8. Joaquin

Chapter 8

Joaquin

After wholeheartedly gobbling down five and a half pancakes, Joaquin was feeling full. It was a strange feeling. Typically, Joaquin would exist on as little food as he could manage. When he wasn't hustling, he was partying. That was just the way life had panned out for Joaquin since his late teens.

But as he lay back on Cole's couch, Joaquin felt something he couldn't quite place his fingertips on. He wasn't happy. But he wasn't sad either. Joaquin knew that he was still in trouble with Katsen, but he also felt like he was currently as out of harm's way as was humanly possible.

Is this what it's like to feel… safe?

It's almost like I'm back home with my grandparents.

Except… I'm with… him.

Joaquin looked across the living area and saw Cole sitting at his desk and staring into the laptop screen with a look of intense focus in his eyes. Joaquin couldn't quite grasp why Cole was seemingly so determined to help him, but right now he was happy to simply enjoy feeling full and putting his feet up in safe surroundings.

As he took his cell phone out of his pocket, Joaquin shot one more look toward Cole. It was crazy to think that only a couple of hours ago, that man was spanking his ass in broad daylight. Cole was intense. The whole situation had been in fact. But even putting that to one side, Joaquin's mind couldn't shake the memory of looking down and seeing that his cock was as stiff as a board as Cole manhandled him and meted out his punishment.

Joaquin shook his head.

He didn't want to dwell on thoughts like that, and to remedy the matter he decided to fire off a message to Jenna. They might not have left things on the best terms, but Joaquin couldn't deny that he still had feeling for Jenna. It wasn't the same feeling from when they first met, but it was something. And despite living the life of a rebel, Joaquin knew that his heart was telling him to check in with Jenna. It was important to Joaquin to make sure that she was safe. After all, there was no telling what lengths Katsen would go to.

JOAQUIN: Hey, girl. Sorry I haven't been in touch these last couple of weeks. Shit kind of got wild for a moment. I mean… it kinda still is to be honest. I just wanted to check in and make sure that you and the baby were good. Take it easy.

Joaquin was about to slide his phone back into his pocket when he saw that Jenna was typing out a response. His heart momentarily skipped a beat as he wondered whether Jenna was going to reply with bad news, but Joaquin knew that he needed to see what his ex-girlfriend and true friend was about to say.

JENNA: Hey, babe. I'm okay. And Joey – yes, she does have a name – is doing good too. I wanted to say thank you again for the money. And I still want to know where you got it from. Or do I? Anyway, let's talk soon. Maybe meet for a hot chocolate? Take care, Joaquin. You mean a lot to me.

Joaquin's eyes momentarily filled with tears as he read Jenna's message. But they weren't exclusively tears of sadness. Far from it, in fact. Joaquin knew that Jenna would be a great mom to Joey, and he felt sad that he wouldn't be a part of their lives like he might have been not so long ago.

But mainly, Joaquin felt a sense of relief that Jenna was safe and doing fine. That was enough for Joaquin. There was no going back as far as he and Jenna were concerned when it came to their relationship, that much was clear. However that didn't mean that he and Jenna couldn't be friends.

‘You okay over there?' Cole asked, breaking Joaquin out of his thoughts.

‘Yeah, I'm good,' Joaquin replied, casually checking out some skateboarding clips on Instagram. ‘Does that dog ever leave your side though?'

‘ Ha , Ranger likes to stay close to me,' Cole replied, reaching down to his feet and ruffling Ranger's furry head. ‘But call him over. He might enjoy being made a fuss of by someone new. And don't worry, he won't bite.'

Joaquin smiled and cautiously patted his hand on his thigh and called Ranger's name. The dog didn't move. Instead, Ranger simply looked up to Cole.

‘It's okay, Ranger, you can go say hey,' Cole chuckled. ‘Go. Go say hey.'

With that, Joaquin smiled with delight as Ranger got up onto all fours and trotted over to see him. And it wasn't long before Ranger had hopped up onto the couch next to Joaquin, snuggling and making himself comfortable as he lay across the length of his body.

‘Well I'll be damned,' Cole remarked, looking up from this laptop. ‘He likes you. Maybe you're not all bad after all.'

‘Hey, jerk, Ranger's got good taste is all,' Joaquin replied, blushing for a moment as he wondered whether this could be counted as flirting. ‘Anyway, I had dogs growing up. They all think I'm cool.'

Cole shook his head and got back to work on his laptop.

And as Joaquin felt Ranger's warm body acting as a hot water bottle, Joaquin's eyes gradually began to close. Suddenly, Joaquin was finding it an altogether impossible task to stop himself from falling asleep.

And sleep was exactly what Joaquin did too.

When Joaquin woke, he saw that Ranger had taken up the top third of the couch. But Joaquin didn't mind one bit. He felt more rested than he had in a long, long time. And it even crossed his mind that from now on he should think about napping alongside a big, hairy dog to help him get the perfect sleep.

‘ Hmmm , where's Cole?' Joaquin muttered, looking across to the desk and seeing that while the laptop and mug of coffee was still there, Cole was nowhere to be seen.

As he sat upright and stretched out his hands above his head, Joaquin let out a long, satisfied yawn. The house was more like a lodge in truth, but that only served to make it more homely.

Joaquin looked around at the basic but chunky furniture. The rugs on the floor were thick and well-worn, and there was also a sizeable DVD collection carefully stacked over by the TV set.

But there was one thing noticeable by its absence.

‘There's not a single photograph here…' Joaquin said, wondering why that might be the case.

However instead of getting bogged down with thoughts of why Cole didn't seem to have any personal photographs or even mementos from his hockey career on display, Joaquin got up and decided to see precisely where Cole had got to.

After looking out front and seeing no sign of Cole, Joaquin turned back inside and walked further into the lodge. There was a muffled sound coming from behind the third door on the left and Joaquin approached with stealth.

And with the door slightly ajar, Joaquin couldn't help himself from peeking in through the narrow gap…

Oh fuck.

He's…

And I'm…

Joaquin was staring unblinkingly as he gawped at the sight of a naked Cole lathering himself with soap underneath the shower. The steam in the room was partially obscuring Joaquin's view, but that only seemed to make it a more tantalizing sight.

Over the years Joaquin had experienced urges toward men, even sometimes attempting to pleasure himself to gay porn. But nothing ever truly turned him on. Joaquin had always put it down to curiosity or a brief phase. However this was different.

Joaquin couldn't take his eyes away as he watched the hulking Cole work the flannel over his large, strong pecs and down his sturdy, strong stomach.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I can't look.

But…

Joaquin simply couldn't tear his eyes away as Cole soaped his thick cock and gave it a thorough clean. It even looked like it was hardening a little as Cole pulled down on it and worked it from side to side as he cleaned himself.

But it wasn't just Cole's cock that was drawing Joaquin's attention.

There was also the not so insignificant factor of Cole's big, strong ass too. And coupled with his muscular legs, Cole's physique could quite easily have been drawn up from that of a Greek God.

At this point, Joaquin's cock was rock hard inside his pants. There was no denying just how aroused he was. In fact, before Joaquin realized what he was doing, he was silently unzipping his pants and taking his cock in his hands.

Knowing that it was a totally crazy thing to do, but doing it anyway, Joaquin began to work his hands up and down his shaft. Joaquin didn't want to break a direct line of sight to Cole for a single second, but did look away for a moment as he quietly spat a sliver of saliva down onto the top of his throbbing dick head.

This is bad.

It's not me.

But I'm not stopping now, no way…

Joaquin began to furiously pump his cock as he watched Cole work the soapy flannel over his ass cheeks and then between them too. A myriad of fantasies and images involving Cole suddenly penetrated Joaquin's mind and before he knew it he felt his legs tremble and thick ropes of cum shoot up from his purple head.

‘ Mmmph ,' Joaquin moaned, silencing himself immediately and then frantically pumping the last drops out before putting his cock away and silently tiptoeing back to the safety of the kitchen.

As Joaquin stood at the kitchen sink and washed his hands, he couldn't help but feel that what just happened was way too close for comfort.

But if he thought that he had gotten away with it, he had another thing coming…

‘Hey, Ranger, you'll keep that quiet, right?' Joaquin whispered, noting that the hound had probably watched the whole thing from the safety of the couch.

Joaquin smiled. Ranger wasn't going to give him up, that was for sure.

However if Joaquin thought that he could get away with anything in Cole's house, then he had another thing coming…