Caleb's Ladder

Floyd remained silent, flashing back to that rain-drenched night when Evan stood on his doorstep.

"I spent five years with him, but it was you he wanted to see before he died. You he wanted there by his side for the chemo and radiation. You whose hand he wanted to hold at the very end."

They looked at each other from opposite sides of the room. The tattoo was almost an afterthought now.

"I never got to say goodbye, Floyd. Only you did. So don't stand there and tell me how I stole your man when it was you who stole mine. You were the one he loved. I was just a broken toy he could fix. So what if the toy grew to love him?"

Caleb had to stop to form more words.

"He was my ladder. He showed me I could be better than the person I was. I loved the hell out of him, but I never understood him."

"You and me both," said Floyd quietly. "It would take ten of us to understand one of him. We were lucky to have him for as long as we did."

<c>*****</c>

"I can't believe it's been so long. It feels only like yesterday that I drove up to this town."

"Time flies by when you're lying face down on a table."

Caleb carefully applied the finishing touches and stepped back. It almost took his breath away seeing the face etched onto the skin before him. The mop of black hair he could never flatten, to the bright blue eyes to the high cheekbones and the cheerful smile. It was the man with whom he had fallen madly and desperately in love and who had turned his life around to show for it.

"It's beautiful," was all he could manage. "It's just like him."

"He's mine now. Forever," said Floyd happily. "Wherever I go, he'll be a part of me."

Suddenly, Floyd became aware of a weight pressing down on him. Rough, calloused hands jerked his trousers down to his ankles.

"What.."

"Shh," came the reply. "I'm saying goodbye to my husband."

Floyd felt lips press down on the middle of his back, where Evan's lips were painted, as he felt a hard cock press into his crack. The size and girth of this one was much more than the occasional find on Grindr he had used ever since Evan died. They also did not have the drive and purpose with which the cock pushed deep into him.

Two muscled, tattooed hands rested on either side of his shoulders as Caleb drew back until only the tip of his head was inside Floyd before pushing himself entirely in once more.

Floyd closed his eyes and adjusted to the unusual rhythm, feeling stuffed and empty alternately, feeling the slow movement of Caleb pulling his cock almost out of him before slamming back to his full depth in one hard stroke.

The tattooed hands grasped his shoulders as the lips kissed his back. He had a pretty good idea exactly where on his back they were.

"I love you, Evan. You left me, but I still love you."

He was faster now, plunging in and out of him like a well-oiled piston. Harder too. Floyd felt the hard slap of skin on skin on every in-stroke. There was an animalistic intensity the artist brought with him that no one quite had in his past.

It was almost too much now, feeling the cock deeper inside him than anyone had ever been. He finally understood how he was supposed to pay this man.

Several minutes of raw fucking went by. Sweat joined Floyd's back to Caleb's torso as the relentless pounding continued. It was not with the haste of his older married lovers, nor with the indifference of his Grindr exploits. It was a nameless ceaseless desperation to cling onto any sign of a man who was no longer there.

Finally, he felt the cock unload inside him before Caleb collapsed on his back. Perhaps some of the ink would need to be redone, but no one cared.

"Goodbye, Evan. Sleep well, love."

One said it and one agreed inwardly.

<c>*****</c>