Unexpected Liaisons - 10. In Keeping Secrets

Zupan had hated to see Zander leave in the morning, but he had made the pretty blond boy a breakfast of orange juice and hot buttered toast, and got ten minutes of long steamy kisses before Zander had left for work for his trouble. Zoltan had appeared not moments after the front door had closed and wandered around the kitchen like a giant sleepy bull in his t-shirt and boxers. Zupan sighed to see the fragments of his and Zander’s private moments tidied away in his twin;s quick and efficient manner.

“You have a good night?” Zupan asked.

“It was good. No fights.” Zoltan drank the milk straight from the four pint bottle, a habit neither of them had grown out of, “Bay invented a new drink and made everyone super happy before the club opened.” Zoltan leant against the high level kitchen counter, “You?”

“Yeah,” Zupan rapped his knuckles against his knees and slumped in his chair, “Good.”

“Only ‘good’?” Zoltan frowned, popped the toaster down and started to assemble his I-was-up-late-and-it’s-too-early-for-breakfast things, “You gotta give me more than that. He stayed over right?” when Zupan didn’t reply his twin looked at him strangely. “Unless that was some random booty call I heard leaving just now.”

“No!” Zupan thumped the side of the kitchen cabinet and snarled.

“Well are you gonna talk to me or not?” Zoltan stared at his brother in shock, “Zu?”

“I can’t. Not right now.” Zupan barged past the big man, heading for his room.

“Zu!” Damn not having a decent grip. Zoltan pulled his brother back by the shoulder, digging in his thick fingers, “You fucking talk to me please?”

“Get off me!”

“Zu!” Zoltan released his brother from his grasp, and sighed as he watched his twin roll away and slam the door behind him.

*

Zupan was at a loss to explain what had happened in the kitchen. He’d gone from feeling deeply satisfied and proud of the pretty, sexy boy who had sat in his lap munching on toast and giggling, to wishing that he could throw his own brother across the room because he had questioned him. No girl had ever made him feel so… irrational. And that pissed him off. And he still couldn’t explain why.

Zupan had a long overdue shower, have declined to join Zander for an earlier romp in the wet room, changed for the gym and then sat staring at his bed for a while. The prints that he and Zander had made in pillows and sheets were still obvious, and when Zupan closed his eyes he could see the beautiful young man lying there with his legs in the air, bum perky and inviting, hugging a pillow to his chest and smiling in the sweetest and most adorable way. How Zander managed to look both innocent and sexy at the same time was beyond him. Seeing the evidence that the twink had been there calmed him somehow, and when his phone buzzed from the nightstand Zupan answered the message without hesitation.

I had such a great time with you. We need to do this again, and not sometime, but soon. xxx Z

Zupan grinned and typed back a careful message.

You have a day off tomorrow right? Come to training with me. I’ll take you swimming after. Z x

He didn’t have to wait long for a response. A winking smiley face and a whole row of kisses.

*

Secretly, he loved the gym. There one at the rehab centre had been great, but moving down here, to be close to murderball, the local gym and sports complex had realised that having equipment that suited everyone was a big advantage. There were plenty of weights machines that Zupan could do fine with the application of a few super tough velcro straps and a bit of webbing to hold his legs in place, and so he rotated around the chest press, lateral pull and rowing machine with two other guys who he knew well enough to joke around with.

Bay had often said that he thought that Zupan saw people in two categories: dicks not worth bothering with, and real people, but Zupan knew that his shades of grey were a lot more numerous than that. People who met him fell into several categories, but most of the people at the gym, regardless of their physical disability, tended to recognise that he was not the type of guy you could fuck with.

When Zupan finished his circuit (each machine three times, with thirty reps on each one) he stripped out of his shirt and slung his towel over his neck.

“Somebody got laid last night then!” Max slapped his shoulder with a big hand as he too settled his towel around his neck. The big man scooped up a couple of bottles of water and handed one to Zupan, “That one looked like she was a hell cat, eh?”

“What?” Zupan frowned, and reached for his shoulder, the bulge just above where the muscle was missing. The good thing about the gym was that there were mirrors everywhere, so he looked to his reflection and blanched. Totally aside from the fact that he was hot and sweaty and panting, there were two very distinct sets of finger marks on his shoulders, partly bruised, partly crescent shaped dents, and a love bite bigger than his own thumb. Zander had left marks on him, and he hadn’t even noticed. Too distracted by the wonderful sensation of sucking his cock…

“So who was she?” Max joked, “Someone special?”

“Yes.” Zupan smiled smugly to himself, and rolled over to the free weights, hooking his mp3 player back in as he did so. He didn’t fancy explaining Zander to anyone right then.

Weights followed by sauna. That led onto ten minutes racing around the track like his life depended on it before he went for another shower. Now that he had agreed to see Zander the next day, he wished he hadn’t. He wanted the young man back in his arms and in his bed. Almost more than that he wanted Zander smiling and laughing and talking to him in that easily lilting voice of his. Zander’s laugh was infectious, and Zupan couldn’t remember a time when he’s had such fun on a date, or when he’d last laughed so hard. Except at Bay, and that didn’t count. Something about the little bond twink had gotten right under his skin, and it felt really good. When he returned to his locker a the gym, there was a message waiting on his phone, but it had only been there five minutes.

Is it terrible that I miss you already?

Zander. Zupan practically felt his heartbeat to the rhythm of the boy’s name Zan-der, zan-der, zan-der… He was irrationally sure that right then he would’ve rolled through town naked if it ment he could see the boy again.

No. I miss you too.

Zander must’ve been with his phone, because a text pinged right back while Zupan was still sorting out his shirt.

You want to meet me for lunch? My treat xxx

Yes. Be fifteen mins tops. Z x

Zupan snuck his phone into his pocket, made sure than all his gym gear was in the bag which he slung over the back of the chair and rolled out of the gym at top speed. He saw Max at the turnstiles.

“You off?”

“Yeah, gotta go meet-”

“Booty call during the day?” Max cut him off with a grin, “Dude you’re nuts. Good stuff.”

Zupan stopped. He wanted to correct his on-off gym buddy, but part of him didn’t dare. Well, there would be time for that later. Later when he… told people he was… decided to be… whatever.

At some point, straight-ish isn’t going to cover it anymore. Zupan didn’t exactly want to dwell on that either, so he simply rolled out of the gym and headed into town. Only once he was way too close to Zander’s shop to have enough time to go back did he realise that he was in gym clothes, loose shorts and a very non-descript t shirt.

It was not a shop that Zupan had ever even noticed before, but he recognised the name, and before he could decide whether or not to go in, there was a tap on the glass window, and his world was filled with Zander’s smiling face. The slim young man adjusted the folds of a scarf on a stylish white mannequin, then ducked out of view. Zander had changed since he’d been at Zupan’s, and Zupan couldn’t take his eyes off the boy as he appeared in the shop doorway. Clothes, being in this case narrow cut mustard coloured trousers, a cornflour blue shirt and a blood-brown fitted jumper with white piping, looked good on Zander.

He looks good clothed, he looks great with nothing on and he can eat ribs in a manner which is sexy. What’s not to like? Zander felt the silly stupid grin spreading across his face, Oh yeah, and he sucks cock like he was born for it.

“Hey.”

“Hey you. Been at the gym?” Zander instantly came to his side, bending to kiss his cheek, running slim fingers across the back of his neck before squeezing his arm, “Do I need to remind you that I love your muscles?”

“It never hurts,” Zupan knew he looked cocky as he wrapped an arm around the boy’s narrow hips and pulled him into his lap, “So where to babe?”

“There’s this lovely place round the corner that does all these cool salads and things with sweet potato. Idyllic Foods?”

“Sorry,” Zupan hugged Zander tight around the waist when he answered, “My options are kinda limited. Steps.” He added, feeling lame.

“Oh,” Zander’s face fell, but only for a moment, “Bagels?”

The bagel place wasn’t far, and they sat in the window at a tiny corner table. Zander nixed the need for finding a chair by sitting sideways on Zupan’s lap, sipping his milkshake through a straw like a child, telling Zupan everything about his day. And Zupan could feel himself falling.

“So you get your clothes for free?”

“We get like, fifty percent normally,” Zander flicked at the visible buttons on his shirt, “Then because we have to wear stuff from the store for work we get like, twenty items at ten percent of the usually cost each time a new collection comes in. Part time staff don’t get as many items, and they do check that you’re only ordering stuff in your own size.”

“So you’re full time?”

“Yup! Five and a half days a week. But as long as it doesn’t clash with the manager, I get to set my own schedule. I like to bulk up my days off sometimes, especially in the summer, and have three day weekends. Cool huh?” Zander took another bite of his bagel, and Zupan nearly reached out to swipe the cream cheese off the corner of his mouth, but then there was that quick pink tongue.

That tongue does so many good things…

“Thanks for meeting me.”

“Sorry I didn’t get your message sooner. I was in the showers.”

“Sexy.” Zander wiggled his eyebrows under his thick fringe and grinned salaciously.

“Not really.” Zupan shrugged. He’d used to love having sex in the shower. Somehow he bet that Zander looked brilliant in the showers. Oh god, he’d invited the boy swimming. He was going to get the chance to find out. Zupan couldn’t help but smile.

“So… swimming?” Zander looked confused.

“Yeah. That’s OK, right?”

“Sure,” Zander’s shrug was a fluid motion and Zupan figured that any second now the boy was going to realise what that was pressing into his butt, “I just didn’t figure you could… I was being dumb.” Zander bit his bottom lip softly with his ever-so-even white teeth, his eyes downcast. He looked so sorry for himself that Zupan couldn’t help but lean forwards and nuzzle his floppy blond hair. Zander smelt like his own shampoo, some acid green apple scented thing, and the big man smiled possessively.

“You’re not dumb. I bet you wear those skimpy little speedo things when you swim don’t you?” If Zupan had thought that he was being teasing by dropping his voice and growling in the boy’s ear, then he was wrong, because Zander wriggled in his lap in a really obvious manner and giggled.

“And wouldn’t you like to know big boy?” Zander glanced at the time on his phone, “I gotta get back. You got plans tonight?”

“South Alaska with Issac and everyone. Come too?”

Zander kissed his cheek and touched his beard.

“Absolutely. See you there later yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Watching Zander walk away was really hard, but in such a good way.