With This Ring Read online

  Another security officer approached, this one overweight and wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. Dr. Veej helped the first guard to his feet. “It’s okay,” he said, again and again. “These men are with me. Thank you for escorting them to my office. No, really! It’s okay.”

  “Vic,” Matt sighed. Never before had he wished for the ability to mentally communicate with his lover—he wanted Vic to know everything that had just happened in Dr. Veej’s office without having to spell it out where the doctor could overhear and interrupt. He wanted to tell his lover he’d been right about the man all along. He wanted to step out of the moment and let Vic take over.

  But his lover didn’t have to be able to read his mind to know that. Moving in front of Matt, Vic grabbed the back of the doctor’s lab coat and jerked him away from the security officer. When the overweight guard reached for a gun on his belt, Dr. Veej raised his hands, placating. “It’s okay,” he assured them. “Fine, thank you.”

  With a menacing snarl, Vic spat, “I’m surprised Jordan didn’t warn you about me.”

  Matt reached for Vic’s free hand and caught it in both of his. “Jordan?” he asked. His breath seemed to catch in his throat and a wave of dizziness washed over him. “What the hell does he have to do with this?”

  Over his shoulder, Vic gave Matt a level stare. He saw the truth in his lover’s eyes, even if he couldn’t probe Vic’s mind to learn more. Not yet. “Dr. Veej was one of the jurors at the civic trial,” Vic explained.

  Matt glanced at Dr. Veej, whose dark skin paled a little, and that damn grin finally slipped from his face.

  Vic continued. “Since then, he’s had a prison pen pal down in Mecklenburg. What I don’t know is what you hoped to get from blocking Matty’s powers.”

  “He wants to study them,” Matt said.

  Vic turned, confusion written on his face, and Matt gave his hand a gentle squeeze that he hoped conveyed at least an ounce of the love he felt for this man before him. “He’s got some contract he wants me to sign, allowing him to poke and prod and study me in exchange for deadening the powers during sex.”

  “It’s all very scientific,” Dr. Veej spoke up. He tried to twist out of Vic’s vise-like grip and only succeeded in tearing open the seam beneath his arm. “I want to research and document your abilities, both of you. The papers will be presented at academic conferences and shared with scientists and geneticists like myself. I’d go down in history as the man who mapped out superhuman genomes never before imagined. It’s nothing invasive, I assure you. I don’t want the powers for myself—”

  “You want them for the world,” Matt finished for him.

  “Oh, fuck no.” Vic shook his head and shoved Dr. Veej away from him. The doctor stumbled to the gravel, then scuttled back on all fours to distance himself from them. “You listen to me, dickwad. You fix the ring like Matt wants, without us signing any damn contract, and then we’re out of here. There’s no more research, no reason for you to ever bother us again. If you so much as call—”

  “Vic.” Matt laced his fingers through his lover’s and gave him a tug to keep him close.

  When Vic whirled around, his eyes flashed with rage. Somehow, he managed to tamp it down before he could lash out at Matt. But there was a bright pain in his features as he studied Matt’s face. “You can’t possibly want—”

  “I don’t,” Matt assured him. Without their mental bond, he couldn’t open his mind to Vic’s, so he tried to make his lover understand the way he felt in his touch, his gaze, his voice. He was exhausted, and he only wanted one thing. “I don’t want the ring back, either. I just want to go home, right now. With you. Please?”

  He didn’t have to ask again. With a last intimidating glare at the doctor, Vic draped an arm around Matt’s shoulders and headed for the gate.

  * * * *

  They drove home in separate cars, and Matt reached the apartment first. He stayed behind the wheel of his car, waiting, until Vic turned the corner onto their street. By the time his lover parked, Matt stood on the top step of their stoop. Vic took the stairs two at a time to catch up with him. When he opened the door, Matt took Vic’s hand in his and let his lover lead the way inside.

  Up the stairs, to their apartment. They didn’t speak, but the silence between them was not uncomfortable. It felt as if they both held their breaths, waiting for something to happen. Neither wanted to be the first to ask the one question that hung suspended between them.

  When would they get the powers back?

  In Matt’s mind, there was no time like the present. He leaned against Vic’s side, his lips puckering to kiss his lover’s jaw just below his earlobe. With a gentle sigh, Matt spoke first, breaking the spell that bound them. “Meet me in the bedroom in three minutes.” At Vic’s smile, he added, “Naked.”

  Slowly, Matt backed up. He kept his gaze riveted on Vic’s; his lover didn’t dare look away. Another step back, another, and Matt was out of Vic’s reach. He shrugged off his coat, let it fall to the floor. Stepping over it, he began to unbutton the shirt he wore, one button at a time, his hands moving as if on their own accord. Vic glanced down, then up again at Matt’s eyes, then back to the fingers nimbly opening his shirt. Those blue eyes began to smolder as more of Matt’s slim chest was exposed. When Matt reached the last button, Vic’s eyes widened in anticipation.

  The shirt fell to the floor. Matt stepped over it, as well, and took another two steps down the hall toward their bedroom, kicking his sneakers off in the process.

  His hands toyed with the snap on the fly of his jeans. He thumbed it open, then ran his fingers down the front of his crotch, parting the zipper beneath them. Now Vic no longer met his gaze—he stared openly at the tight white briefs that bulged through Matt’s open fly. Inch by excruciating inch, Matt slid his jeans down his narrow hips, over his thighs to his knees, then stepped out of them and left them, too, on the floor. Then his fingers hooked into the waistband of his briefs, and with something like relief, he tugged them off, as well.

  With lightning reflexes, Vic lunged for him.

  Matt laughed and hopped from foot to foot as he tossed the briefs away. He turned, smacked the wall with his open palms, and used the momentum to throw himself into their bedroom. Vic caught up with him easily, tackling him to the bed. A wet tongue licked over Matt’s heated flesh, damp lips leaving kisses wherever they touched, hands fondling him as he squirmed in his lover’s arms. “I said naked!” Matt giggled as he lay back against the bed. “You’re still dressed.”

  “I can fix that,” Vic growled. Straddling Matt’s legs, he struggled out of his leather jacket and tossed it aside. His shirt was hurriedly shucked off, his work pants unzipped and pushed away. He lay down over Matt to claim a hungry kiss before he rolled onto his backside, legs in the air as he struggled to get out of his pants.

  Matt stood and grabbed the cuffs on Vic’s legs. With a tug, he pulled the pants off as Vic wiggled out of his underwear. The briefs only made it to his knees before Matt climbed onto him, every inch of his body aching for his lover. Cradling Vic’s face in his hands, Matt closed his mouth over his lover’s. An insatiable tongue dipped between Vic’s lips, and a hard cock rubbed along his lower belly. There was no need for telepathy—their bodies were in tune with one another, two instruments in an age-old symphony, two halves that simply wanted to be made whole.

  * * * *

  The next morning when Matt’s clock radio went off, he woke with a warm glow that filled his mind and body, as if a small sun had taken up residence just beneath his heart. It was Vic’s love that filled him so completely, and the lingering aftermath of their sex the night before. But when he flung an arm out beside him, he found Vic’s side of the bed empty.

  With a start, he sat up. ::Vic?::

  His lover’s voice filled his mind, answering his silent call. ::Up here, Matty.::

  It felt delicious, hearing Vic inside him again. The rumble of Vic’s gruff voice reverberated through his head, sweeter than
anything he’d ever known, and the love that filled him made his heart swell and his throat close with emotion. He had to blink away tears of relief. It was back, they were back, and nothing would ever cut off this connection between them again. Matt wouldn’t allow it.

  A wide smile he couldn’t begin to suppress threatened to split his face, and he threw off the covers, eager to begin again with his lover. Then Vic’s words registered—up here—and Matt glanced up to find Vic floating above him. He gasped, scrambling back against the headboard as if afraid Vic might fall on him. “What the fuck are you doing up there?” he wanted to know.

  Vic was stretched out, nude, and hung suspended between the bed and the ceiling, chin on his hands as if this were the most natural position in the world. Though his body defied gravity, his genitals did not—his cock and balls hung down obscenely, arousing Matt despite the earlier hour. Reaching up, he tried to tweak the tip of Vic’s cock and laughed when Vic floated an inch or two out of reach. “What is this?” Matt asked. “How long have you been up there?”

  “Woke up a couple hours ago,” Vic admitted. “Went to the bathroom, got back into bed. When your alarm went off, I rolled over and felt the covers fall away. Thought nothing of it, until I realized my pillow was gone, and so were you.”

  Matt laughed. “I’m right here. You’re the one who’s where he doesn’t belong.”

  With a smile, Vic told him, “But it’s nice up here. I like the view.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Matt admitted. “But I’m lonely down here.”

  Vic’s eyes flashed as his grin turned wicked. “Then come on up.”

  Rising unsteadily to his feet, Matt stood on the bed and stretched to kiss his lover. When Vic reached down, Matt held his arms up like a small child waiting to be lifted. Vic’s hands slid into his armpits, and his super strength flared through them both as he hefted Matt off the bed. Rolling onto his back, he pulled Matt onto his chest.

  Matt swung one leg over Vic’s waist to straddle him. Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders and Matt lay down on his lover, his feet dangling below them, his sleeping cock stirring awake at the sweet press of their bodies. Kissing Vic’s collar bone, Matt silently suggested, ::What do you think about making love up here?::

  Vic caught Matt’s head in his hands and guided his lover’s face to his. His thick dick jumped to poke between Matt’s buttocks, and as their lips met, he sent one thought into Matt’s mind. ::Do you even have to ask?::

  THE END

  ABOUT J.M. SNYDER

  A multi-published author of gay erotic/romantic fiction, J.M. Snyder began writing boyband slash before turning to self-publishing. She has worked with several different e-publishers, including Amber Allure Press, Aspen Mountain Press, eXcessica Publishing, and Torquere Press, and has short stories published in anthologies by Alyson Books, Aspen Mountain Press, Cleis Press, eXcessica Publishing, Lethe Press, and Ravenous Romance. For more information, including excerpts, free stories, and monthly contests, please visit jmsnyder.net.

  ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC

  Founded in 2010, JMS Books LLC is owned and operated by author J.M. Snyder. We publish a variety of genres, including gay erotic romance, fantasy, young adult, poetry, and nonfiction. We are an invitation-only small press. Short stories and novellas are available as e-books and compiled into single-author print anthologies, while any story over 30k in length is available in both print and e-book formats. Visit us at jms-books.com for more information on our latest releases!