Lyon made a soft gasping noise and he held Treston closer. “If you don’t let go of my dick, man, we’re both going to be in deep shit.”
Treston knew everyone was busy; no one could see what he was doing. As lightly as he could, he eased Lyon’s erection out of his underwear and continued to stroke him. “They’ll never know.” He knew what he was doing was wrong. He wasn’t in love with Lyon and the deepest emotional attachment he had to him was based on friendship. But he couldn’t deny the huge ego boost he’d received in knowing he could get a straight guy this excited. It made him feel powerful, as if he could do the impossible.
“Seriously,” Lyon said. He started to laugh. “You’re getting me close.” He started bucking his hips a little.
Treston continued to stroke him. “It’s for your own good.”
Lyon could barely speak by then. “H-h-how is this for my own good?”
“It’s the perfect way to get rid of an erection.” He gripped him tighter and stroked faster. He glanced over to see what the other guys were doing and he knew they were still safe. J.D. was digging through the bottom of his locker and the other guys were arguing about whether or not sparkles should be used by male strippers.
“Oh fuck,” Lyon said. “I can’t hold back. You gotta let go right now. Seriously.”
But Treston refused to release him. It took all of a minute. When Lyon came, his body went rigid for a moment and he inhaled deeply. By the time he exhaled, there was come all over Treston’s thigh.
“What are we going to do now?” Lyon asked. He started laughing. “If we stop hugging they’ll all see what happened.”
“Calm down,” Treston said. “No one suspects anything. It’ll be our little secret.” Treston had always believed there were certain unexpected things that occurred between people sometimes and no one else had a right to know about them.
“I have an idea,” Lyon said. “But you have to let go of my dick first. Put it back inside.”
When Treston released Lyon, he packed his dick into his underwear, and then he reached up and put his arms around Lyon’s shoulders again. “Okay. Do whatever you have to do. You’re the boss.”
Lyon reached down and started to tickle him. Treston doubled over laughing and begged him to stop. In a move so fast Treston barely saw it coming, Lyon grabbed a towel from a bench and wiped the come of Treston’s leg. After that, Treston thought Lyon would stop tickling him, but he didn’t and Treston tried to push him away. But Lyon was much stronger and Treston knew he could never overpower him. By the time everyone turned to see what they were doing, it looked as if they were horsing around as usual.
The other guys watched as Lyon tickled Treston to the floor. The more Lyon tickled the harder Treston laughed and begged him to stop. Oh, this was cruel and Lyon seemed to be enjoying it too much. The other guys started to shout, “Don’t stop,” and Lyon climbed on top of him and pinned him down. Eventually, their erections subsided and no one would suspect a thing. Treston knew it was safe to stand up again and finish getting dressed. But a moment before they did get up Treston looked up with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard and saw Cooper standing over them. He was looking down at them both in nothing but underwear, rubbing his jaw, with his head slightly tipped to the left.
The moment Lyon saw Cooper looming he stopped tickling and jumped up to his feet. Then Treston stood up and said, “We were just fooling around.” He gestured to Lyon and smiled. “This is my buddy, Lyon. We mess around that way all the time. He’s the guy with the wife and kid on the way I told you about.”
Treston noticed J.D. standing behind Cooper, looking him up and down in a disapproving way. The other guys who’d been laughing went silent and returned to what they’d been doing. It felt as if Cooper had sucked all the life out of the room.
Lyon extended his hand and said, “Treston’s my best buddy. It’s nice to finally meet you, Cooper. He’s told me a lot about you. He talks about you all the time.”
Cooper hesitated. For a moment, Treston thought Cooper would refuse to take Lyon’s hand. But he shook it and said, “It’s nice to meet you,” in the same lifeless, deadpan tone he used every morning after he fucked Treston and said, “That was nice.” Then he looked at Treston and said, “I saw your show tonight, the one with the ping-pong balls.”
Treston shrugged. “We went on later than usual because of another act that ran over.”
Lyon had no way of knowing how Cooper felt about Treston’s job as a stripper, because Treston had never gone into much detail. Lyon smiled and asked, “Did you like the show? It’s really not supposed to be taken seriously. It’s all in fun.” He’d once mentioned to Treston he’d learned he had to explain these things sometimes. Not everyone had a sense of humor—or got his sense of humor. Treston had stopped caring about what other people thought of him years ago. He explained nothing.
Cooper looked down at the floor and said, “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It was interesting.”
Treston gave Cooper a hug and said, “You go out front and wait for me. I’ll be right out and we’ll get this party going. I just have to finish getting dressed.” He was so happy he felt like dancing around the room.
Cooper nodded and said, “Okay.” Then he turned toward the exit and headed back to the main bar. On his way out, he stopped and glanced back at Treston and Lyon standing there in their underwear. Treston blew him a kiss and continued walking to the main bar without looking back again.
When he was gone, Lyon reached for his jeans and said, “I hope he didn’t get the wrong idea when he saw me tickling you. I can talk to him if you want, buddy. He seems kind of uptight.”
Treston reached for his shirt and laughed. “No, he’s fine. I’ve told him about how we joke around all the time. He understands. He’s always laid back that way. It’s cool.”
Lyon patted him on the back. “We’re cool about what just happened here, right? I mean about me getting off like that. You’re not like all freaked or anything, man?”
Treston fake punched him in the chest and said, “We’re good. The rest of the world might not get it, but I get it and I’m fine as long as you are.” He’d always considered Lyon to be one of the most secure straight men he knew. Now he had gained a deeper respect for him.