Special Needs (16 page)

Chapter 9

Liam scooted down by the oven to see how the muffins were doing. “You want cinnamon apple, or blueberry?” he asked Fay who conspicuously appeared in the kitchen as soon as the sweet smell started to spread around.

“Uhm... Can I have both?” She laughed and poked his back with a spoon. “I’ll do extra gym tomorrow.”

He gave her a slight smile, trying not to stare at her giant hairdo. Someone should tell her the eighties were long gone, but it wouldn’t be him. “I thought you want to get a pair of love handles.”

“Not gonna happen, smartass. You know, this stuff you make is so delicious. You could be in a restaurant.”

Liam snorted. Yeah, if a decent restaurant around San Diego would actually hire him now. To his disadvantage, news traveled fast. “I guess I could.”

“Why don’t you do it then? You can’t just nurse little Ryan forever.” She got up and started cleaning the counter. Liam was a good cook, but a messy one when there was no one around to scold him.

“Oh, can’t I?” Liam raised an eyebrow at her. It wasn’t like he had a bright future ahead of him.

“I assume you wouldn’t want to, right?” Fay cleared some flour off the elegant wooden table. “I don’t mean anything bad by that, but you probably had a tough day today with his wheelchair broken?”

With that, Liam could agree. “Well, he isn’t
that
light to carry around.” He took out the batch of muffins and put them on the counter.

Fay was like a blond Cheshire cat, grinning at the sweets, fork already in hand. “Seriously Liam, the guy could get a grip and some independence. Think about it. His hips are fine, the whole house is accessible. The elevator has been broken for two years now, but he insists on living on the top floor. Don’t get me wrong, I love him to bits but... come on.”

Liam scratched his head getting the muffins out of the silicone forms. “Well, why is he like that?”

“Think about it, stud.” She carefully placed one of the hot muffins on a plate and blew some air over the golden crown. “He could do with a helper once a week, get the car adjusted for a disabled driver, get a license in the first place, but instead, he prefers to hire a handsome caretaker.” Fay winked at him with a knowing smirk.

“I guess...” Liam put six muffins on a plate and started the frother. “But I like my job.”

“Sure, just like me, it’s a fun place to be in, this hotel. I’m just letting you know he can be a little attention whore, so don’t give in to everything he comes up with. It’s just a job at the end of the day, not slavery.” She started munching on the muffin with a blissful expression. It made Liam wonder what her orgasm face was like. He hoped she’d have one at the end of her date tonight.

“You clean the place. I get to go to the movies with him.” He stuck his tongue out and marched out of the kitchen carrying a huge plate of muffins and two coffees on a tray as soon as the milk was done. He didn’t know what to make of Fay’s words. On some level, she was right. Someone in Ryan’s position could easily get by on his own. From what Liam knew, most disabled people wanted to be as independent as possible. But not Ryan.

“You’re a bastard, but the muffins are your redemption!” He heard Fay laugh from the kitchen.

And when Liam entered the elevator, he did wonder why Ryan didn't just get the damn thing fixed. It couldn’t be
that
expensive. Maybe it was all an excuse to have a full-time friend? He wasn’t exactly Mister Social.

Liam climbed the stairs to the top floor and went into Ryan’s bedroom with a broad smile. Since moving in here, he had mastered the art of opening the door with his elbow. “Dinner’s ready.”

“I couldn’t wait.” Ryan was sprawled on his stomach, reading a fetish magazine. He didn’t even bother to do his usual make up and tied the longest strands of his hair into a short ponytail on the side of his head. He looked like a teenager. The thought both aroused and frightened Liam. Yesterday, he jerked off so hard to the fantasy of Ryan’s lips on his cock that he now almost felt ashamed.

“Anything interesting?” He put the tray on the bed and then climbed on from the other side.

“Yeah. Look at this girl.” Ryan opened up the mag on a spread with a model whose right leg had been amputated above the knee. She posed wearing only a pair of latex panties. “She’s really popular, apparently.”

“She’s hot.” And she really was, a leg missing, or not. Liam presumed if he were straight he would definitely want to do her.

“Maybe I could pose for a magazine in some latex pants.” Ryan laughed, flicking through the next pages and showing them to Liam.

“Do they do guys too?”

“They only have a two-page section, not full on posters and stuff, like they have of the girls. It’s nice to see though... that she’s so hot and doesn’t hide the stump.” Ryan put a pen in his mouth and moved it with his tongue, eyes focused on the picture.

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Liam smiled at him, unable to resist the temptation to peek at Ryan’s legs. “Do you have something to train your muscles with when no one’s looking?” He never paid attention to other wheelchair-users legs much, so he wasn’t sure how they were supposed to look like. What he did know though, was that Ryan’s legs would be way thinner if he didn't work out on a regular basis and just sat all the time.

“I... uhm... Yeah.” Ryan looked down at the magazine and smiled. “There’s these exercises you can force your legs to do, so that they don’t wither. I was always scared they would.”

Liam took a deep breath and reached out to stroke Ryan’s back, but stopped mid-move. “You weren’t born like this, were you?”

“Uhm... no. I had an accident. But I don’t like to go on about it.” He looked unusually serious and for some reason, it was heartbreaking.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Sorry.” Liam touched Ryan’s back and slowly stroked it up and down.

“It’s funny though, you know. I had a lot of people pick on me at school and the moment I ended up in the wheelchair, everyone was all nicey-nice all of a sudden.”

“Dicks.” Liam squeezed his lips into a thin line, but managed to pull away from Ryan. The need to hug him was becoming overwhelming.

“Yeah.” Ryan picked up the blueberry muffin and started nibbling on it with a tiny sneer. “Whatever, you know? I thought I might as well make the best of it.”

Liam snapped his finger against Ryan’s arm with a grin. “Stop picking at it and eat your effin’ blueberries, you chicken.”

All it got him was a deeper frown. “But they’re... I dunno. A bit sour. And blue by the way. Do you even see that?”

“Yeah, so is your hair.”

“See, and no one wants to nibble on me.” Ryan laughed and shrugged, but the sound turned into a shriek when Liam leaned over and caught a few loose strands of Ryan’s hair between his lips. Fuck, they smelled nice.

“Liam! Okay, okay, I’ll try the freakin’ berries. But I’m only doing this ‘cause you made me.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Liam ripped out a chunk of the muffin Ryan was holding and pushed it through Ryan’s lips. The subsequent rush of arousal made him grateful that they were laying on their bellies, because the wet touch of Ryan’s lips and the slight flush on his cheeks sent an express message to Liam’s cock. The CMS (Cock Message Service) read: ‘I wish Ryan was licking me.’

Ryan chewed on the muffin as if afraid to swallow it, all sorts of frowns and thoughtful expressions going through his face. “Is it possible to make them savory? Like potato muffins?” was the first thing he said after swallowing.

Liam frowned, feeling slightly offended. “Are you saying my
homemade
blueberry muffins are not better than fries?”

“Come on, Liam,” Ryan moaned. “I can’t give you a free pass on all your cooking just because you’re hot.”

Liam scowled and twisted his body to reach the other muffin. He picked on the tip and pulled out a big chunk, tipping the cake over in the process. “You try to say the same to
that
!”

“So pushy.” Ryan laughed and opened his mouth in invitation.

Liam licked his lips, gently putting the food on Ryan’s pink tongue. He wished he could be pushy. As in, push Ryan into the mattress and replace the muffin piece with his own tongue.

Ryan looked into Liam’s eyes as he closed his mouth and chewed on the cinnamon and apple muffin. “Okay, you pass, this one’s better,” he decided, with his mouth still full.

“Better than fries?”

“Better than blueberry.” He laughed and stuck his tongue out after he swallowed.

Liam rolled his eyes.

“I know, Liam, I know.” Ryan patted him on the back. “Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.”

“You’re a hopeless case.” Liam scratched his head, somewhat disappointed by Ryan’s reaction. He hoped for much more enthusiasm. How could homemade cake taste worse than fucking supermarket fries?

But Ryan smiled and reached over him, to get to the rest of the apple muffin. Liam wasn’t sure if he wanted to make a point of the muffin being tasty, or just took a sneaky opportunity to feel him up in the process.

He was silent for a long moment, his thoughts returning to the previous topic. “I had a gay friend in high school, but he only came out after graduation. Now that was a shock. People were so startled.” He laughed, remembering rows of confused faces after he had made the announcement over the mic. A big ‘fuck you’ to everyone. And when that didn’t get him enough attention, he almost took his cock out. Almost, because he was stopped.

“Yeah, I didn’t get much action in high school. Only a creep that ended up getting a restraining order,” Ryan said with his mouth full. He looked like a really cute, alternative hamster. “Everyone seemed to keep to themselves.”

“What creep?” Liam’s eyes narrowed.

“I was sixteen and he was freaking thirty something. My second month in the chair so... you know... I was lonely and, I’ll repeat that - sixteen, horny as fuck. He started hanging around, so we hit it off. You want one?” Ryan pushed the blueberry muffin towards Liam, who took it in his hand without breaking eye contact. His head was pounding like he was having a bad case of hangover.

“What happened?”

“We sort of dated, he took me places.” Ryan’s face became more serious. “You know, my uncle and aunt, they were very old. More like grandparents. But total sweethearts, and they didn’t shun me for who I was at all. So I was hanging out with this guy and he was really nice to me and kept telling me how sexy he thought I was and stuff. So we sort of... you know, started getting physical and then it got weird. Cause he only wanted to do stuff with me when I was in the wheelchair.”

“Um...” Liam was at loss. First, it was wrong to get it on with a kid, second... what the fuck? “You mean... he had a fetish?”

“Yeah. I told him I’d sleep with him, but he didn’t want to fuck me in the bed. Can you imagine this guy?” Ryan furrowed his eyebrows. “Fuck that, I dumped him.”

“Good.” Liam’s voice was a low growl. He didn't even notice when he leaned closer to Ryan. “What a motherfucker.”

“That’s when the ‘fun’ part started. Fucker started stalking me.” Ryan pushed another piece of muffin into his mouth.

“Shit. So you reported him?” Liam bit into his cake, eyes fixed on Ryan’s face. He had beautiful skin, almost too pale for someone who lived in California. Liam imagined it would taste like thick cream.

“Yeah, and imagine this, it turned out he was taking photos of me all along and posting them to his fetish friends. He didn’t even include my face. I know I should be happy about that part, but I wasn’t. He didn’t even care what my face looked like?”

Liam was speechless. What could he say to that? “Shit, that’s... properly fucked up.”

“So yeah, he got a restraining order.” Ryan sighed. “And I was back to jerking off.”

Lian laughed his relief out. “Well, you were still a kid. And the guys you dated afterwards... they were normal, right?”

“Yeah.” Ryan shrugged. “Can you pass me the milk?”

“Sure.” Liam leaned back and handed him the small jug with warm milk and froth. “You’ve been single for a long time, right?” His guess was based on Ryan’s behavior and lack of social life. “Bad breakup?”

“Why? Is the desperation written across my forehead?” Ryan stuck out his tongue, but then went ahead with drinking the milk straight from the jug.

“No, you just don’t seem that keen on dating.” Liam stroked Ryan’s back again, though his heart leapt into a quicker rhythm.

“Oh, come on Liam...” Ryan rubbed his own face and licked off the froth moustache that formed above his upper lip. “I’m tired. I don’t wanna be constantly rejected, and I know I’m a bit weird. It’s hard for me to find someone I like to talk to, let alone have sex with.”

“You had no problems with Joe.” Liam sighed, watching the movement of Ryan’s Adam’s apple.

“Yeah, he was nice. But that’s a first in a long time. Maybe it was the setting. I felt I could make spanking jokes in that club, and he would get it. You know what I mean?”

“But this means you need to go to places where you are able to meet guys like that.” Liam squeezed his thigh.