Rain Storms Ch. 03

We stripped each other slowly, as if we had all the time in the world. In this, we were of an accord. Three-piece suits have so many layers. Each and every article of clothing that fell by the wayside, co-mingling with its brethren on my bedroom floor, ratcheted up my level of arousal. The first to go was the tie securing his tresses in a plait. I unwound the braid so I could revel in the glory that was Eric's four long feet of hair. The soft wave left behind from the tightness of the weave was somehow even sexier than his normally arrow-straight locks. I didn't attempt to ponder the reasoning behind that. I couldn't have if I wanted to. I couldn't think at all. I was overwhelmed by the all-consuming desire to take him into my body and keep him there, in any and every way possible.

I had been fighting and resisting him for so long that it had almost become ingrained in me. I let it all go. I wanted this. I wanted him. I had never stopped wanting him. Eric had always been a vocal lover, which I adore, but I am just as moved by his nonverbal noises. His mouth never left my skin so the sounds coming from him were primal and animalistic. Regardless, I understood him perfectly. I felt exactly the same way.

We had been lovers for so long that we knew everything there was to know about each other's bodies. He knew exactly how to play me like a finely tuned instrument. I knew which buttons to push to bring him to the brink and back. We used our hands and our mouths to coerce each other into a mad frenzy. And, when we joined, even with as much time as he'd spent preparing me with his fingers and mouth, and gentle as he was when he burrowed his way inside me, I screamed out in pain and ecstasy. Through the red haze of searing pain, my body was wracked with spasms as I painted our torsos with my seed.

"Yes," he moaned. "Come for me, Baby. So fucking beautiful."

He moved inside me with deliberately slow and shallow thrusts, milking me through my orgasm, before he plunged deep, picking up speed. "Fuck, Baby," he husked. "You're so... You feel so... Oh fuck. I can't. I'm gonna..."

The tempo of his lovemaking increased and he buried his face into my neck and latched on, sucking the skin into his mouth. Muffled by the skin of my neck, his cry was still very loud in my ear as his back violently arched and his body shuttered with his release. When he took my mouth again, I didn't taste the distinct metallic twang of blood. He hadn't broken skin.

"I'm so sorry, Baby," he panted. "That was so fast. I'll make it better in a minute. I promise. I'm sorry. I couldn't stop it."

"Eric." I cupped his face to make him stop apologizing. "It was wonderful." I pointedly looked down at the mess I had made between our still connected bodies. "Clearly."

"I'll do better," he insisted. "You deserve better. It's just been so long and I love you so much."

"I love you too." I grimaced at the pain in my side as feeling started to return to the parts of my body that weren't directly involved in our conjoining. "Up for a second. There's something stabbing me."

He raised his body slightly so I could fish the plastic bottle of lube out from under me, wondering how it had gotten there. Eric gazed at my body with a hungry look in his eyes. He kissed my neck then moved down my chest. As he did, his cock slid out of my channel, which made me groan. It was followed by a rush of warm, viscous fluid.

Eric had begun cleaning the evidence of my passion off my body with his tongue as the proof of his slowly leaked from my wrecked hole. "Fuck," I groaned. "Condoms, Eric. You didn't use a condom."

His eyes locked with mine and he brought his head up, ceasing licking me. "I don't want anything between us, Rain. Ever."

"It's not safe," I scolded.

"I'm clean, Baby," he swore. "I've been poked, prodded, examined, and bled. I have a clean bill of health. I promise. And I haven't been with anyone in eight months."

"But I have!" I exclaimed. "I'm the risk! I don't want to give you anything!"

His expression softened. "Rain," he sighed. "You're it for me. I'm never going to love anyone else. I'd willingly share anything you might be carrying. I'd die for you, Baby. As horrible as this disease is, I'd gladly accept it if it means that I get to love you."

"But I couldn't live with that!" I argued. "I couldn't stand the fact that I had hurt you, made you sick." I grabbed his face roughly and kissed him. "I love you, you idiot. I don't want to risk you. As sweet and romantic as what you said is, it's also stupid."

"What do you propose we do about it?" he asked. "Never really touch each other? Never taste each other? No. That's not acceptable. I want you to come in my mouth. I want to swallow your load and rim you and fill you with my cum. I can't stand the idea that we have to keep a layer of plastic between us. Besides, even if we did, it would all be shot to hell the second you beg for me to bite you. I won't deny either of us that pleasure and you know it."

I sighed. He was right and I did know it. It had been a very long time since I had felt his teeth in me and the mention of it alone had caused a rush of adrenaline through my system. I would eventually want him to draw blood. Probably sooner rather than later. He rolled off me and padded to the bathroom while I stewed. He came back with a warm, damp cloth and tenderly wiped my body down.

"I wanted to lick it off you, but, in deference to your unease..." he said with a teasing smirk. "I'll wait until you have settled all this in your head before I do that, ok?"

"I need to get tested again," I told him. "It won't be one hundred percent accurate but I'll do it anyway. They'll have to lock me in a nut house if I have to wait five months for any sort of reassurance."

"Five?" His gaze shifted from my body to my face.

"Ryan is clean, for sure. He hasn't been with anyone else in a year. Dylan is the only unknown and it's been over a month."

"You could ask him to get tested," he suggested. "That might make you feel better."

"I'd have to talk to him for that," I replied. "You don't really want that, do you?"

He didn't respond but the expression on his face spoke volumes.

I left work early the next day to go to the doctor for a blood draw. I made it home at about the time I normally would have been getting off work. As I got out of my car, I nearly tripped over a little brown dog.

"Hey Cujo," I smiled and reached down to pet him. It was probably a mistake because, when I stood back up, the dog bounced and circled around my legs, nearly tripping me, the entire walk to my front door. I was his new best friend.

"Cujo! Leave the poor man alone!" Sharon scolded. She was dressed pretty much the same as she had been the day before. Her shirt was hot pink this time and, if possible, there was even more paint on her.

"Twice in two days," I grinned at her. "We have to stop meeting like this. People will talk."

She grinned back. "Jealous boyfriend?"

I chuckled. "Something like that."

"You're home early," she said. "I try to take him out before normal people get home from work. He gets a little excited by people."

"Ah," I nodded. "That explains why I've never seen you before."

"I'm a bit of a homebody," she replied. "Cujo's the social one."

"You seem fairly social to me," I replied, unlocking my door.

She smiled. "Thanks."

"See you later." I smiled and waved.

I went inside and checked my messages. There were a couple from Ryan so I called him back.

"What happened yesterday?" he asked. "I was getting worried."

"Eric came by," I told him.

"Oh? How'd that go?"

"Good," I replied. "He took me to dinner and then he spent the night. It was good. Really good."

"I'm happy for you," he said but he didn't sound happy. "So you're back together?"

"No," I chuckled. "Sex, even really amazing sex, does not solve our problems. It's what I want, eventually. You already know that. But it's a long road and it would be disastrous to try to rush it. But it does give me hope that it's where we're headed."

"Well, I'm really happy for you," he repeated. "Look, I've got to go. I'm going to be really busy tonight so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Ok?"

"Ryan? Are you upset?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "I'm just distracted."

"I love you, Ryan," I said. "That's not going to change. I'm not going anywhere. No matter what happens with Eric down the road, I still want you in my life. And, as long as you want to be there, in my bed."

He sighed. "I love you too, Rain. I'll talk to you tomorrow, ok?"

After we hung up, I went to take a shower and change into some comfortable clothes. I was poking around in the kitchen, trying to decide what to make for dinner, when Eric called.

"Hey Baby," he purred. "Where do you want to go for dinner?"

"I'm going to stay home."

"That sounds good too."

"No, Eric," I replied. "I'm going to stay home alone."

"Why, Baby? Are you upset with me?"

"Not at all," I assured him. "I just can't see you tonight."

"Do you have other plans?" he asked, quietly.

"No."

"Then I don't understand. You'd rather do nothing than see me?"

"No. I want to see you. I want to see you so badly that it hurts. That's why I can't," I explained. "It's too easy to fall back into a bad place, Eric. We need to take this slowly so that doesn't happen."

"I won't make the same mistakes, Rain. I promise. I'm trying so hard."

"I know, my love. But you're not the only one that made mistakes. I have stuff to work on too."

"What do you mean?" he argued. "You didn't fuck us up."

"You weren't in this alone, Eric. We both screwed up. Your mistakes were just more dramatic." I smirked, "When you fuck up, you do it loudly."

"Yeah I do," he chuckled. "So I can't see you tonight?"

"Not tonight," I responded. "Soon, though. This weekend at the latest."

"This is Wednesday, Rain," he pointed out. "Two nights without you in my arms is too many. One night is too many."

"Slow down, Kemosabe," I chuckled. "I'm going to miss you too. But I would rather miss you now than destroy any future that we have by rushing things, right?"

"I'm in this for the long haul, Rain," he replied softly. "As in, forever. As long as you both shall live."

"Then give it some time," I insisted. "It's worth the wait to do this right, don't you think?"

"Yes."

I was left with the decision of what to do for dinner. It was hard to cook for one person and it wasn't much fun. I knew that the choice to slow things down with Eric was the right one. I needed to continue thinking with my brain and not my heart or my cock... or ass, whatever. Everything just got so messed up when I was around him. I got so emotional and crazed. It was important to step back and tread carefully. That didn't resolve the problem of what to do for dinner. Then I had an idea.

"Hey Rain. What's up?" Sharon asked as she opened her door, pushing up her glasses.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Me?" she squeaked.

"Oh God," I backtracked. "I'm so bad at this. I meant as friends. Not a date. It's just that I was in the mood to cook and I hate cooking for one person. I thought you might be in the mood to eat."

She just stood there, blinking at me.

"I'm not a bad cook," I assured her. "I won't poison you or anything."

"What about your boyfriend?" she asked.

"Which one? Ryan or Eric?"

"You have two boyfriends?"

"No. I don't have any boyfriends," I replied, confusing her. "It's a long story but the sum of it is that neither one is coming over tonight. So what do you say? Are you in the mood to eat?"

She smiled. "I'm always in the mood to eat. Let me change into something with less paint on it and I'll come over."

I smiled. "Ok. You can bring Cujo if you like. My place is puppy proof."

Having said that, I darted around my apartment while she changed at hers, just to make sure there was nothing lying around that I didn't want Cujo chewing on. Luckily, I kept a fairly clean apartment so there was nothing on the floor.

She was quick. She knocked on my door within minutes. She had changed into jeans and a bright blue t-shirt with Eeyore on it and had taken her hair down. She cleaned up nice and I couldn't fail to notice that she wasn't as heavy as her baggy overalls had led me to believe. She was actually quite cute and buxom, and I imagined that she could be a knockout with a little bit more effort.

"No Cujo?" I asked when she stepped inside without the little dog.

She shook her head. "He had dinner already. This is nice," she said, looking around my living room.

I laughed. All of my apartments had only the barest essentials and absolutely no personality whatsoever. "It's boring as fuck. You don't have to be nice to me."

She grinned. "It could use some flair." She followed me into the kitchen. "I admit that I expected something different from a gay man who dresses like you do."

"I've never really gotten into the whole decorating thing," I told her. "I'm more function over form. Do you have any food allergies or aversions?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing spicy. I don't like spicy."

"That's ok," I grinned. "I can't handle spicy today anyway."

"Are you feeling ok?" She seemed concerned. "Upset stomach?"

"Um. No." I could feel the heat staining my skin. "I'm fine."

"Oh." She started laughing. "Nevermind. I get it. Or... you know. You got it."

"Oh geeze."

She kept laughing and I kept blushing. "I should have realized with all the noise last night."

"Noise?" I asked.

"Um. Yeah." She snickered and mimicked me, "Fuck me hard, Eric. Oh yes. Oh fuck..."

"Ho. Ly. Shit." I gaped at her. "You could hear that?"

"Oh yeah," she smirked. "Our bedrooms do share a wall. Don't worry about it though. He's much louder than you. It's just that his voice is deeper and it's harder to make out words."

She was so casual about it that I was forgetting to be embarrassed. "Most of his noises aren't actual words," I chuckled.

"So he's not your boyfriend, huh?"

I pulled out some chicken and started throwing together a stir-fry, without the peppers. "No. He's my ex-boyfriend. The other guy, Ryan, he's a good friend. My best friend."

"Wow. I've never been that... affectionate with my exes," she said. "Can I help?"

"Not really," I replied to her offer. "It's a one person job. You can pour some drinks, if you like."

She moved around my kitchen as if she owned the place. She didn't ask where anything was and she seemed to find everything without having to look twice. She didn't even need instructions on how to make a White Russian, but she did make it quite a bit stronger than I normally drink them.

"Your kitchen is setup just like mine," she explained to the puzzled look on my face. "It's really the only logical way to setup this kitchen, I guess."

"Makes sense." I turned back to the stove. "What do you do for a living?"

"Part time secretary. I only work enough to support my habits."

"Habits?"

"Eating, feeding the dog, paying rent, that kind of thing," she smirked. "I'm a starving artist. Someday I hope to be a world famous artist."

I nodded. "That explains the paint. Do you ever sell anything?"

"Sometimes," she grinned. "I'm really quite good. I just haven't been discovered."

I chuckled. "Seeing as most artists only become famous posthumously, count your blessings."

"Ah. A cynic, I see," she grinned.

"Oh no. I'm very supportive of the arts, in my own way."

She glanced around my apartment with its various shades of beige. "I see that."

I laughed. "No, really. Eric is an artist."

"Really?"

I nodded. "He rarely paints. Sculptures, mostly. All kinds of mediums. He's very good."

"Does he sell?" she asked.

"Yes. Almost everything. Except for the stuff that he trashes part way through because he's unhappy with it."

"That's the benefit to being a painter," she smiled. "I can just paint over it."

"He only paints on commission."

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure," I smirked. "You probably already know more about me than I care to think about."

"So you're sleeping with both of them?"

"I guess so, yes. Not at the same time," I said. "Although, that would be pretty hot."

"Yeah it would," she smirked.

I let that image float around in my mind for a while then sighed. "It would never work. They barely tolerate each other."

"So how does that work? I mean... I thought you were a top but the things that I heard last night would indicate otherwise."

"I guess I'd call myself a versatile bottom. Ryan is strictly a bottom and Eric is a top. I like both but I prefer to bottom."

"They're so different from each other. It's hard to believe that anyone would be interested in both of them."

"They're like polar opposites," I agreed. "Not just in appearance. Ryan is logical and methodical. Eric is emotional and temperamental. Ryan is sweet and caring and Eric is domineering and gruff. They bring out totally different sides of me. I'm completely, head-over-heels, in love with Eric, but we have a hard time being together. I could be very happy with Ryan but he doesn't want that. He wants to be friends."

She smirked. "He sounds more than a little friendly when he spends the night."

"I'm so buying you some earplugs," I teased.

She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "Don't do that. I'm living vicariously through your inherent sluttiness."

I laughed. "I guess I am a slut. I've never been a slut before. So what about you? I don't hear any tell-tale noises from your side of the wall."

"Don't remind me," she frowned. "I've been single far too long. My ex was a total loser. He expected me to support him while he went out and partied and fucked around. I tossed his ass out."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No worries." She waved her hand in dismissal. "The sex wasn't great anyway. It was like he only cared about getting himself off."

"That's lame," I grimaced. "The whole point of being the dominant partner is what you're doing for your lover. Otherwise, you might as well just be jacking off."

She laughed, "I love you."

I smirked. "Don't let Eric hear you say that. He'll flip his shit."

Her mouth opened in shock. "Over a girl?"

"Oh yeah," I drawled. "He hates the idea that anyone else ever touches me. But a woman? He goes psycho. I don't know why it's worse but it is. He can't handle even the thought of me being with a woman."

"Weird."

"Yeah it is," I agreed wholeheartedly. "Especially since he thought sleeping with women wasn't cheating on me."

"Holy crap!" she exclaimed. "He's bi?"

I pointed a wooden spoon at her. "Back off, hussy. He's mine."

She giggled. "Looks like he's not the only jealous one."

I grinned at her. "I don't know how he identifies. He's attracted to women but he's in love with me. I'm the only guy that he's ever been with."

"Have you been with women too?" she asked. "I mean, is he mad jealous for a reason?"

"I didn't cheat on him, but yes, I've slept with women. I like women. I just prefer men."

"What about Ryan?"

I laughed. "I don't think Ryan would have a clue what to do with a woman. It's a loss for womankind. Ryan would make some woman very happy if he had the slightest interest in being with one. He's a wonderful person; dedicated, loving, nurturing, honorable, honest, generous, reliable. All of that, and he's beautiful too."

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "You really love him too."

I nodded. "He also gives an unbelievable blowjob."

She gasped and then got a fit of the giggles. "Just had to blow the nice guy image out of the water, didn't you?"

I smirked and shrugged. "Couldn't have you thinking I was all sentimental and shit."

I plated the food and carried it out to the couch. This apartment did have an area that would be considered a dining room but I still didn't have a table. I had setup my computer desk in that area so I still ate all my meals at the coffee table.