Another Believer (5 page)

Looking around, Jonah smiled, suddenly self-conscious. Had he ever had a conversation as critical as this one in less promising surroundings? What the hell. He’d already committed--he might as well follow through. “What about you? Are you at all interested?”

“I would have thought we just established that pretty conclusively.” David’s color was already high, just beginning to fade from his post-orgasm flush, so it was hard to tell if the pink currently staining his cheeks was new. What it was, though, was adorable as hell.

“Maybe we should use the scientific method and put it to the test.” Although he’d been smiling when he’d said it, Jonah could tell instantly he’d made a mistake when David immediately reverted back to the ultra formal, talking-to-a-stranger body language that Jonah had spent all morning coaxing him out of.

“Look, I can tell this isn’t going to work. It’s… You’re too… Thanks for, um, everything. I’m just going to go back to my seat now.”

David turned with more of the quick, economical movements Jonah had admired since they met and opened the door. Jonah’s legs were longer, though, and he was after David in a heartbeat.

“Don’t go. Please. David. Look, that was stupid.” David wouldn’t look up and Jonah found himself talking to the top of David’s head. All of that inky black softness was inches from Jonah’s nose and he wanted to run his hands through it, see if it could possibly feel as soft as it looked. He’d like to brush his fingers along the close-cut sides before taking David’s head between his hands and kissing the man again.

“David?” With the door open, though, anyone could see in, and already David’s gaze was straying nervously in that direction.

Glancing up briefly, the soft, deep brown of David’s eyes immediately sucked Jonah in. He couldn’t wait for the chance to sit and gaze into them for hours on end--beginning immediately after they’d had sex, ideally.

“What?”

The wary, defensive look was back in David’s eyes, though, and Jonah wondered what it would take to actually earn David’s trust. “I know I’m not handling this very well. It’s just that I really want something to happen here. What can I say to get you to believe me?”

“I don’t know. I--”

“Can I help you gentlemen find something?”

The steward who’d checked their tickets earlier stood in the hallway outside. In his hands he carried a pile of clean towels, and he looked eager to carry on with his mission, but not before he’d shooed the pair of misguided explorers back the way they’d come.

“Umm…”

“As a matter of fact,” Jonah hurried to get his story in before David could contradict him again, “what we were doing was checking out the accommodations.”

David’s eyes widened and the eyebrow went up, but he stayed mercifully silent while the attendant eyed them skeptically and tried to look past them into the shower stall.

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” Jonah dropped an arm around David’s shoulders to keep him from sidling away and smiled his most winning smile. “We realized that if we pooled our money, we could probably get one of the smaller compartments--what are they called?”

“Compartments? You mean a roomette?”

“That’s the one. We were looking for you, actually. Can you tell us about availability?”

His expression reflecting exactly what he thought about the likelihood of Jonah’s story, the attendant shifted the stack of towels under one arm and reached into an inner coat pocket. Pulling out a folded, laminated card, he consulted it briefly before tucking it back into the same pocket he’d taken it from. “There might be something open. I’d need to double-check with the steward before I could let you have it, though.”

“Could you do that? That would be great. Wouldn’t that be great, David?”

“Jonah...”

David’s voice had a hint of what-the-fuck in it that Jonah hurried to cover. “I know, I know. It’s my fault--I didn’t get my ticket in time and messed everything up. Totally my fault. But they might still have something. It doesn’t hurt to ask. So, do you have any idea if you do?” He turned back to the attendant.

“I’ll have to check and get back to you.” The look he shot them was full of meaning, and Jonah got the message as the man stepped back to give them room. “I know where you gentlemen are sitting. I have to finish my rounds first, but I’ll find out and come let you know.”

“Thanks. That’d be great. C’mon, David, let’s get out of here.”

Taking David’s hand, Jonah led them back the way they’d come, the two of them barely rounding the corner before David began whispering furiously at him. “Are you trying to get us thrown off the train? Maybe
you
have the money to get to Portland some other way, but I don’t.”

“Oh, listen to you. What happened to Mr. Go-anywhere-you-want-as-long-as-you-look-like-you-know-what-you’re-doing, huh? Would you stop worrying? Everything’s going to be fine.”

Having cleared the stairs back up to the second level, Jonah could drop an arm around David’s shoulders, smiling to himself at just how great it felt. David’s body was amazing. Perfect. Jonah’s hard-on had faded while talking to the porter, but just the thought of getting a little privacy and running his hands over David’s naked body was reviving it.

“I can’t afford to screw up.” Flashing an annoyed look up at Jonah, David accepted the arm over his shoulders without comment.

“No one’s going to screw up, so relax, okay?”

“Easy for you to say.”

Jonah rubbed David’s arm and pulled him a little closer. Leaning over, Jonah buried his nose in David’s hair, inhaling the lingering scent of David’s shampoo as well as the warm fragrance of David’s skin that lay beneath. “I love the way you smell.”

“Stop distracting me. I’m pissed.”

David’s words would have carried a little more sting if he hadn’t been leaning into Jonah, rubbing his head on Jonah’s shoulder like an affectionate cat.

“Yeah, I figured. I say we go find our seats and hang out until Porter Dude finds out if we’ve got the room or not. We can always go to Plan B if the room thing doesn’t work out.”

“Plan B? I can’t wait to hear.” The aisle narrowed up ahead, so side-by-side wasn’t possible. David slipped out from under Jonah’s arm, tossing a smirk in Jonah’s direction as he moved to take the lead.

Jonah squeezed one denim-covered butt cheek as David passed, grinning when David tried and failed to evade it. Waiting until they dropped into their seats to lean over and whisper in David’s ear, Jonah couldn’t resist adding a little lick. “Plan B would be finding a blanket and waiting until they dim the lights tonight.”

The look of horror that came over David’s face wasn’t a shock. For all of David’s breeziness on the subject of rule-breaking, Jonah had him pegged as a basically law-abiding citizen. The little accompanying shiver he’d detected was gratifying, though.

“You’re nuts! Do you know how much trouble we could get in?”

Seated next to David, Jonah ran his fingers down the inside of David’s arm, stroking the soft skin there as he gazed into David’s dark eyes. “Nah, the worst it could be is indecent exposure or lewd in public. Don’t worry, though--we won’t get caught.”

“Do I even want to know how you know that? You’re right we won’t get caught, because we won’t be doing any of that.”

Jonah slipped his hand down to David’s knee, stroking there with the same rhythm he had used on David’s arm. This time, though, his fingers strayed up under the first couple of inches of David’s shorts, creeping under the material to toy with the warm skin he found there. “It’s all up to you, I promise.”

Despite doing his best to look indignant, David’s eyes gave him away, straying again and again back down to where Jonah was touching him. The little flare of his nostrils as he breathed in Jonah’s scent and the way his tongue flicked out periodically, as though wanting to taste, only confirmed that David was much more interested than he wanted to let on.

“Besides,” Jonah continued, “I feel pretty good that the steward’s going to come through for us and get us a room. Meanwhile, I’m going to use the time to go over my stuff from the school--I know I’m forgetting something. What about you? You finally going to read your magazine?”

David’s neck was right there, though, calling to Jonah. So he leaned in and placed an open mouthed kiss on it, licking lightly at the slightly salty taste of it, letting it roll around on his tongue. Biting, tasting, Jonah hummed with pleasure. David held himself rigid at first, only gradually relaxing into Jonah, eventually even sighing softly.

“I’m going to… I’m going to, um, yeah, read that article now. Cut it out, though. I need to focus.”  David tilted his head, giving Jonah more room.

Kissing down to the skin where David’s neck met his shoulder, in between bites Jonah murmured in agreement. “Yeah, that looked interesting. God, you taste good. I can’t wait to see you naked. I want your dick in my mouth again. You feel amazing.”

“
Gah!
You can’t just say things like that.” There was a disconnect between David’s words and his actions, though, because his hand came up to Jonah’s head, gripping Jonah’s hair and holding him in place.

“It’s going to happen. Can’t you feel it?”

“Stop distracting me.” David pulled away, still hanging on to Jonah’s hair, but angling Jonah’s head as well as his own to make eye contact. “You’re driving me crazy and we’re totally in public. Don’t you get it? A few more seconds and I’ll be jumping you--and that could cause problems.”

“It wouldn’t be that big a deal. Honestly, nobody cares.” Personally, Jonah thought it sounded like an excellent idea, but he cut David some slack. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if David had a nervous breakdown. When David opened his mouth to protest, Jonah preempted him. “But I see your point. If you get your magazine and read, I promise I’ll leave you alone. At least until the steward comes back with news about the room.”

Sitting up straighter, David adjusted his clothing, and Jonah pretended not to notice when he tugged on his shorts to give himself more room. He reached for his magazine and began thumbing through it, paying loving attention to diagrams and illustrations like most guys would a porn mag.

After going for his own reading material stashed in the duffel below his seat, Jonah paused a moment to admire: the thick, black silk of David’s hair that he longed to get his hands in again; the smooth curve of David’s ear that tempted his teeth; the slight arch of David’s neck that suggested a head and mouth bent to other activities.

David must have sensed Jonah’s attention, because he looked up from his magazine. “What?”

Jonah had promised, though.

Sort of.

“Nothing. Just thinking.”

***

Maybe it was the post-orgasm lassitude finally catching up with him, but David found himself having a hard time keeping his eyes open. Over the summer vacation he’d gotten used to staying up late, tinkering with his robots and playing
World of Warcraft
online with his buddies, but today he’d had to be up early to catch the train. So it could have been that, too.

Regardless, neither the article on brushless motors nor a write-up on the hosts of his favorite geek-TV show testing a new robot system could hold his attention. Instead, David’s thoughts kept wandering to endless replays of Jonah’s mouth on his dick, thoughts of how very much he’d like to have that happen again--repeatedly and at great length-- and wondering what universal laws of nature would have to be turned on their heads to make that happen in any known reality.

Surrendering to the inevitable, David braced his elbows on the seat’s armrests, folded his hands together and used them to prop up his chin as he closed his eyes and daydreamed. He’d be naked, of course. On a table, or countertop, maybe. Near a window, because the sun would be shining through onto Jonah’s hair, picking out the hundred different shades of reddish-brown. David wanted to kiss him so bad.

He couldn’t, though, ‘cause Jonah’s mouth was full of David’s cock. Since it was a dream, Jonah’s lips were stretched wide, because in real life David just wasn’t that big. It was a pretty awesome great dream, though. Jonah’s hands were on David’s ass, holding him in place, moving him just so.

Vaguely aware somewhere in the back of his mind that he was turning himself on, David knew he was getting hard again, probably. Next to him Jonah shifted. Their shoulders rubbed and David soaked up the heat from Jonah’s arm; dragged a slow, prolonged breath into his lungs, inhaling the erotic scents of Jonah’s skin and hair and letting them roll around inside him.

“--really?” Jonah’s hushed voice beside him startled David, jerking him back to wakefulness. “That sounds great. Let me just double-check here. David?”

Jonah touched David’s hand. Opening his eyes, David rubbed his neck and tried to haul himself back from dreamland and somehow project alertness. “Hmm?”

“They had a last-minute cancellation on one of the compartments. I say we go for it. You could stretch out and get some real sleep. What do you say? Want to do it?”

“Um… how much?”

Jonah named a number and David tried not to react. Something must have showed on his face because Jonah immediately leaped in to rescue the plan. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll put it on a card and you can pay me back later. It’s no big deal.”

Running the numbers in his head, David did some rough calculations of how long it would take him to pay Jonah back. To squeeze just fifty bucks a month out of his budget would mean even more ramen noodles and tuna fish than he normally ate. And he’d been trying to cut back, because the trans-fats were off the charts in that stuff. The sodium content alone--

“David, forget it, let me take care of it. I’ll just--”

“No, you won’t. If I’m going to do it, we’re going halves or I’m not doing it at all.”

“Okay, okay. We’ll figure out the details later, then. Cool.” Turning back to the attendant, Jonah thanked the man and got directions to the room. The attendant took the credit card Jonah pulled from his wallet and left with it, while David caught himself checking out the quality of the leather goods. Jonah must be doing okay on money to be able to charge the cost of the room without taking even a minute to figure out where the money to eventually pay for it was going to come from. “So… I guess just grab our stuff and head down there, huh?”

“I guess.”  David shoved his magazine inside his backpack and zipped it closed while, next to him, Jonah was tucking his papers back inside the envelope he’d pulled them from. The duffel Jonah eventually put everything in had obviously seen a lot of use, but on closer inspection, David spotted the workmanship of the leather straps and the dull gleam of real brass buckles.

Crap.

Not only was Jonah tall and good-looking, he obviously had money, too.

Life was so not fair.

Standing back, Jonah let David lead the way, but dropped an arm around David’s shoulders as soon as the corridor widened and they could walk two abreast. Jonah’s skin was warm, that arm heavy against David’s neck, and when David glanced up, he was struck again by the utter perfection of Jonah’s features. The straight, almost aristocratic nose; the artlessly tousled mop of hair; the full lips, with just a hint of chapping--the kind that probably came from sailing the family yacht.