Space Invaders (60 page)

Blake didn’t appear happy at the reminder.

AJ turned to Ryder. “It’s only a couple more days.”

Ryder nodded and AJ could see the disappointment in his eyes as AJ made his choice.

“Very good,” Blake said. “Now how about we make up for last night with a quick blow job before I leave for work? Ryder can even stay and watch if he likes.”

AJ could tell the suggestion was actually an order. He dropped to his knees with a resigned sigh.

“You suck so nicely,” Blake said. “You should try this some time, Ryder.”

Ryder made a non-committal sound behind him.

“Or have you already let him taste you? My whore has such a talented mouth. Did you know he charges fifty credits a blow job? If you want, you could pay me the fifty credits and I’ll let him blow you next. What do you say?”

“I’ll pass,” Ryder replied, his voice tight and strained.

“Maybe Jessiah would like to take me up on the offer, though perhaps the price might be a little high for an errand boy. Maybe I’ll promote him now that you’re leaving.”

AJ tried to block out the voices and concentrate on getting Blake off as fast as possible. The sooner he came, the sooner he would leave for work and the quicker the end of the week would arrive.

When he was done Blake tucked himself away and left for the laboratory. “Remember, Ryder, if you want him to blow you, you pay me his fee.”

The door closed behind him and AJ slumped against the sofa. Just a couple more days to get through.

Ryder sat down beside him and sighed loudly. “Do you still believe this is worth ten thousand credits?” he asked.

“Probably not, but that’s the only thing keeping me from walking out the door right now.”

“Would you hate me if I said I’m tempted to take Blake up on his offer?” Ryder asked quietly.

“If you want me to blow you, all you have to do is ask. I’d do it with pleasure, no charge.”

“While you belong to Blake he can charge for you,” Ryder pointed out.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, or us,” AJ countered.

“Or I could blow you,” Ryder suggested with a grin. “He never mentioned your charge for that.”

“No charge,” AJ said with a grin of his own. “Most people who pay whores want to get off themselves. They aren’t too fussed if their partner doesn’t.”

“Says the virgin whore,” Ryder teased with a laugh. “Would you like me to?”

“What? Blow me?”

“Yeah.”

AJ nodded eagerly. “Not here though.”

Ryder stood up and pulled AJ to his feet. They went through into the staff area and Ryder shooed Jessiah out of the sleeping quarters, closing the door behind him with a warning not to come back unless the place was on fire.

Ryder eased AJ down onto the sleeping capsule and slowly undid the buttons of his trousers. He carefully moved the fabric out of the way and spent so long gazing at him that AJ began to feel a little weird about the close scrutiny.

“I can go shower if you wish,” he suggested in case uncleanliness was the problem.

Ryder shook his head and knelt between his legs, planting soft kisses along AJ’s inner thighs. Each time he got close to AJ’s rigid flesh he darted his tongue out to give the tip a quick lick. AJ groaned and gripped the edge of the capsule. With the way Ryder tormented him he suspected he’d be coming before they even got to the best part. His cock grew harder and ached with need. Ryder nuzzled at his groin and took one of his balls into his mouth, sucking gently. AJ fell back on his elbows and closed his eyes as Ryder moved from one sac to the other and back again, his fingers lightly squeezing whichever one was not in his mouth.

“Ryder, please,” AJ begged.

Ryder ignored his plea and continued to lick his balls, only occasionally brushing against his dick as he moved from one to the other.

Finally, Ryder licked his way along AJ’s erection and took the head between his lips. His tongue did something wonderfully delightful to the underside of his cock and AJ quivered as Ryder paid homage to the overly sensitive flesh. AJ chuckled as he considered maybe Ryder was in the wrong profession since he could have made a fortune doing this.

Ryder pulled away and looked up at him curiously. “What’s so funny? You aren’t supposed to be laughing when I’m sucking you off.”

“I’m just thinking how talented you are at this,” AJ hedged. Ryder raised an eyebrow as he waited for AJ to elaborate. AJ shook his head and fisted his penis, guiding the rigid member back to Ryder’s slightly swollen lips. Ryder took the hint and sucked the head once more. AJ gave a contented moan and when Ryder began to suck in earnest he couldn’t control the bucking of his hips as he strained to stop himself from fucking the other man’s mouth.

AJ reached between his legs, only to find Ryder had beaten him to it. A quick squeeze, a long hard suck and AJ collapsed back onto the mattress as his orgasm ripped through his body.

Ryder sucked him through every last shiver and when he had finished he climbed up and leant over him, kissing him deeply. AJ could taste his own cum on Ryder’s lips and with renewed energy he kicked off his trousers and rolled Ryder onto his back.

Ryder, still fully clothed, spread his legs wide and let AJ settle between them. He grabbed AJ’s arse and urged him closer. AJ could feel Ryder’s erection hard beneath him and he ground his hips downwards.

“Oh yeah,” Ryder moaned. “Right there, AJ. Keep doing that. Don’t stop.”

AJ had no intention of stopping and he continued to rub up against Ryder, increasing the pressure with each thrust of his hips. The friction of the material of Ryder’s trousers against his still-sensitive flesh was almost unbearable, but he didn’t want to halt. He could tell Ryder was close from the delightful noises he made each time AJ pressed up against him. He could feel Ryder’s hardness, trapped in his trousers, as he ground against him.

By the time Ryder stiffened beneath him, AJ’s erection had begun to rise again. Ryder came with a throaty cry and shivers that caused AJ to moan with renewed arousal. The damp heat of Ryder’s release seeped through his trousers and AJ reached down to touch the evidence of the pleasure he had brought his lover.

“That feels so good,” Ryder whispered as AJ continued to stroke him through the thin material. “Sticky, but good.”

“Maybe we should take a shower?” AJ suggested. “I think this time I might be able to enjoy the experience a little more than the last time we shared one.”

Ryder laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think I can move just yet.”

AJ wasn’t entirely sure he could find his own feet and so he slid off of Ryder’s chest and nestled in beside him and closed his eyes. “Later,” he whispered.

Chapter Ten

Showered and satisfied, at least for the moment, AJ and Ryder snuggled together on Ryder’s sleeping capsule. The silence turned from comfortable to awkward until eventually Ryder brought up the subject they had both been avoiding all day.

“What do you intend to do after tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, find somewhere to live, I guess.”

“I meant, what are you going to do about work?”

“There’s nothing out there according to the agency. Not unless I want to earn my living on my back.”

“I don’t want my lover working as a whore,” Ryder said simply.

“Me neither, but at the moment I don’t have any other options.”

“There are always other options.”

“Sure, I can starve to death or take up thieving.”

“That’s not funny.”

AJ pulled away and turned his back on Ryder. “I’m not trying to be funny. I’m telling you my options and they aren’t pretty.”

“Living as a whore isn’t pretty either. I won’t let you do it.”

AJ stiffened. “You don’t own me,” he snapped. “No more than Blake does.”

“Don’t you dare compare me to Blake,” Ryder barked back at him. “I know you belong to no one but yourself. But AJ, I want a future with you, and I don’t see one for us at all if you make your credits by spreading your legs for other men.”

“No man is going to fuck me again. I told you that. From now on I make the decisions and that’s going to be my first rule.”

“That’s not the point,” Ryder snapped. “I don’t want you doing
anything
with other men. I don’t want you fucking them, sucking them or even letting them touch you.”

“If that’s the only way I can make credits, you’ll have to put up with it.”

“No, I won’t.”

“You say you don’t want me to compare you to Blake, then stop speaking like you can control what I do with my life.”

“I’m not trying to control you, but if you insist on doing this, I don’t see a future for us. I won’t be able to stand by and wonder what you are doing when you take another man to your bed.”

“I never asked you to.”

“If you want to see me again after this week, and at the same time continue to make a living as a whore, then that’s exactly what you’re asking. Can you at least try to find other work?”

“Do you think I haven’t looked for other ways to earn credits?”

“I don’t know! It’s not like you confide in me. It’s not like you trust me.”

AJ turned to face Ryder before he spoke again. “Is that what this is about? Because I won’t let you fuck me?”

“No, it wasn’t, but since you brought it up, yes it hurts me when you make it clear you’ll never trust me enough to offer yourself to me in that way.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. I know you say it doesn’t have to hurt, but I can still feel Blake in me, even now.”

Ryder rubbed AJ’s shoulder affectionately. “I would never hurt you like he has.”

“You wouldn’t mean to.”

“Can you at least trust me enough to try it once?” Ryder asked. “I don’t mean right now, just when you’re ready.”

“What if I’m never ready?”

“It’s not a question of you being ready or not. It’s whether you trust me enough to think about it. Do you trust me?”

AJ nodded. “Yes.”

Ryder wrapped his arms round AJ’s waist and rested his chin on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

Their main problem, of how AJ would earn his living, had not been resolved. The discussion would come to the fore again. AJ hoped when it did a solution would present itself, else he feared the arguments would tear him and Ryder apart forever.

* * * *

As nice as it would have been to stay in the sleeping chamber all day, Ryder was determined not to let the entire day slip away from them.

“Come on, I want to go back to the archives.”

AJ groaned and buried his head under the pillow. “What for?” he mumbled.

“I want to know why Blake tore up the book about his ancestor. It’s a little extreme, even for him. He’s hiding something and I want to know what.”

“Why does it matter?” AJ asked. “Everyone has some secret or another.”

“Maybe it’s of no consequence, but it’s bothering me and I want to know. Come with me?”

AJ tossed the pillow to one side. “It’s not like I’ll be any help there,” he pointed out.

“I’d rather have you there with me than worry about you being here without me when Blake gets back.”

AJ sat up and sighed. “Well, when you put it like that…”

The rest of the staff agreed to cover for them and they made their way back to the archives, this time taking the journal of Blake’s great-grandfather with them.

The woman at the checkout desk was far from happy to hear about the destruction of the book Ryder had borrowed, but when he paid for the damage—clearing out most of his credits in the process—and promised not to take any further books out for the time being she agreed to let them through. It didn’t take long for Ryder to find a second copy of the book Blake had torn up.

They found a table and Ryder quickly skimmed through the two books side by side, comparing the journal of the scientist with the biography of his life written during his last few years.

“Here it is,” Ryder whispered. “According to the biography the time travel experiment was a failure and no stable wormhole was ever established.”

“Wormhole?”

“A portal or doorway into the past,” Ryder explained.

“Sounds like a great achievement, if it had worked.”

“According to the journal, it did. There’s talk of unstable portals, just as the biography says, but there’s also mention of successes. According to the journal at least three people managed to travel into the past and return here, one of them being Blake’s great-grandfather.”

“Then why does the biography say the experiment was a failure? Surely something so good would have been shouted from the top of the towers?”

“You’d have thought so, but if this journal is correct everything was all hushed up.”

“It sounds rather dodgy if you ask me.”

“Me too. There must be a reason for the cover-up.”

“Credits,” AJ said.

“I don’t see how they can make credits from this. They would surely have made more by going public with their success.”

“It’s the only answer,” AJ insisted. “I’m telling you, behind this, someone—probably Blake if his temper tantrum is anything to go by—is making a nice little profit.”

“I wonder…”

AJ looked at Ryder who had a faraway look on his face. “What is it?”

“If Blake has the power to travel though time he could send us back to the past to start a new life together.”

“And why would he do that? Out of the goodness of his heart?” AJ shook his head at the preposterous idea.

“I’m afraid my thinking runs more along the lines of blackmail,” Ryder replied. “He obviously doesn’t want anyone to know about this. It’s in his interests to keep us quiet and if we’re in the past we have no way of blowing the whistle on him.”

Could Ryder’s plan be possible? AJ looked at the two books Ryder held before him. He was too uneducated to read the complicated scientific words the volumes contained. He didn’t understand how time travel worked and had no idea whether Blake would let Ryder blackmail him. One thing he did know was that the spark of excitement in Ryder’s eyes was contagious and he found himself hoping they might get their chance at a new life together. One away from both the labyrinth and Blake, in a past where the world didn’t consist of underground caverns and a person could walk on the surface of the planet without choking to death on poisonous gases. Could such a life really be within their grasp?