Pizza for Thanksgiving Page 4

  "I wasn't hitting on you," Enzo said breathlessly. Flushed and confused, he felt like he needed to defend himself from some accusation.

  "I know. I was the one hitting on you," Mack told him, his chest rising and falling as he breathed hard.

  "On purpose?"

  Mack laughed. "You have no clue how cute you are, do you?"

  "Stop kidding around," Enzo managed to say before Mack was on him, kissing him again.

  He stopped only for one second to look into his eyes like he was asking something. Then Mack actually growled. That was hot. It was too hot. No, Enzo definitely couldn't handle a growling Mack. Regular Mack was too much for him, too muscular, too intense and brooding. But he just couldn't help himself, he had to pet the dangerous beast. Enzo reached up and cupped his face in both hands.

  It was only a light touch, but it set him off. Enzo could feel his stubble and his jaw working, teeth grinding. Then Mack was grabbing him, lifting him up, lining them up cock to cock.

  With Enzo's legs wrapped around him, he swung them around and pressed him into the corner between the fridge and the wall. Pinning Enzo in the small space, Mack started grinding his hips into him. At the same time, he kissed Enzo. It was a deep, bottomless kiss he could get lost in forever.

  Pushed back until there was nowhere to go, Enzo was moaning from the power of that kiss. The unyielding press of Mack's body didn't let him breathe, didn't let him think. Enzo was aching for him. Both of them were fighting for breath, groping each other through their clothes. Reaching under Mack's sweatshirt, Enzo found his muscles hard under his hands.

  He slipped one hand down over Mack's zipper where the fabric of his jeans was pushed up by his erection. Mack grunted in his ear and pushed into his hand. Enzo got his hand out of the way and hung on. Growing bigger and harder all the time, Mack was grinding into him, digging into Enzo, who was just as hard.

  The need building inside him was unbearable. As they devoured each other, tore at each other's clothes, he knew where this was heading. He could feel it.

  Mack pushed his fingers through his hair pulling him closer, like their tongues in each other's mouths wasn't close enough. But there was something closer than that. Enzo was feeling it as he shuddered under that kiss. His body might shake apart with need if Mack didn't fuck him. But that was a scary thought. Mack was big.

  Enzo pushed away from him to go and get lube and condoms. As he got out of there, he saw that Mack looked stricken. He stumbled and caught himself on the edge of the kitchen counter as he watched Enzo leave.

  A little overcome by what he was about to do, Enzo couldn't fine his voice to tell him he was coming right back. He just left him standing in the kitchen and then found him right there, where he left him, frozen. The look on Mack's face went from blankly devastated to anguished as if Enzo's return caused him even more pain.

  After a moment, when they both held their breaths and stared, he grabbed Enzo and kissed him just as savagely as before, maybe more. Enzo understood. Now they were so close, they had everything to lose.

  Enzo was grateful for the hardness of the kiss and for the rush of the whole thing. He couldn't afford to think. His first time and he was pulled to the kitchen floor. As they kneeled together, jeans still on, Mack pulled Enzo's down off his ass and opened his own just enough to free his cock.

  Then Enzo's cock was in Mack's mouth but only briefly, only a taste as Mack reached down the crack of his ass and lubed him. He rolled on the condom while Enzo panted, more nervous than he wanted Mack to know. It was happening. This was really happening.

  With Enzo's jeans still around his knees, Mack had him on his back. He pushed Enzo's legs up until his feet hit the fridge. The head of Mack's cock was at his hole. Mack pushed in and Enzo yelled and moaned. He could have never imagined it – the feral look in Mack's eyes as he stared down at him and the overwhelming surge of his cock. It was all too much as he was fucked right there on the floor, painfully at first and then so sweetly that it hurt even more. Mack's name was woven into every hiss and moan until Mack leaned down between his legs to kiss him.

  Then Mack was slamming in so hard, filling Enzo so right. Enzo's eyes fell closed as he moaned continuously. No, that wasn't right. His eyelids fluttered then opened wide. He didn't want to shut his eyes to this. He didn't want to miss any part of it. This was happening, maybe not the way he dreamed of, but with the man he wanted, the only one he wanted.

  Looking up at Mack as he pounded him, Enzo wanted to scream, "You're mine now, and I'm yours." But you don't do that with a guy like Mack. You don't claim him like a prize. Enzo did call his name until he was coming for him, muscles hardening, bones feeling like they would snap as his mind was blown.

  With Enzo straining and clutching at him, Mack came right after. Kissing and licking Mack's throat as he panted roughly, Enzo moaned his name and tried to claim him without saying the words.

  *

  Being inside Enzo was too good to last. With how much Mack had fucked and been fucked, and he never felt anything like this. It was like there was a secret about sex that everyone was keeping from him – find the right guy and you'll want to live in him forever.

  But maybe they didn't know. They didn't have Enzo. There was only one and Mack had to discover him for himself. With Enzo's name on his lips, he was sinking in hard and fast like coming was everything. His body didn't know that he wanted this to last forever. It raced to an explosive finish, making them both come.

  Mack collapsed, hearing his own name after a fuck for the first time in his life. Feeling someone kiss his sweaty face and stroke his hair was new too. It was all new, like he had never fucked in his life. Maybe Enzo wasn't a person, maybe he was an angel and that's why it felt so good to be in his arms.

  Spent, Mack groaned against his neck. The smell of Enzo was everything. He never wanted to breathe anything else. Nothing existed, only Enzo in his arms. The guy he had been avoiding all this time.

  After hardly daring to look at him the whole time they lived together, Mack was set to blow. That first contact between them set something off inside Mack. It had been dormant all these months, but one touch of Enzo's skin and it was all over for him. The heat of his body burned him. That was only a little bit of Enzo and there was so much more. He wanted all of him and he couldn't stop himself. OK, he could have if Enzo had given him just one sign, any hint of hesitation.

  But that's not what he saw. Enzo pulled him closer, drew him in, and kissed him like crazy. It was too sudden, but Enzo was right there with him. Surprising himself with how much he could feel as he fucked and as he came, Mack never knew that something purely physical could reach right through to his soul. Oh, God, it felt good not being used, being wanted. Enzo looking into his eyes like nothing else existed. The same way Mack looked at him.

  Things were calming now, breathing evening out, and Mack was coming back to himself. He pulled back and for a moment only stared. He took in the sight of Enzo on the floor. He was flushed, spent, satisfied, happy. Could that be true? Was he happy, or was Mack just fooling himself?

  He wanted him to be happy because he was happy too, like he had never been in his life. But then it came back to him. He had been too rough. He didn't give Enzo enough time to adjust to his cock.

  "I'm sorry," Mack said, but Enzo only smiled up at him.

  "That was great. What are you sorry about?" Enzo raised himself up on one elbow and furrowed his eyebrows at him.

  "If it was good for you, then nothing," Mack said.

  Enzo looked relieved. "It probably wasn't as good for you. I didn't exactly know what I was doing. You could probably tell it was my first time."

  "What? Fuck. How can it be your first time?" Mack asked. That never occurred to him. It had been so long since his virginity was taken, he forgot that some people got started late.

  "Why the hell not?" Enzo asked defensively. "When the hell was I supposed to do it? Not many opportunities in high school."

  "I had plenty of them
. Too many and too soon," Mack said bitterly.

  "That doesn't sound good either," Enzo said.

  That's when Mack realized that Enzo would have lived a completely different life. He wouldn't have had men reaching for him as far back as he could remember, knowing they could get away with it. Mack swallowed hard as regret washed over him. He should have given Enzo a better first time than this. He had gone about it all wrong. The way he was taught. The only way he knew.

  Enzo was a nice guy, not like Mack. Tainted by ugly experiences, Mack had done it all whether he wanted to or not. Now he wished he could go back and give Enzo the first time that was sweet and good, the way he deserved.

  Mack untangled himself from him and sat up, his back against a kitchen cabinet. "Sorry. I was too rough," he told Enzo.

  "No, it was good. It was amazing."

  "Really? For me too," Mack blurted out, overcome by what Enzo said.

  "Why do you look so surprised?" Enzo gave him an accusing stare.

  "I haven't always had the good kind of sex." It wasn't something he wanted to talk about, but he felt like Enzo was owed an explanation.

  "How do you mean?"

  Mack only shook his head. The good feeling, the sweetness he had absorbed from Enzo was starting to drain away. It never belonged to him in the first place. It was all Enzo. Without him, he was just Mack, a guy afraid to trust anyone. He was alone, but better alone than used and betrayed.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Enzo said as Mack went silent and withdrew into himself.

  "It's OK. Let's just say I didn't always have room for... negotiation. Being younger and weaker makes you a target." Mack remembered all the times he got cornered, threatened, pushed to his knees. Sometimes he didn't even bother fighting back. He knew the guy was stronger and he better do what he said. So many times he hoped to get away with just a blowjob and sometimes he did.

  "So this happened when you were a kid?" Enzo asked with concern.

  Mack didn't necessarily like the concerned look, but he still told him, "I lived in a lot of places that weren't safe, where no one was really looking out for me. Once I was older and stronger, I could take care of myself better." It took too long for him to get stronger though. By then fear ruled him and wouldn't let him go. He remembered the dark, small spaces where he used to hide. Curling up around himself, he got so used to ducking blows, expecting the worst.

  As dark thoughts threatened to swallow him, Mack looked away from Enzo's sympathetic eyes. That's why he didn't see him pounce. On him in an instant, Enzo laid him out flat and spread his body on top of him. Feeling Enzo rest his head on his chest, Mack instinctively wrapped his arms around him.

  Chapter 6

  Not sure what he felt, Mack lay on the kitchen floor and tried not to enjoy the comfort of Enzo's body on top of him. For a while there was only a heavy silence between them. While they were pressed together chest to chest, Mack stared up at the ceiling and felt his breathing sync up with Enzo's. A body warm and relaxed against his like this was a strange and intimate thing. If they were in bed, he could have almost fallen asleep.

  Holding a man after sex was new to him. He was used to waiting for a fist to come at his head along with a threat to keep him quiet. The good feeling and the closeness, Enzo's hair tickling his chin, it was all messing with his head. He wasn't used to this. The intimate touch started to unnerve him. A sense of danger was creeping in. He knew the danger wasn't real, but that didn't matter. Something inside him was seizing up and shutting down.

  In the quiet panic of the moment, all he could do was pull away. He had to bring the walls back up to protect what little of him was left that hadn't been trampled and abused. The good thing was over, and he gently pushed Enzo away. Once again Mack had to untangle himself from him, figure out which limbs were his and how to pull away and not make it hurt for either of them.

  They got off the floor helping each other up. Every contact between them made Mack shudder with a mixture of yearning and dread. He glanced at Enzo and wondered what he felt, but he couldn't read him.

  After cleaning up and pulling his clothes back into place, Enzo was eager to get back to cooking. He was focused on the turkey while Mack was still worried about what happened between them and how he acted. The thought that Enzo deserved better wouldn't leave him alone. He was such a good guy with a good heart. And what was Mack? Damaged goods. A teardown in need of too much fixing.

  As he moped in the kitchen doorway, he noticed that Enzo was busy with the stuffing.

  "It's still OK, isn't it?" Mack asked like he was asking about the two of them, not the food.

  "It's perfectly fine. Stuffing is supposed to cool off before it goes in," Enzo said while mixing it.

  "Glad to help," Mack said flippantly, but then he added, "I'm relieved I didn't screw everything up."

  "You didn't screw up anything," Enzo assured him. "You're the reason for all this."

  Feeling embarrassed, Mack didn't know what to say. "Are you going to start the turkey now?" he asked, just to say something.

  "I was thinking of starting it around noon."

  Mack looked at his phone. It was almost 1:00 now. "I messed up your schedule, I guess."

  "That's OK. You'll just have to go hungry longer."

  "That no lunch thing..."

  "Oh, that's still on," Enzo said mercilessly then he went back to getting things ready.

  Mack helped him as best he could. Between getting the various pots and pans, sticking a few things in the sink, and checking the recipe for the hundredth time, he and Enzo were crowding each other in the small kitchen. Having brushed up against him one too many times, Mack was breathing hard. "I guess I'm kind of in the way here."

  "No, you aren't. It's only because the space is so tight. I can squeeze by," Enzo told him like there was no problem at all.

  Mack stared at him out of the corner of his eye. Enzo didn't seem to grasp that the squeezing was the problem. There was more close contact, more fleeting moments of Enzo's body heat searing him then moving out of reach in a teasing dance that drove him crazy.

  Mack knew Enzo wasn't teasing him but his body didn't. It was on fire for him. How could he have so much power over him that every look, every touch burned him up. And didn't he just have him? Shouldn't things between them be cooling instead of heating up?

  Mack felt like he was the one who had sex for the first time in his life and was just finding out what it was all about – that there was something deeper that sex could ignite and never satisfy. To keep himself busy, Mack offered to wash some dishes to get them out of their way. His mind still wouldn't stop tormenting him though.

  For some guys, sex was like flipping a switch – on, off, done and forgotten. Too bad Mack didn't seem to have an off switch. He was turned on and that's how he would stay – yearning for Enzo, wanting all of him, all to himself.

  That was greedy of him. So they fucked, that didn't give him the right to demand more. He just couldn't help it. He couldn't be satisfied with a one-off.

  Mack had never felt this kind of desire so focused on one person. Never being more than a few inches from Enzo, how could he put him out of his mind? He was still buzzing from the feel of him. Just seeing him out of the corner of his eye was like touching him again.

  Before, it had always been just a general horniness, anyone would do. Not that he went out looking. Once he was no longer a target, Mack found that his appetite wasn't as strong as he expected. He figured he would be hitting some clubs, but that kind of thing didn't call to him.

  The gay guys on campus assumed he was straight and didn't bother with him. He could have corrected their assumptions, but he didn't. Maybe his overworked body needed a break. Or maybe his heart wanted something more.

  Sex with anyone had a way of sending him back to places and feelings he didn't want to remember. Fucking Enzo didn't do that. If anything, being inside him obliterated the past, made him feel new, freshly minted.

  That was crazy. Being with
Enzo didn't make him a new man, someone like Enzo. He seemed so fresh and beautiful, pure even as he was being fucked. Mack was just under his influence, tricked by him into believing crazy and impossible things. But now it was over. Back to reality.

  Actually his reality was Enzo cooking for him, and that wasn't very convincingly real. What was convincing was when Enzo started cursing.

  "Fuck, fuck, fuck. It's dead. It's fucking dead!"

  "The turkey? I would hope so," Mack said looking over his shoulder at the undoubtedly dead turkey sitting in a dark fridge.

  "The fridge is dead."

  Mack looked around. The display on the microwave was black and the overhead light was off too. "It's not just the fridge. The power is out." Lost in thought, Mack hadn't noticed until now. The living room window gave them enough light. The kitchen light wasn't very strong anyway.

  "The oven too?" Enzo asked frantically, then tried all the knobs. "It's not coming on." He still kept trying, turning the knobs every which way.

  "I'll check the fuse box," Mack said.

  As he went to the fuse box, Enzo went to the front door and stuck his head into the hallway.

  "Damn! I think it's the whole building that's out."

  After trying the circuit breaker with no luck, Mack came over and poked his head out their front door too. The hallway was dark.

  "I'm sure it will come back on," Mack said as he closed the door.

  "I have a whole bird and nowhere to cook it," Enzo said, panicking. "Everything is going wrong."

  "Everything?" Mack said, feeling hurt.

  "I mean dinner wise. Get a grip, Mack. My dinner is going to get ruined!"