Page 27 of Roll With The Punches

“If that’s some sort of code for a new fetish, you both have to run it past me first. You realize that, right?”

“No, Sir,” Jeff said. “I literally have a tick on my balls.” He winced as Stuart pulled it free. “Did you get the whole thing? Is the head there?”

Brandon leaned in to look at it with Stuart. “I’d make a joke about just the tip, but that’d be gross.”

“It’s all there,” Stuart said.

“Flush it,” Brandon told him.

Jeff reached for rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and winced as he swabbed the whole area, liberally dousing it. “Please tell me I don’t have any others hiding up there.” He suppressed a shudder of revulsion.

Brandon arched an eyebrow. “Aaannnd onthatnote, I’m going to go get dressed. Please make sure you wash and dry your clothes that went with you on the hottest setting possible to kill any stragglers.” He leaned in and kissed Jeff.

“Good point, Sir.”

“And welcome home, boy. We missed you.”

“Thanks. Missed you, too, Sir.”

Stuart helped him search, and Jeff was glad he had no reason to feel embarrassed by leaning over and spreading his ass cheeks wide for Stuart to get a good look.

“Well, at least Sir makes us shave,” Stuart said. “Be glad for that. This makes it easier.”

“I am. Believe me.”

After a thorough search, Stuart declared him tick free.

“Well, since I’m wide awake now,” Jeff said, “I’ll grab a shower with you.”

He pinned Stuart against the shower wall by the throat and jacked him off, just to be fair.

After all, finding a tick after a blow job was sort of above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak. Still, now Jeff couldn’t help but notice every random sensation on his skin that remotely resembled something creepy-crawly.

As they dried off after, Jeff pulled him in for a hug. “Thanks, buddy. Sorry for the unintended hitchhiker.”

“How’d you get a tick?”

“Probably from Sylvie’s dogs. Her backyard was full of them and they ended up on the dogs. I helped her bathe and dip them when she found them. I must have picked it up then.”

“Remind me I need to mow the backyard tonight.”

“Oh, her grass was way higher in the back. She had other priorities, like packing.”

“Is she going to be okay? Will he come after her?”

“I think she’s safe. She doesn’t think he’ll follow her here, and all she cared about were her dogs and the furniture. Besides, he doesn’t know where she is now. She and Iris were making bets on how long it’d take him to move one of his girlfriends into the house now that she’s gone.”

“What an asshole.”

“Yep. Sounds like a real charmer…not.”

While Stuart went to get dressed, Jeff pulled on briefs and a pair of shorts—after checking them carefully for ticks even though they came from his dresser—and headed for the kitchen.

Brandon stood at the counter, sipping his coffee and going through his work phone, probably checking his e-mail.

“Good morning, Sir.”

Brandon set down the coffee and the phone and pulled him in for a kiss. “I take it you’re now tick-free?”