Date: Sat, 19 May 2018 16:35:16 +0000 (UTC)
From: Mary Ramsey <dourdan@yahoo.com>
Subject: Rain Down Temple, chapter 4

chapter 4 of my story-

http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/relationships/rain-down-temple/

***

Diego awoke in Rain Down Temple with an intense fever. The temple was a
holistic clinic, but at that moment he prayed for a pharmaceutical miracle.

His lover, Remy, got out of bed, pulling his long dark hair into a ponytail
as he left the room. The young doctor returned with a handheld ultrasound
scanner. It wasn't long before he found the issue: a ruptured cyst in the
lining of Diego's stomach, resulting in an infected ulcer.

Remy started him on IV antibiotics as well as morphine for the pain. Then
he left to attend to other patients and the medical marijuana dispensary at
the front of the facility.

Within a few hours, the pain had spread to Diego's kidneys and lower
intestines. It was all he could do to not cry out in agony.

Around noon Remy crawled into bed with Diego, holding his back. "Diego, I
want to contact your daughter. It's possible your kidneys are failing. If
your fever doesn't break soon I will have no choice but to transfer you
back to the hospital."

"Please, just hold me. Talk to me, I need something to distract from the
pain."

Remy kissed his shoulder then stroked his fingers over Diego's chest,
caressing the tattoo Diego had of his daughter as an infant. "I want you to
talk to Jen. She's sixteen and scared. She needs her father."

Diego turned to Remy. "How old were you when your father died?"

"Twenty-five, but that didn't make it hurt any less."

Diego fell asleep to the sound of Remy's sobs. He awoke hours later to
Remy's cousin Johnny examining him with the ultrasound scanner. The younger
man was a paramedic, he looked like a more clean-cut version of Remy.

"Hey, man," Johnny said as he scanned. "Remy asked me to check in on
you. Ulcers and kidney stones are quite a combination. I'll up your pain
meds, just until you can pass the stones."

"Kidney stones? Will I require surgery?"

"I would try to avoid surgery if at all possible. You're fighting a really
bad infection." Johnny took a seat on the bed. "There's something you need
to see." He opened his phone to a picture of Diego's teenage daughter
holding her baby. "That's your granddaughter."

There were tears in Diego's eyes. "Your girlfriend, Sara, she's leaving for
college soon?" Sara had been friends with Jen, it was no surprise they kept
in touch.

"Yeah, in a few weeks. She'll want to see you. Sara idolizes you. She talks
about your thesis work all the time."

"I wish her a much happier life than what I have endured."

"Yeah, well, her brother is out of the hospital. Remy's working with him,
with any luck he'll be walking without crutches by the time they both leave
for California."

The thought made Diego smile. Sara was his student but more than that she
was his friend. She deserved happiness. And Sara's brother, he was the
father of the little miracle in the photo. They were his family, they were
who mattered. "Johnny, you're a self-taught tattoo artist, correct?"

"For now anyway. I would love to quit my job and pursue it full time..."

"I want you to tattoo my hand and wrist."

"Right now? Like I said, you're fighting an infection."

"Johnny, I never told you the story of my tattoos. Every one of my tattoos
was done at a time when I needed to bring peace to my life; after my son
died, after my daughter was born. So now, as my body appears to be failing
me I believe the answer may lay in tattooing a new image in dedication to
my new family; Sara, her brother, and my new grandbaby."

"Sure," Johnny said with a shrug. "I could sketch out something in black
and gray."

"I would like that."

Remy was gone for the next two days. But under Johnny's care, Diego's fever
was breaking. The next day he awoke to Johnny massaging his hand. "I drew
something for you."

Diego turned his head, still tired.

Johnny showed him two images, a devil, and an angel. The devil was small
and cute like one of those Sanrio characters. It wore a cute dress and was
reading a book while holding a pencil or perhaps a highlighter.

Diego chuckled slightly. "Is that Sara?"

"It's dedicated to Sara and the new baby."

Diego liked the devil but he wanted something more special for his longtime
student and friend. "Could you write her name on my fingers? One letter on
each."

"Hidden in elements from the periodic table?" Johnny suggested.

"Sounds about right," Diego replied as he took a closer look at the
angel. He knew a lot about Sara's brother, Sean. He suffered from a chronic
illness, hence why he was not by Diego's daughter's side. But the boy was
an angel. He was good and kind, he would make a wonderful father one day.

"Do you like the angel?" Johnny asked. "I was thinking I could do the angel
on your wrist and the devil on your hand."

"Can we do it now?" Diego closed his eyes to meditate as Johnny set up his
equipment and began the tattoo. His collection contained over a dozen
pieces on his chest, stomach, shoulders, and upper arms but this would be
the first for his hand.

"Remy's going to stay with you tonight. If that's ok."

"Why wouldn't it be?" He actually looked forward to seeing Remy again.

"I heard he was kind of an asshole last time he was here."

Diego opened his eyes. "Remy said that?"

"He said he wanted to claim you," Johnny said, his eyes focused on his
work. "I told him someone who has been through not only the abuse you
suffered but also the PTSD, doesn't need to be claimed. You need to be
saved."

Diego glanced at Johnny's neck. The young man wore a gold cross, which hung
below his collarbone. "What I need is to rest." Johnny was a good friend,
but Diego'd had enough of Christianity for a while. So many times in his
life he'd questioned God's love or even his existence. But what happened
between him and Remy, was just sex. Diego would have preferred to
<i>not</i> lick the taste of ass off of Remy's cock, but he could find it
in his heart to forgive and forget.

"That's fine. I'll finish as quickly as I can." Johnny continued to work as
Diego closed his eyes to sleep. "You're lucky you're one of those people
who can sleep through a tattoo."

"Luck has nothing to do with it." His body was simply too exhausted to
remain conscious.

Diego awoke the next day to find himself attached to a heart monitor. His
chest hurt and it was difficult to breathe. He could feel a warm body next
to him. "Remy?"

Remy blinked tears from his dark brown eyes. "You had a bad seizure last
night."

The sight of Remy's tears was heartbreaking. Diego put his arm around the
young doctor. "I'm truly sorry."

"No," Remy said as he sat up, pulling away.  "I'm the one who should be
apologizing. Here, I talked to your primary care doctor. I have some pills
for you to take." Remy handed Diego some pills from the side table.  "These
are supposed to help with the pressure on your brain."

Diego reached for his hand. "Thank you. I know you care."

"Yeah, I've just got a really fucked up way of showing it." Remy got off
the bed.

"Come on, man. It was a night of rough sex. I've done nastier shit when I
was overseas."

Remy chuckled and shook his head as he pulled a marijuana cigarette from a
plastic bag. "Do you want to light up with me?"

"Maybe someplace less confined," Diego said, motioning to the heart
monitor.

"It's not safe to disconnect you."

"I would feel more content if I could go someplace with you. A garden
perhaps?" He knew there was a beautiful garden out back.  With how
immaculate it was Remy had to be spending the majority of his free of time
there. "It would mean a lot."

Remy pursed his lips for a moment. "Sure. I owe you that much."

"Thank you." Diego sat up, he tried to stand, but his legs were too
unsteady.

Remy left to retrieve a wheelchair. He then disconnected the heart monitor
and helped Diego off the bed, wrapping him in a warm robe. He wheeled Diego
out the back, to a garden with a small pool, a waterfall, and a hot tub. "I
usually take patients out here for therapy."

"May we sit in the hot tub?" Diego asked. He was nude under the robe and
the water looked so inviting.

"I just need to find something to wrap your arm. I wouldn't want your new
tattoos to get infected."

Remy helped Diego out of the robe and into the warm water, making sure to
rest his tattooed arm on a towel. "Would you like me to turn on the jets?"

Diego leaned his head back to relax. "Yes please."

Remy turned on the jets before stripping naked to enter the water.

"What did my doctor say?" Diego asked.

"You suffer from an autoimmune disorder that causes recurring infections,
most likely the result of the damage the roadside bomb did to your
back. The exposure to chemicals, radiation, and..."

Diego cut him off with a shrug. "Could be worse."

Remy grabbed his lighter and pulled a blunt from a small plastic bag.
"Talk to me about your daughter," he said as he lit up.

Diego smiled. "Mi mariposa."

"Your butterfly?" Remy asked as he took a drag.

"You speak Spanish?"

"I lived in California for a while, dated a hot chica from the barrio."
Remy passed Diego the cigarette.

Diego laughed and took a puff, then a long drag. "When I was on deployment
I would see my daughter in every child's face. She was my beacon, my light,
and still is."

"Did Johnny show you the pictures? Your granddaughter is so beautiful."

Diego nodded. "Thank you. She reminds me so much of Jen as a little girl."
He paused, pursing his lips as if unsure how to continue. "I must ask. What
did Johnny mean when he said, you tried to claim me?"

"What a fucking asshole," Remy muttered. "I was jealous, I still am."

"Of my wife?"

"You love her," Remy said through shaking breath, as he lit another
blunt. "She hurts you and yet you still love her. So I thought, if she can
win your love with domination, maybe I could do the same." Remy took a long
drag, sucking down the blunt until the ash was near his
fingertips. "T-That's not love."

Diego rested his cigarette on a dry rock. He reached his tattooed hand out
for Remy.  "In this life, all we have is each other."

Remy touched him with his dry hand. "The water was a really bad idea."

"I'm a grown man, if my tattoo gets an infection it will be on me."

"Yeah, literally," Remy said with a laugh. He laced his fingers through
Diego's, gripping his hand. "I can't believe you enjoy getting tattooed."

"My body is a roadmap of my life."

"When I was little I had gotten really sick and I was in the hospital for
over a year. And every single day I had to get a blood draw. My poor veins
were torn open, I was black and blue."

"You're saying you have a fear of needles."

"More like a hatred."

Diego stretched his leg to touch Remy's. "Would you get one for me?"

Remy shrugged. "You never know what the future will bring." With the blunt
hanging from his lips, he scooted closer.

Diego pulled Remy on to his lap. His cock pressed against his young lover's
skin, but Diego wasn't hard. Perhaps it was due to how sick he had been, or
perhaps he wanted something more. "I want to watch you pleasure yourself."

"Ok," Remy leaned his head back, twisting slightly so he was breathing into
Diego's neck. Remy kept one hand on dry land, caressing Diego's tattooed
fingers, while his other hand went to work, masturbating under the water.

Diego stroked Remy's chest, tracing his collarbone, then down to his hard
nipple. He rested his hand on Remy's ribs, he could feel the man's muscles
tensing. "Yes, that's what I want to see." Diego moved his hand to Remy's
legs, caressing his inner thigh. "Do you know what I thought to myself when
I first met you?"

With his hands occupied and his mouth still sucking on the joint, Remy
could only manage a grunt in response.

"I thought to myself: Does that boy know how stunning he is?" Diego could
feel Remy's body shivering. "What did you think of me?"

Remy pressed his lips to Diego's ear, allowing the joint to fall into the
water. With a quivering voice, he whispered. "I wanted you to hold me."
Remy gripped Diego's hand hard.  "I know that sounds so selfish. Johnny and
Sara told me, from the very beginning you needed help. You needed
someone. And I want so badly to be that person." Remy suddenly stopped and
then moved back to his previous seat, opposite Diego. "I can't do this."

"Come on, man," Diego groaned.

Remy leaned back to blow smoke rings as he lit up another joint. "You ever
see that comic? I don't know who the fuck it's by. But it had this guy,
naked, with one woman on his cock and one on his face. the caption said
'bi-sexual built for two'." Remy started to laugh. "That was me, I fucked
my way up and down the California coast." It looked like Remy had more to
say but instead, he just got out of the pool. He stood under a nearby
waterfall, positioning his body in such a way that allowed him to continue
smoking.

Diego already knew he would have a difficult time getting out of the hot
tub but he had to try. Pain shot through his back as he placed weight on
his arms to pull his 6'2" body out of the water.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry." Remy reached for Diego's hand to help him to his
feet.

Diego's legs stabilized. He pulled Remy close for a passionate kiss. He
pinned Remy's body under the waterfall, leaning forward so the cold water
bathed both their bodies.

Diego took the wet joint from his lover's lips. "Are you mine?"

"Yes, I'm yours." Remy turned around. He tossed his wet hair and presented
his ass, as the water flowed down his back.

"Everything you are?" Diego's cock was hard as he plunged deep, pinning
Remy against the rock wall.

"Yes, oh god yes!"

Diego reached around to grip Remy's cock. With one hand pulling his shaft
the other hand yanked at Remy's hair. Diego pounded Remy's ass hard,
jerking him off with the same level of intensity. When he felt like he was
about to explode, Remy collapsed in his arms. That was when he noticed the
blood. "Remy, you ok?"

"I'm fine." Remy had multiple cuts on his face, possibly from hitting his
head on the rock wall of the waterfall. One was above his eyebrow, another
on his cheek and a busted lower lip.

Diego watched as Remy wiped the blood from his mouth before picking up his
clothes and heading inside. "Remy, wait!"

Remy tossed his clothing on the floor, all except a thick woven belt.  He
put the belt around his neck pulling tight as he lay naked on the bed. The
tighter he pulled the more he moaned.

"What are you doing?" Diego got on top of Remy, removing the belt as Remy
struggled against him.

"No! I need to hurt, I deserve to suffer."

Diego kissed the blood from Remy's bottom lip. "You don't. No one does." He
moved into bed on top of Remy, pinning his body down, he forced his arms
over his head. With one quick motion, he secured Remy's wrists, tying them
behind his head.  "Just relax. Where do you keep your icepacks?"

"Kitchen," Remy said softly.

Still naked, Diego went to the kitchen/food prep area of Rain Down Temple
where he ran straight into Remy's receptionist. "Hello, Syren, right?"

The pink haired girl nodded, as she quickly put down a tray of cookies.
"And you're Diego. I remember Remy said something about having a patient in
one of the rooms." Her gaze drifted to Diego's cock. "You guys having fun?"

"There was an accident, I was looking for an ice pack."

"Ok," Syren went to the fridge and tossed Diego a blue gel ice pack. "Here,
take a handful." She handed him two more. "Remy is a very passionate
lover."

"You and him?" Diego chuckled. He was not surprised in the least.

"Not romantically, I'm not..."

"Not what?"

"Not strong enough. I mean, the guy comes off as confident but he's so
fragile. Did he tell you about his childhood?"

"He told me he has a hatred of needles."

"Yeah, Remy was really sick as a child." Syren paused. She appeared to be
choking back tears. "Just... Please be good to him. If he asks, tell him I
have everything covered out front. And take him a cookie, they're
oatmeal-chocolate-mint, his favorite."

"Thank you." Diego left the kitchen with only two icepacks so he would have
a free hand to grab the cookie.

Remy was asleep on his side, looking as comfortable as someone could be
with their hands tied above their head.

He placed one icepack to Remy's eye, stroking it gently down his
cheek. "Wake up Sleeping Beauty, I brought you something." Diego took a
bite of the cookie, passing it into Remy's mouth like a mother bird.

"I take it Syren is here?" Remy asked with a full mouth.

Diego kissed his forehead, down his nose to his lips. He stroked the second
icepack over Remy's shoulder, to his chest, resting on his sternum. Over
Remy's heart, Diego could feel the slightest hint of a scar.  He glanced at
Remy, looking into his eyes, as he kissed him again, slow and tender.

But Remy turned away. "Just fuck me! Use me! That's all I deserve."

"Why do you say that?" Diego placed the cookie on the bed, to free his
hands. Then with gentle massaging strokes, he removed the belt from Remy's
wrists.

"When I was sick, that was when my parents divorced. Since my father was in
the military my mother had full custody, and s-she was conservative, very
religious. She was totally against surgery, she said the reason my heart
was weak was that I was a sinner. If God loved me, he would save me. Even
when I eventually recovered from the infection, she beat me and berated
me. So when I turned eighteen I ran away to Los Angeles."

As Remy took a breath Diego cupped his face, kissing away Remy's
tears. "Let's just say she could give my wife a run for her money."

Remy smiled, quietly laughing. "Yeah, living with someone like that, it
kind of makes it hard to know what love is."

"Let me show you." Diego moved the icepack to Remy's left nipple, holding
it there for only a moment before administering a warm kiss. He could feel
Remy's stomach muscles tighten. The beauty of Remy's nude body, paired with
the wavering effects of the marijuana pushed aside any pain Diego had been
experiencing.

Remy closed his eyes. "I don't deserve you."

"But I choose you." Spreading Remy's legs, Diego worked his cock into his
lover's hole.

Remy's body tensed. He sat up, gripping Diego's scarred back.

As they exchanged kiss after kiss, their bodies locked in intense
passion. Neither man was in control. Remy was riding just as hard as Diego
was thrusting. But their lips would always find each other.

After they'd both experienced a deep, spiritual climax, Remy rested in
Diego's arms. "Diego?"

"Yes, my love."

"Say something in Spanish."

"Alguna cosa," Diego said with a chuckle. It literally translated to
`something.'

"Funny."

Diego lifted Remy's face to kiss his lips. "Te amaré hasta el
día en que mi alma abandone este mundo. I will love you until the
day my soul leaves this world."

Remy smiled as he gripped Diego's hand. "Are you looking forward to showing
off your new body art?"

"I'm looking forward to a good many things."