Chapter Fourteen

Roland had always had fantastic timing. When we were children, he had the habit of turning up on the nights when my parents planned on ordering takeout and he would be allowed to stay for dinner and sometimes, by that I mean most times, the night. When we were teenagers, he had the keen sense of knowing exactly when I needed him because if something had gone wrong like I had had a row with my parents or gotten bad grades in science, he managed to show up and make everything better with his presence.

That day, standing beneath the tree, was no different. I had begun to give up hope that he would come. My back had started to slide down the bark of the tree, my body ready to drop me on my backside at its base. I was ready to mope and feel sorry for myself. It was as I came to the realization that this was probably exactly the way I had made Roland feel all those years ago that I heard the bristling of leaves and grass shifting. I knew that it wasn’t the wind causing the noise of movement before the first crack of a twig underfoot.

My heart jolted in my chest at the sight of his face. He approached slowly, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He was wearing old blue jeans, worn and faded, and an old football hoodie. The name of the team was no longer readable, its print faded and chipped away. It was the most casual I had seen him look outside, since that party that Alyssa had thrown. I kind of liked it even better and, staring at him, I wondered why I had not seen him this way all those years ago. He looked more like my best friend now and even so, I felt the butterflies shift in the pit of my belly. He still had that air of confidence about him, but I could tell that he was nervous about being back here.

I couldn’t blame him.

“Hi,” I said when he had reached me at last. I stood forward from the tree. “You came.”

“Yeah, I guess I did…” Roland shrugged.

“Look, Row, I don’t need to tell you I’m an idiot because I’m pretty sure that you kind of figured that out on your own.” I ran a hand through my hair. “But here we are. I’m laying it out for you. I’m a total idiot.”

Roland arches a perfect brow, and I had to fight with myself in order not to smile at the motion. “Go on,” he says.

“I have always loved you. For a while there, I was confused about how I loved you and in what way I loved you. I always thought that I loved you as a best friend and nothing more. Of course, I still love you as a best friend. I have begun to love you as much more, though.” I paused, taking in a deep breath. My voice was starting to shake. “So, here it is. I have finally figured it out. It took me a really long time and I’m sorry for that, but here we are. I’m in love with you.”

When I had finally said it out loud, I felt an almost instant relief come over me. My chest felt as though a great weight had been lifted from it. I had said it. Even if Roland didn’t feel the same, I knew that what had just exited my mouth was truer than anything I had ever admitted before. It would be great if he did, though.

I watched his face. I had to concentrate on simply breathing – slow, in and out breaths. He looked at me for what seemed like the longest time before he finally said anything.

“You are?” His voice was soft, practically a whisper. His green eyes reflected all the vulnerability that he had been hiding away from me for the past while.

“I’m,” I said, giving him a small smile.

“You really are an idiot, Lyle.”

“Yeah, I know… But I would like to be your idiot, if you will have me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

I gulped down all the anxiety I felt rising and took the last few steps forward, crossing the space between us. Before he could say or do anything, I got down on one knee. I watched his face, the strong jaw that I had always adored, and his wide green eyes. He looked stunned and I hoped it was in a good way.

“Row,” I started. “You’re my best friend in the whole world. No one has ever been able to replace that role because no one ever could. It has taken me a long time to realize it but I now know that no one could ever replace the role you have as the love of my life either.” I pulled the small, navy blue velvet-encased box out of my jacket pocket and flipped it open. I never took my eyes off of his. “It has been a privilege to love you and I’ve decided I never, ever want to stop loving you. If you feel the same way, will you do me the honor of becoming my husband? Will you marry me?”

Roland finally pulled his hands out of his pockets. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, you idiot, I will marry you.”

He swiped away the moisture that had begun to form beneath his eyes and he held out his left hand. The band was simple, gold, and engraved on the inside of it were the words, “Our Secret Spot.” I slid it onto his ring finger, my teeth digging into my lower lip as I did.

I stood up from the ground and I didn’t get the chance to dust the dirt off of my knees before Roland was kissing me. His arms were wrapped around my neck and his body was pressed tightly to my own. My eyes fell closed as I returned the kiss and moved my hands to his waist, pulling his body even closer.

The kiss wasn’t full of passion or fervor. It was slow, gentle, and languishing. Roland led the way and soon I was being walked backward. I started with my back against the bark and before I knew it, I was sitting on the ground where I had wanted to earlier with my back pressed against the tree. Roland was in my lap, straddling me. My hands felt around on the ground and landed on one of the pebbles. I let it rest there, the other wandering up and down Roland’s spine. We were beside the pact as we kissed and the thought brought me happiness.

In hindsight, it was kind of gross that we had chosen that spot but it didn’t really matter. It was our spot. It was untouched, unsullied by anything that wasn’t nature. The thought comforted me later on.

Slowly, our hands explored further. Roland’s hands slipped beneath my blazer, tracing the skin over my shirt with his fingertips. I didn’t feel shy, this time. I knew that he really wanted me. I knew that he loved me. Nothing else mattered. I moved my hand from his spine up the back of his neck, losing it in his hair.

Eventually he broke away from my mouth, causing me to groan in protest. My groan was quickly replaced with hushed breaths as his lips moved further down, first trailing soft open-mouthed kisses along my jawline and then pressing those same kisses to my neck. Occasionally I would feel the warmth of his tongue as it darted out against my skin. I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensations. They went straight to my core, leaving me hot with desire. I felt my erection start to strain against the front of my pants.

I moved my own hands over Roland’s body. He was wearing a loose shirt for a change and I took the opportunity to slide both hands beneath the hem of his hoodie. I felt his muscles ripple beneath my touch as I moved my fingertips slowly up his bare belly, they tensed and then relaxed. It was delicious. I moved my hands all the way up his body, my fingertips gently caressing his skin until I reached his nipples. He moaned into the skin of my neck as I gently pinched the small, hard nubs, tugging at them playfully.

The sound of his moan was maddening. I removed my hands and gripped the hem of both his shirt and his hoodie, wanting to take it off of him. He sensed what I wanted and raised his arms into the air. I was keenly aware that we were outside, we were in nature, we were hidden but we were in a relatively public place. It was oddly exciting to me. I pulled his top off and before I even dropped it on the ground, my mouth was leading me to his body.

I kissed up and down Roland’s belly, the muscles once again rippling. This time it was me. I was the one doing that. I was dragging the reactions out of him and I delighted in them. I started with a closed mouth, eventually darting my tongue out between the lines of his abs. He moaned above me. A quick glance upwards and I could see that his eyes were closed. He moved his hand to the back of my neck, trailing his fingertips over my shoulders and back again.

I moved my hands to his back, along the smooth, bare skin, pulling him closer to me. When my lips reached his nipples, Roland’s entire body gyrated in my lap. I was sure to keep my eyes open, to watch his face and his reactions as I took first one bud into my mouth and sucked on it. He gasped at the sensation. I nibbled it gently, making him hum in pleasure, before performing the same actions on the opposite nipple.

That had apparently been too much for Roland to handle because he pulled away from me and leaned back. I watched as he unbuttoned his jeans and undid the zipper, pulling his hard cock out. There was a drop of precum on the head. I bit my lip, desperate to have it in my mouth. Roland stood up. He took my hands and pulled me up from the ground, only to push me back against the tree. He kissed me wilder then, moaning against my mouth. I shut my eyes, losing myself to him, our tongues darting in and out of one another’s mouths.

Roland’s hands had made their way to the front of my pants as we kissed. I heard rather than saw the click of them being undone. The sound of a zip buzzed in my ears and then his hand was in my pants, pulling my erection out. The relief was intense. Dress pants got really tight when you had a hard-on. That was short-lived as I jumped from the sensation of Roland’s hand on me. He didn’t remove it.

I moaned into his mouth as he started to stroke my cock between us. It was slow, gentle, and I wanted more. I broke away from his mouth, feeling like I couldn’t breathe from the excitement coursing through me. This time I let my mouth explore him. I still had a shirt on, but he was all golden skin and strong muscles. I kissed up and down his strong jawline. I was able to feel him clench and unclench his jaw as I did so. It was beautiful. I moved my lips along his neck, feeling his hand tighten just the slightest bit on my cock as I licked along the sensitive skin.

After a while, I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted him desperately. A quick glance between us and I could swear that that drop of precum had grown, threatening to drip off of the tip of his cock onto the floor. It would have been such a waste. I broke away from him, looking him in the eyes. He seemed confused. That wouldn’t last long.

I lowered myself onto my knees, on the ground before him. By this point, I no longer cared about ruining my brand new suit. I no longer cared about anything but pleasing the man that I was in love with. I had never wanted anyone more. Roland couldn’t keep his eyes off of me as I took the shaft of his cock into my hand. I stuck my tongue out and slowly licked the precum off of the mushroom head, making sure that he could see it on my tongue. It tasted salty. I wanted more.

Before long I took the head into my mouth, sucking on it as hard as I could. I could feel the hollows appear in my own cheeks. The reaction from Roland was all the encouragement I needed as he threw his head back, his mouth opening in a silent cry. Still, I felt his hand on the back of my head, gentle pressure. It was almost like he was using it to steady himself. I wanted to tease him. Really, I did. However, my need for him had gotten far too strong. I began bobbing my head up and down his length. He was big. My mouth stretched around his cock in the best way.

“Oh, God, Lyle. Oh,” he uttered, softly, over and over again.

I enjoyed the noises that escaped him, soft moans and whimpers accompanied by the occasional sound of my own name. I closed my eyes and lost myself to the task that I was performing. I loved sucking Roland’s dick. I ran the length of my tongue up and down the underside, making it flex and jump even while it was still in my mouth, each time I took it down. When I came back up, I used my hand to stroke the shaft while I sucked and kissed the head. My opposite hand had been fondling his balls.

I knew he wasn’t going to last much longer when his hand tightened the smallest amount on the back of my head. That was when I ducked low. I kept my hand on his shaft, pumping it up and down, as I took his balls into my mouth. I sucked on them, flicking my tongue lightly against the skin. Roland whimpered and shook above me, his legs trembling.

Before long, I moved back up to take the head back into my mouth. My hand continued to pump the shaft, the other had slid around his backside to grip his tight ass. I waited until he had uttered my name once more before slipping the tip of my thumb into his puckered asshole.

Roland swore beneath his breath and his other hand joined the one already on the back of my head. He held me there, not that I was going anywhere, as he began pumping his load into my mouth. I looked up at him. His eyes were closed and his mouth was opened, a low moan escaping on each spurt that hit the back of my throat. I swallowed it all, sucking gently to get each and every last drop out of him. I drank his cum hungrily.

When he was done, his cock started to go soft in my mouth and I pulled back. He looked down at me and I grinned, licking my lips. I was the cat who had gotten the cream – literally.

I sat back against the tree, looking up at him. He pulled his pants back up, zipping and buttoning them up, before sitting down beside me. My hands had been all over him and though I had wanted to stroke my own cock, I had not. He leaned into me and I wrapped an arm around his still bare shoulders, holding him close to me as his hand moved between my legs. I felt his nose nuzzle in against my neck.

“You’re adorable,” I said to him.

He was smiling. I just knew it, without needing to look at him. It made him all the more adorable to me. Soon his hand had gripped my cock and I sighed in pleasure, leaning my head back against the tree and shutting my eyes. I knew that there was no way that I was going to last long after all that had happened. He stroked gently, slowly, at first. He soon sped those strokes up and I knew that he was trying to get me to cum. I moaned, my hips involuntarily thrusting upwards into his hand the closer I got to my orgasm.

In the end, it was the funniest thing that made me climax. I had opened my eyes to press a gentle kiss to the top of Roland’s head. As I did, I caught sight of his hand pumping up and down my erection. Glistening in the sunshine, on his ring finger, was the ring that I had bought for him. The sight brought me so much pleasure that the first spurt shot upwards without warning, landing on the ground beside us. I turned slightly so that the rest wouldn’t land on our clothes, aiming for the ground as he kept stroking, gentler now. Once the last few drops had escaped, I sighed. I put my dick away and did my pants back up. I was utterly spent, exhausted but in a good way. There was a smile lingering on my lips and I had no wish to remove it.

“I love you,” Roland whispered against my skin.

I turned to him, using my hand to raise his chin. “I love you, too.”

I kissed him some more after that. It was the softest kiss. Our eyes were closed and we let ourselves live in the moment for a while. I sucked on his lower lip gently before I broke away.

Our kiss felt like the future did—full of promise.