The Other Man Read online

  “Kendal, baby, fuck me. Fuck me now. I want you.”

  Kendal grasped his hips and plunged his cock deep inside his ass. Aaron let out a deep grunt, and bent forward some at the waist so that Kendal could plunge deeper. Kendal closed his eyes and lost control.

  He took a long time in the shower. Aaron had dried off and left the bathroom five minutes before him. The truth was he felt shaken by what had just happened. He’d just had the best sex of his life with the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen, but it was wrong, especially since he had promised Charlie that they’d try again. When he came out, the towel around him, he stopped at the bedroom to see that Aaron was stretched out naked on his bed. Jesus.

  “Got your camera?” he asked with a smile.

  “What?”

  “I thought you wanted to take pictures of me naked?”

  “I was…kidding, wasn’t I?”

  “I don’t know. Were you?” He taunted.

  Kendal grinned wickedly, and opened his closet door. He took out his digital camera, and turned on the bedroom light.

  “Take off that towel,” Aaron said. “You want me to be hard, don’t you?”

  Kendal laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”

  “Does that mean I’m a bad boy?”

  Kendal came over to the bed, dropped the towel and reached down to kiss his mouth. “Definitely,” he replied. “Now smile, gorgeous.”

  Aaron rose up on his elbow, and grinned at the camera. He threw his hands over his head, and lifted his hips, licking his lips as he did.

  Kendal was breathing hard already. His cock was twitching in response. “Okay, that’s it,” Kendal protested, when Aaron winked wickedly at him and began slowly stroking himself. He put the camera aside and crawled on top of him, pinning his hands over his head. “You’re a tease.”

  “Guess that means now I have to please?” He lifted an eyebrow, and Kendal laughed.

  “Damn right,” he said softly.

  “My pleasure, baby.” He moved his hips suggestively against his. Kendal moaned and leaned in for his kiss.

  * * * *

  “So,” Kendal asked him as they lay there a half hour later, trying to recover their breath, “what’s it like being a firefighter?”

  Aaron took his hand in his. Kendal snuggled down in his arms and looked up at him.

  “It’s great. I love my job. I only work about ten days a month, I’m paid well, and have all the medical benefits under the sun.”

  “Only ten days a month? How come?”

  “Well we work consecutive twenty four shifts, like five days in a row. That’s when you have to stay at the fire house.”

  “Oh. And you like that?”

  “I love it. I get to take off, travel if I want.”

  “So, what’s it like a typical day? I mean, it’s dangerous.”

  “Yeah, it can be, so can crossing the street be dangerous.”

  “Not the same thing. You risk your life to save strangers. Firefighters die all the time.”

  “Yes,” he nodded. “I know.”

  “So what do you do if there’s no fire?”

  He laughed. “We’re grateful.”

  “No, really?” He punched him. “You just sit around the fire house and play cards?”

  “No. We have to maintain the equipment, ah…train rookies. We have duties at the firehouse like cooking and cleaning.”

  “You cook and clean?”

  “Yes,” he said. “We all have to. We also do fire inspections, rescue people. Sometimes there isn’t a fire, just the potential of one, like in a car crash if someone is trapped inside.”

  “What was the worst fire you ever fought?”

  “A warehouse last year between Maple and Santee. It went up in flames, and took half a block with it.”

  “God. Did anyone die?”

  “Unfortunately yes, two young kids and one of our own guys, who tried to get to them. The ceiling collapsed on them before he could get them out.”

  Kendal squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too. He had a family, and was set to take his retirement that year. It was a clandestine sweat shop, operating after hours. It was like an oven in there, no ventilation. The electrical system was faulty. The place was filled with illegal immigrant workers.”

  “That’s horrible. Any close calls?”

  He smiled. “There are always close calls. You don’t count them.”

  “How do you do it?”

  “Like you do any job I guess, you keep cool, you do your job to the best of your ability, and you hope you come out of it alive.”

  “Why do you do it?”

  “Because when you do come of it alive, and you see some family all huddled together, scared but safe, kissing and hugging each other, and someone comes up and says, ‘thank you,’… that’s why you do it.”

  Kendal kissed his mouth. “You’re something else, you know that?”

  Aaron smiled softly, holding him tight. “Go to sleep, my blue rose,” he said, kissing him on the forehead.

  Kendal’s eyes closed. A smile settled on his face, and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

  * * * *

  When he woke up, Aaron was still sleeping. Somewhere in the night, he had rolled over onto the other side of the bed. Kendal smiled, and crawled out of the blankets. He glanced at the night stand. The alarm said ten thirty. Wow. He’d slept like a log. No wonder. He went downstairs to the kitchen, and began to make coffee. When the phone rang, he raced into the living room, and picked it up immediately. He had a phone upstairs in the bedroom too, and he didn’t want it to wake Aaron. Expecting it to be the publisher he was editing for, he said, “I know, Peter, I haven’t been in touch, but the work is progressing and…”

  “Not Peter,” the voice said. “It’s Charlie, honey. I just called to hear your voice.”

  Kendal glanced at the staircase, and turned his back. He lowered his voice. “Charlie? I didn’t expect to…”

  “Well, you said we could try again and I thought tonight would be as good a time as any. Want to go out dancing?”

  “Ah, tonight? Well, I have a lot of work to do and…”

  “Please, Kendal. I really want to make this work. Come on, don’t torture me.”

  “I’m not torturing you. I…”

  “Please, sweetheart. No pressure for anything but dancing, okay? We could go for supper at our special place?”

  Kendal smiled. “The House of Lee?”

  “Un huh. We could get that chicken you like…”

  Kendal sighed. They had had such good times there. “Okay. What time?”

  “Six. You want me to pick you up?”

  “Yeah, okay. I’ll be ready at six.”

  “I can’t wait to see you. I love you, Kendal.”

  “I…I love you too, Charlie.” He closed the connection. When he turned around, he saw Aaron standing there. He had a towel wrapped around his waist. “I took a quick shower, I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No. I didn’t hear you.”

  “Um. Do you know where my clothes are?”

  “In the kitchen. I just picked them up off the floor.”

  He nodded.

  There was a long silence. “You know that I agreed to give Charlie another chance?”

  He nodded.

  “And last night, well, it was just sex, right?”

  He didn’t answer for a minute. “I can’t say what it was for you.”

  “I’ll…ah, get your clothes.”

  Suddenly he felt a hand settle on his shoulder.

  He turned around and looked at him.

  “If you really love this guy, I won’t bother you anymore.”

  “You aren’t bothering me. Can’t we just be friends?”

  Aaron paused. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about that, okay?”

  That left a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. He nodded. “Okay.”

  Aaron walked into the kitchen and began to dress. Kendal poured two
cups of coffee. “Are you hungry? We could…”

  “I’m fine,” he said, his voice a little cool. “I think I need to be going.”

  He headed to the door. Kendal followed.

  “Aaron?”

  He turned around and looked at him. “Yeah?”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Best thing is just not to say anything.”

  “But…last night was incredible.”

  “Was it?” He looked down into his eyes. “Apparently it wasn’t incredible enough, because this morning you were telling Charlie you loved him.”

  “You don’t understand. Charlie is like me, ordinary. He wants a life. We had a life, but with a guy like you, I…”

  “Look, if you want to settle for what you see as ordinary, maybe you’re doing Charlie and yourself a disservice. You’re not ordinary, Kendal, and I’m not a god. I’m just a man, a man who could love you if you’d give me half a chance. Listen to your heart, instead of your head. Forget what those voices tell you, what other people tell you about what I’m supposed to be like, and what your supposed to settle for.”

  Kendal sighed. “I hear you, but…”

  Aaron leaned over and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. “If you are ever ready to love me, let me know, until then, let’s leave it here, okay? I took a chance, I got burnt. That’s fine when you have on all that equipment I carry around, but it hurts when you’re naked. Good luck with Charlie. I hope you guys will be happy together.”

  He disappeared off his doorstep.

  Kendal stood there for the longest time, not sure what he’d heard or how to interpret it. He tried to work, but gave up, then called his friends. Later that day, Andrew and George stopped by. He didn’t give them all the details, but he told them that he’d spent the night with Aaron, and gave them a summary of what he’d said at the door before he left. “Do you think he meant that?”

  “I think it’s ego talking,” George said. “Guys like that are used to being worshipped and adored. He’ll be on to the next one in a few days.”

  “I’m not sure he’s really like that.”

  “He’s like that, believe me,” Andrew said, “we’d all be like that, if we could. I can’t believe you fucked him.”

  “Stop saying you can’t believe it,” Kendal snapped.

  “Sorry, it’s just that…”

  “I know, men who look like that don’t go for men who look like me.”

  “You’re cute,” George protested.

  Kendal sighed. “We all know what we mean, let’s drop it.”

  “Did you feel something for this Aaron guy last night?” Andy probed.

  “I think so, yes.”

  “Pure lust,” George announced. “Those guys are great for a fuck, but a relationship like that can’t last. Concentrate on Charlie.”

  Kendal nodded. They were right, of course.

  “But hot damn,” Andy whispered in his ear before they left, “bet you’ll remember that night for the rest of your life. I can only look at his picture in that calendar and imagine. Just tell me one thing, okay? Was he good?”

  Kendal smiled and rolled his eyes heavenward.

  “Did he have a big…”

  “Come on Andy,” George grabbed his sleeve and tried to pull him out the door. “Kendal has to make himself all pretty for his date tonight.”

  Kendal took mercy on Andy, and with his hands, measured out a good eight inches.

  Andy turned around and put his fist in his mouth and bit it on the way down the hall. George didn’t see him. Kendal laughed and closed the door.

  * * * *

  “You didn’t eat a lot tonight,” Charlie said, as he gazed across the table at him. “Was the food okay?”

  “It was terrific, as usual.”

  “They have new chef now, not the same one they used to have when we came here regularly on the weekends.”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “You seem distracted.”

  He was distracted. From the moment Charlie had picked him up, he couldn’t help thinking about Aaron. It was troubling him. How could he allow himself to be swayed by good looks and great sex, when his future was sitting right here in front of him? He reached across suddenly for Charlie’s hand. “We’ve been through a lot together. You’ve been my best friend.”

  Charlie smiled. “We hit a hitch, that’s all.”

  Kendal nodded. That wasn’t real, last night, in Aaron’s arms. It was a dream. It was like eating gourmet food and drinking champagne, you couldn’t do that every day. Charlie was meat and potatoes. He filled the void, and gave him comfort, security. Being with Aaron would be like being on a roller coaster, an amusement park every day, and what about other lovers? Everywhere Aaron went, represented temptation. He turned heads. Did he want to be worried about who he was sleeping with next? Could he expect a guy like that to be faithful?

  “Kendal?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m here, with you.”

  “You haven’t heard a word that I’ve said.”

  ”Sorry, I’m working on a new best seller by Simon Degree.”

  “Oh, is it good?”

  “Yes, very good, but he is always splitting his infinitives.”

  “If I knew what that meant,” Charlie laughed, “I could…”

  Kendal smiled. “Not important. What were you saying?”

  “I said, things are going to be better this time around, I feel it. We have to communicate more and…”

  What in hell was he thinking? He was thinking about Aaron as if there really could be a relationship. He knew better. Aaron was not relationship material. He wasn’t even sure why Aaron had hooked up with him in the first place. Maybe he felt pity for him. No matter what his friends thought about Aaron, he’d noticed last night that he was a sensitive caring guy. He brought him a rose, and he was affectionate. Not a lot of guys would hold you after sex. Charlie never wanted to cuddle much.

  “What do you think?” Charlie said.

  Kendal looked at him. “Yeah,” he replied, realising that he hadn’t heard him this time either. “Let’s get some coffee.”

  “Dessert?”

  “No. I’ll skip it.”

  “So, can we go to Contact?”

  “Are you going to hang out with your friends all night?”

  “Tell me, Kendal, don’t you like my friends?”

  “Frankly, no, but I’ve never prevented you from seeing them.”

  “I know, but what is it you don’t like about them exactly?” He signalled the waiter, and ordered coffee.

  “I find they’re superficial.”

  “They’re very Hollywood, I know.”

  Kendal nodded as the waiter brought the coffee. “Aaron said they were snobs.”

  “Aaron? You mean that Radcliff guy.” He was frantically stirring his coffee now.

  “That Radcliff guy?” Kendal laughed. “Now, you can just nonchalantly say that…when before you actually…”

  “I told you, I got carried away. If anyone is a snob, he is. He’s too good for us, too fucking perfect.”

  “You sound hostile.”

  “I asked him to dance once and…”

  “You did?” Kendal looked over at him.

  “Yes.”

  “He never told me that.”

  “Just how chummy did you get with this creep?”

  “Aaron’s not a creep. He’s a nice guy.”

  “How would you know?”

  “I…I told you, I talked to him. That’s how I found out he didn’t know you.”

  “He does know me. I told you, I asked him to dance, and he said no.”

  “Maybe he just didn’t feel like dancing,” Kendal muttered.

  “He thinks he’s a god. He’s not. He works in some hospital somewhere.”

  “No, he doesn’t. He’s a firefighter.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Kendal sighed. “Doesn’t matter. Why a
re we talking about him?”

  “You brought him up. You said you didn’t like my friends and…”

  “I just want to make sure that if we go to Contact, I don’t spend all night hanging out with your friends.”

  “We won’t, I promise.”

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Four

  The days dragged on, and Kendal hunkered down to work editing Degree’s latest thriller. Charlie dropped by-often, a little too often. They went out a few times to dinner and once in a while to Contact, where Charlie had a difficult time navigating between Kendal and his ‘boyfriends.’ Kendal had to admit that each time he went to Contact, he looked for Aaron. He was conspicuously absent. Several times Kendal picked up the phone to call Aaron, just to talk, and see how he was, but then would change his mind at the last minute.

  The summer was dying, giving itself over to the autumn, and Charlie was pressuring him to move back in. “I can’t stay at Robbie’s forever,” he complained one evening as they left the little Greek restaurant downtown. Kendal told Charlie he was sick of that Chinese place, and would like a change of menu. Charlie seemed surprised, but agreed. He kept teasing him, calling him his ‘wild boy.’

  “Why do you say that?” Kendal asked as they walked out into the parking lot. Frankly, it was getting irritating.

  “Well, because you’ve always been my little predictable Kenny.” He reached over and gave him a quick hug.

  Kendal shoved him away. “Really?”

  “Yeah, you like the same restaurant all the time.” He grinned, and lowered his voice, “the same position in bed.”

  Kendal bit his lip. He’d certainly forgotten all about predictability the night Aaron spent with him. There was nothing at all predictable about the way they’d made love. Shit. He wished he could get it out of his head; Aaron’s naked body, the way his cock felt inside of him, the way Kendal had run his soapy hands all over his hard, naked flesh.

  They were in the car now; Charlie was driving down the street, heading for Contact. “Do we have to go there tonight?”