Desperate Lovers by Adam Carpenter (good beach reads TXT) 📕

Just then the image of Parker St. John flashed into Marc’s mind, how the man had nearly seduced Marc into a night of what would have been regretful sex. Sure, the guy was beyond hot, Marc had seen him naked, all up close and personal and in full furriness when he’d rescued him from being tied up inside his home…but what if he hadn’t been so incapacitated, would Marc have actually gone through with it? Would he have let that beast fuck him? Of course not, he had his own teddy bear at home...

Marc eased down onto one of the lounge chairs, hoping no one saw that his cock had thickened inside his shorts. In his mind he was on his back, legs in the air, and Parker was heaving above him, thrusting, thrusting, coming deep inside him, Marc clinging to his hairy back as orgasm wracked his body, again, again. Feeling flushed, Marc gazed around at his friends to see if anyone had noticed a change in him, but everyone was focused on Rich.

Of course, their commanding officer, the man who would lead the charge into battle. Which left Marc the only one who wasn’t focused on him, and instead thinking about getting plowed by their very hairy enemy.

Nice way to think, now that he was practically engaged. Thank God Parker wasn’t here for their pool party, seeing that sexy, hairy body prancing about in a Speedo was the last thing Marc needed to witness. Temptation was as dangerous a word as betrayal, two sides of one coin. The before and after of sexual desire.

Just then Edgar returned from wherever he’d disappeared to, a book in his hands. As Edgar set it down on the patio table, Marc recognized it as the ancient volume Rich hard been reading that one Friday night earlier this month. The night he’d seen Paolo sucking Parker, the night Marc had come back from his job and sexually attacked his lover, practically begging to be screwed. Turned on by what he’d seen down at the beach…wishing he’d been the man with Parker?

No, no, stop it, stop it, Marc thought. The book, just think about the book and all the secrets it would reveal, all Rich would tell now. It was time to get down to business.

“So, first of all, thanks to Aaron and Paolo for hosting another fun summer’s night party, they’ve become a mainstay of our Wonderland summer, and let’s hope we can continue to have them long into the future.”

Everyone cheered their hosts before Rich continued. “Summer is supposed to be about relaxation, stress-free living…and that’s certainly not what we’ve endured these past months. The weather had been glorious—our enjoyment of it, less so. We do have Marc’s art show in a couple days to look forward to, the capper to all that is right in Wonderland and on Eldon Court.” He paused for dramatic effect before saying, “But as to what is wrong on Eldon Court, it comes down to one thing: the proposed development of the Wonderland Palaces by Danvers Converse.”

“Fucking pervert,” Paolo said.

“No argument there,” Rich added with a hearty nod. “Which means the old bastard is vulnerable. He’s compromised his power by exposing his uncontrollable urges—videotaping people, men, having sex, and getting off royally on it. I suppose as gay men we can be somewhat sympathetic to him—he’s from an older generation that didn’t accept homosexuality, and so he doesn’t know how to process this new world where men can live with other men so openly.”

“Especially here in Wonderland,” Jack said.

“Yes,” Rich said. “Danvers Converse is envious of our lifestyle, but I think his viciousness stems from the fact that what we all have is ultimately what he wanted. He’s repressed, and from that comes frustration. He may not even understand why he’s doing this to us.

Circumstances in his own life led to his unhappiness—circumstances that have everything to do with Eldon Court—and now he’s just bitter, angry, and driven by revenge. Eldon Court is a symbol of all that’s been denied him. So what’s any monolithic demon like him to do? Simple. He wants to destroy it. Destroy Eldon Court, the reigning symbol in Wonderland of gay life.”

“And you, Jack, you and Edgar are a credit to that, the first of our couples to set up home on Eldon Court,” said Paolo. “You paved the way for the rest of us.”

“Not true, actually,” Rich added. “Eldon Court has a long history of gay couples living here, dating all the way back to the original settlers of Wonderland. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The distant past, let’s save that for the end of our discussion. What I’ve learned will no doubt surprise you all—but we need context first, and I believe Aaron and Paolo can get us started. Tell us, guys, what you discovered.”

“Well, it’s not all clear in our minds yet, but it’s less what we discovered than who we found. And little did Paolo and I know,” Aaron said, “but Dane and Sawyer have played their part in this, too, albeit unsuspectingly at first. All four of us discovered the same thing—the same someone—even if we came at it from different angles.”

“Enough dancing around the issue,” Edgar said. “Who is this someone?”

“His name is Troy Saunders,” Sawyer said.

“Saunders…?” Jack added. “Wow, judging from the reaction here, seems Eddie and I are the last to know…”

“Rich was just telling me about him,” Edgar said. “It’s fascinating, really. Troy would appear to be old man Saunders’s son—Jack and I visited Saunders at his home in San Francisco, but he was so far gone, he doesn’t remember anything. Doubt he even knows what year it is.

He’s just a shell of his former, powerful self.”

“What happened to him, it had to do with the events of ten years ago at Number Two,” Jack said, “that much we’ve been able to figure out.

Blood stains can hide only so much; clearly a cover-up happened years ago, and whatever it covered up rendered George Saunders a veritable vegetable.”

“George Saunders was in love,” Rich said, “with Danvers Converse. And