STORY EXCERPT

Some days it just didn’t pay to get out of bed.

It wasn’t the wedding of his best friends that made Derek Porter want to go back to bed and hide his head under the covers. It was the sight of Tom Richards on the dance floor with a petite, beautiful blonde. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, Derek knew that he was in love with his best friend and had been for a very long time. Unfortunately, everything was now out in the open, making Tom, his sister Lily, and their other best friend, Jake, look at him with nothing but pity. He hated pity.

He sighed.

“Okay, sugar, what’s going on? You’ve looked like you lost your best friend, your dog ran away, and your mama ended up in the pokey.”

Derek looked over at his date Natalie, a tall, robust brunette. She was gorgeous with riotous dark hair and expressive gypsy eyes. He sighed again. Life would be so much easier if he could just love her instead. “My life does feel like a country song right about now.”

Natalie looked at the couple on the dance floor. “Is it that cute little redhead or the blonde who has your panties in a pinch?” Natalie knew he was bisexual and was not in the least bit offended by his wandering eye. They had never been more than friends. In fact, she was one of the few people who had always known he swung both ways. Besides, Natalie has secrets of her own.

“The guy is Tom. I think he’s dancing with one of his deputies. He didn’t come with her, but I can’t help but wonder if he’ll leave with her.”

“So that’s Tom,” she said. “I had wondered if I was going to meet him today.” Natalie took a moment to study the couple. “They don’t look right together. I bet she’s frigid.”

Derek bust out laughing. He couldn’t help it. She laughed right along with him, and her booming laughter caused others to turn their way and smile. She had that kind of laugh, sort of bawdy and absolutely engaging.

“Let’s dance, sugar,” she ordered in her best Southern belle voice.

When they stood up to dance, Derek noticed Tom scowling in his direction. On the dance floor, Derek held Natalie a little closer than he normally would have.

She wasn’t stupid. “Do whatever you have to, sugar,” she said, “but don’t be surprised if it backfires on you.”

Derek looked at her. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

* * * *

Tom danced with Renee Almeida, his youngest and greenest deputy, and thought about Derek dancing with the dark-haired beauty. It certainly didn’t take long for Derek to move on. He knew the thought was uncharitable, but he couldn’t help it.

He abruptly noticed that Renee had said something and seemed to be waiting for a response. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I-I just said that Lily looked really beautiful today.” Renee was extraordinarily soft spoken, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that she had graduated from the police academy at the top of her class, he would have thought her too soft for law enforcement.

“She sure did,” Tom agreed. He looked at his sister, held tightly in the arms of his other best friend, Jake. They were so in love that it was hard to look at. How could I have missed it? He cut that thought off. He knew how he missed it. He was too busy obsessing about what he assumed was her relationship with Derek to see what was right in front of him.

Renee was talking again, this time about how pretty the wedding was. Again, Tom dialed out. Without meaning to, his mind wandered to the scene in Derek’s apartment. Tom had stormed in to accuse Derek of getting Lily pregnant even though they had both denied having a relationship. Now he knew that they had been telling the truth. Lily had been, in fact, sleeping with Jake. Derek had told them that he had always been bisexual and that Lily knew he was because she had seen him years ago making out with a man. She had seen him with his hand on another guy’s cock.

You know all about my hand on some guy’s cock, don’t you Tom?

Tom had ignored the accusation at the time, but Tom did remember, very clearly, Derek’s hand on his cock. They had been sharing a woman, a practice they had been doing for years, when Tom felt Derek’s hand on his thigh. That hand slowly slid up to his balls and the base of his cock. He had been unable to hold back his orgasm then, and he was unable to stop his cock from hardening now.

Since he didn’t want Renee to misunderstand, he shifted away and said, “I’m starved. I think I’m going to hit the buffet. Would you like to join me?”

He regretted the invitation when he saw her eyes light up. He didn’t want to lead her on. He just wanted to get her off the dance floor.

ADULT EXCERPT

“We need to talk.” Tom knew those words were a poor choice as soon as they left his mouth. In the two months since their confrontation over Lily, Derek had been trying to get him to talk, and Tom had been unwilling. Their communication always became overly polite plans regarding the wedding or bachelor party, overly polite conversations about family, or overly polite small talk.

“Now? You want to talk now?” Derek’s voice was flat. “No thanks.” Derek started around Tom and headed for the door.

Tom grabbed his arm. Derek stopped but didn’t turn.

“I’m sorry.”

Now Derek did turn. “You’re sorry. About what exactly?”

“I shouldn’t have accused you of sleeping with Lily.” Tom was trying to figure out how to get their relationship back to where it was.

“No, you shouldn’t have. Can I go now?”

Derek’s flat and almost uninterested tone infuriated Tom. “What the fuck, man. How long before you’re going to let this go? So I made a mistake. It’s not like you’re so blameless in all this.”

“Excuse me?” Ice entered Derek’s tone.

“If you had told me the truth, I would have known you weren’t with Lily. You kept a pretty big secret, and it blew up in your face. Why am I the one scrounging for an apology and trying to put our friendship back where it was? You kept a secret for years. I just made an understandable mistake.”

Derek had been frozen through that little diatribe, but at those final words, he sprang to life. He abruptly pushed Derek against the wall. “Is that how you see it?” There was finally passion in his voice, and Tom was pleased. Anger was better than apathy.

“That’s how it was,” Tom insisted.

“Bullshit. You want to talk about this? Fine. We’ll talk about all of it. You were pissed because you thought it was me with Lily. You couldn’t stand the idea of a pervert being with your sister.” Derek had his hands on Tom’s shoulders and gave him a little jerk against the wall.

“I never said you were a pervert. I just didn’t think she knew about your…” Tom trailed off. He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

“What? You didn’t think she knew about the fact that I have shared women with you? She knew. Or you didn’t think she knew that I liked to be with men? She knew that way before you did.” Derek wasn’t yelling, but spoke instead in low, angry whispers.

Tom pushed back. “And why the fuck did she know that when I didn’t. I’m your best friend. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What was I supposed to say? That I like cock? That I want yours? That I’ve wanted you since I first realized that men turned my crank? That I dream about sucking you and fucking you? That I dream about having your cock buried so deep in my ass that I can’t speak?”

Tom couldn’t’ say anything. Not only were Derek’s words immobilizing him, but his own reaction had him freezing like a deer scenting danger. He was so hard that he thought he might break.

* * * *

Derek looked at the stunned disbelief on Tom’s face and realized he had said way too much. If their relationship wasn’t ruined before, it was now. Part of him wanted to walk away. The other part of him figured that if this was his last chance, he was going to take it.

Pushing Tom against the side of the building, he took Tom’s mouth in a punishing kiss. He expected a punch, what he got was Tom kissing him back with equal ferocity. Derek plastered his body against Tom’s and immediately felt the hard on. He couldn’t believe that Tom was hard for him, but he wasn’t about to look that gift horse in the mouth.

Derek ground his pelvis into Tom’s, rubbing their hard cocks together. Tom moaned into his mouth.

Tom’s hands were flat against the side of the building leaving his body open for Derek’s roaming hands. Derek rubbed his hands under Tom’s jacket and pinched and plucked at his nipples. Derek remembered the sweet pink nipples and wished he was in a bed so he could feast.

Instead he ran his hands down to Tom’s belt. He quickly undid the belt, button and zipper and reached inside to grasp Tom’s hard, silky cock.

Moving his mouth to the sensitive patch behind Tom’s ear, Derek whispered, “Fuck, man. You feel so good.”

Derek was stroking Tom’s cock, root to tip, using the creamy pre-cum to smooth his strokes. Tom started to shake.