Beyond the Veil

Chapter 3 

The first five days passed without much of anything interesting happening, other than Kaden showering each day and me discovering that Kaden vaped. He barely went more than twenty minutes without taking two puffs from his strawberry vanilla vape. I don’t mind it. The smell is nice, and at least it’s not cigarettes. I only vape when I drink, but part of me wouldn’t mind the buzz, especially when I’m really bored.

Kaden’s attitude hadn’t changed. He was still hot and cold, opening up slightly to me before slamming the door shut, refusing to answer questions without outright refusing to answer them, and acting super paranoid about every little thing.

The only real issue was leaving. Kaden left at least once a day, somehow magically sealing the barrier that would allow me to follow him.

On the morning of the sixth day, Kaden returned from one of his excursions with a fistful of grocery bags and a duffel bag full of clothes.

“We’re now on absolute lockdown,” Kaden announced as he started to pile the groceries into a minifridge I hadn’t noticed the first time I’d walked in, as it’s set into a recess in a corner near the door. On top of it was a hot plate set below a cabinet full of cooking ware.

“Haven’t I already been on lockdown?” I asked him.

“You, yes,” he said with a sigh, turning toward me. “Look, I know you haven’t been happy about the arrangements, but it really is for your own protection. Unlike me, you don’t have powers to fight them.”

“You told me yesterday you haven’t even seen them since we left them at the park.”

“And, as I told you yesterday, that doesn’t mean they stopped looking. I can leave breadcrumbs of sorts to confuse their scrying and locator spells, but I can’t do the same for you.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated,” he said, which is the same response he gives any time I ask about magic.

Once he finished putting the food away, Kaden walked over to the toilet, put his fingers in the waistband of his shorts, and pulls them down before sitting.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen his cock, and he’s seen mine. We tried, for the first two days, to keep them hidden from each other. But with no walls and us having to change, use the bathroom, shower, it just became impossible. Especially when Kaden got Taco Bell for lunch two days ago and had to take a shit while I was showering. After that, we sort of just agreed not to be weird about it and go about our business.

I don’t really care about being naked in front of Kaden and, why not admit it to myself? I enjoy him being naked around me. Which makes me feel like a creep of some sort, even if I’ve managed not to stare at his beautiful, thick, uncut cock, or his low hanging balls…much. The hardest times that I can’t manage to keep my eyes away are when he’s in the shower.

Each time, I sit against the pillows on the bed with a book in front of me, though I no longer sit in that uncomfortable position that hides him from me. For some reason, there’s an insane amount of gay erotica in here, like it’s the lair of some gay demon who hoards smut. Not only did I realize I enjoy reading it, I’m hoping Kaden will assume my raging boner is from the book and not him, which is only half true.

“We won’t have to be here for too much longer and we can enter the magical world proper, where we’ll be better hidden. I just need to find…a…” Kaden’s words begin to strain until there’s a plunk in the toilet, “safe place to hide out.”

“Hopefully one where the bathroom has walls,” I said.

Kaden didn’t seem inclined to continue our conversation, such as it was, as he pulled his phone out and started tapping at the screen. How he gets reception down here is beyond me, but I’m envious. I miss having a phone. I stare at Kaden as he looks at his screen, his eyebrows scrunched together in a cute way as he concentrates on whatever he’s reading.

No, it’s not cute. Well, it is, but I’m not supposed to be thinking it is. I’ve decided not to be attracted to Kaden anymore. I’m pretty sure he’s straight, and besides that—

“Are you watching me take a shit?” he asked.

“No,” I said honestly as my cheeks began to burn. “I just zoned out. I miss having a phone.”

“Once I’m sure it’s safe, we’ll go get you a new one. Not a normal one, but one that can connect to the WMI.”

I sighed. Kaden regularly uses terms for things in the magical world I know he knows I don’t know.

“And what is the—"

“Holy fuck,” he said, cutting me off. “Dude, come check this out.”

I stood up from the bed and started to walk over, though Kaden really could have just waited and came to me, especially since he set the phone down on the floor and wiped himself as I stepped over. I crouched to pick up the phone as he was standing up and found myself less than a foot from his cock.

I couldn’t help but look at it, admiring it up close. My breath caught and my heart started to race as a slight aroma of ball sweat floated up to my nostrils until Kaden pulled his shorts up over it and stepped away to wash his hands.

I stood up, hoping my semi hard on wasn’t noticeable and looked at Kaden’s phone where I found a short article, a picture of my apartment building at the top.

 

Explosions on Richmond Avenue Concerns Police

Police and firefighters responded to two explosions in an apartment building on Richmond Avenue Monday afternoon. The cause of the explosion has not been discovered, but officials have reported it was not from a drug-related incident, as the rumors would suggest. Even more concerning is the pattern of explosions. One at the front door to the apartment, blasted inward, and one in the rear wall, blasted outward. Crestfall Fire Chief, Thomas Donvoan, was unavailable for comment. The resident of the apartment in question, Damien Ahring, is reported missing. Crestfall police have requested that anyone with information about the incident or the whereabouts of Damien Ahring should be reported to them immediately.

 

I glanced at the article’s date of publication and saw today’s date. Saturday, June 17, 2023. My mom’s birthday.

I’m officially missing and today is my mom’s birthday. I was supposed to pick up chocolate ice cream cake for her. I wonder where my parents are now. Are they still having the party, or searching for me?

“Insane, right?” Kaden asked, making me jump. I hadn’t realized he was standing right next to me.

“Yeah,” I said, handing the phone back to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking in my eyes. I wiped one as tears started to well up inside, not wanting him to see me crying.

“Today is my mom’s birthday,” I said.

Then Kaden did something unpredictable. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me. I was so shocked, I just stood in his embrace. When I wrapped my arms around him, I felt the sobs take over me and began to cry.

That night, Kaden made cheeseburgers for us on the hot plate and, presumably because I was quiet, thinking about my parents, Kaden was talking almost nonstop to fill the silence.

“I think a couple more days ought to do it,” he said, his mouth full of cheeseburger. “Then we can leave here and we’ll head to the western part of the city. There’s a whole network of alleyways between the office buildings over there, covered by a veil. Think of it kind of like Diagon Alley in Harry Potter, except there’s more than just shops. We can’t stretch the areas too much, because of complicated physics-magic interactivity that I really don’t understand, but there are houses there and parks. It’s almost like a small town, but contained within the alleyways there.

“We just have to be careful. Peter, Natasha, and Natalia won’t dare attack us, but they’ll be able to use magic more openly there. Thankfully, there are some shops we can go to so I can buy more phials. Being more stocked up would be helpful.”

I wanted to ask him questions, but he’s always shut down every time I try, so I just let him keep talking. Besides, I’m too worried about my parents worrying about me. I wonder what Kaden would say if I suggested us letting them know I’m okay.

“Once we get you a phone and you have access to the Worldwide Magical Internet, things will be much better for you. You won’t be as bored all the time, though I can tell you’ve been enjoying the books.” He raised his eyebrows when he said this, letting me know he’s noticed my boners through my shorts.

Kaden continues talking about plans he’s made for when we leave this safehouse, but my concentration is ebbing. I’m so tired. I don’t know if it’s the shock of seeing my name in an article or the fact that I’ve been doing little more than sitting and reading, but I’m just exhausted and ready to leave this safehouse.

*** 

I woke up before Kaden on the seventh day. I was so groggy, I felt like I was clawing my way through a thick fog. That fog vanished and I woke up entirely when I realized I was locked in Kaden’s embrace. I know we fell asleep apart, but we aren’t apart now. My bare back was pressed into Kaden’s bare chest, my head on his arm, his other wrapped around my waist. I could feel his morning wood pressing into my ass cheeks through our underwear, the only barrier between our skin. Already hard from my own morning wood, I felt blood pump into my cock, the fluid straining against the skin, pulsing with every beat of my heart.

Kaden’s breath tickled the back of my neck and I reflexively leaned into it, letting out a sigh as his lips grazed my skin. He groaned in his sleep and his arm tightened around me as he pressed his body into mine. Is he having a sex dream?

Kaden’s breathing became more rapid as he pressed into me. Not with his cock, but just the rest of his body. Still, the pressure was almost too much for me. My cock was screaming at me to take hold of it, to rub fast and hard, to reach back and grip Kaden in my hand, to rip our clothes off and dive headfirst into him. But I didn’t. I just laid still, not sure what to do.

When Kaden thrusted his hips forward, I knew his cock had slid out the opening in the front of his underwear as I felt it slide in between my legs, a wet ooze of precum slicking my legs where the head of his cock slipped between them.

Kaden groaned again, a breathy sound filled with lust, desire, and heat. I’m just about to turn around, kiss him, pull him into me, when he moaned, “Emily.”

I jerked away from him, trying to get distance between us, and fell off the bed, taking the sheet we were sharing with me.

“Telthgil mulb!” Kaden shouted and a large orb of light bloomed into existence above our heads. Kaden looked around and then, in unison, we looked at his cock.

Eight inches, thick, veiny, and with precum oozing down the side, Kaden’s cock was on full display in the glow of the orb above. He quickly pulled it inside his boxers, but the loose fabric did nothing to conceal it. Thankfully, as I was on the floor, the sheet wrapped around me, mine was hidden.

“What happened?” Kaden asked.

“You were groping me and thrusting in your sleep,” I said. I hadn’t intended to say that, exactly, but I was so…I don’t know, confused, horny, upset? I was so something that my brain could only come up with the truth.

“Fuck, man, I’m sorry. I’m just so horny. I haven’t jerked off in days and it’s been longer since I’ve gotten laid.”

Kaden lay back with an exaggerated huff. The movement sent his dick shooting right back out of the pocket of his boxers. He immediately sat back up to stuff it back down and looked at me sheepishly.

“Just give me a second,” he said. “It’ll go down. Why don’t you make us some coffee? There’s a French press in the cabinet and I bought coffee for us. It’s up there too.”

I wasn’t sure what I should do. Him moaning a girl’s name definitely broke the moment for me, but I was still insanely turned on and my hard on definitely wasn’t going anywhere.

“Dude,” he said insistently. I looked into his eyes and noticed, other than the embarrassment there, that his pupils were slightly enlarged and wondered, not for the first time, why that happened when he used magic

“I can’t stand up right now,” I said, feeling my cheeks burn. “I…” but I trailed off.

“Oh,” he said, realization showing on his face. Realization that I was hard not just from waking up, but from him touching me, grinding on me.

We sat there for a while, both of us looking around as though each were trying to find a place we could crawl into and hide. But eventually my boner went away and I was able to stand up, get clothed, and turn the light on, which caused Kaden’s ball of light to vanish.

As I made coffee, eggs, and bacon for us, Kaden sat on the bed, the sheet over him, with his head in his hands. I sat the plates down on the table and looked over at him.

“Breakfast is ready,” I said as casually as I could muster.

“I can’t,” he said, not looking at me. “It…hasn’t gone away.”

“Maybe you just need to take a piss,” I said. “Sometimes my morning wood won’t go away until I have.”

“It’s not that,” he said. “I’m just so fucking horny.”

I felt my cheeks burn again, and wished they’d stop. Maybe I could find some kind of magical solution when we got to the alleyway Kaden told me about.

“Well, you could let me outside for a few minutes and you could take care of it,” I suggested.

“No, it’s too risky. I’m sorry, but I have to jerk off.” He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and started thumbing the screen as I sat down and tried to eat my breakfast, but it the bacon was like chewing on cardboard.

I could tell Kaden was trying to keep quiet. But I could hear, though his volume was down, the sounds of a girl moaning coming from his phone. Louder than that, was the wet sounds of his precum slicked hand sliding over his cock. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes, hoping he couldn’t see me, and I was glad to see he was too focused on his phone to notice.

His hard cock was gripped tightly in his fist as he worked his hand up and down his shaft, twisting slightly when he reached the head. My cock couldn’t make up its mind on what it wanted to do: get hard as I secretly watched Kaden jerk off, or stay soft because the sounds of the girl moaning were turning me off. My dick decided to stay at half mast, a compromise between the conflicting stimuli.

That all changed when Kaden came. His breathing became rapid as he turned to his side, facing me. He’d lain his boxers next to him on the bed and jerked harder and harder, his eyes trained on the screen. I could actually see his cock head swell, which forced the blood to rush from my brain to my own cock so quickly, I got lightheaded, as cum gushed from the slit in Kaden’s cock. Thick, long ropes of it, splattering on the fabric of the boxers.

I averted my eyes, focusing on my breakfast, as Kaden bunched up the boxers and stood up. He threw the boxers into the trash bag we’d been using as a laundry hamper and walked over to the table, his still half-hard cock swinging in front of him, and sat down.

Before eating, Kaden put his vape to his lips and took a long draw on it, then blew it up into the air, his Adam’s apple slowly receding into his neck as the air left him.

I swallowed, trying to banish the thought of my lips on his throat, as he started in on his breakfast.

“If you want, you can borrow my phone so you can jerk off,” he said. “I don’t mind. After all, I kind of owe you since I did that without asking whether you were okay with it.”

“It’s fine,” I said, not daring to look at him. Honestly, if he hadn’t moaned Emily’s name, whoever the fuck that tramp is, I’d probably take him up on his offer. I’m painfully aware that Kaden is naked less than five feet from me, even though I can’t see anything lower than his belly button.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t mind. Though I suppose you could always do it in the shower. You don’t mind that I did that, do you? I mean, you get it, right? When you’re that horny, there’s not much else you can do.”

I didn’t answer as I continue eating my breakfast. Kaden, who eats faster than a starving dog, finished before me and hits his vape again.

“Can I hit that?” I asked, nodding to his vape. I was so bored, even a twenty second head high from a nicotine buzz sounded like heaven.

He nodded and handed his vape to me. As it moved toward me, I saw the mouthpiece was shiny with his saliva.

I placed my mouth over it and sucked the vapor into my mouth, then inhaled it. The effect was immediate. My head swam and colors brightened slightly as I exhaled, the delicious tastes of strawberry and vanilla mingling on my tongue. I hit it a second time to enhance the feeling, loving the brief break from the mostly monotonous time I’ve spent down here and passed it back to Kaden who immediately took another hit.

The rest of the seventh day passed without much else happening, except Kaden spending the first couple hours of the day lounging around naked. I don’t really care, though.

I couldn’t stop the name Emily from echoing in my mind. I don’t know if I was expecting something to happen between us, or if I was just so attracted to him that I’m upset he’s straight.

By the end of the night, I couldn’t help it anymore.

“Who’s Emily?” I asked as we were getting into bed. I chose to sleep in a shirt and shorts, while Kaden was just sleeping in boxers again.

“How do you know about Emily?” he asked, obviously shocked.

“You moaned her name in your sleep while you were groping me.”

“Oh.” Kaden was quiet for a long time before answering, “She’s just a girl I used to date. She died a while back.”

And now I felt like a huge douche.

Here I’ve been pining after this dude and upset that an almost, but probably never going to happen, sexual scene didn’t happen when he was having a sex dream about his dead girlfriend.

“Dude, I’m so sorry. How did she die?”

He looked at me, his expression hard as he answered, “Peter killed her.”

*** 

When I woke up on the eighth day, I was locked in Kaden’s embrace again. This time, he was on his back, my head on his chest. I looked up at him and saw he was awake.

“Good morning,” he said, taking a hit on his vape and blowing it away from me.

“Hey,” I replied as I moved away from him. When I was up in a sitting position, he held it out to me. I took a hit off it and blew it out. “Sorry, I’m not sure why I keep waking up in your arms.” I handed the vape back, enjoying the buzz. I shouldn’t keep hitting it, because I don’t want to get addicted, but knowing Kaden’s lips have been on it make it too enticing. Is that creepy?

“I’m a cuddler,” he said, taking another hit. “I’ve actually woken up wrapped around you every night we’ve slept here. I just extricated myself before you woke up.”

That surprised me. Until yesterday morning, Kaden had always been up before me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kaden’s cock pitching a tent in the sheet. He doesn’t seem concerned about hiding it, and I’m not exactly taking any special measures to hide mine.

“I could start sleeping on the couch,” I said.

Kaden shook his head. “Honestly, I’m okay with it if you are. Hopefully I don’t try to fuck you in your sleep again, but it’s nice to have someone here. I have less nightmares when I’m next to someone.”

“Can I ask you about Emily?”

He smiled, his gaze becoming distant as he remembered her.

“She was gorgeous,” he began. “A bit shorter than you, with long red hair, bright green eyes, and about a thousand freckles. She was kind and caring, the mother of the group.”

“Why did Peter kill her?”

“She wanted to leave the collective. Peter, Emily, Natasha, Natalia, and I joined our powers together. A collective is more powerful than a coven, where power is only shared when other want it to be shared. But in a collective, we share our power equally. Emily leaving would have weakened our collective drastically. And since she wanted to leave, so did I. So Peter killed her to keep her power in the collective. After that, I stole her power from the collective and ripped myself out, taking a portion of their power as well.”

“So that’s why he’s after you. He wants his power back.”

“Yes,” he said.

We sat in silence for a while and I noticed Kaden’s boner never went down, though mine was long gone.

“What’s up with that?” I asked, nodding my head toward it.

“I have a high sex drive,” Kaden said with a shrug. “Plus, thinking about Emily always gets me going. I masturbate most mornings or it just sticks around for an extremely long time. The first couple days I actually got up before you and jerked into the toilet really quick.”

“Well, you can jerk off if you want,” I said, getting up and heading for the duffel bag to get dressed.

“You haven’t jerked off in several days,” he said. “You’re, what? Nineteen? You gotta be going crazy.”

I wouldn’t be going as crazy if there wasn’t this insanely hot guy here, walking around naked, showering in front of me, and jerking off in the bed we share.

“I’m fine, seriously.”

“Your loss dude. If you change your mind, you can use my phone to watch all the gay porn your rainbow heart desires.”

I smile at his comment as I pull out stuff to make breakfast for us both. This time, it’s so much harder not to keep my eyes off Kaden. He lays on the bed, working his cock, his phone on silent this time. Is he keeping it silent so I don’t have to hear the girl moaning?

I’d all but forgotten my breakfast as I failed to secretly watch Kaden jerking off. I knew I was caught when he glanced over at me and we made eye contact. He didn’t look at me again, but he didn’t stop. And even though he knew I was watching, he leaned over so I could get a good view as he blew his load onto a pair of my underwear he’d picked up from the floor.