Suitably chastised for the condom incident we drove west towards the lake district. I chatted quite excitedly in the car, Gareth was driving so he didn't say too much.
"I'm so looking forward to spending time with you over the next few days," I said.
Gareth smiled over at me, boy he had a killer smile! "If it goes well we might even get around to making out together!" he said.
That took me by surprise. I knew immediately that I had to play my cards right here. The condom incident had been a strong reminder that the hunk beside me like to initiate all the time, I admit that I had nothing else on my mind other than spending the next ten days impaled on his dick!
"Do you think we're ready for it?" I asked a bit nervously.
Gareth smiled and looked over at me – "there's a service area just ahead. We had better get something to eat before we hit Cumbria, there's shag all in the Lake District in the line of places for us to stop at this hour!" He never answered my question.
We drove on in silence for about two miles. Conversation was a bit strained after his refusal to answer the question I asked. This was by far the most difficult relationship I had ever attempted with another bloke. Gareth was a mystery. Here he was, sitting beside me, an absolute hunk and oozing modesty – against that his silence screamed power. I wondered was I dealing with an ego I couldn't handle? Was I so crazy for c_o_c_k_ that I would sell my soul if that was what was necessary to get at his one? Was I just get tired of promiscuity and looking forward to a meaningful relationship for once in my life? Was James right – had I fallen in love? I had no answers, and even if I had there was little I could do about my present situation, it was a long way to walk back to Newcastle and I had to take the gamble that this week could be heaven but just might equally be hell!
We pulled into the Forte just off the motorway. Gareth hopped out of the car and scurried off towards the buildings – I guessed he needed a pee. He looked comical as he waddled towards the door. I needed to pee as well so I closed the card doors, locked them and followed him inside.
He was standing alone at the urinal when I walked in. I stood behind his and took a quick glance at the torrent that was gushing from his c_o_c_k_. What I had felt inside his trousers last week was beautiful. My apprehension in the car died immediately. This eight inches of smooth wonder would be adequate compensation and reward for the last, almost six, weeks of frustration.
"Stop peeping!" he ordered.
I quickly recomposed myself and looked at the spotless white tiles in front of me as I emptied my own bladder. I could sense him finishing off beside me, he began to shake the mammoth and then I heard him pull up his flies with a grunt.
As he walked behind me towards the hand-basins he landed a sharp crack on my arse. I nearly fell into the urinal.
"Ouch!" I yelped, "that hurt!"
"It was meant to!" he replied, "see you outside!"
When he left the room I put my hand on the spot he had slapped. My cargo pants and boxers were small protection from his blow. My arse felt warm and cosy, my boxers were bunched up. "Kinky bastard!" I reprimanded myself as I realised that I enjoyed the feeling.
When I joined him in the cafeteria he smiled as I sat down. Just as my arse hit the seat I winced.
"What's up Mark?" he asked with a wry smile.
"My arse is a bit sore after that slap!" I whispered.
"No need to whisper mate, there's nobody near us to hear!"
A waitress came over and Gareth ordered chicken curry and chips for himself, I asked for the smoked cod. The waitress smiled at us and left.
"So," he began, "it was only meant to be a playful slap. I didn't mean to hurt you. Sorry!"
"Oh there's no need to apologise!" I replied quickly, "I .... well .... you know .... I don't know how to say this but .... I kind of liked it!"
"Liked what?"
"You know ...." I began nervously, "I sort of like the warm feeling you left there."
"On your bum?"
"Yeah! On my bum!"
"Really?" Gareth grinned and flicked his eyebrows up. It was a different smile to the one he normally gave, a kind of sly 'there's something I'm not telling you yet' smile.
"Yes, really!"
"Are you into kinky stuff Mark?" he asked.
I had no idea where this was leading to, none whatsoever. I had imagined that Gareth was tender but unimaginative. I didn't for one minute believe that he was into anything like a fetish or kinky stuff. I stared at him with my mouth open.
"You'd better close your mouth in case the flies get in!" he cautioned laughing.
I wanted to reply that it would be better if it was what was behind his flies but I was unsure of my ground here. "Gareth, where is this leading?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean are you asking me am I into getting my arse whipped ...." Just at that moment the waitress reappeared as if from nowhere and landed two awful looking meals in front of us. I blushed, I was sure she heard what I was saying.
"Enjoy your meal!" she chimed as she waddled away holding back a laugh.
When she was safely out of earshot I whispered to Gareth, "I think she heard us!"
"And?"
"Well maybe we should talk about this in the privacy of the car!"
"Mark! You've told me about your past and about how you have chased everything in a pair of tight jeans for the last five years. You've admitted that you often never even asked the name of the bloke that was ramming his dick up your hole, and now you tell me that we should be private? I don't understand that at all!"
I looked at him, I could feel my own embarrassment as my face reddened and my eyes welled up. "Maybe I'm learning something from you!" I admitted.
"What do you mean?"
I looked at him and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, "I think the last few weeks have made me think about self respect and privacy a bit more than I have ever considered in my life to now!"
There, I had admitted it. The years of promiscuity that were my past were now an embarrassment to me. Gareth had opened a deeper side of me that made me mature from the sensual to the emotional. Six weeks since the day in the newsagent's and I was a changed man.
"Eat up and we'll go, we have a big evening ahead of us!" he said with his familiar smile back again.
We both looked down at our meals and laughed, mine had more oil dripping off it than Saudi Arabia produces in a year. I tried to eat but it was plain awful. I didn't know if it was the grease or my stomach that was worse. Gareth's chicken curry was dried out and obviously fresh from the microwave. He made a brave attempt but gave up half way.
We paid the waitress and left. I couldn't wait to get out of the place. We went into the newsagent's and bought some crisps and chocolate, we were both still starving. As we walked out he grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him. I looked at him quizzically.
"We met at a newsagents and now we're back at one. I have a question for you that I should have asked you outside the newsagents six weeks ago. Do you want us to be together?"
I looked at him in awe and wonder, "yes!" I whispered, "of course I do!"
He pulled me closer and, in the middle of the crowded mall, he kissed me for the first time.
"Come on you two, on your way!" a security man appeared and the two of us walked hand in hand back to the car.
When we reached the car Gareth unlocked the driver's door, (no central locking) and smiled at me across the roof.
"You never finished what you were saying back there!" he remarked.
I looked at him and shrugged, "saying what?"
"About getting your arse whipped!"
"NO!" I answered emphatically.
"Pity!" he muttered as he sat into the car. He leaned over and opened my door.
"What do you mean 'pity'?" I asked with some annoyance as I sat in beside him.
"I mean it's a pity that you're not into it, that's all!"
I was stunned. Maybe I wasn't the most chaste man in Newcastle but I wasn't into bondage or other weird stuff. I couldn't believe that this gentle giant was a fetishist. 'God!' I thought to myself, 'you're such a thick bastard, how is it that you picked up such a weirdo?' A cold silence fell as I mulled over the situation. Should I go home now? What if he's a serial killer that lures people to their deaths in the countryside? I had read about people like that, there was one active in Scotland at the time. _s_h_i_t_! I stared blankly ahead of me, my face drained in fear. I would fight him if he tried anything! Six weeks of talk and none of this had been obvious to me. Six weeks and I thought I was with a gentle giant who wanted to set up home, now I was sitting in a car with the type of person that could be the headline on tomorrow's tabloids. I could just imagine it – PHANTOM MENACE STRIKES AGAIN – another body found beaten and dismembered, the obvious work of ....
"What are you thinking about?" he asked me.
"Are you into it?" I answered, nervously.
"No!" he replied calmly, "I don't like to hurt people. I've been hurt often enough myself, I'm not into making other people suffer at all!"
I breathed a sigh of relief, "and I thought you were bringing me out here to kill me!" I blurted.
"WHAT?" he howled and nearly went off the road.
"I though that you were one of these sickos that lures people unsuspectingly to a remote place and then beats them and kills them!"
Gareth laughed; "God Mark, you've such an imagination! Is this because I asked you were you into getting your arse whipped?"
"Yes!" I admitted.
He pulled in at the side of the road and looked at me; "I never said that I was into it and I don't want you to be afraid. Now, if you're upset and want to go back to Newcastle we can do it now. No problem, okay?"
"Well, when you said it was a pity I wasn't into it I got scared!"
Gareth laughed gently, "Mark, Mark, Mark, I gave you a slap in the toilet because I didn't like the way that you were checking me out there. It wasn't meant to hurt, it was just a gentle reprimand. The reason I said pity was because of what you said afterwards!"
I looked at him and he smiled.
"You said you were learning to respect yourself and I thought – Wow! One little slap and the man wants privacy – if discipline is what he needs than an accelerated course of same would be desirable!"
"I'm sorry!" I said, "this way of relating is still new to me."
"There's no need to make excuses Mark, I understand! So what do you want to do? Go on or turn back?"
"I want to go on!"
"Sure?"
"Positive!"
We talked for the rest of the journey about the misunderstanding and how easy it is to make mistakes. Gareth told me that he had never spanked or been spanked nor even hit or been hit by anybody since he was in primary school.
"But you've slapped me twice today!" I countered.
"That's different!" he protested, "you've such a cute arse and a bad behaviour record that those slaps were necessary!"
"And I enjoyed them!"
"Really?"
"Well, only because they came from you!"
He leaned across and we kissed again. Our tongues met in a wet wallow as we held each other tightly.
"We'd better get out of here!" Gareth said pulling away from me and restarting the engine, "we could get arrested if we were caught here!"
We turned on the radio and I stared out the window at the darkening fields around me. My confidence in Gareth was completely restored and I felt a bit bad about the way I had been thinking about him being a psychopath. Gareth was the nicest bloke I had ever met. I wished I was more like him. As I was thinking about how I was changing I wanted to more like him each day since I first met him, I wished I was like him now but I was only beginning to learn. James was right, I was in love! I was so in love that I wanted to be like Gareth now. His suggestion of an accelerated learning process occurred to me then, no way! I wasn't into pain! But then, if he was to be my model and mentor then I would submit to him .... or would I? I didn't know.
"What are you thinking about?" Gareth's voice woke me from my daydreaming.
"Nothing!" I lied.
"Don't lie Mark! What were you thinking about?"
"Guess!"
"I don't know but I suspect you're either thinking about what a plonker you are for thinking I was a psycho or maybe thinking about what we're doing for the week!"
".... or maybe the accelerated learning programme!" I added.
"It was only an aside mark, stop bothering yourself with it!"
"I wasn't bothered by it Gareth! I was thinking that the idea had some merit!"
"Look Mark I'm sorry I ever mentioned it. Neither of us have ever done anything like that before, there's only one part of me that is going to be paying attention to your bum this week, that part is hanging between my legs! Not my hand, my belt, my shoe .... understand?"
"Are we going to have s_e_x_ this week?" I asked hopefully. It was the first time that he had ever mentioned it.
"Don't play innocent! Why else would you have bought a crate of condoms?"
"Party balloons!"
"You do need a good hiding you cheeky sod!"
"Gareth!" I said firmly ".... I have been thinking about something and I want to say it!"
"Go ahead! Speak!"
"Since the first day I saw you I have wanted to be with you. I want to be like you and I respect you so much you couldn't understand it."
"_s_h_i_t_!" Gareth laughed, "better take off the roof before my head swells too big for the car!"
"Listen!" I snapped, "for once in my life I'm being serious! I love you and I want to be with you, you do things to me that no man has ever done before!"
"Such as?"
"You've taught me the beginnings of self-respect!"
"Self-respecting people don't ask to get their arses whipped!"
"Nor would I unless...."
"Unless what?"
"Unless it was from you!"
"Why me?"
"Because you're the first person to be a positive role model in my life since school. I want to be like you and liked by you. That is why I am asking you to teach me how to be a better person!"
"But we can do that without me hitting you!"
"Yes! We can. But I would like you to consider an accelerated learning programme when you think it's necessary."
"Maybe we could talk about this again sometime...."
"No Gareth!" I cut across him, "it was your suggestion and something that you thought a good idea. I trust you and I want you to bring your suggestion to its logical conclusion!
"Like hammer your arse for cutting across me?"
"If you think it's necessary then I'll willingly accept it!
"I don't want to!"
"But I need you to!"
"No you don't!"
"Will you do it?"
"It's not right!"
"Will you do it?"
"There are other more gentle ways available!"
"If you really love me you will do it!"
"I don't want to!"
"But if I need it I want you to do it!"
Gareth went silent. He realised that my insistence exposed a genuine need for his discipline in my life. He looked over at me and I could see a tear in the corner of his eye.
"Will you do it?" I asked.
"I will do it," he said slowly and silently, "but only if you really need it and I have no other alternative!"
"Thanks Gareth, I love you!"
We drove the last few miles in relative silence. Soon we arrived at a gate that led up to a cottage surrounded by trees about half a mile from the road. This was to be home for the next ten days. Ten whole days together! I could hardly wait!
So, a second chapter and Mark still hasn't got it! What could/should happen next – if you want to guess, suggest or advise you can contact me at jc23a@hotmail. com