Ink and Ice by Erin McRae (novel books to read txt) 📕

Sleep didn’t usually elude Aaron. He was almost always too tired—from the restaurant, from skating, from travel—to ever lay awake for long. But tonight, half an hour after he’d crawled into bed, he was still watching the lights from the cars outside play over his curtains. Even though he knew it was the worst for sleep, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand, and thumbed through his contacts to Zack.

Aaron: Hey. Last night was awesome. My roommate googled you - that’s less awesome and we should discuss. Ask me out again

“Way to go, Aaron,” he murmured to himself. He’d meant to be angry with Zack and ask why he hadn’t told Aaron about the pictures before. Which he was, at least a little. Instead he’d been way too forward. Oh well. Zack deserved to be uncomfortable too.

Zack: How pissed are you?

Aaron stared at the phone for a long moment before he replied.

Aaron: I just told you to ask me out again. Clearly not pissed enough

Zack: Ah.

Aaron: Helpful

Zack: You told Katie.

Aaron: And Katie told you

“For fuck’s sake,” Aaron muttered to himself as he watched the little dots that meant Zack was typing a reply. Triangulating any of this with Katie was not what he wanted to do right now. Also, while Aaron didn’t have much shame, it was too much to consider Katie having any more information about this than she already did.

Zack: She doesn’t want you to be distracted.

Aaron: Those photos were pretty distracting

Zack: Do you want to talk about this now?

Aaron: Nope. That’s. Why. You’re. Supposed. To. Ask. Me. Out. Again.

Aaron couldn’t believe he was annoyed enough to bother with all that punctuation and yet still wanted to go out with Zack.

Zack: No three-day-play-it-cool-radio-silence thing first?

Aaron: No time, trying to get to the Olympics. Also do you know what people do at the Olympics other than win?

Zack: I’m going to assume the answer isn’t ‘lose.’

Aaron: The IOC provides a crapton of condoms and they’ve been known to run out

Zack: So you’re saying you have plenty of options if my attention wavers.

Aaron: Or if you can’t be bothered to mention things I shouldn’t be finding out from my roommate five minutes before I’m supposed to be landing a bunch of quads, yeah

Zack: You get that there was no easy way to bring it up, right?

Aaron: They’re on the internet under your real name!

Zack: Sometimes I forget what freaks other people out; my life has had a lot of adventures.

Aaron: Bondage and war zones?

Zack: Bondage and war zones. When do you not have ice before 8am so I can ask you out?

Aaron: I don’t have to be anywhere before lunch tomorrow, but it’s a little late

Zack: Are you in bed?

Aaron’s breath caught in his throat.

Aaron: Yes

Zack: Do you want to do something for me?

Aaron: What can I do from here?

Zack: That’s easy. What I tell you.

So Aaron did. Touching himself when Zack said he could. Stopping when Zack said to stop. And answering Zack’s questions whenever he had them.

Zack: Do you wish I was in your mouth right now?

Aaron: Yes. Always

Zack: Always? Already?

Aaron: Like this, I don’t feel like I was made for anything else

He’d think differently in the morning, but for now the things he was fumbling to type while his hard cock bobbed against his belly were true. It demanded more attention than Zack was quite willing to let him give.

Aaron: Please let me have more... I really need—

Zack: Next time, can I tie you up more? Properly?

Aaron: I want that more than anything

Even more than he wanted to get off right now, although he was determined to have both.

Zack: Can I tie your cock up too?

Aaron didn’t know how that would feel. Would it hurt? Would it be the exquisite agony of being trapped in his clothes and Zack saying no? Would it be worse and therefore better?

Aaron: Yes. Are you touching yourself?

Zack: Fucking yes.

Aaron: Can I touch myself?

Zack: Please. I want you to come so I can picture you cleaning up your own hand with your perfect mouth.

That was all Aaron needed to tumble over the edge. Then, although Zack couldn’t see it, and he hadn’t asked him to do it, Aaron licked one hand clean, while he used the other to squeeze at his spent dick, so that it hurt, just a little.

Chapter 14

AUGUST

Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN

THE ADULT HOCKEY LEAGUE information session that weekend brought out the most motley of crowds. On Saturday afternoon Zack found himself sitting on the benches by the ice with a couple of thirty-something guys in rental skates, two sixteen-year-olds complaining woefully about homework, and a woman with her own hockey skates featuring hot-pink laces.

Tasha, who was running the session, eventually chivvied everyone onto the ice to see if people could handle themselves at all. There was a clear split almost immediately between people who still needed to learn how to skate and people who just needed to learn how to play hockey. To Zack’s immense surprise he was in the second group, although barely.

Hockey skates were a whole new experience. All in all, they were definitely an improvement for him. The blades felt steadier and the lack of a toe pick was an improvement, although not having it as a reminder of the danger of throwing his weight too far forward was odd. He felt a bit like a weeble, but since he couldn’t fall down as easily, he felt willing to take a lot more risks. Who knows, maybe I’ll even learn how to stop reliably.

After the session Zack wound up in conversation with Matt, another guy from his group.

“What do you do?” Matt asked as they sat unlacing their skates. “In the real world, I mean.”

“Uh, I’m a journalist,” Zack said, bracing himself. People out in the wild could react strongly—positively or negatively—to that piece of information. He also wasn’t sure why Matt wanted to know—or what he might want from Zack.

Matt looked intrigued. “Oh! That’s awesome.