November Rain Read online

  “Nah. There’s not enough room.”

  Elias filled the sink with warm water and soaped up the washcloth. The door was ajar, letting cooler air in from the apartment. Steeling his will, Elias closed that one route of escape.

  “I’ve never done this.” Elias kept his eyes on the tiled floor. He had meant he’d never washed another person—unless you counted his cousin when she was little—but it came out the other way. An admission that he was naïve about what came next.

  “I know.” Joe’s voice was as rough as his touch. He stood with his head bent and his cock hard, waiting…for what Elias didn’t know.

  “Start with my face.” Joe’s words were gentle but direct.

  Elias wrung out the cloth, then pressed it to Joe’s cheek, wiping softly so he wouldn’t hurt Joe’s skin. Next he went to Joe’s jaw, then his neck. By the time he rubbed the cloth over Joe’s shoulder, they were kissing again, and Elias wasn’t sure who had started it. Joe’s muscles were tense and perfect under Elias’s hand, and now that he didn’t have to worry about Joe watching him, Elias could pass that cloth wherever he wanted.

  Down Joe’s back, around to his belly. Elias kept his hips tucked back so as not to brush Joe’s cock. Out of respect, it seemed he shouldn’t touch that part of Joe without invitation. And Elias didn’t dare ask.

  “You might need to use a little more soap.” Joe nuzzled his cheek. Against Elias’s ear, he said, “And if you actually want to get me clean, you need to scrub harder.”

  Elias’s breath rushed out in a nervous laugh. “Okay.” He wet the cloth again, rinsing the old soap and putting on new. This time he rubbed harder, knowing his pressure was right when Joe growled.

  “Get under my arms.” Joe let go of one crutch to give Elias room to maneuver.

  Washing that warm, humid space was enough to make Elias’s hips ache. He felt like he was climbing right inside Joe, touching him in places that were sensitive and soft. For the first time since their lips had met, Elias pushed his tongue inside Joe’s mouth. Elias’s cock nearly burst from his underwear when Joe captured his tongue and sucked it.

  Emboldened, Elias wet the cloth again and washed Joe’s other side. But once he’d cleaned Joe’s underarms, he was at a loss. Joe’s cock batted at Elias’s hip, repeatedly knocking in a sizzling shock.

  Elias had to wash more but couldn’t force his hands to make passes anywhere lower than Joe’s belly.

  “It’s not gonna bite.” Joe pulled back, stealing a kiss and also the excuse that Elias didn’t really know what he was doing. “If you don’t want to get at my balls, I understand, but I need to at least lean against you.” Joe reached for the washcloth, closing his hand over Elias’s.

  Elias didn’t know where he got the courage, but he shook his head. He couldn’t force himself to say, I’ll do it, so instead he re-wet the cloth, making sure the water was warm enough but not too hot, and lowered to his knees.

  Chapter Seven

  Joe couldn’t have reached for Elias if he wanted, and that was probably for the best.

  Elias had one hand on Joe’s good thigh, holding them both steady. He washed in slow circles around Joe’s cock then pressed the cloth along the inside of Joe’s leg before retreating back to the more easily reached pubic hair.

  “Don’t be shy.” Joe cupped Elias’s head. With some guys, Joe might have felt presumptuous, petting them like a kid, but with Elias it felt right.

  Elias leaned in and kissed the parts he’d washed, hiding his face while he pressed the washcloth under Joe’s balls. The pressure lifted Joe’s dick, making him shudder. Elias’s cheek brushed Joe’s erection. He was glad he didn’t have full use of his hands, or he would have led Elias’s mouth right where he wanted.

  “Let me get around…” Joe shifted position, getting the sink behind him. It had been a long time since he’d come just from a guy teasing him, but it wasn’t out of the question. The last thing he needed was another trip to the Emergency Room.

  “Okay.” Elias took the opportunity to rinse the washcloth again.

  With the sink at his back giving him enough support, Joe caressed Elias’s jaw. Joe needed this, and he knew Elias wanted to give it. The only problem was Joe had no idea how much to push.

  “That feels so good,” Joe said by way of encouragement.

  Elias rubbed his nose into the crease of Joe’s leg. He slipped the washcloth back, stroking warm wetness around Joe’s ass and balls.

  Joe gripped his cock, needing some pressure. He couldn’t ask Elias to blow him. Making that request out loud would scare Elias off. Joe hardly knew this kid at his feet, but he’d learned one thing for certain—Elias’s path would be slow and careful. Doing the wrong thing would send the kid running.

  He stroked his length against Elias’s face, then his hair since Elias had started kissing lower. That inquisitive tongue laved Joe’s sac, sending shivers down his legs.

  “Fuck, yeah.” Praise Joe could mutter out loud, and Elias responded by licking deeper, hungrily mouthing Joe’s balls.

  Elias’s hands grew bolder too, one going to Joe’s ass, washcloth wedged between Joe’s cheeks, the other framing Joe’s cock, thumb on that sweet, sensitive spot on the inside of his thigh.

  All the while, Joe kept up a slow, steady pump. His shaft was wet from water, the tip slippery from precome. Joe missed this—jacking himself just how he liked it while a guy sucked and teased him everywhere else. So many guys he hooked up with went right for the kill, and Dan…well, he’d never been one to mess around with foreplay.

  “So good. Yeah… God…” Joe sped up his hand. Close as he was, he didn’t feel the need to ask Elias to suck it. Why bother when a second later they’d have that awkward decision about whether or not Elias would swallow?

  “I’m gonna come for you.” Joe scrubbed his fingers through Elias’s hair. Even if he wasn’t in Elias’s mouth, Joe felt like he should give warning. “You want that?”

  Elias’s furious nodding was all the agreement Joe needed. He leaned back and closed his eyes to finish himself off. Elias worked up the base of Joe’s shaft…over his knuckles…until Elias licked the spot right under Joe’s crown.

  “Fuuuu…” Joe came harder than he could remember, gripping the sink behind him. Come wrenched out of his well-worked balls and from his tip, and he had no idea where it landed, except for the vague sense that Elias was lapping everywhere, like he could work out just one more shock.

  “C’mere.” Joe urged Elias to stand. The head rush hit Joe like a ton of bricks, and he needed Elias to hold on to. Joe had to kiss away the doubts he knew must be swimming around in Elias’s mind. “So good. Fuck. So fucking good.” Eyes still closed, he pressed his lips to Elias’s, tasting musk and a little soap.

  Elias’s arms went around him, wiry and strong. His erection prodded Joe on the hip.

  “What do you want?” Joe thought it best not to make any assumptions. He kissed his way down Elias’s neck to his collarbone, giving the kid a chance to answer.

  Elias shrugged, and that thin slice of bone rose into Joe’s mouth. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, I showed you how I get off. How about you show me what you do?”

  “I…” Elias tensed. The subtle pumping of his cock said that he was too close to stop.

  “You want to go to the bed?” Joe knew some guys either couldn’t or didn’t like to orgasm while standing. If Elias’s knees gave out, Joe didn’t want to be in a position to have to catch him.

  “Yes, that would be better.”

  Smiling, Joe grabbed the washcloth out of Elias’s hand and reached behind him to rinse it in the sink. Joe wiped off the come draped across Elias’s chest.

  The hassle of crutches dimmed the intensity somewhat as they made their way across the apartment, but Joe figured that was a good thing. By the time they sat on Joe’s bed, Elias was still breath
ing fast, but he wasn’t shaking like he’d been in the bathroom.

  “So…” Joe got his legs up on the bed, barely feeling the pain with the float of post-orgasm tiredness. “Let’s see what you got.” He was feeling cheeky and relaxed, and gave Elias’s underwear a meaningful glance.

  “Oh.” Elias cupped the bulge in his briefs. “Well, I normally don’t take them off.”

  Joe schooled his face to a neutral expression so he wouldn’t look shocked. “You don’t have to.” Now that Joe knew those briefs weren’t coming off, he couldn’t take his eyes from them. Elias’s modesty certainly put a limit on what Joe could expect sexually, but it was a delicious torment, made all the better by the fact that Joe really wasn’t up to fucking anytime soon. “Do you rub over your shorts?”

  Elias clamored across the bed and flicked the light switch before lying on his stomach.

  “I do this.”

  In the faint glow of streetlights coming through his window, Joe noticed the sinewy way Elias rolled his body. He ground into the bed, his forehead creased but his eyes open, like he was asking Joe if it was okay.

  “God, you are gorgeous.” Joe teased a fingertip down Elias’s arm. When his eyelids fluttered closed, Joe took it as permission to do more. “Do you take your time? Go slow? Or usually just get to the end as fast as you can?”

  Not knowing how Elias lived, Joe couldn’t imagine. Maybe he roomed with family members or roommates. Grinding into the bed was the only way he could get off in secret.

  “Slow. Usually.” Elias slithered closer, moving more of his body under Joe’s roving fingers.

  When Joe drew a path down Elias’s spine, Elias tensed like maybe he was coming already. “You okay?” Joe stroked light passes across his lower back, right above the band of his underwear.

  “Yeah.” The breathless way Elias answered sounded close, but not quite there yet.

  Good thing, too, because Joe was just getting started. He’d never much seen the attraction in younger men before—other than the fact they were generally horny and easy to lay. But in Elias’s steady stare, Joe understood what men liked about being with guys less experienced. There was an excitement, a giddy glee of discovery that Joe enjoyed as much as he envied.

  He could never get back to that place. But good God, it was nice to take Elias there.

  “How about this?” Joe eased his hand under Elias’s waistband.

  “Oh God.” Elias thrust at the bed and held it.

  Joe suspected Elias was coming, and watched closely for that gasp. But slowly Elias pulled back, calming into a relaxed grind.

  Funny, the kid was edging, though he might not have been aware there was a name for it.

  “More?” Elias asked with his eyes closed. The way he arched his back, pushing his ass into Joe’s hand, said as much as his words.

  “Okay.” Taking a chance, Joe eased Elias’s underwear lower. Luckily, the waistband was loose and worn enough to slip over his hips without hassle. Elias must have to shop in the teen department to find underwear that really fit.

  “Shit, shit, shit…” Elias shivered, perfect little ass quivering as he gave tiny humps into the bed.

  “You okay?” Joe smirked so he wouldn’t laugh. Elias was holding on so hard. The kid’s head would explode when he finally came.

  “Yes,” Elias said breathlessly. He met Joe with a steady stare. “Touch me more.”

  “You can come if you want.” Joe drew circles over Elias’s tailbone, right where his rear end divided into halves.

  Elias wanted that touch deeper, down between his legs to the dark places he’d searched out on Joe. But while Joe had been able to withstand even Elias’s most determined exploration, Elias worried that a single slip of Joe’s fingers along his crease would prove the end.

  “Not yet.” Elias held as still as he could, though his bent and swollen dick begged for friction. He pressed into the mattress, eyes closing at the relief.

  Then Joe did exactly what Elias had feared. He slid his fingertips into the furrow bared by Elias’s underwear. The feel of that stole Elias’s breath, made him dizzy. That sensation broke the tethers of propriety and morality. A sound came from him he didn’t recognize. One of pure need, and a sound for Joe and Joe alone.

  “So sexy.” Joe leaned in to kiss his ear. His touch worked deeper, to that spot at Elias’s center, behind his balls. A bare fingertip rubbing there made Elias whine, but if he came now, he’d lose this feeling. The worries that waved around him like faint strings would harden back to iron chains, and he’d go back to being the person he was before, instead of the beautiful creature he was right now, full of sensation and worthy of every bit of Joe’s attention.

  So instead, Elias gripped tight on his control, and with what coordination he had left, he spread his legs.

  Joe passed a hand inside Elias’s underwear to cup his balls, and he could have floated away—no longer having to wonder what was right.

  “So tight.” Joe squeezed, measuring and murmuring. With a hand on Elias’s hip, Joe moved him just enough to get at his front. Joe pulled Elias’s underpants out of the way, setting his cock free to rub against the bed unimpeded.

  Before Elias could argue, Joe whispered in his ear. “Don’t worry about it. We can change the sheets.”

  “Oh, God.” Elias rutted into the fabric. The bed smelled like Joe.

  Cool air…hot fingers… Elias felt so open he could have let Joe do anything.

  “Look at how sexy you are…” Joe reached deep now, shamelessly groping Elias’s backside, stroking along his crease and even teasing his opening. With kisses on Elias’s cheek, Joe whispered encouragement, as if somehow he knew how hard it was for Elias to do this alone, much less with someone else watching.

  “Can’t wait to see you lose it. You’ll fuck my bed so hard, shout ’cause it feels so good. Maybe I’ll push my finger up that tight little hole of yours so I can feel it when you shoot.”

  “Angh!” Elias bit the edge of a pillow, grinding his teeth so he wouldn’t scream like a girl. The orgasm caught him in its grip, throwing him into spasms that centered on his dick and his buttocks but echoed down his legs and into his belly.

  Joe hooked him behind his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

  “Damn.” Joe was thick against Elias’s leg. Hard again, though Joe’s sated groan said he didn’t need to orgasm a second time.

  Elias wondered what to do about clean up. When Joe had finished, he’d been the one to take care of things, so Elias reciprocated. “Err… I’ll go get a washcloth.”

  “Okay, sweetie.” Joe smiled, rubbing his thumb along Elias’s cheek.

  “Are you thirsty?” Elias found his shirt on the floor and put it back on.

  Joe’s eyes were full of questions. Maybe he read correctly that Elias was at a loss as to how to behave. “Tea would be good. I’m sure I’ve got something without caffeine.”

  Elias nodded, glad they were back to a topic he felt comfortable with. “I’ll make something. Can I help with the sheets?” He hoped that after what they’d done together Joe would be more relaxed about letting Elias clean.

  “Yeah. I suppose there’s no way to avoid that. I’ve got another set in the closet.” Joe pushed himself to standing. He grumbled, rubbing his face the way he always seemed to when he didn’t want to ask for things.

  Elias was beginning to understand Joe’s signals. “I don’t mind.” Elias headed to the bathroom and washed off his front, then gathered the used washcloth together with some rags he spotted on the floor. If he was going to do laundry, he may as well get all of it.

  “So, we’re still on for the wedding this weekend, right?” Joe called from the main room.

  Elias grinned as he started the shower. “Yes, of course.” He couldn’t have been prouder for following Henri’s advice. “I can’t wait.”

  Chapter Eigh
t

  “You’re dressed up.” Solomon set down the paper he was reading. “Where are you going?”

  “To see a friend.” Elias touched his tie, wondering if it had been too much. So few men in Seattle dressed for social occasions. Still, Elias hadn’t been able to resist the new Rag & Bone woven silk.

  “A friend from work?” Solomon’s beard had grown out slightly. Maybe he was trying to create a rugged look, though mostly he seemed exhausted.

  “Someone I met at work.” There was nothing wrong with Elias going to a party with a friend. Even a male friend.

  “A girl?” Solomon raised an eyebrow.

  Elias wasn’t sure how to respond, so he opted for honesty. “No. A guy friend.”

  Solomon’s expression became calculating, making him look more like their father. Mentioning homosexuality growing up could earn any of them a firm swat across the mouth. Though Solomon had lived in the US since he was three, Elias never quite knew how his brother felt about the beliefs they’d been raised with.

  “What are you talking about?” Sara came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dishcloth.

  Elias tried to remember to speak with his brother in Amharic when they were together at home, but he so often forgot. Growing up, they’d spoken English at least half the time.

  “Elias is going to a party with a friend from work.” Solomon smirked at Elias’s outfit. “A fancy party, it looks like.”

  “Oh.” Sara clasped her hands in front of her. She put on a good show in front of her husband, but her smile was tight. “Anyone we know?”

  She’d only met Dawit once, and that was the only Ethiopian person Elias knew from work. Perhaps what Sara meant was, Is it someone from the neighborhood? One of us? A brother or cousin or uncle of our extended family?