Ethan shut the door and turned back to Derrick, who had just put Sunshine down on the floor. “Please don’t leave me,” he blurted. Derrick froze.

He hadn’t meant to say it. He had meant to ask what Derrick thought of the detective and if he had hopes that they would catch the stalker, but everything he had been feeling that day seemed to have compounded until he felt he was going to boil over. He hated the uncertainty he felt about whether or not Derrick would leave him. Today at the park was something he had never experienced before. He had always been the strength and fortitude for Derrick, but somehow the tables had turned, and Derrick had initiated everything. He had spent the better part of the afternoon wondering if the intimacy had been to say goodbye.

“What?” Derrick said.

“I just…today at the park. It was different,” he said. He looked around, wondering what else to say. Of course it was different, but that didn’t seem like the right way to phrase it. He ran his hand through his hair and cleared his throat. “What I mean is, it was different, but it wasn’t bad. I just was worried that after meeting the detective you might—well. It might have been a way to say goodbye or something.” He stumbled over his words. He had never been the kind of guy to air his emotions or entertain his insecurities, but he was exhausted and at his wits end with Derrick’s unusual behavior.

“I’m not going anywhere. Not tonight at least,” Derrick said quietly.

Ethan let himself sink down onto the bar stool where he had been sitting before. He pulled over a decanter of wine and grabbed a crystal glass off the rack on the island, pouring himself a healthy amount. He sipped it and watched Derrick over the rim of the glass. How had it come to this? He felt foreign, like he was invading his own home. And he felt like Derrick was here, but somehow not here at the same time. Was he ready to bolt at any moment? Ethan felt that if the stalker threw a brick through the window right now, he wouldn’t even care. He would sit here and let it bounce off the living room carpet and just stare at it while Derrick freaked out and shouted. What kind of a man did that make him? He was just so tired, and he felt like he had little left in him to fight. Derrick seemed to gain a renewed sense of vigor with the detective’s rousing speech, but the more the detective questioned them, the more tuned out Ethan had felt.

He had reread the notes as he waited for Derrick to finish giving Detective Knott the tour. He felt sickened by each one and, for the first time since it had happened, he felt empathy for Derrick’s response. He had never really understood Derrick’s tendency to take flight. Ethan had always been the fighter, sticking up for first his best friend and then his boyfriend. Now he felt as if the tables had turned.

“We’re going to get through this,” Derrick said softly, walking up to him and standing between his legs. Despite himself, he felt his dick harden in his shorts at the nearness of Derrick. Nothing was ever going to change the physical response he felt for his fiancé. He wondered if harassment and fatigue could change his mental state so drastically it altered his emotional state, though. Then he snorted at the preposterous thought. He would never stop loving Derrick. The question was, could he love him enough to let him go if things became more sinister and dangerous? For that matter, had it already taken a turn for the worse, since the stalker had upped his game and gone after Derrick’s clinic? Ethan felt the tension in his shoulders increase, and he realized, as he wrapped his arm around Derrick’s waist and pulled him so they were flush against each other, that he didn’t care that he was avoiding the urgent issues at hand.

Ethan leaned into Derrick and drove his tongue into his mouth in a hot, possessive kiss. He heard Derrick moan and felt the vibrations on his lips as Derrick sank into his arms. Ethan stood up from the stool. He began walking Derrick backwards toward their bedroom, as they took turns tripping over Sunshine, who was prancing around their ankles in delighted anticipation. Normally, Ethan would have shut the door on her, but given last night’s circumstances, he just backed Derrick toward the bed as the dog moved around them. He would just have to try his hardest to ignore the fact that she sat and stared up at them as Ethan sank to the bed and pulled Derrick down onto his lap.

Derrick was still fully clothed and, despite how constricting his shorts had become, Ethan needed Derrick to be naked, vulnerable, and at the whim of his touch. He needed to put Derrick in a position where he couldn’t leave him. Preferably under him with his legs wrapped around Ethan’s waist as he drove into Derrick, claiming him again and again.

As if sensing his urgency, Derrick tried to stand, despite Ethan keeping his arms locked around him. Ethan’s urge to dominate went deeper than ever before. He needed Derrick to need him on an emotional and mental level too.

Ethan reached down and unbuttoned Derrick’s pants. He pulled Derrick’s semi-hard cock from his pants and boxers and began stroking him as he took his time exploring Derrick’s mouth. He continued to stroke him, and felt Derrick’s body grow more and more frantic as the friction began to overwhelm him. Ethan didn’t know why. He wasn’t feeling vindictive or cruel. He just needed to be in control, to edge his lover to the point of the madness he himself felt whenever he thought of Derrick.

His palm was slick with pre-come from the tip of Derrick’s cock. It was weeping, begging for release, as Derrick’s face and neck grew hot and flushed. Several times, Derrick tried to break off the kiss and beg Ethan to finish him off, but Ethan knew exactly where he wanted him and how he wanted him when he did, eventually, let him come.

Derrick was squirming in his arms, and Ethan broke off the kiss to lick down the column of his neck. He nuzzled his way down the collar of his polo shirt and sucked at the Derrick’s pulse. It wasn’t long before Derrick’s hips were pumping up and down as he thrust his dick up into Ethan’s hand, as Ethan knew he would. This was the spot that drove his fiancé to madness. Derrick’s moans and cries of pleasure were sharp in the silence of their bedroom. Ethan occasionally heard Sunshine whine, but she thankfully remained on the floor.

“Oh god, Ethan! I’m going to—”

“No, you’re not!” he growled in Derrick’s ear, nipping his earlobe. He let go of some of the pressure on Derrick’s dick and slowed his pumping. The sound of frustrated arousal that came from Derrick made Ethan shudder as a jolt of pleasure ran straight down into his own cock, tightening his balls and making them ache uncomfortably. It was only fair he suffered a little alongside Derrick. That was the point, though, wasn’t it? They had been suffering for several weeks now, and by whose hand? A stalker? Ethan had had enough of that notion. He wanted control of his lover’s responses again, and he felt like the only way he was going to feel any reprieve from the anxiety of his thoughts was to literally take back that control in the palm of his hand. He grinned into Derrick’s neck as he ground his hips and the bulge of his erection into Derrick’s ass. It was sweet torture being fully clothed, unable to be skin to skin. He was certainly going to take his time with this, despite his brain screaming at him that their situation was urgent.

He stood up abruptly, catching Derrick as he stumbled. He raised Derrick’s arms above his head and quickly whipped off his shirt and followed with his pants. Derrick kicked off his shoes and was just reaching for his boxers, but Ethan stopped him.

“Not yet. I’m not done taking my time.”

Derrick made a noise halfway between a whimper and a whine and it made Ethan grin as he pushed him gently back towards the bed, making him lie down on his back. Ethan made short work of his own clothes, leaving his boxers on as he slowly climbed onto the bed and on top of Derrick, whose eyes were wide, his pupils dilated with desire. Ethan slowly worked his way up Derrick’s body. He especially loved the feel of Derrick writhing under him as he licked his ribs and kissed up the sides of his torso. He knew it was a cross between a tickle and pleasure, and Derrick especially loved his nipples played with, so Ethan took his time, stopping to suck on each. By the time he was back at Derrick’s lips, there was a noticeable wet spot on the front of Derrick’s boxers, where Ethan had tucked him back into the material to sweetly torture him for a little bit longer.

Derrick was involuntarily rubbing his erection against Ethan’s, which was causing Ethan to lose focus on what he was doing as he once again pinned Derrick by his wrists and began sucking at his neck. He wanted him to have a hickey. He knew Derrick would protest and chastise him if he had to cover it up, but he had the overwhelming desire to put his mark on Derrick, even if it was a small one. It was his way of professing to the world, mine. He suckled at the spot he had been at before, reddening the area with his lips. Derrick seemed to catch on to what he was doing, because he began to struggle feebly as he laughed and then succumbed to moans with a particularly hard draw from Ethan’s lips.

When Ethan was sure he wasn’t going to pull away, he let go of one of Derrick’s wrists and let his hand trail down his chest, then stomach, to the hem of his boxers. He felt Derrick’s stomach quiver under his palm. He loved the soft flesh here. Where most men were hard with rigid muscles, Derrick had a slight poof of flesh that was soft to the touch, and Ethan had discovered it to be very sensitive. He slowly traced the area with the pad of his thumb while he continued working on the love bite on Derrick’s neck. He loved teasing Derrick this way because he knew his lover wasn’t going anywhere until he had been fully, deeply satisfied.

Derrick moaned and tried to shift his hips so his dick would come in contact with Ethan’s palm, but Ethan had other ideas as he finally let go of Derrick’s neck. “Don’t move,” Ethan whispered as he kissed Derrick’s lips softly. He nipped at his lower lip until Derrick nodded and remained still on the bed.

Ethan got up and went to his dresser, pulling out two silk ties and a bottle of lubricant. He returned to the bed, grabbing one of Derrick’s wrists and securing it to the post at the head of the bed, followed by the other. Derrick looked up at him, his eyes wide and his body taut with desire. They had played at light bondage before, but Ethan had typically shown mercy far sooner than this, allowing him to come and then taking his time as he explored Derrick’s body. Tonight, he had slowly teased Derrick into frenzied need, but now Ethan was in full control, and he wanted to keep Derrick here forever. He knew that was impossible, but the thought aroused him, possibly more than any physical touch could.

Ethan knelt over Derrick and slowly dragged his boxers down over his hips. Derrick lifted his hips so he could slide them under his ass and then drop them on the floor. Ethan thought a moment and then, grinning, whispered, “Be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Derrick cried, as Ethan dashed into the living room.

He paused long enough to consider the window. If anyone was watching him now, the stalker, he realized in that moment that he didn’t care. He had more important things to take care of, namely his fiancé and his pleasure, than letting a stalker come in between them that night. If the guy wanted to bust another window, let him. He was going to lock himself away in the bedroom with Derrick, his Derrick, until they were both satisfied.

Ethan grabbed what he needed and then returned to the bedroom. He saw the look of uncertainty that had appeared on Derrick’s face in the short time it had taken Ethan to get what he needed, and he hid what he had gone to retrieve. He quickly bent over Derrick’s supine form, kissing him and using his hand to work him back into a full state of arousal. It didn’t take long. Derrick’s dick had been lying hard against his stomach, and when Ethan touched him, he shivered under his touch. Derrick instantly grew hard when Ethan leaned over and lightly blew on the tip, jerking on the bed at the feel of the cool air blowing against his heated skin.

“Ethan!” he cried through gritted teeth. “Touch me!”

Ethan grinned as he grabbed the item he had dashed into the living room to get. He let it wisp up over Derrick’s thighs before lightly dancing it across the underside of Derrick’s cock. He tickled his balls and let it toy along the crease of where his thigh met his torso, and Derrick’s whole body was arcing up, trying desperately for more contact with the object Ethan had retrieved.

It was a feather from the board in the living room. Derrick had seen a few birds at the clinic, and when one shed, if it was a rare breed, he brought the feather home, cleaned it, and put it on the board with the rest of his collection. It wasn’t hard to carefully unpin the feather and bring it back to the bedroom. He teased Derrick all over, until his face and neck were flushed and the tip of his cock was swollen and beet red.

Ethan finally took pity on Derrick when his cries of desperation came broken and pleading. He bent over, sucking the tip of Derrick’s dick into his mouth. It was unlike the attention Derrick had given him at the park earlier that day. All it took was Ethan swirling the tip around in his soft cheeks before Derrick couldn’t control the orgasm any more. The bed creaked as he strained against the silk ties. His body contorted and jerked up as Ethan let his lips and tongue sink deeper and deeper around Derrick’s cock, swallowing him up.

Derrick lay shivering on the bed after his orgasm, and Ethan knew if he were to touch him now, the intensity would be too much, so he took care when he raised Derrick’s legs off the bed and wrapped them around his waist. Ethan popped the lid on the lube and slowly worked himself against Derrick, slickening the flesh between them. He allowed himself to gently slip into his fiancé. Derrick looked up at him with a glazed look in his eye as he relaxed around him and let Ethan take his pleasure. Ethan sank into him again and again, with agonizingly long, slow thrusts that sent him deeper and deeper, until he was all the way in. He didn’t want to pull out and instead opted for leaning forward over Derrick, who kissed his forehead, cheeks, neck, and lips. Anything Derrick could get his lips on received kisses as Ethan ground into him, trying to imprint himself into his fiancé.

Ethan felt Derrick clench his muscles around him and it was the cause of his own undoing, as Derrick’s lips found his tongue and sucked at it, refusing to let go. Ethan moaned and collapsed onto Derrick, breathing hard yet still unable to let go of his lover. The only reason he did, eventually, was for fear of suffocating him. Ethan rose, carefully untying the ties, and put them and the feather on the nightstand. He gathered Derrick in his arms and they fell fast asleep together. The last thing Ethan thought about was that he was eternally grateful to be back in his bed with his fiancé, not sleeping in the foreign guest room, where he felt more out of place than anywhere else he had ever been.

Derrick snuggled into his chest, snoring lightly, and Ethan felt the slight pressure of Sunshine jump up onto the bed and lay down at the foot just as he was dozing off to sleep. He felt, for the briefest moment, content and happy. Like they were a family again and all was right with the world. It was with this thought that he was able to drift off to sleep and put stalkers and harassers, private investigators and bachelor parties from his mind. He was deeply in love with his fiancé, and there wasn’t anything in the world that was going to take that from him, not even Derrick himself.