Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

relationship with a firefighter, it was easier to be with someone in the same profession. They understood. Sure the others tried to, but no one could really comprehend the trials and pressures firefighters faced unless they were one of them.
    His wife hadn't been able to deal with it. Going to sleep as soon as he got home, squeezing as much rest in as possible before the next shift, missing holidays, birthdays, important events. Always crafting apologies that fell on deaf ears. She wanted a hero for a husband, but wasn't happy with the sacrifices involved.
    Bryce had hoped to get in good at the station, then they could start a family. But neither of them realized that if you planned to be a fireman, you had to kiss your loved ones and normal life goodbye for several months, up to two years in some programs. Training was extensive, exhausting, demanding, and your fellow trainees became brothers. Even Bryce had found his place in a family of men who had originally lived to torment him. He became one of the boys, close friends with nearly the entire crew. Kaleb, who had taken him under his wing, most of all.
    The divorce hadn't been a surprise to anyone. What had thrown everyone for a loop was when Bryce moved in with Kaleb. Somewhere between the slow crumbling of his marriage and the divorce proceedings, he'd fallen in love with the man.
    Now though, Bryce and Kaleb spent their days off separately, coming to together for a shower and fuck, rarely anything else. He sighed deeply, studying his lover's back and powerful shoulders. They had drifted so far apart lately.
    They didn't make love. Not anymore. The brief moments of softness and sensuality occurred right after Kaleb came or when Bryce began to pleasure him. During foreplay, Kaleb always urged him to do everything harder, faster, deeper, tighter. Guidance was sexy, but not all the time. God damn it, he wished he could work his man how he wanted to. Explore his body and learn its surfaces. Kaleb wouldn't have it and he wouldn't talk about it either. Bryce had learned early on that was an argument he would never win, so he stayed silent. It ate him alive. Did Kaleb not trust him? Was that why his partner wouldn't allow gentle caresses? Did he think it was too sissy or something? Everyone needed love, to be cared for, nurtured, and pampered once in a while. Had something happened to his boyfriend that had caused his distrust? Every night before he went to bed he would wonder these things, then remember and be thankful for all he had. Sometimes, though, he craved more.
    Bryce was pulled into a dream soon after he finally settled in and closed his eyes.
    Bryce looked everywhere for his partner during rest period, but Kaleb was nowhere to be found. Feeling hornier than he ever had, after watching the new batch of trainees strip and shower together, Bryce curbed the need to touch himself by picking up after the training session. As he rolled up hoses and re-housed the civilian dummies, he kept picturing their lithe, muscular bodies, their laughter, the smack of a naked ass. When he was a trainee he didn't dare look at his peers in the shower. Sometimes he even bathed alone in the women's stall to keep himself on track. He had a wife at home to think of. But no longer. Now he was with Kaleb. Technically, that meant he could do whatever the hell he pleased with whoever he wanted, so long as he didn't break their agreement of never sleeping with the same person twice. He had barely used the privilege, finding he was more of a one-man kind of guy.
    "We saw you looking at us." One of the trainees came around the corner, in a towel, looking Bryce up and down.
    Bryce turned away, blushing. He thought he had been discreet enough. Seemed not. This was a dangerous situation. Some of other gay men from the station were disciplined for less. "Yeah, I.... Sorry about that. Won't happen again." He pivoted to leave and ran right into the bare chest of another man.
    Bryce jumped back, and yet another voice behind him said, "We've been watching you, too, McGaffey." The man in front of him stepped closer and unbuttoned Bryce's shirt, rubbing his hands over Bryce's chest. A warm breath tickled his neck from behind, and a large erection pressed to his ass.
    "Oh!" They thought he was fair game? "I can't. I have-"
    "A boyfriend?" the one at his ear said, as another man started on Bryce's pants.
    "Yes, I have a boyfriend."
    The first trainee said, "And that boyfriend of yours has had