The Dangers of Desire

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The Dangers of Desire

Chapter 16

by Matt

Wednesday 4th March 2015

Dale was awake but didn't want to move. The last thirty-two mornings he had woken up alone, instinctively reaching out to cuddle Josh but finding nobody there. Thirty-two times. He had been counting, waiting for his anger to abate enough to actually go back to the man he loved, to talk about their problems instead of simply hiding from them.

Finally, on morning number thirty-three, he had woken up with the warmth of a body beside him, the comfort of strong arms wrapped around him. It wasn't Josh though, it was Liam. Dale's world, already cracked by the revelation of Warren and Josh's duplicity had been shattered completely when he found out Josh didn't want him back. Fortunately, Liam had been there to pick up the pieces, first as a friend and now as maybe something more.

Maybe. That was the question. Maybe something more. Last night he had been upset and Liam had provided comfort, but was that all it was? A temporary expansion of their friendship, one guy helping another through a difficult time or was it something more? The questions raced through his mind as he lay there enjoying the feeling and pretending to still be asleep.

Of course, Liam's motivation aside, then came the other questions. How did Dale himself feel about it? He had been close friends with Liam for quite some time, they had slept together many times, but did this change things? Their love-making the previous night had been just that, love-making, not the casual fuck they usually shared. Liam had been an amazing friend since the split with Josh, offering a place to stay and a shoulder to cry on and his affection for the young man had definitely grown because of it.

He had no answers, only questions. He shifted ever-so-slightly, feeling the muscles of Liam's chest pressing into his back. He had to do something, he couldn't just lay there all morning, but what would he choose? Stay or go? Talk about it or pretend it never happened? Preserve friendship or pursue something more?

Before Dale could reach a decision either way, the choice seemed to be taken out of his hands. He felt Liam move slightly, then there were lips on his neck. He mewed happily as Liam kissed him from behind. He reached up with one hand and his fingers found Liam's hair, running through it gently.

"Morning." Dale said happily, taking in a deep breath.

Liam kissed his way up to the side of Dale's neck, then kissed his ear lobe before whispering, "Morning."

All the questions in Dale's mind seemed to melt away as Liam's hands began to slide down his chest, gently pulling at the hair covering him, slowly making their way down to his rapidly-expanding dick. Just before Liam's fingers could grasp the stiffening tool, Dale reached down and grabbed the hand. "Wait."

Liam shifted away slightly, allowing Dale to roll onto his back, then propped himself up with an elbow, looking down at the other man. "What's wrong?" he asked nervously, thinking he had done something to upset Dale.

Dale realised he was still holding Liam's hand. He blushed a little, feeling a bit silly about getting embarrassed at such a little thing after all the other things they had done to each other last night. He kept hold anyway.

"Nothing." he replied with a smile. "I just..." He didn't know what to say.

"You feel a bit weird?" Liam guessed.

Dale stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

"And you're freaking out about what this actually means?" Liam continued, gesturing to them both.

Dale continued staring. Was Liam feeling the same thing or were Dale's feelings so painfully obvious to his friend? Another nod.

Liam grinned at his friend's nervous expression. "Stop over-thinking, that's all you've done for the last month. Let's keep it simple. If I kissed you now... would you kiss me back?"

Dale's eyes widened and he felt himself tremble a little. He nodded again.

"Oy, fucktard, wake up!" Sam said, his face inches from Warren's, poking his friend sharply in the ribs with a finger.

Warren flinched from the poke, rolled over and refused to open his eyes. Sam jumped on top of him, bouncing up and down vigorously to try and force him awake.

"Shit!" Warren called out suddenly, sitting up and almost headbutting Sam's face. "It's morning? My Mum's gonna kill me!"

"Relax." Sam replied, rolling off of his friend and sitting at the foot of the bed. "I messaged your Mum last night to see if it was okay for you to stay. She was cool with it."

Warren flopped back down, breathing a sigh of relief. "Oh thank fuck for that." He looked down towards Sam. "Thanks for sorting it. I guess I kinda fell asleep on you again?"

"I'm starting to take it personally!" Sam joked, but stopped laughing when he saw the sad look on Warren's face. "I'm just kidding, bud. You needed a good night's sleep."

Warren sat up and just nodded his agreement to the comment. "I guess I did. And I slept great. I don't think I actually... had that dream for once." he said happily.

Sam knew he had, but didn't say anything. It was just nice to see Warren looking a bit more cheerful than he had been lately. "Now hurry up and get up. I promised you Mum I'd get you to school on time and if she finds out you were late she'll never let you stay over again!" Sam said, jumping off the bed.

He stood, stretching for a moment, until he felt warren's arms wrapping around him. The boy hugged him from behind. Sam rested his head back against Warren's and reached up to grip onto his arms. When Warren let go, he turned round and asked, "What was that for?"

"Just... for being you!" Warren said with a sweet smile. Not wanting to dwell on the gesture for too long, he added, "Hey, if we hurry we'll have time to stop in and see Greg before school."

Nick stood in the hallway outside the door to Josh's old room. He felt crappy about the way he had snapped and stormed out on Greg the previous night but he felt like his reaction had been justified. What gave Greg to right to tell him he was wrong for his treatment of Corey. His little brother had been complicit in the most hurtful thing that had ever happened to him. Being pissed at him was a perfectly reasonable reaction.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Greg called out from the other side.

Nick very nearly turned and walked away, but decided it was best to just get this out of the way. He opened the door and walked in, smiling awkwardly as he saw Greg sitting up in bed. "Hey." he said quietly.

"Hey." Greg replied flatly. When Nick remained silent, he added, "Did you want something?"

"I just.... wanted to say sorry." Nick said, looking down at his feet. "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."

Greg wanted to accept the apology. He hated being angry at Nick as the older boy had been so amazingly supportive since the incident, but he felt his reaction had been justified. Nick was being a total dick when it came to Corey. "It's fine." he replied.

"Oh yeah." Nick said sarcastically. "It really seems fine."

Greg shook his head and sighed. "Okay, it's not fine." he replied honestly.

"I don't see what your problem is." Nick snapped.

"My problem's you!" Greg said back angrily. "You're acting like a child!"

"Fuck you!" Nick sneered back furiously. "He lied to me! He knew Warren was cheating on me and he didn't tell me!"

"Exactly, it was Warren that was cheating on you, but you can sit here and act all friendly with him, but Corey gets completely blanked. What kind of sense does that make?" Greg demanded.

Nick's mouth flapped, attempting to argue back, but Greg had a point. Nick's fury refused to abate though, helping him find at least a small argument to throw back at the boy. "Corey's my brother. MY brother, not Warren's. He should be on MY side. He should have told me!"

Greg shook his head incredulously, but smiled a little as Nick had just handed him the perfect foil to his own argument. "Tell me this then, Nick. What exactly was Corey meant to do when he had one brother needing him to keep a secret and another brother needing him to reveal it?"

"He... he..." Nick stuttered. As Greg watched, the anger began to fade from Nick's face, twisting through a range of confused and pained expressions. "He... couldn't do anything." he finally said quietly.

Greg just looked at the boy and let out a deep breath. "Exactly."

Nick grunted as he rubbed his face, shaking his head slightly. "I should go talk to him."

"That's probably a good idea." Greg said, glad that Nick was finally thinking straight, but almost in tears about their aggressive exchange.

Nick looked at the boy and saw how upset he looked. He dashed across the room to him, pulling him into a hug. "God, I'm so sorry for yelling at you like that. I didn't mean to get like that, I've just... I keep getting... so angry!" he rambled as he held Greg.

"It's okay. I know you're dealing with a lot." Greg said quietly back to him, holding on tightly. It felt nice sitting there in Nick's arms. He was so close now, it would be so easy to just kiss him, to forget Sam's warning and confess his feelings but he resisted. "Go. Talk to Corey." He ordered.

Nick kissed him gently on the forehead then got up and headed out of the room. A few steps down the hallway he knocked on Corey's door.

"Who is it?" Corey called back.

Nick paused, struggling to find his voice. He coughed, his mouth suddenly dry. "It's... it's Nick."

There was a moment's pause before the boy called out, "Fuck off."

"Cor, I wanted to apologise." Nick said, trying the door but finding it blocked.

"And I want you to fuck off!" Corey shouted.

"Fine, fuck you too!" Nick snapped back angrily.

"HEY!" George called up the stairs. "What's going on up there?"

"NOTHING!" Nick shouted back, then retreated to his room, slamming the door.

Josh lay in bed, gasping desperately, his entire body convulsing. His master had turned off Buzz relatively early the night before, but he had been woken early when the stimulator suddenly turned back on, this time at full strength.

Since his early awakening he had gone through a range of feelings he had never expected. The slow build of the prostate stimulation started off by just making him wish he could remove Woody, his chastity cage, and stroke his dick which swelled painfully against the metal. Once he finally accepted that simply wasn't going to happen, he just let the stimulation build. His first orgasm had not been accompanied by any form of ejaculation, aside from a new continuous dribble of pre-cum, his entire body convulsing from the pleasure. His second one though, that resulted in a slow dribble of cum. Shortly after that, he had been rocked by another cum-less orgasm.

He wondered how long the device would stay on, wondering if he was going to have to try and face the day with the intensive stimulation ongoing. At one point he had tried to get up and start getting ready for work, but his legs went weak and he found he struggled to walk, even holding onto furniture for support.

Mercifully, after an hour and a quarter the buzzing stopped. He wondered whether the battery had run out or if he was being granted a brief reprieve. When it turned back on fifteen minutes later he got his answer. Fortunately, it was only put onto a low setting, which provided a constant feeling of pleasurable stimulation but without pushing him towards another orgasm.

[Good morning, fag. Did you enjoy your wakeup call?] The first message of the day from his master said.

[Yes Sir. It was intense.] Josh replied as he continued preparing for work.

[Good. On your way to work, stop and pick up a good supply of batteries, you're going to need them. From now on you are to advise me whenever you are about to drive and again when you arrive. I'd hate to have you crash because you can't concentrate and have to go through the hassle of finding another worthless bitch boy.] The master instructed.

The message was somewhat of a relief for Josh. He had been worrying about what might happen if Buzz got turned up to full mid-journey. It was quite comforting to know that even amongst the humiliating and embarrassing tasks and insults, the mystery master actually cared about his well-being.

As he typed out his standard Yes Sir reply, another message arrived. This time from James. [Hey sexy. Wanna meet at the gym after work and then go out for dinner after? We could go back to your place for dessert! ;-)]

'Shit!' Josh thought as he read the message. In the excitement of the master's new toys, he had forgotten about James. They had not really talked much since they parted the previous morning. He now faced two problems. Firstly, the offer sounded very much like a date rather than their usual hookups, so was that something Josh wished to pursue? Secondly, whether they dated or just continued hooking up, how exactly was he going to explain Buzz and Woody?

So far he had not told anyone about his secret master, mainly because he had remained fairly secluded and not actually seen any of his friends aside from the occasional brief glimpse of Corey that he caught. Figuring it was best to actually start socialising again, he sent a message back to James and said, [Sure. See you at the gym.]

He figured that made it pretty clear they wouldn't be chatting during the day which would but him a little breathing room to consider his options. That was if he even made it through the day. With Buzz now his constant companion, it was going to be a challenge!

Dale found himself actually looking forward to going home for a change. Ever since he left Josh, the thought of leaving work at the end of the day and going to Liam's place felt almost like a punishment. Today though, after he found himself looking at it differently. He actually wanted to get there, to see Liam, to hang out with his friend and see where the night would lead them.

Last night had been amazing and after his initial doubts in the morning, Liam's simple approach of 'If it feels good, do it' had eliminated a lot of the concerns from Dale's mind. He parked on the street and headed through the gate, eager to get inside and see if Liam was home yet, but instead he found a visitor sat on his doorstep – Nick!

He stared at the boy, Nick stared back, both of them frozen for just a moment. The hesitation didn't last long though as Nick jumped to his feet and virtually ran towards Dale, who started stepping forward at the same time. As they met, their arms wrapped around each other pulling them into a silent hug.

It must have been about ten minutes before either of them moved, they just stood, enjoying the comfort of a familiar body pressed against their own. They remained silent as they parted. Dale went to unlock the door as Nick followed. Once they got inside, they both sat down in the lounge, silence hanging in the air awkwardly.

Dale finally built up the nerve to say something. "I'm really sorry."

"Me too." Nick said quietly.

Dale frowned. "Wait, what are you sorry for? I'm the one who just upped and left!"

"Yeah, I s'pose." Nick said with a shrug. "But I could have come to see you sooner. I know it's gotta suck being here on your own."

"I haven't been on my own. I've got Liam." Dale said, a brief hint of a smile curling up the corners of his mouth.

Nick obviously caught the slight gesture, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You know what I mean though." Nick said, letting it pass for now. "Being here without Josh or Warren or me or Corey. It's... a bit of a change."

Dale smirked and shook his head. "That's a bit of an understatement." He stared at Nick for a moment, realising that while the boy was talking about him, he could just as easily be talking about himself. "How are you doing with it all?"

"I've just been looking after Greg." Nick replied.

Dale shifted awkwardly in his seat. He felt bad not asking about the injured boy as everyone knew how much he meant to Nick, but the statement had revealed a lot more than Nick had probably intended. "That's... not what I asked."

Nick scowled. "Yeah, well it's what I'm doing. Is that a problem or something?" His tone was sharp, bitter almost.

It was something Dale had never heard from the boy before and it caught him somewhat off guard. "You don't... need to get like that. Not with me. I only wanted to know how you're doing."

Nick leant forward in his seat, rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands, taking several deep breaths. After a few moments, Dale stood up and took a seat at the boy's side, putting an arm around him. Nick didn't move, but appreciated the gesture. When he finally dropped his hands away, he looked round at Nick and said, "I'm just... angry!"

Dale gently squeezed the boy's shoulder and nodded. "That's understandable. I've had a few moments where I was pretty pissed too."

"No. I don't mean every now and then." Nick said, his voice raising again. "I'm angry, like, ALL the time. I'm angry at Josh for taking Warren from me. I'm angry at Warren for taking Josh from me. I'm angry at Corey for helping them hide it. I'm angry at you for leaving. I'm angry at Greg's parents for what they did to him." As he ranted, his breathing got heavier and heavier. He started to cry as he continued, sniffing back tears between hissed breaths. "I'm angry at myself letting all of this happen. It's like I've got this... little ball of darkness deep inside me and it just keeps growing. I'm just.... angry at the whole fucking world... because I've got all this inside me... and all I want... is for someone, anyone, to come along... and take it all away!" By the time he finished, the words were almost lost among his sobs. He collapsed into Dale's chest, letting the young man hold him tightly.

Dale sat holding the distraught boy, rocking him gently as he whispered, "Nick, I'm so, so sorry. I should have been there for you. I'm so sorry."

Nick just let himself cry, every tear he had suppressed for weeks feeling like it was now determined to emerge. It felt so unbelievably good to feel Dale's arms around him again, reminding him exactly how much he had actually missed his surrogate big brother. Sniffing and rubbing away the last few tears he sat up and looked sheepishly at Dale. "Sorry about that." he muttered, blushing at his mini-breakdown.

"Don't be silly. It's fine." Dale said with a smile, rubbing a hand on the boy's back.

Still over-emotional and spurred on the Dale's tender touches, Nick jumped at the young man, kissing him.

Dale enjoyed the familiar feeling for just a moment before pulling away, getting a somewhat surprised look from Nick. "What's wrong?" the boy asked, frowning.

"It's just... " he started, not wanting to answer honestly, but struggling to find any other explanation for his reluctance. "Look, please, please don't hate me for this, but... you're... so much like Josh."

Nick fell back in his seat, a look of disgust spreading over his face. It wasn't exactly news to him that he looked like Josh, people had been commenting on that for all of his life, it was something he had even used to tease Corey with before, saying that the youngest McKenzie boy was secretly adopted which is why he looked so different! Hearing that the similarity mentioned now though cut like a knife.

"Wait, is that... why you've avoided me too?" Nick asked, Dale's total absence suddenly making sense.

"Nick, I'm sorry. You gotta understand, I love... loved... Josh so much." Dale stuttered.

Nick took a deep breath and forced a smile. "It's okay. If understand."

"And it's not just that." Dale added, feeling a sudden pang of guilt. "I'm... kinda.... seeing someone."

The younger boy stared open-mouthed. He had not expected that at all.

Dale felt almost as shocked as Nick looked. Why had he said that? He had shared one night (and morning) with Liam. He didn't know if he was 'seeing him', but he had said it now, too late to take it back. He sat dreading Nick's reaction.

"That's.... that's..." Nick stuttered before grinning. "That's awesome!" he said, appearing genuinely happy about it.

Dale couldn't help smiling at the reaction. "You're... okay with it?"

"Fuck yes!" Nick said, still grinning. "Warren and Josh royally fucked us over! If you've found someone else who can make you happy, then good for you. Fuck those two!"

Dale burst into laughter at the boy's fervour. "I... suppose you're right."

"Who is it? Who is it?" Nick asked eagerly, tapping a hand on Dale's arm excitedly as he almost bounced with excitement.

"HEY SEXY MAN!" Liam called as the front door opened.

Nick stared at Dale, mouth wide-open. "Liam?" he said excitedly.

Dale nudged Nick's arm, eyes wide with fear. "Shhh, don't say a word!" The last thing he needed was Nick pouncing on Liam as soon as he walked in to ask about their 'relationship' when he wasn't even sure they actually had one.

"Oh." Liam said as he walked in and saw Nick sat next to Dale. He blushed silently thinking back to the greeting he had shouted. "Hey Nick, been a while, how you doing?"

"Hey Liam." Nick said looking round at him with a grin before looking back at the panic on Dale's face. "I'm okay thanks. How you doing? Anything new?" The last part got him an angry poke in the ribs from Dale.

Liam shrugged. "Ah, you know, some old same old. Hey, how's that Greg kid doing?"

The smile dropped from Nick's face, suddenly slammed back to reality. "Oh, he's... yeah he's getting better." he replied with a gentle nod.

"Cool. I'll let you guys chat. I'll be upstairs." Liam said, knowing that the two probably had a lot to talk about.

As soon as Liam was gone, Nick turned back to Dale, grinning once again. "Spill it!"

Dale slouched back in his seat, sighing. "It's... still new. REALLY new! Things just kinda started happening last night!" Dale explained, suddenly quite glad that Nick had found it. It was quite a relief to have someone to talk to about it.

"And nothing before that?" Nick asked. "I mean, you've been here for..."

"Thirty-three days!" Dale completed the sentence for him, then blushed at how much it potentially revealed.

"Yeah, that long!" Nick said, raising his eyebrows. "So why now?"

Dale shrugged. "I guess I'd been thinking I might make up with Josh, but finding out he doesn't want me back just made me realise..." He was cut off mid-sentence by Nick.

"Josh DOESN'T want you back?" Nick asked, shocked. "He said that?" He had deliberately not given much thought to his big brother over the last month, mainly because it just made him angry, but it came as quite a surprise to hear he didn't want Dale back. If anything, he would have suspected it would be the other way around.

"That's what I'm told." Dale said with a shrug.

"But you want him back?" Nick asked, still finding it hard to believe. In almost every way, Dale's situation perfectly mirrored his own. He couldn't even entertain the idea of getting back together with Warren so it seemed strange that Dale could even be considering it with Josh.

Dale nodded gently and said quietly, "I love him!"

Josh was finding it difficult to keep going. About a mile into his run on the treadmill, Buzz had come to life on a low setting, making his legs wobble just a little. He had considered stopping, but figured if he was going to be stuck with his new toys for a while, then he should try and get used to them. It was definitely a challenge though, the vibrating of the toy coupled with the movements caused by his running had him ridiculously aroused, making him almost glad that Woody was holding his cock at bay!

He saw James approaching him and wondered how to deal with the situation. Should he say something pre-emptively? Should he address the nature of their 'relationship'? Should he explain he had something vibrating up his arse? In the end it was easier to just remain silent and see what the red-haired young man had to say.

"Hey, you ridiculously hot man." James said with a wink as Josh pulled out an earphone and slowed his run to a gentle jog.

"Hey." Josh said back, reluctantly smiling. His delight at James' appearance and compliment confused him. Was it James that he liked, or just receiving any kind of attention? After his relative seclusion for the past month, human contact had been minimal and his self-esteem had been in the toilet. Now here was this charming young guy, hungry for his body and complimenting him at every opportunity.

"Had a good day?" James asked as he turned on his treadmill and started walking.

Josh thought for a moment, then without thinking blurted out the first thing that popped into his head. "Is tonight a date?"

Amazingly, James seemed completely unfazed by the abrupt question. He just smiled at Josh's reflection in the mirrored wall and shrugged. "Do you want it to be a date?"

Josh hadn't expected the rather simple deflection, suddenly finding himself on the spot. His mind had lingered on that question a lot throughout the day. While he had only just found out things were never going to happen again with Dale, they had been apart for well over a month now, but did that still make it too soon to start dating again? Could he actually date someone other than Dale, and if so, should it be James, Dale's best friend?

That had led him back onto another issue he had been obsessing over. Did he even want to date another guy? That night Benny trapped him, he had been put on a path towards Dale and that was all he had thought about since, but now that it was over, how about girls? His attraction to the opposite sex had never gone away and he found himself looking at girls in the gym just as much as guys. Just because his first serious relationship, his first love, had been a guy, that didn't mean the next one had to be too!

Then there was James. He was an attractive young man, Josh couldn't deny that and he found himself drawn to a lot of his features – the soft strawberry-blonde hair, the cute smattering of freckles across his face and down his shoulders, the enormous cock! And he was right there, offering himself up, virtually begging to be taken.

Josh thought back to the previous morning, waking up beside him, the comfort he had provided. It was, without a doubt, the best morning he had had since Dale. In the end, it was that thought that helped him answer the question.

"Yes, I do." Josh said, suddenly smiling as he felt a rush of joy he had not expected.

"Then it's a date!" James replied back with a grin.

Josh's smile suddenly dropped away as he remembered Buzz and Woody. He quickly hit the stop button on the treadmill. "James, erm... if this is gonna be a date, there's something I need to tell you about!"

Nick made his way home from Liam's house, his time with Dale having helped clear his head a little. He had a set plan in his head for the rest of his evening – resolve things with Corey, make sure everything was okay with Greg and then get to bed. He needed an early night. A good night's sleep was essential if he was going to start following Dale's advice.

"Being this angry isn't good. You can't keep bottling it up because you'll just explode, and when you do, you could end up hurting more than just yourself." Dale had said.

Nick knew he was right. So far all that had been keeping him going was distraction and denial. With Greg recovering quickly, the distraction of looking after him was becoming less and less, while the denial was becoming harder to achieve too.

Something else Dale had talked about had stuck in his mind too. Nick's resemblance to Josh had been what had kept him away. Seeing the guy he had loved, the guy who had hurt him was simply too painful to go through every day. It made Nick wonder if he was doing the same thing to himself. When everything broke down and Nick had attempted to be friends with Warren, he had though it the sensible, healthy thing to do, but was it really? Was seeing Warren so often just making him feel worse, was it helping to increase the giant bubbling ball of anger inside him?

As he reached the house, he put the doubts over seeing Warren aside, telling himself to deal with things one at a time, and first up was Corey. After calling a quick greeting to his parents, he headed straight upstairs, resisting the usual routine of going straight into Greg's room and instead knocking quietly on Corey's door.

When he got no answer, he knocked again and called out, "Cor, you in there?" Still getting no reply he gingerly pushed the door open and peered in, but found no sign of his little brother. Nick's shoulders slumped as he realised his plan to deal with his problems had fallen at the first hurdle. No Corey meant no resolution.

Closing the door, he walked down the hall to Greg's room. The boy was laid on the bed in his usual spot. He had been getting up and moving about a lot more over the last few days, but he tired easily and usually ended up back there pretty quickly. He was snoring quietly.

Nick stood leaning on the door frame, watching the boy sleep. The last time he had done that was almost five weeks ago now, when he had sat beside the comatose boy, begging him to wake up. He found his mind wandering back to that first night in the hospital.

George had stayed home with Corey, the boy not wanting to see Greg in the horrifically beaten state he was in. Pippa was speaking to the police, explaining the situation as she understood it, passing on the details of Irene, the social worker who had been dealing with Greg. Nick had insisted on riding in the ambulance with Greg, refusing to leave his side. The argument in the dining room had been put aside due to the situation, but rather unwisely, Dale, Josh and Warren had all followed the ambulance to the hospital and were now stood around in the waiting room with Nick.

Nobody had spoken since they arrived. What could they say? It was actually Josh who finally broke the tense silence. Never the most tactful, he had for some reason decided to poke at the fresh wound of his betrayal by saying, "I don't see how you can be mad at us for having sex when we're all in open relationships!"

"Open relationships are just about sex. We had rules Josh. You remember them, right? There were only two. It's just sex, if it starts becoming something more, you end it. That was the first one. And then second one, always be honest with each other. Do you remember them? Did you even think about them while you LIED about being IN LOVE with someone else?" Dale had argued back.

The argument had picked back up from there. Not quite with the same ferocity as back at the house, but there were angry words thrown around, a lot of them. Nick hadn't really registered them though, all he could think about was Greg. He had been in the ambulance with the boy, he had heard the paramedics talking about his condition, seen the looks on their faces. They had actually seemed genuinely surprised when they had reached the hospital and Greg was still alive!

Every now and then, they had tried to pull Nick into their arguments, but he had simply been unable to engage. Eventually Dale had just left and until today, that was the last time Nick saw him. Josh had left almost as soon as they got the first news from the Doctors, advising that they had at least managed to stabilise Greg. That was the last time Nick had seen his big brother too.

As Nick stood there now, watching the boy's chest rise and fall slowly as he slept, he found himself considering making a noise to wake him. Above anything else, he wanted an excuse to hold him. Greg had been so dependent on Nick over the last month and as that dependence began to wane, he found himself missing it.

Figuring it was best to let the boy sleep, and realising that he was now zero for two on the steps of his plan, Nick headed across the hall and into his room. He could have his early night, so at least one step of his plan would work!

Josh had wanted to tell James about Woody and Buzz right away, but the gym was quite busy and it was embarrassing to consider he might be overheard talking about them. Figuring that wherever they went, there was a chance of being heard, Josh had convince James to cancel their dinner reservation and instead go straight to Josh's place with a takeaway.

As soon as they were home, Josh had explained everything, right from the very first text up until the arrival of Woody and Buzz, both of which James had insisted on seeing.

"So... it's not a problem?" Josh asked cautiously. James had seemed intrigued by the whole story and the concept of Josh's mystery master. He had been worried the young redhead might be repulsed or at least put off, so seeing a mischievous grin on his face was somewhat of a relief.

"So you really don't have any idea who it is?" James asked after the story.

Josh shook his head. "I've had guesses. At one point I thought it might be you, but I've still got no idea. I don't think it really matters though, I'm having fun anyway."

"Hmm, yeah, I suppose." James said thoughtfully. "Although if I'm gonna have to share my man, I'd at least like to know WHO I'm sharing you with!"

Josh tried to resist it, but couldn't help smiling at the 'my man' part of James' comment. Although he found himself wondering again whether it was specifically because it was James or if it was just because ANYONE was showing interest in him, he still allowed himself to enjoy the moment.

"Why don't you ask your master if you're allowed to take out Buzz to get fucked?" James said with a grin as they finished off their dinner.

Surprisingly, Josh's master allowed it. Whilst messaging him, Josh had been careful to keep an eye on James, or rather, his phone. Despite mentioning he had ruled James out as a possible suspect, he still had that niggling doubt, but when the master's reply came James had been nowhere near his phone.

Josh excused himself for the bathroom, removed Buzz and 'cleaned up' then stripped. Emerging naked, he just shot James a cheeky grin and headed for the bedroom.

Following quickly and stripping on the way, James climbed up onto be bed. "Well this certainly changes a few things." He said, sitting astride Josh's stomach as he reached back and poked at Woody.

"What d'you mean?" Josh asked, staring nervously up at his new lover.

"Well, if I can't do anything with that," James said, shaking the cage gently, "Then you're just gonna have to do twice as much with this!" He reached down and grabbed his erection, swinging the huge tool down onto Josh's chest like a drum.

"Oh!" Josh said, grinning delightedly. "I don't think I'll have any problem with that!" He reached out to grab hold of it, tilted his head up and licked the tip of it.

James shuddered a little before shuffling forward a few inches. As he did so, Josh eagerly took more of the solid meat into his mouth. Forward a little more, Josh's mouth filled more. In his current position, he reached his limit at about half of James' length, so he started eagerly sucking and licking away at it.

After a few minutes, James jumped off, his cock slipping out from between Josh's lips with an audible pop. Wondering what the other man was doing, Josh let himself be manoeuvred around until he found himself laying with his head hanging off the edge of the bed, leaving him looking upside down at the opposite wall.

With a devilish grin, James stood above him and started pushing his cock back into Josh's waiting mouth. In this new position, James had a clear path straight down Josh's throat and intended to make the most of it.

Josh's eyes bulged as he realised what James was intending. He had managed to take all of James' enormous tool when getting fucked, but had never managed it orally. It certainly looked like that was about to change, whether he liked it or not! He felt it going deeper and deeper, focusing on relaxing his throat as much as possible. He heaved a couple of times, thinking he might have to push James off of him, until he suddenly felt the other man's balls pressing against his nose.

"Oh fuck!" James called out. Nobody had ever managed to deep-throat the entire thing and it felt beyond amazing. He pulled back a few inches then back in, fucking Josh's throat. His first thrust made Josh start choking. Quickly pulling out, he dropped to his knees and took hold of Josh's head, stroking fingers through his hair as he coughed and spluttered.

"Sorry." Josh said quietly, taking deep breaths.

"You kidding? That was awesome. And it just gives us something to work on!" James said, peppering Josh's face with gentle kisses, getting a heartfelt smile in return. "Now... on your knees!"

Josh laughed at the instruction and flipped over, kneeling as instructed as James lubed up and got into position.

Nick sat up like a shot. "Greg?" he called out, hearing his phone ringing. Ever since the night Greg had called him, needing help, Nick had been extremely sensitive to sounds in the night. He automatically thought the phone call was the boy, once again in need as he answered without even looking.

"Greg?" he asked, but nobody spoke back. He moved the phone from his ear and looked at the display. It said Corey. He looked at the time next and saw it said 1.34 am. He put the phone back to his ear. "Cor, are you there?"

All he could hear was giggling and felt a sudden surge of rage at what appeared to be a deliberately annoying prank call. He hung up angrily and lay back down, willing his pulse to slow. As the pounding of his heart died down, he realised he could still hear the giggling. It wasn't coming from the direction of Corey's room though, it was from outside. He dashed to the window, pulled the curtains and looked down. There was his little brother, sitting on the driveway, slumped against the wheel of their Dad's car, laughing away.

Not wanting to call out too loudly and disturb everyone else in the house, Nick quickly threw on a pair of shorts and headed downstairs. He opened the door and stepped out, feeling the chill of the evening air across his body, particularly as he felt the driveway beneath his bare feet.

"Corey, what are you doing?" he hissed angrily.

The boy's head lolled to one side as he heard the sound, then burst into laughter once again as he saw Nick stood there.

As Nick got closer, he could see what a mess the boy was. He appeared to be covered in his own vomit, his head wobbling about as he giggled.

"Ney Hicky." he slurred, then laughed again. "I mean... hey... Nicky!" he corrected himself with visible effort.

"Corey, you're drunk!" Nick said in shock.

"Yeah... and you're... a... a... a dick!" Corey said with a forced frown before laughing again.

Nick shook his head and reached down to help the boy up.

"Don't!" Corey called out, attempting to swat Nick's hands away but missing completely and ending up tipping over to the side instead.

Despite the boy's ongoing protests, Nick grabbed hold of him and lifted him up onto his feet and started leading him back into the house. He propped Corey against the wall as he closed and locked the front door, and returned to the boy just in time to catch him as he started sliding down the wall, still giggling.

"We need to get you cleaned up!" Nick said, almost carrying him towards the downstairs shower room, worried that he might make too much noise going up the stairs.

"Ffffuck offff." Corey murmured, but allowed himself to be led.

Nick did his best to ignore both the boy's abuse and the probably reason for his current state, focusing solely on getting him washed down. Aside from the smell of the vomit, the stench of alcohol was unmistakeable.

Once they were in the shower room, Nick pulled off the boy's hoodie and dropped it aside. Corey had obviously thrown up a lot as it had soaked through the hoodie, making the t-shirt underneath cling to his body. He pulled the t-shirt off next and found himself staring into the boy's eyes as his head emerged from the filthy clothing.

Corey had stopped giggling and now just started to look green. Nick didn't have much experience with the effects of alcohol, but he knew what was coming next. He quickly lifted the seat of the toilet and moved Corey over to face down into it.

Corey threw up whatever remained in his stomach, holding onto the porcelain bowl for dear life. It sounded like he was coughing up a little more, but Nick realised he was actually just crying gently. Hick knelt beside his little brother, rubbing his back gently as he heaved once again.

Once Corey stopped, Nick moved him round into a sitting position and started to pull down the boy's joggers and underwear. Corey said nothing, he just sat watching Nick strip him as he wiped the remnants of tears from his eyes.

Nick stood up and turned on the shower, waited for the water to warm and then reached down to help Corey up once again. "C'mon bud." he said, moving the boy under the jet of water. He quickly realised that he was going to have to continue helping the boy stand and would soon be just as wet as him, so he pulled off his shorts and kicked them aside.

He stood washing the boy, holding him upright as he washed away the dirt, getting particularly annoyed looks as he lathered up the boy's hair which had somehow managed to get dirty too. Once they were both clean and dried off, Corey appeared a little more sober. His eyes still struggled to focus and he was wobbly, but could at least stand if he was holding onto something. Nick left him momentarily to grab a bottle of water then returned to his little brother.

Both remaining silent, Nick helped the boy up the stairs as quietly as he could, then into the boy's room. Corey flopped onto the bed and moaned as Nick turned him over and moved him round, leaving him laying face down with his head hanging off the edge. The older sibling grabbed the bin from beside Corey's desk and placed it under his head.

"Just in case." he said quietly, stroking a hand through the boy's still-damp hair.

"Don't go." Corey mumbled as he saw Nick moving.

"I'm not going anywhere." Nick said back with a smile. He took a seat next to the bed, bringing his head alongside Corey's, leaning on it gently. "What's going on, Cor?" he asked quietly.

The younger boy sniffed, barely holding back tears. "I figured... turning up out there... needing your help... was the only thing that got your attention any more."

The boy's words felt like a knife stabbing through Nick's chest. He had been more of a brother to Greg than he had been to his own flesh and blood, and all because he had been too stubborn to deal with his anger. He wanted to speak, to apologise to his little brother for the way he had treated him, for driving him to the state he was now in but there were no words, only tears.

Corey sniffed again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Josh and Warren." he said through his gentle sobs.

Nick turned and reached up around the boy's shoulders, pulling him into a hug. "Don't apologise." Nick whispered in the boy's ear. "You didn't do anything wrong. This was all on me!"

Neither of them said another word. Nick just sat holding the boy until they both fell asleep.