Safe Harbor 2: Hiding in Plain Sight (6 page)

“No, I was too afraid to, uh, go very far inside.”

“Hmm.”

“What?”

Staring intently at Vlad, Joey said, “This might actually be fun.”

Vlad raised an eyebrow. “Fun?”

“There’s a lot of pleasure to be had in gay sex, and I’m kinda looking forward to introducing you to it, horny little bastard that I am.”

“I would like that.” Vlad bit his lip. “But I am not sure I want to be fucked. It sounds pretty scary.”

“That’s fine. I can top or bottom, doesn’t make much of a difference to me. Both feel good. And there are lots of other things we can do.”

Vlad nodded, relieved Joey seemed to be taking everything in stride. “I have seen how excited the guys get when they were getting fucked in the pornos, but that is not real. They were acting.”

“Oh, no, they weren’t acting,” Joey answered with a wolfish smile. “In fact, I bet if I fucked you, I could make you come without ever touching your dick.”

“I don’t know about that.” Vlad squirmed at the mere thought of it.

“I do.”

He shifted again. “Pretty confident.”

“I pay attention. That’s all the confidence I need.” He jerked his chin toward Vlad’s crotch. “Again? Seriously? Dude, I know you’re only in your midtwenties now, but really. How are you doing this? I’m not much older than you, and I don’t have this kind of stamina.”

Vlad couldn’t hold back a self-satisfied smirk. “There are advantages to being a professional athlete.”

“I was in the military until nine months ago. I’m not exactly falling apart.”

“No, you definitely are not,” Vlad murmured.

Joey raised an eyebrow. “What was that?”

“Nothing.”

Joey grinned, apparently letting Vlad off the hook.

“As I was saying, I’m in pretty good shape, but no way could I get it up three times in, what, two hours?”

“I guess you must turn me on.” Vlad shrugged, trying and failing to keep a straight face. He’d had no idea just talking to a man could be this much fun.

“Apparently. As much as I’d like to stick around and help you take care of that, I should probably go for now. I want you to think about everything, all right? Things moved pretty fast today, and I want you to be on board, not freaking out or bolting, though I’d definitely understand if you just wanted to forget this whole night happened. I’ll call you day after tomorrow. If you need me, though, call or text. When are you going out of town again?”

“Not for several more days. We have a three-game home stand, playing tomorrow, Saturday, and next Tuesday, before leaving on Wednesday for a short trip up to Toronto and Ottawa Thursday and Friday.”

“Wow, have you got the whole schedule memorized?”

“I’m good with stuff like that.”

“You’re good with a lot of things.” Joey rose. “Walk me to the door?”

“All the way over there?” Vlad asked, pointing to the exit about fifteen feet away.

“Maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to kiss you good night.”

“You don’t need an excuse.” Vlad rose and stalked Joey as the other man walked backward, a cocky grin splitting his face. He sped up and pushed Joey toward the wall with one hand on his chest.

“Rough. I like it.”

“I do too.”

Vlad planted his hands on each side of Joey’s head once he rested against the wall, trying not to remember the last time the same thing had happened practically in the identical spot. He tilted Joey’s head to his liking before attacking his lips. He fucking loved kissing. Surely there were a lot of other things he’d love, once he’d experienced them, but the give and take of kissing was awesome.

Joey spun them, running his hands down Vlad’s torso before grabbing his hips and pulling their groins flush with each other. Despite what Joey had said earlier, he was hard too, and the delicious friction of their cocks rubbing together made Vlad crazy. He moaned into Joey’s mouth. Joey started nipping down Vlad’s jaw before taking his earlobe into his mouth and sucking. Vlad gasped, arching against him.

“Should stop,” Joey muttered after releasing Vlad’s ear.

“Mmm,” was about the most intelligent thing Vlad could force out. He pushed Joey back and then flipped the other man around so that his back was to Vlad’s chest. Joey’s hands scrabbled on the wall when Vlad grabbed his ass cheeks and squeezed. He quickly lowered his zipper and fit his cock between Joey’s rounded globes encased so nicely in a pair of perfect cargo pants. Joey groaned. “Yeah…I want this.”

“Shit, Vlad. We need to slow down.”

As Joey had done to him before, now Vlad took hold of Joey’s hips, simulating fucking him from behind. Joey’s head fell back as swear words tumbled from his mouth. Vlad knew Joey was right; they needed to cool it, but damn, it felt so fucking right to sandwich his dick between Joey’s taut cheeks. It would be even better if the man wasn’t wearing clothes, but Vlad was close to exploding nonetheless.

Calling on every ounce of mental fortitude he possessed, Vlad stepped back, panting. With a growl, Joey pivoted and dropped to his knees, forcing Vlad’s pants open and taking his cock into his mouth again. Joey’s fingers fumbled as he pushed the offending garments to Vlad’s knees along with his boxers. Vlad let out a startled sound at the assault. He was surprised his dick wasn’t sore from earlier, but the warm wetness felt so good, quickly pulling him down into an abyss of pleasure. Joey’s tongue traced one of Vlad’s balls, and Vlad gripped the wall and the door behind him in a desperate attempt to remain upright.

Joey moved his legs farther apart to lave at the tight sac. A steady stream of incoherent ramblings rumbled from his mouth as Joey took him to heaven. His legs locked, shaking, and Joey swallowed him again. His orgasm bubbled up, and he came on a hoarse scream. This release actually hurt a little, but Vlad paid no heed. His knees buckled, and Joey grabbed him around the thighs.

Joey pulled off Vlad’s softening dick. “Whoa, there, honey. I’ve got you.”

Vlad lowered himself to the floor, his pants still around his knees, and kissed Joey for all he was worth. Only when oxygen became a vital necessity did he break off. Leaning his forehead on Joey’s, he stared into the other man’s eyes. “You are amazing.”

Joey grinned. “I really should go, or the next thing you know, I’ll have you bent over the nearest surface and my tongue in your ass.”

Vlad let out a sound suspiciously close to an unmanly whine. He wasn’t sure how he felt about doing that, much less having it done to him, but right now just about anything Joey wanted to try was fine with him. Giving a tired laugh, he said, “I should get a good night’s sleep. Someone took all my energy.”

“Then get one.” Joey lightly kissed him and helped him stand before straightening his own clothing.

With what he knew was a goofy grin, Vlad pulled his jeans back up but left them unzipped. They were coming off as soon as Joey left anyway. “Talk to you tomorrow?”

“I’m working one p.m. to ten.”

“That’s okay. We’re playing.”

Joe nodded. “You’d better get some rest. I won’t be the cause of you dragging your tired ass out there.”

“I will.”

“Later.”

Vlad closed the door, collapsing against it afterward. His introduction to gay sex had been absolutely fucking incredible. If Joey could top that, he might have a shadow for life.

Chapter Four

Vlad slept like the dead, almost missing the morning skate. He had to bend a couple of physics laws on the way to the arena and still barely made it onto the ice before the assistant coaches started the drills. Vlad was a center and spent some time working on faceoffs after the regular skate was over. He was a little over 51 percent on them, which put him in the top third of the pack in the NHL, but he needed to be more consistent.

After taking what felt like about a hundred faceoffs against the other centermen, Vlad did a few stretches before lumbering off the ice. He took a quick shower and joined his teammates at an Italian restaurant a few blocks from the arena. He went home to take his pregame nap, but now that he wasn’t so exhausted from the previous night’s activities, he had trouble falling asleep.

Visions of Joey sucking his cock filled Vlad’s mind as he tossed and turned. Normally he was out like a light, since he’d long ago trained his body to sleep any time of the day or night, but now the sheets felt hot and scratchy and he couldn’t get comfortable. His dick was hard, and Vlad decided there was no way he was going to be able to relax if he didn’t do something about it.

Taking his raging erection in hand, Vlad began to stroke himself hard and fast. He preferred not to rush things, but he needed to sleep. Even now he could feel Joey’s warm mouth surrounding his cock, and Vlad moaned. While he’d had blowjobs from women, knowing the last few had been from Joey, a man he could finally open up to and not feel so alone, made the experience mind-blowing. He was leaking precum freely and used it to lubricate his shaft and the head of his cock while continuing to take himself higher. Soon his toes curled, and his back arched. Vlad released a loud groan as cum splattered onto his abs and chest. He worked his dick, milking it, and finally let it go, breathing hard.

Vlad cleaned himself up and rolled over, spying his phone on the nightstand next to him. He’d never sent a sexy text to anyone but found himself composing one to Joey in his head. Did he dare? With a grin, he grabbed the phone and thumbed in the message.

Just jerked off and came all over myself, thinking about you sucking my dick last night.

Dropping the phone on the bed next to him, he wondered how long it would be before Joey was able to read the text. It was well after one, so he was at work now. Vlad was just starting to drift off when his text notification went off, startling him. He picked up the phone and unlocked it.

Give a guy a warning. Now I have to disguise a huge hard-on from thirty coworkers. I can’t wait to do that again and more.

More. Did Vlad want more?

Hell, yeah I do. I want to fuck him.

That line of thought wasn’t helping him sleep.

Sounds good. I’m up for it whenever you are.

After he sent the text, he realized how it sounded and chuckled.

Yeah, you were certainly “up” for it last night, big boy. I’ve gotta get back to work. Later, babe.

With a chuckle Vlad settled down, curling his large body around several pillows. Soon he was asleep and didn’t wake until his alarm went off at four that afternoon. He dressed in a dark gray wool suit with a lighter gray shirt and a gray and purple tie. Vlad considered taking a picture of himself and sending it to Joey. He knew he looked good. The suit had been custom tailored and was from one of those famous designers. In the end he decided that was a girlie thing to do. He gathered his wallet, keys, and phone and hopped into his Navigator —the huge SUV better equipped to escape puck bunnies and harder to dive into if they were really desperate—and was at the arena before five.

He changed into a pair of sweat shorts with socks, sneakers, and a team T-shirt and joined some of the other guys out in the hall to kick around the soccer ball. He heard someone say “Heads up!” and saw a ball booted in his direction. Luckily, Vlad had excellent reflexes and kicked it right back at the man before flipping him off.

“Dick.”

“I’ll show you a dick.” The guy grabbed the front of his shorts, and Vlad had to fight not to look. This kind of banter was common among the guys, and if Vlad reacted, they would’ve been suspicious, but damn, now that his libido had been awakened, even the guys who he’d thought of as little more than brothers were looking entirely different to him.

They played soccer until five-thirty, when several of them went into the weight room to ride the bikes to get their hearts pumping and their blood moving. Vlad jumped on a wind bike next to the team’s enforcer, Pat. Vlad was no shrinking violet at six feet even and over two hundred pounds, but Pat made him feel like an infant next to a giant. The man stood six-eight and weighed two hundred and sixty pounds.

The running joke was that Pat didn’t have to throw punches in a fight—he could just sit on the guy and win. Despite his formidable size, Pat was one of the biggest jokesters on the team and great in the locker room. He was also one of the only players who hadn’t treated Vlad any different after the Olympics.

“Hey, man,” Vlad said to him. “Nice moves during that interview the other night.”

Pat grinned. “It was the rook’s first time. I had to do something. He was nervous.”

“Right,” he answered, drawing out the word and shaking his head, fighting his own smile. “Are you trying out for one of those celebrity dancing shows or something?”

Pat snorted. “Those shows don’t want guys like me. They want all the pretty ones.” He glanced over at Vlad and smirked. “Like you.”

“Fuck you. I am not pretty.”

Pat reached a large paw out and ruffled Vlad’s hair. Vlad growled, and the other man laughed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll be nice.”

“If you start dancing in the background of any of my interviews, you will get a surprise.” Once the words left Vlad’s mouth, he bit his lip. That sounded like flirting. Dealing with guys who didn’t know he was gay was like navigating a fucking minefield. It was exhausting. He wasn’t even attracted to the guy.

“What’re you gonna do, dip me?”

Vlad laughed, though it sounded forced to his own ears. “I might.”

“You’d drop me on my head for sure.”

“So what? That has been done a million times before.”

Pat leaned over a little, his expression serious. “You hear about Jason Monroe?”

Jason, more commonly known by his nickname Roney, was a player on another team who’d been outed against his will after a bus crash at the Olympics. Though the incident had been nearly a year ago, he was still the only openly gay man in the NHL. Vlad’s heart felt as if it were trying to make a break for it out of his chest. “What about him?”

“I knew the kid could take care of himself, but I guess Vasille said something to him on the ice last night.”

Oh no…

“What happened?” Vlad asked, doing his best to keep his voice steady.