The Title Will Go Here - 24. Chapter 24

- XXIV -

“Oh my God! You actually answered the phone?!” Stratos said with genuine disbelief when instead of expected ‘You have reached Katherine Maltino’s voicemail; please, leave a message’ deal, there was a normal, not-automated response.

“Yeah?”

“Holy hell!” he said with feeling, and she laughed at that.

“Hey, stranger,” she said brightly. “Great timing, by the way! I just got back!”

He thought of asking where she went, but changed his mind almost immediately – to be honest, he didn’t care.

“Good,” he said instead. “I need a favor!”

“Oh...?” she sounded curious now. “Elaborate.”

“I need someone who knows how to take off Locks,” he said, and this time, she was silent. “The best one,” he added a minute later, and she let out a slow sigh. “It’s a long story...” he started saying, but she interrupted him.

“I know,” she said, and he frowned at that. “Decided to Unlock him after all, huh?”

Now it was Stratos’ turn to be silent. Katherine let out another slow sigh at his silence.

“I know things, Stratos,” she said. “Why does it still surprise you? People like talking to me, since I tend to keep my mouth shut.”

Now he understood.

“Leon...” he nodded to himself and received another sigh as a reply. “Well, good,” he nodded again. “Then you are in the loop... Do you know anyone who could do that?” He leaned on the wall when he got closer to the kitchen. “If you do, then how good are they? I need someone who knows what they are doing...”

“Asking you to re-think this, is going to be a waste of time, isn’t it?” she asked seriously.

“Yes,” he answered as seriously, and she let out yet another sigh.

“Figured... Well...” she thought for a few seconds. “Actually...” she finally said slowly. “I do know someone who is excellent at that sort of thing...”

“Who is it?” Stratos straightened up.

“I’ll call you back in ten minutes,” she said quickly. “Gonna call him first.”

“But who is...” Stratos started asking, and she interrupted him rather impatiently.

“Stratos, I will call you in ten minutes!”

He was about to say something else, but she already hung up on him. He blinked, looked at the phone in his hand for a few seconds, and then sighed, and put his phone on the counter not too far from the coffeemaker. Right now, he wanted coffee and he didn’t care that he only had some crappy hotel-quality sample-sized packets. It was coffee, it was drinkable, and that was good enough. He started working the coffeemaker, shooting quick glances at the phone every few seconds as if afraid that the gadget would malfunction and produce no sounds, thus making him miss the call.

The phone worked as intended, however, and ten minutes later, it let out an expected series of sounds that created some weird little melody.

“Yeah...!” he breathed the minute he pressed the phone against his ear. “It’s you...?”

“No,” she answered seriously. “It’s me.”

He let out a quick, impatient laughter.

“So...?” he asked and glanced at the coffeemaker. It was almost done with its task so he reached for the cups.

“He’ll do it,” she said, and he closed his eyes for a second or two. “He said that he would do it mostly to satisfy his own curiosity – apparently, he is itching to meet your kelari in person. That and the whole Lock thing got him interested as well.”

“Good,” Stratos muttered and grabbed the cups. “Who is it? Tell me the name and the phone number, and I...”

“He said he would only be able to do it on one of the Sundays,” she interrupted him. “He said he was curious, but not enough to make him change his plans for the weekend.”

“Oh...” Stratos blinked at that. “Okay,” he shrugged. “Sundays are fine... Who is it?”

She told him the name, and he forgot about the coffeemaker, his hand freezing in mid-air while he was reaching for carafe.

“Wait... What...?” he said a minute later, still ignoring the coffeemaker he was reaching for initially.

“He is really good at what he does,” Katherine said seriously, and Stratos finally blinked and grabbed the carafe.

“Oh, I am sure he is...” he said slowly. “I don’t doubt that in the slightest... It’s just...” He paused and finished filling the cups. “Well, quite a few reasons aside... What if Gemini knows him... mmm... a little too well...?”

“I seriously doubt that,” she replied in the same calm manner. “He is not the type who would pay for sex.”

Stratos had to agree with that. He frowned and thought for a few seconds. Katherine waited patiently without saying anything else.

“Okay,” he finally said very slowly. “Are you going to be reachable for the next fifteen minutes or so?”

“Yes,” she answered with a shadow of confusion. “Why...?”

“I’ll call you back,” he nodded to no one in particular. “I need to ask Gem first...”

She let out a quick, irritated sigh but said nothing.

“Is that all right?” Stratos asked with a small frown when the only response he got was silence.

“That’s fine,” she said evenly. “Go ask him. Talk to you later.”

He was about to say, ‘Thank you,’ but then realized that he was the only one on the line right now. He sighed, put the phone on the counter, grabbed both cups, and went back to the bedroom.

“What?” Gemini frowned at his expression when Stratos walked into the room and switched on the lights with his elbow, managing not to spill anything.

Stratos handed him one of the cups and sat down on the bed, slowly drinking his own coffee.

“What?” Gemini asked again a few seconds later when Stratos wouldn’t say anything. “What is it? Why are you...”

“How well do you know Julian Salamander?” Stratos interrupted him, and Gemini stared at him without blinking, forgetting about his coffee cup.

“Umm...” he said finally when he realized that Stratos was being serious. “I know about him,” he continued carefully. “I have never met him in person though... Why?”

Stratos sighed, thinking that Katherine was right – Salamander was definitely not the type who would pay for sex.

“Katherine said that he agreed to Unlock you,” he said, and the golden eyes grew huge. “So I just wanted to make sure that you haven’t been... mmm... introduced,” he nodded slightly, and Gemini blinked and slowly drank some of his coffee.

“Umm...” he said again, and Stratos put his cup on the bedside table and reached out for Gemini’s so he could do the same.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be there the entire time, and to be honest...” He sighed. “He is not a lunatic who can’t control himself...”

“You’ve met him?” Gemini could finally speak.

“A couple times,” Stratos nodded. “On a few occasions... We wouldn’t talk much,” he shrugged. “Just your normal, polite small-talk... Mostly after some of my performances if he decided to go to the after-party...”

“Oh...” Gemini slightly frowned, his expression thoughtful.

“So...?” Stratos asked a minute later and met a serious glance of the golden eyes.

“Yes,” Gemini said calmly, and Stratos nodded again and got off the bed.

“Be right back,” he muttered and quickly went back to the kitchen where he left his phone.

Gemini listened him talk to Katherine a minute later, not catching all the words, and his mind was racing. This entire situation felt completely and utterly unreal; it felt like some sort of a very bizarre, hallucinations-induced dream. Was it a dream...?

He bit his lip and absent-mindedly ran his fingers through his hair. Then he grimaced – his hair was tangled, strangely greasy, and sticky. He frowned and brought his hand down. That’s right, he thought darkly when he saw his fingers. Blood does that to hair.

Suddenly, he craved a shower so much that he became thirsty. He carefully tried bending his right leg at the knee, hoping that it wasn’t broken but badly bruised instead – he did heal fast, but it would take at least two days for the broken bones to repair themselves, and getting in the shower with a shattered knee wasn’t something he would enjoy.

To his greatest relief, bending the leg didn’t shoot hot streams of blinding pain into the rest of his body. Bending didn’t feel great, it was still dully aching, but it was nothing compared to the alternative. He carefully got off the bed and was on his way to the bathroom, when he heard:

“You would want it rather sooner than later, right?”

He turned around. Stratos looked at him without a smile, his hand pressed against the phone, muffling his words from whoever was on the other end of the line. Katherine, Gemini thought. He was talking to Katherine.

“Umm...” he said carefully, and Stratos nodded as if he didn’t expect any other answer.

“This Sunday is good,” he said into the phone, and Gemini froze in his spot.

This Sunday?!

“If he could do it closer to the evening, it would be great,” Stratos continued without noticing Gemini’s expression. “We are leaving in the morning; should be back home at least by three in the afternoon... So if he would agree to do it around six... Uh huh,” he nodded at something the phone said. “Uh huh... I can call him, it’s not a...” He stopped talking, clearly interrupted. He listened for a few seconds, and then slowly nodded. “All right,” he said. “Katherine, thanks for doing this! You have no idea...” He stopped talking again, and this time, he smiled. “You bet I will make it up to you!” he said in a low voice and straightened up. “You want me to call you back or... Okay,” he nodded again. “A message is fine. Thank you...!”

He was saying something else, talking to her for the next few minutes, but Gemini stopped listening. This Sunday?! That sounded impossible! He stood still, gaping at the wall, his thoughts nothing but a confused, scattered mess, when he felt a hand touching his shoulder. He blinked and turned his head.

“This Sunday...?” he said quietly, his eyes huge. “This Sunday...?”

Stratos sighed.

“Tell me that you wouldn’t want to be able to do it right now,” he said in a low voice.

“Uh... Yeah, I would, but...” Gemini slightly stuttered. “This Sunday?!”

Stratos sighed again.

“You’ll get used to the idea,” he nodded seriously. “It’s only Thursday... You’ve got two and a half days ahead... Were you heading to the bathroom?” he asked when Gemini wouldn’t say anything, his expression stunned.

“Yeah...” the blond kelari answered slowly. “I have to have a shower... I feel disgusting... This Sunday?!”

“Come on,” Stratos ignored the last words. “Let’s get your shower...”

He led a softly muttering Gemini to the bathroom, and after he turned on the faucets and started slowly undoing the buttons on the black, blood-stained shirt, Gemini finally stopped muttering and shot a quick glance in the mirror.

What he saw somewhat satisfied him – he didn’t look great, but he didn’t look too horrid either; he should look completely fine tomorrow morning – and he brought his hands up and started working the buttons on Stratos’ shirt.

Their clothes surrendered rather quickly, and when they finally stepped into the shower, Gemini closed his eyes and threw his head back, letting the water to wash all the blood out of his hair. He let out a low moan when he felt Stratos’ hands lathering him with shampoo, and tilted his head to the right, letting those hands to be able to reach farther.

He half-opened his eyes just so he could close them again when he felt warm lips caressing his face. He wrapped his arms around Stratos’ neck, burying his fingers in the dark, wet hair, and pressed himself tighter into the other man’s body, suddenly ravenous for being able to feel every single inch of the warm skin against his own.

Stratos kept running his fingers through the wet golden hair, returning it to its original pristine condition, and after he was satisfied and after every single drop of shampoo was finally rinsed out, he reached for the bottle of body wash, and Gemini shuddered head to toe when he felt a soft, foaming loofah slowly running down his spine.

Several minutes later, Stratos pulled away just so he could pay lathery attention to the shallow breathing chest in front of him, and Gemini let out another moan and pressed his back into the smooth wall of the shower, when he felt slow, soapy circles start running around his nipples.

“You are the most sexual person I have ever met... In my entire life...” Stratos murmured, watching him without blinking, and Gemini opened his eyes.

“If I am...” he started saying softly. “If I am, then it’s only because of you... Without you, I’d be nothing...”

“You would never be nothing...” Stratos whispered and dropped the loofah on the floor of the shower.

He wrapped his arms around the slick, lathered body in front of him, pulling Gemini away from the wall, and locked his lips on the hungry mouth, trying to caress every single spot he could possibly reach, all at once. They kissed for a while, warm water of the shower falling down on both of them like a miniature waterfall, and their hands were living the lives of their own on each other’s bodies, pressing, and sliding, and caressing, and...

“Turn around,” Stratos whispered suddenly, pulling away from the perfect mouth ever so slightly.

Gemini let out a low, protesting moan at his sudden departure, but didn’t say anything, turning around, and pressing his hands into the wall, while arching his back. He moved his feet farther apart, spreading his legs and not even noticing dull, aching throbs in his bruised knee. He closed his eyes and slightly bit his lip when he felt hands and warm lips slowly sliding down his back, caressing every inch of his skin. He was ready to feel slick fingers sliding inside him, and when he felt warm, insistent tongue circling his entrance instead, he jerked involuntarily, and his eyes flew wide open.

“Oh, God...!” he yelped, and the tongue moved a little quicker, its determined, vertical licks making his fingers to dig into the slick wet wall in front of him.

Stratos had never done this before, but it didn’t mean he didn’t know how. He’d been on the receiving end more than just a few times, and he knew how to work his tongue even though he had never performed it himself. He knew enough theory, and turning that theory into practice was surprisingly easy.

He tried recreating every single swirl and thrust that drove him crazy every time he experienced this, and he knew that he did it right – Gemini’s moans started getting a hell of a lot louder and quicker, and it seemed that his hips were losing every single shred of control with each passing minute.

Stratos made his next thrust to delve a little deeper inside, probing harder and somewhat slower, and he absolutely loved the sound that emerged from Gemini’s throat the minute he performed yet another probing swirl.

“Mm-mm,” he said quickly when one of the hands suddenly slid off the wall and shot downwards. “Mm-mm...!”

He caught the trembling hand and brought it back to the wall, pressing his fingers tighter against it, as if proving that he meant it. The hand obliged and tried ripping into the wall once again, and Stratos let go of it and made his tongue to perform a quick, twisting shudder that he suddenly recalled, remembering what it did to him the last time he experienced it. A reaction he got was beyond his expectations.

“Oh, God, Stratos...!” Gemini screamed and his hips trembled, losing the last shreds of control.

Stratos blinked rather rapidly when he felt the tight muscles around him starting to quiver with sweet helplessness. “Already?” he thought with mild disbelief. “Holy hell, that was quick!” His tongue slowed down without him being aware of it, caught by surprise by that sudden quivering, and Gemini gasped for air when he felt the unexpected ritenuto.

“Stratos, don’t stop...!” he screamed louder than he did before, and Stratos blinked again and quickly picked up more speed and intensity. “Oh, God, yes...!”

Hearing that screaming made Stratos even hungrier than he already was – Gemini had never gotten this loud before – and his tongue charged forward, quicker and more ruthless than a minute ago. Tight muscles around him shuddered harder, making his tongue tingle, and the slender hips in front of him thrust backwards without any warning.

“Oh, God, yes...!” Gemini sobbed again. “Oh...! Oh, God...!”

Tight muscles rippled with another strong wave of contractions, and Stratos pulled away right before they managed to capture him in a silky trap.

“Stratos, yes...!” Gemini howled for the last time, and Stratos let out a quick, loud exhale, while watching the furious, seemingly-endless explosion.

The slender body in front of him convulsed harder when he ran his hand up and down the bursting length that kept spilling pleasure all over the shower wall, making him mutter something without even noticing that. “Holy hell, this is amazingly long...” he thought and stood up, pressing himself hard into the middle of the shuddering hips, sinking vertically into the perfect warmth. He moved up and down several times, going crazy from the hard rubbing, and came completely undone when he heard another sobbing, ‘Stratos, yes...!’

“Fuck...!” he screamed when a furious wave hit him head-on without any warning, without any building heat, without any tight tingling – it just hit him like a speeding train, making him explode in the same endless-like manner as Gemini did a minute ago.

He had no idea how long they thrashed against each other – the only thing he knew right now was, “This is perfect...!”

They stood still under the running water after their bodies finally finished convulsing, and Gemini had never felt more alive than he did right now. He dropped his head down, pressing his hands into the wall, enjoying the warm water that kept running down his skin, and every single cell in his body was screaming, “Alive...!” in a perfect unison, making him ecstatic.

They stood like that for a little longer, and then Stratos let out a deep, still somewhat shaky sigh, and straightened up, reaching for the shower head – both of them needed to use it.