Genesis
“I know, Dad. We’ve been meaning to visit, but work is crazy…if anyone should understand job demands, it should be you guys. Gen’s been trying to get some time off.”
He barely refrained from cursing when he took it and put it on speaker.
“Hey.”
“What the fuck, Gen? It’s been almost eight months. You really can’t get one goddamn weekend off to drive Curtis down to see his family?”
Genesis sighed. “It’s nice to hear from you too, Ruxs.”
His boyfriend’s fathers were two of Atlanta’s notorious detectives in the most dangerous narcotics task force in the country. Terrifying was a gross understatement to describe either of them.
“Cut the shit.” Ruxs growled. “You’re holding my boy hostage. He wants to come home.”
“Curtis is a grown man, Ruxs. He can drive himself if he wants.”
“Ow, shit…really.” Genesis grunted, trying to fend off the remaining shots Curtis was taking at his stomach before he kicked him in his shins.
“Stop throwing me under the bus,” Curtis mouthed. “You know I don’t want to go without you.”
Genesis snarled at Curtis while he continued to take the heat for them. He had to stop spoiling his man.
“Look, I don’t give a damn what you have to do, Gen, or who you have to threaten, kill, maim, suck, fuck, or jerk off to get some vacation time at Apple, but you better do it soon so we can see our son.”
“All right.” Gen huffed, glaring at Curtis, who had the audacity to laugh.
“I mean it. I don’t want to have this conversation again, Gen…you got that? Or else we’re coming there to see him,” Ruxs threatened.
“No! I like this city, and our neighborhood has a strict homeowners association,” Genesis argued, “I’ll handle it. We’ll be there at the end of the month.”
Genesis didn’t need the Enforcers coming to DC. No damn way. Trouble followed those crazy bastards everywhere they went.
The owner of the Sensei Lanai, Four Seasons and the mayor of Lāna’i City, Hawaii, had banned them from returning. Who the hell finds a way to wreak havoc at one of the most peaceful places in the United States?
Mark Ruxsberg and Chris Green, that’s who.
And what’s worse is that Gen’s big brother, the enforcer’s boss—God, the narcotics task force lieutenant—made sure they never suffered any consequences.
“Good. I look forward to seeing you guys. We’re gonna have so much fuckin’ fun.”
Ruxs’s sinister chuckle was a bit unnerving before his boyfriend’s dad hung up without saying goodbye.
“Why me? I’ve done nothing to deserve this?” Gen asked, talking to himself as he yanked his jacket out of the hall closet. “I’m nice to telemarketers, I hold the door for old ladies, I never park in handicap parking or spaces designated to veterans, yet karma continues to come for me.”
Curtis met him in the foyer of their modest two-bedroom brownstone in the bustling heart of the nation’s capital. His boyfriend’s dream home.
“How’d the rest of the conversation go? Did my dad understand that work is busy for both of us right now and we’d be there as soon as we could?”
Gen narrowed his eyes before he gripped Curtis around his waist and yanked him into his chest.
“Oh yeah, it went great, baby. Thanks for asking. I only have to commit a felony or whore myself out to my department heads to get some time off…no biggie.”
“I’m sorry,” Curtis whispered in that mellow tenor Genesis loved before he peppered sexy kisses along his throat.
“Dammit, you don’t play fair.” Genesis tilted his head back farther, moaning at his boyfriend’s tactics.
“I know.” Curtis sucked along his pulse, murmuring against Genesis’s sensitive skin. “Let’s not think about my dads anymore. After two and half weeks, we finally have an evening to ourselves. Let’s only focus on us.”
Genesis didn’t let Curtis pull away, not until he gave him some more. He loved the way his boyfriend’s tight body melted into him.
“That sounds good. Just me and you out on the town enjoying fall. I know this is your favorite time of year. Colorful leaves, over-the-top decorations, kids begging for candy, and those nasty-ass pumpkin lattes at Starbucks.”
“Yes! If we’re home in time, we should pass out candy this year.”
“Sure, but you’ll be the only one getting up and opening the door.”
“Why?” Curtis frowned.
“Because Halloween is on Thursday night this year, and the Jets are playing the Texans. It’ll take the National Guard to get me off that couch for even a second.”
Curtis rolled those pretty blue eyes and muttered, “Fine, I’ll do it.”
“Hey, instead of dinner and a walk on 18th Street, let’s do something different, something exciting.”
“You wanna go to a club or something?” Genesis dragged his rough stubble across Curtis’s smooth cheek. “Whatever you want, baby.”
“Ugh. No club. Someone always recognizes you and wants to spend the rest of the evening talking about football. No thanks. You’re all mine tonight.”
When Genesis played for the Georgia Bulldogs, he won the Heisman Trophy his senior year and ended up being the first-round draft pick in the NFL. But he’d chosen to make use of his engineering degree instead and opted for a less complicated life in DC with the love of his life.
People called him insane for turning down millions, but he made a good living working as a software engineer for Apple, and he liked coming home to his partner every night.
Walking close with his arm draped over Curtis’s shoulder, they passed decorated storefronts with standing ghost statues and door entrances encased in fake cobwebs.
Curtis hugged him closer, using Genesis’s bulk to shield him from the brisk weather. The spooky holiday was only a few days away and the city streets were full of holiday attractions. There had to be something different they could do.
They walked past a popular DC park with a small line at the front of the gate. Genesis looked up and read the wide orange banner: HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL.
“Hey, let’s go in.” Genesis smirked, already walking up to the gate and pulling Curtis behind him.
When they reached the front of the line, Genesis paid the five-dollar admission fee, and they were ushered inside by a woman wearing heavy Gothic-style makeup, a long red wig, and a dress that resembled something Elvira would wear.
It wasn’t their first time at the park, but it was awesome to see it all decorated with inflatable pumpkins, carved jack-o-lanterns, ghouls hanging from trees, and glow-in-the-dark skeletons.
Genesis let Curtis stop and peruse the vendors selling everything from candy apples to outrageous costumes, simply enjoying his boyfriend’s warm smile.
There were also carnival rides and rigged games designed to take a minimum of twenty-five dollars from a person’s wallet and a half hour of your time to win a generic stuffed bear a person could get from the dollar store.
“Oh, let’s ride the cyclone,” Curtis beamed.
Genesis looked down at his boyfriend like he’d lost his mind.
“Baby, do you really wanna ride a rollercoaster that was literally on the back of a truck traveling down Interstate 495 two nights ago and took thirty minutes to set up?”
Curtis’s explosive laugh would be the highlight of Genesis’s night. He loved to see his boyfriend happy more than anything in the world…he even loved it more than football.
“Okay, love. Hayride it is then.”
He and Curtis stood in the short line and waited for the next horse-drawn buggy.
Since it was dusk, there wasn’t much activity at the festival yet and they were able to get their own cart.
The ride was bumpy and the creepy individuals lurking in the forest were more entertaining than scary.
Genesis let Curtis lean back against his chest and wrapped him tight while they shook their heads and chuckled at the valiant attempts to frighten them. Instead of focusing on that, Genesis buried his nose in Curtis’s hair and enjoyed his sexy scent.
His boyfriend tilted his head up, silently asking for a kiss, and Genesis never said no to anything Curtis wanted.
He nipped and licked at Curtis’s soft, pink lips, neither of them breaking the connection when a woman dressed as some kind of psycho corpse bride jumped onto the side of their buggy.
She leapt down with an annoyed sigh when she realized they weren’t paying her any mind and got back in position for the next group to pass.
The ride came to a stop and the mummy-cloaked driver told them the ride was over and pointed toward a small one-story building.
“You can go through the poltergeist house or cut through the haunted graveyard to exit.”
Genesis stepped down, then reached back for Curtis’s hand.
The buggy pulled off and left them standing there, staring at the cracked concrete path that led to an iron door framed by two concrete pillars. An inhabitable structure in the middle of an old park that looked like the Crypt Keeper’s dwelling.
It wasn’t the asylum-style gray door that made them pause. It was the vast number of dead vines that cloaked it. The whole exterior was unkempt and desolate but perhaps too ancient and unique to tear down.
“Yeah, we’ll just go through the fake cemetery,” Curtis chuckled nervously.
“No. Let’s go in. They’ve got the outside all done up. I wanna know what the inside looks like.”
“I don’t think they decorated that, babe. It looks like the Blair witch naps in there. I’ll pass.” Curtis turned in the direction of the field covered in fake tombstones and artificial fog.
Genesis caught up to his boyfriend and grabbed him from behind, pressing his mouth behind his ear. “You scared, baby? It’s all right, I’ll protect you.”
Curtis scoffed. “No, I’m not scared. I just think it’s stupid, and I don’t wanna go in.”
“Oh, come on. We paid the fee for the park. Let’s do it. Besides, I haven’t been in a haunted house since my sophomore year.”
“This is so juvenile,” Curtis argued but didn’t resist as Genesis pulled him up the four concrete steps covered in crusty brown leaves.
He pushed open the heavy door, the rusted hinges protesting with a somber groan. Genesis glanced over his shoulder to see Curtis practically riding his back. He winked at him, then kissed him on his forehead before dragging him over the threshold.
Genesis didn’t see any more buggies approaching, so he released the door and let it close behind them.
It was dark inside, but the purple and red strobe lights helped them find the divide in the blood-red curtain that hung a few feet from the entrance. There was a machine in the corner playing howling wind and distant screaming banshee sounds.
There were no people inside and nothing jumped out at them as they surveyed the dreary interior. It was more a ghoulish display of eclectic art than a haunted house.
Dust swirled around the small foyer that was thick with the scent of mildew and years of neglect. The linoleum floor was covered in built-up grime and the floorboards creaked beneath their feet as if warning them to turn back.
A chandelier hung haphazardly above their heads, with crystals dangling like mournful tears. Genesis frowned at the faded portraits of stern-faced men and women with haunted eyes that seemed to follow them on their way into the next room.
“What in the wrong fuckin’ decision is going on here?” Curtis whispered.
Once they passed the dustcloth-covered furniture in the living room, a long twelve-chair dining room table dominated the rest of the house.
“Umm…” Genesis was close to agreeing with his boyfriend, but he had to admit the gruesome display was cool as hell.
The diners were skeletons that eerily looked as if they’d once been real people. The bony frames with dark hollowed eyes were propped up high in front of plates littered with depictions of guts, eyeballs, brains, and platters in the center donned severed heads and body parts.
Real candles dripped rivulets of wax that pooled at the base of the medieval-style holders. The dim lighting illuminated the exhibit in a way that cast shadows across the table to create a morbid ambiance.
“Wow, someone really put a lot of work into this.” Curtis admired while clutching tight to Genesis’s bicep as they circled the frightening setup. “It looks professionally done.”
“I can only imagine how packed this place is on Halloween,” Genesis said.
They walked around the one wall he thought would lead toward the exit, but he was mistaken.
Genesis blinked at the flickering lights along the floor, distorting his view. Before he knew it, a ratty, sheet-covered object hanging from the ceiling dropped in front of them, making them holler in surprise.
The sound of a man moaning darkly as if he were being tortured blasted from somewhere overhead.
Curtis leapt onto Genesis and wrapped his legs snugly around his waist. “Okay, I’m done.”
Genesis laughed. “I wonder where they got that soundtrack from. This is supposed to be PG-13. Sounds pretty erotic.”
Genesis gripped Curtis’s thighs and walked him backward until they came to a hard surface.
The man’s moans got deeper, raspier.
“It sounds like the noises that guy was making in the video we watched online the other night, doesn’t it?”
Genesis pushed his body against Curtis, talking to him in the rough-whiskey drawl he knew got his guy going every time.
He heard Curtis’s gasp, but he had a hard time making out his boyfriend’s expression in the dark. He assumed it was a look of disbelief and a little lust.
“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t possibly be getting turned on right now.” Curtis held on to Genesis’s neck. “You are crazy.”
“You wanted to do something exciting, right? I don’t care where we are or what’s around. I’m always turned on with you in my arms.” Genesis groaned.
He used the wall to hold Curtis up as he took his chin in his palm and tilted that supple mouth up to his.
Genesis didn’t waste time with timid kisses—he’d done that on the hayride—now he was hard and needy. He held Curtis’s ass in both hands and devoured his mouth right there in the midst of a fake horror scene. It all seemed to disappear as Curtis’s erotic breaths mixed with the man’s overhead.
Genesis pressed closer, using his brawn to keep Curtis exactly where he wanted for as long as he wanted.
He was getting hotter, and as much as he wanted to reach inside Curtis’s well-worn jeans and make him yell his name loud enough to scare the people touring the graveyard, he wouldn’t risk anyone catching them.
“Genny, this is crazy,” Curtis whispered, licking the corners of Genesis’s mouth.
“I’m fuckin’ crazy about you, sweetheart. Sometimes, I still can’t believe you’re all mine,” Genesis drawled, giving his boyfriend’s ass a good squeeze, earning him a sensual groan against his cheek.
“Can we please get the hell outta here and go home so you can finish what you started?” Curtis murmured.
Genesis kept his lover in his arms as he finally found the exit.
“Halloween really brings out the freak in you, baby?”
“I think it does for everyone.”