Page 2 of Mutual Desire

“Yeah, my mom says it all the time, so it must be true,”Damien said, leaning toward her just enough to be heard, his tone casual.

She laughed—forced, but flirty.“Oh, come on. Don’t sell yourself short. You’re way more than that.” Her eyes dipped down his frame. “What do you say we go somewhere quiet and get to know each other better?”

“Well, I’m actually seeing someone right now,” Damien replied, raising his voice slightly over the beat, hoping to deflect the conversation. Craig popped into his mind, and the guilt of someone flirting with him made Damien want to call instead of just sending a quick text. But on second thought, Craig wouldn’t appreciate a late-night call from a noisy club while he was working his ass off. A text seemed like the better option. Besides, there was no guarantee that he would be able to take the call.

“Oh! You have a girlfriend? Lucky her.” The woman’s smile faltered just enough to reveal her disappointment, though she recovered quickly. It was always a dilemma—correcting people who assumed he was straight. Out of respect for Craig, Damien usually did.

“Luckyhim,” Damien corrected gently. “I also feel pretty lucky.”

The woman paused, her smile slightly fading, surprise flickering in her eyes. “Oh! So, you’re gay?”

Damien nodded, preparing himself for the usual follow-up comments. There was a reason hedidn't fancy getting hit on—or getting hit at all for that matter.

“But you don’tlookgay,”she added, her voice tilting with curiosity rather than malice, as if she were trying to solve a riddle she hadn’t expected to find.

Sigh. There it was. Damien had heard this before. It took every ounce of willpower for him not to roll his eyes. He bit his tongue, resisting the urge to reply, “You don’tlookstupid” or “Oh, I’m sorry. Let me get my rainbow dildo and shove it in my ass.Would that be gay enough for you and help you process this?”

Sure, it would have been a disproportionately harsh reaction toward Amber Heard who probably meant no harm, but it was an old trigger for him—an instant jab that got under his skin every time.

Instead, Damien offered her a restrained smile and kept his tone light. “I also don’t look like a teacher, and yet, here we are.”

That caught her off guard, making her laugh genuinely this time. “Touché. I should know better. No one can guess what I actually do for a living.”

“Let me guess,” Damien said, glad to shift the conversation.“Astronaut?”

“Ah, very funny,” she said, rolling her eyes but grinning, nonetheless. Damien could tell she wasn’t used to people deflecting her advances so smoothly.

Just then, another guest stepped into the conversation uninvited—taller, broader, with a cocky smirk that instantly rubbed Damien the wrong way. He looked between Damien and the blonde, then flashed the woman a conspiratorial grin.

“So, you got yourself one hottie, huh?” he said, nodding toward Damien. “Lucky bastard.”

Damien blinked. The club’s thrum made it hard to tell if the guy was being sleazy or just clueless. Either way, it landed wrong.

The blonde arched a brow, clearly amused now. She leaned toward the man and shouted over the music, “He’s gay.”

The man blinked, surprised. “Gay?” He looked Damien up and down. “You don’t seem the type.”

Jesus. There it was again. Damien’s patience was wearing thin. He didn't exactly know what the guy meant by“type”, and quite frankly, Damien couldn't give a rat’s ass.Instead of saying what he really wanted to, he bit back his sarcastic retort and simply smiled.

“Guess I’m full of surprises.”

The man’s smirk faltered. “Right,” he said, before turning and muttering something under his breath as he disappeared into the crowd.

As the man left, the woman leaned in again, her voice softer. “Well, you handled that better than I would have.”

Damien shrugged. “I’ve had practice.”

The woman smiled, and this time it felt sincere. “Well, it was nice chatting with you, Mr. Teacher. Hope you find a quiet corner to escape soon.”

“Thanks,” Damien said, already looking for the exit, when his phone vibrated in his hand. Grateful for the distraction, Damien pulled it closer to his face, noticing Nick’s name flash across the screen.Perfect timing.This call from his best friend was a sign and the excuse he needed.

As he navigated through the crowd, Damien felt the air in the room grow heavier with each passing second, like the people and the neon lights were closing in on him. Every laugh, every half-shouted conversation became an indistinct noise, blurring into one unbearable buzz.

He’d had enough. His fingers curled around the smooth edge of his phone case, the faint texture grounding him, eager to answer a phone call like he hadn't been for a long time. Slipping past a group of men talking too loudly about their recent trips to Ibiza, Damien moved through the crowd, weaving between bodies pressed together in a collective rhythm he couldn’t relate to. The music was a relentless thrum, shaking his chest like a second heartbeat. Lights pulsed overhead, neon flashes painting the room in electric colors as his gaze firmly locked on the exit.

Damien glanced toward Dimitri and Samuel, both now stationed near the bar. Dimitri’s hand lingered on the small of Samuel’s back, a gesture Damien noticed but pretended not to. Samuel didn’t seem to mind, but there was a tension in the air between them that made Damien’s chest tighten. He’d seen these moments before, little cracks in Samuel’s composure whenever Dimitri got too close. A glance too long, a touch too familiar.

Damien shook his head, turning toward the crowd again. This wasn’t his problem. Not tonight.

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