Page 69 of Stand By Me

The demand at the end made Clay laugh, which in turn made Mario glare at him, although without any real ire.

Clay tightened his grip on Mario's hips. "You're freaking out again, aren't you?"

Most of the time, the blunt approach worked best between the two of them.

Mario grimaced but didn't deny it.

"There's nothing to freak out about," Clay told him yet again. In the two weeks since he had mentioned the company-wide BBQ at Kalei's house, Mario had brought it up no less than six times, and they'd had the same conversation every time.

"It's easy for you to say," Mario mumbled, hiding his face in Clay's neck.

"It's easy for me to say because it's true." Clay rubbed Mario's sides now. "You've met some of those guys already."

"Yeah, a few, but now it's all of them."

Clay shrugged, as much as he could with Mario's weight keeping him down.

"We don't have to talk with all of them. We can stick with the usual suspects."

"Isn't it supposed to be about team-building for all of you, and not merely people you're close to as it is?"

"We're not going to do trust exercises, Mario," Clay told him dryly. "I'm going to hang out with people I'd hang out with anyway, not someone I have almost nothing in common with."

"So, what? Martinez and Jeremy?"

Clay sighed. "And Eddie, and James, and you know they—"

"Okay, okay, fine," Mario cut him off, wriggling in place, and,oh yeah, that was a much better way to spend their time.

He put his arms around Mario and rolled them over until he was looking down at his partner.

"How about some distraction?" he suggested, grinding his hips against Mario's.

"Ah, well." There was that familiar heat in Mario's eyes. "Don't mind if I do."

Clay chuckled and leaned in for a kiss. "Any special requests?"

"Well, you've given me quite a ride last night." Mario tilted his head back when Clay moved to nuzzle his neck. "I wouldn't mind returning the favor."

"You wouldn't, would you?" Clay secured his hold and rolled the two of them until Mario was pressing him down against the mattress again. "Have at it, then."

As he watched Mario huff a laugh and sit up to pull out the lube, Clay marveled—for about a hundredth time—how easy it was. How fun.

Relationships had never seemed easy for him, before. Among the ones he'd known, there'd been more failed ones than those that were solid and happy. He'd always hoped he could get lucky one day, sure, but he'd kept putting it off.

Then he met Mario again, and soon enough, he didn't want to wait anymore. Why would he, when things just… worked between them.

They talked, and laughed, and fucked whenever they felt like it—which was often. They both found comfort in taking care of each other, but also learned to lean on the other person, too.

And for Clay, who was so used to shouldering responsibility that he'd needed to actively unlearn it, that was a gamechanger.

Amazing and thrilling—and sometimes terrifying—gamechanger.

Blunt nails sliding down his stomach brought him back to the present with sharp burst of pleasure.

"Back with me?" Mario asked right before curling his fingers around Clay's cock.

Clay grasped Mario's thighs on both sides of his hips. "Always."

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