The Bonds Of Love

Chapter 1-2

Vic stepped out of the restroom and blinked back the shadows that clung to the side of the building. The faded blue of the sky had deepened into an inky shade but the Richmond skyline outshone any stars. A hundred yards away, the James River rushed by Brown’s Island with an almost imperceptible gurgle of water over stone. Here, with the restrooms between himself and the stage, Vic could breathe in the night, let it fill his lungs, clear his head. Tentatively he reached out with his mind, testing the world around him, looking for something different, something new…

He heard the swish of grass behind him a second before hot, sweaty hands covered his eyes.

When Matt snickered in his ear, Vic could smell the alcohol on his lover’s breath. “Guess who?”

Covering Matt’s hands with his own, Vic teased, “My drunk boyfriend.”

“I’m not drunk,” Matt protested. He leaned against Vic’s back as if trying to bend him over. Something hard and uncompromising poked at Vic’s denim-clad ass; maybe they would get lucky tonight. When one of Matt’s legs came up around his waist, Vic caught the knee and hoped the cover of darkness was enough to keep anyone from seeing this. Matt was officially all over him. “Gimme a piggy-back ride,” Matt demanded.

“Let go of my eyes.” Matt’s hands slipped down, covering Vic’s mouth, then under his chin to clasp around his neck. “Matt,” he gasped as his lover’s grip tightened around his throat. “I can’t breathe.”

Matt’s hands disappeared. “Sorry,” he murmured, lips pressed against the nape of Vic’s neck. With a lusty sigh, he draped himself across Vic’s back, arms encircling Vic’s waist to hold him tight. Those lips puckered into a quick kiss, then moved to a tender spot behind Vic’s left ear to kiss again, and then on his jaw, another kiss.

Vic turned his head and Matt’s next kiss landed on his mouth. As his lover’s tongue flicked out to taste his lips, Vic felt a hand fumble with the buckle of his belt. “Matt,” he warned, catching that hand before it could go any farther. “It’s getting late.”

Strong fingers closed around his. In what faint light there was, Vic saw Matt’s half-hooded eyes and the slow smile that spread across his lips. “I want you,” he whispered, his words as flammable as his breath. They ignited Vic’s blood like kerosene, fanning to life the flames of desire and lust that banked within him whenever his lover was near. Kissing Vic’s chin, Matt nipped at his goatee and sang softly, off-key, “I want to feel you from the inside.”

With detached amusement, Vic asked, “Is that your best pick-up line?”

But his arm came around Matt’s waist to hug him close, and his lover could be singing gospel hymns, for all Vic cared—the sound of Matt’s voice was enough to turn him on. The exhaustion he’d felt in the restroom dropped away, and even the headache that had cropped up after his last cup of beer began to disperse.

Rubbing against him, Matt cajoled, “I need you, baby.”

Vic laughed. “Are you always this horny when you get drunk?”

“I’m not drunk,” Matt said again, but he stumbled when Vic took a step back. Hands clutched at Vic’s waist, fisting in his shirt. “No fair. It’s dark and I can’t see s**t. Where are you going?”

“Home.” Vic took another step in the darkness and Matt fell after him. “You ready to go?”

“Don’t move so fast.”

The pout was evident in Matt’s voice; Vic didn’t have to see it to hear it. He felt it in his brain, through the mental connection he shared with his lover. Lately their conversations had become a mixture of speech and thought, and Matt’s presence was always foremost in Vic’s mind.

But tonight, with all the beer the two of them had drunk, Matt was nothing but a numb buzz inside Vic’s head, brighter than the thoughts of strangers that Vic managed to ignore but not the normal consciousness of the man he loved. As much as he liked this aroused man who fawned over him when inebriated, he didn’t care for the fact that alcohol dulled the soul living in constant contact with his own.

Another step and Matt tripped over his own feet. With reflexes that still managed to surprise him, Vic caught him under the arms before he could hit the ground. “Come on, Matty,” Vic murmured, lifting him as if the grown man weighed nothing more than a young child. Bending down, Vic shouldered his lover onto his back, hands laced together to form a seat beneath Matt’s buttocks.

Matt wrapped his arms around Vic’s chest and hugged him tight. With his head on Vic’s shoulder, Matt sighed. His breath tickled Vic’s neck and ear. “Love you,” he whispered.

“I can tell,” Vic muttered. Matt’s erection now poked into the small of his back like a knot of wood. When he stood, a burst of energy whirled through him with a heat like the sun, coalescing from the center of his being to invigorate his arms until Matt’s weight seemed nonexistent. The super strength was just one more thing he’d learned to live with when Matt came into his life. Releasing his hands, he rubbed down Matt’s thighs and caught his lover’s knees in the crooks of his elbows. Then Vic headed for the parking lot and left Brown’s Island, with its day-long party, the bands and the booze and the crowds, behind.