Author's note:
"After the End" Part 1
is an original erotic novel set in a dystopian future about one hundred years from now. It is a fantasy about the progression of a romantic relationship, with a focus on fully-developed characters, emotional connection, and sizzling sex. Part 1 consists of chapters 1-7.
Part 2
begins with chapter 8 and explores the addition of a new sexual partner to the central relationship between Avery and Julian. I can't make any promises about timing, but I will release chapters as they are completed. I anticipate that Part 2 will have a shorter story arc, totaling about 4 chapters. Someday I hope to be able to write Part 3 as well, and perhaps even Part 4.
Feel free to drop in on specific chapters or sections based on your mood or interest, but the dramatic tension is strongest if you start from the beginning of Part 1. As always, I appreciate hearing your reactions and feedback. It truly does help me create the best stories that I can for readers to enjoy.
Tags for this chapter include: #bisexual male, #threesome, #future, #dystopia, #novel, #romantic, #denial, #edging, #submission, #male submissive
_______________
Julian:
Dr. Vik Naresh and I were trudging through late-summer woods after an afternoon leading field medicine exercises when I decided the time was right.
"Question," I interjected into the next conversational lull as we neared the rough plank walls of Fort Laurel.
The change in tone drew a quick glance from Vik, his dark brown eyes level with mine.
"Feel free to stop me if you'd prefer not to discuss this," I said, keeping my volume low enough that the others carrying guns and gear nearby couldn't overhear. "But a year and a half ago, we had a brief conversation in which you proposed that Avery and I include you in our sexual relationship."
The shadow of a private smile crossed Vik's handsome features. "I remember."
"I told you then that I'd let you know if it ever became an option on our end. Bear in mind that I haven't discussed this with Avery at all. But in the event that we were...available, is there a chance you'd still be interested?"
I'd originally imagined, after Vik made his offer that year, that I might be able to take him up on it much sooner. But fate had other plans: The bright promise of my first spring with Avery ended in disaster a couple of months later, our partnership shredded and scattered by a hurricane-strength vortex of infidelity, insecurity, and misinterpretation. We'd rebuilt, on much more solid foundations, but introducing any new sources of potential instability was nowhere on my priority list.
A few weeks ago, Avery and I had celebrated the first anniversary of that magical cliffside twilight when we'd made our marriage vows, and I no longer saw any obstacles to proposing this venture. Not to suggest that our sex life needed any spicing up. On the contrary, we both possess perhaps higher-than-average appetites for "spicy" activities in bed (and out of bed), and we keep ourselves well sated. Despite my somewhat conventional decision to be married, albeit sanctioned by neither church nor state, I've never believed a committed partnership necessarily required forsaking all others, if the involved parties agreed on something different. By now, I had quite a successful track record of sex experiments with Avery, but there's only so much that two can do alone. I was eager to share with him the vast landscapes of intrigue and pleasure that a third partner could reveal.
Vik was a man of gentleness and subtlety, so his eagerness came through in a certain expressive glow rather than an intensity of tone, but his reply was unhesitating. "One hundred percent."
"Glad to hear it." A few more strides beneath leaves that had as yet made no concession to the approaching autumn, then I asked the most important question. "Same terms?"
"If you mean that you can set the terms, any terms you like, then yes."
He met my gaze, and the naked invitation in his face ignited sudden flame in my groin. Those eyes promised obedience, and devoted service, and the best kind of sacrifice. They belonged on someone kneeling at the foot of my bed, exposed and surrendered, awaiting my orders.
Resolutely, I smothered the fire before it could build. The middle of this company in broad daylight was no place for an erection.
"I'll speak to Avery and get back to you," I told Vik as we came within range of the guard towers on either side of the gate.
"I'll be waiting."
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed in the usual toil of provision and protection, interluded by one of the usual variants of jambalaya for supper in the main hall. Avery had participated in the last round of field medicine training, so he'd spent his day on a supply mission to the farming collective we'd allied with a year ago. When the team finally returned with carts of corn and ripened vegetables, I was happy to see him. But then, I was always happy to see him. I helped unload before Avery and I retired to our quarters for the night.
We shared our habitual embrace and kiss as soon as the door was shut behind us. When he looked up, I brushed the wild, wavy locks back from his forehead and studied his beautifully expressive features. The summer sun, brutal in these sub-tropical latitudes, had brightened the freckles that in a few months would be camouflaged against the gorgeous sienna of his skin. As always, the ocean-blue pendant I'd given him a year ago hung on its leather cord around his neck. Its mate, the mahogany stone forming the other half of the circle, hung around mine.
"Missed you," I told him fondly. I traced a fingertip over the smooth stone just below the hollow of his throat.
"Missed you too," he replied, the matching mahogany in his eyes soft and warm. His mouth reached the couple of inches up to mine and claimed another kiss. "How was training? Everyone clear that if they get shot more than a few miles away from the fort, they might as well say their prayers, because they're going to bleed out before Vik can operate?"
It wasn't untrue, but what was the point of surviving the apocalypse if you couldn't joke about it? "Only if the bullet pierced a major blood vessel. Or a vital organ. Or an extremity they're not willing to part with." I paused for comedic effect. "The other five percent of the time, they'd fully recover."
Avery laughed and peeled off his t-shirt, revealing an exquisitely molded torso highlighted by the slightly sweaty sheen that Louisiana summers made nearly permanent. "I'm sure that was reassuring."
"Hey, I've survived a gunshot wound." I pulled my shirt off as well. The scar would be faint but still visible on my lower back, though I rarely had an opportunity to see it.
"You had a whole team of surgeons and all kinds of pharmaceuticals that our doctors could never get." Avery slid his pants over his hips, kicked off boots and socks, and left the lot in a heap on the floor. "Plus a real hospital to recover in. The best in Washington state."
"And what would you know about the relative merits of Washington health systems?" I teased, settling on the bed and playfully pulling him along.
He stretched out on his back beside me, his posture relaxed, his expression some brand of indulgent. "I know because you told me. And because there's no way they'd take Major Julian Demos anywhere but the best. Not with all the generals in your family."
I smiled down at him for a moment, an affectionate hand resting at his waist. Avery's daily presence was a gift from the universe that I still didn't quite understand how I'd managed to obtain.
"I wasn't a major yet, then," I told him. "Only a captain."
"Oh right. You were
only
