Authors: K.A. Merikan
“Boy or a girl?”
demanded Wolver, pulling both Jed and Ryder into his arms.
Ryder laughed. “You’re
gonna have a boy to hunt with,
granddad
.”
Wolver patted Ryder’s
back so hard it hurt. “I thought I’d never see the day! Are you staying with
Jess tonight? We can take care of business.”
The dying light in Jed’s
eyes broke Ryder’s heart.
“No,” he said quickly.
“But she’s moving back to be closer to Jo. I need a woman who won’t walk out on
me,” he said, glancing back, to Jess’s window, where he could spot a shadow
behind the blinds. But he wasn’t interested in staring back and discreetly
squeezed Jed’s wrist.
Wolver waved his hand.
“Okay, okay, no pressure. We’ll see how things work out. Let’s celebrate at the
motel, because if we start drinking here we’ll fall off our bikes on the way.
Drinks on me.”
Ryder laughed and
accepted all congratulations, though at the bottom of his heart, he missed
Jed’s touch as soon as it was gone.
The motel was pretty
run-of-the-mill. With walls the color of old blood, and green doors visible
behind a railing, it was a cheap and comfortable place to stay at. Especially since
there was a bar right next door, one that offered affordable booze. After
hearing the dreaded news, Jed wanted to get smashed, and he felt excused,
because even Ryder was drinking far more than usual. Tucked into a booth in the
dark bar, they could celebrate Ryder’s baby, and unspokenly, also Ryder getting
back together with Jess.
Ryder kept saying that
wasn’t the case, but as Wolver, Mikey, and Axe waved off his words, Jed kept
wondering if Ryder simply didn’t want to hurt his feelings and was waiting to
break the news to him privately first. Then again, Ryder had seemed sincere
when they last spoke of this. He’d claimed that his relationship with Jed was
more important to him. But Jess moving back into town? That smelled of trouble.
What if she wanted to pop by Ryder’s house at some point when they were
fucking? What if Ryder wanted to stay with Jed now, but kept hanging around
Jess once the baby was born? As sincere as Ryder seemed now, he couldn’t know
how his feelings would evolve.
Beer after beer, Jed’s
thoughts were getting more muddled, and his need to be close to Ryder and
assert just how much they meant to each other grew with each minute. It was an
itch he couldn’t scratch no matter how desperate he was getting on the inside.
The fact that they all shared two tiny motel rooms to save money wasn’t
helping.
Ryder was quieter than
usual. He laughed at Axe’s dirty jokes, and listened to Wolver and Mikey’s
stories of the days their kids were born. Jed felt left out, and he didn’t know
what to say either. It was as if something fundamental had changed between him
and Ryder, and no matter what Ryder believed, Jed knew he wouldn’t get to be a
part of this new life.
“You fucked her, didn’t
you?” Axe pushed. “You were up there for ages. Admit it!”
Jed avoided looking at
Ryder but listened on while downing another beer. He liked the dizzy feeling,
and the lightness of his limbs that came with each sip.
Ryder growled. “Oh, cut
it out. I can last longer than that.”
“I just really wanna
know how it is with a pregnant woman. Can you actually feel the baby? That’s
kinda gross.”
The other guys seemed to
agree, as they all voiced their disapproval and delivered slaps to Axe’s head.
“What?” he moaned.
“She’s still a woman. I bet she wants to get it on. Didn’t you hear how horny
women get with all those hormones?”
“Why don’t you ask
Mikey, huh? He has two kids,” said Ryder, and Mikey sent him a murderous glare,
before transferring his gaze to Axe.
“No, you can’t feel the
baby inside. Christ!”
“There’s enough single
mothers to go around. Hook up with one,” said Wolver, grinning behind his beer.
“Jed? What’s with the
silence? Aren’t you curious?” Axe snapped his fingers in front of Jed’s face.
“Not about this.” Jed
groaned and got up on soft knees. He wasn’t too drunk but felt relieved that
many of his thoughts had vanished in the amber fizziness of beer.
“What are you curious about?”
Axe demanded. “Other than being
bi
-curious, if you know what I mean.”
Wolver smacked him over
the head again. “For fuck’s sake. We decided not to mention that.”
Jed growled and showed
Axe the finger before walking off. He needed some fresh air, because the smoke
and stench in the bar were getting to him. He walked past three women dancing
close to the counter and rushed outside, grateful for the cool air stabbing his
nostrils. It immediately relieved the sense of nausea that had settled in his
stomach. He took deep breaths, trying to purge his thoughts of anything even
remotely concerning Jess. Or babies. But as it always was in such situations,
they seemed to flow right through any filter he tried to impose.
It wouldn’t be just him
and Ryder anymore. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, walking in circles out
of rhythm to the music inside.
“Jed?” The familiar
voice caressed him all the way to the nape, and it almost felt as if Ryder were
pulling him close. When Jed turned around, Ryder approached him with a slight
frown that was visible in the bluish light of the neon above the entrance. “Are
you okay?”
Jed forced a smile. He
was not about to be a downer on Ryder’s day. “I’m good, just needed some fresh
air,” he said and took another drag of smoke. “You?” He looked around, and
seeing there was no one around, he leaned close to Ryder’s lips and blew some
smoke into them.
Ryder gasped, and Jed
could see his eyes go dark. “They could see us here,” he whispered, but
inevitably he leaned closer to Jed.
“Wanna go somewhere more
private?” Jed bit his lip and put his cigarette between Ryder’s lips, taking
his time to touch them in the process. Apart from simply being horny for Ryder,
he was desperate to show him what he’d be missing if he got back to Jess. He
needed to remind him how good the two of them were together.
Ryder nodded, inhaling
the smoke and following Jed without asking where he meant to go. Their feet
thudded against the pavement as Jed frantically looked around for shelter. The
motel room wasn’t good enough if anyone could just come in using the other key.
Instead, they rushed away from the bar, all the way to the northern wall of the
motel, past an old resident dog tied to a kennel, and onto gravel leading them
behind what looked like a tool shed. As soon as they were there, Jed pushed
Ryder against the wooden wall. There were sparks of electricity between them as
they walked, but as soon as their lips met, an explosion of arousal tugged at
Jed’s cock.
Sounds of cars passing
by down the nearby road melted into background noise as tongue met teeth, and
their chests pressed against one another. Ryder gasped into Jed’s lips and sent
his hands down, to Jed’s ass, squeezing it through the denim and all but
humping his hip. All thoughts of Jess melted away in Jed’s mind, and he sure as
hell hoped they did in Ryder’s as well.
“Fuck, you’re so hot…”
Jed muttered into the greedy kiss, unbuckling Ryder’s belt in frantic moves.
Raw need was stripping away his flesh and squeezing around his needy heart.
Ryder groaned and nipped
on Jed’s ear, pushing his hips into the waiting hand. Smelling of beer,
cologne, and smoke, he was just the consolation Jed needed. “I fucking need
you.”
“You smell so good,” Jed
rasped and licked Ryder’s neck all the way to the jaw. The stubble rubbing
against his tongue made his dick hard in a matter of seconds, but the grunt of
satisfaction came when he slid his hand into Ryder’s pants, and found a cock
just as ready as his.
“Fuck!”
It took Jed a few
moments to register that it was a voice coming from outside their lusty cocoon.
Ryder pushed him back, and Jed froze when he saw the tall form of Axe. He
recognized him even without seeing his face in the dark.
“Oh, my fucking God! Why
is it always me who has to deal with this shit?” hissed Axe in a high-pitched
tone.
Jed didn’t waste time,
and went straight for him, shoving back Axe’s massive chest as adrenaline
pumped through his veins. “What the fuck are you doing here, motherfucker?”
“Me?” Axe gave a nervous
laugh. “You two are
brothers
. I wanna puke my intestines out!” he said,
seeming to really heave a bit. “I’m never gonna get hard again!”
Ryder stepped closer to
Jed, with the noise of a zipper that signalled that he must have adjusted his
clothes. “Axe, you’re drunk,” whispered Ryder, but even Jed could hear his
voice trembling. “This wasn’t what it looked like.”
“Oh, spare me your
bullshit, you fucking pervert!” yelled Axe, launching himself at Ryder with a
powerful push that sent him at the wall again. “I watched you two long enough!”
Jed couldn’t believe
this was happening. His brain was scrambling, and his mouth dried from the
heat. “You fucking watch us for some reason? And we’re the perverts? You don’t
know what this was about!” But even he was struggling to come up with something
sensible. The world was now spinning around him unpleasantly, but he still
stumbled forward and shoved Axe away from Ryder. “You know shit!”
“Shut up, you fag scum!”
yelled Axe. “You’re fucking sleeping on the floor tonight. You’re dreaming if
you think this will stay quiet.”
“Axe, fuck off, we were
just joking around,” tried Ryder, but it seemed a lost cause.
“This is too fucking
much. You two grew up together. This is not only gross. It’s wrong!”
Jed rubbed his nose,
heaving with anger. Like this day hadn’t been bad enough, Axe had to butt in?
“We were gonna smoke some weed, you asshole. Ryder was pissing, and I approached
him, ‘cause yeah, I’m into dick. At least fuck off my brother, because he
wasn’t doing shit!” It hurt to have those words go through his throat, and he
knew he was losing a friend, but it had to be done.
“He’s lying,” said Ryder
quickly. “It was me who started this. I’m drunk, you’re drunk, we’re all drunk.
Let’s just forget about all this, okay? For all I know, you just dreamt this
up,” he said to Axe, who stared at him, wide-eyed. “Just like when you asked me
if you could get a man pregnant.”
“I never said that,”
exclaimed Axe, though there was a hint of uncertainty at the end of the
sentence.
“You did,” said Ryder.
Axe must have felt it
was a losing battle, because he turned his attention to Jed. “Where’s the weed
then, smartass?”
Jed patted his pockets,
and started looking around in the darkness. “Fuck, it must be somewhere here…”
His heart was thudding like mad. Trapped, they were trapped.
“Save it, dick-lover. I
know there’s no fucking weed. I knew when I saw that video that something was
off! No wonder Dana left you. You had such a piece of pussy at home, but you
didn’t fuck her and went after your own brother instead, because you think
it’s… what? Why? What?” Axe shook his head, and put his fingers in his beard.
“No one will believe
you,” said Ryder in a grave voice. “Leave it.”
Axe eyed them both. “I
won’t say anything, out of respect for your father. He might have a fucking
heart attack if he found out. But I’ve got my eye on you two now. You fucking
stay too close to each other, and I
will
go further about this. You’ve
got a pregnant girlfriend, Ryder! Seriously! I bet she’s smoking hot even now.
Now that I think of it, you fuckers have been living together. I think I’m
gonna be sick.”
Jed was nauseated
himself. He looked at his feet, torn apart over what to do. He wanted to smash
Axe’s face into pieces, but he knew that on some level, Axe was right. He just
didn’t understand the whole picture. He couldn’t know what he and Ryder shared.
Ryder gritted his teeth,
for once not denying the relationship with Jess. He stepped up to Axe. “Let’s
just go to the bar. You’ll get back on your feet after a few shots.”
Axe narrowed his eyes.
“You want to get me drunk?” He thought for a moment. “I guess that’s exactly
what I want. Purge my brain of what I’ve seen here, but I need something
stronger than beer.”
Jed leaned against the
wall, and if it wasn’t for the promise he’d made to Ryder, he’d punch the
fucking shed until it broke down and his hands bled. He wanted to wake up next
to Ryder and find out it had all been a bad dream. He wanted Ryder to tell him
that Jed wouldn’t lose him.
“I think you two need a
break,” hissed Axe. “Go to our room and watch some titties on TV,” he growled
at Jed.
Ryder raised his eyes
and met Jed’s gaze, clearly asking him to be peaceful, so Jed gave Axe only a
small shove on the way.
“Yay. Udders.” He pushed
his hand in his pockets and walked past them with his eyes itching. He was a
fucking Nail. He would not cry over this. But as he rushed past the dog and
along the wall, his chest was closing up with each step.
The orange neon at the
roof of the motel mocked him with its cheerful color as Jed walked down the
parking lot. It was bright here with most of the outside lamps on, but as he
approached the stairs, he figured he didn’t feel like going to bed yet. Nor
like listening to Axe’s orders. And poor Ryder was stuck with Axe right now,
probably worried out of his mind, as he always was when things slipped out of
his hands.
He spotted a small bench
by a tiny play area for children and ended up making his way there. He lit
himself another cigarette, wishing he had something stronger to drink now. He
was pretty sure no one would believe Axe if he came out and straight up told
everyone what he’d seen, but it would put a thousand strobelights and a fucking
discoball of attention over their heads. Everyone would be looking for
confirmation, for anything odd about Jed and Ryder’s behavior.
Only now it hit Jed. Had
he actually come out to Axe? His heart started pounding so hard it hurt. Would
Axe believe him or was he too drunk to connect the dots?
He startled when his
phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. The message was from Ryder,
and he opened it with a heavy heart. He expected anything but what he saw on
the screen.