by Sky McCoy
“I’m having a shot of vodka. That’s all,” I commented. “The waitress has my order.”
“Then sit. You look tired,” Jack observed.
“I’ve been living with your brother. What do you think?” I added as I took the seat across from him.
“I know. He told me. That’s why I’m here instead of there. Too many men in one house for me. Especially if I’m not fucking any of them.” And Jack aimed a closed smile my way.
“We’re moving into our home in a week and you have a place if you want it.”
“I think three men in a house is enough?”
“I’d say,” I huffed. Jack glanced over at me.
“It looks like you and Parker aren’t getting along. He can be a bit much, but Jeremy said that he needed someone in a hurry and his sister Molly couldn’t come so there you have my friend Parker.”
“So you’re the one I have to thank for making my life—”
“Interesting?” Jack said, interrupting with his own description.
“I wouldn’t say that. I think I would say a living hell.”
“He can be a bitch. But when you get to know him he’s a teddy bear,” Jack said with a chuckle.
“He’s nothing close to a teddy bear and far from a bitch. A bitch I can handle, but he’s overbearing, and he thinks he’s protecting Jeremy and Jacqueline. I’d say he’s protecting his fucking job because he knows that if it’s left up to me, his ass will be out. If you like Parker, tell him to back off, because he’s not going to win this one.”
“Isn’t his job to take care of them?” Jack suggested after taking in a mouth full of grilled salmon.
“His job is to take care of Jacqueline. My job is to take care of Jeremy.”
“I see what you mean.” The waitress placed my vodka in front of me with my lime. I drank it quickly. Jack glanced over at me before he took another bite of salmon. “What’s bothering you and it’s not Parker? I got the impression the way you handled my brother, and he’s a pistol, that Parker is light stuff. There’s something far greater that’s worrying you. Especially since the last time we talked I wasn’t your favorite person. And now you’re here sitting with me. How did I get this lucky?” Jack slanted his head to the side and waited for me to answer his question.
I told Jack how I needed moral support to see the doctor and if he didn’t have anything better to do tomorrow, whether he would accompany me. I told him what my fears were and he agreed with a promise that if he went with me this time, I’d have to tell Jeremy about the results, no matter what the outcomes were. I agreed to all his demands.
After having another drink, Jack said that he had to make a call, and he needed to go to his suite, and would I mind coming up there with him. Since Parker had left the hotel, I saw no reason why I should be afraid of going with him to his room.
Jack ate all his salmon, had one more drink afterwards, paid both tabs and we headed out of restaurant in the direction of the elevators in the lobby.
“You know we’re going to be related,” he said, after we’d walked into an elevator with two women who obviously had their eyes on Jack, and why wouldn’t they? He was as handsome as Jeremy, and I’d hoped to live as long to see any other man that could match their handsome faces and sex appeal. Tall with legs that went on forever. Thick dark hair and blue eyes. Hard bodies, wide shoulders to make men and women envious, and those twins looked stunning in whatever they wore.
And underneath those well-fitting pants, I couldn’t swear by Jack’s cock, but if Jack’s was anything like Jeremy’s, thick and long, then men would be standing in line to experience his, I thought.
I didn’t care how hung Jack was, because all I’d been interested in was Jeremy from the start. As far as Jack was concerned, there was something different, unusual, and somewhat dangerous about him, I thought. I wasn’t looking for risky or unreliable, I was looking for familiar, comfort, caring, and I thought I’d found it with Jeremy.
Jack and Jeremy appeared to be poles apart. I couldn’t figure out why, but I’d seen his type before, however, I couldn’t remember where or in what context.
Perhaps it had been in one of those clubs Phillip had dragged me to, hoping it would spice up our sex lives.
Before the elevator opened, I thought I’d have fun with the two women staring and giggling admiringly at Jack. I reached and took his hand and said, “Honey, I love you. I can’t wait to get into the room.” Then I kissed Jack’s neck and I smelled his aftershave that had me wanting to close my eyes slide my nose against his neck and lick his Adam’s apple. Yes, he was a dangerous man.
When the elevator dinged on Jack’s floor, he led me off with his hand clasping mine. Then I turned and aimed a broad smile at the women. I heard their breaths hitch, and one woman whispered to the other, “I told you so. You didn’t believe me. I just won the bet.”
When the door to the elevator closed, Jack laughed and snorted out loud. “I can’t believe you did that. There are sides to you I’ve never seen before. I thought you were the serious type, but I can see there’s something to you I like,” Jack said, opening the door to his suite.
“Wow,” was all I could say when the double doors swung open. The place was enormous. “All this just for you, Jack? You never did say what it was you did for a living.”
“Have a drink and don’t be so inquisitive?”
“I’ve had enough, thank you. I know my limitations.”
“Then make yourself at home, turn on the television because I have to make a call and send out an email.”
When Jack disappeared behind his bedroom door, the bell rang. I sauntered over to the door, looked through the peephole, and when I didn’t recognize the eyes looking at me I called out to Jack. When he didn’t come out because he’d probably been busy or didn’t hear me call his name, I opened the door.
Standing in front of me was a handsome man about six two with grey eyes and dark hair with grey mixed in on the sides. He didn’t smile, he stood pensive, then glared at me. His eyes then wandered over me from my hair down to my tight jeans, to my sneakers. It was as if he’d looked down on me with an arrogant sneer, or it could have been something completely different. Maybe it was the same way Jeremy once scowled at me. But this look had something I hadn’t seen before mixed with it.
I’d say that was a look of danger and arrogance together.
“Is Jack in?” He asked with a refined voice, and damn if he wasn’t the third most handsome man I had contact with today. I didn’t know how I’d gotten so lucky to see another man like him. It had been as rare as seeing a humming bird in a forest without flowers.
He’d asked for Jack. I didn’t know if Jack worked for him. However, I’d guessed that he didn’t, because in the man’s eyes I’d seen a hint of jealousy, and perhaps it was more than a working relationship that motivated him. I straightened up, offered him a small closed smile, wondering why he could be jealous, and of me. I answered my own question. I was the man opening the door to a man’s room he’d probably been intimate with and in love.
Now that indeed was a dangerous combination—fucking and loving.
I’d seen that look in my own eyes. You could recognize it if you were a man in love, and I’d say that this man was in love, and the object of his affection had to be behind that bedroom door.
Clearly it had been jealousy that motivated him and covered him like a thin coat of paint. One scratch and you’d see the real color underneath.
“Yes. He’s in the bedroom. I’ll get him. Please sit down.” He glanced around and found the large sofa. “Do you want something to drink? I can pour you a drink.”
“If I want one, I can get it myself,” he said with a cool demeanor, his voice relating the same manner as his body language. He raised his head to look up at me and said, “After all, I’m paying for this suite.”
Now that had been news to me, but then I didn’t know anything about Jack. Only what I’d heard and constructed from knowing Jeremy. Jeremy nev
er talked much about him to me. He’d said more about Thomas than any of his brothers, if only to call him a prick, and more indecent curses using the word fucker.
The attractive man’s voice had been curt, but through that gruff tone, I heard a sense of ownership. Everything about him had a quality of refinement, from his clothes and his shoes to that expensive haircut. He had a similarity to Maxwell Gold, and I could see where the attraction began and ended, but Max Gold was thirty-something and this handsome dude had to be in his early forties, but looked a lot younger.
I’d heard about men like him, the way he held his head and looked down on every man he’d met. However, I’d never gotten close enough to men like this, until now.
This eye candy appeared to have secrets like all the others like him. He had a way of looking at you, and you wanted to please him. The way his steely eyes bored into you, they’d command you do whatever he wanted without him having to say a word.
Chapter 8
Dorian
I headed straight to Jack’s room to inform him that he had a guest and he shouldn’t keep him waiting. I certainly didn’t want to keep him company any longer than I had to because he’d made me nervous, not because I’d been afraid of him, but because he was so damned attractive.
When I knocked one time, opened the door to peek into the bed room, Jack was working on the computer. “There’s a man out there who wants to talk to you.”
“Tell him I’m busy, and send him away,” Jack waved his hand when I interrupted his conversation on the phone, and whatever he was doing on the computer.
“I think you would want to tell him yourself,” I added.
“Who is he? Is it Max?” He looked up at me and smiled.
“An older Maxwell Gold.”
Jack’s smile dipped, his forehead furrowed. He sat and stared forward and bit his lip. “Tell him I’m coming.”
When I looked before I exited the bedroom, Jack sucked in a large breath as if it was someone he didn’t want to see, but felt he had to.
When I reached the door I turned. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No. I’d prefer if you stayed,” Jack said, his voice quivering. I hadn’t known Jack long, and I’d never known him to be nervous around men. Jeremy had said that he might have been the only one in the family who could handle his older brother Thomas, and few men could handle Thomas, and not even Alice, his wife. Thomas just placated Alice to make his life easier, and to get along with her because Alice had been the foundation of his rise in the political arena.
I turned away, opened the bedroom door, and closed it behind me. I stood there a few seconds with my back to the door not wanting to face that serious, hot, sexy man in the living area. Initially he appeared cold and indifferent, but I could tell there was heat swirling around him. He gave it off when he’d mentioned Jack’s name.
I didn’t know why Jack needed me for reinforcement, but then I did. It was the same reason I didn’t want to face going to the doctor alone. I didn’t know if I could handle bad news. Was this man bad news?
“Jack said that he would be there shortly. He had something he needed to take care of first.” The man took that well. Crossed his legs and placed his hands in his lap, turned slightly and stared out of the floor to ceiling windows in silence.
Maybe he isn’t bad news after all, I thought.
I nervously found a seat on the bar stool across from the large couch. I could have sat on the chairs facing him, but I wouldn’t, because he made me feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, I thought it better to observe from a distance. That way I could see the body language between the two of them and hopefully come to my own conclusions.
Then the handsome guy turned around to face me. “How long have you known Jack?” the handsome hot dude inquired sitting back and crossing his arms.
I met his eyes. “Not long,” I responded. I made my answers short. I didn’t want to say too much. He’d kept his relaxed pose and didn’t mind waiting. However, I wished the fuck that Jack would come out of that bedroom instead of leaving me alone with him.
I glanced over at him hoping he didn’t catch me glaring at him. I came to the conclusion that he’d be relaxed in an earthquake. It was the way he raised his head, looked up or down when an individual spoke to him that made me think nothing phased him.
He never introduced himself perhaps to get the upper hand on me. Well, fuck him. I wouldn’t either.
Finally he turned to me after looking out at the dreary rainy skyline, after ignoring me. “What is your name and why are you here? Are you Jack’s lover? Don’t worry you can tell me.” It was then I saw a crack in his armor.
“Why should I tell you? I don’t know you, and I think if Jack wants you to know what our relationship is, then he should tell you himself.” I crossed my arms.
He narrowed his eyes and tightened his jaw as if he’d never been talked to like that before. He didn’t respond to me.
He stared ahead as if he’d been a man who lived in his own mind not caring about what was going on around him. I rose from the bar chair, walked around and reached for a drink. He’d managed to make me edgy, and what the fuck was Jack doing in that room? If he stayed one minute more I’d have gone in there, but he didn’t. When I heard the bedroom door open, I relaxed.
When Jack strutted into the room, he wore a pair of black slacks and a V-neck light-blue pullover sweater and a pair of loafers on his feet. We both stood because I’d never seen Jack look so sophisticated and stunning. It was at this point that I couldn’t tell him and Jeremy apart. Jack had always worn a jogging suit and sneakers as if he’d been running from something or someone, and now that someone had caught up with him.
Jack strolled to the handsome forty-something man and stared at him. “Have you met Dorian?” Then Jack switched to me, “Dorian, this is Austin.”
“Maybe I should leave,” I said, placing my half-empty drink on the counter. I made an attempt to get down from the bar chair.
“No, Dorian, don’t leave. Austin and I have very little to say to each other. And he won’t be here long.” They were staring at each other. Jack met Austin’s gaze, and neither men gave ground.
Then Austin sat down as Jack sat across from him with his stare settling on Jack instead of me. For some reason good or bad, now Austin didn’t choose to look at me, but addressed me. “Dorian, did Jack tell you that I’m his husband?”
My mouth opened wide. I didn’t think Jeremy knew this. Hell, it shocked me, and I didn’t think anything could surprise me about Jack, but here I sat speechless.
“That’s because I haven’t had the time to get my divorce,” Jack barked, locking eyes with Austin.
“Now I really should leave.”
“No. Dorian. Stay where you are. He’s just saying that to get rid of you. He thinks that you’re my boyfriend. He’s a fucking jealous man, and I had to leave in the middle of the night to get away from his fucking jealous ass before he made me crazy.”
“Did Jack tell you that he was in love with Maxwell Gold, and no matter what I did or told him how much I loved him, he never would say that he loved me, nor that I mattered more than that man?”
“That’s because you were obsessed with Max, and everything I did you assumed that I wanted to be with him. I couldn’t make you believe that I worshipped you. Nothing was enough to satisfy you, Austin, so I left you and drove out to Seattle to be with my family and my friends.
“I’m sure you’re shocked to discover I have friends here, but you wouldn’t believe me
had I told you. You would have accused me of coming out to the west coast to see Max.”
“Maxwell is here. I’ve known this for some time, Jack. I checked,” Austin said in a calm low voice as if he knew how to keep his cool under stressful situations. And nothing could be more stressful and humiliating than to air your dirty laundry in front of a stranger.
“He’s fucking happily married for fuck’s sake, Austin. How many times do I have to tell you?” Ja
ck shouted.
“Just one more time. Tell me one more time that I’m the only man for you.” I watched the handsome man who wanted to be reassured that he was the only man that Jack could want. From my vantage point, those two were as madly in love with each other as myself and Jeremy.
When Austin stood and walked over to Jack, Jack wrapped his arms around Austin’s waist and his eyes wandered over to me. Their eyes told me everything. Jack’s eyes said that it was time for me to go, and Austin’s eyes said that he’d gotten what he’d come for—Jack.
I headed out of the room to the door, and when I stopped to take one look back before I reached for the handle, and before I exited the suite, I watched Jack go to his knees in front of Austin as Austin looked down at him, Austin’s shoulders squared and his head shot up erect, because that was the true dynamics of their relationship, not the growling barking man that Jack exhibited in front of me.
Austin’s fingers raked through Jack’s thick hair, lovingly, smoothing it back with his palms, with Jack unzipping Austin’s pants as if hypnotized.
I’d once experienced that when I’d been homeless on the streets and someone convinced me to go to a bondage club, where there were Masters and slaves, Dominants and submissive.
I knew that scene. I didn’t want to be there for the opening act, therefore, I quietly closed the door, after Austin’s eyes and mouth smiled at me with satisfaction, and followed me until I had disappeared.
Chapter 9
Jeremy
“Where is everyone?” It was too quiet I was thinking as I laid my satchel down by a chair and roamed through the hall headed for the nursery. I opened the door, peeped in, and no one. I assumed Parker was out with Jacqueline.
I’d gotten used to the noise of a baby in the house and having Dorian milling about, packing my personal things in boxes before the movers came in and cleared everything out, and delivered them to our new home.
