He didn’t think so.
Then where did that petty image come from? It hadrisen unbidden in his mind. Unless Matt sent it—
No. His lover’s thoughts always left a warm, sweettaste in Vic’s psyche, like caramel melting down the back of histhroat. This image had been sexual, yes, but it’d also been hard,almost abrasive. It turned Vic on because he thought Mattwas turned on—given his lover’s orgasm, he’d liked it…up until theend. That slap made Vic question whether such arousal was a goodthing or not.
Maybe it hadn’t been Matt’s thought at all—maybe Vicwas picking up on something else. Maybe someone had seen him,recognized him as Matt’s lover, and even now was getting off on thethought of him roughing up Matt. Someone like…
Jordan.
Vic glanced in the mirror above his seat to scan thepatrons on his bus. Jordan was not among them. But maybe he’d beenat the bus stop, had seen Vic but didn’t dare catch a ride, afraidof what might be said. He tried to think back to the last stop—hadanyone stayed behind?
He didn’t know. He didn’t think so, but to behonest, the thought of Matt’s veined cock had flooded his mind andshorted out the rest of the world. And by the time he made it backaround to Libbie and Broad a second time, Jordan was not there.
If he’d ever been in the first place.
* * * *
By the time Vic’s shift was over, he was more thanready to clock out. He felt exhausted, his balls numb with a dullache from his being horny for most of the day. He wanted nothingmore than to go home, maybe sink into a tub full of hot, soapywater, and let Matt’s hands and a soft washcloth bring him torelease. It must be some new power that had him all riled up, somesort of extra-sensory perception that had his skin crawling and hisnerves on edge. Come to think of it, after their lovemaking thenight before, his backside had been rubbed raw from carpet burns,as had Matt’s knees. They laughed about it at the time, but maybeall those highly eroticized thoughts stemmed from the same source.Something in him kept winding him up…
Maybe his skin was super-sensitive, and just thetouch of fabric from his underwear was enough to get him hard. Sowhat, his mind compensated with hardcore thoughts of his lover inpositions of submission, fanning the flames? Maybe. If that werethe case, maybe he should just go home and jerk off over and overagain until the power was spent and he couldn’t get it up anymore.
It made sense; he’d had other heightened abilitiesbefore. Giving Matt a blowjob made the world swim into extra sharp,almost Technicolor focus. And once, when Vic let Matt’s cock slipfrom his mouth before his lover came, Vic took a face full of cum.He’d turned his head this way and that as Matt jerked off on him.The hot jism felt decadent on his bald pate, but some of the semenmust’ve trickled into Vic’s ears because he spent the rest of thenight wide awake, listening to a whispered conversation in theapartment below them. So their last position must’ve heightened hislibido, simple as that. Nothing a good, old-fashioned missionarystyle fuck wouldn’t cure.
Back at the bus garage, he shrugged out of the jackethe wore while driving and hung it in his locker. Then he slammedthe door shut, waved when someone called out his name, and headedfor the time clock. He stepped in line behind another employeealready clocking out, his mind drifting ahead to the rest of hisevening, oblivious to his surroundings. Ahead, his coworker lookedover his shoulder as he punched out, then noticed Vic and turnedtoward him. Despite the fact that they were only three feet apart,the other employee shouted out, “Hey, big guy!”
God, Vic groaned. Kyle.
His eyes narrowed as his face fell into a scowl. Whynow? He’d almost been home free…
Kyle stepped back from the time clock but didn’t moveaway. Vic glared at him, waiting. Kyle took another step back, thatshit-eating grin of his sliding into place. “What a day, huh?” heasked. With a brotherly gesture, he tapped his fist to Vic’sshoulder.
Vic’s expression darkened, both at the touch and thequestion. His gruff voice sounded downright menacing when he asked,“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh! Saturday.” Kyle laughed. “What a day. Sorryabout that thing with the gas and all. Your hand all right?”
Unconsciously, Vic curled the hand in question into afist. Kyle noticed and cleared his throat. No matter what Mattsaid, Vic would never like this guy. “Thanks for coming, youknow?” Kyle tried again. “It’s been ages since I last saw Matt.He’s looking real good.”
A low growl started in Vic’s throat. The back of hisneck prickled with anger; if his scalp wasn’t shaved, the hair onhis nape would’ve stood on end. Kyle heard the warning and stumbledover himself to clarify, “I mean, you guys look great together. Youmust be treating him real good. I never…I mean, when he was withme…”
Without dropping his gaze from Kyle’s flustered face,Vic grabbed his time card and shoved it into the clock so hard theka-CHINK it made punching him out resonated through thelocker room. More than a few conversations broke off as othercoworkers glanced over, curious. Kyle ran a nervous hand throughhis thinning hair and smiled around the room, as if to assure themthings were cool.
Into the silence, Vic barked, “What were you sayingto me?”
“Nothing,” Kyle answered, a little too quickly.
He laughed again, a disarming sound, and stood asideas Vic pushed past. Vic headed for the door that led to theemployee parking lot and to his retreating back, Kyle called out,“Thanks again for being there! See you tomorrow, I guess?”
Vic didn’t answer. He heard Kyle give one last laugh.“All right,” his coworker said, as if Vic had replied. “See youaround.”
Then Vic hit the door and stepped out into the muggysunlight of another late afternoon.
* *
