Page 3 of Meet You Half Way
That seemed to be good enough for him because next thing I knew I was shoved up against the cracked bricks at the back of the club, his rough hands down my pants and his tongue spearing my throat. He didn’t prep me at all and it had hurt like the infernos of hell when he had turned me around, pulled down my jeans, sheathed himself with a condom and shoved his enormous dick inside me. But I’d loved every minute of it, that burn, that pain, that sting, that fleeting undertone of pleasure that I had latched onto with all my might and chased.
But mostly it was theknowing.The knowing that I was exactly where I was supposed to be even if it meant I would burn in hell like my parents had told me.
He lasted all of four minutes. My dick had gone too soft with the onslaught of pain to get myself off but he hadn’t much cared about that as he zipped himself up and left.
Afterwards, I’d staggered into the bathroom to clean myself up before returning to the bar and gingerly sitting back down on the same stool. The next guy hadn’t bothered asking my age before I’d found myself once again pressed up against that same brick wall in that dingy alley, another dick in my ass.
It was at one of those gay clubs in Sydney that I had met the guy who would become my agent. He’d sidled up to me like many other guys had done before him and given me the same once over I had come to expect.
“I have a question for you,” he’d said casually.
“The answer is yes,” I told him, not one to play games. That was not what I was here for.
“Wait for the question first,” he’d smirked back. “I own Elite Model Management and I want to sign you up.”
“Yeah?” I’d asked. “Should we go out the back to discuss the finer details?”
He’d laughed, amusement in his eyes. “That’s the question. If you want to sign with me then we won’t be going out the back. Ever. If you don’t want to sign with me, well, that’s another story.”
And so I’d sat on the stool and heard him out. His name was Glen Akers and he was the most sophisticated guy I’d ever met. He also seemed legit. I Googled him while he was ordering us drinks and I could see both his company and he himself were the real deal with big name luxury clients a mile long. So I’d signed with Elite on the spot in the middle of that shady gay club and never looked back.
Signing with Elite had also been a really great excuse to keep going up to Sydney in the years since. I’d gone regularly, always seeking out a new club so as not to become recognisable. It was the only place I’d ever truly felt free.
Until Nick.
But I hadn’t been back to Sydney for that particular reason in almost a year. Definitely not in the nearly six months since Nick and I had broken up. I hadn’t really wanted to if I was honest.
Dante let out a deep sigh but I couldn’t let myself look at him, afraid he would see the heartbreak in my eyes and know the truth.
“You know I am here for you, Mateo?” he said quietly.
“I know,” I replied, my throat tightening up at his kind words.
I felt his firm hand on my shoulder before he stepped back to his desk, conversation over. I shook out my thoughts, tried to focus on the blueprints and tried to forget about Nick.
An impossible task if ever I’d had one.
CHAPTER 2
Mateo
Iarrived home from work to an empty house. I’d been stewing on Dante’s words all afternoon and I sighed when I stepped into the little beach cottage I shared with Rob and found myself alone. I wouldn’t have minded a bit of company to help me get out of my head for a bit. And Rob was always great for that.
I couldn’t exactly blame him though. It was not as though I’d given him even the barest of hints that I wasnot doing okay. That I maybe could have done with a bit of his support and friendship. Especially since the person I had turned to for the last nearly ten years of my life was no longer an option.
But Rob had been obsessing over Kat ever since high school and I couldn’t begrudge him that he finally seemed to have caught her attention.
Not begrudging was one thing. Being happy for him was another thing entirely and I admit I didn’t quite have it in me to be delighted at the prospect of seeing another of my friends blissfully in love.
Just a ball of sunshine I was these days.
Maybe it was time I headed up to Sydney again. Find myself a new gay club I hadn’t been to yet. Though the prospects ofthat had been fast dwindling. Especially after that last time I’d found myself in a voyeurism club by accident, the one with that interesting octangular back room. But I had stayed for a while so maybe I shouldn’t rule out another visit altogether. That sure had been … interesting.
The only problem was that I couldn’t get excited about it. Not even the thought of being pressed up underneath a hot, warm body could get my blood pumping. No, my blood seemed to pump for one person only and he was about to spend the coming weekend in the big city having loads of hot and sweet boyfriend sex with Ajay. I wondered what they looked like together, whether Ajay was a match for Nick’s voracious libido.
I don’t know why I did that to myself, pictured them together like that. But I did. I spent hours on end imagining Nick in bed with Ajay, what they would do there, whether they were as adventurous as Nick and I had been. Whether Ajay knew how to make Nick come as easily as I had. Whether Ajay had foundthatspot. Whether Nick held Ajay to his heart afterwards, softly stroking his warm skin.
And that right there was where my thoughts snagged the most. The image that broke my heart the hardest. Not the hot and heavy sex but the sweetness afterwards, the holding and the cuddling. The kisses and the whispers.
