Human After All by Connie Bailey Page A

climbed off the makeshift motorcycle for the second time that day, with his hair now dry but in wild disarray and his crotch buzzing from the vibration. He didn’t see any sort of dwelling nearby, but assumed they had stopped for a reason. As he looked around the small forest meadow, Lochler embraced him from behind. Jaymes had been expecting something of the sort eventually and didn’t move as brawny arms pulled him tight against the Granger’s broad chest. He thought about questioning the wisdom of doing this now, but he wasn’t in charge. For several long moments, they stood in silence, simply breathing in and out, with the sun getting hot on the tops of their heads.
    “This is nice,” Lochler said, breathing in the clean scent of Jaymes’s nape. “When I was a young man, I never thought I’d be so grateful just to be still for a few minutes.”
    “Why?” Jaymes asked softly.
    “The Pops hunt us ’cause it’s not legal to live here, and since the President-General gave them the option of deletion, they just come in blazin’ and clean up the mess later.”
    “The P.G. wouldn’t do that. And Population Control isn’t about deleting people, even if they aren’t Citizens.”
    “This is what I meant when I said you were kept stupid.” Lochler slid his hands down to rest against Jaymes’s flat belly. “Could we talk about it later? The ronday is just beyond those trees, and we don’t have a lot of time before the rest of the pack gets here.”
    “What would you like to do until then?”
    Lochler let one hand drop lower, cupping Jaymes’s cock and balls through the soft fabric of the leggings. “I think you have the same idea,” he said, squeezing resilient flesh.
    “Can you blame me? This is all very exciting,” Jaymes replied breathlessly.
    “Exciting or scary?” Lochler nipped lightly at the tender skin of Jaymes’s neck.
    “Both at the same time, plus a lot of other feelings. It’s quite… intense.”
    “You really are somethin’ special. Your Zot friend is sexy right down to the ground, but you…. Well, you’re sexy, no mistake, but it’s… quieter, if that makes any sense to you.”
    Jaymes nodded as he closed his eyes. Lochler was merely stating the difference in two classes of Companion. Jaymes had never questioned why he was earmarked as Thoroughbred Class; he’d just been thankful for the privileges that came with the T designation and the subkyoo brand. It had never seemed odd to him that his looks, carriage, and temperament were reminiscent of all other T-breds. Deportment and presentation were large parts of the training from the cradle on up.
    “I want you too,” Jaymes said, deliberately pitching his voice a quarter octave lower as he pressed his buttocks to Lochler’s crotch.
    “I know you’re just sayin’ that ’cause it’s part of the act,” Lochler said in Jaymes’s ear. “But it sounds sweet nonetheless. Somebody like me, soljer since I was sixteen, fightin’ to earn that Citizenship capital, burnt out, cast off, not able to hack into the private sector, not fit to live with civilized people anymore…. Somebody who can only find peace in the wilds has to give up a lotta things, luxuries you take for granted in the Cloy. But right now, I feel like the richest metacorp exec in the Inner Circle.”
    “You said you had an unlimited day pass once,” Jaymes said, reaching back to grasp the other man’s ass cheeks. “What was your employment?”
    “Bodyguard, tertiary tier, bouncing mostly. The top two tiers are always filled by Combat Ulteems. But once, I had a berth in a Hote house, patrollin’ the grounds. Yard guards slept in a barracks, so I never went in the house, but I’d see the owners and their guests in the gardens. Watched the Sire’s heir take a T-bred in the roses once. Birthday present. Up ’til now, that Companion was the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen outside a dream.” Lochler slid a hand under the hem of Jaymes’s tunic, letting