Russian Roulette: Flashbacks [male x male]

Ch. 22: You're...?

"I haven't either, but I want to. And he told me he wanted me, sort of."

"He what?" Chess' high-pitched voice drew the attention of a few people some tables away, and he shot them a glare to make them mind their own business. "No, seriously. Mister P. told you he wanted you? Like what? His sub? His showcase partner?"

Again, Jace had to shrug. Phoenix had not specified anything. He had just said that he wanted to fuck him raw, basically. He had not mentioned anything BDSM.

"He said he wanted me. To fuck me."

"I'm going to need a bit more information than that." Chess plopped another dough-thing into his mouth and waited for the tale untold. It could only be an interesting story. Anything involving Mister P. had to be top-level secret, and he expected it to be all sorts of juicy.

Jace went on to tell Chess everything. Well, as much as he could without revealing who Phoenix was. Protection of privacy and the right to anonymity were part of the membership contract both he and Chess had signed to become members, so Jace had to omit a few details.

He could tell that they had known each other beforehand and had met through work. As long as he did not disclose Phoenix's real name or their jobs, it would be fine. Not that he could have done that anyway with working for Gareth, and what they did, but it was nice to have that sliver of truth to hang on to, but also to give his story about their first meeting some credibility.

Chess listened intensely to how their surprise meeting at the club, where Jace had expected to meet Lady Gloria, had turned into Phoenix, Mister P., offering to do the initial training, and how it had gone from there.

That led up to when Packard and Lady Gloria had returned and how Phoenix had pulled back until his big reveal at the birthday party. It had turned out to be a good base to show they had established some kind of relationship, and Chess did not seem to catch on to the minor holes in Jace's story.

Chess rubbed his temples when Jace stopped talking. "So, what you're telling me is, that Mister P. told you in October that he wanted to fuck your literal brains out, and now we're sitting here in the middle of January, and you've done nothing about it but sit at my bar and play hard to get, while secretly pining over a man you know wants you?"

Ok, when put like that, it sounded awful.

What could he say?

Phoenix had shocked the life out of him with his words that night at the party. He should have run after him, stopped him from walking away, but he had just stood there, trying to make his brain work enough to make his limbs not feel numb.

The rest of the evening, Phoenix had kept his distance, and at some point, he had left the party without a word. They had eyed each other more times than Jace could remember. Phoenix had looked nervous as if he had waited for everybody to know that he was gay, or that he had made a pass at a 'straight' colleague. Jace had looked at Phoenix as if he had not understood what Phoenix had said, and he had waited for reality to kick in, and it had all been a figment of his imagination. But from Phoenix's intense stares, he had concluded that it had very much been reality. Twilight zone-worthy reality.

Phoenix was gay?

Gay as in gay gay?

He had kept that a secret and gone with the flow of all Jace's attempts at wingmaning for him, despite his own sexual preferences. Just to respect Jace's status and maybe not out himself and make things awkward.

During the night, Jace had wondered if Phoenix had been interested before he found out that Jace was a sub. Whether it was a physical attraction or if it was the Dom in Phoenix that drew him toward Jace.