Ex's and O'S (16 page)

Les stifled a groan as he shifted his feet and slumped against the wall. He had to quit thinking about last night…and this morning. He’d had a near-constant erection all day, and Les found himself both amused and annoyed at his lack of control—and maybe, if he was honest, a little scared by it. After so many years of being able to ignore his body’s sexual needs, he now couldn’t seem to think of anything else.

Maybe, he mused, the lack of blood flow to his brain had something to do with that.

As he turned and tried to unobtrusively reposition his dick so that it wasn’t quite so EX’S AND O’S

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painfully trapped by his clothes, he heard a soft chuckle behind him. Les’ cheeks burned as he jerked his hand away from his erection and peered over his shoulder. Josh looked up at him with amusement dancing in his vibrant green eyes.

“Got a problem there?”

Les turned away and closed his eyes, wishing he’d asked someone else to take his

shift.

“Don’t be like that,” Josh said from much closer, “it’s not like you’re the only guy to get a woody.”

Les groaned, his skin warming so much he half expected it to burn right off his flesh.

He couldn’t possibly be more embarrassed.

“Les?” Josh’s hand lighted on his back, rubbing gently. “Really, why don’t you take a break with me? It’s slow and Misty can keep an eye on things. We can go to the break room or sit outside on one of the benches for a few minutes and talk.”

Les was torn for all of a second. He was normally a very private man, but something in Josh’s warm voice combined with that gentle touch on Les’ back made him feel

uncharacteristically loose-tongued.

“Okay,” Les croaked, unsure if he was more shocked by his acquiescence or the fact that Josh cared enough to offer to lend an ear.

“‘kay, I’ll go tell her. You want to hit up the break room or go outside?”

Josh sounded so happy Les risked turning half way around to look at him. Who knew agreeing to confide in the smaller man would make him almost glow like that? “Outside,”

Les mumbled, thinking that was he could at least keep an eye out for new arrivals.

Josh’s grin brought up dimples as he winked at Les. “All right, go on and I’ll meet you outside.”

Les nodded and edged around Josh, a kernel of eagerness spurring him to walk faster.

He wasn’t the only one, apparently, because he’d barely managed to sit on the bench, and was in the process of adjusting a certain unruly part of his anatomy again, when Josh sprinted over and plopped down beside him.

Josh chuckled as he patted Les’ knee. “Sometimes those things just refuse to behave, don’t they?” He eyed Les’ groin and waggled his brows before looking him in the eyes. “So what—or should I say who—has your dick in a twist?”

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Les hesitated, so out of his element now he couldn’t think of what to say. Wasn’t it tacky to talk about what went on between lovers? Les had heard plenty of guys going on about one night stands and such, but what were the rules when the person was more than that?

“Hey,” Josh leaned over and bumped his shoulder against Les’ arm, distracting him from his thoughts. “It’s okay, you know. Whatever it is, or whoever it is, you can talk to me.”

Remembering Josh’s insecurities about Adam, Les realised he might actually be doing the man a favour by sharing. That kind of made it okay, didn’t it? He didn’t know, but the pleading look in those green eyes was irresistible. Sighing quietly, Les rested his back against the rough brick of the hospital wall and haltingly began talking. He didn’t go into too much detail—he couldn’t, he’d just die if he had to tell Josh how sweet and tight Adam’s ass was, or how Adam had nearly sucked Les’ brain right out his dick. But even that would have been easier than talking about the urge to keep Adam and make him Les’ own.

Actually, Les thought as he enjoyed the view of Josh completely stunned and

speechless, it wasn’t an urge to tie Adam to him, it was a plan. Les just had to convince Adam they were perfect for each other, and that meant Les had to let go of his tightly held emotions enough to trust the man.

Josh made a disgruntled sound that drew Les’ attention back to him. He frowned at the smaller man as Josh levelled a serious look at him. “Why do I get the distinct impression this is more than just sex?”

“Uh.” Les tried to look away but those sharp eyes seemed to have a lock on his own, and Les couldn’t lie to Josh right now even if he’d had a gun to his head. “B-because it is?”

Instead of looking relieved, Josh’s brow furrowed and his lips curled down at the corners. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Les was too confused by Josh’s expression to be offended—for about half a second. He sat up straight and glowered at Josh. “Are you saying it isn’t?” How he kept from snarling it, Les didn’t have a clue. It seemed like that was the only bit of control he managed to hang onto today.

Instead of being intimidated or backing down, Josh tipped his chin up, presenting a perfect picture of stubbornness. “Well, from what Nick’s said, Adam’s kind of a—” Josh bit EX’S AND O’S

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his bottom lip and swallowed down the word he’d been fixing to say, but Les bristled anyway. “A player,” the smaller man finished weakly, finally dropping his gaze.

Les was torn between calling the man out on what he’d really wanted to say. The only reason he didn’t was because, as shaky as his control was at this point, Les didn’t trust himself not to say something he might regret. Instead he pinned Josh with an angry glare and waited.

Josh’s shoulders slumped and he finally glanced up at Les. “I just don’t want you to be hurt, that’s all. I can tell by the way you talk about him Adam means more to you than just a one-off,” Josh’s eyes lit with a spark of humour as he grinned slightly, “or a several-offs. I doubt either of you only came once last night, not with the way you had to stop every few seconds and rethink what you were willing to share.”

Les grunted even as his chest swelled with pride. “A lot,” he admitted, unable to keep from sounding smug. “So much that I don’t see how I can possibly be hard again.”

Josh snorted. “Our dicks are amazing things, especially when our hearts are

involved.” Les’ own heart fluttered in acknowledgement of that truth. “Listen,” Josh said as he put his hand on Les’ knee and leaned closer. The amusement gone from his eyes as he looked at Les. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said—or almost said, what I did about Adam. I know I’m still insecure about him, which is stupid. Nick loves me.” Josh seemed to swell up with the proclamation. “He really does, and Adam hasn’t done anything to make me think he wants my man. The problem is me, and I’ll work on it. But—” Josh paused then nodded as if confirming something in his head. “Don’t get pissed at me again, okay?”

Les merely looked at Josh, unwilling to make a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.

“Okay,” Josh sighed, patting Les’ knee softly. “So maybe you’re going to get mad. I still have to tell you, be careful. That’s all. I just don’t want you to end up hurt.”

“You don’t know Adam,” Les muttered when he really wanted to snap. He stared

Josh down until the smaller man finally looked away. “You just know what you’ve heard. So he screwed around. Most people have,”
except me, and that doesn’t make me special, it makes me a
damned freak.
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want more, doesn’t deserve more.” It was less than he wanted to say, but Les wasn’t feeling particularly talkative now that Josh had pissed him off. Good intentions or no, he had still maligned Adam and Les didn’t like it.

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Josh removed his hand from Les’ knee and seemed to droop down on himself. “I can

see I’m just fucking up more each time I open my mouth.”

“Pretty much,” Les agreed, although with Josh looking so miserable he was finding it hard to hang on to his anger. Josh annihilated the last of it when he glanced at Les with those big eyes glistening with moisture.

“I’m sorry. He seems like a decent guy, a good guy, even,” Josh admitted, “and you’re right. A lot of people mess around. Sex is a natural desire, and there’s no reason anyone should judge people for it as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else.” Josh’s grin was borderline evil when he added, “Unless, of course, someone wants to be hurt. Then that’s a whole different thing.”

And one Les wasn’t even going to delve into.

“So,” Josh said, slapping Les’ knee, “I’m betting you didn’t want to talk about the hot sex you had with Adam. What did you want to talk about? Or need to,” he added quickly when Les would have answered ‘nothing’. He wasn’t so sure now that talking to Josh about Adam was wise, not when Josh still seemed to be looking for the worst in Adam.

Still, Josh’s open, earnest expression was hard to resist, and who else did Les have to turn to? If he asked Adam, he might well scare the man back to Montana. Taking a deep breath, then another, Les tried to put his thoughts into words. It didn’t work so well, and he ended up blurting out, “How did you know you loved Nick?” His cheeks stung as Josh’s eyes bugged, then a soft look swept over the man’s face and he just seemed to warm with the strength of his emotions.

“Oh, well, I just…did,” Josh answered dreamily. “I wanted to be with him constantly, ached to touch him, feel him touch me. Even the idea of not having him made me hurt, like a ball of lava or something burned in my stomach and chest. I just, I knew he was the one and I had to do anything and everything to be with him, even when he was being a stubborn ass.”

Josh blinked several times. Les imagined he was clearing away the swirling hearts and cupids dancing in his vision. The guy was well past love-struck. “Anyway, it wasn’t just the sex, which is unbelievably fantastic,” Josh grinned even as dots of colour stroked his cheeks,

“it was more than that. Nick appealed to everything in me, and I knew that he felt the same way even though it scared him. One of us had to keep fighting for the relationship, so I went after him.” He looked at Les so intently Les was sure the man was peering into his head. “Is EX’S AND O’S

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that how you feel about Adam? Or is it just—and don’t get pissed, okay?” Josh held up his hands as if to stave off Les’ anger. “It’s not just that you and Adam had really good sex?”

Any anger Les felt over the question was quashed by sheer happiness. He knew he

had to be wearing a shit eating grin as memories of Adam’s supple body writhing under him played out in his head. “Really good doesn’t begin to cover it, but no, it’s more than just how great sex is with Adam. It’s—” Les broke off when he heard a shuffle beside him. Josh’s eyes shot wide open and even under the crappy lighting of the hospital parking lot, he could see the colour drain from Josh’s face.

Every hair on Les’ body stood up and vibrated a warning—one that was too late, he realised as he slowly and with so much trepidation he didn’t know how it kept from crushing him, craned his neck around to peer up into Charlene’s shrewd gaze. He froze, his mind blanking with a wave of humiliation, except for one single thought—

Oh God, I’m so screwed!

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Les whipped his head back around just in time to see Josh jump up from the bench.

Josh darted him an apologetic and panicked look as he started scooting away, no doubt heading for one of the other entrances. As much as Les would have liked to snarl at Josh, he just couldn’t—not when, if there was any way he thought he could get away with it, Les would be jumping up and hauling ass himself.

“I brought you some homemade double chocolate chip cookies.”

Fear bubbled up and over in him. Les stumbled as he got up, backing away as if the woman before him was holding an assault rifle rather than a Tupperware dish filled with cookies.

Charlene frowned at him, then just looked at him like he was crazy as hell—which, Les knew even in his panicked state, he probably was. “Les, they’re just cookies. Or are you worried I’m going to castrate you for having sex with my son?”

Well, he hadn’t been until she said it! Les backed away until he smacked up against the side of the hospital.

“Leslie Stanton! You stop that right now!” Charlene snapped.

Les froze, as much in horror at hearing his hated first name in its entirety as at the force in Charlene’s voice. At least she hadn’t shouted out his middle name. Fuck, he hoped she didn’t know it!

“That is your name, Leslie, isn’t it? Your mama didn’t just name you Les?”

Jesus God, he wished! Les nodded and tried to get his heartbeat down below

supersonic before he keeled over. It was ridiculous to be so scared of this woman—and her damned cookies. “Yes ma’am, but I just go by Les,” he finally got out, glad his voice was almost stable. He sure as hell wasn’t.

“What’s wrong with Leslie? It’s a perfectly fine name for a man. My favourite actor was Leslie Nielson, God rest his soul.” Charlene approached him slowly, like he was a cornered wild thing. It made Les feel even more like an idiot, so he straightened his EX’S AND O’S

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shoulders and took a tentative step forward. Maybe if he hurried up and apologised she’d leave.

“I’m sorry if you heard anything I said to Josh, I just—”

Charlene snorted and waved her free hand at him. “Please. People talk, and from

what I overheard”—she smiled sweetly and Les had the distinct impression she’d been lurking a lot longer than he’d first suspected—“you sure weren’t anywhere near as bad as us women can be, let me tell you. Me and my friends always went over everything in great detail, from the size of a man’s—”

“No no no no!” Les shouted, flapping his hands and darting over to Charlene. He’d have clamped a hand over her mouth if he didn’t think it’d get him a knee in his balls. “I don’t want to know! Please!”