AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good question. I thought,” he left a long pause, “a job.”
They were both very drunk.
Aleksey knew he was and could see a similar intense focus for balance in Ben’s careful rise from the table. He snatched up the whisky bottle and pocketed the glasses.
The billiard room was as dark as if it were night, the blinds drawn and the rain pounding.
Ben went forwards to find a light switch.
Aleksey locked the door behind them.
When the low lights went on, he walked carefully to the table and placed the bottle on the wooden surround, filling the glasses once more.
Ben was trailing his finger along the green felt as if stroking skin.
“I don’t know the rules of this game.”
Aleksey handed him a drink, and they clinked glasses. “Have you ever played before? I…have been wondering.” On a long swallow, he laid the crystal tumbler down and selected a cue from the rack, testing its perfection across his arm as if sighting down a gun.
Ben copied him, pulling free another. “I would have said yes, but after this weekend, I’m not so sure what I’d be admitting to.”
Aleksey could not be bothered to be Nikolas now. He laughed at Ben’s words, giving them a small nod of acknowledgement. “Come. I will teach you, Benjamin Rider. I am a great teacher of many useful things.”
Ben came to the beckoning as if drawn without his own volition. He drained the last of his drink and placed the glass next to Aleksey’s. “If you’ve read any of my reports from the army, you’ll know I’m a crap student.”
Aleksey held out the tiny square of blue chalk he’d been slowly running around the tip of his cue. “But you have never failed at anything, Benjamin. You told me so yourself.”
Ben examined his own cue tip. “I don’t doubt I will win tonight. I was just saying I would like to understand the rules first.”
“Come. Chalk.”
He pressed the chalk into Ben’s hand, folded the cool fingers around it and murmured, eyes lowered, “Screw it around slowly.”
Ben allowed his hand to be lifted to the tip, watching as Aleksey helped him twist it slowly around. “Very good, Benjamin. That is exactly how it is done.”
Ben brought his other hand up and opened Aleksey’s fingers, removing the little box. As he did, one nail accidentally trailed the entire way down Aleksey’s palm. “And what’s this for, sir? What does it do?”
Aleksey, enjoying that tiny graze spark deep within his body, explained dryly, “It prevents misfires when you connect with a ball.”
Ben replied with equal seriousness. “Ah. We wouldn’t want any misfires, sir.”
“You break, Benjamin, as you are my guest.” He stepped back with a gracious sweep of his hand.
Ben bent over the table, murmuring softly, “What am I supposed to be hitting?”
Aleksey snorted, also very quietly, and came up behind the bent figure. He took a deep breath, not metaphorical at all, and pressed hard against the tempting backside. “Let me show you.”
* * *
Other than that one finger stroke, this was the first touch between them. It seemed incredible to Aleksey that all the sparring since he had met this man had been nothing but words. He felt bloodied and bruised, yet this was the first time he had actually touched Ben Rider’s body. Even as Ben was turning to respond, Aleksey wondered if this moment would set the tone for all their interactions to come, for good or bad. Not one touch, even to pass a glass, and yet his erection now dented the lean lines of Ben’s jacket.
Was unmistakable in its need.
Shouldn’t there be something between nothing and this?
He didn’t have time to think more, for Ben responded.
It was so fast, so furious, that they exploded into it more like an attack than sex. He tore Ben’s jacket off, ripped at his shirt. Ben had his hands plunged deep in Aleksey’s trousers, reaching for his elusive cock before Aleksey could turn him. Ben shouted in protest as he was pushed face first into the green baize. Aleksey slapped the back of the dark head as he pulled Ben’s trousers just low enough for the desired access, one hand on his neck to hold him down, one to open him up.
