“Fine, but don’t make a habit of it.” He would, because my son loved driving me nuts by doing little things that annoyed me. I placed my glass of water on the end table while Frankie and Ryan argued over which flick to turn on. They tried asking for my input, but I couldn’t care less. The two of them finally settled on a movie, and I reached over to turn out the light. It’d been one hell of a weekend and I’d likely pass out within the hour. Until then, I was content to sit back and dream of a world where this was the norm.
As soon as the adrenaline and endorphins left Ryan’s system, he was out. I couldn’t see how sleeping draped over the chair as he was could be comfortable, but his soft snores made it clear he didn’t care. I kicked my feet up on the coffee table and rested my arm across the back of the couch. It was an odd length, not long enough to lay down comfortably but more than a love seat. My fingers brushed Frankie’s shoulder and he looked over to smile at me. Without the stress he usually carried around, he looked younger.
“We don’t have to keep watching this if you’d prefer something else,” Frankie whispered. He leaned forward for a box of crackers, scooting a bit closer as he relaxed. The entire time, his eyes were glued to the action on the screen over the fireplace.
“I’m good,” I assured him. As the movie continued, my nerves settled and I began gently massaging Frankie’s neck. His head dropped forward and he let out a soft moan that went straight to my dick. He rolled his shoulders a few times. “Feels good.”
In a perfect world, we’d have the house to ourselves and I’d lead Frankie to his bedroom, strip him of all his clothes and massage every inch of his body until he was fully relaxed. But this wasn’t a perfect world, so I settled for turning my back to the arm of the couch, sliding one leg behind Frankie. “Come here.”
Frankie looked over to Ryan, whose head was flopped back as if he was missing a few vertebrae. “What if he wakes up?”
“I’ll tell him the truth. You’re tense and I’m helping you out. I’ve always been tactile, even when his mom and I were married. Trust me, it’ll be fine.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but he shifted so his ass was nestled right against my groin. If I didn’t know how tentative he was about this level of closeness when we weren’t alone, I’d have accused him of wriggling around just to get a rise out of me. Frankie leaned forward slightly, giving me better access to his tight shoulders and back.
Glancing over to make sure Ryan was down for the count, I decided this was as good a time as any to chat a bit about how Frankie felt with the small taste I’d given him of how I saw us moving forward. “I know it’s not what you expected when I first told you to do some research, but are you okay with what we’ve done this past week?”
Frankie shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I still don’t see how you qualify sending me some reminders as kinky, but whatever. And honestly, I felt pretty stupid most of the time, because you were telling me to do stuff a grown man should know to do anyway.”
“Why did that make you feel stupid?” I asked, digging my fingers harder into his shoulders. Eventually, we’d chat about him degrading himself. He wasn’t stupid, he was busy trying to prove himself to a man who was no longer living to judge him.
“It’s common sense shit,” he explained. “I mean, who needs a reminder to eat or to be told when to go to bed?”
“Someone who’s grown accustomed to putting others first.” I tried kneading the muscles across Frankie’s back, but his shirt was in the way. I pushed him forward and tugged at the hem of his shirt. I didn’t remove it because I needed that barrier there. This was me making him feel good, not foreplay. “If you put aside your feelings about what you should or shouldn’t be doing, do you feel like the reminders help you?”
“Yeah, they do.”
“And was it hard for you to do as I asked?”
“No, which is another thing that’s weird,” Frankie admitted. “I…uh… well, let’s just say I’ve never been good at doing things when someone tells me to. Mama used to joke that she could get me to do anything by telling me to do the opposite.”
I kept massaging Frankie’s back as he talked about how my messages centered him. That made me feel good, because that’d been my intention. I wanted to push him a little further, but that would prove to be a test for both of us. I was still determined that we not rush to intercourse just for the sake of getting off. Frankie wasn’t at all what I would’ve gone out looking for in a partner, but I had a feeling we might be exactly what the other needed.
I stretched to reach the remote, nearly toppling both of us to the floor. After a quick debate, I decided to leave Ryan where he slept. Nothing would kill the mood quicker than worrying about whether he realized I followed Frankie into his room.
“Come on, let’s get you in bed.” I tugged Frankie’s arm until he got up and followed suit. He spun around, practically melting into my arms. When his hand drifted to my groin, I wrapped my fingers around his wrist. “Not for that.”
“You’re no fun,” Frankie whined. “Seriously, I deserve some sort of reward for listening to your rulesand suggestionsfor the week. I’m a man with needs, Calvin.”
I swatted Frankie’s bubble butt, laughing when he groaned. “And if you’re not a brat, you may get what you want. But unless you tell me otherwise, from this point forward, what happens and when will be up to me. Is that going to be a problem for you?”
Frankie shook his head.
“Say it, Frankie. Tell me you need me to take control. That you trust me to make these decisions for you,” I instructed him as I led him down the hall to the bedrooms. Eventually, I would invite him into my bed, but I wasn’t ready for that step just yet. Once he was there, I wanted it to be for good.
Frankie turned back to me, placing both of his hands on my chest. “I trust you, Calvin. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I know you won’t do anything I don’t want. Help me…”
He left the end of his plea unspoken, but I knew what it was that he needed. I silently vowed to give him a sanctuary in our home where he didn’t have to be the one in control of everything. A safe place for him to let go and feel.
As much as I wanted to strip the clothes from his body like it was a precious gift, there was something else I wanted more. Rather than lead him to the bed, I stopped in the center of the room, taking a step back to look at him. He was in a T-shirt and jeans tonight. It struck me how rarely I saw him in anything other than business casual wear with the exception of early mornings over coffee. One of the few times I remembered seeing him so dressed down was the night at Club 83; a night I would both be forever grateful for experiencing and wished I could erase from my memory.
“Get ready for bed. I’ll wait,” I told him, crossing my arms over my chest.
One eyebrow lifted in question when I didn’t move.
“You’re not going to join me?” Frankie seemed disappointed, but tried to quickly recover. “I mean, I guess that’s probably a bad idea.”
“I won’t sleep in here, but I’m not leaving just yet.” When Frankie didn’t take the hint, I reached for the hem of his shirt and gave it a gentle tug. His cheeks darkened when he realized what was expected of him. “If I had my way, you’d wear as little as possible whenever you’re home, but that’s not always feasible. Now, let me see you.”
