The Star Man Read online

  “Yes, I’m sorry; I can’t let you take my blood.” Dove pushed the blanket off his lap, straightening. “I can’t stay here,” he confided in her softly. “I really need to try to figure out how to get back home now, but thank you for being so nice to me.”

  “Your wife is going to be here soon!” the nurse warned, obviously a bit shaken after the incident. “We called her for you, so you should really wait for her. Besides, I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere just yet, Mr. Hollister. I’d really like the doctor to take a look at your arm and make sure you’re all right.”

  Dove only smiled that Buddha smile, cocking his head as if analyzing the nurse’s words and finding some private amusement in her concern. “The man Dove will be nicer to his wife in the future; he will also be nicer to his son,” Dove informed her. “He merely needed a new perspective.”

  Matthew stared at him, hit by that eerie feeling that he was in the presence of some kind of other version of his ex-boss, because Dove’s smile was so full of sweetness. He did not seem at all like the stick-up-his-ass jerk who had fired Matthew.

  “I’m going to go get your doctor!” The nurse left the room in a huff.

  As if feeling Matthew’s gaze, Dove looked at him, his eyes not dark and snapping now, but more doe-like. Oh yeah, he was different. Fuck, he got to Matthew even more than he had before, appealing to the protector, making Matthew want to take care of him and touch him. Shit!

  “Matthew?” Dove chewed his lip, thankfully seeming to be oblivious to Matthew’s thoughts.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s time to go now.” Dove climbed out of the bed, but Matthew instinctively blocked his path.

  “Dove, look, I know I called you a prick before, and you really are, but you’re not acting like yourself, and I’m… worried about you.”

  “That’s because I’m not,” Dove admitted.

  Again the chilly feather touched Matthew’s back.

  Dove walked over to the window and lifted the sill, which gave in a long grinding creak. The rain and cold breath of the remainder of the storm swept into the room.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Matthew snagged Dove’s hand. “Dove!”

  Dove smiled, still very sure of himself. He squeezed Matthew’s hand, and Matthew glanced at their entwined fingers, gut knotting, feeling a connection he’d never experienced with anyone before.

  And then—

  “Oh. My. God!”

  Dove still clasped Matthew’s hand firmly. He was smiling, happy. His eyes were glowing a little with a strange silvery sheen in the dark, velvet depths. His hospital gown ruffled in the breeze as they floated easily out of the tall window.

  Matthew squeezed his eyes shut, jean-clad legs wrapped desperately around Dove’s bare legs now. Gripping him tight, not breathing, too fucking scared to breathe!

  “Open your eyes, Matthew,” Dove murmured. “Don’t be afraid. Didn’t you dream about doing this many times?”

  Somehow Matthew couldn’t deny his strange companion, and a touch of wonder poked through his terror.

  This was like one of his daydreams, like a dream he might have had as a child of innocently flying through the air. No one to hurt him, to grind him into the dirt.

  Feeling the updraft, seeing palm trees below like matchsticks sprouting brooms of green, the lights of the city like a carpet unrolled just for them. The giant Santa Claus at the car dealership two blocks away leering at them as it bobbed as freely as they did.

  The wind in his hair and then Dove’s fingers. He looked at Dove, transfixed. Dove’s lips parted and he frowned slightly, as if perplexed. “Matthew?”

  His tone had something in it that caught at Matthew’s chest, so for a moment, insanely, he forget they were hovering over a hospital parking lot.

  There was only Dove. Dove’s soft chocolate eyes on him. His fingers knitted to Matthew’s.

  “Where did you get the name ‘Dove’?” Matthew asked in a bemused voice. He’d always been curious.

  “This body once belonged to a good man,” Dove answered. “But he didn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t want you to know.”

  “Huh?” Sweat broke out on Matthew’s forehead as his attention returned to their height, but they only continued gently down fourteen stories to the glistening cars, toll booths, and puddles waiting below.

  “I like to fly,” Dove said when they landed. “Matthew, what’s the matter?”

  Matthew had collapsed onto the tarmac, panting. “Shit!”

  “Are you sick? We can go back and you can pee in a cup if you need to.”

  “I knew there was something wrong with you. Knew you were different but—!” Matthew shook his head. He thought of his life. Remembered sleeping with a shiv under his pillow. The way he never sat with his back exposed to anyone in a restaurant or bar. The young man he’d hired his first night out to give him the works. The lousy jobs he kept losing.

  Nothing in his ordinary, stained life had prepared him for something like this!

  “Holy shit! You’re some kind of fucking E.T., aren’t you?”

  Chapter Three

  Matthew looked around his small basement apartment and flushed because of all the dirty laundry and shit everywhere; he shoved some stuff off his couch so Dove could sit down.

  “I’ll lend you my jeans, but they’ll be tight, I reckon.”

  Dove looked over his shoulder at his bare rear end which was revealed by his cut-out hospital gown. “I’m okay.”

  “No, you’re not. You can’t walk around like that. And I need my coat.” Matthew’s voice was tight as he caught another glimpse of the high globes of Dove’s ass. “Only one I got.”

  Fortunately, he’d been able to bundle Dove up in his long leather coat, which had made it possible to use local transit from the hospital to Matthew’s shit hole apartment. Matthew hadn’t been up to flying again, to trusting the freaky experience, so the coat had shielded Dove as they worked their way through the bad part of town.

  Matthew shook his head, trying not to look at Dove’s alluring body now. “So, can I get you a beer?” he offered. “If you drink beer, that is.”

  “I would like to experience alcohol.” Dove smiled at him, looking so impressed with the crappy apartment that Matthew experienced a wave of weariness. “What’s wrong, Earth friend?” Dove added.

  “Don’t keep calling me ‘Earth friend’, all right? It sounds dorky.” Matthew opened the fridge and took out a beer for Dove.

  Dove’s gaze fell. “I’m sorry.”

  Matthew was abruptly ashamed of himself because of the crankiness his odd visitor was bringing out in him. He didn’t understand it. Why did he want to take digs at him just because he was so happy and peaceful?

  But it was like Matthew had experienced the world one way, and Dove another, and Matthew couldn’t help but want to throw mud all over Dove’s rosy picture. It didn’t make sense, since as a kid, he’d yearned to live in Dove’s world.

  “What’s this?” Dove lifted a magazine off the floor that Matthew had been given by a prison friend before he left the joint.

  “Shit!”

  “They look energetic.” Dove turned the picture on its side. “Except the young man is tied down, so it’s hard to see if he’s smiling or not.”

  “He’s… very, uh, content, I’m sure.” Matthew snatched the magazine full of pictures showing the adventures of a young submissive being “broken in” by multiple masters and shoved it behind the couch. He was blushing. Fuck!

  Dove blinked at him, looking interested. “Are you embarrassed by your sexuality?”

  This was surer ground. “No!” Matthew shoved back his hair. “Can you tell me what happened? I mean, you are obviously not Dove-my-boss. Is he dead?”

  “No, he is sleeping inside of me,” Dove-E.T. explained. “I sustained him when he might not have continued. And also, I think my joining with him will make him a happier person.”

  “Peachy.” Matthew scratched his beard shadow.
Shit, that was weird, but he guessed no weirder than his beloved science fiction books and movies. “You said you were an angel, but… you don’t mean with wings and shit, right?”

  Dove gave the back of the couch a curious look, as if he’d like to flip through more of Matthew’s magazine. “We watch your people. Sometimes we slip inside someone’s body to better understand them. So I know what Dove knew, but I’m not sure I truly understand what it is to be human; I’ve only been here a few thousand years.”

  Matthew blinked, feeling a need to sit down. He’d think he’d finally cracked if he hadn’t played Lois Lane to Dove’s Superman an hour ago.

  “Guess it was just your bad luck you wound up latched on to me.”

  Dove swallowed. In a softer voice, he said, “No, it was not bad luck.”

  “What do you mean?” Matthew frowned.

  “I mean I have watched you since you were a child, Matthew-friend. Your… yearning called to me.”

  Matthew’s flushed, not sure what the hell that meant. “What about when I was in prison?”

  Dove shook his head. “Your anger burned; I couldn’t get close to you.”

  “Lucky you,” he rasped, relieved the angel or whatever the fuck he was hadn’t played voyeur then. “So you said you needed to get back?”

  Dove nodded. “The last time I walked among humans, you all wore different clothing and thought I was a god. It was fun!”

  Matthew smiled reluctantly. “Well, what do you need to get home; put up a big signal fire and then your little green buddies will find you?”

  Dove nodded, smiling. “Yes, I will do that.”

  “What do you really look like?” Matthew asked, sitting down on the edge of his single bed, which faced the couch.

  Dove’s dark eyes sparkled mysteriously. “Like an angel, of course. Some stories about us are true.”

  Matthew sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’ve finally gone and lost it!”

  Dove cocked his head, looking sad. “You are unhappy; I can see it. Your aura has been very dark since you left prison. I’ve been concerned about you, Matthew-friend.”

  Matthew shifted, uncomfortable. “I’ll take the couch; you take the bed.”

  “Don’t you want to talk about what I see in your aura?” Dove frowned.

  “No, not especially.” Matthew shrugged.

  Dove looked briefly frustrated, and Matthew felt a kind of bitter satisfaction because he’d dimmed that irritating enthusiasm. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the angel admitting he’d watched him. What for? Matthew was nothing special.

  “Do I sleep?” Dove asked, cocking his head.

  Matthew growled, “Well, I sure as fuck do, so you’ll give it a go, all right? Then we’ll see what we can do to help you out in the morning. And, uh, I haven’t got any cereal to eat here, so we’ll have to go to a bar for breakfast.”

  Dove nodded, dark eyes trusting on Matthew’s face, as if he couldn’t possibly imagine Matthew deceiving him. That look weighed on Matthew’s spirit, a burden. He wasn’t any kind of fucking hero.

  “We will do as you say, Matthew-friend.” Dove climbed to his feet and shrugged off his hospital gown, dropping it to the floor so he was standing in front of Matthew completely naked, his beautiful body lean and sculpted with muscle. His chest was smooth, but there was a thin line of black hair which flared out around a heavy sex, hanging softly between his legs.

  Matthew looked away and took a deep gulp of his beer, choking on it.

  Dove leaned over and smacked his back, his cock at Matthew’s eye level—close enough to reach out and taste. “I’m okay, all right? Just fucking go to bed!” Matthew snarled. “And cover yourself up.”

  “Yes, Matthew.” Dove’s brow crinkled. He looked confused and a little hurt. “I… was sure you’d like this body. I chose it for you.”

  “Turns out you were wrong,” he lied. Matthew felt bad, but what was he supposed to say to explain himself? Admit he wanted to jump E.T.?

  Chapter Four

  “Matthew?”

  “What is it now?” Matthew had been secretly rubbing his erection under the blanket and wondering who to hire to dress up with wings and shit as an angel. Turned out, he needed his tree trimmed in a hurry.

  “There’s something wrong with me!” Dove sounded panicked.

  Matthew sat up, snapped on the lamp by the couch, and looked over at Dove, who was sitting with his arms wrapped around himself, apprehension tightening his face.

  “Uh, I dunno.” Matthew rubbed his unshaven jaw. “Are you having some kind of ‘alien’ problem?”

  “No. Yes. I don’t know. This body is… uncomfortable.”

  This was the part where if it were Matthew’s X-rated fantasy, Dove would tell him his cock was hard and could Matthew please, please suck him all better? Matthew rolled his eyes at his own cheesiness before tugging on some jeans under the covers, unable to zip them over his erection, but it was something, anyway. He didn’t want to scare the innocent alien.

  “What is it, gorgeous?” His voice softened as he knelt beside Dove’s bed, unprepared for the angel’s instant response of pressing himself trustingly into Matthew’s arms. “The hell? Dove, you can’t just hug someone!”

  “Why not? You are my friend. Don’t friends hug? I watched sitcoms for a while, and the friends always hugged and cried.”

  Matthew laughed a little, rueful. The truth was that Dove’s big warm body felt so good in his arms. He hadn’t been close to another person unless it was a quick, nasty coupling in so long. In prison it was always about being attacked or doing someone a favor. Matthew had fought for years not to be anyone’s bitch—not always successfully.

  He closed his eyes tightly on the memories, relieved again that his strange voyeur hadn’t been watching that portion of his life. Don’t think about it!

  “You’re shaking. Are you uncomfortable too?”

  “I have trouble getting close to anyone,” Matthew rasped, honest in the safety of the near darkness. Honest in Dove’s arms, his clean masculine scent a pleasant aroma. Matthew was so used to being alone he absorbed the experience, hungry for touch.

  “Every time I look at your aura, I feel bad, Matthew. Part of it is bleeding.” The angel’s tone was sorrowful. He nuzzled Matthew as if to comfort him.

  Matthew felt pain expand in his chest at the simple truth he felt in Dove’s words. He couldn’t speak for a moment. “Some very bad stuff happened to me once. Now, tell me what’s wrong with you now?”

  But Dove wasn’t quite ready to be sidetracked. “Will you tell me what happened to you if I do?”

  “I…never talk about it.”

  “But what about your friends?”

  “I don’t have any friends.” Matthew swallowed at the warmth in Dove’s melted chocolate eyes. “Just a few fuck buddies from the joint.”

  “I’ll be your friend.”

  Matthew nodded, bizarrely unable to speak. Why did Dove get to him like this? Physically he’d always rung his bell, even as his jerk boss, but now, Matthew struggled to resist the angel’s gentle appeal. “Maybe you really are an angel. Maybe I’ll call you that sometimes.”

  “Okay.” Dove smiled. He took Matthew’s hand and placed it over his lower abdomen. “It’s swollen there and aches. Am I dying?” His eyes were suddenly anxious.

  Matthew’s hand was a little shaky from touching that silky skin. An inch lower and he’d be touching Dove’s sex. Shit, he wanted to rub his face against it, kiss it… “That’s because you need to use the john.”

  Dove’s eyes widened in horror. “But I don’t—”

  Matthew cocked a brow. “How long you usually suit up in something human?”

  “A few of your seconds.”

  Matthew laughed.

  “Why are you laughing at me, Matthew-friend?”

  “Because you have the same,” he cleared his throat, “needs as the rest of us now. So you need to urinate. Go ahead and you’ll feel better.”

  “H
ow do I?”

  “Hold your penis over the toilet and relax your body. It will work out, trust me. You know how to do the rest, right? Um, flush the toilet and wash your hands?” Matthew had indulged in some sandalwood soap from the new age shop where he worked recently. He imagined the scent would be very appealing on Dove’s skin.

  “Yes, I’ve watched the procedure before.” Dove’s brow wrinkled as he concentrated on Matthew’s instructions. “Watched you before. Also, I believe I know how to take a shower, although you take very long ones, Matthew.”

  Now Matthew was blushing. He took long showers since it was his favorite place to jerk off. Had the angel observed him doing that? Shit!

  Dove got up and went to the bathroom, but a second later, he called out, sounding disgruntled. “Something’s wrong!”

  “What is it now?”

  “When I first woke up I just felt uncomfortable. Then we hugged.” Dove came out and Matthew immediately saw what the problem was. Hard to miss. “Matthew, I changed shape!”

  Matthew wet dry lips. He’d like to suck that big cock and show his angel just how good he could feel, and oh, fuck, he was going straight to hell for thinking that about the poor, innocent alien!

  “Just give it a minute and it will go away,” he suggested hoarsely.

  Dove stroked a finger down his long length, and his lips curved. “I like having a penis!”

  “Yeah. Uh, well, if you keep playing with it, you won’t be able to think about anything else, trust me, so you should think about whatever space men think about when they don’t want to think about sex.”

  “I have never thought about sex, other than to observe it; it appears awkward.” Dove raised his brows, as if hoping Matthew would enlighten him.

  Matthew scrubbed his jaw. “Dove, please go in the bathroom and just give it a moment, okay? In the morning I’ll help you do whatever it is you need to do to go back where you came from, but tonight—”