Chapter Eight
The storm rolled over the island in deep, rhythmic waves, the kind that made the air vibrate and the walls of Kael’s camper hum.
Thunder cracked far out over the sea, and rain hammered the metal roof in a relentless rhythm.
Wind buffeted the sides, rattling the windows, and every flash of lightning sent ghostly light sweeping through the space.
Inside, the surprisingly large and comfortable camper glowed with soft amber light.
The design was pure Kael—minimalist, practical, but warm.
Smooth koa wood cabinetry, woven mats underfoot, and a single counter lined with Aunty Leilani’s homemade candles.
The scent of salt, sandalwood, and distant rain filled the air.
Outside, the storm howled. Inside, there was a hush that felt like a sanctuary.
Kael stood at the window, one shoulder braced against the frame, a beer in his hand.
Condensation rolled down the glass, blurring the violence of the weather into shadow and motion.
His tattoos moved faintly as the candlelight flickered—tribal patterns winding along his skin like living things.
He’d tied his hair up, though a few damp strands had escaped to fall along his neck.
Drew watched him from the bed, half-reclined beneath a light blanket. Kael’s earlier words still echoed in his mind—You were never fighting alone. You just never knew it. They had been turning over in his chest all evening, dislodging years of guilt and solitude he’d thought permanent.
Quietly, Drew stood. The blanket slid away, and the air brushed cool against his bare skin. He left his shirt on the couch, padding barefoot across the wooden floor in nothing but his board shorts. The dim candlelight painted the space in gold and shadow.
When he reached Kael, he laid a hand on his back. The contact drew a low hum from Kael’s throat. His muscles were taut beneath the skin—solid, strong, real. Drew’s palm moved slightly, memorizing the feel of him. For the first time in years, he wasn’t touching a memory. He was touching home.
Kael didn’t turn right away. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Didn’t want to.” Drew’s tone matched the softness of the moment. “Didn’t want to waste this moment with you.”
Kael set the bottle down on the counter and turned to face him fully. For a long moment they simply looked at each other while lightning strobed through the rain-streaked windows. Kael reached out, his fingers sliding along Drew’s jaw, thumb brushing the faint line of stubble.
“You’re sure about this?” he asked.
Drew nodded, steady and certain. “I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
Kael’s hand dropped to Drew’s waist, anchoring him. “Then we start over. No ghosts. No running. Just us.”
Drew’s chest tightened. “Just us.”
Their lips met slowly, deliberately—a kiss that wasn’t about urgency, but about truth.
The world outside could rage all it wanted, here, there was nothing but the quiet, certain gravity pulling them together.
Drew’s fingers threaded into Kael’s hair, feeling the warmth of him, the steady heartbeat under his palm.
When they finally broke apart, their foreheads stayed pressed together, breath mingling. Kael’s thumb traced lazy circles against Drew’s hip. The storm outside faded into white noise.
“You’re a hard man to forget.” Kael’s voice was pitched low, roughened by desire and something older, deeper. The words vibrated between them like the quiet roll of thunder outside.
Drew’s breath caught. “Then don’t forget me.”
Kael’s mouth curved slowly into a dangerous smile. “Wasn’t planning to.”
He tilted his head, brushing his nose against Drew’s before closing the distance.
The kiss began as a test, a whisper of heat and memory, and then deepened into something that stole the air between them.
Drew leaned in, answering the pressure, matching Kael’s rhythm until thought and restraint both blurred away.
Kael pulled back far enough to be able to pull the tank top he wore up over his head in a hot as hell move with one hand.
He reached out and pulled Drew back toward him, and Drew melted into his kiss, letting the man he had loved since the first moment he set eyes on him led him backward toward the bed.
When he felt the mattress press against his thighs, he resisted the pressure from Kael to fall onto the bed.
He pulled back from the kiss, held the man’s intense gaze, and slid his hand into the band of his running shorts.
Both he and Kael groaned when he encountered nothing but hot skin over the steel strength of his lovers’ erection.
“I love how you don’t wear underwear to bed,” Drew groaned, tilting his head back when Kael attacked the sensitive skin of his neck, allowing him more access,
“Waste of fucking time,” Kael growled against him. Drew shivered at the slide of his teeth scraping against Drew’s neck.
Getting impatient, Drew pushed Kael’s shorts down, loving that Kael reached to help him, and then he had him exactly where he needed him. Hot, hard, and heavy, and lying in his palm. He slid his hand along the length of him, making Kael growl at the move.
Taking the initiative, something he hadn’t always done with Kael, content just to let him lead in the few times they had done this before he had left, Drew pressed until Kael sat down on the mattress of their bed.
He moved to stand between Kael’s thighs and loved the half smirk and intense heat that practically radiated from him when he looked at Drew.
“I never really got to taste you when we were together that first time,” Drew said breathlessly. “I regretted that so fucking much.”
He went to drop to his knees but Kael stopped him.
Drew frowned then grinned when his lover threw a pillow onto the floor.
Kael was always thinking about his comfort.
He knelt on the pillow, placed his arms over Kael’s thighs, wrapped his left hand around the base of his very impressive erection, and his left on his man’s balls.
Then, wasting no more time, he lowered his mouth without hesitation.
“Fuck, Drew!” Kael growled. One hand went to his head to grip his hair carefully. The other went to the mattress behind him so that he could lean back and pulse up with his hips at the same time.
Drew groaned when Kael tugged a little harder on his hair, always loving a bite of pain with his pleasure, then went to work.
Not giving Kael time to think or process what he was doing, Drew set a fast and furious rhythm designed to drive Kael up quick.
He knew if he didn’t take him fast, Kael would use that legendary control to keep from coming, and that was not what Drew wanted.
He wanted him to shoot in his mouth so that he could swallow him down, just as Kael had done a time or two to him.
He loved the flavor and feel of the man’s cock in his mouth, but he wanted the ultimate taste.
And from the nonsensical words he was making, and the way Kael’s body shook, and his hips rolled up and into his mouth, Kael was not in control, and loving every minute.
“Fuck, Drew, baby, you need to pull off ipo, or I-I’m gonna... fuck! Drew! You wanted me, take every fucking drop.” And then Drew was swallowing the salty essence of his lover, and he fucking loved it!
Kael cursed, calling him ipo, which he knew meant lover, and that was exactly who he was to Kael.
He was his lover, as Kael was his everything.
He stayed with Kael as his orgasm stretched on, gently rolling his balls in his palms heightening his pleasure, and drawing out this moment for the both of them.
When Kael finally slumped against the mattress, Drew sucked on his still impressively firm cock in his mouth, and loved the shiver it drew from the big man.
When he stood up to look down at his spent lover, he couldn’t help the smug grin on his face.
Kael noticed with a narrowed gaze, ruined by his red face and the sheen of sweat that glistened on his dark brown skin. “Pleased with yourself huh, ipo?”
Drew pulled his shorts off, and lay down directly on Kael, kissing him, sharing the flavor of his release.
“You fucking bet I am,” he said when he pulled back, rolling his hips against Kael until the man opened his thighs and made a space for him.
“I have been dreaming about that for 6 whole years, and that was way better than expected.”
Kael smiled, the sweetest smile before Drew claimed his lips once more. “Will you let me have you Kael?” He asked, and there was no missing the hesitation in his voice. “I know I may not deserve it, that I left you, that I didn’t come back for you. We—”
Kael leaned up and slammed his mouth into Drew’s, sucking his tongue into his mouth and making Drew harder than he ever thought he could be. His erection was painful now.
“You are here now, and if you don’t take me, then how the hell will we get to it being my turn to take you.”
Drew leaned up into his knees, spreading them wide under Kael’s thighs, taking the tube of lubricant from him that had appeared out of nowhere.
“I like your plan. I always do. Now, it has been six long years for me, so I do not think I will last long when I finally get inside you.” Drew used the lube on his own cock, gasping at the pleasure that rocked through him when he slid his fist up and then down the turgid length.
“But I will not hurt you for the world. So, let me get you ready.”
Using more lube and his fingers, Drew pressed against the sensitive skin and tight muscle of Kael’s ass, using the lube to ease the pressure of gaining entry.
“Fuck, baby, you are so fucking tight.” He whispered almost reverently, watching his lover’s face for any sign of too much discomfort, living the clear arousal that rose up his chest and into his face.