The autumn temperatures had cooled considerably since the last time Jamie had had a free weekend, but not enough for him to spoil his look by wearing a jacket. Along with Theo and Ethan, his pals who joined him on his rare night out, Jamie giggled and flirted like a teenager. You don't suddenly grow up when you hit twenty. As the evening wore on, the men drank and danced and paired off. The three friends split up, focusing more of their attention on individual blokes.
Alcohol lubricated the progression of the relationship swiftly, even though Jamie didn't need his beer goggles to find Brian easy on the eyes. He was probably early to mid-twenties, and classically tall, dark, and handsome.
Jaime had been here before; he'd already learned this dance. The coy smiles, the eye contact, the smoldering looks and eyes feasting on his body.
The licking of lips, just as one would before taking a forkful of a magnificent meal.
And Jamie wanted to dine from Brian’s plate.
It had been an incredibly long few weeks since he’d last had intimate contact with a man and, at his age, that was a lifetime. Abnormal. It couldn't possibly be healthy. If it hadn't been Brian, Jamie was damn sure he'd pull out all the stops to make sure he was going home with someone. Anyone.
As a cute twenty-year-old, Jamie wouldn't have to try too hard. His tight and trendy clubbing gear transformed him from just another checkout boy to highly desirable twink, and he knew it.
Shift work and overtime at the supermarket had kept him busy, off the streets, and out of trouble for weeks. Bringing in so much extra cash due to too many hours at work, he wasn't about to complain about weekends going by without the chance to spend it. Compared to most people his age, Jamie considered himself lucky to have a job. Not just a job, a career in retail. The supermarket chain offered excellent prospects if he worked for it.
Nevertheless, the last weekend he had free was weeks ago and still memorable. Hanging out with a mate had turned out to be the highlight of his sexual experience to date. He could only hope the night ahead would equally deliver hours of libido-satisfying men.
So many men and, at Jamie’s age, plenty of time.
Jamie fully intended to experience life to the absolute brim. He didn't want to wake up as an old man who regretted the things he hadn’t done. If anything, he wanted to be more like Dylan. Dylan threw himself at the world, living life to the fullest, experiencing everything it had to offer. Dylan had once said that some guys are amazingly hot in bed and others merely scratch the itch. The trouble was you couldn't tell by looking which guy was which, you just had to try them all and find out.
Although they had exchanged photos, emojis, and instant messages, Jamie hadn't seen Dylan in person since that last weekend they’d spent together—the pinnacle of Jamie's sexual experience. He had no idea when they might meet up again. He thought Dylan might come back to visit his family at Christmas, but he knew that might not include seeing his friends as well.
It was a little loud in the bar for conversation, so the men let their hands and bodies do the talking, communicating via dancing and close contact instead of words. Brian may have been a fantastic kisser, or it may have been that Jamie just wanted to kiss. He loved to kiss. He would've enjoyed kissing any guy whose mouth tasted reasonably fresh or who tasted of beer.
Jamie already felt as if his bones had transformed to a liquid, incapable of resisting Brian, who was an attractive man who brought with him the prospect of even closer comfort later that night. But Jamie wasn’t so far gone as to believe this was something more than it was. Brian was a warm, sexy body for the night. They both knew that was the score. They didn’t need to spell it out.
The vibration in his pocket alerted Jamie to the message. He pulled out his phone, and while tapping in his pin code, he said to Brian, "Excuse me."
Brian had his phone in hand too; Jamie hadn't noticed him pull it out. It may have been there all along. Jamie wasn’t exactly legless, but his faculties were a little impaired.
A farewell message from Theo explained he'd already left with his guy and reminded Jamie about the next day full disclosure pact. The winking emoji and “GFI” were further confirmation that Theo assumed just the same thing as Jamie: Jamie was as good as on his way back to Brian's home for the night.
It was a little too loud in the bar to do too much talking. The men let their hands and bodies communicate with close contact instead of words.
When Jamie refocused on his man, Brian looked serious as he tapped away at the screen, presumably replying to a message from his mates, something similar telling him they were on their way home and giving him a thumbs up.
"Do you live around here?" Brian asked.
"Not too far. I live with my father and brother." The implication being that it wasn't the best place to take home a guy he'd just picked up in a bar.
A personal proposal was bound to come soon—your place or mine.
It’d be Brian’s.
Jamies couldn’t take a man home for the night when his family didn’t know he was gay.
A hand on the back of his head and body up so close in invading Jamie's personal space took the evening closer to its inevitable climax. Jamie tilted his head slightly back and to one side, ready for the kiss that was on its way.
Are tongues and dicks connected, directly?
Jamie often wondered. He should have paid more attention in biology class.
He wondered because when their lips sealed together and opened together, his natural instinctive response was to push his tongue forward to meet Brian's, but his cock also stiffened and wanted forward to meet Brian's. Closer and closer, Jamie’s whole body wanted to move closer to Brian's, if only closer were possible.
Jamie remained still, and decent; they were in a public bar after all.
If the evening panned out in the way Jamie suspected it was going to, before too long they would also be on their way somewhere and sending a similar message to the one he’d received from Theo.
"I share a house with a couple of mates," Brian said. "Not the guys I was here with earlier, but my housemates are gay too. Would you like to come back to my place to chill?"
"Yeah, that will be cool."
"I don't live far either, walking distance if I wasn’t too lazy." Brian pulled out his phone again and began tapping at the screen. "I'll get us a lift home anyway. Are you ready to go?"
He looked up at Jamie, who nodded.
"Yeah. A lift is a good idea so we can conserve our energy, in case we need it later." Brian winked and turned his attention back to his phone.
Within a few minutes, they were outside. Jamie expected a minicab with the familiar company logo and telephone number on the back window and a licensed identification somewhere in the front of the vehicle. Brian clearly recognized the car and the driver and opened the back door, holding it open for Jamie to slip inside. Jamie did without question and slipped across the back seat, allowing Brian to get beside him.
"Jamie, this is Dale, he's one of my housemates."
"Nice to meet you, Jamie. I was just on my way home when you texted me, Brian. Good timing. Half an hour later and I wouldn't have been pulling my pants on for any text message."
"Lucky for us." Brian slipped his arm around Jamie's shoulders, cuddling up close and nuzzling his neck.
In a stranger's car, on their way to a destination unknown, Jamie wasn't drunk enough to let himself go completely. He enjoyed Brian's touch. The sensation of Brian kissing and nibbling along his neck and the tongue tickling his earlobe. Nevertheless, he continued to focus his attention beyond the front windscreen, noting the direction and watching as they passed along familiar streets.
It was no exaggeration when Brian said he lived close. The car slowed after maybe five minutes or so and pulled onto a tight driveway alongside another car.
Jamie doubted he could open the door on his side of the car without it crashing into the other car parked on the front yard that would once have been a small garden and was now paved over and used as driveway. So he slipped along the seat and climbed out the same side as Brian, whose door opened with only a fraction of space extra. It narrowly missed the black wheelie bins that obstructed the path from the pavement to the front door.
They were in front of a large brown brick house. It was the sort of house that would’ve been very grand one hundred years ago but was typically converted into flats and maisonettes these days, and occupied by students and low earning renters. With his keys in his hand, Dale, the driver, led the way up the two steps to the front door, unlocked it, and entered.
Brian held out an arm in the direction of the front door and turned his hand over with the gentlemanly gesture indicating Jamie should go first.
Jamie followed Dale into the hallway but didn't follow him up the stairs. There were a few doors on the ground floor, all of them open, and the sound of talking, many muffled voices over quiet music, emanated from the first room. Brian indicated the first door with a slight nod of the head. Jamie stepped toward it.
From the hallway, through the open door, Jamie could see two guys sitting on a sofa. Their proximity to each other and hands on each other's faces and shoulders suggested they'd just been kissing but had stopped to see who entered. They looked at Jamie and Jamie looked back at them.
"The party is getting started earlier tonight, Brian," said one of the guys.
"Hi," the other mumbled and nodded a welcome toward Jamie. Jamie took a step toward them, entering the room, but stopped as soon as he was inside and could see what was going on behind the door on the other sofa.
Low lighting that matched the low music didn't hide the group of men in a state of undress and full arousal. Jamie assessed the tangle of limbs with only mild embarrassment. Three men on or around the sofa, not quite fucking, but about to take things further.
Jamie hoped his expression remained neutral and did not show his internal reaction to what he'd seen. Having never been a part of such a gathering, walking in on it amidst a group of strangers was intimidating.
A group of guys getting it together on a sofa while another couple made out in the same room was, of course, pretty hot in Jamie's imagination and definitely something he thought he'd like to be a part of. At some point in the future. He wasn't, however, sure that point had arrived today. He lacked the confidence, for one thing, and he didn’t know any of these men at all, for another. He wasn’t sure whether the situation was erotic or dangerous.
Jamie wasn't sure where to go next. He didn't know whether to be pleased or make a bolt for the door. Had he stumbled into a hot heaven or a scorching hell?
Standing close to him in a way that was both a little possessive and reassuring, it seemed that Brian picked up on Jamie's uncertainty. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
He placed a hand on Jamie's arm and led him back out of the room and along the hallway to the kitchen.
He stopped abruptly and moved closer to Jamie, trapping him against the kitchen counter top, and kissed him with a forceful measure of steamy passion until Jamie wondered if he’d ever be able to breathe again.
Brian stepped back. "I should have warned you my housemates might be chilling here. We can join them if you'd like." He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he spoke and paused to look and tap at the screen. Still looking at his phone, he said, "Or we can go up to my room upstairs for some privacy."
Momentarily Jamie caught a glimpse of its screen, but then he looked away. He respected privacy, but a swift, accidental glance was enough for him to recognize the garish colors and layout of the well-known hookup app. Jamie looked away, toward the kitchen door. Maybe Brian was lining up the next guy for later tonight if Jamie turned him down.
There was a choice. A choice Jamie hadn't expected to make that evening. Without any prior warning, he was at the door to a chillout party, a.k.a. a group sex session with strangers. It would’ve been good to know in advance so he could've mentally prepared. It wasn’t that he had a moral objection to what was going on, it was more the fact that he’d been unprepared for what he was going to see in that room.
It made Jamie feel a little uneasy that Brian had taken him into that situation without warning. He must have expected it, or he’d have looked more surprised himself. What sort of guy was Brian? In fact, Jamie stood in a kitchen with a man who was still reading something on his phone, and happy to join the others or go up to his room. What sort of house was this?
Jamie wanted everything and nothing. He wasn't sure if he had enough information to process and give an informed answer.
Waiting for an answer, Brian put his phone back in his pocket and stepped closer. One hand cradling Jamie’s elbow, with the other, he ran his fingers down Jamie's cheek. "You, Jamie, look way too sweet to share, come up to my room."
Jamie nodded because he couldn't speak as Brian's lips brushed against his.
Brian took Jamie by the hand and guided him upstairs.
On the way upward, they loitered on the half-landing for Dale to pass them on his way down. "All right," he said with a grin. He bounded down the rest of the stairs like a goat on a mountainside and went into the front room to join the party.
The hand-holding dropped away as they passed through the door and Jamie followed Brian into the middle of his large bedroom.
"I'll just get stuff ready," Brian said, pacing ahead into the narrow space along one side of the bed with his back to Jamie and reaching down into the bedside locker.
Brian pulled out a whole world of implications in the form of a string of attached foil packets and a half pint bottle of lube with pump action dispenser.
They hadn't discussed what they were going to do.
Wondering if Brian considered burying the big boy optional or an essential part of the evening's bedtime fun, Jamie swallowed nervously. Even though he hadn't had first-hand experience of it, he knew some men assumed that was part of the package.
"You bottom, right? I assumed, but I don't mind if you want to top." Brian placed the condoms and lube on the bed.
Did he prefer to top or bottom? Jamie wasn't sure. Did he want to lose his rear-end virginity? Hell, yes. With Brian, tonight? Not sure.
Brian chucked his phone on the bed. It had been in his hand the whole time, and Jamie could see the bright screen face up. It wasn't in save battery mode but displayed a lively string of messages.
There was doubt in Jamie's mind. A moment later it was gone, chased away by the heavenly masculine scent when Brian returned to the foot of the bed and took Jamie in his arms. He wasn't required to answer the question about his preferred position immediately because Brian's lips covered his own and the warm, wet, soft tongue entered his mouth. Again, Jamie felt the reaction in his groin to the sensation of a gorgeous man up close who wanted him.
The surge of lust sweeping through his veins was almost enough to wash away Jamie's doubts and concerns. Almost. Brian's hands loosened Jamie's clothes and pushed up under his shirt, making contact with his skin. A part of Jamie's body that sometimes felt ticklish now felt like an extended erogenous zone.
Fuck it. Jamie wanted this, every bit of it. He wanted to experience and chase away the fears of inadequate inexperience. Stepping back and pulling off his top while kicking off his shoes at the same time, he made light work of himself on Brian's behalf.
Aware of Brian watching him as he stripped. Jamie felt like making the most of it, teasing a little, showing off his moves. Being the object of a man's attention, the central focus of his lustful gaze, was erotic.
A dancing display to show how confident he was in the bedroom before Brian discovered there were some acts in which Jamie totally lacked experience. Although he felt he'd done enough studying to know how it all worked in theory.
If Brian wanted to fuck Jamie's ass, then great. He’d show him what he's got.
Jamie turned his back and shimmied out of his jeans, rubbing his hands over his specially chosen underwear. He glanced at his shoulder, wanting to see Brian's expression as he watched. But Brian had looked away.
Okay, Brian wasn't on the same page; he just left Jamie to remove his clothes and Brian himself had already stripped out of his. He sat on the foot of the bed completely naked, his cock in one hand, and his damned bloody phone in the other.
Jamie was down to his underwear hoping he looked seductive, but this guy was still focused on his next hookup.
In an instant, Jamie went from ready to do this to completely sickened by the thought of doing it with Brian. His jeans were around his ankles, but he hadn't stepped out of them. He pulled them back up and redid his fly with great haste. He turned to face Brian, who hadn't looked up and noticed that Jamie striptease had turned into reverse order. Jamie wasn't sure how this was going to go. As he crammed his feet back into his footwear and picked up his top, Brian finally looked up.
"I'm sorry, I need to leave." Jamie's head raced for the best possible way to get out of the situation. He didn't know Brian well enough to know whether he could turn nasty. Rather than antagonize the guy and tell him what he really thought, Jamie sought sympathy.
"I've just come over feeling really sick and need to get some fresh air," he whined.
Brian's facial expression was hard to read.
Jamie panicked about how this could turn unpleasant. "I'm not feeling well; I think I'd better leave."
Jamie slipped into high alert, knowing this situation could turn not just unpleasant, but dangerous. He was aware that violence and rape were not uncommon, and he didn't know Brian well enough to know how he'd react.
"I feel like I'm going to vomit. My stomach is churning." Inspired, he continued. "It feels like stuff's gonna explode out of me at both ends." No one wants that in their bedroom, and it made a considerably better excuse than ‘not tonight, darling, I've got a headache.’
After the initial surprise, Brian's face softened into sympathy and concern. "What can I do? Do you want a glass of water?" He proceeded to pull his own clothes back on.
"I think I need to get some fresh air." Starting to panic, Jamie just wanted out of there.
"I'll come out with you, of course."
"You don't have to. I'll just stand outside for five minutes and see how I feel."
If your stomach is as bad as you say, it's not clearing in five minutes. Do you want to take up occupation in one of the bathrooms? Luckily, we've got two in this house. I'll stay with you."
Brian seemed genuinely concerned. Which was sweet, and Jamie felt a little guilty about his lies and his moment of fear that Brian might turn into a sex pest. Nevertheless, there was no point in staying in this house. The green light on sexual experimentation had firmly turned to red for Jamie; he couldn't envisage physical matters progressing with Brian at all. Not ever.
Jamie couldn't get down the stairs and out of the front door fast enough, and yet he couldn't jog out and appear too eager or healthy.
Brian insisted on walking with Jamie. And Jamie insisted a taxi wouldn't be a good idea; after all, what if his stomach suddenly evacuated its contents on the back seat, or worse.
"No. The fresh air already feels like it's helping a little. I don't want to ruin your night. I am not far from home; I can walk from here."
"If you're sure? Call me. You know where I am," Brian said.
Jamie didn't have Brian's number but decided not to point that out. He didn't know whether Brian was aware of it or not. Brian may have been aware of the lack of number exchange and simply making polite conversation. At last, they were on the same page.