a bedroom he didn’t recognize. Theopen door showed a length of dark hallway that ended in Kyle’sbright chrome and white kitchen. This was the guest room,then—though Matt had never spent the night with Kyle, hisex-boyfriend had often tried to entice Matt into his own bedroom,and this wasn’t it. The sound of running water came from thekitchen; someone else was home.
“Hey!” Matt called out. The hoarse voice that escapedhis lips sounded nothing like his. He cleared his throat, grimacingat the pain that flared to life in it, and tried again. “Kyle, isthat you? This isn’t funny!”
In the kitchen, the water cut off. Matt waited, forthe first time in his life praying to see Kyle turn the corner, buthis heart sank when Jordan stepped into view instead. “Matthew,really,” he tittered, coming down the hall. “What will theneighbors think?”
Matt started to thrash about, rocking the stool fromside to side as he strained against the ropes that held him tight.“Let me go, you freak. I told you no, didn’t I? When Vic finds mehere—”
“How long do you think that’ll be?” Jordan asked. Itwas an innocent question, posed in an almost curious fashion, butit cut right through Matt’s protests and the stool teetered to astop. As Jordan closed the bedroom door behind him, an ugly smileslid across his face. “Didn’t tell him you were coming here, didyou? Is he smart enough to figure it out? Smarter than helooks?”
“Shut up,” Matt growled. Switching tactics, he tried,“Look. Let me go, all right? We’ll forget this ever happened. Youcan’t keep me tied up here forever. When Kyle gets home—”
“Kyle’s working a
