By Any Other Name (12 page)

“It’s okay. Nothing’s wrong, you’re safe, nobody can hurt you, you’re getting some soda from the shop, Skye. It’s okay. Come back now, okay? You’re scaring me, Skye.” The words flowed into his consciousness, penetrating the fog and clearing it bit by bit.

“Kara?” he gasped finally, and the arms around him tightened for a moment before letting him go.

“Yes, Skye, come on now, let’s get up and out of here.” Her voice was kind, and he respected her for not sounding condescending.

Almost mechanically, he rose to his feet, and Kara picked her basket of groceries off the floor. Skye didn’t know what to say, but he followed her obediently, knowing she’d get him out of the shop safely.

Ten minutes later they were walking on the path, back towards their houses.

“It was the chains, wasn’t it?” she asked quietly, slipping her small hand into his for support.

He didn’t feel the need to flinch away; instead, he felt comforted again. “Yes, the chains and locks. I had a flashback. I… I don’t know what I’d have done without you, Kara,” Skye said and stopped to look at her.

“Let’s not think about that, okay? You’re fine now.” Her smile was radiant, and there was no pity in her eyes, only relief.

“Okay.” Skye smiled weakly, and they continued walking, hand in hand, without any awkwardness between them.

They separated at Kara’s house, and Skye walked, with his sodas under his arm, to Dru and Thom’s house. He took the drinks to the fridge and picked a can to take with him upstairs.

When he was walking past the main bedroom, Thom peeked out. “Did it go okay?” he asked and smiled, but Skye could see the concern in his expression too.

“Yeah, yeah, it went fine,” he said, forcing a little smile before escaping to his room.

He didn’t know why he lied, probably so that he wouldn’t mess with the peaceful evening of alone time for Dru and Thom. He hated to be a nuisance, and he was fine now, sort of. Besides, he would have to learn to deal with some things alone eventually.

Skye picked up his book and opened his soda, trying to put his ordeal behind him. It would be time for another trip to the store another day, and he’d worry about that then.

He got lost in the reading for hours and knew that he wanted to talk about the book with Thom the next day. They had started a little tradition of talking about what they had read in what Dru called their “book club.” While they discussed books, Dru did something else. It was fun, though, giving Skye and Thom something to bond over, and he didn’t feel like just Dru’s friend any longer. He was now friends with them both.

When Thom called for him, he went to give his dinner order over the railing and then went back to his room to e-mail Tim to make sure his friend had time to chat even though it was Friday evening. They had dinner in front of the TV, and Skye excused himself to his room to chat with Tim.

“Hey, man, how have you been?”

Skye smiled and typed a response. “I’m really good… wow, and that wasn’t even a lie or an exaggeration.”

“That’s amazing to hear! I’m so happy for you. You know I’m always a bit hesitant when people leave this joint but for you more than the others.”

“Because I’m special. Like… really special. Like Forrest.”

“Life is like a box of chocolates and all that. So hey, I wanted to tell you about this hot nurse on the second floor. She’s like… perfect!”

And there Tim went, including Skye in his life like that, and Skye leaned back to read and then commented on things. Mostly Tim talked about women or men, liking both equally, and it was nice how he didn’t seem to mind that Skye couldn’t really relate to what he was telling him. Tim had once said that it would come to Skye in time and didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the other person’s gender.

They chatted for a long time, and Skye had fun describing his routines and the “book club” to Tim. It amused Skye greatly, that when he talked about Kara, he could pick up Tim’s interest from the nowhere-near-subtle questions that followed. He didn’t want to make Tim worry either, so he conveniently failed to mention the episode in the store, though he did tell his friend he had gone to buy something to drink alone.

“Oh man, I gotta go, have the morning shift tomorrow,” Tim said when the clock was nearing eight.

They said goodbyes and agreed to chat again in a week’s time.

Skye went to take a shower and then went to bed to read. It was actually nice to have routines while still being sort of out in the world, even if he really wasn’t quite yet.

Around ten o’clock, Skye realized he needed to have a sandwich and his meds, so he quietly left his room and went into the kitchen. Thom was getting a bottle of water and told him Dru was in the shower.

“Thanks, man. Really. I know Dru doesn’t understand why you’re giving us this ‘alone time’, but I do,” Thom said and touched Skye’s shoulder carefully while passing him—the opposite shoulder from the one Dru had touched earlier.

“No problem, I just got caught up with Tim and was reading. It hasn’t been a bad evening for me either.” Skye produced a smile, and they said goodnight.

Thom headed back upstairs, and Skye made himself a sandwich and ate quietly, leaning on the edge of the counter.

He took his meds and quietly made sure the kitchen was okay for the night. They still left the light on above the counter and in the loft, but they had agreed on keeping the hallway dark because it was a short walk anyway. Another thing they did to make sure Skye was gradually getting used to living more normally.

Walking up the stairs, he was almost tiptoeing so he wouldn’t have to talk to either of the others again. Their bedroom door was open just a little bit, and when he passed it, he heard something that made him stop.

It was a husky chuckle from Thom, and somehow the sound made Skye shiver.

“You lay like that only when you want something specific, babe,” Thom said inside the room, and Skye moved just enough to see.

Dru was lying on his stomach in the middle of the bed. His face was turned away from the door, and Skye couldn’t tell what he said to Thom. The blond was naked; the comforter was pushed away and almost falling off the bed.

“Can you keep quiet?” Thom asked, and Dru nodded.

Skye swallowed hard, trying to tell himself it was wrong to keep watching, that it was a private moment.

Thom, who had been hidden from Skye’s view, stepped into his line of sight and got on the bed, moving so that he was kneeling between Dru’s spread legs. Glued to the spot he was standing in, Skye watched as the older man’s hands glided from Dru’s calves to his thighs and over the swell of the round ass to his back and shoulders and then back again. When Dru squirmed a bit, lifting his butt again, Thom chuckled and leaned over his lover to kiss his neck.

Thom kissed a trail down Dru’s back, and when he got to the top of Dru’s buttocks, he didn’t stop. Instead, he nudged Dru enough for the blond to raise himself a bit, enough to have his butt stuck up in the air.

With wide eyes, Skye looked at the naked man leaning over his lover to kiss Dru
there
, between his buttocks. The sound Dru made, a sort of mewl, went straight to Skye’s belly. It felt like someone squeezed at his lower stomach. The feeling was strange.

Thom kept licking and kissing Dru’s opening, and Skye could see only one thing about the scene: love. It was clear that whatever Thom did, it was because he adored Dru, and when Thom finally lifted his face, Dru’s disagreement was clear from his whine.

“No, babe, I have to stop. I want more,” Thom said and leaned toward the nightstand, from which he produced a bottle. He poured some clear liquid on his hand and coated his cock with it before wiping the rest from his hands on Dru’s proffered ass.

It was clear Thom had enjoyed pleasing his lover—it wasn’t just something he did to please Dru, but something he had done for them both. The evidence of his arousal was an impressive hard-on.

Suddenly there was a panic forming in Skye’s mind. He knew what happened now, though he hadn’t been given anything more than a little bit of spit as lubricant. It hurt, it always hurt, and even though he knew better now from what he had heard and read, it couldn’t feel good. Yet there he was, glued to the spot, watching Thom stroke Dru’s back as he pushed into the blond’s smaller body.

After he was all the way in, Thom stopped. The pounding in Skye’s ears and the dizzy feeling were awful, but he made himself watch, wait. When the couple moved again, it was Dru who rocked his hips despite the intrusion and made Thom moan in a low tone.

“Move, love. Move,” Dru said, rising to his forearms, and then Thom moved.

The whole thing was as if choreographed. They moved in synch with each other, and when Thom moved his hand, Skye could see that Dru was just as hard.

“I love you,” Dru whispered just loudly enough for the words to drift to Skye’s ears.

Those words were what finally made him move. He dragged his feet away from the door as quietly as possible and sneaked into his room, closing the door and feeling more grateful than ever for the silent mechanism of the lock.

He walked quickly to his bed and got under the covers. Luckily, the bathroom in between the bedrooms worked as soundproofing, and no sounds penetrated the walls. For a long time Skye lay there in his bed, thoughts spinning in his head endlessly. When he finally let himself revisit the memory of the scene he had just witnessed, he was ashamed of himself. But what shocked him the most was the fact that when he conjured the mewling sound Dru had made from his memory and added Thom’s chuckle into it, his cock twitched in his sleep pants.

He was turned on by his friends making love. He felt sick to his stomach. He had to be some sort of a pervert to invade the privacy of the people who had given him a roof over his head and were so good to him. What the hell was he thinking? Maybe his therapist could help him with this, maybe not, but he had to talk to someone before the guilt swallowed him whole.

Skye turned onto his side, burrowing under his blankets, and tried to let sleep claim him. He tossed and turned for hours before his body and mind finally gave up and let him fall asleep.

Thom

Thom
was lying in the grass in the backyard. The sun was shining, and for once Thom felt completely relaxed and happy. There were no doubts in his mind now. Not after yesterday—or last night, rather. Skye had insisted that they do their separate things, giving time and space for Thom and Dru. It had led to a nice evening and lovemaking once they went to bed. Thom hadn’t been able to get enough of his responsive lover, who wasn’t afraid to ask for what he wanted. The memory of Dru writhing underneath his tongue last night was making him hard again. Shaking the thought away, he rolled over and balled the T-shirt under his head. He got comfortable again and sighed contentedly. It was a good day today.