The Devil in Devlin

"Give me your cell," I instructed him. When his face closed down in doubt, I grabbed at the phone, rolling my eyes. "I'm not going to hurt him, Caleb. We did things your way three hours ago, and he still isn't back. If he loves me like you said he does, and if the reason Dakota left is because he thinks I'm disgusted or angry, then I'm the only one he's going to listen to."

"Hey, yeah," he agreed in surprise before his pessimism returned. "You don't think he hurt himself do you?"

I shook my head. "I hope not. My gut says he's okay for now, but he needs something positive to hold onto." I found Dakota's name and number in the recent calls and went to press the button, noticing that Caleb had not moved. "A little privacy here, please?"

Caleb grinned and walked off to speak to Justin and Esdy while I turned my back on him, preparing to humble myself and crossing my fingers that he would believe me.

Not surprisingly, Dakota's cell was turned off, but that didn't stop me, and I left a voicemail. "Dakota, this is Dev. You need to come home. We're all worried sick."

I gulped, taking a quick look around me to make sure no one was close enough to be listening in. My eyes were tearing up, and I lowered my voice to a husky whisper. "Please come home, Kody. Or call me; just don't do anything stupid. I'm so sorry I snapped at you today. You caught me off guard, and I didn't know... Caleb told me about... well, he told me. It's all going to be okay. I swear it; I'll make sure it works out, okay? Just come home. I..."

I held the phone closer to my mouth and wiped my eyes. "I think I love you, Kody. I'm gay too, and, no kidding, I think I do. Please come back to me."

I copied Dakota's phone number into my cell, repeating the same message from mine in case he deleted the one from Caleb's without listening to is. Maybe an unfamiliar phone number would make him wonder who was calling him. All I could focus on was that Dakota was somewhere out there walking around scared to death. If he hadn't hurt himself—and I couldn't face the guilt that I might be responsible if he did.

Afterwards, we went out to join the rest of the search teams, and we scoured the town in ever-widening circles, checking out his familiar haunts over and over hoping he'd be there. All of us, friends and family alike, kept in touch with coordinators by texting. Dakota didn't contact anybody, and messages to him kept going straight to voicemail.

Hours went by without success and, while we didn't want to give up, our bodies wouldn't let us continue without sleep. It was near dawn when Caleb and I pulled on to our street and stumbled inside. We were exhausted, discouraged and frightened. Strangely enough, I was so demoralized I even prayed for Dakota's safety. It couldn't hurt.

Thankful that it was a Saturday, I woodenly climbed the stairs to my bedroom and dropped to my bed, so tired my eyelids were nothing more than slits. I thought about just laying there and drifting off, but I had to pee and knew I should brush my teeth. I dragged myself to the bathroom and did all my hygiene stuff, glad to finally be able to close my eyes. I threw back the quilt, preparing to undress and dive into bed.

At that moment I looked at my closet door and saw an eyeball staring back. I squeaked in alarm and would have started hollering if the door hadn't been thrown open and a warm body rushing me and closing a hand over my mouth. By that time I had no intention of crying out in fear, but I might have in glee. "Oh god, Kody!" He was in my bedroom, safe and sound. I turned and threw myself in his arms followed by a quick welcome kiss on the cheek.

Mindful of making noise that might alert Caleb, we stood there, slightly swaying on our feet. He put his arms around me tighter to still both of us. There were no more words for a time like that as we quietly hugged, and I noticed how how nicely I fit under his chin. I could hear his heart hammering in his chest, and I'm sure mine was galloping to the same beat.

Although his appearance in my room meant he'd forgiven me, after my angry denouncement at school I was afraid of hurting his feelings again. Part of me wanted to push him down on the bed and prove I was gay by kissing us both stupid, the other part warned me to hold back. It was Dakota who finally took the initiative and put his finger under my chin to tip it upwards so he could take my mouth in a liplock that would've made angels weep. Soft lips that parted and let me in so our tongues could meet and exchange howdies. The tongue stud rolled around between us. For the next heavenly five minutes we slowly let our lips do the talking.

"Are you okay?" I asked once he freed my mouth. My exhaustion vanished, replaced with the overriding joy that he had come home and wasn't dead or injured. "Where have you been? We searched all night for you."

He gave me a self-conscious glance. "I know, and I'm sorry I worried all of you. But after me acting like a dipshit and kissing you at school, I didn't know what to do until you called me. Then I decided to come here." He stopped, his voice stuttering a little, and he looked almost scared. "Did you mean what you said, Dev? About being in love with me?"

I smiled in what I hopped was reassurance and he dropped down beside me on the bed with his arm encircling my shoulders and mine about his waist. I could scarcely believe the danger was past, but in the quiet of my room I accepted it as a miracle. I feathered my fingers into his glorious locks.

"Yeah, I did, every word," I avowed. "I really am gay. Caleb and his family know, but when I moved in my caseworker swore them to secrecy because... Well, never mind, it isn't important. Caleb wanted to tell you, Kody, honestly he did, but he couldn't without breaking his promise to me or betraying your confidence. With all the video games, Starbucks and studying, I've been having these crazy feelings for you since March, and I didn't confide in him either. I've been just as scared as you were."

"It's been such torture for me," he whispered. "I talked to Caleb three months ago, and even though I know he was trying to be a friend and look out for my welfare, all he did at first was tell me I had to be wrong. That being gay wasn't what God wanted me to be."

Tears came to his eyes, and he brushed them away, looking down in embarrassment. He hugged me closer.

"Finally I got mad. I looked at Caleb and asked, 'If God didn't want me to be gay then why did he make me like this? Why did He make me want to be with men instead of women?' Like, what was I? Some freak? Was God just toying with me? I've never wanted to get naked and kiss or stick my dick up inside some girl the way I want to with you. If the Bible is right and God made me in His image, then somebody fucked up big time because in me, His image is a gay man."

"What did Caleb say?" I asked softly, having already heard the other side of the conversation.

"He... he didn't have an answer for it. I said nobody made me gay. I was never molested when I was a kid, not that it makes a difference from what I've read. I wasn't forced to watch gay porn. I wasn't sick so there wasn't a cure. It wasn't even a choice I could make. I was in love with you in a way I had never felt for any other human being on this planet. As far as I knew, I might fall out of love with you but it wouldn't take away from my being gay. It would just send me on a journey looking for someone else but it would definitely be another man.

"Caleb told me he would pray for me, and at first it looked like a cold, lame-ass excuse." Dakota shook his head sadly. "He had a lot to reconcile in his head, and I should have understood that as much as I wanted him to agree with me, he needed time to figure me out too. A week later he came back and said he was sorry. He still couldn't wrap his brain around all I'd told him but he was trying. It was better than I'd hoped for in my wildest dreams, being accepted like that."

"I think Caleb wants to be supportive," I commented slowly, "but your parents and teachers have hammered these beliefs about being gay into you since you were small. It's a big switch but one he willing to make for you because you're friends. I know he cares about you... enough to make me listen when I was angry after, uh, you know... yesterday when you kissed me..."

"You were kissing me back." Dakota stared at me in challenge, and I laughed under my breath. Yes, he had felt my response in the hallway at school.

"I told you I liked you," I replied in my defense, looking intently at a new rip in knee of his jeans. "It was like you read my mind because I wanted it. Then I thought, you couldn't have known, not from me, I was too careful. It had to be that Caleb said something. It made me so fucking mad, and after you ran off, I came home and got in his face for outing me like that. Except that he hadn't..."

I guess I must have been babbling because Dakota thought the best way to shut me up was to kiss me again. His soft, moist lips found the corner of my mouth, and I turned my head so we were facing each other. I dove in and kissed him proper on the mouth. Whisper-soft little swipes passed between us as his hand came up under my brown hair and held the back of my head still. Finally his lips settled on mine warm and firm, and when I opened up, he thrust his tongue between my teeth to find mine.

There was lots of wet, hot friction of our tongues exploring each other and sucking at each other's mouths. His calloused hands pushed my hair out of my face, and I let his lips drag against mine. I considered what that tongue piercing would feel like on another part of my anatomy. It made me a little dizzy, but then I was so drained, it wouldn't have taken much to make me pass out. And, of course, he'd been out all night walking around, so he had to be as tired as me.

You know what fatigue can do sometimes; it's a little like being wasted. One minute we were sitting there with our arms around each other making out, the next we were mindlessly pulling our clothes off. I couldn't strip down fast enough, and apparently neither could Dakota. My cock, which should've been as dead as the rest of me felt but thinking it might catch some action, began to appreciate the totally hot, ripped guy next to me on the bed getting buck naked. Just like that, it turned to granite.

All that beautifully toned muscle in his chest, across his shoulders and down his back, the abs like small pockets of steel under his pale skin. I realized that the henna, brown and black spikes, swirls and lines of his tattoo were fashioned around a long, narrow cross with a slight curve to it. It covered his back on a tilt from over his left shoulder and bicep, down his spine to the top of his right butt cheek and gave him a dangerous appeal which was completely contrary to his sweet personality. I also saw a few straggly hairs around his flat, pink nipples so either he manscaped or he wasn't naturally furry. I preferred bare chests myself; too much of a pelt made it hard to get to the goods since I was into nipples, and his were thankfully free of piercings.

Speaking of cocks, as I watched Dakota and with the removal of each piece of clothing, I had to fight myself not to drool. It seemed to take forever before his pants, shirt and socks sat atop his shoes, and I held my breath when he finally kicked off his briefs. I gulped, hopefully inaudibly, in both lust and nerves. His was long, but then Dakota was a tall guy, so it was probably proportioned to his height. From a tuft of jet black curls, it rose in a thin, graceful arched column of pale pink almost to his navel. His scrotum was loose and lightly fuzzed and, for a slim man, his ass was very rounded.

Dakota was pushing me backwards on the bed, his body covering mine, and I reached for him in a big sloppy kiss. Here I was, naked in his arms, and I felt no shame. His cock was coming alive on my thigh. It just made me want to reach out my hand and touch it. Wrap my fingers around its rigid shaft and pump it the way I took care of myself when the need arose. And then I wondered if I dared. What would Dakota do if jacked him off.

There was only one way to find out. Softly my fingertips traced from his ball sac to the tip of his dick, already dripping precum into my pubes. I felt the muscles in his groin shudder and his breath hitch. Kody stayed silent, which could be either good or bad, but he didn't say stop. I repeated the stroking, and he began to hump against my thigh. That was maybe more efficient, but I wanted to be the one to give him pleasure.

"Kody," I whispered. "Let me touch you."

I raised my eyes to his face to see him smile dreamily, and then he rearranged his body to put some room between the two of us. Even before I had a chance to wrap my hand around his hard-on, he reached for me and began to explore. He was circumcised; I was not, so I'm sure it was a different feeling for him. He seemed fascinated by my foreskin and how it slid up and down, and he soon got the hang of it. Just a few strokes, and I was already moaning at how damned horny he was making me and that it wouldn't take much to make me cum.

I spit twice in my hand and took hold of him. Grasping firmly, I rubbed from top to bottom, his precum also smoothing the way and employing my signature move, a flick of the wrist at the top to massage his cockhead. His mouth was slightly open, breathing shallow and eyes squeezed firmly shut, and I heard his responsive and passionate moaning next to my ear. He was so beautiful to me, and that I was getting him off was probably the most powerful feeling in the world. Had I ever worried about his religious training inhibiting him from enjoying sex with another man, I was happily mistaken. He was relishing our mutual masturbation as much as I was.

I was having trouble holding back now but I wanted to make this last. The feel of his hard, slick penisand the friction building warm in my palm. The way Dakota's hand rode my foreskin up and down and slid his thumb over the slippery head. The ache in my balls that warned me of the churning of semen inside about to unload. I groaned deeply and rocked my pelvis into his grip.

"Oh, Dev," he whispered frantically. "I'm going to nut. It feels too good, I can't..."

Afraid he would start yelling and bring the folks running, I did the first thing that came to mind. I clamped my mouth over Dakota's, and we both came in the middle of a deep, intense kiss. He whimpered into my mouth as his cock pulsed and began to shoot strings of cum between us. Two seconds later I was the one thrashing on top of him as my orgasm howled through me, and it took all my willpower not the scream in pleasure. My bucking hips had a mind of their own, and my balls didn't seem as if they would ever stop unloading all over our torsos.

I was spent. With Dakota under me, my body sated and so fatigued I couldn't move, my head cleared as I started to breathe again. "Oh my god," was all I could mumble.

Dakota carried me with him when rolled so we were side by side and face to face. "That was ace," he said, his voice just as surprised as mine. He looked down between our bodies at our cocks which were returning to their softened state. His face turned red, and I don't know if it was because he was realizing we were both naked in my bed, we'd had sex or because of the cum all over us. "We made a mess."

"My t-shirt is dirty," I whispered. "We can use it to clean up with."

He wiped our torsos off as best we could, and then I rolled in Dakota's arms so that he was spooning behind me. He felt so good with his strong arms cradling me and his thick but flaccid cock nestled into my back. "Mmm," I sighed. "I love you, Kody."

He kissed the nape of my neck and snuggled against me. "I love you too, Dev."

I guess we must have passed out after that because the next thing I knew my alarm clock said it was after twelve noon, and I was just waking up. I could feel Dakota's warm, naked body still at my back, his arm thrown casually over my shoulder and his stiff erection locked against the cleft of my backside. His regular breathing told me he was still asleep, and I quietly turned over so I could look at him. I felt a pull at my groin, the kind that reminded me that I still had cum on me, and it had glued some of my pubic hair to my thigh. Obviously, I had no intention of leaving Dakota in my room alone for me to shower, nor could he wander around either. Yeah, the time had come for the world to learn that Dakota had returned home.

"Hey, Kody," I whispered. "You need to wake up so you can go home and tell your family you're safe."

He wrapped me in his arms, still half asleep. "Don't want to go home, Dev. I want to stay here with you. Your bed is nice and warm."

I decided to tease him. "You mean you only like my bed?"

"No," he corrected, beginning to thrust his hard erection against me. "I love the person in it too."

"Well, that person says there are many others who love you too, Kody. They're getting all freaky-deaky thinking you're dead or something, and it's time to tell them you ain't."

He sighed and nuzzled into my neck. "Okay, okay, I'll get up."

The covers were pooling around my naked hips when he finally sat up, and his eyes widened as he leered at my exposed body up and down. Like me, he was probably too tired that morning to fully appreciate what he saw, not that I'm so special. I'm average everywhere except my cock is fairly thick. It's a heady experience being in bed with another naked man and experiencing sex like we did, even if all we did was jack each other off. When you love somebody, it isn't what you do necessarily, it's the desire to please behind it.

"Wicked," he announced, pinching my nipple between his thumb and finger. I hissed at the slight pain, but it went straight to my cock. However, we didn't have time for any more play, and I could tell he was trying to distract me. I didn't want him to go home anymore than he did, but he had an obligation to relieve his family's distress. The longer he delayed, the worse it would be.

Checking to make sure the coast was clear, I sneaked Dakota into the bathroom so he could pee and wash up. Then it was my turn, with him safely hidden in my bedroom, and we got dressed. After which, I finally texted Caleb. 'Kody is OK.'

He messaged me back, 'How d-u know?'

'K's in my room w/me.'

Seconds later, Caleb was at my door. He gave one knock and slipped inside, his face glowing to see his best friend safe and sound. "Dakota, you scared us half to death."

My new boyfriend looked at me tenderly and grinned as he slung his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. "Nah, I'm alright. Better than alright."

Caleb sniffed the air and stared at us with horror-stricken eyes. "I smell... I smell... you two didn't have sex in here, did you?" Dakota laughed but had the grace to blush. I was surprised perfect Caleb even knew what sex smelled like.

"You two are going to get into so much trouble if my parents suspect anything. Which," he was hasty to add, throwing up his hands defensively when I glared at him, "they won't from me. But you can't be doing that stuff or someone is going to get wise, and all H-E- double hockey sticks is going to break out."

I snorted at him. "The word is 'hell', Caleb, and even your preacher says it, as in 'all you sinners are going to...' So get used to it because you aren't going to get zapped by God for it. Oh, by the way, there is no half belief of anything as far as Kody being in love with me goes. I can also tell you in all confidence that he is gay."

Dakota kissed me lightly on the lips and smiled at me in such tenderness it took my breath away. I could see the evidence of my words swirling through Caleb's mind and the battle within him as he tried to balance his long-held religious beliefs with the devotion so apparent in front of him. God is love and commanded us to love one another, or so I'd read at various times since I was a child. Wasn't the love Kody and I had for each other one way to manifest it?