Str8te Boys Read online

  It was nice, in a way. He loved Duke for being such a likeable guy but even more he liked his rarely seen quiet side—the side he’d noticed when his friend had spent a month feeding a stray kitten from an eyedropper because its mother had died and it was too young to be weaned. The side that volunteered in an after-school program for at-risk youth, teaching kids from broken homes and bad backgrounds the rudiments of soccer and telling them about the sports scholarships they could get that would make getting to college and having a real future possible. Mav had gone with him on more than one occasion and watched as he established a rapport with even the most skeptical young souls. Duke could always get them laughing and talking and excited about the game, even the troublemakers other volunteers had given up on.

  Yes, Mav admitted to himself, he’d admired his best friend’s easy way with the kids and his gentle touch with the tiny, helpless kitten. And he’d caught himself wondering why Duke couldn’t be like that more of the time. He loved his friend, but sometimes the loud, drunk frat-guy routine got old—way old. Why couldn’t Duke let the gentle, caring side of himself out more often?

  Suddenly Mav wondered what had gotten into him—was he actually wishing his roomie could be more sensitive? How freaking gay was that? No gayer than kissing him while you rubbed off against him, a little voice in his head spoke up. Mav pushed it away. He’d already decided not to think of or mention the episode from the night before ever again and since Duke hadn’t said anything about it, he was pretty sure they could consider the incident dropped. Things happened in college. People got drunk or high and did stupid things—you should be allowed a certain number of mistakes, Mav told himself. He was just going to call last night a mistake and leave it at that. And if he and Duke never mentioned it again, there was no reason why it ought to affect their friendship.

  Except it was already affecting their friendship. Why else were they so comfortable touching each other? So at ease holding hands? And when the photographer asked them to kiss, Mav didn’t even hesitate. Without a word, he dug his fingers into the short, spiky blond hair at Duke’s nape and brought him in for a long, breathless exploration where he mapped every part of his friend’s mouth with his tongue. It felt natural to take the lead and Duke let him, winding his arms around Mav’s neck and pulling him even closer as though he couldn’t get enough. In fact, the photographer told them to stop and change to a different pose several times before they heard him—which kind of embarrassed Mav when the guy called them out about it. But he decided that was just because he and Duke were both intensely focused when it came to getting something right. Just like on the soccer field, they made a great team. And his unspoken reluctance to let go of his best friend and stop kissing him had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.

  Just before their own shoot was over, another pair of men came in. One was tall and lean with multiple piercings, including a tongue ring and eyebrow barbells, and short black hair. His companion was shorter and more normal looking with brown hair and eyes and he wore a colorful rainbow t-shirt that read, I’m not gay but my boyfriend is.

  The photographer stopped and talked to them for a minute before coming back to Mav and Duke.

  “Hey, guys, if you’re not in too much of a hurry I’d really like to get a few more shots of you but I need to do these guys first. They have an appointment to get to. You mind waiting?”

  Duke shrugged. “Got nothin’ else to do today.”

  “Me either,” Mav said. He’d taken his organic chem test earlier so the rest of his day was clear.

  “Great.” The photographer smiled and ushered them off to the side of the set. Mav watched intently as he arranged the two new subjects. He suddenly felt shy around his friend for some reason and hoped Duke wouldn’t start talking about the kiss they had just shared—or the night before for that matter. But his roommate seemed as content as he was to let it drop. He stood silently beside Mav and watched as well as the two new men who’d come in were put in position. And there was certainly something to watch.

  To Mav’s mingled interest and discomfort, it appeared that the two new guys were posing for the gay website. The photographer had them get completely naked before posing and the positions he photographed them in were much more graphic than anything Mav and Duke had been asked to do.

  Mav wanted to look away as the two men kissed and fondled each other but it was like a train wreck—he just couldn’t. And it wasn’t like he enjoyed gay porn either—that shit did nothing for him. It was just… Just that I can imagine doing the same kinds of things with Duke, he thought before he could stop himself.

  “Dude, I can’t believe they’re doing that,” Duke murmured, breaking his train of thought. Duke’s brown eyes were glued to the scene in front of them where the shorter, brown-haired man was taking his partner’s cock deep into his mouth. In fact, Mav thought he might be deep-throating, a skill he’d only seen displayed by women before while watching his friend’s extensive porn collection.

  “They’re, uh… Probably they do it all the time so it’s no big deal to earn money doing it,” Mav said, trying to sound nonchalant. “I mean, if you were really gay, that kind of thing would be like, something you did every day. Right?”

  “Probably. You’re probably right.” Duke cleared his throat and Mav could see him looking at him from the corner of his eye. “So what do you think about it? Think you’d ever do it?”

  Mav frowned. “What—suck another guy? I don’t know. Maybe—it would depend.” He didn’t say what it would depend on because he didn’t really know himself. On how much money he was offered? On who the guy was? He was too busy watching to think about it. The two men were getting into a different pose now and his attention was on them instead of what his friend was saying.

  “Oh, man,” Duke almost whispered as the brown-haired man knelt on all fours and his taller partner crouched behind him. “Do you think they’re gonna fuck?”

  Mav shrugged. “Don’t know.” He couldn’t take his eyes off of the two gay guys in front of him. What would it be like to do that with another guy? What would it be like to do it with Duke? Shouldn’t be thinking that, his mind whispered. But he couldn’t stop the images that formed in his brain. The idea of Duke under him, open to him, both of them naked and kissing, Duke writhing on the bed while Mav pounded into him…it was hard to let go of somehow.

  “Wow,” Duke murmured as they watched the two men perform acts very like the ones Mav was imaging.

  “Yeah. Wow is right. That looks like it should hurt but the, uh, one guy seems to be enjoying it,” Mav whispered back from the side of his mouth.

  “How much would they have to pay to get us to do that, huh?” Duke nudged his arm jokingly.

  “Depends,” Mav said again. “I guess I could see being the pitcher—if the money was right. But I don’t think I could be the catcher, ya know?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Duke looked uncomfortable. “Well, but I mean maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be the catcher. It would depend on who was pitching. Like maybe…maybe if it was you…” He trailed off, going red in the face.

  Mav stared at his friend, his interest in the show going on in front of him abruptly waning. “You saying you want me to fuck you, Duke? Is that it?” He was surprised at how instantly his friend’s words affected him. The idea had been intriguing enough but now that Duke had practically voiced what he had been thinking out loud, his cock was suddenly so hard he felt like he could fuck through solid concrete.

  Duke cleared his throat. “No, man. That would be way too gay…wouldn’t it?”

  “I guess.” They were looking at each other now and Mav found he couldn’t drag his gaze away from his best friend’s deep brown eyes. “How would you feel about it?” he asked Duke, as the tension mounted between them. “Would you let me? Would you want me to? I mean—in a purely hypothetical situation, like if they paid us a million bucks or something?”

  “I…uh…” Duke shook his head uncertainly as Mav leaned forward.