Petrichor

by L. J. Hamlin

“I shouldn’t do this, but you’re just too pretty to send home. Go in as my guest.”

  “Really?” He wants to go in, to show his friends he’s not chicken, and have a good time.

  “Sure.” And just like that, Carl is being waved through.

  Carl walks into the club, and he’s figured out it’s a gay bar, but he’s never been inside one before, and he’s sure they aren’t all like this. He scurries over to the bar, aware because of the porn he’s seen that this is a BDSM place.

  There are people having sexual experiences, of the whips and chains variety. No one’s naked, but there are people on leads, in collars, doing things that are sexual—if you’re into licking a guy’s boots. There are all kinds of things going on that Carl’s never seen before, not even in porn. Joining the line at the bar, he tries to look like he belongs as he fires off texts to five different guys that said they’d be here. Not one of them answers though, and Carl can’t see them anywhere in the club.

  So maybe they didn’t have the balls to come into a gay bar, and maybe they’re just trying to mess with him—especially since the club is members only, which they’d probably known. Just last week one of the older guys sent a strippergram to another brother in the middle of an exam. They just want to embarrass each other. It’s typical guy stuff, and Carl guesses it’s just his turn.

  What should he do now? He could just leave, but he’s kind of fascinated. He’s never been the fake ID type, so he’s only ever drunk alcohol at the frat house. He should have his first legal drink in a bar, and then he can go back to his friends and tell them their prank didn’t work. They haven’t made a fool of him.

  So he stays at the bar, trying not to gawk at the things going on around him, when he feels a large hand light on his shoulder—not grabbing, not trying to cop a feel, but just getting his attention. Carl turns and almost swallows his tongue.

  The man facing him is taller than Carl, with dark hair and green eyes. He has tattoos on his arms and neck, piercings in his eyebrow, lip, and nose, and he’s wearing all leather. He’s older than Carl, and the hottest thing Carl has ever seen.

  “Hi, my name’s Kristian. What’s yours?”

  “C…Carl,”

  “Would you like a drink, Carl?” Kristian’s voice is deep and sexy. Carl almost shivers at hearing his name said by this man.

  Carl’s about to reply when his cell phone starts ringing, and he jumps as it vibrates in his pocket. He fumbles to get it out and see who it is, but then he doesn’t respond. He doesn’t want to be rude.

  “You should answer if it’s important. Is it your boyfriend looking for you?” Kristian says gently.

  “No…No boyfriend. It’s just one of my frat brothers.”

  “Frat brother?” Kristian repeats.

  “Yeah, they sent me here, but it was a prank—”Carl starts to explain, only to be cut off by Kristian holding a hand up.

  “Didn’t realize I was wasting my time. You college kids think it’s funny to come here and laugh at the freaks? Not everyone will take it as well as me.” Kristian shakes his head. “Get out of here, kid.”

  “I’m not. They were joking, but I’m…” Carl doesn’t get to finish before Kristian walks away.

  Carl curses. He can feel his cheeks flushing with embarrassment, and he feels like everyone is staring at him. They’re probably not, but Carl feels like a fool, so he turns from the bar and heads out of the club and away from the line of people.

  He finds his frat brother Jamie’s number in his contacts and calls him.

  “You’re an asshole,” Carl says in way of a greeting.

  “I’m guessing that means you went into the club?” Jamie asks.

  “Yeah, I went in. I thought it’d be fun to finally go to a gay bar, now I’m old enough, but I didn’t know it was a kinky club, and I got all awkward and made an ass of myself,” Carl admits.

  “It wasn’t like a prank,” Jamie replies, then hastily adds, “It was, but it wasn’t. We thought it’d be kind of funny to send a guy who’s never been on a date with a guy into a hardcore kink club, but at the same time, I thought you might have fun.”

  “I spoke to some guy. He thought I was there as a joke. And I was too much of a loser to get the truth out fast enough. He was really hot, and he wanted to buy me a drink. I totally messed it up. The minute I said I was in a frat, he assumed I was an asshole there to mock the club. Probably didn’t help that I was staring at everything, and I’m just in a T-shirt and jeans. Most of the guys are really dressed up.” Carl hates the slight whine to his voice, but he’s really annoyed.

  Carl has never been on a date, he’s never had sex, and his frat brothers know that. Some of them laugh at him for being a virgin, but Carl was so shy in high school, there was no chance he was going to be in a relationship. He hadn’t even come out until his senior year. Now he’s a few years into college, and he still hasn’t made the leap.

  Half of it’s not knowing what he wants, and half of it’s being timid. He needs someone else to make the first move, to give him a push. It’s just never really happened, not with a guy that makes him feel anything. He liked the look of the guy in the bar, though. He thinks the right description for the guy would be a “leather daddy.” He’d seemed so confident.

  Carl sighs. “I hate the guy thought I was trying to make a fool of him. I don’t mind that you were trying to embarrass the gay virgin, but I feel shitty that I couldn’t explain and that I probably made him feel bad.”

  “So, find him again and tell him you’re not playing a joke. Yes, you’re in a frat, but you’re gay, and you didn’t mean any harm,” Jamie suggests.

  “I bet he thinks I’m a loser. He’s probably laughing with his cool friends about me. You didn’t see him. He was really handsome and confident. He knew what he wanted, and for a second what he wanted was me. But I get so tongue tied around hot guys.” Carl sighs.

  “You don’t get tongue-tied around me, and I’m hot,” Jamie points out.

  “You’re straight. It’s not the same as talking to a gay guy. I know you’re not interested. I don’t want you to be; you’re my brother. But I wanted him to be attracted to me. Maybe it’s for the best. A guy who goes to a hardcore club like that wouldn’t be interested in a virgin who doesn’t even know what he likes yet.” Carl groans.

  “You need to be more confident. I’m not gay, but I know you’re a good looking guy. You’re smart and funny. You’re a catch. This guy would be lucky to get a shot with you.”

  Carl hears someone clear their throat behind him. He glances back and sees Kristian, looking just as good under the street lamp as he had under the flashing club lights.

  “I have to go, Jamie. I’ll text when I’m on my way home,” Carl says, and he waits for Jamie to say goodbye before he hangs up.

  “I came out when I saw you take off. I felt a little bad for being so harsh with you. I heard your phone call. So this wasn’t a joke on us? It was more a joke on you?” Kristian asks.

  “They’re cool with me being gay, but we kind of all take turns embarrassing each other. I’m kind of shy, and they thought it’d shock me to come to a place like this,” Carl tries to explain.

  “I thought frats were all homophobic.” Kristian frowns.

  “Not mine. I got lucky. The guys all stick up for me if anyone says anything. They’re good to me. But, ah, I guess I’m sorry if you thought they sent me here like it was a freak show. No one meant it like that. It was just meant to be a harmless joke at my expense.” Carl bites his lip, hoping he’s making sense.

  “You don’t have to apologize. I think I overreacted. I’m thirty-four, but in my day, the frat guys were assholes, all of them. If they showed up at a gay bar, it was to make fools out of the people there, to mock. You weren’t pointing and staring. You looked curious when I was watching you, but nervous,” Kristian says softly.

  “I only turned twenty-one this week, and I never had a fake ID to get into places like this,” Carl replies. “My folks would ha
ve killed me if I got caught in a club when I was underage. So this was my first time in a gay bar.”

  “Really? You’ve never been here before? And I ran you off after five minutes? I feel like an asshole. Would you come back inside? Let me buy you a drink? No pressure or obligations. I just don’t want the story of your first trip to a gay bar to be a bad one.” Kristian looks like he feels bad, and for a tough guy, he seems kind.

  “I guess we could have a drink.” Carl’s heart races, and part of him wants to run and hide, but he doesn’t want to listen to that side this time.

  “You don’t have to, but I’d like to hear more about your gay-friendly frat.” Kristian has a gorgeous smile.

  “I want to. It’ll give me a better story. They all thought they were clever sending me here, that it’d embarrass me.” Carl grins faintly. “It’ll be cool to be able to go back to my frat saying I had a good time.”

  “Well, if I know anything, it’s how to have a good time. Come with me.”

  Carl takes a deep breath and follows Kristian back into the club. The bouncer who’d let Carl skip ahead in the line smiles at them and winks at Carl. They go inside and manage to get seats at the bar, close to a huge cross thing pinned to the wall, with a man strapped to it, being whipped.

  “It’s called a Saint Andrew’s cross,” Kristian says close to Carl’s ear as their drinks arrive. Kristian’s breath on his skin, his deep voice, make Carl shiver slightly.

  “I’ve never seen stuff like this close up. Is…Is it rude to ask if that’s what you’re into, the whipping?” Carl asks hesitantly, looking between the couples around the club and Kristian.

  “I like whipping subs, among other things. But no, it’s not rude to ask questions, not in a place like this. If you don’t ask what someone likes, things could get awkward.” Kristian shrugs.

  “God, I feel like such a…”

  “A virgin?” Kristian prompts.

  “You heard that when I was on the phone?” Carl winces inwardly.

  “Yeah, we don’t get many virgins showing up at the Cherry Bomb. We get BDSM newbies fairly often, but never totally new.” Kristian takes a sip of his drink, looking at Carl carefully. Like he’s checking him over or something.

  “Is it a turn off or turn on?” Carl asks, a little bit terrified to be asking such daring questions of a stranger.

  “Neither, really. I don’t have a virgin kink, but I’m not one of those guys who dislikes it. I don’t mind breaking in someone new, showing them the ropes, as it were,” Kristian says with a wicked smirk, giving Carl a mental image of being tied up. Which is something Carl has never thought about before, not really. He’s had a few naughty dreams about restraints, but he’s never met anyone who was into this kind of thing.

  The guys in the frat think topping a girl during anal counts as kinky. Maybe one or two of them would have tried furry handcuffs, but they don’t talk about wanting to go places like this, where Carl would swear he can hear the leather whip biting into skin over the music.

  “You thought of something you like, didn’t you?” Kristian asks with a sexy little smirk.

  “I ah, nothing I’ve tried before.” Carl blushes.

  “But what was in your mind when I mentioned ropes?” Kristian asks.

  Carl is in over his head here, with an older guy who knows what he’s doing when Carl doesn’t, but he doesn’t want to back away. Not yet. He’s too intrigued.

  “I thought about being tied up. I think that could be cool,” Carl says softly.

  “Do you know what I’d like to do to you?” Kristian asks in a low voice.

  “What?” Carl asks. He’s kind of afraid to hear the answer, but at the same time, he’s desperate to know. He’s sitting in a dark, kinky bar with a hot guy who seems to be attracted to him. It’s thrilling.

  “I’d like to tie your hands to my headboard and suck your cock nice and slow. Not let you come till I’m ready, till you’re begging real pretty.” Kristian leans in as he speaks, but Carl’s aware that other people could hear what Kristian’s saying to him. Instead of making Carl feel embarrassed, it adds an extra spark of heat in his gut. Kristian wants him, and he’s not afraid of who here knows it.

  “That—I’ve never…” Carl swallows hard, his face flushing. The images Kristian’s words conjure up are hot as hell. He can imagine Kristian above him, being tied naked to a big bed—all of it.

  “You’ve never had a blowjob?”

  Carl shakes his head.

  “Oh man, that’s just tragic. It feels amazing when done right. I’d love to take you home and do that to you. We wouldn’t have to do anything else. Like I said, no pressure,” Kristian says.

  “You’d want that? To get me off and not get anything in return?” Carl frowns. He doesn’t want to be tricked again tonight. Fool me once, and all that.

  “I’d be getting plenty in return. I’d get off on sucking you, on watching you fight against the ropes, in controlling when you come,” Kristian replies. “All that would have me hard and aching, and then I’d jerk off on you. You wouldn’t need to lift a finger.”

  Carl’s face flushes again at the picture Kristian is painting. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to get…ah…get fucked. But I’d like to try some stuff. I’d like to try that,” he says, feeling bold, even though there’s a nervous fluttering in his stomach.

  A handsome man wants to take him home and get him off, show him things he’s never had. It doesn’t matter in this moment that Kristian is a stranger. Carl wants this, and if Kristian wants him, Carl’s ready to take a risk. He took a chance coming here tonight and making his way inside once he knew it was a prank. He needs to keep pushing himself, or he’ll never stop hiding.

  “You’ve been hanging out with those straight boys too long. They think getting your dick inside someone is the only kind of good sex. It’s not. I’ve had orgasms when no one even touched my dick. There’s a whole world of sex out there. I’d like to give you a taste of it.”

  “Okay, I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.” Carl sips his beer to wet his dry mouth. He doesn’t want to get drunk. He wants to remember his first time with a man.

  “Are you sure? You look nervous,” Kristian says, reaching out and touching Carl’s hand gently.

  “I’m not gonna lie: I’m kind of shitting myself over this, but I want it. Just doing stuff for the first time is scary.”

  “We’ll take things slow, and I’ll teach you what I can. Starting with this. I’m going to give you my address and phone number. I want you to text it to a friend, let them know where you’re going. If you’re picking up a stranger, it’s safer if someone knows where you are,” Kristian says, getting out his cell phone.

  Kristian gives Carl his address and phone number, and Carl texts it to Jamie, explaining that he’s going home with a guy. Jamie sends back a thumbs up emoticon and a warning to use condoms.

  “Ready to go?” Kristian asks.

  “Yeah.” Carl nods.

  They leave the club together to a few knowing looks. That might normally embarrass Carl, but Kristian puts an arm around his waist as they walk, and those feelings melt away. It’s easier to be confident when you have the hottest guy in the room on your arm.

  Kristian’s car is close, and they drive to the address Kristian had given him.

  They go up to Kristian’s apartment, and it’s a nice place, not some scary den of kink like Carl had half expected. Kristian shows him around, and when they get to Kristian’s room with its large bed, Kristian doesn’t push him towards it. Instead, Carl finds himself backed up against the bedroom door.

  “I’d like to kiss you. Are you comfortable with that?” Kristian asks.

  “I’ve kissed girls before, but not a guy. I’d like to.” Carl nods.

  “Just relax and let me lead,” Kristian says softly.

  Kristian cups his jaw gently and leans in for a kiss. It’s not that different from kissing a girl, a little firmer, and somehow better. It feels right, and Carl fin
ds his hands lifting of their own accord to hold Kristian close.

  They make out against the door for a long time, until Carl is hard in his jeans, and then Kristian steps back.

  “I want you to strip off your clothes, fold them, and put them beside the bed. Are you comfortable with that?” Kristian half orders, half asks.

  “I can do that.” Carl is nervous, but he’s been naked in public before, due to frat hazing. So taking his shirt off isn’t too difficult. He feels a little nervous when he unbuttons his jeans. He doesn’t have a bad body, maybe a little skinny.

  But when he straightens up from folding his clothes and looks at Kristian, there’s nothing but heat in his eyes. He’s looking at Carl with such lust, it leaves Carl shaky inside.

  “Go lay on the bed, pretty boy. I’m going to get the rope,” Kristian tells him, never taking his eyes off of Carl’s body.

  Carl walks the small distance to the bed and gets onto it, lying flat on his back. His heart is racing with nerves, but his dick is hard, his skin hot with desire.

  “Arms above your head. Tell me if it doesn’t feel right. If the ropes are too tight and hurt you, tell me. These are proper bondage ropes. They’re designed for this use. They won’t damage your lovely skin,” Kristian says, toying with the length in his hands. Just looking at it has Carl sweating a little, but he thinks it’s a good reaction. He wants to feel that rope against his skin.

  He likes the way Kristian talks to him, explaining everything without making him feel like an idiot. He’s in charge, but kind.

  Carl lifts his arms up, and Kristian bends over him with the rope, threading it around Carl’s wrists and the bed frame. Kristian ties it firmly, but not so tight that it hurts. The firm pressure around his hands and arms feels good. Carl feels secure, controlled, but in a good way. It’s his choice.

  “If you want the ropes untied at any point, I want you to pick a word, one that if you say, everything will stop, and I’ll untie you right away, no matter what’s happening. Pick something you don’t think you’d blurt out if you were turned on normally,” Kristian says. He undoes the leather vest he’s wearing and takes off his shoes, but he leaves on his pants and wrist cuffs.