The necktie that had gagged Matt was now knottedaround Jordan’s balls so tightly the skin of his sac was shiny andbruised a deep, ugly shade of purple. His cock jittered away fromthat damn vibrating ring he liked so much; as Matt watched, thefirst dribble of semen leaked from Jordan’s erection to dampen thebed beneath it.
The coup de grâce jutted from his ampleass—one of Vic’s old anal toys, the biggest dildo Matt had everseen, thirteen long inches inflatable up to five inches around.From the appearance of the red, raw flesh distended around theblack plastic, Matt suspected the dildo had been pumped to itsbreaking point before being shoved into his ass. Any move Jordanmade drove the behemoth deeper into his rectum.
A bark of surprised laughter escaped Matt, startlinghim, but he smothered it down before it could run away and turninto a vicious cackle. Jordan glanced at him, eyes pleading, hiswhole body fighting against the ropes that tied him in place.
Vic gave the slightest tug on his hand. Matt turnedaway from Jordan and let himself be led home.
* * * *
Chapter 29
On the way back to their apartment, Matt kept hold ofone of Vic’s hands, refusing to let it go even when his lover hadto shift gears. Vic used his other hand, reaching around thesteering wheel to move the gear shaft into place, and kept hisright hand curled between both of Matt’s palms. They drove insilence spoiled only by the radio playing softly between them.
When the car pulled to a stop in front of theirbuilding, they sat together for a moment, listening to the enginetick as it cooled. With a squeeze of his hand, Vic leaned acrossthe middle of the seat and planted a rough kiss on Matt’s temple.Sudden tears blurred Matt’s vision, but he refused to let themfall. He was safe now, here, with Vic. Everything was back tonormal. He would be all right.
He sat in the car, complacent, while Vic climbed outof the driver’s seat and trotted around the front bumper to openMatt’s door. Like a magnet, Matt’s hand found Vic’s again, takingit before his lover could move out of reach. He let himself beguided to the steps, inside their building, up the flight ofstairs, over the threshold into their apartment. Only once the doorshut behind him did he manage to breathe again.
The first thing he wanted to do was take anothershower. Though he’d washed up at Kyle’s, he swore he could stillfeel Jordan on him, phantom fingers crawling over his skin, cuppinghis balls. Without a word to Vic, he headed for their bathroom. Asthe water ran from the tap, heating up, Matt stripped off hisclothes, kicked them away, and avoided looking at his naked body inthe mirror above the sink. Instead he stepped into the tub, skinpinking from the hot water, and let the shower’s stinging blast tryto wash him clean again.
Though Vic left him to shower alone, Matt neverstrayed far from his lover’s mind. He didn’t want Vic out ofcontact, afraid that any loss or gap in their connection wouldresult in Vic disappearing. If that happened, Matt would die, hejust knew it, so he kept a tight grip on Vic’sconsciousness, part of him riding around in his lover’s thoughts ashe lathered and soaped himself clean.
He stood beneath the shower spray until the water ranclear, then stood there another five minutes, until the hot waterbegan to turn cool. Then he cut off the shower, stepped out of thetub, toweled dry with his back to the mirror so he wouldn’t have tolook at his nakedness, and wrapped Vic’s thick, comfy, flannel robearound his nude frame. The masculine scent of his lover filled hissenses, musk and spice and the lingering tinge of shaving cream, itintoxicated Matt in a way he never thought possible. Toweling hishair dry, he inhaled Vic’s smell, and deep within him, somethinginexplicable began to smooth down, even out, heal.
In their bedroom, he dressed in a pair of jeans andone of Vic’s long-sleeve shirts. It hung from Matt, a size too big,but was warm and comforting and he wasn’t about to change. Herolled the sleeves up to his wrists and tucked the extra bulk intothe back of his jeans. Then he noticed the bed, stripped bare, thepile of bedding still in their hamper, and set to work. It gave himsome feeling of control as he made the bed with clean sheets,changed the pillow cases so they matched, tucked his teddy bearinto place on his side of the bed. Then he dragged the hamper tothe hallway, opened the French folding doors that hid their laundrymachines, and started to run a load. He had the sudden urge toclean their apartment, from top to bottom, air out every singleroom and begin life anew all over again.
As he filled the washer, he heard an electronic chirpfrom the phone base on the table behind him, a tell-tale sign thatthe receiver had been turned on. Edging around the dirty laundrynow strewn across the floor, Matt leaned against the doorway to thekitchen, out of sight. He heard Vic dialing the phone, the numberpad making little beeps with each button pushed, then heard thedistant ring of a phone far away, tinny through the line. Gently heprobed Vic’s mind, searching for who he might be calling. The gym?The bus depot? Surely if they hadn’t shown up to work yet, someonesomewhere figured they weren’t coming in.
But the face that sharpened in Vic’s head wasn’tRoxie at the gym, nor the woman who ran the switchboard at the citybus lot. This was a pert blonde Matt didn’t recognize, though herface was somehow familiar, as if he’d once spoken to her inpassing. ::Who—?::
He felt Vic touch his mind but before he could digfor details, the ringing stopped. Whoever it was on the other endof the line spoke through Vic inside Matt’s head, as
