Wild Card - 4. Afternoon Highs and Evening Lows

Wild Card – Chapter 4 – Afternoon Highs and Evening Lows

In the short time that I’d been Lola’s owner, I had learned a few things.

Lola likes being held.

Lola likes playing with feathers.

Lola likes when you scratch behind her ears.

Lola does not like cat carriers.

Which she made absolutely clear when I settled her in it before we left the store. She also did not like being put on the floor behind the front seat.

Lola treated us to an ongoing dialogue regarding her dissatisfaction with being kept in the cat carrier for the trip home in Efrain’s car. I attempted to explain to her that she’d be safer back there, and even put her behind the driver’s seat so she could see me, but she still wasn’t having it. I tried telling her that she’d be let out when we got home and that I was super excited to be her new dad. Lola’s angry tirade continued nonetheless. And, between her crying behind him, and me next to him, practically vibrating with excitement over my new companion, my boyfriend had to be at his wits’ end.

Unless I had just imagined the muttered “Thank-fuckin’-God” that came from his side of the car when we turned into the driveway.

“See, Lola, that wasn’t so bad,” I cooed. The kitten watched me as I leaned closer to her. “Ready to go inside, baby girl?” I grabbed the cat carrier and looped a couple bags over my wrist, while Efrain unloaded more of our haul.

“Hey,” Efrain said once we got past the front door, “How ‘bout you get Not-Sassy settled in while I get the rest of the stuff in the car.” Lola let out a pitiful meow—either in agreement with the plan, or protest at being called Not-Sassy. Efrain and I set down the things we brought in, and he turned to go back outside.

“’Rain?” I said, grabbing his arm.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

As soon as he turned to face me, I laid the kiss on him that I’d been holding in since he told me Lola was mine. Efrain took it in stride, allowing my tongue past his lips and returning my ardor until we had to come up for air.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Goddamn, Cory,” he whispered back, and before I knew it, he had me pinned to the wall. Erection grinding, ass groping, face ravaging, whole nine yards, while the cat tried her best to remind us that she was still trapped in the carrier.

I wanted to tell Lola that I’d let her out as soon as I was done shoving my tongue down Efrain’s throat, but that would require that I stop shoving my tongue down Efrain’s throat. She paired her next protest with a full-on assault against the side of the carrier, causing it to rock to the side. The sound of her plastic enclosure clattering on the hardwood grew increasingly loud until we could no longer ignore it.

Efrain broke the kiss and chuckled. “Guess we’ll have to save this for later.”

“Uh huh,” I said. “But, you kinda have to stop rubbing your dick on me, first.”

“Yeah, about that…” he answered, while continuing to grind his hard-on against my dick.

I laughed, and he rested his forehead against mine.

“God, what you do to me.”

“I could say the same about you,” I said. Efrain’s arms tightened around me, and his mouth moved over mine once more. As his tongue flicked out to tease my bottom lip, Lola meowed again. We looked down to find her trying to gnaw her way out of the carrier because, goddamnit, she was getting out one way or another. I couldn’t be certain, but I wasn’t sure the metal grating on the door was good for her teeth.

“Fine,” he told her. “He’s all yours.”

As he went back to finish unloading, I started getting Lola settled in. By the time I got everything situated, he’d had all our stuff brought in and stored, and was going through some emails.

“All done?” he asked.

“Yup, just showed Lola where her litter box is,” I said, as the sound of the bell on her collar started making laps in the bathroom.

“So, picking back up from earlier.” Efrain got up to meet me. Our bodies melded, and we traded quick kisses as I backed him to the bed.

“Indeed,” I told him. “I need to express my gratitude.”

“You don’t have to,” he said. “Not that I’m going to stop you.”

“Good.” I shoved him back onto the bed and crawled on top, my body sliding against his. What had started as a sweet and slow kiss soon became hard and demanding, and I was out of breath by the time I worked across his chin to his earlobe to pant out, “So, how do you want me—at your service, or at your mercy?”

“Damn, that is a really good question.” While he gave it consideration, I began nibbling his neck and shoulder, rolling my hips into his and meeting him moan for moan.

“Pick one yet?”

“Nope.” He rolled me over, yanked up my shirt, and started going to town on my nipples. “Still thinking it over.”

I tried to pull my shirt over my head, but became distracted when he flicked his tongue over my nips until they were good and hard. “I dunno, this seems an awful lot like ‘at your mercy.’”

“Not really,” he said. “If I wanted you at my mercy, I’d do this—” Efrain’s teeth tugged at the newly hardened peaks until my back arched. He shoved the shirt over my head, then sat up to tug his own off. “Maybe, I’ll do both.”

“Whatever you want,” I said. “I’m all yours.”

Something unreadable and warm lingered under the intensity and fire in his expression when he looked back at me. “Yeah,” he said, his voice low. “All mine.”

Before I could unravel the mystery of his gaze, I found myself stripped bare and open for him. Efrain sat back on his heels between my legs and ran his hands up my thighs, stopping just shy of my groin. His fingers and thumbs massaged the juncture between my thighs and hip without touching the parts most desperate for his touch.

“I think…” he said, trailing off with a thoughtful hum.

“You think?” I prompted, and he grinned.

Efrain lifted my leg up and over his head, then spanked my ass. Once out from between my thighs, he scooted up the bed and laid down in the center. “I think I want you to ride me.”

I crawled up after him. “I think I can handle that?” He laced his fingers behind his head and cocked his eyebrow in a silent get to it kind of look. “Aha, the ‘service’ portion of the encounter.”

“You got it.”

My fingers trailed through the hair across his pecs and down his abs until I reached his fly. Once I got that undone, him lifting his ass so I could get his pants over his hips was the only assistance he would give me. “Take it I’m to loosen myself up.”

“Seems wise,” he said, then handed me the lube and watched as I worked the first coated finger into my hole. Half way through getting a second finger in, he reached back down and grabbed his dick, angling it up and toward me. I kept my eyes on his as I lowered myself down to take him into my mouth, matching the rhythm of my fingers to that of my sucking. I groaned when I stuffed the third and final finger in as far as I could get it.

“That good?” he asked.

“Not enough.” I sat up and slathered his dick in lube then moved to position it at my entrance. “Need this.”

“Then, take it.”

At his invitation, I pressed down on him, groaning at the feel of his thick cock. The head popped in, and I slid down his length.

“Fuck,” Efrain growled, grabbing my hips and thrusting up into me. He held me there while his hips circled, the grinding seeming to hit all my hot buttons at once. My head fell back, and I couldn’t stop whimpering, panting, quivering as rough, demanding fingers dug harder into my thighs and shoved me down on his dick.

I felt my own cock jump in answer, my nuts pulling up against the base, and I wondered if this was really all it would take for me to start coming. Efrain groaned low in his throat, and I looked down at him. Hell, would this be all it took for him to start coming?

Our eyes met. His pupils were dilated to the point that his irises were a slight ring around the inky black. “Move,” he growled at me through gritted teeth, then punctuated the command with a sharp slap on ass that made me jump. “Now.”

Those first tentative movements were fucking torture, which only got worse as he commanded me to ride him harder and faster. Curses and grunts filled the room, and it was hard to tell where my loud cries ended, and his began. I forced myself to keep impaling myself on him, despite the orgasm I could feel about to rip into me. His arms wrapped around my hips as I fell forward on my hands, sandwiching my dick between our stomachs. I was already about to blow, but the slick friction along my length hastened me along. He had to have felt it as his hips started pounding up into me. Efrain and I came together in mutual frenzy, continuing to twitch and grunt long after we’d shot off.

My forehead dropped to his shoulder in exhaustion while his hands roamed over my back. I sighed, content to let my mind go blank in post-orgasmic bliss until Efrain’s chuckle drew me out of my stupor. I lifted my head as Lola heaved herself up the edge of the bed and peered up at us as if to ask, “Are you done making scary noises, yet?”

~*~*~*~

Given that I had turned off my phone, and refused to check my email, and wouldn’t log onto any medium even remotely social, I knew I was in for a thorough chewing out when Efrain finally made me face my best friends over Skype that evening. Yet, I was surprised when the guys let it go with a simple “It’s okay” when I apologized, and gob-smacked when they didn’t bring up the subject of my excommunication from the Card clan and the subsequent flight from Texas. Instead, we talked about all the exciting shit coming up this semester—intramural soccer, the Pride conference, GSA elections.

And, we talked about Lola.

“So, you got a kitten for Kitten?” Preston deadpanned.

Efrain shifted uncomfortably on the couch. “He was being all…I dunno…then he started playing with it and…” Preston’s eyebrow lifted as my boyfriend trailed off.

Keenan laughed. “Good God, it even looks like him!”

“She,” I corrected, then looked at her. “And, yeah, she kinda does.”

“Jimmy said the orangish parts would cover more of her face and legs as she gets older,” Efrain said.

“It’s not ‘orange’, it’s ‘apricot’,” I corrected.

“Still can’t believe you got her from Elle’s male persona,” Preston said.

“JoeD’s her vet, too,” I told them as I scratched behind Lola’s ears. “Josie said she became a vet so she could help out her dads.”

“Ya know,” Keenan said. “You should look into helping out like you did at Wrathburn Sanctuary.”

“Not a bad idea,” I said. “Jimmy and Josie are really cool. Tommy and Sophie sound like they’d be nice, too.”

“That’s all well and good, Cory, but there’s something we gotta discuss,” Preston said, his tone getting serious.

“I know, I know, don’t—” I started, but Preston cut me off.

“Why in the hell is she wearing that collar?”

“What’s wrong with her collar?”

“It’s so…so…gay,” Preston said. “You’re too BMOC for a sparkly pink collar.”

“It has cupcakes on it,” Efrain said. He pointed under Lola’s chin, where the bell rested. “There’s even a cupcake dangly thing.”

“That is pretty frou-frou,” Keenan admitted.

“Lola’s a girl cat; I wanted her to have something girly,” I said

“How very gender normative of you,” Preston said.

“Hey, you’re the one ragging on me for buying pink stuff! Besides, it’s all the rage for frat bros to sport pink shit. Buying pink is the new black.”

“I hardly think…” he started, and I noticed two heads, a boy and a girl, poking into his room.

“Oi, PJ!” the boy called. “Mom said—”

“What are you doing in here?” Preston squawked. “House rules: ‘If the door’s closed, knock before entering.’”

The two let themselves in and walked over to Preston.

“Door wasn’t closed,” the girl said, “Only pulled to.”

“Get outta—”

“Oh, PJ’s talking to friends,” she said.

“Stop calling me PJ!”

“Wait, PJ has friends?” the boy said. “I got to see this.”

“Hi, I’m Ellie.”

“And, I’m Kent,” the boy said.

“Ah, the twins,” I said.

“Yup!” Ellie said, and leaned in. “Ohmigosh! A kitty!” I held Lola up to the cam so Preston’s sister could look at her.

“Her name’s Lola,” I said. I tickled under her chin, coaxing a pleased trill out of my new friend.

“So cute!” she squealed. “And, she’s wearing a pretty pink collar!”

“So, you two are the new friends from VT, right?” Kent asked, and we nodded.

“Y’all wouldn’t happen to know his fuck budd—” Ellie cut off as Preston’s hand clapped over her mouth. Efrain snickered next to me, and Keenan tried covering his grin.

“What is with you and that word?!”

“But, yeah. What’s the deal with him and that Indie guy? How fucking tall is he?” Kent said.

“Yeah, PJ won’t tell us anything,” Ellie frowned.

“Quit butting into my personal life,” Preston argued as his sister reached up and held his hand in place while she made some kind of “bleh” noise. Preston snatched back his hand as if bitten and held it away from his body. “Fucking gross!”

The twins started laughing. “You licked his hand again, didn’t you?” Kent asked.

“Uh huh,” she nodded. “He falls for it every time!”

“Mom!”

“Mom,” Kent mimicked. Preston wiped his hand off on Kent’s shirt. “Dude, what the fuck?”

“You’re covered in enough female slobber, if you’re to be believed,” Preston scoffed. “What’s a little more?”

Ellie giggled. “Mom caught him making out with Darla Colton last week. Should have heard her and Dad laughing about the face he made. Apparently, he’d popped a stiffy, and it was all sticking out.” She pointed her finger out in imitation of Kent’s supposed “stiffy”.

“You…” Kent growled. His hand darted around Preston to get at his twin sister, which began a slap fight with my poor bestie trapped in the middle.

Preston started screeching again for his mother to come reclaim her youngest spawn, which lead to a three-way slapfest. While the twins taunted their older brother with chants of “PJ! PJ! PJ!”, I started thinking about my brothers. While not as great as the decade between Preston and the twins, the age differences between my brothers and me still caused a number of similar squabbles. I understood what drew Kent and Ellie to Preston—I couldn’t get enough of my big brothers, and it just got worse when they left for college. When they came home they’d have to pry me off with a crowbar in order to get away from me, which fucking hurt. I knew in my head that they still loved me, but my heart always read it as rejection.

And, now…

I passed Lola to Efrain. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where you going?” he asked.

“Bathroom,” I said, willing my voice to not break and hoping he’d stop asking questions.

I managed to crawl into bed before the waterworks began. My vision blurred as I pulled the blankets around me. When I grabbed for some tissues, my hand brushed against my cell phone. Efrain insisted on plugging it into the charger, even when I insisted that it was useless. I wouldn’t even turn it on, letting it sit face down and ignored on the nightstand.

My fingers traced over the ridges on the case. I knew there were text messages and voicemail for me, and some just might be from my brothers. There was the possibility that my parents had told them everything about me, but that they’d still love me. However, if I was so glaringly wrong about my parents, how could I be sure of my brothers? I’d already burned bridges with Mom and Dad, I couldn’t stomach losing the rest of my family. The Schrodinger paradox again—the only way to tell yes or no would be to open the box, but opening the box would kill any hope.

I picked up the phone and turned it on. I didn’t even bother to check who called me or sent me texts before I hit “delete” and turned it back off.

With that done, I set the phone face down on the nightstand and rolled away. I’d sobbed it all out yesterday when Efrain came home, or at least I thought I had. Tears spilled over and sniffles followed, and I did my best to keep them quiet. The last thing I needed was to let Efrain see me cry again.

As if on cue, the bedroom door opened, and he crept in, kitten in hand.

“Lola wants you,” he said. Efrain sat on the other side of the bed and set her down. I lifted my hand, and she toddled over to me. “Remember something about her getting what she wanted.”

I couldn’t help the small grin. “Yeah, something like that,” I said. Lola curled up against my chest and purred as I petted her. Efrain settled down on the bed with me, scooting as close as he could without squishing our cat. Warmth radiated out from where I cuddled Lola and the places Efrain’s hand soothed.

His smile, his words, his touch. All the little things he’d done the last two days to make me feel better. I couldn’t explain why I ran back here when my world fell apart, but I think my heart knew that Efrain would make everything all right again.

God, if I wasn’t already head over fucking heels for this guy…

~*~*~*~