6
Luke
Truth: I’ve never been in a friends-with-benefits arrangement. I even had to google what it entails. This is not going to sit well with me. I mean, yes, I can do the casual fucking, the no-strings-attached lay, the one-night stand BJ, but friends with benefits is tricky, especially with Dex. Mostly because he’s insanely hot. I mean, you need to be turned on by three-piece-suit, uptight, grumpy men to find him hot, but he is. Then there’s the light in his eyes when I’m around. I’ve never seen him as relaxed as when we’re alone together. He smiles a lot, even laughs, and every time, my heart does a somersault. And that is the root of the problem.
Finally, sex with Dex is out of this world. It’s bringing me to places I’ve never experienced. Not that we’ve been all the way since his birthday. Mainly because we don’t agree who should be on the top. We’re as ridiculous as two toddlers fighting over the same toy. But every time he touches me, I fly. I’m transported to another realm, where orgasm makes me lose touch with reality. I’m going to want more soon.
* * *
I’m a relationship kind of guy. I love to wake up with a man in my arms, even more with my man in my arms. I want to hold his hand in public, snuggle on the couch, take a bath together, sit on the beach. Dex? Not the kind of guy who wants to be someone’s boyfriend. I’m already surprised he hooked up with someone in his inner circle—more than once even. He’s the “blow my dick or let me fuck you in ten minutes tops so I can go back to work” kind of guy. Which he continues doing when I’m not available. If he texts that he needs a blow and I don’t answer within fifteen minutes, Dex uses that stupid app he loves and finds another mouth to do the job. It’s tricky because we’re not dating, but I did believe he would at least wait an hour or two before finding another guy to suck him off. For a guy who was underfucked three weeks ago, he’s overfucked now, which is not my case.
“Luke, Ryan is here with his banana,” Morgan announces with a laugh.
The other fucked up thing that makes me realize I’m fucked over Dex is the fact that I said yes to helping Ryan Marley, the former alcoholic, sex addict, and movie star, Julie’s ex-best friend, Dex’s one-night stand, Ian’s former buddy, and Virginia’s ex but maybe also future love affair. Fuck, this group is complicated. But when Dex asked, I couldn’t refuse. So I babysit the guy and teach him to tattoo fruits, which he’s having a blast with and even has a certain talent for. He got it right the first time, and I was impressed. I’m starting to understand why everybody is back on the Ryan train, but I’m still not sure I can trust him.
“Tell him to come in!” I tell Morgan. Ryan fits right in with my staff, joking about the celebrities we tattoo here and what they’re like in private. He’s funny as hell when he imitates other actors, and he’s pretty laid-back for an asshole.
“Hey, Luke man! Ready for your babysitting shift?” His turquoise eyes are stormy today, and I can see his smile is only a facade.
“What’s up? You seem troubled.”
He shrugs before sitting down on the other side of my desk. That’s something we established the first time I babysat him. I don’t beat around the bush and he doesn’t either. I ask the question and I expect him to answer sincerely.
“It’s hockey season, and normally Julie and I would dissect everything together. She’s the only girl I know who can speak hockey for hours, but I mean, with the baby and the history and… shit, I miss her. I know she can be a pain in the ass, super self-centered, but she’s fun, you know?”
I nod. I know—she’s my best friend now after all. Something Ryan doesn’t know is that I love hockey. Hard not to when my dad was the coach of the high school hockey team and my brothers and I were roped into it as soon as we could babble. If he hadn’t been injured, my dad might have become a pro—or at least that’s what he likes to say. He was still in high school when it happened, so we’ll never know for sure, but it seems he had a promising future.
“Well, why don’t you call her and talk about it? I know we do all the time. I mean, I don’t understand her love for the Montreal Canadians when you can love the Kings in our city or the Rangers, but it’s something we discuss regularly.”
I meant to appease him and encourage him to reach out to Jules, but he seems hurt by what I said.
“Ryan, listen, call her. I didn’t replace you. Well yes, I did, but I mean, we can discuss hockey the three of us together. Seriously, Ian doesn’t understand much of it, Virginia doesn’t give a shit, and Dex…” I stop my trail of thoughts. I have no idea if Dex likes hockey, and I shouldn’t care anyway.
Ryan's eyes go wide. “What about Dex?”
I sigh. “How close are you to Dex?”
He shrugs. “How close can anyone be to Dex? I mean, I know he’s helping me because of Virginia. I like the guy, he’s fun to rile up, but I don’t know much about him.”
I lean back and put my shoes on my desk. “Me neither.”
“I know we’re supposed to talk about me, my feelings, my tattooing skills, and shit, but if you need me, I’m right here.”
“Yeah, let’s talk about my sex life with one of the other lays of the guy I’m fucking. Seems healthy,” I deadpan, rolling my eyes.
Ryan looks as if he’s in shock. His eyebrows are in his hairline, his mouth’s wide open, and his eyes indicate he’s trying to compute what I just laid out into the universe. As he saw us tripping over ourselves to get to Dex’s bedroom, he clearly didn’t know his one-night stand with him was a known fact to the group. I sigh.
“Shit! Sorry. Forget I said anything. Why don’t you go ask Morgan to show you how to do cursive on the freaking bananas? I need to finish some super boring paperwork before my first client of the day,” I say, dismissing him with my hands.
I’m about to text Julie to see if Ryan can hang out with us for our next hockey night when my phone buzzes with a text from Dex. I’m pretty sure he’s going to ask me to meet him in his office in thirty minutes for a fuck, and I’ll have to say no again because I’m not canceling my client for a quick blow job. Opening the message, I feel my heart squeeze. I’m a little miserable and a lot horny.
Dex: I sent you a schedule by email. Please review it and let me know if you need to change anything.
What the fuck is he talking about?
Me: ???
Dex: Check your emails!
So I do… and I roll my eyes at what I find. He really has control issues.
Me: Are you kidding me Dex? You made a schedule for whose turn it is to be top?
He’s ridiculous. If he wasn’t so intent on doing it fast and being sure not to spend any more time than needed with me, so I won’t get the wrong idea—his words—we would have fucked one another for sure. He didn’t like how I called him babe and didn’t let him work the second night we spent together, and since then, he’s been avoiding any situation that makes him feel as though we’re dating. Which we aren’t because if we were dating, the guy would only have eyes for me. I’m a great boyfriend.