Djinn Box Set

Chapter 1-5

Comfortably full, Dale went back upstairs to the bedroom. His goal was to clear as much of the clutter from the floor as possible and empty the closet so he could put some of his own clothes there. That of course meant he had to do something with all the dresses hanging up.

“Take these down the hall and put them on the other bed for now. I’ll get around to carting them off to Goodwill tomorrow or the next day,” Dale said, handing an armful to Riadh.

The man trotted off down the hallway and Dale turned to take some more dresses off the rod. Something slipped from between the clothing and hit the floor with a bang. Dale’s heart rate shot through the roof and he lunged back, sprawling on the floor.

Nothing moved. Nothing exploded. Nobody died. Dale slowly sat up, all the muscles in his body quivering from the adrenaline surge.

Riadh came back into the room. “I thought I heard an odd noise.”

“I…uh…” Dale was having problems pulling his thoughts back together. “I knocked something down. I’m not sure what.”

The other man looked into the closet and bent over, picking up something. “It appears to be a roll of pennies.”

“Great…just great,” Dale muttered. He was thoroughly annoyed with himself. Scared shitless by a roll of pennies, wasn’t that just fabulous. Now if only he could stop shaking.

Riadh sat down beside him. “You’re trembling.”

In for a penny…”When I was stationed overseas…” No, the VA doctor had told him to be direct with other people. “I have PTSD. A batch of really bad stuff happened in Afghanistan.” Dale was surprised when Riadh touched him. A hand on his shoulder was a pretty casual touch, by most standards, yet the warmth of Riadh’s hand was steadying.

“I’m sorry,” Riadh said.

Dale looped his arms under his bent knees and closed his eyes. This was dismally embarrassing. He felt Riadh’s arms slip around his shoulders, pulling him against Riadh’s chest. Dale relaxed his own arms and let himself lean into the gentle embrace.

They sat there for a while; the only motion was Riadh’s hand tracing a slow random pattern on Dale’s arm. Eventually the shaking stopped. Dale felt both drained and jittery at the same time. That never made sense, but he’d had it happen a number of times before. “I guess we should get back to cleaning out the closet.”

“Is there a hurry?”

“No, not really. I just…when things get rocky I generally try to distract myself, just do something to take me out of that head space.”

“Oh.”

Something about the tone of that one syllable made Dale feel guilty. “Thank you for sitting here with me.” Dale leaned in and brushed a kiss across Riadh’s lips. Damn, why had he done that? Riadh gave him a hint of a smile. Did that translate to interest or a servant programmed to please a master? “Do you do guys? I want an honest answer, because I don’t want to make an assumption just because you didn’t jerk away.”

“The one who originally bound me was wise. He allowed me to retain a measure of my elemental nature which is inherently nonspecific. I have interacted with both men and women.”

That sounded like a dodge to Dale. He wasn’t sure why. He did know he wanted to touch Riadh, intimately, watch him come undone…if that was possible. “Is s*x pleasurable for you? I mean I know you’re not actually human.”

“In my corporeal form, I react as a human male.”

“I was looking for something a little more specific. If I blow you, will you enjoy it?”

Riadh nodded, and his breathing hitched slightly.

“Dude, you’re giving me mixed signals. If you’re not interested, you’re allowed to say no.”

Riadh’s gaze dropped and he was silent for a long moment. “He who owned me before Mistress Mildred…pain was an essential component to…”

Dale cupped a hand against the side of Riadh’s neck. “I’m not into pain. Not the receiving and certainly not the doling out. If we mess around, I want you to enjoy it.”

The smile he got this time seemed a lot more genuine. Dale kissed him again. Riadh’s lips parted against his. It took another minute or two before the intensity ramped up to a gentle war of tongues and teeth. Since they were already sitting on the floor, Dale tipped Riadh back and straddled his hips, pushing Riadh’s T-shirt up and off. All that warm tan skin beckoned.

Kissing a path down Riadh’s chest, Dale stroked his hands across the smooth muscles of Riadh’s pecs then reached further down and rubbed a hand across Riadh’s crotch. He felt the firm ridge of arousal. Good. This was about Riadh getting off as much as Dale indulging his desire to touch and lick everything in easy reach. The guy was just sinfully hot.

Dale teased one of Riadh’s n*****s with his tongue and was rewarded with a low moan of pleasure. He turned his attention back to Riadh’s groin, rubbing, squeezing gently until Riadh began to grind up against Dale’s hand. “Mmm, time for the jeans to go.”

As Dale reached to pop the button on Riadh’s jeans, the fabric vanished and Riadh was naked. Dale blinked, startled.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t what you wanted?” Riadh asked. He looked uneasy.

“Uh, I was headed in that direction, I just didn’t expect it to happen quite so suddenly.”

“I can…”

Dale put a couple of fingers on Riadh’s mouth. “It’s okay.” He dipped his head and licked a line from Riadh’s belly button across to the djinn’s hip. It drew a shiver from Riadh. Dale glanced back up at Riadh’s face. The man’s pupils were blown wide and his face was slightly flushed. That pleased Dale. Dale wanted to take Riadh right up to that edge and see him lose it. Looking down, Dale saw Riadh’s prick was stiff and leaking against Riadh’s lower belly. Wrapping his fingers around it, Dale dragged his tongue across the tip. Riadh was uncut and Dale felt the taut edge of the mostly retracted foreskin against his lower lip. He traced a circle around the slick tip of Riadh’s c**k with his tongue and then went down slowly, enjoying the fact that Riadh grabbed his shoulder.

He could hear Riadh’s heavy breathing and stole a glimpse upward. God, so beautiful, heavy lidded eyes, the way dark beard stubble framed his mouth and outlined his jaw. Dale bobbed his head, sucking, stroking with his hand. Riadh bucked up into Dale’s mouth and Dale put a hand on Riadh’s hip, restraining him very lightly, just so Riadh wouldn’t gag him. Riadh trembled, and his hand switched from Dale’s shoulder to his hair, fingers clenching. And then there was a sharp gasp from Riadh as he flooded Dale’s mouth with come. Dale swallowed and wiped his mouth on the hem of his t-shirt. He raised up on his hands and knees and kissed Riadh. The man looked absolutely wrecked, hair messed, skin filmed in sweat.

* * * *

Pulse finally slowing, Riadh looked up at Dale. His lips were reddened by the things he had done. Riadh wanted to return the pleasure. “What shall I do for you?”

“Nothing. This was about me getting to watch you.”

Riadh cupped his hand against Dale’s crotch. All he felt was the softness of Dale’s prick and balls. Had he already climaxed?

Dale sat back on his heels. He closed his eyes and hung his head for a few moments before opening his eyes again. “It has nothing to do with you. Supposedly the equipment works but there’s some kind of stupid short circuit in the way I think lately. The doc at the VA says I’ll eventually get my head on straight enough to get off again.”

Riadh crooked a finger, beckoning Dale to lean down again. When Dale did so, Riadh put both arms around him and held him, kissing him long and slow. “Thank you.”

“I did like watching you,” Dale murmured as he snuggled into the embrace.

“Good.”

They lay on the bedroom floor for a long time, wrapped around each other. Dale was relieved Riadh didn’t seem unduly wigged out by his lack of performance. A thought occurred. “I don’t guess you could magic away my problem?”

“I can’t alter people. I guess it’s a safety precaution, in case a master wanted me to tattoo ‘i***t’ on someone’s forehead.”

Dale laughed. “Okay, I have to admit that’s a tempting idea. I have some people to nominate, too.” He ran his fingers through Riadh’s hair, brushing it back from his face. Lord, the guy was gorgeous. Dale still felt weirdly guilty about the idea that Riadh belonged to him. Maybe they could work out some sort of liberal autonomy agreement. “I guess we should get back to the closet cleaning.”

“As you wish. Dale…?”

“Yeah.”

“Perhaps we can find a non-magical way to help you.”

“Maybe.” Dale appreciated the offer. He kissed Riadh one last time before getting to his feet. Riadh re-dressed, by a more traditional method. Apparently the clothes had vanished only as far as a pile on the floor at the foot of the bed. Dale was about to gather another armload of clothes from the closet when he heard the doorbell ring. “Hang out up here. I’ll go see who it is.”

He jogged down the stairs and opened the front door. A woman in a dark purple blazer stood on the front porch.

“Can I help you?” Dale asked.

“I was looking for Mildred Edinger. I was told she had a fountain pen for sale, one with very specific and unusual properties.”

Dale heaved a sigh. “I’m afraid there are two problems on that front.”