Guys on Top 02 - Guys on the Side (11 page)

“I’m just concerned after hearing your cousin’s rant the other day. This therapist is not one of those that wants to try and
cure
Leonard of his homosexuality, I hope.”

Lips pulling back in a grimace, Angelo huffed. “No! Nothing like that. It’s to help him figure things out, to deal with his stress. Look, I can smooth things over with Tommy, I told him I was gonna try and find someone for Len to talk to, and he was okay with that. He just doesn’t want it to be you. I hope you’re not gonna be stubborn about this, because that’ll make things much harder, for everyone involved.”

“Stubborn?” Corey laughed. “Angelo, I don’t
care
if Leonard stops coming to me for massage sessions. I just want the guy to be okay. Because when he first came to me, he was very much
not
okay. He’s feeling better lately, I don’t want to see him backslide. If you can get him to see this therapist, I think it’ll be good for him.”

Angelo went very still. He looked confused. “You actually care about Uncle Len.”

“Um, of course. What exactly did you think was going on?”

Angelo shook his head, clasping his hands around his beer glass. “Tommy said something about...brainwashing.”

Corey’s head fell back as he laughed. “Brainwashing?”

“Yes.” Angelo shrugged. “He said Len thinks you’ve got some power or something. That you can pull the anxiety out of his body. I realize now how that sounds. I shouldn’t have believed him.”

“Oh no, that part is true,” Corey said.

Angelo leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

“The power thing. Not the brainwashing.”

Chuckling, Angelo said, “I...don’t understand.”

“My dialog is with Leonard’s body. I can feel where he’s holding his pain and anxiety, and yes, I try to remove it with massage techniques. But I don’t tell him what to do, Angelo. Leonard talks, the way you might gossip with your barber when you go for a haircut. He vents. I just listen. If he asks me what I think about something, I offer my opinion. What he does with it is up to him.”

Angelo went quiet for a long moment. “You...
feel
where he’s holding his pain.”

“Yes, Angelo, I feel it. Save the jokes, I’ve heard them all.”

“No, I just...I’ve heard of that before.” Angelo looked troubled by this, chewing his bottom lip. “I heard of someone who claimed something similar, I don’t think it’s a joke.”

“Well good, then why do we still have a problem?”

“You’re not a professional psychiatrist,” Angelo said. “You shouldn’t be chiming in on Uncle Len’s problems.”

“I know I’m not a psychiatrist, and so does your Uncle Leonard. The guy’s stressed out and going through huge life changes, but he’s not a baby, and he’s not stupid.” Corey found himself getting angry now, and he took a breath. “That Leonard’s kids treat his newfound sexuality as an emotionally crippling disease isn’t helping him. But I deal with the same anxiety and depression symptoms with all manner of clients who have all manner of problems. This is
not
, as your cousin clearly believes, some gay brainwashing agenda on my part. Leonard was already broken when he found me. I’ve just been doing what I can to help fix him.”

Angelo stared back at Corey, silent. Finally he sighed and leaned back. “Okay. I understand. And again, I apologize.”

Corey nodded. “So do I have anything to worry about with your cousin? Because if he ever shows up at my home, if he ever pulls that shit again, I’m not going to be so magnanimous.”

Angelo smiled. “Magnanimous. Good word.”

“Glad you like it.”

“I do.”

“Am I making myself clear?”

“I’ll handle Tommy,” Angelo said. “If you um...want to give me your number, I can let you know how things play out when I talk to Uncle Len. I mean, if you want.”

“I assume you looked me up before coming to my house. The number’s on my website. And yes, I’d like to hear the follow up on Leonard. As for your cousin? I don’t care what he does, as long as he stays away from
me
.”

Angelo nodded. “All right. So this is...settled then?”

Corey took a sip of his beer. “It appears so.”

Angelo’s brow smoothed out as his shoulders relaxed. “I’m glad. Look at that. We worked things out like grownups.”

“And you didn’t even need to pull your switchblade,” Corey said.

Chuckling, Angelo looked down into his beer, his demeanor almost shy suddenly.

“Okay.” Corey checked his watch. “I should get going.”

Angelo looked up. “Don’t you want to stay and finish your beer?”

“Nah, I’ve got to go see my boyfriend before he goes out, he’s got this fancy private party he’s bartending at tonight.”

“You have a boyfriend?”

Corey did a double take at Angelo. The question—and the slight tone of interest—surprised him. “Um, yes. I do. Zachary.”

“Oh.” Angelo studied Corey, his expression hard to read. For a moment Corey thought he saw disappointment there. “So that guy Doug. He’s not your boyfriend.”

Corey let out a sharp laugh. “No. Doug is not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”

“I see.” Angelo shifted in the booth seat, and Corey noted a slight blush on his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Corey. Your personal life is none of my business.”

“It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it.” Confused by Angelo’s sudden bumbling, he decided it must be the subject matter, making him uncomfortable. “You don’t deal with a lot of gay men, do you?”

Angelo’s pale eyes shot up, a flash of something like panic in his expression. “I don’t have a problem with gay men.”

“I didn’t suggest you had a problem. I’m just sensing a...hyperawareness of my homosexuality at the moment.”

Angelo got that look again, like he’d been caught doing something wrong. “I’m not like my cousin Tommy in that regard,” he said. “Why, is that what you think of me? You think I’m a bigot?”

“Well, I don’t have much to go on, other than that good thug, bad thug display with your cousin the other day.”

Angelo smiled slightly. “I am really sorry about that. That’s not who I am.”

“Well, guess what?” Corey said. “I actually kind of like this version of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this.” He pointed at Angelo. “The mild mannered psychiatrist. Being reasonable. No one calling me names or trying to intimidate me.”

“Oh.”

Corey frowned at him. Again he sensed disappointment. Or something. He wasn’t sure. But the guy was acting weird all of a sudden. “What did you think I meant?”

“Nothing.” He gave Corey a pointed look. “I’m not homophobic. I think you’re a decent guy.”

“For a gay man,” Corey said.

Angelo fidgeted with his beer glass. “No. For any man.”

“Then why do you look so nervous?” Corey wasn’t sure why he was calling the guy out. He supposed he felt like if Angelo was uncomfortable with gays, he should just admit it.
Something
had the guy all twitchy and awkward suddenly.

“It’s just you,” Angelo said.

“Me? I make you nervous?”

“Not nervous exactly. Just...I don’t know. You have a way about you,” Angelo said.

Corey’s eyebrows shot up. “A
way?
”

“Yeah.” Angelo nodded.

“Um...” Corey laughed. “What do you mean?”

Angelo gave him an assessing look, then shrugged. “You’re kind of...disarming.”

“Disarming.”

“Yeah.”

“Good word.”

Angelo smiled. “Glad you like it.”

“But how am I disarming?”

Angelo was silent. He picked up his beer and took a sip, shrugged a shoulder, but said nothing.

“You’re used to being the guy who asks the questions, huh?” Corey said. “Don’t do so well on the other side of things. Don’t like other people asking
you
questions.”

Smiling, Angelo met his eyes. “No, I come from a big Italian family, I’m used to being barraged with probing questions.”

“So why do you feel like you can’t explain what you meant by disarming?”

Smirking, Angelo said, “I didn’t expect an interrogation about it. You’d make a good shrink.”

“I very nearly was one,” Corey said.

“Seriously?”

Corey nodded. “Seriously. We have more in common than you think. If we hadn’t met under such appalling circumstances, you and I might have become friends.”

Angelo looked back at him, his expression grim and serious. “I wish we had,” he said. “Met under different circumstances.”

It was a simple statement, but Corey was taken aback by the intensity of Angelo’s eyes, the rawness of his tone. And suddenly
Corey
was the one who felt nervous. Seconds passed in silence as Angelo held his gaze, and he felt something odd pass between them, a crackling of energy.
What the
hell
is this?

Corey stood, clearing his throat. “I’ve really gotta run. Thanks for the beer.”

“Sure.” Angelo looked away quickly. “I’ll let you know about Uncle Len.”

“Sounds good,” Corey said. “Later.”

Moving down the sidewalk toward his car, Corey let out a long whistle of breath.
Okay, that was weird
. He chuckled, shaking his head, deciding he must have imagined it, that strange moment where he thought he saw something in Angelo’s gaze.

“You’re kind of...disarming.”

“Oh, man, what the fuck did
that
mean?” Corey whispered, still slightly shaken as he unlocked his car and climbed in.

He must have been imagining it. Must have.

Because if not...he was pretty sure the
straight
guy had been flirting with him.

Chapter Seven

“Zach, you’ve gotta go to work, there’s no time.”

Zach knelt on the floor in front of the sofa where Corey sat. He’d unzipped Corey’s pants, and now tugged them down over his ass and hips. “There’s always time.” He smiled at Corey, then lowered his head, pleased to see a nice, hard cock. Corey had the most perfect dick Zach had ever seen, thick and smooth and long. He sucked it into his mouth deep, rewarded with a sharp inhale from above.

“Okay,” Corey whispered, stroking Zach’s hair as his hips lifted. “Maybe there’s time.”

Dragging his tongue up Corey’s erection, Zach stopped to nibble on the head. “Always time,” he whispered. He rose up and began unbuttoning Corey’s shirt. “I want to see your skin. I’m gonna miss you tonight.”

Corey helped him, taking his own shirt off, and Zach licked his way down and over that beautiful chest, nibbling along his perfect abs, down below his navel until he found his cock again. Fisting it around the base, he sucked hard on the head, pausing to rub his lips back and forth over it, then sucking again.

“Shit,” Corey huffed. “Don’t stop.”

Zach paused long enough to look up at Corey’s face. “Never,” he said. “I’ll never stop.” He went down on him again, taking Corey deep into his throat.
Never stop
.

He’d been more ravenous for Corey than usual the past couple days, ever since his indiscretion with Brooks the other night. His need to devour Corey, to claim him, to assure himself they were still good, was overwhelming. As was his guilt.

A salty hint of precum on his tongue, and he knew Corey was already close. “Mmm,” he mumbled. “Someone’s ripe and ready. You been thinking about me?”

“Always.” Corey’s bare stomach quivered. “Now stop talking and finish what you started. It’s fucking perfect.”

Zach worked him harder, tightening his lips and swirling his tongue as he bobbed his head up and down so fast his neck ached. He was determined to give Corey a blowjob so spectacular that he’d not be able to think of anything else for the rest of the night.

He kept at it for a long time, not faltering, even as his jaw began to throb and protest.

“Zach,” Corey huffed, fingers tangling in Zach’s hair. “I’m gonna come.”

Zach doubled his efforts and sucked hard, wanting it all, needing to taste his boyfriend’s essence. Pushing Corey over the edge made him feel powerful, in control. And he’d been feeling particularly
out
of control since Saturday night.

“Oh...holy shit...holy shit...” Corey’s ass lifted off the couch and the thick head of his cock hit the back of Zach’s throat as he came.

Zach swallowed as pulse after pulse of warm semen filled his mouth, then drew back and finished Corey off with his hand.

“Zach, Jesus, Zach!”

Looking up, Zach watched Corey’s bare torso twist as his hips jerked, his eyelids fluttering. Finally, Corey let out a long breath, and eased Zach’s hand off of him. Zach kissed a line up his stomach, then rose up and straddled his hips, kissing him hard on the mouth.

Grabbing Zach’s face, Corey kissed him back. When the kiss broke, he smiled. “I wish you didn’t have to work tonight. I don’t wanna let you go.”

Zach grinned in satisfaction, warmed by the words. “Me, too.” He stood. “But they’re paying me a thousand bucks for the night.”

Zipping up his pants, Corey frowned up at Zach. “Whoa. Who the hell is throwing this party?”

“Some rich dude in Beacon Hill,” Zach said. “I got the call yesterday, I guess their bartender bailed on them at the last minute and someone from Immunity recommended me.”

“Well, all right!” Corey laughed. “Go Zach, mixologist extraordinaire.”

“I do have some skills.”

“You certainly do.” Corey wiped the sweat off his brow. “I think you broke my penis.”

“I’m sure it will recover.”

Zach heard voices below, outside of Doug’s apartment, then sets of feet trampled up the stairs. He glanced at Corey. “Having company?”

Corey stood. “Oh, yeah. The guys asked me to go down to that concert thing at the pond tonight. Should be pretty fun.”

Zach cocked an eyebrow. “The
guys
? What guys?”

A knock sounded on the apartment door. “Doug and Stewart, Jairo and Rod.”

“Since when are they your
guys
?” Zach asked.

Corey eyed him as he walked to the door. “They asked me to go. Chill, Zach. I’d take you with if you weren’t working.”

Corey opened the door, and the whole troop filtered in. Jairo did a double take at Corey. “
Why
exactly are you shirtless?” He poked Corey’s shoulder. “And why are you so pumped up? You guys are all so body obsessed.”