Keep Swimming (9 page)

Cary’s eyes fluttered open, foggy mind swimming back to consciousness. When he finally realized there was a pair of eyes staring at him, his heart stuttered. The affection pouring off Heath in waves was enough to make Cary want to sing—something no one wanted him to do.

“
Hey,” Heath said.

“
Morning,” Cary croaked. He cleared his throat before he spoke again. “And hey to you.”

Heath lay his head on Cary’s bare chest and burrowed, stubble scratching, wrapping a strong arm around Cary’s waist and pulling him close. His thick, hard cock nudged against Cary’s thigh. Heath hummed his pleasure against Cary’s neck as he ground himself against Cary.

Heath had just come home from another two weeks off shore. These days were Cary’s favorite. They’d been separated just long enough to be insatiable, and it was even better now that Heath had gotten more openly affectionate. Rather than jumping each other and fucking like rabbits, sometimes they just lay and rubbed off on each other, and holy shit if every once in a while Heath wouldn’t let slip a sweet nothing. They were succinct and not very flowery, usually something along the lines of how much he’d missed this, but it was more than Cary had hoped for. And he found it much more sincere than any of the ramblings and snuggling of some of his previous boyfriends.

He almost felt like he was dreaming some days, but he never questioned it. He went into the relationship just like he had when he and Heath had started their fuck buddy arrangement, eyes wide open and heart light. He enjoyed it for what it was. There were no proclamations of undying love, though Cary was pretty sure he was a goner, and there were no promises other than they intended to keep seeing each other until it ran its course or turned into something else—and God, but it seemed like it was turning into something more.

Heath wrapped a hand around Cary’s cock and gave it a good stroking. “Oh, damn, Heath,” Cary said, thrusting into the grip.

“
Love when I make you say dirty words,” Heath rumbled in Cary’s ear. He kept stroking, thrusting his own cock against Cary’s thigh until Cary reached down and started stroking him. He gave one of his sexy grunts and his lips found Cary’s, tongue sweeping into Cary’s mouth as he rolled on top of him. They stroked each other and kissed like they’d never get to kiss again. Heath ran his other hand through Cary’s hair then gripped it, tugging. Cary moaned into their kiss.

Their cocks bumped into each other clumsily, balls rubbing as they thrust into each other and stroked. “Cum for me, Cary. Come on,” Heath said against Cary’s lips, tugging his hair gently and exposing his neck. Heath licked a line from collar bone to behind Cary’s ear.

“Oh, fuck,” Cary sighed, feeling his balls roll in their sac. He loved the way their softest, most sensitive skin touched. He rocked his pelvis rubbing their balls together, getting an appreciative humph from Heath. Then he felt the final tingles approaching.

“
Oh, oh I’m gonna cum,” Heath said. “Cum with me. Fuck, fuck.” And Heath’s mouth was back on Cary’s, their kiss fumbling and wet and messy. As soon as he felt the wetness of Heath’s cum hit his stomach, Cary fell into his orgasm, spewing on his own stomach. Their loads mixed as Heath fell onto Cary, their pelvises still giving feeble, searching thrusts.

Finally, their breathing evened out and Heath kissed Cary’s jaw. “Now that’s what I think about all the time when I’m on that damn rig.”

“Oh?” Cary asked. “Thinking about all those sweaty roughnecks?” Cary was definitely teasing and Heath knew it.

He punched Cary’s shoulder playfully and rolled off onto his own side of the bed. “If you saw the guys I work with, you wouldn’t even tease.” Then he turned his head to look at Cary. “‘Sides, I only got eyes for you, darlin’.”

Cary guffawed. “You’re such an idiot.”

“
So I’ve been told,” Heath said, stealing one last kiss as he got off the bed and wandered, bare assed, into the bathroom. Cary enjoyed watching those large, firm cheeks bounce as he walked. Heath came back with a towel, wiping himself off then threw it at Cary.

“
Want to catch a shower?” Heath asked.

Cary checked his phone after he’d wiped his hands and stomach. “Actually, we slept in. Dang.” He sat up and grabbed his boxers off the floor. “I promised Celine I’d be back with the cake by noon.”

“Cake?”

“
We decided at the last minute to do a birthday party for Gus. It’s never a huge to-do but Manny is coming up, Celine and Savannah, probably Kent.” Cary pulled his t-shirt over his head and grabbed shorts out of the bottom drawer.
His
drawer. That still blew his mind a bit.

He felt for his wallet and happened to catch the fact Heath wasn’t making eye contact, studiously digging in his closet. Cary smirked. “We just decided last week so I wasn’t able to call you. But you’re welcome to come if you’d like.”

Heath glanced from the side of his eye. “Will there be cake?”

“
And booze for the adults. But I understand. I know how you are with kids, so if you don’t feel like it.”

“
I could pop by for a minute,” Heath said, nonchalant.

“
I’m sure Gus would love that,” Cary said, wrapping his arms around Heath and kissing the nape of his neck.

“
If you’re sure,” Heath said.

Cary’s forehead fell to Heath’s shoulder and he snickered into the skin there. “You like my kid. Just admit it,” he teased.

Heath turned him around, eyes crinkling with mirth and kissed Cary. “He’s not so bad, but don’t tell anyone I said so.”

Cary saluted him. “Your secret’s safe with me. God knows, Kyle would tease you for weeks.”

“Months,” Heath said. “I’d never hear the end of it. I can hear all the jokes now about how whipped I am.”

Cary titled his head and studied Heath for a moment. “Whipped, huh?”

Heath scrunched his nose and glared. “Don’t go gettin’ a big head or nothin’, Whitmore.”

“
You like me, you want to kiss me,” Cary sang.

Heath put a hand over Cary’s mouth. “Don’t you have a cake to buy?”

“Oh, no!” Cary said. He’d gotten so distracted, he’d put himself behind schedule even more. But it’d been worth it.

“
Cary?”

“
Yeah?”

“
I’m in this as much as I think you are… you know…” Heath mumbled. Cary’s face ached from the cheesy grin splitting it. He kissed Heath quickly. Yeah, it’d definitely been worth it to be a few more minutes late.

“
Definitely in it.” He grabbed his car keys. “Party’s at 2:30. If you don’t want domestic, bring beer. Manny’s a beer-nazi.” Cary snorted. “Well, I don’t suppose I should call a German Jew a nazi…” He waved off the thoughts, catching the amused look on Heath’s face. “Okay, I’m gone.”

And with a peck to the cheek he was out. When he got to the car and started it up, it really sank in, Heath’s words. “
I’m in this as much as I think you are.”
 That jerk would slip that in on Cary when he didn’t have time to process it.

So the whole drive to pick up the cake, then the drive home, Cary did what he seemed to do every time he left that infuriating man. He smiled.

****

Heath’s palms were sweating. He couldn’t recall that happening many times in his life. He was confident when it came to being a proficient lover, he was good at his job, he liked to think he was a good friend. He didn’t know yet, but he assumed he was being a good boyfriend to Cary, even if that had and was continuing to take some getting accustomed to. But he had never met anyone's family, nor had he done the ‘family thing’.

He glanced at the beer and gift for Gus in the passenger seat of his Jeep then back toward the line of cars in front of Cary’s duplex. He knew all Cary’s closest friends were gathered as one, and though it caused him a weird jealousy he couldn’t figure out, Marshall’s father was there playing grandfather. He hadn’t asked why Cary’s own father hadn’t come down, though he knew their relationship had been rocky at best since Cary’s mother had died.

“
Get over yourself,” he told himself as he stared at himself in the rearview. He was nervous. He’d fallen for Cary, even though he still couldn’t give either of them all that they needed. He was gone over Gus from the moment the sick boy had asked for him a couple weeks ago. He was scared shitless over what that meant but he knew he wouldn’t let them down by not going to this party.

So he grabbed up his beer and the gift, took a deep breath and headed up the driveway. When he knocked on the door, he hoped like hell it’d be Cary who answered. No such luck. A leather-tanned old man with gray-blond hair and dull blue eyes was there when the door swung open.

“Ah, you must be the fella,” the old guy said, divesting Heath of the gift tucked under his arm. “Manny Keller, son, nice to meet you. The insanity is in there so this is your last chance to back out.” Heath laughed and took the man’s proffered hand.

“
I s’pose I came expecting it so I’m here to assist.”

“
Nonsense,” Manny said. “Celine and Cary are handling everything. Won’t even let me stack gifts. May as well come in and grab a beer.”

Heath followed him in and immediately was overwhelmed with the noise. There were a few kids running around with Gus and what appeared to be two or three parents gathered around talking to Cary. Cary looked flustered but happy when his eyes lit on Heath. He made excuses and came over. He leaned up as if to kiss Heath, but apparently thought better of it, touching Heath’s forearm instead, looking toward the watchful mothers in the kitchen. They were all making that face that women like to make when something is cute, so apparently they were dealing with a friendly crowd.

Not that Heath gave two shits either way. He wrapped a hand around Cary’s neck and kissed him, nibbling on his bottom lip, but stopping just at the line before getting racy in front of a bunch of four year olds.

Cary’s face was flushed when Heath ended the kiss and Heath felt a surge of pride at having that effect on the man.

“Thanks for coming,” Cary said, breathless.

“
Wouldn’t miss it.” And he meant it. He was glad he’d gotten over it and come in. He made the rounds with Cary, getting a double cheeked kiss from Celine, shaking hands with Kent and getting introduced to the moms whose children, he found out, went to pre-school with Gus. Cary stumbled over what to say when he introduced Heath, frowning and glancing at Heath. Heath felt it was well worth the smile he got in return when he introduced himself. “I’m the boyfriend. Heath Cummings. Nice to meet you.”

Cary squeezed Heath’s hand before running off to stop something or other from getting broken. Heath went to grab a beer to settle his nerves. While he was quite out to his family and personal friends, at his local bar, he’d not been this open—never really had a reason to be before. He was slightly anxious, which he knew was ridiculous. None of the mothers mentioned their husbands also working the rigs and it was highly unlikely any of his coworkers would show up at this particular birthday party. That’s why he’d enjoyed working for his company in particular. Most of the guys were from Mobile or random dots on the map in Texas.
 He could only think of one coworker in the area and he was not the type to befriend dog bakery owning gay men.

“
You alright over here, son?” Manny asked. He’d appeared out of seemingly nowhere, though it wouldn’t be too hard to sneak up on anyone as loud as it was in there.

“
Yessir. Just trying to stay out of the way.”

“
I hear from Miss Celine you’ve been taking good care of my boys.”

Heath dipped his head. “I try, but I’m new at all this.”

Manny patted Heath on his arm, grandfatherly and kind. “You’re doing fine. I’ve not seen them so spirited since… well, in a very, very long time. Especially our Cary. So new at this or not, you’re apparently doing something right.”

“
I’m glad,” Heath said, probably too quietly to hear over the racket. Manny gave him a firm pat on the back and wandered back off to the recliner.

The whole thing felt like a blur of cake and squeals and ripped wrapping paper. Cary had only seen anything similar at his nephew’s birthday parties, but his brother was too rigid to have a bunch of screaming kids in his house so it’d been a much quieter affair with one or two well-behaved kids from their church. This was louder, but he could see where this was a better party by a mile. Gus looked like a kid for once, rather than the strangely thoughtful old man who sat staring at pictures in his books—or getting filthy.

“This one’s from Heath,” Cary said. He was holding Gus in his lap as the boy ripped into his gifts, making sure Gus thanked each person.

“
Heaf!” Gus said, snatching the gift. He tore into it and Heath hoped it wasn't a completely ridiculous gift. Cary laughed out loud as Gus let out an “Oh, wow!” and pulled out the sailor’s uniform and the plastic boat. Now that Heath looked at it, the uniform looked awfully big for the little boy and the boat was probably a toy suited for a much older child.