Guys on Top 02 - Guys on the Side (22 page)

Corey held Angelo’s shoulders, lifting his hips now to match his motion. “That’s it,” he whispered. “That’s it, Angelo. So good. Feels so good.”

A high-pitched mewl escaped Angelo’s lips, eyebrows pinching, Corey’s soft words pushing him over the edge, and he came as he writhed against him, head falling onto Corey’s muscular shoulder as he gushed and gushed, saturating his underpants.

As the last wave of bliss cascaded from his aching balls, Corey’s hands gripped Angelo’s ass and his hips thrust upward, pulling Angelo hard against him.

Heart pounding like a bass drum, Angelo smiled as the man beneath him let out a guttural cry, squeezing Angelo’s ass cheeks as his climax spread warmth between them, Corey’s release moistening his already saturated underpants.

Their bodies relaxed, muscles softening as they came down from the explosion. Angelo slid off of Corey and rested on his side, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Corey lay on his back, eyes closed, chest rising and falling.

“Corey,” Angelo said when he could speak again.

Corey smiled, eyes still closed. “Yeah?”

“I think that was higher than a four.”

Corey laughed. He rolled onto his side, facing Angelo, hugging the pillow. “Don’t be ridiculous. That was like a one.”

Angelo snickered. “A
one?
”

Corey shrugged, grinning. “Maye a one and a half.”

“I thought the sexual ego thing was reserved for heterosexual men.”

“Boy, do
you
have a lot to learn.”

Reaching out, Angelo stroked a lock of blond hair back from Corey’s forehead. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

Corey smiled and took Angelo’s hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed his knuckles. “So am I.”

Chapter Fourteen

In the morning, Angelo tried to insist that Corey eat something before he brought him home, while Corey insisted he never really ate much this early. They compromised, and Corey allowed Angelo to make him a whole grain waffle with peanut butter and a side of fruit salad.

Corey sat at the island and watched Angelo move around his kitchen, making tea. He was surprised by how relaxed the other man seemed, considering what had happened between them. While their morning-after banter was easy and ebullient, they didn’t discuss the sex, though it was there in the warm smiles Angelo gave Corey while he listened to him talk.

“I have two books you definitely should read about holistic healing,” Corey said as he popped a chunk of melon into his mouth. “I’ll spare you the real oogedy-boogedy ones because I know you’re a practical man of the mind despite your nutcase powers. But you’ll definitely relate to some of the stuff in these other two. I’ll grab them for you when you drop me off.”

“Thanks.” Angelo set down two teacups and joined Corey at the island. “I’ll definitely read them. And while you’re far more versed in the mind-body connection, I do read some alternative stuff. I’m not
completely
conventional, you know.”

Corey smiled, taking a sip of his tea, eyes on Angelo. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes
off
Angelo. The other man had an added glow this morning, an extra shine to his usual gorgeousness. Corey liked thinking he had something to do with that. “Like what?” he asked Angelo. “What kind of reading?”

“Well,” Angelo shrugged, blowing on his tea, “in my work I deal with people in the midst of a lot of hard life choices. I like to read about what it means to choose the right path for oneself. People tend to become too focused on the past and the choices they’ve made that didn’t work out for them, and therefore become trepidatious about taking chances. But there really is no wrong path, as long as it keeps moving forward.”

“Huh.” Corey rubbed his chin. “Not sure I agree with that.”

“No?” Angelo gave Corey that warm smile again.
The sex smile
. “How come?”

“In the past I’ve done a lot of leaping before I really looked at the situation. Deciding to take a new path
should
cause trepidation, in my opinion. Because in our arrogance we think we know where it will lead, but the truth is we have no idea. I’ve ended up in some very thorny groves when I headed down a path too blindly.”

“But all life paths are blind when you start on them. If you acquire the mindset that any path you take may lead to a thorny grove, you’re completely removing chance from the equation. And to deny chance is to deny potential, the potential for good outcomes as well as bad.”

“Hmm.” Corey smiled at Angelo. “So you’re saying the unknowable is a good thing.”

Angelo shrugged. “The unknowable is all there is. No sense fighting that truth.”

“I like talking to you.”

Angelo held Corey’s eyes in silence for a long moment. “I like talking to you, too.”

****

Having Corey in the passenger seat of the Corvette felt good to Angelo. Everything about Corey felt good to him, and it wasn’t just the prior night’s sexual experience, though that was certainly better than
good
. Angelo felt like something more than their bodies had merged, and that comingling had made them both calmer, happier. At least he hoped Corey was feeling the same way. Because he was driving him home now, and thus far they’d both avoided the impending ‘Will I see you again?’ conversation.

A niggle of doubt tried to bring Angelo’s mood down. Suppose Corey did not want to see him again—it was a possibility of course, despite their comfortable rapport this morning. Corey had spoken of caution with regard to new life paths, after all. And Angelo still knew very little about what Corey was going through in his personal life.

There had been the phone calls from his ex-boyfriend.
Zachary
. The name had stuck with him after Corey mentioned him at the sports bar last week.

Angelo tried not to turn this Zachary into an imaginary nemesis in his mind. Corey said his ex-boyfriend had cheated on him, but Angelo thought maybe there was more to it than that. He got the sense that unwanted pressure had been a key factor in the demise of Corey’s relationship. Angelo sure as hell didn’t want to become the very thing Corey hated.

And all this speculation about what
Corey
wanted made Angelo realize he’d not yet question what he himself wanted. Because clearly he already knew. He wanted Corey. That he wasn’t questioning it was strange, for surely entering into a relationship with a man would have ripples and consequences in his current life. Uncle Len’s situation was the perfect example of how
accepting
others were of late-onset homosexuality—which was the only term he could come up with in a pinch, though he acknowledged now that the seeds may have been buried within him all along.

But none of that seemed to matter. His mind’s turbulence was not currently focused on potential backlash from external forces, familial or otherwise. Angelo was thirty-two years old, and was suddenly experiencing a newness within himself, awakened in a way he’d never thought possible, emotionally and physically stimulated on a level he’d never previously conceived of.

And it all rested on the gorgeous blond head of the man seated beside him.

“Take a right at the stoplight,” Corey said.

“I know.” Angelo chuckled. “I’ve been to your place twice, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Corey turned his head and grinned. “My mind’s a bit busy this morning. Kind of in the clouds.”

“I know the feeling.”

Corey reached over and gave Angelo’s thigh a quick squeeze. It was the first physical contact since the night before, but it was brief, and Corey withdrew his hand quickly and went back to staring out the passenger side window.

As Angelo drove the Vette up Corey’s road, they both leaned forward and narrowed their eyes at the police car backing out of the driveway. “Is that leaving your place?” Angelo asked.

“It is,” Corey said, turning to watch the police car as it drove past them down the road. “What the
fuck
is going on now?”

Angelo parked in front of the house behind a black Audi. In front of that was a small red compact car.

“Jairo’s here.” Corey gave his head a shake. “And fucking Zach’s car? What the fuck.”

Corey sounded panicked, and when he got out of the car, Angelo got out too. He felt like an unwelcome outsider to whatever was happening here, but Corey hadn’t bid him goodbye yet, so he figured it was all right to stick around, at least until he knew nothing was seriously wrong.

But he felt awkward as he rounded the Vette, coming to stand beside Corey, who frowned at the red car, rubbing his forehead, like he was looking at a flying saucer that had landed on his property. “I should probably head off and leave you to...whatever this is,” Angelo said.

Corey quickly turned to Angelo. “No, I still want to give you those books, can you just wait a second while I see what’s happening?”

“Yeah, of course.”

They both looked up when the front door opened, and a man with wavy dark hair, fair skin and broad shoulders strode across the front lawn toward them, his expression stern as he focused on Corey.

“Stewart, what’s happening? Why were the cops here?”

“Why is your phone turned off?” the man demanded as he reached them. “Everyone was trying to get hold of you.”

“Zach was drunk dialing me last night, I turned it off. Why? What’s going on? And
why
is Zach here?”

The other man sighed, jaw tight, then blue eyes flicked to Angelo.

“Oh, this is Angelo,” Corey said.

Stewart gave him a quick handshake.

“Nice to meet you,” Angelo said.

Stewart looked at Corey, then his gaze darted to Angelo again, lips tight.

“It’s okay,” Corey said. “You can talk in front of him.”

Stewart nodded. “Your Brooks Carmichael stalker problem found its way to me this morning.”

Corey looked stunned, and Angelo slunk back a bit, curious as hell, but feeling like an intruder.

“What happened?” Corey asked, his body language stiff and defensive.

“He told the cops that you and I followed him to Brookline yesterday, roughed him up and threatened his life.”

“Oh, fuck.” Corey’s hands went to his head and he squeezed his eyes closed. “You told the cops he was lying, right? I mean...except for the part about you threatening his life.”

“It’s taken care of,” Stewart said.

“Stewart.” Corey stepped closer to the other man. “Why is Zach’s car here?”

The dark-haired man paced a circle, sighing. He looked angry. “I had to get into your apartment. I still had a key. Hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine, what happened?”

“I got the paperwork you had about the restraining order against Brooks, and showed it to the cops. It only made them surmise you had a grudge against him, and gave weight to his bullshit story. So I told them everything that happened yesterday, how I saw Brooks walk by the restaurant, then found him harassing you on the road.”

Angelo’s eyebrows shot up. Yes, there were definitely things about Corey’s personal life he knew nothing about.

“Did they believe you?”

“Sort of. Doug backed me up. But they wanted to also talk to Jairo, because he was there too. And...I had to give them some background on recent events. Then they wanted to hear from Zach. So I had to call him.”

“Oh.” Corey let out a breath through his nose. “Fucking hell. I’m sorry, Stewart.”

“Not your fault,” Stewart said.

“So did that take care of things? Did you convince them Brooks is full of shit?”

“Not quite,” Stewart said. “Brooks’ father is a prominent member of the hoity-toity community of course, so the cops seemed to be leaning toward Brooks’ version of events, despite everything we told them. That’s when I remembered what happened last year when you got the restraining order against Brooks, how his father called you to apologize for him.”

“Yeah,” Corey said. “His dad sounded about as impressed with his son as I am.”

“So that’s what gave me the idea to call Richard Carmichael.”

“Did you talk to him?”

Stewart chuckled. “Oh, yes. And he was not pleased. Not only did he get Brooks to talk to the police and drop the charges, but he’s shipping Brooks off to live in Florida on the threat that he’ll cut the purse strings if the little fucker doesn’t get out of town. Apparently this isn’t Brooks’ first stalker rodeo. They’ve had similar problems with Brooks harassing other guys in the past, and Richard Carmichael’s patience has worn thin.”

Corey let out a huge sigh. “Oh, thank God.”

“No, thank
me
. Your Brooks Carmichael problem is gone. You’re welcome.”

Stewart’s response did not sound friendly, and Angelo felt tension crawling in the air as Corey stepped toward the other man. “Stewart.” Corey tilted his head. “I’m sorry you got caught up in this, I am. Are you...mad at me or something?”

“Just...forget about it, Corey. But try to be less of a stalker-magnet from now on, yeah?”

Stewart turned and headed toward a van parked in the driveway, and Corey called out to him, “Stewart!”

The other man turned around.

“Are we okay?”

Stewart strode back to Corey. “I was worried about you last night. We all were. You took off without a word, you were gone all night, and your phone was off. Then this happened and...I was worried, Corey.”

Angelo watched Corey step closer to the other man, and he suddenly sensed an intimacy between them, a flicker of something that hinted at a connection beyond simple friendship. “I’m sorry,” Corey said. He grabbed Stewart in a hug. “I am truly, truly sorry. Things got all fucked up with Zach last night.”

Angelo watched uncomfortably as the other man wrapped his arms around Corey, squeezing him tight. “It’s all right.” They disengaged from the hug, and Stewart placed a hand on Corey’s shoulder. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Corey said.

“I want you to be
happy
, Corey.”

Corey’s head bowed. “I know. I’m trying.”

Stewart’s gaze flicked to Angelo before he looked back at Corey. “I know you are. We’ll talk later. Oh, and as a warning, Zach is in there blubbering to Doug and Jairo about you, might want to wait a tick before going in.”