Page 43 of Bar Down

After, we make love on the bed and shower together, taking our time to kiss and appreciate every part of each other’s body, knowing we won’t have this kind of privacy or time together for the rest of the trip. Eli falls asleep on his stomach, one arm slung over me, his head on my shoulder and his legs entwined with mine.

My phone buzzes again on the nightstand and I want to ignore it, but ultimately I give in and look. I expect my dad to yell at me and tell me again what a disappointment I am, but instead I see a text from Ed.

My friend and I want to go to that club. We’re on the way, but we don’t really wanna go alone since we’ve never been before. I know Eli doesn’t want to, but is there any chance you’d wanna join us?

I close my eyes and blow out a breath. I shouldn’t, I know I shouldn’t. But he wants someone there to more or less chaperone. Eli is exhausted and won’t wake up until the morning, I’m certain of it. I slowly pull myself away from his arms and text Ed back.

Send me the address.

TWENTY

Two Months Ago

Ash

Three weeks later,my phone pings with another text from my dad and I grit my teeth, begging for him to just drop it. My gut tells me to just block him, that I’ll be better off if I’m not in contact anymore. And yet, I still read all of his messages, again and again. It might be a kind of self torture at this point.

Fourth of July is coming up. You need to be here. We have some important people coming and we need to be a united front.

I scoff at his ridiculous request from a couple weeks ago and read on.

not happening. in Finland for the summer

Of course, instead of taking your career seriously, you’re out gallivanting in Europe. You’re such a disappointment.

nothing else is new, dad

Clearly. What a waste of space.

Eli stirs next to me in bed and I decide to take a gamble. I put my phone away and walk quietly to the bedroom door, flipping the lock. I know his parents are awake since I can hear them downstairs, making food and chatting in the kitchen.

When I return to bed, I cuddle up behind Eli, pressing myself into him, my erection painfully hard. I skim my hand down his body and grip him, rubbing his cock through his boxers. As he wakes up, he grinds back into me and turns to kiss me but hesitates.

“We shouldn’t. Not here.”

I groan, needing to touch him again. We haven’t had a moment of privacy since that night weeks ago at the hotel. “I locked the door, and we can be quiet,” I say and slip my hand inside his boxers, tugging. Eli’s response is to buck into my hand and kiss me.

“We don’t have any condoms here,” he says.

“Just a quickie then. Hands or mouths?” I ask and he lets out a low growl, pushing me back and repositioning himself so that both our mouths are lined up with our cocks. We’ve never sixty-nined before and I get a thrill just from the anticipation. Then Eli’s lips are on me and I moan before I catch myself.

“Shh, take my cock like a good boy and don’t make a sound,” he commands in a whisper and I shiver from his tone alone.

“Yes, sir.”

With how sexually pent up we both are, and the fact that we haven’t had the chance to do much together over the last few weeks, it doesn’t take long before we both come, panting and gripping each other hard.

Eli

Once the iceclears out at practice, my dad skates out to where Ash and I are taking a break, over by the bench. We both noticed that Ash was struggling today but my dad probably felt like it wasn’t his place to give out unsolicited advice.

“Everything alright, guys?” he says now, stopping in front of us.

Ash’s helmet is off and he takes a frustrated swig of water, not looking in our direction. He’s been standoffish all week, but especially today. Even after we got each other off this morning.

“Hey Dad, we still have the rink for another thirty minutes, right?”

“Yes, I figured you didn’t want to overdo it though.”

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