Waiting for Rain (22 page)

Lucas nodded his shaggy head. “It never bothered you to flaunt yourself when you used to go out with Tommy to the clubs. And this is for a good cause, and to be honest, you’ll probably have more clothes on at this one.” He grinned.

He’d heard some of my stories in the past about the level of dancing and stripping I’d sunk to, and he was probably right. I hadn’t ever told Toby about that part of the story, though. I cast a dirty glare in my friend’s direction.

He sighed. “Rain, you know you’re not really annoyed at this whole thing. You just don’t like being volunteered because you didn’t get the chance to have your say first. You’re so bloody macho sometimes.” He chuckled. “I for one would pay good money to see you muck about on stage half naked.” He grinned. “Honestly, it’ll be a hoot. Tammy would love it too. So, there’s two tickets already. I’m willing to bet half the bloody town will pitch in to see you show your booty on stage. I think it’s a bloody good idea and for a very good cause.”

His reasonableness made me feel like a heel for sounding off at my lover, and I frowned and kicked the curb sulkily. Lucas shook his head.

“You have a think about it, and in the meantime, partner, this lumber isn’t going to shift itself. Can we get back to the task at hand, please?” He wandered over to the van and started shifting the timber off again. I followed moodily. I supposed I’d think about the whole thing and see what else Toby had to say later. But he was definitely going to pay for volunteering me without speaking to me first. And I had a pretty good idea how to punish him.

Chapter 13

Toby

I
WAITED
with trepidation for Rain to get to my place. I’d been so sure he wouldn’t mind me volunteering him for the festival, but it seemed like I didn’t know him as well as I’d thought. I mooched around my room gloomily until I heard the knock at the door. I opened it to see him standing there, hands in his pockets, black hair mussed, and looking very tasty in his green checked shirt and Levi’s. He brushed past me into my room. I closed the door, turning to apologize to him, and he grabbed me by my shirtfront and kissed me. It wasn’t the reaction I’d expected, so I simply stood there, mouth wide open while he explored it with his usual thoroughness.

Finally, he let me go, then wandered over to the fridge, leaving me both horny and gobsmacked. “Fancy a beer?” he asked as he rummaged in the meager contents of my refrigerator.

I nodded numbly. “So, you’re not mad at me for the whole fair thing, then?” I finally managed to say as he handed me an open bottle of Peroni.

He looked at me with a glint in his eye. “You took me by surprise,” he remarked as he kicked off his shoes, lying back on my bed with a sigh of satisfaction. “It’s not every day you get told your boyfriend has told everyone else you’ll take your clothes off for them.”

“It’s not a full strip, Rain,” I said hopefully, wondering if he was now going to do it after all. “I don’t want everyone seeing all of what’s mine. Just the top bit, really, it’s more a bit of fun than a serious striptease.” I plonked myself on the bed next to him as I sipped my beer. “So, does this mean you’ll do it, then?”

He watched me with a look, one I knew well. That look meant I was in for a hard time—both figuratively and literally. My insides melted toward my groin, and my heart started to beat faster at the promise of what was in his eyes. One look at
his
groin, and I knew exactly where this night was going. He was already quite turned on, from the bulge I saw.

“I suppose. But I think you need to be taught a lesson.” He leaned over, took the bottle from my hand, and placed it on the side table next to him. “As my manager, you shouldn’t arrange something without bouncing it off me first. We artistes have our egos, and we like to be consulted. You can’t just take liberties like that.” My cock was definitely enjoying the idea of this new role play he was devising. Manager/artiste had a good ring to it.

He started pulling my tee shirt over my head, and I lifted my arms in supplication, my breath quickening. He tossed my shirt to one side, leaning forward, taking one of my nipples in his teeth and biting it. I hissed at the sudden nip.

“So, I feel the need to make you pay for your little transgression,” he murmured as he moved to the other nipple and did the same thing. He ran his hand over my crotch, and I swallowed as he caressed me. “You’ve been a very naughty boy.”

I nodded. I definitely wasn’t going to argue about that. I rather liked being punished by Rain. So, when he started to unzip my jeans and reached in to clasp my extremely ready and aching hard-on, I simply closed my eyes and went with the flow.

A
N
HOUR
and a half later we lay drowsily together in bed, having expended most of our energy in a bout of sexual calisthenics that even had me feeling a little sore. My limbs were suppler than Rain’s, but they’d been bent every which way, and my whole body now ached. Not to mention the plethora of nips and bites, including a rather tender one between my arse cheeks. One of his “punishments” had been to rim me within an inch of my sanity, and he certainly knew how to use that tongue of his to best effect. He lay snuggled under my arm, his dark hair tickling my chest. Since I’d cuddled him that day at his house when we’d had our first big argument, he seemed to have developed a taste for it. I stroked the top of his head as his fingers slowly trailed their way across my stomach and up and down the line of hair that led to my groin. He was half asleep, but I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

“Rain, did you mean it when you said you’d do the whole strip thing?” He nodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I’ll speak to Dave, and we’ll start organizing the tickets. He has a mate in town who’s going to print a whole load of them and take them around and hawk them for us. They’re only two quid each—”

Rain shot up and looked at me in aggrievement. “Two pounds to watch me pole dance and strip? Hell, you’re giving me away like a cheap tart.”

I chuckled. “I’d rather sell quantity. That way we get more people here, and they’re more likely to part with their cash at the fair and boost the town’s coffers. They may as well get something out of this too.”

He huffed as he lay back down. “Still, I’m worth more than that.”

I kissed the top of his head. “Indeed you are. So much more. Like millions.”

His lips shifted in a smile against my stomach, and I thought not for the first time how lucky I’d been to find this man.

“I’ve actually managed to get over five hundred in sponsorships from some of the hotel suppliers too,” I said proudly. “That should help the family reach their goal. People have been pretty good.”

Rain smiled, his expression tender as he stroked my cheek. “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown,” he murmured, and a warm glow of satisfaction drifted through my body. My mobile chirped from my bedside table, and I picked it up. When I saw who it was, my heart sank.

How the hell did Neil get hold of this number? I’ve changed it twice already.

I slammed the phone down, not wanting to read yet another message about what a fag I was and how he was going to duff me up one day.

“You okay, Toby?” Rain looked up with sleepy eyes.

I smiled at him. “Yeah. Just one of those silly network messages. I don’t know why they insist on sending them through when people are trying to sleep.”

My boyfriend nodded. “I hate that too. Maybe you should switch it off.”

I did just that, watching the phone power down but still feeling that sense of unease. Everyone seemed to think that the harassing phone calls from Neil had stopped. I let them think that, but the truth was they hadn’t. I could change my mobile number, but the calls to my direct line at the hotel I couldn’t do much about. I was scared someone would pick up the phone and be subject to a torrent of abuse from Neil. I’d decided to go see him and talk to him. I knew my friends and Rain would try and talk me out of it, so I didn’t intend mentioning it at all.

I snuggled down into the blankets with Rain, hoping that for Neil the novelty would wear off soon. As I closed my eyes to sleep, I had the niggly feeling I was being too optimistic.

I
WAS
right. The calls got worse. A few days later, I pitched up at Neil’s small bungalow in the center of town. I’d told no one where I was really going, just that I had errands to run in town. In hindsight, it was a stupid thing to do. I knocked loudly on his door, half hoping he was in, the other half hoping I’d be able to leave without seeing the bastard. He opened the door, taking an aggressive step forward when he saw me standing there.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snarled. His eyes darted nervously around the neighborhood, as if he was scared I might have brought a gay plague with me.

“I came to ask you to stop harassing me before I decide to go to the police.” I kept my voice even, not wanting to lose my temper. “It’s getting out of control, Neil. I need you to back off.”

He laughed harshly. “And if I don’t? You’re gonna go to Dave Webber and tell him that your poor lily-white arse is being ‘harassed’ by me? You know what he’ll say to that, don’t you?”

I wasn’t really having any luck controlling the rising fury that seethed through my pores. I swallowed tightly, clenching my hands into fists. “I’ll take that chance. There are more policemen than just Dave Webber, you know. Perhaps one of the others might listen where he won’t.”

Neil chuckled nastily as he swung the door idly back and forth. “You can try, Toby. The bottom line is Dave’s the boss, and they’ll do what he says.” His face darkened. “Now fuck off and leave me alone. I don’t need anyone thinking we’re mates, ’cos we aren’t.” His words were dripping with scorn as he slammed the door. I took a deep breath and knocked again. He ignored me. I finally kicked the door hard once, then twice, and it was wrenched open fiercely.

Neil barreled out like a bulldog trying to get at the mailman to rip his throat out. I hadn’t been expecting a sudden charge of a hundred and eighty pounds of muscle. He pushed me hard in the chest with outstretched arms, knocking me backward. I fell, my hands reaching out to break my fall. I shouted as something twisted in my left hand. The pain was agonizing. Neil stood over me, his face flushed, his fists clenched. I rolled over and scrambled to my feet. My breath was coming hard and fast as I faced him, feeling violence in my body like I hadn’t in many years.

“I told you to get the fuck away from me!” Neil yelled, spittle on his lips. “I don’t like you, and I don’t want you on my property.”

I stared at him in fury. “At least tell me why you’re doing all this shit to me. What the hell have I ever done to you? Is it because Tammy broke up with you?”

He looked at me, hatred on his face. “You had no right to break us up like you did. But I don’t give a fuck about her anymore. There’s plenty of slag like her to go around.” My anger increased at those words, even as I felt a sense of relief that this wasn’t really about her. She’d be safe from him if he focused his rage on me.

He poked a fist in my face. “You smacked Landon when he wouldn’t put out for you,” he snarled. “Landon’s a good bloke, my dad’s best friend, and he told us all about what you’d tried to do to him. Trying to stick him one up the arse and wanting to suck him off. It was bloody disgusting. The man goes to church, for God’s sake, and has a kid. How could you do that to him? People still talk gossip about it, and he didn’t deserve the accusations you threw at him. They were a fucking lie. He still has trouble with his bloody shoulder because of the whack you gave him, and he can’t even play football anymore. You bloody caused a load of trouble for him.”

I shook my head. “
He’s
the fucking liar. He’s the one who wanted to suck
my
bloody cock, you ignorant twat.”

Neil shouted out in anger, lurching toward me. I moved just at the right moment, and he went flying into the bush that flanked his garden path. I looked around. The street had a few curious onlookers, but I had a feeling none of them would interfere if this got any worse.

I looked at the man struggling to get out of the bush and knew this conversation had been a mistake. In fact, I’d probably just made things worse. “I’m warning you. Leave me the hell alone,” I spat at him. “You don’t want to know what happened to the last people who fucked with me like this.” The memories of what I’d done when I was fifteen came flooding back, making the bile rise in my throat. “You stay the hell away from me and my friends, or you’ll be sorry, you sick tosser.”

I turned and walked back down the garden path, being careful to keep an eye on him. It would be just like him to play dirty and do something when I wasn’t looking. I made it onto the street and looked back to see him upright now and staring after me. His gaze burned into my back like an iron left on the board too long. I was shaking, my hand already swelling where I’d obviously sprained it. I’d scraped it too, and it oozed small trickles of blood. I felt physically sick, not just from the adrenaline rush but from the fact I’d really wanted to hurt him. I hadn’t felt like that in a long time. I had a long fuse, but when it burned out, I was a menace to myself and anyone else around. I’d learned that the hard way.

I made it back to the hotel bar and once again stole some ice from the fridge to wrap in a towel and hold against my hand. I soaked a clean cloth in ice-cold water and wrapped it around, swearing as the cold bit at the open scratches. I was so absorbed in my task I didn’t hear Lucas come in to stand beside me. When I finally felt a presence, I looked up to see him watching me carefully.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice soft but commanding. Lucas looked like a big, shaggy puppy, but he had a core of steel.

I looked at him. “I fell. Tripped over a kid’s scooter in the street. Hurt my hand a little.”

He knew I was lying. I knew he knew I was lying.

He nodded, his eyes watchful. “You need to be more careful, mate, and watch where you’re going. I’d hate you to get hurt. Rain wouldn’t be happy with that either.”