Clay

Clay Chapter 13- New Alliances

This is a work of fiction involving sexually explicit activities between consenting males and females. If such subject matter is offensive to you, if you are too young or live in an area where such material is not allowed, then don't read it. This is your option.

In this fictional world, protection from sexually transmitted diseases is optional. In the real world, everyone should care enough about themselves and all their partners to practice safe sex. Always. No exceptions.

The author retains all rights to this work. No reproductions or links to other sites are permitted without the expressed consent of the author.

As always, I give thanks for the support and input of my dear friends and colleagues, especially Evan the Lion and my brothers Tim, Ash and Tommy, and Mickey, Sara, Johnny, Peter, and Bill for your encouragement. Because of you all, I hope for the revelation of the Clay in my life.

Patrick claycub51@yahoo.com

Claire checked her lipstick in the antique walnut mirror in the foyer and approved of the purple linen outfit, casual yet classy, warm enough for outdoors but still light and airy. The phone rang.

"Claire Grant speaking," she sang in her rich alto.

"Hi, Cutey, it's Carl. We're just pulling up in front. Ann will be at the door in a sec."

"Great, Carl, send her right up. I'll call down for the entry release, and thanks for fetching her."

"My pleasure as always, Cutey! We've had a delightful drive in. I've really enjoyed getting to know our newest friend, and if her mate's as sweet as Ann is, I can't wait to meet him, too! See you in a while after Sam brings the guys!" Carl cooed back and beeped his cell phone off.

Claire touched in the code, heard the reply chime that the front door was open, and hung up. She glanced around the comfortable nest their collection of eclectic pieces had made in this new space and felt so at home already, truly settled. `We're so lucky,' she thought, and smiled. There was a knock at the door, and she sprang to open it. The pretty strawberry blonde's eyes looked nervous behind her stylish glasses. "Ann, welcome! I'm Claire, please come in!" she said, flashing her trademark dimples and offering her hand.

Ann took the hand and immediately felt at ease. "Thank you so much for including me. Dan and I don't get invited to the city very often, especially not for something so lavish as this." She was ushered to the living room, bright and inviting. "What a gorgeous place you have!"

"Thanks, Ann, but I can't take much credit for the decorating," Claire replied. "Clay's got the eye for feng shui in the family, and I'm glad he does. I'd still be in Ikea bookshelves and futons from college if it were left to me, and we both know it!"

"His eye for what?" Ann asked.

"Oh, his sense of balance and placement, the flow of energy in a space, like the Chinese have been doing for centuries. I never understood that it's a gift until I started reading all these articles during my airplane time on self-doubting rich people who pay consultants exorbitant amounts of money to do this for them. I'm so lucky that Clay has an innate sense of style that works because I rely on him doing that for us. I guess that's another of the very unconventional aspects of our dynamic: I knock down the big bucks and run with the power brokers, and he keeps the hearth warm that anchors me to him and connects us both to what keeps us real. It sure works, whatever it is." Claire's easy laugh was contagious, prompting a warm chuckle from Ann. "Can I give you the fifty-cent tour of the place and prove my point?"

"Oh, yes, if it wouldn't be any trouble," Ann said.

"Great, then we can have a glass of wine and try to get a head start on a party before that mad gang of men show up. I need some girl time!"

The two women floated from room to room, compliments flowing, bantering freely. They ended at the den balcony overlooking the bustling streets of Adams Morgan. "Gosh, this is just perfect, Claire. You're a lucky woman..." Ann said softly, then smiled, embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean ... that is...."

"Oh, I am lucky, and I know it!" Claire took Ann's hand firmly. "Let's get one thing straight right now, Ann. Honesty is never repressed in this house, or with these friends, as you're soon going to know. And we get to be good friends, you and I." Ann smiled warmly, and relaxed. "There is nothing to be sorry for, so get used to saying what you feel and giving as good as you get, because there's richness coming to you, believe me."

The two women absorbed the view for a few moments, absorbed each other, their dynamic. Claire spoke up first. "Would you like a glass of Pinot Gris to start the festivities? You're here to enjoy yourself tonight, so let's do just that!"

"Whatever you're having is fine, Claire. Thank you so much!" Ann replied. "Is there anything I can help you with, for the cookout, I mean?"

The happy pop of a cork echoed from the bar. "Not a thing. This is the Circle's evening, and I'm invited just like you. Warren is in charge tonight, and he always has every detail covered, so all we're required to do is keep up!" She handed Ann a delicate crystal glass of shimmering light wine. "Now, let's have a seat and dish! To the future!"

They clinked. Ann repeated, "The future!" and took a sip. "Ooh, this is wonderful! A Pinot Gris, you said?" They sank into the plush sofa.

"Right. We have friends who are partners in a winery in the California Sierra foothills, and they send us their newly released award-winners regularly. This one won three Gold Medals, but who cares about California wine snobs? I just like it." Claire said.

"Dan and I are not very accustomed to being wined and dined. We're kinda quiet, but happy out in the `burbs," Ann said. "Just coming into town like this is moving faster than we're used to, but Dan wouldn't let me talk him out of coming after he told me about meeting Clay. Even that's unusual for Dan, to meet somebody out of the blue and then do something social." Her voice got quiet. "We don't have many friends outside of our families, so this feels a little strange, to tell you the truth."

"Well, it sounds very typical of my Clay," Claire said, her dimples flashing. "He's made such amazing friends already, but then again he does that so easily. He said he met Dan at the gym yesterday and then they had lunch together, which I'm sure was all Clay's idea. We've only been here a few months, but so far we love DC. Adams Morgan is a wonderful neighborhood, though I've been traveling so much I haven't had the chance to get involved like Clay has. I'm so glad to get to know some real home folks. Are you both from here?"

Ann beamed with the story she was to relate. "My family moved here from Ohio when I was small, and Dan was born here. His mother actually introduced us, the consummate matchmaker. We worked together for a while, his mom and I, and after my awful first marriage finally ended, she was my good friend. I knew she had a son, and he knew who I was, but he was very shy. I knew he was really smart and really nice and had a great job, and, well, eventually the timing was finally right for us to get together, although he said it took him six months to get up the nerve to ask me out!!" She looked deeply into Claire's bright green eyes. "Seems like yesterday..."

"Time is flying for us, too. Clay and I met through friends back in North Carolina and couldn't fight the connection, married ten years now. We're still getting used to DC. It's been six weeks already, and I haven't made a lot of friends yet, so don't feel like the Lone Ranger, Ann. I'm running with some very high rollers at the bank, and that's exciting and all, but they're not people I want to have for friends and enjoy life with. There's nothing better that being snug at home, in the company of real people." Claire took a long sip of the crisp wine. "Oh, this is so nice, not to have to play the corporate power game for a change. Tell me about you and Dan...." She tucked her left foot under her and snuggled into the cushions.

"Well, he's a computer whiz in the accounting department for the county government,," Ann chirped as she continued the obviously happy story, "has been there since we were married, and he's just put in for this promotion for a supervisory position in his unit. He's both petrified that he'll get it and afraid that he won't. He's perfect for the job, but he's such an unassuming person, although I love his quiet power. He makes me so happy," she blushed, lowering her eyes.

"I can see that you adore him, Ann. He must be very special."

"Oh, he is that," Ann murmured. "We've got three kids, two girls 13 and 9, and our son is 6 and the apple of his father's eye. I taught in middle school until Tim was born, and it didn't make sense to work again while he was at home. I'm thinking about going back, but it's so great to be a full-time mom again. Dan makes it all happen!"

Claire smiled broadly. "Life seems to be spilling out and flowing abundantly for us these days, too. I don't argue with it anymore because I know I can't stop it and it's not about me anyway. It's about the guys and their need to create this energy. And if Dan is with them, he'll do it, too."

Ann blinked, once, twice, then frowned. "I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me here, Claire...."

Claire reached for the bottle of wine, chilled off what remained in their glasses, then leaned forward gently. "The Circle makes more of them for us, Ann. I've got more of the man I love than I knew existed in him since he has known the love of these guys. Clay didn't know how much more was in him, either, until he met them and loved them. I like being included in this energy of Clay and his men."

"Clay and his men?" Ann gasped, stunned. "That sounds almost... I mean... a... as... as in ... something sexual?" Her eyes squinted nervously.

Claire leaned forward and reached for Ann's hand in assurance. "Sometimes, yes, they get such a sexual vibe going they just run with it. What man doesn't find his team and play sports, or do business, or religion, or whatever the subject is? Men team up. It's what they do. What man is greater for NOT acknowledging the love they have for one another? Loving your teammates' doesn't diminish either the quantity or the quality of the other people you love, nor does it limit the capacity to love them all the more. My Clay is on a magnificent team, and I know they all love one another, and I finally understand that I'm not precluded from him if at times their love is physical. They work and play and make a difference when they're together. They create energy and enjoy it, with pleasure, with each other. So what? He's mated to me, and knows it, and makes ME know it, every time we touch. Nothing about his being in a relationship with his men is a threat to him and me, Ann. His Circle is about invoking that bond with and power in each other and making it greater." Claire smiled, blushing a bit. "This must sound like The Twilight Zone' to you..."

Ann was pale and fidgeting with the stem of her wine glass. "Oh, I don't think I like the sound of all this. It makes me really worried for Dan to be around that again," she gasped. She looked at Claire with fear in her eyes, then dropped her gaze. "Oh! I shouldn't have said that. Anything!" Sudden tears brimmed then cascaded down her cheeks.

Claire leaned forward and grasped Ann's hand. "I'm sorry! I've hit a nerve, and I never meant to frighten you. Please forgive me, Ann. I had no idea this was something controversial, or threatening, to you. It's just that these guys are very special with one another." She snatched tissues from the end table and handed them to her guest.

Ann dabbed her eyes quickly, regaining her composure. "And him being with these guys like that doesn't bother you?" Ann asked, taking another sip of wine, the frown across her brow deepening.

"Bothered? Honey, I was livid at first, let me tell you, to think that my husband would want any relationship other than our marriage, particularly anything sexual, and especially with another man!" Claire said emphatically. She looked into Ann's eyes with dead seriousness very obvious. "When Clay told me about his encounters with these men, I went straight to the conclusion that he had betrayed me, that he had lied to me all along, that our whole relationship had been a sham. But I love Clay Grant like no other being on the planet, and I know he loves me the same. He's showed me, proved to me that nothing ever has or ever will threaten us, and certainly not these men. They're unique. They're not in competition with me for Clay, nor I with them. There's more of him now for all of us in his life".

Ann's eyes were wide, blinking but sparkling. "I guess I never thought of it that way, as a team thing..." she said softly. "Dan told me about his life before me, that there were both women and men. Only a few, but both. He's that kind of honest, and I respect that about him. He promised all that was in the past when he proposed, and I don't believe he's ever been unfaithful to me since we married, or that he could..., but I've always been afraid of that uncertainty. I don't know how I'd feel if he would want that again...."

Claire replied quickly, "I certainly don't mean to make you worry, Ann, or to imply that there's anything necessarily sexual going on at all. These are really fine, solid, honorable people we're talking about, not a bunch of slutty playboys, even if they are all gorgeous and hot. But I am giving you a heads-up that their energy and their dynamic comes straight from the second chakra. It's VERY creative and compelling and sexual and powerful, so be prepared to see Dan expressing himself very openly when he's with them, because they're all wide open and uninhibited and demonstrative with each other. It's really contagious and, honestly, lots of fun, like being hit by a tidal wave of testosterone, so get ready!" Claire threw her head back and laughed. "They're like a big bunch of cubs at play, and they do play grab-ass with one another constantly."

Ann's countenance eased somewhat. "Well, Dan has always been real playful, too, both with the kids and with me," Ann said, a sweet smile emerging. "I guess it would be natural for him to join in the horseplay, if that's all it is." She blushed prettily, lowered her eyes. "He's a randy bastard in bed, too. I never have any complaints..." She smiled broadly, and giggled. "I can't believe I'm saying this!"

"Sorry, sister, but it's too late. You're already in it, this Circle." She took Ann's hand in hers, her eyes sincere. "You're already included just by belonging to your Dan, like it showed up for me through Clay. These guys are very special, and for some karmic, maybe even divine reason, they find each other. Nothing changes the fact that we're their chosen ones, their mates, the lifelong witnesses and beneficiaries who ride it with them, for better of worse, but the magic piece is that they have this thing in common: they're driven to find their band of brothers and then celebrate the finding together. It's really weird, but it's also really great that we're both invited and included. The strangest thing to me is that it DOES only get better ...." Claire read Ann's stunned face and gently laughed. "You'll be surprised how fast your bewilderment will seem normal in this company, girl! Been there, done that, got both the CD and the t-shirt!!" They both paused, then shared a burst of laughter.

Ann sighed, suddenly weary. "Well, this is all so new and different, but I've got to tell you, I did feel at ease with Carl," she murmured quietly. "I still can't believe I had a car and driver sent for me, but he was so charming and chatty. I was totally surprised that someone with a Harvard MBA would be chauffeuring a Maryland housewife around, but then he told me about this family background in restaurants and that a vice-presidency with Microsoft just didn't make him feel like he was doing more that making money, well, he made me feel okay. I never thought that accommodating people, I think was how he put it, was more fulfilling than running over them. That's amazing! I thought `dog eat dog' was the norm these days."

Claire pressed on, "Well, Ann, I'm glad you got to know Carl a little, and understand that this is the caliber of guys Dan's with. Carl's not merely a driver for the Circle; he's a member of the Circle, and a participant and a player, and Carl and Sam take very good care of a very specific piece of their need and their dynamic. Nobody's JUST' an anything' in this group. They're all real, genuinely nice people. I'm not easily influenced, trust me, but my boundaries of what is considered outrageous or ludicrous have really evolved. In the world I work in, you've got to be cold, tough as nails and hard as steel just to survive. Since meeting the Circle, life has become an endless stream of possibility. Yesterday Clay found your Dan and, then just like that, they all want him to join them as one of the Circle."

Ann whispered, close to panic, "So where does that leave me, all of a sudden?"

Claire riveted her gaze to Ann's pale blue eyes. "The place in Clay's heart where I love him is not the same place where he loves the men in The Circle, the same way that the place where they live in his heart where he needs them neither diminishes his bond with me or our marriage. These ideas live together, concurrent, side by side, compatible with each other, and don't need to preclude or replace any piece of the other. They don't live as I do in my place with Clay, and I don't need to live in the place they live with him. Clay's realizing and modeling that distinction, and it's really radical for both of us, but it's true. This is very different than either of us thought we would be at this point in our marriage, or in our lives, but it's there, and is it ever energizing! Does any of this apply to you and Dan?"

Ann looked suddenly bewildered. "Oh, he'll get all of this immediately, but I don't know if I'm ready for any of it. That's not the way my world works... at least not so far..." she began tentatively.

Claire smiled warmly as she finished off the bottle of wine between them. "Ann, I'll be blunt and selfish: I need an ally. You've been chosen, too, evidently, and I don't understand the why of it any more than you do yet, but I will tell you it gets more comfortable after a while." Claire looked into Ann's clear gaze. "We're in the presence of good people, Ann, and they've found a very special kind of friendship. They need us to say yes, and to say we understand, even if we really don't. But it's worth being an active participant and partner in what they intend to do."

"I'll keep that in mind, but I'm making no promises," Ann said with a soft smile, just as an explosion of footsteps and laughter and a testosterone-driven babel erupted through the front door.

"Well, here it comes, honey," Claire declared with a laugh, "so hang on!"

Clay led the parade through the door, his arm slung over the shoulders of a sturdy fellow with short cropped silver hair and goatee, chattering animatedly, "So the dynamic works, when you make the connection a personal commitment for THEIR growth, not the program, Dan, and the best part of it is that you just show them that you're open to the possibility of ALL of them creating the new energy together. We've seen more often than not that they'll follow your lead without even resisting your modeling it for them..." Clay crooned into Dan's ear shoulder as they bounded into the room. "Ah, there they are!! Sorry, bud, but we'll have to take this back up in a minute." He gave Dan's neck a squeeze. "I got a smotch to collect."

He swept Claire up in his arms and devoured her mouth in a hot, wet kiss. "Hello, gorgeous!" he panted when they broke.

Claire's eyes were half-lidded as she replied, "Oh, do I love coming home to that!!"

Dan and Ann lock gazes. Neither knows exactly what the other just experienced, but they both recognize that they are each more than the last time they looked into that pair of eyes at 7:12 this morning. Despite the noise clamoring around them, they melt into each other's warm smile across the expanse of the room, new friends and companions carrying them both along in the boisterous momentum of the day, and subtly convey the promise to the other that yes, we'll compare notes and not let the most minute piece of this amazing day escape them, once they have the time and privacy to do so, later, safe again at home. Such a conversation within a glance is the magic of love.

Clay turned to his new buddy, who was staring raptly at Claire's companion, and smiled warmly. "Dan, meet my Claire. Honey, this is my gym-daddy Dan, who obviously belongs to this lovely creature, assuming you're the one and only Ann!" As Dan took Claire's hand, Clay planted a peck on each of Ann's cheeks, which turned a bright crimson. "What a pleasure to have you here."

"So nice to know you, Dan," Claire purred. "You're one lucky fellow to have captured this lovely lady I've been enjoying so much!"

Dan beamed at his sweetie, visibly melting. "Don't I know it! She's my magic!" Ann turned redder as she returned the loving beam of her ebullient husband, then exchanged knowing glances with Claire, who was looking at Clay with equal passion.

Clay punched Dan on the shoulder. "How could you not tell me how beautiful she is, yew dawg!?!? No wonder you're so distracted! Let me get out of your way, man!!" Clay stepped from between them with a flourish. Dan blushed as he gathered Ann to him for a quick peck and a quiet "Hi!" exchanged between them.

A bass "Harrumph!" boomed from the doorway. "I know it's your house, cubby, but you gonna stand there all day with a tent in your jeans, or do we get to join in this lovefest?" the little muscleman growled with a chuckle. A great roar of laughter erupted, filling the whole room.

"All right, Mister Patience, I'm getting there," Clay shot back with a trademark raised eyebrow. He turned back to the ladies, his emerald eyes shining, and continued without missing a beat. "Now, I'm going to do this the quick way, for you, Ann, to all of them and our guests to Claire. May I introduce you to the Circle, starting with the man hiding in that crazy, beautiful silvered beard, Evan Wilds, whom we all know as Corey, our dauntless leader and inspiration. The handsome devil next to him that looks like my twin is his partner, Warren Atwell, who is actually hosting our little soiree tonight. Dan will have to explain that story to you later... if he remembers me telling him the sordid details..." The room filled again with laugher at the none-too-subtle innuendo. "Next is our guest of honor, Mr. Evan Bradford, from Nebraska, our grant workshop guru and mentor today, Corey's oldest friend and most capable blackmailer, if we could only get him to spill the dirt we KNOW he's got on the maestro some day. You know Carl Mason of course, and that's Sam Waterford, his partner both in life and in logistics, transportation and accommodation duties for the Circle. Our newest playmate we found at the workshop today, Dr. Jack Hansen from the Lake Polk, Florida, Arts Alliance, whom we kidnapped outright just because didn't have a date tonight and obviously needed kidnapping. And there are our favorite ladies!! Hey, you made it! Our downstairs neighbors and adopted sisters, Joyce and Marge McCain-Smith. Perfect timing, girls! Welcome all!!"

The crowd filled the room in a cacophony of greetings, handshakes, hugs, kisses, hands caressing faces, warm familiar touches, jackets and scarves flying into a pile on the deacon's bench in the hall. Corks popped, glasses clinked, banter flowed. Soon containers and platters of food and accoutrements began a parade up the stairwell and the aromas of charcoal, marinated chicken, vegetables and yummy things began to billow from the roof deck amid the merry din of camaraderie.

"Hey, Danno," Warren called to the big guy admiring the skyline with his wife at the deck rail, "would you mind holding this platter for me while I fill it up? I'm pretty sure I've burned these birds sufficiently for us to devour `em!"

"Sure, Warren," Dan replied as he retrieved a beautiful pottery slab glazed in oranges and earthtones. "This is so great of you to invite us, Warren, and these look scrumptious!"

"That marinade is wonderful!" Ann added. "Secret recipe?"

"Ann, since I met Corey, I don't withhold anything that's worth enjoying," Warren bubbled, "and I hope your Dan does the same thing, if we haven't run you both off with our enthusiasm tonight. Sorry `bout that, but we really can't help but live large around each other. This recipe isn't complicated at all, but the magic ingredient is fresh grated ginger and brown sugar. I've got in on file in the party folder, and I'd be delighted to either print it out for you or send it to you email, whatever you'd prefer."

"WOW!" Dan chirped. "That sounds terrific. Ann's been after me to jazz up my tired old family recipe. That's wonderful you'd share it with us."

"Dan, it's a pleasure," Warren continued as he filled the platter. "Whatever you need from any of us, all you have to do is say so." He read the wonder in Dan and Ann's faces. "Please, you guys, ease up. There's no catch, so stop looking for one. You're using up good energy fretting over yourselves, and I just won't have that! Fretting's MY department. Didn't Clay explain that to you? You guys are only required to bring your energy to the top and share it. Then enjoy yourselves in that exchange. Got it?"

Ann said softly, "This is just so new, to have such instant friends. There ought to be something we have to do to deserve such kindness." She took the chicken platter and set it on the table as Dan brought another for Warren to load with vegetables and corn.

"It really is a bit overwhelming, Warren," Dan added, "but I've never felt so great!"

Warren stopped, his tongs in mid-grab of a red pepper. His eyes were soft and warm. "You two are so sweet! You don't even realize how much you bring to us just by being here today! I couldn't be happier to have the chance to know you both!" He looked back and forth at them both. "We get to discover how we get to enrich each other now, and that's a pure blessing in my life. I'm very grateful to know you." His eyes brimmed with tears suddenly. "And if I don't get these veggies off the grill soon, Corey's gonna smack me for oversalting them from being my mushy self!" They all laughed as he quickly finished loading the platter, and turned off the grill. "All right, let's get this downstairs and FEAST!"

"So what did you think you'd get out of coming to this workshop, Jack?" Evan asked as he gnawed on the chicken wing in his mitt.

"To tell you the truth, Evan," Jack replied, "I didn't know what to think when I told Bruce Porter, my director, that there was money to be had out there for our youth program and the Lake Polk Arts Exposure Project that the county commissioners were bandying about at their last meting, and all we had to do was ask for it. He told me, `Then, go get us some funding for all of it!' So I decided to come to Washington and see what showed up. I had no idea that I'd be in the company of such movers and shakers in the realm of moneymongering...!" Jack blurted, hardly acknowledging how enamored he already was of the magic little Lion who had mesmerized him all day.

Evan snorted, "You guys out there in the hinterlands think that all we do is sit on our asses and create ways to exclude you. That's just so NOT SO!!" He looked into the bright green eyes of his conversation companion, not realizing that half the room was watching them for dynamics. Evan threw back his beautifully white-haired head and chortled amicably, "If I had a nickel for every time I've heard such nonsense, I could have retired from the state of Nebraska five years ago and never done one more of these abominable workshops!!" He liked the cut of the art council's fundraiser's blazer, the twinkle in his eye. "I dare say, Jack, that you don't put up with as much bullshit as you make yourself out to, either!!"

Jack had to smile. Nailed again, by a master. Junior spasmed suddenly in his silk boxers. AHEM!! "Well, Evan, let's be honest here: It's hard to come out of a career in academe into a retirement situation, gratis, that doesn't push those buttons of righteous indignation when someone full of potential is getting screwed, right in front of your eyes, and not DO something about it!! Now, am I right?"

Evan's cock leapt. Damn, this one's real. Where has he been all my life, and why the fuck do I meet him here, and have to go home tomorrow,... alone,... again!?!' His spirit sank into that familiar litany. Damn! The abyss loomed large... Yet there's something special here...' He shook off the trickster's ploy to denigrate him enjoying the present. `Do it, goddammit!' his blessed angel sang in the other ear. Evan let a chuckle erupt. "Yes, by God, there are times when you just don't roll over and throw your legs up!"

Evan froze. `Oh, FUCK!! Did I say that out loud??' He bored into the little bundle of energy bemusedly holding his gaze.

Jack's pupils dilated, his nostrils flaring. "I think I would like to see that..." he said slowly, "in person...."

`You would, you hot little stud!...' Evan flashed. But he cleared his throat and said instead, "I always told my students to verbalize before putting pen to paper. Helps with the syntax..." he faded into an embarrassed hum.

Jack caught the reference immediately, responding, "You taught, too? Where and when?" He purposely ignored Junior fattening, leaking. `Oh, God! Is he precious! Where has he been all my life? And why here, and now? I've got to go back to Bum Fuck, Florida, tomorrow....'

Corey appeared and flung a thick arm around the neck of his old friend and licked hotly up Evan's jawline with a loud, wet SMACK! "If I didn't know better, I'd swear your dick was hard, ya randy fucker!" Evan choked. Corey cocked his head, noting Jack's incredulous gawk, with a wry smile. "You brainy little pieces hypering each other up into a frenzy, or what?" Corey smiled lasciviously.

Jack blushed crimson through his auburn coloring, but leveled an icy stare at the muscledaddy prancing between him and his new friend, gorgeous in his black jeans and straining cashmere sweater. There's physical history between them.' he observed, and it was fact, not judgment, and no wonder!! Who could resist THAT energy?' Junior throbbed again, and threatened to escape his khakis wetly. `Oh, how easy and safe this feels!!' Jack cleared his throat and said softly, "I sense that's not a problem with this group."

Evan slugged Corey playfully in the chest, the hard muscle of his pec barely reacting. "You're one to talk, stud, with your court fawning all over you as usual!" he barked demurely.

"Listen, my friend, and you ARE the first friend I ever had that understood me, and don't you ever forget that: I love you, and I only ask for what makes you happy, ya li'l dink!" Corey planted a lip lock on Evan and sucked for his tonsils, wrapping the flailing man in a grip of passion. It took several seconds for Evan to succumb to his best friend's power and return the embrace. When they parted, with a loud wet smack, Corey stared into Evan's eyes for three ragged breaths, then said, "You made me promise you years ago that I would always tell you the truth, my brother. Clay's reminded me of that, so now I'm telling you that THIS guy can tell you the truth, too. Stop resisting it, goddammit!" He released Evan, took his face in his strong hands, kissed him again gently, and smiled.

Jack was flabbergasted at the scene before him. His cock was rock hard and pulsing wetness. How totally embarrassing! How unfamiliar! How ... undeniably sexy! He was grabbed by the man with the wild beard and pulled into the hottest embrace he had felt in years! Mashed against Corey's burgeoning crotch, side by side with Evan, pulled into the hot body of their host. "Both of you: give up resisting the magic!!" Corey murmured into their necks, one captured in each massive arm. He smiled at the tumescence prodding at either side of his own swollen crotch. "I won't stand for it, and you both know I won't! Now, tell the truth!"

Clay lay in a pool of sweat, pulsing in the afterglow of orgasm. Claire had just closed the door to the bathroom, turning on the shower to come back to sanity after the hour-long madness her husband had just driven her through, cumming twice by hand, twice by mouth, once by penetration by a priapic Jake, hard and as relentless as their wedding night, the spike! Christ, how he loved this woman!

Jake was still half hard, still intent to express Clay's seed, his love, exhaustion and happiness, his bliss. How could life be so amazing? God, did he love his beautiful Claire, his mate! His mind ticked off the litany: Claire, first, last and always his one and only; Warren, his twin in so many ways, teaching him how to be his greatness; Corey, their Daddy, their mentor, who gave them credence and permission to know and love their dynamic.

Jake surged into his fist, begging for more, slick, hot, hard. And now Dan... Oh, shit, Jake was pure burning titanium at the image of Dan! Sweet, wonderful, sexy Danno, so close all night, smelling so delicious, na^'ve yet aware, being so lovely with his Ann, perfectly attentive, innocent yet hot, desirable.... God, I want to love him!! I want him to know how it to be loved like I know I can!!' Clay grunted as his fist was suddenly furiously pounding Jake to another blast of cum, up a nostril, into his mouth, over his face, his furry chest, his heaving torso. Damn, Danno, this is for YOU!' Hungrily he slurped his pungent seed into his gullet, smacking his lips. `Ah, Danno! Hot fucker, gym daddy fuzzyman, oh how I want to please you, my new studbuddy! Why do you do this to me, ya delicious piece of manflesh! Ungh, ungh, ooohhh!!!!!' Clay whispered as he reveled in his fantasy.

The shower turning off caught Clay's attention as he lay in their bed, still panting ferociously. `Oh fuck, Claire will be pissed!' he flashed as he grabbed his shorts and wiped up, throwing them into the laundry basket. He curled into a ball, facing the window, as Claire came in, damp and pungent, snuggled in from the right, raking the fur across her Lion's torso. "Hmmmm, you're amazing, my love," she cooed as she drifted into dreamland.

"I do love you, my darling!" he murmured, as he cuddled back against her. But he couldn't ramp down. Jake was still hard, steadily throbbing.

Silently he got up and paced a while, wandering into the den and staring out the window on the stillness of 18th and Calvert Streets at that late hour. The robe draped over his broad shoulders stood agape, Jake rampant and leaking, screaming for another mating. Clay padded to the bar, poured two fingers of Oban, as Corey had done the night of the claiming, and downed half of it with a growl. The scent of sweet pussy and pungent cum on his crotch pummeled his nostrils. Mansex,' it screamed, wanna fuck me a man, too, NOW, goddammit! Mansex!! Hard mandick loving hot ass hot manhole oh Danno I want you I gotta fuck you you gotta fuck me!!' swirled through his loins as the breeze tickled his pubes surrounding the turgid LionPrick Jake had become again. He let it pulse and throb in his loose fist, not wanting to just jerk off again. No, now he wanted a MANFUCK!! He needed to manmate now that his woman was satisfied. This is the way God made me: sate your mate, and then have your man! The mating of the men! This is my life!! This is how I am!!

Clay caught a glint of light off the figure crossing Calvert at the light. That's Josh! Beautiful, butch, compact, intact, downstairs neighbor Josh the Magic, with whom this whole process started such a few weeks ago, that day in the laundry room! Swaggering home from his new boyfriend's, half-stumbling over the curb. "Yeah, uncut bludgeon in my hot hole, making me know I'm with a good, real man even if I can't know Dan tonight!" Clay whispered. He downed the rest of the Scotch, made his way to the door, quietly closed it and padded down the hall and stairs, standing silently in front of the elevator door as it droned upward, his breath ragged.

When the elevator opened, Josh staggered forth, but stopped short when he smelled the hot man scent in the doorway. Slowly his eyes drank in the hot cub before him, that beautiful Jake fully hard between the plush robe panels gaping open, blond-furred muscles undulating passionately. Josh broke into a smile, his crotch instantly swelling to ready. "I'm very glad to see you, too, stud!" Josh rumbled deep, reaching forward to fill his hand with Clay's hard cock. "You make me remember what manhood is for, ya hot fucker!" and he dove into Clay's face, tongue demanding the blond's tonsils with loud smacking kisses.

Clay panted, "Love me, man!" grinding back against the hot dark-haired stud.

"Then get this big beautiful body into my bed!" Josh growled. He yanked on Jake, Clay following, to the corner door, unlocked it in a heartbeat, pulled his hero inside, and threw them both against the wall with a kick to close the door behind them.

Clay's hands had already undone the buttons of Josh's 501s and yanked them to his thighs, the hot pole there stone hard and thick. Josh surrendered to the feel of the hand milking him viciously, opened his mouth and accepted the pace of being taken, yet again, by his claimer. "How do you want me, my love?" he gurgled into Clay's mouth, as he kneaded the hot cheeks of Clay's furry ass, Jake skewering the soft curls hiding Josh's deep navel.

"In me, fucker!" Clay roared, "NOW!"

Josh led them quickly to the bed, stripping raw on the way. He dove into the linens, with Jake still in hand, and positioned Clay straddling his thighs. He hocked a healthy wad of spit, and pressed it into the hot cub's asscrack, thrusting two fingers to the second knuckle. Clay groaned lasciviously, leaned forward, kissed Josh deeply, cocked his pelvis back, taking aim. He reached back, racked Josh's foreskin to the root exposing the wet purple crown slick and ready, took a deep breath and devoured the hot pole into his clutching sphincter to Josh's lush, dark pubes. A roar of lust deafened them both.

"OH, yeah, right there, FUCK ME, man!" Clay bellowed as he sank into his buddy's crotch with rabbit moves. "Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me! Oh, God! I need you to FUCK ME!!"

Sweat flew as the two hot men banged and thrust against each other in their familiar tattoo of rut. Hands filled with muscle, hair, musk, slickness, groans of bliss increasing as they coupled in their mad groove, heat and lust boiling. Finally, ecstatically, Clay roared and clinched. Josh surrendered with a primal "Oh GOD yessss!" blasting inside him, Clay erupted onto their fronts, and they wailed into each other's body the perfect attunement they had come to know as their special, sweet bond.

"Oh, you hot divine man!!" Clay howled, and collapsed with a shudder.

Josh ground his sweaty, hairy pubic bone against Clay's quivering anus, his cock still depositing his passion deep in the big man's bowels in fading spasms, panting, "My beautiful lover, my big Lion, my hot fucking hero!" into the sweat-matted swirls of golden fleece covering the heaving chest he buried his face in, drinking in musky pheromones and moistness. "I only want to make you happy, you know..."

Clay melted into the strong arms holding him so tightly, and hummed into Josh's ear, "Yes, I know, you wonderful fucker, Josh the Magic! Your loving makes me so very happy!" Josh stayed deeply buried, pulsing between Clay's hot muscular cheeks, as they rolled onto their sides, slowly recovering sanity and peace, and drifted off to sleep.