Wild Horses (30 page)

“Sure. I’ll be happy to.”

The officer appeared by the window. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes.” Attila nodded. “I just needed to rest a bit. My fever is coming back. We will be switching drivers.”

“Very well. Let me see your driver’s license and registration, please.”

Attila produced the documents and watched the policeman look them over.

“Alright. You want me to call an ambulance?”

“No! No. I am fine. I am getting better, just… this was my first day out after a while. My partner will drive.”

Partner.

Kai’s eyes widened.

“I’ll stick around until you’re under way,” the policeman said, handing the documents back. “Feel better soon.”

“Thank you, officer. I am sure I will.”

They changed seats and Kai adjusted his seat and the mirrors. He pulled out onto the almost empty road, self-conscious with the policeman watching him from behind.

I’m legal now. I haven’t done anything.

He wasn’t living on the street anymore.

Attila called him his partner.

A
TTILA
fell asleep right after Kai steered him out of the truck and into his bed. The trip and the visit had exhausted his already slim reserves. He rose close to six to eat a light dinner of chicken soup and oranges, took his medicine and showered, and then he went right back to sleep. Fleeting thoughts of checking his e-mail and working out a budget without Mona Putney’s patronage rattled around in his head before his body overrode his ambitions, declaring a period of enforced rest.

It was dark outside when Attila felt Kai slip into bed beside him, waking him. He rolled out of bed and used the bathroom. He drank some more water and slid back under the light, summer covers, relishing the soothing waves of heat that poured off Kai. He shivered. Kai’s hand on his forehead was cool in comparison.

“I think you overdid it today,” Kai whispered. “Your fever has made a bit of a comeback.”

“I am feeling better than before.”

“Good.” Attila could feel the smile in Kai’s voice. “I’d be concerned if you weren’t.” Kai rolled toward him, his hand roaming up his hip, caressing his flank. “Going back to sleep?”

“I shall try. I am not very tired.”

“Maybe I could help.” Kai’s voice held a playful note as his fingers stroked Attila’s skin. “How is your neck?”

“All my muscles feel sore from having been inactive… I wish I could at least go and swim for a bit.”

Kai kissed Attila’s shoulder. “Shush. I’ll make it all better.” He pulled Attila’s hip, rolling him onto his stomach. Straddling his narrow hips, Kai moved his hands up and down the sides of Attila’s spine.

Attila let out a low sigh as Kai’s fingers dug under his skin, hunting for tight knots and sore muscles. It hurt, but in a good way. He would have melted right into the mattress under a softer touch, but the vigorous treatment encouraged blood circulation in muscles that were accustomed to daily exercise and now stiffened by staying dormant.

He felt Kai slide down his butt and settle on his legs. There was no fabric between them today. Kai’s warm palms cupped his cheeks, the heels of his hands pressing the muscles in small circles. It felt good, too good. Attila fisted the sheet under him, his grip tight and his lips pressed together as his hips tried to remain still, torn between grinding against the bed and pressing up into Kai’s talented hands. He felt Kai’s weight slide further down as Kai settled upon his calves. The amazing softness of Kai’s privates caressed his heated skin in passing, and Attila’s moan turned into a gasp as Kai leaned his palms into his hamstrings.

“Too much?” Kai asked, lightening up.

“No… ah… no. It’s… good.” It was beyond just good—it was absolutely awesome. Attila wiggled a bit, seeking at least some friction against the bed. Remaining silent and focused on a therapeutic massage was torture.

“Let’s get your IT band and your adductors,” Kai said in a detached, almost professional tone of voice. “I’ve read on the Internet that those are hard to stretch sometimes….”

Attila felt Kai lighten up and spread his legs, his strong fingers hunting down the very muscles that made riding seem so effortless. It hurt. It hurt like the dickens, but Attila was determined to just lie still and take it.

K
AI
’
S
eyes feasted on the spread before him: by now, Attila was on his stomach, legs spread, hands gripping the sheets for dear life. The little he could see of his face bore a tint of color in the pale glow of the night-light, and his blue eyes were shut tight. It was obvious to Kai that Attila was fighting for every little bit of control. This was just a backrub, after all.

A wicked thought entered his mind, and he scooted up on his knees, massaging the other man’s glutes in gentle circles.

Spread and close. Spread and close.

Attila’s rosy ring kept winking at him as he did that, enticing and mesmerizing him. Kai leaned down and spread the cheeks, letting his tongue out to play.

“Kai!” Attila yelped, startled.

He swiped his tongue up and down Attila’s cleft, then returned to the sensitive rosette. “Relax,” he murmured, his voice overwhelmed by Attila’s gasps.

“Can’t,” Attila choked out. “Too good.”

“Excellent.” Kai’s voice was but a satisfied purr. He nestled his chest between the milky thighs, enjoying the tickle of Attila’s sparse, straight hair. He spread Attila’s cheeks again while Attila tried to relax under him, panting aloud. “That’s better,” Kai said as he stroked the fuzzy taint, noting the tight skin of Attila’s testicles. “Stay relaxed,” he warned before he sank his face in, letting his tongue flicker out and sample more of that musky flavor. He circled around and dipped in, aware of Attila’s muffled scream. The man under him tensed. Kai slipped his hand under the desperate hips and stroked Attila’s hot flesh in jerky syncopation with the exploits of his curious tongue.

Attila exploded, tensing as a wave of pleasure ripped through his body, then lay still until Attila’s breathing evened out.

“That… oh. That was incredible.”

Attila’s voice was hoarse; he usually was not that loud. Kai had never heard a sexier sound, though, and his already hard length arched farther in search of attention. He flipped onto his back, kissing Attila’s shoulder in passing. “You’ve never been rimmed, I take it?”

“No,” Attila whispered. “But you….”

“I’m fine.” The husk in Kai’s voice betrayed him.

“I wish to make you feel better than merely fine.”

A
TTILA
nosed his way down Kai’s broad chest, liking the way Kai’s symmetrical swirls of chest hair stroked his cheek. He ran his hand down over the jut of the hip, down Kai’s vulnerable and hairless inner thigh. He felt the hollow of Kai’s slender hip under his lips and kissed it, burying his face in the heated skin. Kai’s breathing was quick and shallow as Attila felt the hard head of his straining erection sweep against his arm. Kai was spread on his back for him; he took in the enticing sight, contemplating his next step.

His lips caressed the satiny, hard length, tasting the tip. He slipped along the heated surface, all the way down until soft curls tickled his nose and his throat almost seized in an effort to relax even more. Attila spread Kai’s limp knees apart, gaining access to those parts that Kai had enjoyed on him not so long ago. His deft fingers caressed Kai’s tight sack, eliciting gasping moans when sliding over the sensitive taint. Then he licked his finger and, with his mouth back on Kai’s cock, moved even lower… a slicked finger slipped inside the tight ring of muscle. There was an uneasy gasp and a squeeze of the powerful thighs against Attila’s shoulders.

Attila froze, then removed the finger and lifted his head. “Too much?” he murmured. He was surprised—after what Kai did for him, the case of rear-door shyness took him entirely by surprise.

“Sorry,” Kai gasped. “Just… yeah. Your mouth feels so good.” Kai’s heart rate was still up, his breathing fast and shallow, and despite his words, Attila realized Kai was near a state of controlled panic.

“Shh… let me take care of you,” Attila whispered and stroked Kai’s thigh until he felt him relax. Only then did he take Kai in again, feeling the comforting weight of his cockhead on his tongue. It did not take long before Kai yielded to a cresting wave of pleasure, and soon all Attila could do was swallow.

“You okay?” Attila pried few minutes later, seized by an uncharacteristic need to know. It occurred to him Kai might have had a bad experience.

Kai nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”

Attila set his head back on a pillow next to Kai and rolled to look at him. He hesitated. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Kai slid his arm under Attila’s and wiggled close enough to rest in Attila’s embrace. His face buried into Attila’s chest as he shook his head. “It’s not anything dramatic, really.”

“If anyone has hurt you, I would like you to let me know,” Attila whispered into Kai’s hair.

“I just hurt myself. I made some dumb choices in the past, and… I don’t know. I guess I am responsible for having been an idiot, you know? And some things just remind me of how dumb I’ve been.” Kai stilled, and when Attila did not interrupt his silence, he finally added, “It’s embarrassing.”

“Okay, honey,” Attila murmured into Kai’s hair. He would find out eventually. Whenever Kai was ready.

There was only silence after that. He felt Kai squeeze him tight and not let go—not before he began to toss upon the waves of an uneasy and restless sleep.

D
AMAGED
goods.

Tibor had called Kai that just weeks ago. Attila filled another manger with hay, said good morning to the horse, and moved on.

Damaged goods.

His mother had a special teacup she used to love. It was beautiful and fragile and precious. Attila was five when the slick cup slipped out of his little hand and fell onto the table. Its handle broke off. His mother told him not to make his wish that one time. She pulled out a thin tube of acrylic glue and reattached the handle to the cup. The crack was barely visible after that, and the cup was good as new, yet she always handled it with a bit more care than before.

Beautiful, fragile, precious.

And strong, too. Its thin, porcelain walls would show a pattern in the bottom when Attila lifted it upside down and looked at it against the light. Kai seemed like that: broken and glued back together again. However, even damaged goods could be good, even special, to have around. It came to Attila just then that he himself wasn’t all that perfect and pure, either. He was like the saucer to match that cup—a saucer that fell to the floor and broke in half and was mended by caring hands. No man who would sleep in the hayloft above the horse stalls, solely to escape a suddenly empty house, was without his chips and cracks. As he filled the last manger with hay and moved on to the grain rations, he wondered whether there were times when the light hit his gleaming surface a bit wrong, making his mended cracks show.

He surveyed his kingdom, where horse heads were deep in their feed buckets and happy eating noises permeated the barn. Kai would get his extra sleep today. Attila was on the mend and would not let his younger partner flounder on his own.

Partner.

The emergency forced the word out of his mouth back then. He leaned against the fence outside the barn, watching the sun rise over the house and the large maple tree next to it, contemplating the word’s flavor.

Partner.

Partners.

He and I.

Kai and I.

Kai and Attila are partners.

There was honesty to it, and brevity, and strength. There were some logistical problems; Attila felt vastly uncomfortable being in a relationship with an official employee. They needed more equality. He saw the way Kai would bite his tongue, not speaking his mind even when he obviously disagreed. He was Kai’s boss, his landlord, his teacher and mentor, and only once those existential concerns were all satisfied, only then was he Kai’s friend and lover. There had to be a way, a tactful and subtle way, in which he could equalize their relationship. He would still call the shots around the horses: his horses, his barn, his rules. Outside, though… there had to be an area where Kai would feel comfortable standing by his side as an equal.

Lost in thought, he wandered down the grassy path toward his house.

K
AI
reached for his lover’s overheated body, only to meet a cold pillow. He sat up, alarmed and disoriented. “Attila?” The bed was too cold for this to be a mere bathroom trip—and the sun was high outside, infusing the bedroom with reflected rainbows off the rippling surface of the pool.

Kai vaulted out of bed and struggled into a pair of boxers before tearing his way out of the bedroom. “Attila!” The stubborn man was not in the kitchen or by the computer—and his barn boots were gone. Kai stumbled outside to the patio and looked up the hill.

A lone figure stood there, his forearms leaning against the split-rail fence. He looked relaxed, even happy. A whoosh of air left Kai’s chest in relief. He went back inside and put on water for coffee and tea. Then he opened the refrigerator to assess their breakfast options. There was yogurt… and there were strawberries and jam and bread. Kai slid four slices of the wholegrain-and-hazelnut bread in the toaster, poured hot water over the coffee in the press and the tea in the pot, and ducked into the bathroom for a quick morning rinse. The panic he felt before receded, replaced by a sense of contentment.

Attila would be fine, he would be fine, they would be fine.

T
HEY
sat at the table outside, enjoying the cooler temperatures and the lack of mosquitoes. Once the breakfast Kai had prepared was eaten and the coffee pot was empty, Attila reached out his hand and placed it upon his partner’s larger one. “Kai….” Attila cleared his throat. “I believe we should discuss our mutual arrangement.”