Chapter 7
Dodging my brother’s questions for the rest of the evening was no easy feat, but I managed to do so by using that it was work related and I wanted a true day off for the rest of the day.
Luckily, Troian wasn’t eager to push the boundaries of our still mending relationship to ask me more questions about Qwill.
Being honest with myself, I was having my own questions about Qwill. Mainly why the fuck was my body bending the straight line of my sexuality and thinking Qwill was aesthetically pleasing. That belly burn feeling wasn’t lost on me despite ignoring the shit out of it. I knew what it meant.
I thought Qwill was hot as fuck.
This was confusing, on multiple levels. I had never, in all my years, thought another guy was hot.
Now all of the sudden, without warning or preamble, I was finding male Orbs desirable?
As much as I wanted to pawn this newfound sensation on the fact that I hadn’t had sex in several months now, I couldn’t quite shake that belly burn.
Even worse, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to.
So for the time being, I was going to let it lie.
Not ignore it, exactly, but barring anymore run-ins with Qwill or his friends, I figured I was safe.
Maybe I could test the waters being back at work and see if any other male Orbs tripped my trigger.
You know, just to see if it was a one off kind of thing.
If I found another Orb attractive, then clearly it was just something in my body registering that I needed to get off and that was that.
However, I was a little more than worried of the alternative: that it was just Qwill.
Because I had no idea what it would mean.
Was I gay now? Was I bi? I still thought women were attractive, so was I just, I don’t know, Qwill-sexual?
It was really messing with my head. So by the time I walked into work the following evening, I was trying the best I could to quiet the part of my mind that wanted closure on what the hell was going on with me.
Something about working always fogged my mind in a good way. I was able to dance and sort of lose myself. That’s what I needed tonight more than anything.
It was a regular night, so I was all queued up to do the Cowboy Connor routine.
It went well, per usual, and I was able to distract my mind into doing a great job.
I ended up going all out, gyrating my hips in a way I normally didn’t during the climax of the final chorus, which really got the crowd going.
Yet again, I started feeling more in my body again once I was walking off stage.
And my heart did a palpitating flip when Evangeline came up to me backstage.
“You’ve got a private request in suite three again.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re joking.”
Evangeline looked back at me like I had suddenly gained three heads. “I never joke about money.”
“I thought we were going to talk about this. I don’t want to do private sessions, Evie.”
“They’ve already paid, like last time.” She nodded, crossing her arms. “But I don’t understand why you don’t want to do the private sessions. You get a massive cut of them, and the tips are usually bigger than during traditional routines. What am I not understanding here?”
Her tone wasn’t rigid or cold, just genuinely curious.
I knew Evangeline was a good boss, and an even better businesswoman.
I had to truly think about her words. Before my first private session, the one with Qwill, I think the real reason I was opposed to doing it was because I didn’t necessarily want a group of guys gawking at me, which I guess was rich considering I didn’t mind it too much when I was on stage.
Something about the intimate setting made me take pause, but really, what the hell was I afraid of?
“I guess…we can talk about me doing private sessions. But maybe only scheduled ones, if that makes sense. Is there a way to tell whoever is requesting that it has to be the week after? Maybe make it sound like I’m already booked just so I have time to prepare for it and everything?”
Her green eyes lit up as her lips curved, satisfied. “That’s actually…a wonderful idea. I think this is a great compromise. Consider it done.”
I smiled back. “Thanks, Evie. I’ll go change and head to suite three.”
“Thanks, Connor.”
I hastily made my way back to the locker room for a quick change, wondering who the hell was requesting me this time.
As I pulled on a pair of bright grass green trunks and pasties to match, I entertained the thought that it was Qwill, inspired by the green of my outfit, reminding me of his scales.
A smirk made its presence known on my face as I was leaving the locker room.
I really couldn’t deny it anymore. There was something about Qwill that I couldn’t get off my mind.
I made a mental note to talk to him about it, whether that meant I would be randomly showing up back at the marsh on the hiking trail I’d shown Troian or not.
Bracing myself for whatever was waiting for me behind the curtain of private suite three, I tried to put thoughts of Qwill on pause. I needed to be present to get this private dance over with before I was able to attack these new feelings—or whatever the hell they were—going on inside my head.
Ripping the curtain open, I froze in place as I took in the guy lounging in the booth that was provided in the suites. The familiar all black attire met my eyes and embedded themselves into my brain as Qwill stood up abruptly, stalling my brain before it had a chance to register what was happening.
“Please, let me explain. I didn’t even come here for the dance, I just came to talk.”
Elation bled into my brain over the person requesting me being Qwill, but wishing it was him and realizing that it was him were two different things.
And I hadn’t actually banked on the latter becoming a foundational part of reality.
I stammered, trying to find the appropriate response, but I was really having a hard time.
Because what I wanted to tell him was how glad I was that he was here.
“I’m sorry for just showing up like this,” Qwill said in lieu of my absence of words. “But I didn’t know how else to find you.”
Somehow, my body nodded of its own accord.
Closing my eyes, I tried to regain control over the situation, steeling my insides from firing off their alert that Qwill was well within reach now.
While I had reconciled to the fact that something was going on with me, especially in regards to the Orb set before me, there was also a time and place for everything.
He’d come here to talk and I wanted to hear what he had to say.
Shifting my feet, I was feeling more like myself, really taking in the gorgeous Orb that made up Qwill.
“Sorry, I just…wasn’t expecting to see you is all.
” I admitted, nodding my head again as he gave me a lopsided smile.
Fucking hell, that smile. Why the fuck was that smile so…
pure? His teeth were like beautiful beacons of unadulterated joy, and I hated how badly I was tracking his lips at this point.
“Understandable,” Qwill said, mimicking that fucking smile. “I won’t keep you, I know you’re busy working.”
I didn’t want to say how I’d much rather be in this suite with him than with the random patron I was thinking was waiting on me, but I didn’t.
Instead, I just walked further into the suite and let the curtain fall back behind me so we were obscured from view.
The overhead lighting was the same cool white from the singular source, making Qwill’s smile and scales a thousand times brighter than normal.
That burning in my stomach was back and I was determined to bury it long enough to hear what he’d come here to say.
When he realized I wasn’t going to say anything else, he took the initiative to blurt out what was on his mind.
“I know that you’ve already told me that you’re straight, and I’m trying to respect that.
” He paused to lock eyes with me. “Really, I am. But…well, I thought the last time I felt something pass between us because you were literally giving me a lap dance and it was, awesome, but also awkward as hell.” I nodded, to make sure he knew that I was listening.
Thankfully, he kept going. “But I also felt something the other day when you and your brother showed up at the marsh. And maybe it’s the delusional part of me, but there’s a part of me that thinks that…
maybe you did too? But I’m going to need you to tell me that I’m crazy if you didn’t feel anything.
Because you’ve said that you’re straight but I still feel like something passed between us. ”
He was right. I’d felt it that day on the hiking trail overlooking the marsh too.
There’d been this…electricity between us, an electrical current that didn’t make sense because I was a straight guy.
A straight guy infatuated with a male Orb beyond all comprehension.
Fucking hell, I wasn’t straight. At least not completely, not anymore.
Not since Qwill. Which didn’t make any fucking sense either, but I was tired of denying it.
I wanted to see what it meant, and there was only one way that was going to happen.