Unloading Secrets

"I hope they didn't get started without us," Cassie said.

She turned down the shady street, tapping her thumbs on the steering wheel to the music on the radio.

"The truck is there, right?" I asked.

My girlfriend nodded. "Yeah. That's why I wanted to leave so early. Knowing Logan, he's probably already moved half the boxes by now."

"Hey, can't complain about that," I said. "That's less to move for us. Besides, you know your favorite part is unpacking things."

Cassie smiled. "I basically decorated Trina's entire apartment last time."

I shook my head as I admired the street full of large homes and shady yards.

"Yeah, maybe go easy on that this time," I said. "I got the feeling she was getting annoyed with you."

Cassie chuckled. "Let me deal with my sister. You handle Logan. Just be careful he doesn't corner you up or something."

She was still smiling. At first I let the thought go, but I watched her. Cassie was still biting at her lip in an attempt to reign the smile back in. I saw the way her eyes cut over toward me expectantly.

"You're just going to leave it that way?" I asked her. "What is that supposed to mean? Is he pissed at me or something?"

Cassie shook her head, her dark bangs dancing across her forehead as her smile widened.

"No, no, just... nevermind, Caleb," she said.

I shifted in the passenger seat to face her.

"Alright, out with it," I pressed her.

Cassie sighed. Her eyes darted from her mirrors, to me, and back to the windshield. I half expected her to check the backseat. She'd never been able to resist a good secret.

"Remember a while back when I told you about their... after hours activities?" Cassie started.

I nodded, growing a bit impatient with the amount of build up Cassie layered onto things.

"Yeah. They're swingers, I know," I said, trying to hurry things along before we reached the house. "And?"

Cassie made a face, but she was still grinning.

"Well... Trina has told me some

things

," she said.

"Cass, come on," I said laughing. "Land your plane already."

"They shared a guy," Cassie blurted, opening her hands on the steering wheel. "Him and Logan fucked each other."

I stared at her.

I was not prepared for the warm bubble that burst in my chest. My girlfriend's words hit me with the force of a freight train. I remained still, blinking at her. My mind hurried to think of a response that seemed "normal". Instead, Cassie's eyes found mine and I felt so exposed beneath her gaze. I glanced away out the windshield.

"Uh, wow," I said as casually as I could. "They're a... pretty open couple, huh?"

"It's crazy, right?" Cassie said excitedly. "Like, would you ever have expected Logan to go for that kind of thing?"

I thought of Logan. He certainly didn't seem the type. He was handsome, and fit, and could draw the eye of any girl in any room. We were only minutes from their house. I'd be with him soon. The thought alone made my palms grow clammy. I tried to focus on anything else out in the world that sped by my window.

"Trina wouldn't say too much about it," Cassie was saying. "Don't mention anything to Logan. And don't ask him any weird questions."

I shook my head. "Doesn't bother me, babe. And I'm better with secrets than you, remember?"

It was a daring thing to say. Since we'd moved in together, Cassie had been an open book. I knew her tendencies. I knew that she hated sleeping with the door open, and I'd learned that she preferred baths over showers. I was aware of the risque selfies she took at the gym and posted online, because she thought I didn't use social media. I knew where she hid her toys, in the little box beneath the bed. I also knew she never noticed when one was missing, or freshly cleaned.

Trina and Logan's house came into view. I spotted the huge moving truck in the driveway, parked in front of a large brick house with a perfectly manicured front lawn. My spine warped into a noodle when I saw the couple already standing in front of an open garage door at the side of the house. I couldn't be sure if I was secretly excited, or terrified.

"Looks like they're ready to get started," Cassie noted. "Oh, you have to see their bathroom. It's the size of our kitchen!"

She was already hopping to new thoughts. Just like Cassie. Meanwhile, I fought to clear my head. There was no way I could forget what she'd told me. Not now.

"Just promise me that you'll lift with your knees?" Cassie said as she pulled into the concert driveway. "You know how bad it was when you threw out your back last time we helped them. Don't go bending over."

I nodded, ignoring the warmth in my face.

"I'll do my best," I said.

****

We released the mattress, letting it fall into place on the massive bedframe and base with a heavy thud. I helped adjust the cumbersome thing into place, then stood to wipe my sweaty hands on my old jeans. The air conditioning was on, and each time we carried a load of furniture into the house, it was a welcome relief from the heat outside. Still, I could feel my thin Tshirt sticking to my body.

"Damn thing's heavy, right?" Logan said panting.

I nodded. "I know it's a king, but good lord, man."

Logan motioned to the gigantic mattress.

"I don't even wanna say how much I spent on that thing," he told me. "But it's been worth every cent. We've put a lot of mileage on it."

Logan grinned and gave me a glance when he said it. I didn't react outwardly, but I had to keep from melting inside. His perfect grin was enough, but coupled with the implications of his words, it landed with so much more impact.

"I need to save back and get one," I said, trying to steer the conversation. "Cassie tosses and turns in her sleep. By morning she's draped on me like a baby chimp."

He looked at me, running his hand through his blonde hair, which had already begun to grow wet.

"Really," he stated. "She tells Trina you come to bed late every night."

It pierced me like an arrow, and I hemorrhaged a thousand little worries. I stood firm, and rolled my eyes.

"Of course she does," I replied. "Do you guys know my blood type yet?"

Logan laughed, the perfect accent to his dimples and shining smile. He turned and slowly walked toward the door. I followed him, preparing to haul in another piece of furniture.

"Well, when are you guys going to buy?" Logan asked me.

I watched his tight calves beneath his camouflage fatigues as we walked.

"We've already been looking," I answered. "At this point I can guarantee our rent is higher than a mortgage. Just wanna find the right place."

Logan turned when we reached the open front door, holding out a single finger.

"I can give you Chris's card," he offered. "He was actually the one that found this place. Tell him what you guys are looking for in a house, I guarantee he'll be calling every day with an offer."

I nodded. "Sounds good."

"He's flexible, too," Logan went on. "He brought the papers to our old house a few weeks ago. Doesn't mind going out of the way. Hell, he wound up staying and having a few drinks with us to celebrate and hang out. He's a cool guy."

I was glad that Logan had already turned to step out of the open front door. I could feel heat flush across my face and the air cooling the sweat like never before on my skin. I didn't think it possible for goosebumps to run down my arm. I remembered what Cassie had told me. Was it him? The realtor? I still couldn't believe it.

Not even if I'd imagined things just like it a hundred times before.

We found the girls in the driveway with the doors already open to Cassie's car. Both of them had their hair tied into balls on top of their head. I could see that they were exhausted already as well. We'd been moving things and unpacking for hours. The sun was high in the middle of the sky. Trina had her purse slung over one of her shoulders.

"Don't tell me you guys are bailing!" Logan called to them holding out his hands.

The two ladies grinned.

"You two are doing great!" Trina said with a huge grin. "You'll be just fine without us."

"Yeah, don't think of it as a truck half full," Cassie added. "Think of it as a truck half empty!"

Logan chuckled and nodded his head toward his wife.

"You forget something?" Logan asked.

Trina glanced at the phone in her hand.

"It's eleven," she told him. "We are

starving

. We're going to go pick something up, you boys have any requests?"

"Yeah, about twenty four of them," Logan retorted.

Trina made a face. "We're finishing

today

, sweetheart. No one is getting drunk. How about some actual sustenance?"

Logan waved his hand. "We'll take whatever you bring back."

"Yeah, I'm not picky," I told them.

Cassie barked a laugh. "Right. Jot that one down."

The girls shared a laugh as they climbed into the car. We waved to them as they beeped the horn backing out of the drive. Watching the sisters pull away down the suburban road, an odd sense of dread fell over me. Or perhaps it was a thrill. I wasn't sure of the difference anymore. Logan and I were alone.

Why was that so relevant now? We'd hung out a million times before.

Logan glanced at me, then nodded toward the moving truck.

"Ready for more?" He asked.

I let out a breath stood up straight. The two of us climbed the metal ramp and resumed our work. We each grabbed an end table, which were more like small dressers, that I assumed would wind up by the bed we'd just finished lugging in. I followed Logan out of the truck and back into the house. His arms were locked while he held the square end table close to his body. I tried not to look at him, but his arms gleamed with sweat. He wore a sleeveless shirt, and I could see the hours of gym time bulging forth from his wrists all the way to his shoulders.

I stared at the ground, focusing on where I was going. Climbing the steps of the porch, I carefully navigated my way through the front door without so much as rubbing the wooden end table on the threshold. The two of us returned to the master bedroom, where we each picked a side of the bed to place the tables. We both stood, panting and basking in the cool air from the vents near our feet.

"I say we take a break, man," Logan offered. "No use killing ourselves. We still got a dresser to load into here. Might wait till the girls bring us some fuel."

I nodded. I didn't look at Logan, nor would I look at the mattress. I felt odd inside my head with my own thoughts. I tried to shoo them away, but even being around Logan was so much different now. Glancing up at a door on the far side of the room. I motioned toward it.

"Is that the bathroom Cassie's been going on about?" I asked.

Logan followed my gaze and waved a hand at me.

"Yeah, c'mon," he said. "Let me show you."

We entered the room and I immediately saw why Cassie had been so impressed. I'd never seen a bathroom with so much space. To our right was a long, beautiful countertop with two huge twin sinks. There were already a couple of boxes stuffed with dozens of bottles and other toiletries sitting there, and still the vanities didn't seem cluttered. A mirror spanned the entire length of this wall, with several ornate sconces just above.

"Wow," I said. "This is just fancy, huh?"

"My favorite part is over here."

Logan led me across the tile floor toward a large glass shower. I saw two separate shower heads overlooking a mosaic tiled space with room enough to do aerobics inside. I offered Logan an impressed face, admiring the huge shower with my hands on my hips.

"That's incredible," I said. "You could fit like four people in there."

"That's the idea," Logan said.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. It had to have been a joke. I couldn't tell. Logan was busy wiping a smudge from the glass door of the shower with his thumb.

"You better believe I'm gonna spend half an hour just laying down in there, for no other reason than because I can," Logan said chuckling.

"Cassie's more of a bath person," I said. "She'd be more excited with this thing."

I jabbed my thumb toward the enormous whirlpool bath in the corner of the room. A large privacy window illuminated the tub, which looked more like a hot tub than an actual bath.

Logan shrugged. "Trina likes it. I guess I'm more used to locker rooms and gym showers and stuff. A few minutes is all I need, you know?"

I nodded. I was still staring at the tub when I realized that Logan was staring at me. It was the first time I'd ever noticed something like that. His small blue eyes studied me, darting up and down. He just stood there as though he were waiting on me to say more, or offer more praise for the room we stood in. At least... it seemed that way. I kept looking around the bathroom, dodging the gaze he had fixed upon me.

"Gotta admit," I said. "I'm jealous. Hope when we get a place we having something half this size."

Logan stared at me silently. I met eyes with him at last, feeling something tangible in the air that was pressing in on me. Images started to whip into form in my head. I forced my eyes to remain on Logan's, even though I felt the pull of bare skin near the cutout sleeves of his shirt. I couldn't let him see. The empty house was so silent, reminding me of just how alone we were.

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What?" I asked, trying to keep the word steady.

Logan shook his head and glanced down at the floor.

"She said something, didn't she?" Logan said.

I furrowed my brows, but said nothing. Even though I knew, I refused to acknowledge that I already understood.

"Cassie," Logan reiterated. "I know her and Trina tell each other everything."

I licked my lips and held my confused expression firm.

"About what?" I said.

Logan's blue eyes flicked upward to stare at me from beneath his brow. He wore half of a smile, which was more than enough to make my insides flutter.

"She did," he said. "I can tell."

I scoffed and shook my head.

"I don't think I'm following you," I said. "Should I know something?"

Logan took a step forward and rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, Caleb," he said. "You don't think I can tell you're acting different?"

I swallowed hard. It felt as if a huge searchlight were panning across the ground in front of me, seconds from illuminating my every private thought while I struggled to cram them back down into my mind.

"She told you about our night a few weeks ago," Logan said stuffing his hands into his pockets. "About when we had a guy over at the house, right?"

I smiled but shook my head, trying to deflect Logan's solid gaze. I scanned the floor at my feet as if to find logical words there.

"I don't... I mean, she tells me a lot of things," I stammered.

Logan nodded. "She tells Trina a lot, too."

I blinked at him, allowing my face to try out several expressions that might have kept up the ruse. I suddenly felt cornered, my backside pressing into the countertop of the sinks behind me. I struck a relaxed pose, leaning back with my palms on the edge of the slick countertop. I clenched my teeth together to keep my jaw from quivering.

"Hey, they're women, r-right?" I said. "They gotta have a little gossip."

Logan was still looking at me. He wouldn't allow the grin to completely form.

"A while back she told Trina that you like to snoop through her things?" He said. "Like the box under the bed?"

I could have crumpled to the floor if I weren't holding the countertop. Logan had found the pressure point, and waves of blinding shock pulsed behind my eyes. My mind felt like it was scrambled and fuzzy, like static on an old TV. She knew? Cassie knew and never said a thing to me? And now Logan and Trina knew?

It was impossible not to picture the dildo. I never bothered with the little bullet vibe, nor the Hitachi wand. That piece of wobbling silicone usually only haunted my nights, and now Logan was digging it up in broad daylight.

"D-do what?" I asked skeptically.

Logan licked his lips. There was no way I couldn't look.

"Cassie told Trina that you try to hide it," Logan went on.

A part of me felt a sting of betrayal in that instant, but there was no way I could be upset with Cassie. I was the one experimenting with her toys. I just felt so embarrassed to have been caught, and to be outed like this, in front of Logan. I tried to think of something to say. Was there anything I could even try to say to refute Logan's claims?

A smile spread on Logan's face at last. I noticed his hands fidgeting in the pockets of his shorts.

"Chill, Caleb," he told me. "It's fine. I just never took you for the type."

I rubbed the back of my neck, unable to meet Logan's eyes.

"Y-yeah," I said weakly. "I didn't... think you would... th-that you were that way."

Logan shrugged, but kept staring at me. There were a few seconds that passed where the air seemed to evaporate right out of the room. I wasn't sure what Logan saw, or what I saw exactly. Right then it felt like he was peering into me, like he knew every nasty secret I held. Lewd memories passed behind my eyes, and somehow I thought he saw them. Was he picturing me sitting on the silicone? Did he know that many times I'd imagined it was him?

I felt naked standing there in silence. An electricity in the air caused the hairs on my body to stand. Neither of us spoke, and yet a mutual message traveled between our eyes.

Logan pulled his hands from his pockets, reached to the front of his shorts, and pulled down his zipper. My first instinct was to protest, to act outraged. That was a lie, and the two of us knew it. I simply watched as he unfastened the button and tugged down at his underwear. I didn't even breath.

With a single hand, Logan lifted his cock and balls free and set them to hang over his underwear.

I didn't look away. Maybe I should have. No guy had ever just shown me his dick like this. Logan's shaft drooped with weight, but bounced and lifted its head with every second that passed. It looked so perfect, completely smooth and so pleasantly pale in color. Even where I stood I could see all the little details, the swelling veins and tiny lines of skin that were absent from the silicone I was so used to.

I remained frozen when Logan walked over to me.

It didn't seem real. The living, nodding cock bounced with his every step. The guy came right up close to me and stood. Our faces were less than a foot away. My eyes darted down to see his dick even closer than that. Logan never looked away, and his gaze held mine fixed to his. I saw his lips part. His hands were busy below. I knew what he was doing even before I heard the zipper being pulled down on my jeans.

I didn't stop him. There was no way this was actually happening. The periphery of my vision clouded. All I could see or feel was Logan. He unfastened my jeans, then slid his hands around my hips, his knuckles pushing down at my boxers as he did. I felt his fingers tighten through my flesh. Only with my pants undone did I realize that my own cock was pressing against my boxers, begging to be released. Logan's hands worked down, his fingers fanning out across my thighs. My underwear traveled with his hands.

My dick bounced out of my pants.

Logan only stopped pressing my clothes downward when my jeans were wrapped under the bottom of my ass. I stared back at him in shock, and yet I never made a move to stop him. I remembered many nights where I'd fantasized about scenarios exactly like this. So many of them even involved Logan himself. They were just fantasies, dreams that would never actually happen.

I still couldn't believe it, even when two masculine hands squeezed me by the ass. I felt something warm and stiff brush across my bare shaft. A short burst of air rushed through my lips at the realization of what was touching me. Logan's smile only grew. His eyes were never still, darting from my lips, to my neck, and down to our exposed cocks rubbing across one another.