Second Wind

Chapter Ten

Ben

"Are you ready for more, Joey?"

He smiled and nodded. His sweet smile alone nearly made me cum in my shorts. I knelt in front of him and pulled his shoes and socks off his feet, then removed the pants from around his ankles. I reached up and took hold of the waistband of his boxers and slowly pulled them down, being careful where the mess he'd made stuck to him a bit. When I had finished removing his clothes I looked up at the beautiful naked man in front of me. Joey looked down at me, smiling a bit nervously. His body was even better than I remembered it from that first day in the backyard; small, compact, muscular and defined. My eyes ran down his torso and locked onto his cock. It was swollen but not quite hard. I wanted to clean up the gooey mess with my tongue but I thought that might freak him out so I got up, kicked off my pants and went into the bathroom for a towel. He was still standing in the same spot when I got back. I had him sit on the edge of the bed and lie back, then knelt on the floor in front of him again and gently cleaned him.

After I'd finished mopping up, I wrapped my arms around his hips and buried my face in his groin, nuzzling his balls with my nose. I was so horny and wanted to do so much with him, but for that moment I was content to just be with Joey, to inhale his scent, to feel his heat. Yes, there was a now fully hard cock and two large smooth balls in my face, but it was Joey, that's what mattered. After a bit I felt the bed move a little and I looked up. Joey had propped himself up on his elbows and was looking down at me, smiling.

"You gonna spend the whole night on the floor? How about joining me up here?"

I didn't need a second invitation. I stood up, pulled off my shorts and climbed onto the bed next to Joey. I kissed him and pressed my body against his. He held me and ran his hands up and down my back, lightly tickling me. For a while we just made out, humping our dicks into each other, but even just doing that took me right to the edge so I pulled away and began worshipping Joey's body with my mouth, kissing, licking and nibbling him from head to toe. His body was so fine and I couldn't get enough of it. Apparently from the sound of his moans he was enjoying it, too. He rolled me over onto my back and returned the favor, copying my moves with a few of his own thrown in.

When he got down to my crotch he seemed a bit tentative, so I swiveled around so that we were in a sixty-nine position. I led the way, licking his shaft and sucking on his balls and he followed. I finally took his head into my mouth and ran my tongue around it. He did the same to me. While his dick wasn't actually as huge as it had originally felt, it was at least an inch longer than mine and much thicker. As I went down on the shaft it was the thickness that gave me a little problem so I contented myself with sucking on as much as I could and stroking the base. Joey was making a valiant effort to swallow his first cock but settled into the same routine as me, sucking on about half and stroking the rest. I couldn't decide which was better, feeling Joey in my mouth or knowing the hot mouth on my dick was his. I felt the pressure building up inside me but didn't want it all to end so soon. I wasn't sure Joey was ready but I knew what I wanted and just had to try.

I sat up, turned around and had Joey lie on his back. I lay on top of him and kissed him a while, then I pulled back and sat astride his hips, my hard dick lying on top of his. I wrapped both hands around the two organs and squeezed them together while looking down into Joey's beautiful brown eyes.

"I want you to make love to me, Joey." He looked a little confused. I reached over to the nightstand, pulled open the drawer and took out a condom and some lube. His eyes widened with understanding.

"Are you sure, Ben? I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm very sure. Don't worry, you won't hurt me." I smiled down on him.

I ripped open the condom wrapper and unrolled the rubber over his thick cock, then applied a generous amount of lube to it. I reached around behind me and lubed up my ass, using a finger to loosen up my hole a bit. As I inched forward to get into position, Joey grabbed my dick and pulled me all the way up to his face, then sucked my rod into his mouth. I leaned over his head and let him work on my cock for a minute before pulling off and moving my butt back toward his throbbing organ.

"Enough foreplay, baby. I want you to love me." I nearly bit my tongue as that slip came out. I'd meant to say 'make love' but deep down I knew that I wanted Joey to love me. He appeared to be too wrapped up in the passion of the moment to notice my slip.

I positioned the head of his cock at my pucker and slowly sat back, impaling myself on him, never taking my eyes off his. Joey gasped as he entered me. I gasped as well. He felt even thicker than he looked. While I was far from being a virgin, it had been a while, so I went slow, letting my hole adjust to the invasion of his thick pole. Finally, I was sitting on his pubes with his shaft completely buried up inside me. I leaned over and kissed him, gently at first, then more and more passionately. I could feel him get into it as he began thrusting his hips up into me. I lifted myself off him and then sat again, slowly fucking myself on his dick. Once we were both used to the sensation I stopped kissing him.

"Okay, time for you to do more than just lie there. I'm not going to do all the work," I teased.

Very carefully, I rolled over, pulling Joey with me, keeping his cock lodged inside me, until I was on my back and he was lying on top of me. I wrapped my legs around his hips and pulled him tightly into me. He got the idea and slowly pulled almost completely out of me before sliding all the way back in. He began gently pumping into me, his thrusts gradually getting faster and harder. We never took our eyes off each other. It was a connection every bit as real as that of his cock in my butt. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold out very long. I had been waiting a long time for this and now that it was happening it was so much more intense than just physical pleasure. I grabbed my own dick and began stroking it. In no time I was shooting streams of cum all over my chest and stomach. As I did, Joey stopped thrusting and I felt him swell inside me as he began to fill the condom deep inside me. When he had finished, he literally collapsed on top of me. We just lay there trying to catch our breath for a few minutes and then kissed. He slowly withdrew from me and we wrapped our arms and legs around each other and cuddled. I knew that lying in Joey's arms was right where I wanted to be.

Joey

When Ben led me into his bedroom I wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen. I'd already exploded in my shorts just from him touching me. I knew that he must want more but I wasn't sure I was up to it. One orgasm at a time had always been my limit. Once we were undressed and in bed I knew I was also ready for more, I just wasn't sure what to do. Ben took the lead and I followed, copying his moves. In no time I was into it, following my own instincts. Becky had said to just do what I wanted, to do what felt good, and I knew I wanted Ben like I'd never wanted anyone before. Everything he did to me made me want to scream in ecstasy. I hoped what I was doing to him made him feel as good.

When he asked me to make love to him I was concerned that I might hurt him. I knew that guys did that but I found it hard to believe it was physically possible. I also knew that I'd loved looking at his butt since the first time I saw him so I was willing to give it a try if he was. Once we started I needed no further coaxing. I was trying to be gentle but Ben was into it as much as I was, if not more. I don’t think I've ever had as draining an orgasm as that one inside of him. It literally took everything out of me. I lay holding him afterward, thinking about what he had said at one point. He'd said that he wanted me to love him. At that moment, I knew that I did.

The next thing I knew Ben was gently shaking my shoulder. "Joey, wake up, you've got to go home." I looked around, totally disoriented. "We fell asleep. That was quite a workout we had."

"Yeah, it sure was. What time is it?"

"A little after two. I'd love for you to spend the night but I know you can't. It's late enough as it is."

"Yeah, I'd better get going. I hate to leave you, though." We both got up and Ben threw on a robe while I got dressed. We shared a long kiss goodnight at the door and I was on my way. I snuck into the house as quietly as possible and slipped into my room. Connor was sound asleep and only wiggled slightly when I gave him a little kiss. I undressed again and got into bed, thinking about all that Ben and I had done. I'd never actually fantasized about being with a guy but Ben was certainly everything I could have wanted and more. He was just so beautiful, not just his body, but who he was.

I was expecting an interrogation when I brought Connor down to the kitchen for breakfast in the morning and Mom didn't disappoint me. At least she waited until I had Connor settled in his high chair and I'd taken a sip of coffee.

"So where did you disappear to last night?"

"I went out for a drive. I had to get away for a while. I was a little overwhelmed by the family and was also a little annoyed with the way everyone treated Ben." I said everyone but I gave her a direct look as I did. She ignored it.

"You were out late. You couldn't have been driving all that time."

"I wasn't. I ended up over at Ben's house."

Mom frowned. "You can't just run out whenever you want, you know. You've got responsibilities." She nodded at Connor.

"I put him to bed before I went out and I told Gina I was going. The whole family was here. You make it sound like I abandoned Connor."

"What were you doing at his house until three in the morning? You never stay out that late."

"Were you waiting up for me?"

"No, but knowing that you were out I didn't sleep very soundly, keeping an ear out for Connor in case he woke up. I heard you come in."

"Not that it's any of your business but Ben and I had a brandy and talked for a while and then we both dozed off. I guess it had been a long stressful day for both of us." I focused on feeding Connor so she wouldn't detect that I was leaving a little something out of the evening between the talking and the dozing.

"I don’t see why you want to spend so much time with that man. You've got nothing in common with someone like him." Mom just wasn't going to let up. I was sure we'd be having a much happier discussion if I'd been with Angie until the middle of the night.

"He's a great guy and a lot of fun to be with, Mom. He's bright, he's funny, he's interesting. You would have noticed that yesterday if you'd made an effort to get to know him, if you weren't so blinded by prejudice."

"The way he lives his life is wrong, Joey. That's not prejudice, that's a fact."

"What does it matter who he loves? It's really nobody else's business."

"Then he should keep it to himself. Why does he have to tell everybody?"

"Why not? Everybody else talks about their privates lives. Why shouldn't he? It just shouldn't matter so much, that's all."

"I don’t know where you're getting these crazy ideas, Joey. I think you're spending too much time around him and his friends."

"I'm old enough to know who I want to spend time with, Ma. Just drop it."

Mom left the room and I ate my breakfast and fed Connor. The intensity of her anti-gay feelings surprised me. I had attributed John and Vinnie's homophobia to the bit of macho swagger in their general life attitudes. They weren't bad guys; they just had this fixation on old-fashioned male/female roles and their own masculinity. I'd expected Mom and Pop to be somewhat anti-gay, given their ages and the culture they'd grown up in, but I was sure that once they met Ben they'd like him. Pop seemed to be giving Ben a chance but Mom was worse than ever. I could see there were going to be problems when it came time for me to tell them about myself.

Ben

I woke up Friday morning with a smile on my face. I was humming as I put on the coffee and let Lula out. She looked at me as if aliens had taken over my usual grumpy morning self. I couldn't stop thinking about Joey and the night before. It wasn't just that the sex was fantastic. God knows I'd been horny and wanting Joey's body for months, but it was so much more than that. I felt that we'd successfully moved up to the next stage in our relationship. I'd been afraid of how he'd react to actually having a sexual experience with me. Maybe he'd realize he wasn't really gay. Maybe the whole thing would overwhelm him and he'd freak out and back off. But even though we hadn't had a chance to talk afterwards, I sensed that the evening had brought us much closer together.

I had the long weekend off from work so I spent the morning on chores, cleaning the house and paying bills. After lunch I was still thinking about Joey so I decided to take a ride over to the nursery. I'd only been there once, on a Saturday in September and the place had been packed with customers then, but it was very quiet when I got there. Mr. Napoli was behind the counter.

"Hello Ben, nice to see you again. I hope you enjoyed yourself yesterday."

"I sure did, sir. You've got a great family and your wife is a fantastic cook. Please thank her again for me."

"I will. I'm glad you could join us. I assume you're looking for Joey. He's in the office." He pointed to a door in the back.

I knocked lightly on the door and opened it. The office was a large room with three desks, a large table and a few file cabinets. Joey was seated at a desk and Vinnie was leaning against another. They both turned to look at me. Joey beamed and Vinnie scowled. Vinnie muttered something to Joey and walked out, passing me without a word. Joey got up, crossed the room, closed the door and gave me a big hug.

"What a nice surprise! I've been thinking about you all day."

"Good thoughts, I hope."

"The best. I wish I could have spent the night."

"Me too, but I know you have to get home to Connor. It was nice waking up with you in the night, though. I'd love to be able to do that more often."

"Same here. We'll have to work on that. And maybe do a little more of the stuff that came before we fell asleep, too."

"Maybe? What do you mean, maybe?"

"Just kidding. After last night I don’t think I'll ever be able to get enough of you, Ben."

"That's just what I wanted to hear. I was a little afraid you might have second thoughts after sleeping on it."

"Yeah, I'm having second, third and fourth thoughts and they're all about being with you again."

"My thoughts exactly. How about coming over to my place for dinner tonight? I owe you a meal. It won’t be too romantic, though. I've already asked Becky."

"That's fine, Ben. You know I love to hang out with both of you. Is it okay if I bring Connor?"

"Of course, you don’t ever have to ask that. He's a sweetheart and I love seeing him." I never thought I'd talk that way about a kid. Generally I preferred to stay as far away from them as possible.

"Great, I know he loves Lula and I think he's getting fond of you, too. It'll be a fun, comfortable evening. We don’t have to have sex every time we get together although I do want to try it again sometime soon."

Joey's actions showed me he meant it. He backed me up against the door and kissed me, pressing his body up against mine. I had no objections. I returned his kiss and felt his growing erection poking into mine. After a minute I used all of my willpower to push him away.

"Let's not start what we can't finish, Joe. Somebody could walk in any moment."

"You're right, but I wish you weren't. How about I give you a tour of the place? That should cool us off."

"Sure, but let's try to avoid Vinnie. He's more than cool; he's ice cold."

"Oh, just ignore him. He and John will come around eventually. Anthony and Sal like you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not gonna hold my breath."

He showed me around the shop and the greenhouses in the back. There didn't seem to be much happening.

"Looks like this is a slow time for the business."

"Yeah, next week it will pick up again with Christmas trees, wreaths, poinsettias and other holiday stuff. Then we hit the really slow time for a few months. Most of our employees are part-time or summer help so we're pretty much down to the family now."

"What about the landscaping business? What happens to all of those guys?"

"Some are college kids just working for the summer. Most of the others are from Central America and they go home for the winter. Right now we're keeping busy with leaves and fall clean-up. In the winter all we have is snow plowing and that depends on the weather. Are you signed up for that?"

"I'm not sure. Sal mentioned it last summer but I don’t remember if I made a decision on it."

"I'd better make sure for you. I don’t see you out in a blizzard with a snow shovel."

"Hey, I can do some physical things, you know."

"Yeah, you showed me last night, but that's indoor activity."

"Okay, you take care of the outdoor stuff and I'll take care of the indoor stuff."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Joey

When I got to Ben's place, he and Becky were in the kitchen, preparing the meal. I offered to help but Ben shooed me into the family room.

"You cooked on Halloween, now it's my turn, not that it's much. I've got steaks marinating ready to go on the grill out back and potatoes baking in the oven. Like I said, basic meat and potatoes. I'm steaming some veggies and Becky is just finishing up the salad."

I took Connor into the family room and put him on the floor with Lula. They greeted each other like old friends. As I sat on the loveseat I noticed the dining room table was already set. Becky came in carrying two glasses of red wine and handed me one. I took a sip.

"Nice merlot."

"Yeah, and I didn't have to take Angie out to get it this time. How are things going with her? You're not still leading that poor girl on, are you, Joey?"

"I wasn't ever leading her on, at least I didn't mean to. I'm still seeing her on Saturdays but I bring Connor along now so she doesn't think it's a date."

"If you don’t want her to think it's a date you might try seeing her on another night. Saturday pretty much says date to most women."

"Maybe you're right. I hadn't thought of it that way."

Ben came in carrying a platter of steaks in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. He set the glass down in front of the loveseat, leaned over and kissed me and then went out the sliding doors to the patio. He was back in a minute.

"Isn't it a bit cold to barbeque?"

"Well, it's too cold to eat outside but cooking out there only takes a few minutes." He sat next to me, took a gulp of wine and kissed me again. "So how are ya, babe? I missed you."

"You just saw me four hours ago at the nursery. We've seen more of each other the past two days than any time since we met. How could you be missing me?"

He shrugged. "I just am. I can't get enough of you." He kissed me again.

Becky had been watching us from her chair across coffee table, her eyes narrowed, jumping back and forth from one of us to the other. All of a sudden she sat up straight.

"You guys did it, didn't you? You fucked!"

Ben blushed. I put my hand on his thigh and squeezed and turned to Becky. "We made love, Becky."

"Yeah, Beck, fuck is such a crude word."

"Seems to me I've heard it come out of your mouth a few thousand times, Ben, but you're right, I don’t think it applies to you two." She raised her glass to us. "Congratulations. I hope it's just the first of many."

"Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, Beck. I'm never letting this guy go." With that he kissed me again, a little more passionately, with a lot more tongue.

Ben went out to get the steaks off the grill while Becky and I brought the rest of the food out from the kitchen. As we began to eat Ben and I told her about the holiday dinner at my parent's house. Ben again tried to make light of the way John, Vinnie and Mom had treated him but I could tell it bothered him a bit. I hadn't told him about my talk with Mom over breakfast and didn't want to. I decided to change the subject.

"How was your Thanksgiving, Becky? You said your sister and her family were going to be there?"

"Yeah, they came down from Rochester and are spending the weekend with my parents."

"How is dear Nicole?"

"As big as a house, Ben. She's not due for another three weeks but she looks like she's about to explode. And her hormones have her in a foul mood. You should have been there. It would have been so much fun."

"Thank God I wasn't, she's in a bad enough mood around me without the hormonal surges."

"Why doesn't she like you, Ben? You're so sweet I can't imagine someone disliking you."

"Ben never told you how we met, Joey?"

I looked over at Ben. He looked a little uncomfortable. "Not exactly, he just said you'd been friends since college."

"Well, he was a freshman at Montclair State. So was Nicole. I was a senior in high school. Nicole was Ben's one and only attempt at heterosexuality."

"You went out with a girl?" My voice nearly squeaked in surprise.

"Am I such a big queen that you find that so hard to believe?"

"No, you're all guy as far as I'm concerned. It's just that being gay seems to be such an integral part of who you are. I can't imagine you in any other context."

"Well, it's not like I was really trying to be straight. I hadn't come out and was actually trying to pretend I was asexual, but then my best friend started dating Nicole's best friend, so we sort of got pushed together. Fortunately, she was a good Catholic girl so I wasn't under any pressure to do anything physical with her."

"So you just kind of hung out together and called it dating?"

"Pretty much. She was the perfect girlfriend for a closeted gay boy until one night when we both got drunk at a frat party and we ended up back at my dorm room. She got pretty passionate and we both got more than a little carried away. I decided to see if maybe I could function heterosexually."

"And?"

"Well, not to go into any details, but it worked and I think we both pretty much enjoyed it. But afterwards it just seemed so empty, like something was missing. I tried to back off after that because I didn't want to lead her on, but she was thinking in the opposite direction, like our having sex was one step away from getting married."

"Then you met your football player." Though Becky was obviously familiar with the story she was enjoying hearing it. I wasn't sure what to think. I couldn't imagine an 18 year-old Ben, not yet out, trying to be straight.

"Yeah, one night a couple of weeks later, Nicole went into the city with her girlfriends and I went to a party alone. I drank too much again and got picked up by a defensive tackle. We went back to his room and let's just say he didn't leave me feeling empty."

"And so you came out?"

"I didn't mean to, Joey. I mean, I'd known all along I was gay and the two sexual experiences proved that in my mind, but I still wasn't thinking about telling anyone. Like I said, I tried to cool things off with Nicole but she got pissed. She thought I was trying to dump her because all I'd been interested in was taking her virginity, that once I got that I didn't want her."

"Damn, she was a virgin?"

"We both were, Joe. Anyway, I thought that maybe she wouldn't feel so bad if I told her I was gay, that it was me that was the problem, not her. It only made things worse, though. She accused me of using her to try to prove to myself that I wasn't gay. Maybe she had something there, but I really hadn't wanted to hurt her. She was very hurt, though, and ended up telling everyone that I was gay. So I was out whether I wanted to be or not."

"So how did that make you and Ben friends, Becky? I'd think it would have been just the opposite."

"Well, you have to understand Nicole and I had a tremendous sibling rivalry going, being only eleven months apart in age and both being natural bitches. When I first met Ben I automatically disliked him because he was Nicole's boyfriend, but once he'd taken her virginity, dumped her and come out, he was my hero. We've been buddies ever since."

"Ooh, you're cruel, Becky."

"Nicole and I have gotten along fine for years now but even though she has a great husband and two, almost three, kids, she still has a bit of a grudge against Ben."

"He was her first love. I guess you can't blame her."

"I know I didn't treat her right, and I've apologized a hundred times, but I think she just enjoys playing the role of victim. I know she never really loved me."

An idea popped into my head and Ben must have seen something in my face.

"What are you thinking, Joey?"

"I was just wondering how I'd react if after last night you told me that you were straight."

Both Ben and Becky cracked up. Ben got up, leaned over and kissed me.

"I don’t think you have to worry about that, babe."