Contractual Obligation

Chapter Seven

Friday afternoon, Tate was about to leave for the day when Jenny stopped him. “Boss wants to see us in the office.”

“Crap,” he grumbled. “This can’t be good.” He’d felt unsettled all day. Maybe he was overreacting, but it was totally out of character for Doug not to try harder to get in touch with him when visiting his parents.

Then again, he was usually with Doug when he visited his parents.

She smacked him on the shoulder. “Why do you always have to assume the worst? Come on, it could be good news.”

“On a Friday afternoon? Not likely.” They walked to Albert Holder’s office. The president of the company didn’t usually call people into his office for a fat-chewing session.

Holder smiled at them when he spotted them in the doorway. He waved them in. “Go ahead and close the door behind you,” he said.

“See?” Tate whispered in Jenny’s ear. She quietly shushed him as they both took seats in front of his desk.

“Well, I guess you’re wondering why I asked you in here.” He smiled. “I won’t keep you hanging any longer. I’m promoting both of you.”

Jenny grinned as she smacked Tate on the arm again. “See? Told you it wasn’t bad.”

“I received two weeks’ notice from Barbara Davis a little bit ago. Her husband is being transferred. The next logical person for her job is you, Jenny.” He looked at Tate. “And the only person I want taking Jenny’s place is you. You haven’t been here very long, I know, but you’ve proven yourself, and you’ve become one of my best workers. You’ll both be getting raises, obviously. The reason I brought you both in here at the same time was because I didn’t want to drag it out. Jenny, you’ll need to help train Tate while Barbara is training you to take her position. I’d like as smooth a transition as possible.”

“Um, how much of a raise are we talking?” Tate asked. “Not that I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth. I don’t care if Jenny knows. I’ll be telling her anyway.”

“Well, okay. You’ll be making what Jenny’s making now, forty thousand a year.”

Tate thought he misheard him. “Forty grand? Four-zero?”

Mr. Holder smiled. “Yes.” He looked at Jenny.

“Ditto,” she said. “Might as well tell me now. We’ll compare notes later.”

“You’re getting a bump to Barbara’s pay scale, which is forty-eight thousand.”

She let out a happy whistle. “You have no idea how much I appreciate that.”

“Well, I want to keep both of you happy and working for me.”

Tate started to say something, then kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to do anything to blow this in case Doug’s job fell through.

Holder sent them down to human resources before they left for the day. On the way, Jenny grinned. “Want to go out to celebrate?”

“Sure.” He hadn’t told her about Doug’s new job or the problems his parents were going through, not that he knew all the details anyway. Doug’s family was very private when it came to financial matters, and he wanted to respect their privacy.

Ironic, I get a promotion and a great raise, and I’ll probably be leaving in a few weeks anyway.

When he finally got out of the building at five thirty, he saw the missed call from Doug. He called him back and reached Doug’s voice mail. “Hey, babe. Sorry I’m playing phone tag with you,” he said. “Guess what? Holder just gave me and Jenny promotions and kick-ass raises. Wait’ll you hear, it’s nearly double my pay. Give me a call when you can. Jenny wants us to go out and celebrate, so I’ll try to catch you later. Love you.” He hung up and looked at his phone.

Neither one of them had ever been clingy, mopey men. And not jealous ones, either. They enjoyed doing things together, but had friends and interests outside their relationship as well. Both of them agreed that was healthy.

He just wished in this case it didn’t feel quite so lonely. It was the longest stretch he’d been without Doug for months, and he was really missing him and wishing he could celebrate with him tonight instead of Jenny.

Doug felt like a real shit when he played Tate’s voice mail. His first thought wasn’t for how fantastic the opportunity was for Tate, but how it gave him a potential opening to suggest Tate not move down right now.

I should grow a set and just tell him.

He didn’t want to let go, though. He loved Tate.

Telling Tate about the details of his job tempted Doug nearly beyond reason. But every time he thought about doing it, the nondisclosure contract flashed through his mind, followed by the sound of his father’s choked sob over the possibility of losing their house.

He closed his eyes. Eileen deserved stability. His mom had been through enough healthwise. Moving was an additional stress she did not need. His father…

Well, now his father could finally look at retiring in a couple of years instead of having to work until he dropped to pay their mounting medical bills.

He took a deep, pained breath. He wasn’t sure how to break it to Tate, but he knew he’d have to.

His parents didn’t want to go out to dinner, but his sisters did. Another chickenshit move on his part, he suggested they hit a movie, too. While getting ready, he called Tate and reached his voice mail. Taking a deep breath, he left a message. “Hey, that’s great news about your promotion. I’m taking the girls out to a movie tonight to give Mom and Dad some breathing room. If I don’t talk to you tonight, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you.” He hung up before he could start crying.

Tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow.

Dinner and the movie ran late. Tate had called while they were in the theatre, and since they didn’t get home until nearly midnight, Doug took the opportunity to avoid calling.

He spent a mostly sleepless night tossing and turning and thinking about Tate. The first time they’d gone out.

The first time they’d made love.

Doug was more than nervous, he was scared witless. He’d never slept with a guy before, and Tate was only the second guy he’d gone out with after finally admitting to himself he was bi.

They ended up at Doug’s place, because his roommate at the time was gone for the weekend. Tate had been with guys before, although like Doug, had experience with women, too.

Tate pushed him back onto the couch and straddled him, kissing him, crushing his mouth with his.

Doug’s cock throbbed inside his slacks as they made out. Being with Tate was so different than being with a girl. He could be rough and forceful with Tate, and the man asked for more. Tate ended up on top of him and yanked his slacks down, swallowing Doug’s cock before he could think about it.

Nothing felt better than the sensation of Tate’s hot, wet mouth engulfing his shaft. His talented tongue worked from balls to glans and back again, tracing every vein along the way, driving him crazy with passion.

Then Tate cupped his balls with one hand as he licked and sucked them. No woman had ever done that to him before.

He grabbed Tate’s head in his hands, roughly taking fistfuls of hair as he jammed his cock deep inside Tate’s willing mouth. Tate chuckled around the mouthful he had. When Doug looked down, Tate’s sultry blue gaze met his, and that finished him.

With a loud grunt, he shot his load deep into Tate’s mouth. The other man swallowed, not releasing Doug’s cock until it finally grew limp in his mouth.

Tate sat up with a pleased grin. “And that, my dear, is how you give a blow job.”

Doug had never gone down on a guy before. They moved to his bedroom, and Tate obviously took great joy instructing him in the finer points of fellatio.

When they had both recovered, Tate pushed Doug onto his back and buried his face between his ass cheeks, giving Doug his first rimming. He’d thought the blow job was great, but that proved no comparison to the feel of Tate’s tongue probing and exploring his virgin hole. Then Tate wet a finger and gently pressed it against his tight ring of muscle while he sucked Doug’s balls into his mouth. Doug moaned, his cock painfully throbbing again, straining to explode.

Tate wrapped one hand around the base of Doug’s cock and held on tight, helping Doug hold back his climax. “Not yet,” Tate muttered. “Not until my cock’s inside you.”

“Do it, please!”

“You have lube?”

Doug pointed at the bedside table and moaned with disappointment when Tate got up. He quickly returned with a condom and the bottle of lube. “Roll over.”

He did, and Tate playfully slapped his ass. “I can’t believe I get to be the first to tap this.” Doug felt cool lube drizzle down the crack of his ass. Then the feel of Tate’s fingers as he rubbed it in. A moment later, he felt Tate’s cock pressed against him.

“Breathe out, baby. I’ll take it slow. Relax.”

It felt uncomfortable at first, and he almost asked Tate to stop. Then Tate reached around him and played with his cock. Suddenly, he felt himself loosen up, and Tate’s cock slid all the way home.

His cock exploded in Tate’s hand, covering him with his juices.

Tate laughed and slapped him on the ass again. “My, my, aren’t we anxious. I can’t wait until you’re recovered and can fuck me good and properly.” He grabbed Doug’s hips and thrust. “I like it when a guy takes charge.”

Doug moaned as the feeling of Tate’s cock bumping against his prostate triggered yet another erection. Holy crap, he’d never felt this horny in his entire life!

“Get ready,” Tate gasped. The sound of their fucking filled the room. Doug loved the warm, musky scent of their sex mixing together. Tate’s fingers dug into Doug’s hips and he slammed home one final time.

Doug felt Tate’s cock swell and throb inside him as the other man grunted, “Fuck, yes!”

They collapsed onto the bed together, exhausted.

After they recovered and grabbed a shower, they ended up in bed again, with Doug on top this time. He didn’t need much coaching to slide his condom-clad cock inside Tate’s ass.

He had to stop once he was all the way in. He’d never felt anything as good as Tate’s tight channel gripping his cock. Even the earlier blow job paled in comparison.

Tate’s fists balled the sheets. “Fuck me, baby. Please!”

Doug took a couple of deep breaths to regain control. “I will. Hold on. I don’t want to blow.”

Tate tried to arch back against him, and Doug slapped his ass with more than a little warning sting. “I said hold still.”

Tate whimpered, but complied.

Something inside Doug came alive. “Did you like that, baby?”

“Yes!” he gasped into the pillow.

He smacked Tate’s other ass cheek. “You really do like it when I take control like this, don’t you?”

Tate squirmed against him. “Fuck, yes!”

Doug grinned as he spanked Tate. As the man’s ass cheeks turned red, Doug felt his own cock throbbing, rock hard. He leaned forward, buried his hand in Tate’s blond hair, and yanked his head back. “This ass belongs to me, do you hear me?”

“Yes! Please, fuck me!”

Doug slowly withdrew before slamming his cock home again. “I’ll fuck you all night long, baby.” He smacked Tate’s ass with his free hand. “Tell me who owns this ass.”

“You do!”

“That’s right.” Smack!

It only took three more strokes for Tate to come like that. Doug let go of his hair, dug his fingers into Tate’s hips, and fucked him as hard as he could.

Tate happily moaned. “Yeeesss!”

Doug let out a cry as his climax felt like it would rip his cock right off his body. It started deep inside his balls, bigger than any he could remember, swelling and bursting from him and taking the strength from his muscles.

Sweaty and spent, he collapsed on top of Tate. They rolled to their sides, and Tate clutched Doug’s arm around his chest.

“I think I love you,” Tate mumbled.

Doug kissed the back of Tate’s neck. “Me, too.”

In his bedroom at his parents’ house, Doug took a deep breath as he quietly came. Masturbating to memories of their first weekend together never failed to get him over the edge.

He just hoped that would be enough to sustain him after he lost Tate.

On Saturday, Doug waited until midmorning to call Tate. Tate liked to sleep late on the weekends since he had to get up early during the week.

His heart pounded when Tate answered with a sleepy-sounding, “Hello, handsome. Long time, no talk.”

“Hey. Sorry, it’s been a wild couple of days.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” He heard Tate yawn. “So, tell me about the new job.”

Doug didn’t want to. It meant another step on the road to saying good-bye to the man he loved. “I want to hear about yours, first.”

Tate laughed. “No, you don’t. Same job basically, only now I’m taking over Jenny’s supervisor duties, and she’s being promoted to take over for someone else who’s leaving. Come on, tell me.”

“Well, I’m training to take over for the assistant to the company’s CEO.”

“What company?”

“Wells Technology. Aerospace stuff. Her assistant is retiring.”

“Wow. That sounds like big bucks.”

“It is.” He resisted the urge to clear his throat. “The bad part is, I’m going to be working really long, crazy hours and travelling a lot. Especially at first.”

“Ah.” Tate fell silent.

“You okay?” Doug’s stomach twisted into a painful knot.

“How’s Mom?” he finally asked.

Doug took the out. “She’s aggravated the doctors won’t let her do more right now. She needs to let her foot heal first.”

An awkward silence descended. Tate finally broke it. “Let me guess. You’re trying to tell me I shouldn’t move down right now.”

Dammit. He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t. “Well, we weren’t expecting you to get that promotion. I’d really hate to pull you from that. And after a couple of months, once I’m settled in my job, we can figure something out.”

“Ah.” More silence. “So when do I get to see you again?”

Doug closed his eyes. “I’ll be up next weekend.”

“Okay. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.” More than you’ll ever know.

“Life’s going to get pretty crazy for a while, isn’t it?” Tate asked.

“Yeah. Looks like it.”

“Okay.” Tate’s silence told Doug more than he wanted to know. “I’ll let you go. I need to get up and get moving. I’m supposed to meet Bill and Kevin at noon to help them move.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“I love you, too, buddy.”

Doug stared at the phone in his hand, tears running down his face. Tate wasn’t an idiot. He cursed himself for being a coward.

Next weekend, he promised himself. I’ll do it next weekend.

He just hoped he could do it.