Page 9 of Lance
“It’s cool, man. You’re doing good,” Lance encouraged, and Jamie knew very well that the guy was lying. He had been there, after all, he had lived in his own body as he tried to force it to do these things.
But damned if he didn’t sort of appreciate Lance saying differently.
They stood together, face to face, and their eyes caught at each other’s again. Just like the very first time, once they were actually looking at each other, once the energy was flowing between them, sparks practically flying, electricity arcing from his gaze to Lance’s and back again, it was downright impossible for Jamie to make himself look away.
This man was dangerous. This whole situation was dangerous. Suddenly, Jamie wished that someone else, anyone else, had been picked to teach him to dance. It didn’t matter that Lance was the most qualified, any of them would do. Anything to keep him from these devastating looks.
“Here,” Lance said, and his eyes shimmered, almost seemed to glow with warmth, a warmth that Jamie felt echoed in the very pit of his stomach. It was just lust—he comforted himself. Lust was safe to feel. But even then, he sort of wondered if it could possibly be something more.
Before Jamie could react, Lance was moving around him, their eyes staying fixed on one another as long as they could. Lance’s tall, muscular, ripped body settled behind Jamie, making him feel so small, oddly safe and protected.
“Just feel the music,” Lance murmured, his voice low and with a soft, purring note of something that Jamie could swear was arousal resonating through it. Moments later, he became sure, as Lance’s arms wrapped around Jamie and his hips settled against Jamie’s ass like they belonged there.
Slowly, they turned together, performing the spin in place, and Jamie settled his arms on Lance’s, his palms against the back of Lance’s hands as they spun through the complicated turn.
It felt so easy when he was in Lance’s arms.
But damn it, he had ethics. He knew what was right and wrong, and being this close to someone who was so obviously aroused, that was wrong. At least it was when that person had a boyfriend. Jamie was no homewrecker, and he wrenched himself out of Lance’s arms before he could grind himself back on himand before he could beg him to take him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jamie demanded, putting his hands on his slim hips and glaring at the guy. He hadn’t gotten the sense that Lance was the kind of guy that would cheat, but Jamie supposed that was another lesson, as if he needed one, about judging a book by its cover and how he should really not trust his impressions.
“I was just teaching you …” But there was a guilty look on Lance’s face, like part of him, at least, had been doing it on purpose. The burning heat of anger flushed through Jamie, and he welcomed it. So much easier to feel angry than to have to deal with the desire that he had.
“Bullshit. I don’t fuck people who are already taken,” Jamie informed him, the anger giving him the strength to be blunt about it. “Try it again, and I’ll tell Ken.”
He would, too. Nothing really had happened so far between him and Lance, but that was only because he’d pulled away. Even with how annoyed he was, he had to admit that part of him wanted to go right back to Lance, as if it didn’t matter that he was taken, when, of course, it did.
“Taken?” Lance’s eyes looked confused, and Jamie, despite Ken’s obvious antagonism toward him, couldn’t help but feel bad for Lance’s boyfriend. Had Lance actually forgotten about him? Was that the sort of guy that he was?
“Yeah. Ken. Remember him? The man you were all over yesterday?” Jamie wasn’t bitter. He wasn’t. Besides, it seemed like he was probably better off with Lance being so off limits. It was damn hard to resist him as it was.
“Oh. Oh my God,” Lance’s eyes widened, and then, to Jamie’s shock and increased irritation, Lance actually started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Jamie asked, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at the man, who seemed to be just short of hysterics. Idly, he wondered if he was going to have to call someone in to help him, but Lance eventually calmed down enough that he could speak.
“No, it’s just … you think I’m actually dating Ken?”
Jamie bit his lower lip, and another emotion joined the humiliation, the anger, that he was feeling. One which was, to be honest, far less welcome. It was hope. Hope that maybe, against all the odds, he’d read the situation wrong.
“I’m not dating Ken. Shit. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” Lance sighed as he went over to the benches which lined the edges of the practice space, and, with only a brief hesitation, Jamie followed him. He kept a little bit of distance, but he still settled down beside the other man.
“… What?” Jamie tried to work that out in his head. Lance wasn’t dating Ken? But he wasn’t supposed to talk about it? That didn’t make any sense that he could see, not until Lance started to speak.
“Look, this is top secret, okay? But I don’t want you to think that I’m the sort of person who would cheat.” Lance looked over at him, and Jamie tried to steel his heart against the unwavering perfection of the meeting of their eyes. Even with that preparation, though, it hit him far too deeply.
“I won’t say anything,” Jamie promised, and Lance sighed and rubbed at his eyes before nodding and continuing on.
“Ken and I, we’re best friends. But there’s been some issues with the band and some bad fan reaction to me, I guess because I was caught dating women or whatever? Did Lester tell you about how you’re not allowed to date anyone that he doesn’t approve of before you signed up?”
Jamie frowned and then nodded slowly. It hadn’t seemed to matter that much to him, since he wasn’t planning on dating anyone, anyway. Getting over Dom had been a long process, and he wasn’t sure that he was ready. So signing that away really hadn’t seemed like much of a hardship.
“Well, for me, it goes further. I have to look like I’m in a relationship with someone. With Ken.” Lance made an adorable little face, his straight, gorgeous nose crinkling up a little. “Which is incredibly weird, let me tell you. He’s never been anything but a friend to me, but it’s what I have to do.”
Jamie’s head whirled as he tried to make sense of that. The thing was, it made a certain, weird sort of sense. He’d certainly noticed that Lester seemed to like to have a lot of control, so it didn’t seem very out of character for him to pull something like this.
“So the whole thing with Ken …” Jamie wasn’t sure he liked the hopeful tone in his voice. How eager he was to believe Lance, but he didn’t see a lie in Lance’s eyes.
“Yeah. It’s fake. He’s my fake boyfriend,” Lance told him, and Jamie looked down, his eyes shutting once more as he let himself just breathe through the surge of pleasure that gave him.
