Second Thoughts

Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3

“Well, that was a whole lot of fun,” Nick said sarcastically as he and Clyde exited Jesse’s townhouse and walked toward the sidewalk. The basset looked up at him with his sad, droopy eyes. He looked that way all the time. But in light of what had just transpired, Nick felt it was appropriate.

Nick had recognized Denny as soon as he had come into the room. Although surprised at how short he was, Jesse’s description of him as muscular and Mediterranean fit perfectly. If anything, Denny was even more handsome than Nick had imagined. He had black wavy hair, startling blue eyes, intensified by a deep olive complexion and beautifully symmetrical features. A subtly cold smile and haughty, arrogant manner, however, diminished the effects of his attributes.

As he walked with Clyde toward his house, Nick couldn’t help but go over the scene played out just moments before.

As Denny had come into the living room, he’d dropped his hands from his crotch. “Oh, am I interrupting something?”

Although he’d delivered the line casually, Nick had heard a steeliness in Denny’s voice and saw the smile fading from his face.

Both Jesse and Nick had stood. The dogs, too, had gotten up and gone to greet him. Nick noted that, although Shelby had seemed happy to see the man, her response to him was much more subdued than one would expect from a dog to its owner and definitely much less enthusiastic than the greeting he had received the night before.

“Don’t be silly,” Jesse had responded, crossing the space between them and giving Denny a hug and a kiss.

“This is Nick Warden, our new neighbor.” Turning to Nick he said, “Nick, this is Denny Christopoulos, my boyfriend.”

Nick had come forward and offered Denny his hand, who took it without smiling. Nick recalled how the handshake was neither firm nor weak, but just sort of perfunctory.

“And this?” Denny had added, pointing at Clyde with his foot when the men had stopped shaking hands. The dogs had been sitting, waiting patiently for recognition while the exchange had been going on.

“That’s Clyde. He belongs to me,” Nick had said pleasantly, kneeling and giving both dogs a ruff, feeling they deserved some acknowledgement.

Denny had walked past them and into the living room. “Well, thank God. For a minute, I thought Miss Bleeding Heart here had gone out and rescued another one from death row.”

“Dennis—” Jesse had started.

“No, I rescued this one myself,” Nick had said, standing and facing Denny.

The two men had looked at each other. Nick had begun to dislike the guy already.

Denny had walked to the patio door. Evidently seeing the table set for two, he’d turned back and said, “Well, I’ll let you two get back to your little dinner party.”

“Dennis Christopoulos! Stop acting like a jerk!” Jesse had exclaimed. “You know very well the party is for us.”

“Look, I’m gonna go and let you two get on with your…celebration. I still have a lot of unpacking to do. It was nice meeting you, Denny. Jesse, I’ll see you around,” Nick had said, wishing to get out of the way and let the couple get back on an even keel.

Denny hadn’t responded. He had just nodded his head in Nick’s direction.

Jesse had walked Nick to the door.

“I’m sorry, Nick. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s not usually this rude.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nick had replied. “Just go back and straighten things out with him. Have a good time this evening.”

Nick had spontaneously reached out and squeezed Jesse’s shoulder. Jesse had smiled at him.

“Come on, Clyde,” Nick had called.

The basset obediently came to the front door and the two of them left the townhouse.

* * * *

“Yoo-hoo. Hello there!” Mrs. Kloswick’s voice broke into Nick’s reverie.

He looked up to see his next-door neighbor with hose in hand, watering her roses.

“Oh, hello,” he responded.

She turned off the hose and walked over to him, extending her hand. “I’m Ursula Kloswick. I don’t believe we’ve met, but I live here,” she said, indicating the townhouse behind her, “between you and Jesse.”

Nick politely took her hand and shook it gently. “Hi, I’m Nick Warden. It’s nice to meet you.”

Nick was still distracted by his encounter with Dennis Christopoulos. Clyde sat at his feet, smiling his doggie hello with his tongue hanging out.

“Oh, this is Clyde.”

Mrs. Kloswick bent and patted Clyde’s head. “My, you’re low to the ground,” she said with a little laugh. “Does he bark much? I don’t like a lot of barking.”

“No, he’s pretty quiet,” Nick assured her.

“I understand you’re a teacher?”

“Yes, I am.”

“My niece Angela is studying to be a teacher. She’s coming to visit me soon. I know she’d love to pick your brains about your experiences,” Mrs. Kloswick said with a sweet smile.

Ah, it starts already, Nick thought. “Well, this is my first year teaching. I was in the service after college, so I don’t really have a lot of experiences to share with her yet.”

“But you’re in the same field. So, I know you’ll have lots to talk about. I’ll let you know when she arrives. Maybe you could come over and have dinner?”

Oh man! “That would be nice,” Nick replied. “If you’ll excuse me,” he added, “I’m still up to my neck in packing crates. I need to start organizing things at home. It was good to meet you.”

“It was lovely to meet you, too, Nicolas. I’ll be sure to let you know when Angela arrives.”

“That’ll be great,” Nick said, with a sinking feeling inside.

He nodded his good-byes and made his way up the walk to the door.

* * * *

Jesse returned to the living room where Denny was standing, hands on hips.

“What’s wrong with you? Nick’s our new neighbor. He and I were just having a beer while I waited for you to come home. You’re makin’ such a big deal out of it.”

“Well, I come home all ready to make up for last night and find you with a strange guy. What am I supposed to think?” Denny said belligerently.

“You’re supposed to think you can trust me. That’s what commitment is all about.”

Denny looked uncomfortable. “He’s too damn good lookin’ for his own good. I don’t like him.”

“You don’t even know him,” said Jesse in exasperation.

Denny sighed. “You’re right. I’m just tired is all, I guess. Come on, let’s start over.” He walked past Jesse and out into the hallway. “Surprise! Get ready to open your anniversary package,” Denny said, walking into the room again.

He had his hands cupped around his ample basket, which caused it to protrude provocatively. Jesse sank to the couch. Denny walked up to him and pressed his anniversary package against his mouth, his hands behind Jesse’s head.

* * * *

Nick walked into the house and kicked off his shoes. Clyde padded in behind him and made his way to his dog bed that Nick had unpacked and placed in the kitchen next to the table. Nick looked around, feeling—for the first time since he had met Jesse—alone and empty. There were still boxes to be unpacked. He didn’t feel like doing that just then.

He went into the living room. Clyde got up from his bed and followed. There were boxes in this room, too. Clyde sat and looked up at him.

How the hell can a single guy in a one-bedroom apartment collect so much s**t?

He sat down on the couch and stared at the blank screen of the TV.

Wonder where I packed the remote. Probably in the same place I put the fuckin’ charger for the phone. Better get busy and find them.

Nick hauled himself off the couch and started going through the boxes in the living room. As soon as he did, Clyde jumped up, with some effort, onto the sofa, made three circles and settled in.

“Don’t go teachin’ Shelby to do that. She’ll be in trouble with the Gestapo,” Nick told his dog.

The statement brought back negative feelings from the brief encounter he had had with Denny. He resolved not to rush to judgment. After all, the guy had just gotten home from a long trip and didn’t expect to have his anniversary homecoming interrupted by some stranger.

Nick busied himself for over an hour with unpacking. He found both the remote and his cell charger. He plugged the latter in and placed the phone in it.

Hungry now, he realized he should have done some shopping at Dominick’s when he was there that afternoon with Jesse. The thought of that reminded him of the day he had just spent. Jesse was a fine man: easy to look at, fun to be with.

“And taken,” Nick said as he forced his mind away from those thoughts and onto what to do for dinner.

Pizza?

Not having a phone book—or a phone for that matter—he grabbed his keys, called Clyde and went out to the car to find a pizza restaurant.

Forty-five minutes later the duo returned with a medium meat lovers and a six-pack of Coors Light.

* * * *

Jesse stood in front of the mirror putting gel into his hair. Denny was just finishing up his shower. He stepped out and grabbed a towel from the rack. Jesse looked at him in the mirror. Denny’s thickly muscled body was covered with hair: rich, dark, curly, black hair. His prick, still half-hard from their previous activities, was thick. It stood now at a forty-five degree angle to his body, jutting out from his dense pubic bush. The man’s heavy, rounded balls, also shrouded in the black shag, were snugged up tight against his body.

As Denny toweled off, the light caught the droplets of water on the hairs of his chest and abdomen, making them sparkles like sequins. Jesse smiled as he felt a tingle run through his body. Denny looked into the mirror and also smiled. He walked forward and put his arms around Jesse’s waist, fondling his hardening manhood. Then standing on his toes, he pressed his semi-tumescence into the crevice between the taller man’s ass cheeks. He bit his shoulder.

“How was that for an anniversary present?”

“It’ll do…for now,” Jesse said, squeezing Denny’s thick c**k with his glutes.

“That mean we got another round coming later?”

Jesse turned around and took Denny into his arms. He tilted the shorter man’s face up to his and kissed him. Tongues swirled and probed.

“You can count on it,” he said. “Right now, we have a dinner to eat.”

“I’d rather have a second course of what I had to eat just a few minutes ago,” said Denny, kneading Jesse’s firm buttocks.

“Patience, my man. We’ve got all night.”

Denny reached up to kiss him again. “Yeah, we do.”

* * * *

Nick sat on the couch with the pizza box on his knees and a beer on the end table. Clyde was sitting expectantly at his feet. Nick didn’t like the crust, so that was Clyde’s portion, along with a hunk of sausage or two.

After dinner, he took Clyde out for the last trek of the night. As he got to the end of his walk, he was tempted to go by Jesse’s, but thought better of it. Turning in the opposite direction, he walked to the dog park and let Clyde off his leash.

After a half-hour, he was home and sitting in front of the TV, watching reruns of Law and Order SVU. This show was about a man avenging the death of his gay brother, who died of AIDS because his partner didn’t disclose his status. For some reason, it made him worry about Jesse.

At ten o’clock, he decided to go to bed. After taking care of his nightly duties, including a trip to the back yard for the dog’s benefit, he lifted Clyde onto the queen. The dog immediately found his spot and curled up. Nick stretched out shirtless on the covers. For a long time, he stared at the ceiling. After some time, his right hand slowly made its way under the waistband of his loungers and began to pull his soft pubic bush gently. His left hand played with his n****e. Trying to keep his mind blank and focused solely on the physical sensations he was creating, Nick raised his hips and pushed his pants down around his knees.

He began to fondle his balls, stroke his perineum and roll his d**k around, pressing it against his stomach. As his c**k became harder, he pulled his foreskin back and smeared the pre-c*m now oozing from the slit around the shining glans. He began to stroke himself, moving the hood back and forth over the crown of his d**k. His legs began to tighten and relax. So did his ass as his excitement increased. The pace of his stroking speeded up, and he lost the battle of keeping his mind blank.

Nick conjured up images of Jesse at the gym as he worked out his well-defined chest, his strong back, and his bulging biceps. Then to the shower, where the man’s beautiful, long, full c**k had arched, partially erect, as the two men had exchanged visual inspections. Jesse’s chest and flat abs, covered with a soft, short, light brown hair leading to a lush tangle just above the thick base of his d**k caused Nick to moan. In his mind, Nick watched Jesse turn and rinse the soap from his body, the water cascading over the globes of his well-formed butt, covered again with that fringe of hair.

The thought of penetrating that beautiful ass, uniting with the man, pushed Nick over the edge. His legs trembled uncontrollably and he began to shoot volleys of thick, white c*m over his chest and stomach. As he did, he involuntarily shouted, “Jesse, I love you. I love you, Jess.”