STORY EXCERPT

“Jack.”

“Hey, Mason, I was wondering if you had a moment to talk?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, come on in,” Mason said as he held the door open and stepped out of the way. Mason stared after Jack in bewilderment as he walked into the apartment. He seemed to be looking at the stacks of packed boxes with something close to disgust.

“What’s up, Jack?” Mason asked as he tried to figure out what was going on. It felt like a kick in the gut to have Jack here after making the decision to stop pining over him.

“I just wanted to know if everything is okay. Your mom mentioned that you were moving.” Jack gestured to the boxes stacked around the room. “Guess it’s true.”

“Yeah, I’m transferring to Georgetown University.”

“Why?” Jack asked as he looked back at Mason.

“Why?” Mason asked, blinking with bafflement at Jack’s question. “Why what?”

“Why are you transferring? Can’t you finish your degree here in Portland?” Jack asked as he took a few steps closer to Mason.

“I could, but the program at Georgetown offers more,” Mason replied as he stepped back from Jack. Standing this close to Jack, he could smell the soft musk of Jack’s aftershave and it was making his legs go weak. Jack smelled so damn good. He always did.

“Is that the only reason?” Jack asked.

Mason could feel his heart pound in his chest as he tried to read the closed expression on Jack’s face. Had Jack learned of his desire? Mason would worry that someone had told Jack how he felt except that he had never told anyone else.

“Should there be another reason?” Mason asked as he felt an unwelcome blush creep into his face.

“Mason, I just want to help. You don’t have to hide things from me. I’m your friend,” Jack said as he reached a reassuring hand out to pat Mason on the arm.

My friend, but not my lover, Mason thought sadly as he shrugged Jack’s hand off of his arm. “I’m fine, Jack.”

“Mason—”

Mason turned away and walked over to stand at the kitchen counter. “Thank you for checking on me, Jack, but I’m fine. You can go now.” Mason knew he was being rude. It was just too hard to be in the same room with Jack and not blurt out how much he wanted Jack. Mason had to bite his lip to keep from blabbing everything.

“Mason—” Jack began again.

“Please, Jack, just go,” Mason said quietly as his hands gripped the edge of the countertop. “Please.” Mason closed his eyes as he waited for the front door to open and close and Jack to leave.

“Mason, there has to be a better way to deal with this than to move across the country.”

Mason spun around to find Jack standing right behind him, so close that their chests almost touched. Mason’s eyes widened in surprise at the look of concern on Jack’s face. “Deal with what?” he choked out over the lump that had formed in his throat.

“Look, Mason, we can’t choose who we love, but she’s not worth leaving your family,” Jack said.

“Who?” Mason asked in confusion.

“The woman you’re in love with. Your mother told me all about it. She didn’t know if your problem was that the woman was married or unavailable or what, but no woman is worth giving up your family.”

“I’m not in love with any woman,” Mason said, perplexed by the direction this conversation was going.

“Mason, I told you, you don’t have to hide this from me. I just want to help. If she can’t see what a great guy you are, you don’t need her. There are a lot of other women out there,” Jack continued as if Mason hadn’t said anything.

Mason couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped his lips as he gazed at Jack. The situation wasn’t that funny, but he couldn’t believe that Jack was here giving him the chin-up speech when Jack was the reason he was in this mess in the first place.

“Jack, there is no woman,” Mason said.

“Mason—”

“Jack, I can promise you, there is no woman. I’m gay.”

Mason watched as Jack’s mouth opened and closed several times as he stared at Mason in shock. Mason’s embarrassment that Jack was the first to know he was gay quickly turned to annoyance as Jack just continued to stare at him.

“You’re gay?” Jack asked in a whisper.

Mason crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Jack. Jack sounded astonished, as if the thought had never entered his mind. “Yes, I am. See? No woman to worry about. Now, would you please go? I have a lot of packing to do.”

“You’re gay?” Jack asked again.

Mason rolled his eyes and waved his hand in the air in agitation. “Yes, Jack, I’m gay. Always have been. Always will be. Now, if you’ll kindly leave me to finish my packing, I might have time to go down to the bar and find me some hot stud to bring home and fuck.”

Mason grabbed Jack by the arm and pulled him to the door. He opened it up and pushed Jack through it. Mason briefly noted the dazed look in Jack’s eyes. “Bye, Jack,” Mason said as he shut the door.

The moment the door shut, Mason turned the lock then leaned his head against it as his heart beat frantically in his chest. He couldn’t believe he had just come out to Jack. And Jack thought he was in love with a woman. Didn’t that just beat all?

Mason shook his head as he turned back to his packing. As he picked up another stack of books and placed them in an open box, he wondered what Jack would have said if Jack knew that he was the reason Mason was moving across country and leaving his family.

Mason snorted to himself as he grimly thought about Jack’s response. He’d probably pat Mason on the head and tell him that they could still be friends, but only friends. It wasn’t like Mason had a lot of friends, but friendship was not what he wanted from Jack. And what he wanted, he could never have.

ADULT EXCERPT

As he looked down at the man he had loved for nearly ten years, Mason couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and placed a small kiss on Jack’s lips. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Jack wrapped an arm around his neck and began to respond to his kiss.

Jack’s kiss was hesitant at first, his mouth gentle and exploring. Then his tongue joined in, brushing against Mason’s. Mason couldn’t control his moan. Kissing Jack was everything he always thought it would be and more.

Mason was lost in his first real kiss, his head spinning as Jack took the kiss deeper, harder, both hands wrapped in Mason’s hair to hold him in place so he couldn’t escape. Not that Mason wanted to. He was right where he had wanted to be for the last ten years.

When Jack reached down and pulled on Mason’s shirt, reality crashed in. He couldn’t do this. Jack was straight. He was drunk. Jack obviously didn’t know what he was doing. Mason knew he had to stop this before it got out of hand.

“Jack, man, stop,” he begged as he tried to untangle himself from Jack’s arms.

“Don’t want to stop,” Jack moaned as he sucked on the side of Mason’s neck hard enough to leave a mark. His hands were quickly finding their way under Mason’s shirt.

“Jack, please, we can’t do this,” he whispered desperately as Jack’s fingers pulled at his nipples. Mason couldn’t keep the moan from escaping his mouth as Jack manipulated his sensitive flesh. His nipples were a hot spot for him, and Jack was playing him like a master.

“Want you—want you now—too many clothes,” Jack said between kisses. He was almost rough as he jerked at Mason’s clothes.

“Jack, do you know what you’re doing? Do you even know who I am?” Mason asked desperately.

“Mason, pretty, pretty Mason.”

Okay, so Jack knew who Mason was. That didn’t mean that he knew exactly what he was doing. Did Jack have secret desire to be with a guy? As much as Mason wanted to give in, he didn’t want to be an experiment in gay sex.

Mason tried again. He grabbed Jack’s face in his hands and tried to get Jack’s attention. He had to stop this before it got out of hand. “Jack, we can’t do this. You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

Mason knew he was lost when Jack flashed him one of those famous dimpled grins.

“I’m not that drunk.” He chuckled, then pulled Mason’s head down for another kiss.

Mason groaned deep in his throat as he succumbed to Jack’s seduction. Mason softly stroked Jack’s chiseled chest, his nipples. He climbed fully onto the bed and settled himself between Jack’s legs, growling at the feel of Jack’s hard cock pressed against his stomach. He kissed Jack’s chest, down his tight abdomen to the edge of Jack’s boxers. He pulled the edge of Jack’s boxers down an inch at a time, slowly baring Jack’s cock and nearly hairless sac until he could push the boxers all the way off of Jack and drop them on the floor.

He let out a heavy breath when Jack was totally naked to his hungry gaze. Oh damn, he was perfect here, too. Jack’s hard cock, standing at full attention, was long and thick. A drop of pre-cum glistened on the small slit at the ample head of his cock.

When Mason reached out with his tongue and licked up the small drop, Jack’s cock jumped in response. As Mason enveloped the head of Jack’s pulsing cock in his mouth, Jack wrapped his hands in Mason’s hair. His groan of approval sounded loud in the nearly silent room.

For Mason, the taste of Jack’s cock and the spot of pre-cum that leaked from that cock was ambrosia. He knew it would be like this. He attacked Jack’s cock, lavishing it with his mouth and tongue as if his very next breath depended on it.

Mason heard Jack groan, and then Jack humped his hips and drove his cock into Mason’s eager mouth. Mason lowered his mouth down until his nose was buried in soft, curly hair. He wrapped his lips tightly around the base of Jack’s cock and slowly sucked his way back up to the tip, then quickly back down to the base.

As Mason devoted himself to lavishing his cock, Jack squirmed on the bed, his hands clenched in the sheets. His moans grew louder and louder with each lick of Mason’s tongue.