“Keep Daddy nice and hard, boy,” Glen’s voice rasped. “Once Wade gets your cock trussed up, we’re going to take what’s ours and fill you at both ends.”
It was hard for Justin to focus on any one place. Wade’s thumb kept rubbing along the tip of Justin’s cock, teasing him and smearing his pre-cum around. The paracord didn’t give at all, forcing his cock to stay hard, making him throb even more.
Wade finished that and disappeared for a moment, making Justin moan in disappointment.
“Don’t worry, boy,” Glen assured him. “He’s not done yet.”
Sure enough, Wade reappeared, fingers probing and lubing Justin’s ass before Wade’s condom-clad cock pressed for entrance.
Another moan escaped Justin, needy, muffled around Glen’s cock.
“Yeah, that’s right, boy,” Glen whispered. “We’re going to fuck you good tonight. You keep moaning around my cock like that. That’s so good.”
With Glen in total control of his head, Justin couldn’t do anything more than lick and suck and take it, worshipping Glen’s cock as best he could with no control over his movements.
He felt Wade’s hands on his hips, holding on to the harness as he fucked his cock deep inside Justin and held still, both of them moaning, pulling one out of Glen in answer.
“Yeah,” Wade muttered. “Per…fect.”
The two men held still for a moment, until the point Justin started squirming, trying to fuck himself even more deeply on both cocks, stretching, rocking.
Glen reached up with one hand and tweaked the ring in Justin’s right nipple, then the left one. “Is our boy eager to get used?”
“Mmmhmm!”
“Oh, yeah,” Glen said.
The two men started a slow rhythm, picking up speed as Justin lay there between them, swinging back and forth in the ropes from one cock to the other, until the men were seesawing him between them, hard. One long, rolling moan erupted from Justin, pleasure having long since pulled him down into subspace. He wished this could go on forever, no end. They’d put him in a sex swing before at home, but this was different, even better, the bite of the rope into him in places only making the pleasure that much sweeter, stronger.
One of Wade’s hands closed around Justin’s cock, over the paracord, but it was Glen who spoke. “If you can come, boy, do so. Otherwise, you’ll hold it until tomorrow.”
The rope felt coarse against his cock, but the friction was just pleasurable enough, combined with Wade’s experienced hand, and with the feel of Wade’s cock sliding over his prostate with every thrust, to finally get him over.
His back arched in the ropes as he screamed with pleasure. Glen buried his cock deep in Justin’s mouth, muffling the sound and his own grunts louder anyway as his balls exploded and pumped hot spurts of cum down Justin’s throat.
“Yeah, that’s what Daddy wanted,” he gasped.
Wade finished, too, his throbbing cock filling the condom in Justin’s ass, and the three of them fell still.
Glen eased his cock just far enough out of Justin’s mouth so he could breathe, but he didn’t fully withdraw. His fingers stroked Justin’s cheeks. “Such a good boy,” he whispered.
Wade pulled out and disappeared for a moment, presumably to clean up. Justin was finally aware of sounds filtering in, the party still in full swing around them,
When Wade returned, Justin jumped when he felt something pressing against his ass. Glen’s hands tightened on him again. “Hold still, boy. You wear this until we get home.”
He whined a little around Glen’s cock, the large butt plug stretching him more than Wade’s cock had as Wade slid it into place.
“Ooh, Daddy likes it when you whine, boy,” Glen said, his cock twitching with interest against Justin’s tongue. “This is a special one, too.”
Justin twisted in the ropes as the butt plug began vibrating. His cock, which had started softening, immediately hardened again, straining against the paracord it was still wrapped in.
Wade chuckled as he snapped the front of the jock back on. “Good…boy.”
Glen finally pulled his cock out of Justin’s mouth and smiled down at him. “Merry Christmas, boy. Enjoy your early present.”
The men put themselves back together and helped Leah get Justin stood upright on his feet.
“We’ll take it from here, if that’s okay,” Glen offered to Leah. “I mean, he kind of spooged all over the place.”
She laughed. “Glad those are your ropes and not mine, or you’d be washing them for me.”
Justin had closed his eyes again and was leaning against Glen, the larger man’s arm around him. “We’ll be washing them tomorrow, too.” He placed a kiss on the top of Justin’s head. “What do you say to Leah for flying you, boy?”
Justin forced his eyes open and spotted Leah’s playful smile. “Thank you, ma’am.”
She held her hands up. “I’m not a ma’am, but I was happy to do it. Glad you had fun.”
“Th…anks, Leah,” Wade said, his stutter coming through a little. “We ap-preciate it.”
“Any time, guys.”
* * * *
Leah picked up her paramedic scissors and rope cutter that she’d left lying next to the frame when she’d stepped out of the way and let Seth drape an arm around her shoulders. He led her inside, down to their bedroom door, and inside.
He cupped her face in his hands. “Answer me truthfully. Are you all right?”
“Yes, Sir. I’m fine.”
His gaze searched hers.
“I am, really. I just had a thought about him.” He pulled her in for a hug and she breathed deeply, inhaling his scent. “It was good, though.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Sometimes it’s the good memories and thoughts that make me cry, not just bad ones.”
“I think he would have enjoyed watching you do that.”
“That’s what I was thinking. He liked it when I did new things like that.”
“He’d be so proud of you, love.”
She closed her eyes again. It was too easy to imagine Kaden in every corner of this house. The reason she knew she could never live anywhere else.
Because he was here, and on nights like this she felt his presence the most, in all of their friends, in all the energy.
The good things. The good times.
The good people.
“I think he’d be proud of both of us,” she whispered. “Because we kept going.”
Chapter Fifteen
Gilo and Abbey, who hadn’t entered the rigging contest, were appointed the vote counters. Pink squares were passed out for the amateurs, and green for the sort-of pros. Everyone marked their choice on the slips and put them in a box sitting on the lanai table once everyone had finished rigging and Tony displayed all the pictures for comparison on the TV on Seth and Leah’s patio.
After everyone had finished voting, Gilo and Abbey took the box into the den and shut the door behind them, dumping the slips out onto the floor to sort first by color, then by vote.
“I’m betting it’s Ross and Leah,” Abbey said as they sorted them. “That’s my guess.”
“I suspect you’re right.” He paused, smiling.
“What?”
“Just thinking about Kaden. I wonder if he ever dreamed what Leah might one day go on to accomplish as a rigger.”
“I don’t know if she would have if he hadn’t died,” Abbey said.
“But she helped him teach.”
“Teach, yes. Rig other people like that?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She seemed to be thinking about it. “You knew him longer than I did. I don’t know how to explain it. But it wasn’t until after we lost Kaden and she was with Seth that she started rigging.”
Gilo sat back, thinking about it. “I never heard Kaden tell her she couldn’t do something like that. Is that what you think?”
“No.” She glanced up at the desk, where a dark computer monitor sat, her gaze skipping bac
k to it as she tried to process what she thought she’d just seen.
Gilo’s gaze narrowed, and he turned to see what she was looking at. “Ab?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Trick of the light.”
He glanced back again. “What?”
“I thought I saw something in the monitor. Had to be a reflection from the window over there.” She pointed to where the blinds were drawn across the window that looked out onto the lanai and pool.
They weren’t getting any counting done. “What’d you think you saw?”
“I—nothing.”
He let out one of those sounds. “Abbey. What’d you see?”
“I don’t know, John.” Now she wanted to hurry up and get the counting done and get the heck out of there. “It doesn’t matter. It’s late and I’m tired and it was a trick of the light.”
He reached over the pile of slips and grabbed her wrists, gently but firmly, in the way that let her know he wasn’t going to let her flip him into bottom mode, and he wasn’t going to give up until she finally answered his question.
She stared at the monitor, now unable to stop looking at it. Dropping her voice to a whisper, she said, “I thought I saw him.”
“Who?”
“Kaden.”
What unsettled her even more was his reaction. He didn’t smile, didn’t laugh.
Didn’t let go of her hands.
“What?” she whispered.
“This stays between us,” he said in a grave tone she rarely heard him use. “I’m serious.”
“Well, yeah, I’m not going to tell them—”
“I saw something earlier.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I was standing in the kitchen, alone, and thought I saw someone standing in front of the tree. Swear to god it looked just like him, and when I started to walk over to see who the hell it was…they disappeared.”
They stared at each other for a moment.
“Yeah,” she finally said, her voice shaky. “We don’t say shit about this to anyone.”
He nodded and released her wrists so they could get the counting over with, both of them now moving at warp speed, all fun vanished from their task.
Frankly, all she wanted to do now was get the hell out of there and go home, but since it wasn’t even midnight yet, it would look weird if they just boogied out the door.
At least she’d predicted right—Leah by a clear majority, and Ross by a landslide.
* * * *
Tony was waiting for John and Abbey when they emerged from the den.
For a second, he thought they looked…scared?
“You guys fooling around in there?” he joked.
John shook his head. “No, sorry, just got caught in memories.” Tony didn’t miss how he glanced at Abbey before forcing a smile.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’m tired, long week at work, and her back’s been bothering her a little.”
“I thought you were okay since your surgery?”
Abbey’s smile looked a little forced as well. Tony hoped his friends weren’t having trouble they weren’t admitting to. Gilo and Abbey were a beloved fixture within their circle of friends, Gilo having been around since the start of the Suncoast Society.
“Just the weather changes. This time of year, sometimes it aches. I overdid it this morning out in the yard.”
“So, who was it?”
They both froze. “Who was what?” they asked.
Tony spread his arms and stepped forward, herding them back into the den and shutting the door behind him. “Look, guys. You’re friends. If there’s something wrong, please tell me. I won’t say anything, but you’re seriously freaking me out.”
They exchanged another glance before looking at him. “Kaden,” they whispered.
“What?”
John took over, explaining what he’d seen, and what Abbey’d seen.
Then, he relaxed, relieved. He pulled his phone out and swiped through to a picture he’d taken of Shayla and Leah together earlier, taken in front of the kitchen sliders, out on the lanai.
Pinching it, he zoomed in and turned his phone around to show them.
Their eyes widened as they sucked in identical shocked gasps.
“Then I guess you’re no crazier than I am.”
“Fuck,” John whispered, taking the phone from him to look.
No doubt about it, it was Kaden. Transparent and faint, but there was no way, from the angle of the shot or the lighting, that it could be a reflection.
“So…I’m in agreement we don’t say shit to them,” Tony said. “If we’re not imagining things, then no doubt Leah and Seth have already been seeing things and aren’t saying anything. Deal?”
They both nodded, John returning Tony’s phone. In the picture, it looked like Kaden was standing behind both women, in the middle, smiling at Tony.
“Let’s go announce the winners,” Tony said. “They’ll think there’s fuckery afoot if we don’t get out there.”
“What do we say if someone saw us come back in here?” Abbey asked.
“Tell them you saw a cockroach or something and were trying to get it and were too embarrassed to tell Leah or Seth.”
John lifted an eyebrow in disbelief, but Abbey actually breathed a sigh of relief. “Of course!” She hugged Tony before hurrying for the door.
John hesitated, then stared at Tony. “He’s still around.”
Tony slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Yep. Frankly, it doesn’t surprise me.”
* * * *
Nearly three in the morning, and everyone had finally headed home, giving Seth and Leah their house back. It didn’t feel lonely with just the two of them there, but it had been nice having their friends surrounding them.
The laughing, the energy, the friendship and love embracing them.
Now Leah wanted to breathe and relax and…remember.
It didn’t hurt as much now. It would always hurt, but now more like a dull, throbbing ache of an old poorly healed injury, not the agonizing misery of a body part being forcibly ripped from her like in the beginning.
Leah stood in the darkened living room and stared up at the Christmas tree. Multi-colored shadows cast by the tree’s lights speckled the walls and ceilings in a cheery way that masked her melancholy well enough.
At the front of the tree prominently hung the two First Christmas ornaments, the one for her and Kaden, and the one Kaden had given her and Seth on his second-to-last Christmas.
She closed her eyes, once again remembering the old apartment and their first Christmas together. The early days.
Hard days, sometimes, before she learned to fully let go and trust Kaden to help her start to heal, but those were times she’d never trade for anything.
I miss you, Master.
“What’s the matter, love?”
Her eyes popped open and she whirled around, almost expecting to see Seth standing right there.
But that had not been Seth’s voice softly speaking in her ear.
Her gaze fell on the picture hanging on the wall, the one of the three of them taken toward those final days, at Animal Kingdom. The one Kaden instructed be displayed at his public memorial.
And Kaden’s urn.
“Nothing, Master,” she whispered as she ran her hands up and down her arms to smooth the gooseflesh. “Nothing’s wrong, Master.”
Except that I miss you with every breath.
She jumped as the sliders from the lanai opened and Seth walked in, carrying one of the trays they’d put the cooked chicken on. Still a couple of pieces left. “Do you want to save this, sweetheart?” He looked up at her.
Still holding herself, she had to swallow before she answered. “Yes, Sir. Please.”
He stopped, staring at her for a moment, head cocked.
She knew that expression.
Evaluating.
Weighing.
Observing.
No shocker there, since
he’d learned from the best.
The same exact look Kaden would have given her.
“Are you all right, love?” he asked, his tone now halfway between Seth and sadist.
Nodding, she smiled as she started toward him. “I’m good, Sir. Seriously. Just…processing. In a good way. It was a long night. And I’m tired. Really tired. Still can’t believe what Ross did with Loren. That was hysterical.”
She watched him sigh with relief. “If you’ll take care of this, I’ll bring the rest in for you. We can leave everything else until morning.”
“Thank you.” She offered him a quick kiss after he set the tray on the counter, then caught his arm and pulled him in for a longer kiss. “Thank you.”
“You said that, sweetheart.”
“I know. But I really do appreciate it when you help. I feel a little guilty I’m not doing more.”
“Honey, you worked your ass off with the fundraiser. You aren’t slacking. Far from it. I told you when you went to work for them again that I planned on taking up the slack around here.” He lightly patted her ass. “I’m really proud of you for taking over again with that. From what I’ve heard from Loren, they missed having you as the chair.” With one last smile, he headed back out to the lanai to bring in more food.
She tried to forget what she’d thought she heard as she set to work bagging the chicken to put in the fridge. In the morning, she’d strip the meat and chop it to make chicken salad. Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught a reflection in the kitchen window that looked out onto the lanai.
It felt like her heart stopped as she froze and stared.
Kaden.
She didn’t turn, didn’t move, knowing damn well if she did look where his reflection stood in the living room that he wouldn’t be there, and when she turned back to the window, he’d be gone.
But…
It was Him. There.
And he wore that smile.
The one He always wore when He was proud of her.
After a slow nod, he faded, and her breath caught in her throat as she whirled around to find…