Risk Is a Four-Letter Word (4 page)

"I need to use the bathroom, too,"
Zeke explained.

"Um, okay." She turned and Zeke
followed her, ignoring the weird look Eric shot his way. His friend would
figure out what he had in mind soon enough.
And
hopefully join in
, a small voice whispered at the back of Zeke's brain.

Carrie stopped in front of the bathrooms.
"Only the family restroom is open." She reached for the door when
Zeke stroked her cheek with his right hand. She froze.

"You're so lovely," he murmured.

She stared at him. Zeke watched surprise play
across her face then brushed his thumb over her lower lip. It was as soft as he
remembered. She opened her mouth on a gasp.

"Eric, get the door," Zeke said. Eric
finally caught on, opening the bathroom door and waiting until Zeke nudged
Carrie inside before locking it behind them.

The three of them stood there for a moment
eyeballing each other.
Is this going to
be a total disaster?
Zeke wondered, a pang of unease skittering up his
spine, when suddenly Carrie lunged for him. Zeke staggered back with an armful
of beautiful woman. He fell against Eric, which was fine with him. Zeke let
Eric catch him, sucking in a breath as Eric's hard-on pressed into his ass.
Zeke wasn't about to complain. He'd seen his friend aroused before. Eric had no
idea Zeke was bi and he didn't want to spook him and risk their friendship. Now
was his chance. Carrie was not only gorgeous in her own
right,
she was also the perfect excuse for Zeke to 'accidentally' grope Eric.
Win
win
, he
thought,
then
Carrie's lips were on his mouth, coaxing
him to open up.

"God, Zeke," Eric groaned, his hands
tightening on Zeke's hips. Zeke kissed Carrie back, knowing Eric had an
up-close show of the entire thing. And if his friend's cock was any indication,
he was enjoying it immensely. Zeke wasn't going to move until either Eric or
Carrie made him. The only thing that would make it better was if they were all
naked.
A man can hope, right?

"Jesus, Zeke, you should see how hot you
look kissing her," Eric murmured.

Um, what
? Zeke paused for a second, confused. He thought Eric would be
focused exclusively on Carrie. She made a small sound of protest and Zeke
mentally kicked himself in the head.
Focus, man
.
He kissed her again, reveling in the feel of her
soft breasts pressed against his chest. Behind him Eric was all hard muscle. He
moaned and Carrie nipped at his bottom lip, making him shudder. Eric pressed
into him even harder. Zeke was in heaven.

"Fuck," Eric grunted. "Zeke, you
don't mind, do you? I, God--" Eric's hands ground into Zeke's hipbones.
Carrie was making these soft mewling sounds and Zeke's dick was suddenly so
fucking hard he thought he might come in his pants for the first time in years.
When Carrie pulled her lips away and yanked on Eric, pulling his head down
around Zeke's shoulder, it was all he could do to just keep standing up. He
leaned even harder on Eric, trying to catch his breath as he watched them.
Eric's prick throbbed against his ass.

Carrie kissed Eric as passionately as she'd
kissed him. Zeke's brain fuzzed. Impossibly, Eric's cock grew even harder and
Zeke felt it through two sets of jeans. He shoved closer and was rewarded with
Eric's grunt and an involuntary thrust. Zeke smiled and kissed his way up
Carrie's neck. It might be the first and last opportunity he'd ever have to sort-of
make out with Eric and he intended to take full advantage of it. And it wasn't
like he didn't want Carrie, too, because he did.
She's incredible and I don't think she even realizes it
, Zeke
thought.

She smelled amazing.
Tasted
amazing.
Her skin felt delicate and warm and Zeke couldn't resist
licking at her neck. He kissed the hollow under her ear then moved back down.
She trembled and if Zeke hadn't had his hands around her ass,
her very
amazing fine delicious ass
, she probably would've fallen. He flexed his
fingers, savoring the feel of her muscles under the thin fabric of her
leggings.
Gorgeous
.

He kissed up Carrie's chin and then, when Eric
pulled back to catch his breath, Zeke took a chance and kissed his friend for
the first time. Twenty years of friendship might be blown all to hell but he
couldn't resist any longer. Carrie's sweet sensuality had clearly weakened him.
Zeke savored the fullness of Eric's bottom lip and opened his mouth, hoping
Eric wouldn't deck him when this was all over. To his shock, Eric kissed him
back.

Zeke shuddered, gripping Carrie harder. Eric
licked into his mouth. Eric wasn't just accepting the kiss he was returning it!
With tongue! Zeke didn't waste time worrying about it. He lifted a hand away
from Carrie and slid it into Eric's hair. Their bodies twisted together so
Carrie was somehow between them now, but Zeke was too far-gone in the kiss to
care. He savored the heat of Eric's mouth, groaning when he finally had to pull
away or pass out from lack of air.

"That's the hottest thing I've ever
seen," Carrie whispered, sounding shocked.

Panting, Zeke stared at his friend, trying to
figure out what Eric was thinking. Eric stared back, flushed and disheveled.
Then, impossibly, a smile lit up his face. "Zeke, I didn't think you had
it in you."

Wait.
What?
What the fuck did
that
mean? Zeke opened his mouth, about to ask Eric
what the
hell?
when
Carrie yanked his face back down. She
kissed him, three short pecks on the lips. He wasn't thinking clearly. Her
breasts pressed on his chest, distracting him. He could feel Eric watching. It
made him tremble.

To give
himself
time
to think, Zeke slid a hand up to cup one of her boobs and she shivered. He flicked
his thumb over the nipple and Eric slid a hand over her other breast, bumping
Zeke's. His eyes flew up and Eric kissed him again. So much for figuring out
what the hell was happening. Zeke gave up trying to think at all and just let
himself feel. Carrie's leg curled around his as she shoved closer. Eric's soft
lips and stubble made his skin tingle as his friend kissed down his jaw. Jesus.
His cock pressed against his zipper, throbbing in time to the pounding of his
heart.

"Now it all makes sense," Eric
muttered.

Zeke let his head fall back, not understanding.
Not caring. Carrie managed to cup a hand around his dick through his pants so
Zeke wasn't tracking much of anything anymore. He wanted to come so badly, all
he could think was
more
.
More,
please
. When Eric kissed Carrie, the
visuals were too much. Zeke shoved his dick into her hand, hoping she would
squeeze really, really hard.

The pounding on the door scared the fuck out of
him.

"Shit! What the hell was that?" Eric jerked
back.

Zeke almost fell. He shook his head and tried
to pull himself together. The door vibrated again beneath someone's fist.

"You've been in there forever, come on.
I've got a kid with a full diaper. Open up!" a rough male voice shouted
from the other side.

At the image of a shitty diaper, Zeke's cock
wilted slightly, but not enough to completely blunt his arousal. His brain was
obviously still broken. He stepped back, careful not to let go of Carrie until
she was stable. "Uh," he said, oh so eloquently.
I'm a total moron
, he thought to himself.

"Hang on! We'll be out in a sec,"
Eric shouted through the door.

Zeke watched his friend attempt to calm his
breathing. How the hell was Eric functioning? Zeke didn't think he could talk
yet.

Carrie cleared her throat. "I don't know
what the heck just got into me." She ran her fingers through her hair then
pulled out her cell phone. She checked the time and paled. "Crap! I'm
going to be late! We were in here almost a half hour!" Hurriedly, she grabbed
lip-gloss from some mysterious place and repaired her face.

Zeke shook himself and staggered to the sink.
He washed his hands with cold water and blotted at his neck with the damp paper
towel. It didn't do any good. He looked in the mirror. His face was flushed and
it didn't help that Eric watched him, eyes bright with some emotion Zeke
couldn't name.
Laughter?
Anger?
He had no idea.

"Look, Carrie, I'm sorry I dragged you in
here," Zeke apologized.

She
laughed,
the tone
bright and amused. "I didn't resist, you know. I wanted to kiss you as
much as you wanted to kiss me." She glanced at Eric.
"As
much as we all wanted to kiss each other."
She stuffed her
lip-gloss back into her bag and squared her shoulders. "I've
gotta
go. My client will be waiting." She opened the
door and quickly walked out.

Before they could follow her, a middle-aged man
juggling a baby and a full diaper bag barreled into the room. "Just shut
the door behind you," he said, already pulling down the changing station.

Zeke looked at Eric, who shrugged. They left
the restroom together. Zeke searched for Carrie, stopping abruptly when he
couldn't find her. Eric stumbled into him.

"Shit!" Zeke was beyond pissed with
himself. A well-dressed couple almost ran into him, but he didn't give a damn.
How could he be so stupid?

Eric eyed the annoyed couple and dragged Zeke
to the escalator. "What's wrong with you? I'm the one who should be
freaking out here."

Huh
? Zeke shook his head, dismissing his confusion over Eric's
response. "No, no, we didn't get her number. And she's gone now.
Damnit
! I didn't think she would disappear so fast."
He let Eric prod him onto the down escalator.

"Oh." Eric frowned. "Yeah,
shit." Eric didn't seem worried, just thoughtful.

Zeke eyed his friend.
Is this where he punches me
? He was just now remembering he ought
to be afraid of what Eric would do.

"What? Why are you looking at me like
that?" Eric asked.

Zeke bit the inside of his cheek. "You're
not going to punch me?"

"Punch you? Why the hell would I punch
you?" Eric snorted as the escalator neared the lower level. They stepped
off and he dragged Zeke to the elevator. "These stupid escalators take too
long." He punched the button on the wall. To Zeke's surprise, the elevator
opened right away. "Get in," Eric pushed Zeke inside.

"You're going to punch me because I kissed
you," Zeke said slowly, his mind still stuck on his earlier thought.

Eric laughed.
"Zeke.
I've
been wanting
to kiss you for years but I thought
you were straight."

Zeke stared.
Wait, what
? "What?"

Eric laughed again. "Man, you're slow
today. First you forget to get Carrie's number,
then
you forget how to comprehend English."

"She has our card. And besides, you
could've asked for her number, too," Zeke retorted. Eric wanted to kiss
him? Had wanted to kiss him for years?

Eric sighed through his smile and grabbed Zeke
by the arm. The elevator doors opened. "Yeah, she does. If she wants to
call us, she has our number. Right now, though, we've got more important things
to do."

Zeke followed him out of the building and onto
the street, his brain stuttering over the same thought again and again:
Eric
wants to kiss me
. Eric dragged him down

Eric hailed a cab. When one stopped, Eric wrestled
the door open and shoved Zeke inside. "9th and 33rd," he told the
cabbie.

"Eric?" Zeke started to get worried.
Eric was no longer smiling.

His friend glanced over and looked away, his
jaw tight. "We're going home."

Zeke's gut clenched.
Shit
.
He's angry.
He
thought about Eric kissing him earlier and wondered if the true gravity of that
particular moment was just now sinking in for Eric.
How long will it be
before I have to move out?
Dammit
. He liked
living with Eric in the old house his friend inherited from his aunt. He liked
working in the barn out back. Liked the ten acres of meadow and woodland he got
to gaze out at every morning as he sipped his coffee. Rural
New Jersey
was a fast-shrinking commodity,
but the place Eric owned in the northwest of the state was beautiful. And now
Zeke had fucked everything up beyond repair with his impulsive kiss.
I really am a moron
, he thought, stomach
knotted tight.

****

An hour and a half later Zeke desperately
needed a lobotomy.
Or a chiropractor.
He
cracked
his
neck as
Eric unlocked their front door. His back was killing him. After they'd made it
to the car at the parking lot in midtown, Eric had shoved Zeke into the
passenger side and driven them all the way home in a tense silence. Zeke tried
starting a conversation a couple times, but finally gave up when his friend
refused to speak. He wondered if Eric would kick him out today or wait until
tomorrow.