Shifting Gears (Crossroads Series Book 2) (9 page)

“Thanks,” Rod told him. They were close. Too fucking close. He could see gold flecks in Rod’s lively, blue eyes. He needed to back the hell up and he needed to do it now…. but he didn’t. Instead he focused on Rod’s penetrating stare and wondered what he was thinking; reached up and cupped his cheek, wondering what he was doing.

“Fucking faggots.”

Landon went rigid at what was mumbled from the man who walked past them.

“Excuse me?” he turned toward the asshole who’d spoken. When he did, Rod grabbed his arm, but Landon ignored it. “What the fuck did you say to us?”

“He’s a dickhead, Landon. Just ignore him,” Rod said. Those words got the man’s attention.

“What did you say to me, you fucking queer?” The bald guy turned on them quickly, hate in his dark eyes.

“He said you’re a dickhead.” Landon didn’t stop until he was nose to nose with the guy. He smelled beer on his breath and sweat on his body. “But I think that’s too nice for you because as you pointed out, I like dick.” He couldn’t deal with homophobic bullshit like this. He hated fighting, he really fucking did. He’d seen the fallout over stuff like this, but he also couldn’t sit by when someone said something like this asshole did.

“Are you really going to do this? Fuck him, Landon. Let’s go,” Rod said.

Landon didn’t back away, didn’t respond in any way. He didn’t take his eyes off of the prick in front of him. He could feel people around them stopping, staring.

“So you’re the girl? You let him give it to you? Maybe I should take this up with your man.” The guy laughed. Landon heard someone else chuckle behind him. He glanced up to see the guy had a friend with him. He’d seen them both when they were at the motorcycle show and had fucking known they were trouble.

“Landon,” Rod said again.

“Listen to your man.”

“Fuck you,” Rod told the guy.

“You can shut the hell up, you queer piece of shit.”

Anger shot through him hearing the guy talk to Rod that way. Landon shoved him. He stumbled backward into his friend. They both looked at him with hate spewing from their dark stares.

Logically he knew he should walk away from this, but there wasn’t a bone in his body that could handle that.
Come fucking on,
he thought.
Just as they were about to come at him, another voice cut in. “Is there a problem here, gentlemen?”

Three security guards approached them. Landon didn’t speak, didn’t turn away from the men, his fists clenched.

“No, no problem at all.” Rod tugged gently on Landon’s arm.

The homophobic bastard’s friend added, “Everything’s fine. We were just leaving, weren’t we, Tom?”

Landon could see that the guy didn’t want to walk away, and neither did he. If there was one thing he always swore to himself, it was that he’d never take shit from anyone.

“Tom. Let’s go,” the tall guy behind the homophobe said.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine,” he finally said. “Let’s go.” The two men walked away, but Landon still didn’t move. His chest heaved in and out, his nails digging into his hand.

“Other way, gentlemen,” security said to them.

“Landon, come on. Let’s go.”

Landon’s fists loosened slightly when Rod grabbed his arm again. He pulled away, turned and led them both toward the gate.

***

Rod fucking hated fighting. That didn’t mean he would take anyone’s shit, but he would do whatever he could to avoid violence. It surprised him that Landon had been so…willing to partake? He hadn’t really seen that coming.

“We can head to wherever we’re going for the firework show. Might as well get a good spot. We can just hang out for the last couple hours until it starts.”

“No,” Landon said shortly.

“No?” Rod eyed him, surprised by his reply.

“I need to get the hell out of here.”

Just like that? They were going to leave because some asshole couldn’t keep his mouth shut? “Really?”

“Really.”

Rod tried not to be disappointed…but he was. As crazy as it sounded, he’d never watched a fireworks display with anyone before. “Come on. Let’s not let that asshole ruin the day. We drove three hours.”

He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to enjoy this day with Landon. He’d been looking forward to it since Landon mentioned it.

“I’m tired. It’ll be late when we get home anyway. Let’s just go.” He handed Rod his helmet without another word. Rod watched as Landon put his on before swinging his leg over the bike. A second later it roared to life. Landon didn’t turn to look at him, and after standing there for another minute, Rod knew he had no choice except to put the helmet on and get behind Landon.

As soon as he had his feet on the pegs and his arms around Landon, he sped out of the parking lot.

He hated this, hated that their day had gotten screwed up. It had been…hell, it had been pretty fucking incredible. He’d never spent a day with another man like this, doing things that were very close to dating territory, even though both of them knew that’s not what this was.

Rod was okay with that. He wanted it that way. There was no way a guy like Landon would really be interested in him anyway. That’s why he didn’t understand why Landon hadn’t just fucked him and left already.

It was nine when they pulled into Rod’s driveway. He expected Landon to say he had to go, but he turned off the motorcycle, then removed his helmet. “I’m tired, and I work in the morning. Can I crash here?”

“Yeah…sure…no problem.”

Rod unlocked the house, and Landon closed and locked the door behind them.

“I’m going to take a quick shower, if you don’t mind.”

Rod nodded at him. Landon went to the spare room and then came out with the small bag of stuff he left here. He never unpacked the bag, just wore and washed the clothes before putting them back inside. Still, he left it here. What the hell were they doing?

Rod screwed around in the kitchen, washing the few dishes in the sink while Landon showered. It wasn’t very long before he heard the water shut off and Landon came out with wet hair, in a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else. He could see the outline of Landon’s dick through the soft material of the shorts. Fuck, this guy was trying to kill him. He’d always had a thing for guys in basketball shorts.

“Do you need help cleaning your tattoo or anything?” Landon asked.

This was the shit that was going to drive him fucking insane. It just confused the hell out of him when Landon was so
nice
to him—helping with the tattoo, letting Rod sit with his head in his lap, which he’d done more than once now. Hell, just spending so much time with him and planning today, even though it got shot to hell. But then he refused to sleep with him and kept his distance in other ways. He felt like a yo-yo, never knowing what to expect.

“It’s fine. No worries. I got it. I’m going to take a shower.”

“I’ll probably go to bed.”

Yes. Of course, because he could sleep here a few nights a week, and keep a bag here, because Rod was good enough to give him a place to crash, but that was it. “Great. Sleep well.”

He walked out of the kitchen and went straight into the bathroom, anger simmering beneath his skin. Rod did his usual routine—minus the shower because he didn’t want to risk messing up his tattoo. Instead he washed up. He was horny as hell, and wanted to jack off, but then something made him hurry instead. Okay, so it wasn’t just something. It was Landon. He let his feelings get hurt when he shouldn’t have. It wasn’t Landon’s fault he wasn’t interested in him. Maybe he could catch Landon before he went to bed and they could…watch a movie, or hell, watch a fireworks show on TV. It wasn’t the same, but it was something.

Rod left the bathroom. He pulling the door open and said, “Hey, Land?” before he realized all the lights except for the one in the hallway were off.

Fuck. He’d missed him. Rod hit the hallway light. He’d never be able to sleep tonight.

Landon couldn’t sleep. He was also a fucking dickhead, so he probably didn’t deserve sleep. There was no reason he and Rod couldn’t have gone to watch the show, and no reason they couldn’t have gone to the local one when they got home. He’d been pissed and pouting and had taken it out on Rod, even though he knew Rod was looking forward to it.

He was starting to understand Rod. The guy was sarcastic and fun. He liked to laugh and liked to make other people laugh, but there was more to him than that. Landon thought he might be lonely…thought things might affect him more than he let on. He thought maybe Rod needed a friend more than he’d originally realized.

Hell, he probably needed one too, which was why he was so fucking thankful for the guy. Which was why he didn’t want to do anything to screw this all up.

Landon rolled over and glanced at his phone. It was after midnight. He’d listened to the fireworks earlier and wondered if Rod had gone out to watch them. He’d almost gotten up to look, but instead he just continued to lie in bed, tossing and turning for hours.

He was pissed at himself for ruining the night—for screwing up the day twice, if he was being honest.

Landon’s right leg twitched. He started to rock it, antsy. He looked at his phone again. It was one in the fucking morning. He needed to get his ass to sleep, but his brain wouldn’t stop running. He knew there was no chance he would go to sleep until he tried to talk to Rod.

Which, he had to admit, was worrisome. Was what happened today really that big a deal? He didn’t know; he just knew he’d been a dick. He’d been completely aware as they stood in the kitchen that Rod had been hurt, and he needed to make it okay.

The bed creaked when he got out of it. The sound echoed in the small room. Landon walked over, and quietly opened the bedroom door. Rod’s door was cracked open a sliver. He didn’t usually sleep with it open. Maybe he was still awake.

Landon took the short few steps across the hall, quietly sliding the door open. “Hey…you awake?” The blinds were open, the light from the moon spilling in the room, a spotlight on the bed. The bed where Rod lay on his side, top leg bent, his hand behind him, sliding a toy in and out of his ass. “Oh fuck,” rushed out of his mouth. Rod laid there, wide eyes taking him in.

He should walk out. Walk the fuck out of the house. He needed to turn away and leave right now, but instead his dick instantly went hard. He opened his mouth to say he was fucking stupid for walking in and that he was sorry, but what came out was, “Don’t stop.”

There was a brief flash of surprise in Rod’s eyes. “I wasn’t planning on it. Don’t leave.”

“Not a fucking chance.”

Jesus this was a mistake, a colossal fuck up, but Landon couldn’t walk away.
It’s nothing,
he told himself. They were adults, and they were going to watch each other get off, because there wasn’t a fucking chance Landon wouldn’t get off at the sight of this. He’d been fucking horny for months and seeing Rod laid out like this…fucking his own ass with a toy? Yeah, he was surprised he hadn’t come in his shorts already. But this wasn’t a big deal. They could do it and then get back to the way they’d always been.

“You going to turn on the light, or what?” Rod asked, and damned if Landon didn’t smile. He flipped the switch. His eyes burned when the room lit up, but fuck, the second they focused on Rod, an aching throb shot through his cock.

He was sexy as hell—lean muscle, hairy thighs, and his dick, long and hard with pre-come leaking onto the blanket.

“Jesus you’re fucking hard, tenting your shorts. Let me see you, Landon. Let me see what I’ve been pretending is fucking my ass.”

Landon’s body went rigid. His cock flexed, strained to be free. He glanced over to see a bottle of Easy Ride on the bedside table. He walked toward it, walked toward Rod, rubbing his swollen, aching prick with the palm of his hand. “Lay on your back and pull your legs up. If you get to see my dick, I want to see your hole.”

Rod immediately did what he said, rolling over, thighs against his chest as he slid the life-like dildo in and out of his ass. “Jesus,” he hissed. “So fucking pink. It’s sexy as hell watching you swallow that cock.”

His legs almost went weak, so he sat on the edge of the bed. He leaned up enough to pull his shorts down. He stopped when they were partway down his thighs, not having the patience to go any farther.

Landon was ravenous with desire, his want for Rod eating through his logic. “Look at me. See what you do to me?” He held the root of his dick, so Rod could see it.

“Oh fuck,” he groaned. “Look at that thick, fucking meat. It’s just as big as I hoped it’d be.”

“Christ.” Landon tightened his fingers around the base of his cock to keep himself from coming. He reached over and grabbed the lube. “You pretend it’s me?”

“Yes…fuck yes. Wouldn’t have to pretend if you weren’t such a prude.”

Landon laughed. Leave it to Rod to make him laugh at a time like this. “Shut up and show me how you like to be fucked. Do you say my name?”

“Yeah.”

“Then do it. Let me hear you. I want to hear you say my name when you blow.”

His balls hurt. They wanted to fucking explode. Landon squirted some lube into his hand, wrapped it around his swollen cock and started to stroke. “I’m going to come so fucking hard. My nuts are already full and achy.”