Chapter 15
A knock on my open office door broke my focus, but when I saw who it was, I didn’t mind.
“Hey, busy?” William asked as he leaned forward.
“Not much.” I gestured to one of the chairs in front of my desk. “We still on for the gym after work?”
“Yeah.” He took the offered seat. I didn’t have clients in my office very often, but it did happen. The setup gave them the view of the windows behind me, but William stared at his lap.
“What’s going on?” I asked, closing the application I’d been working on. The market was doing well this week. My clients were happy. My own portfolio was happy, and I’d been researching some riskier high-yield investments to mess around with.
“We’re friends, right?”
“Uh.” I threaded my hands on top of my desk. “I’m not even sure that’s a real question.”
“Yeah, so then why do I get the feeling you’re hiding something from me?”
I hesitated for only a moment. The fear of my secret being found out was an old wound that would never fully heal.
In deflection of what could be or what he could know, I leaned into our usual easygoing manner we’d adopted with each other.
“Jesus, William, don’t be a bitch about it. Say what you mean.”
He huffed. “We aren’t chicks, but I dunno, I figured if you had something going on, you’d talk to me.
You’ve always been this level guy, and in the last month, you’ve fluctuated more than in the last ten years.
You’re smiling for no reason at all, even making friends at those charities we get dragged to. What gives?”
“Oh.” Well, fuck. I hadn’t realized I’d been so transparent.
William and I were close, or at least the closest out of all the people in my life.
I might not’ve confided to him about my sexuality, but everything else was on the table.
We commiserated with each other over our well-known and powerful parents.
We shared in the anguish of pushy mothers practically selling their daughters to us.
We bemoaned the achievements of others when they outshined our own, then bolstered each other to try harder.
“I, uh.” I got up and closed my door, then retook my seat behind my desk.
William scooted his chair closer.
“I met someone,” I said.
One corner of his mouth lifted high, and then he smacked the top of his thigh. “I knew something was up. Fuck. Tell me everything. Are you still seeing her? She wife material or mistress material?”
I wasn’t about to correct his gender assumption, but I hated lying.
I chose my words carefully and hoped he could forgive me, though he’d never know he needed to.
“It’s new. We met randomly, and it took a few weeks to get somewhere, but now it’s good.
” I winced and amended that to, “Eh, it’s promising. ”
“Your mother know yet? God, it’s got to be a relief to have her off your back.”
I shook my head. “She doesn’t know, and she wouldn’t be pleased.”
“Ah.” William nodded once and sat back. “Not from the right stock. I see.”
“And young.”
He snorted. “Legal, I hope.”
I grinned, saying nothing.
“You’re shitting me.”
I couldn’t stop my smile from widening, even if I wanted to. “Nineteen.”
“Fuck you, man,” William said with his own smile growing to match mine. “Jesus, fuck you. Where did you find her? Pick her up out front of a high school?”
“No,” I laughed. “Dickhead.”
We both chuckled while he shook his head in disbelief. “Mmm. God, I can’t imagine. Young enough everything’s all tight and na?ve enough you can teach her what to do.”
I laughed, not commenting on who would be teaching whom. “You’re a pervert. Get out of my office.”
“I’ve got to meet her.”
“Nope.”
“Dude, this is the first time in … Hell, this is the first time you’ve ever said you were seeing someone. And I’m not talking about the couple of dates you went on to shut your mother up. I’ve got to meet the girl who snagged my best friend’s heart.”
A stabbing pain made said heart stutter. Best friend? He was, and that was what hurt. My best friend would never meet Asher.
“It’s all really new. Maybe one day when we’re solid.”
William huffed. “I get it. I’ll meet her at the wedding, at least.”
He left me alone with those parting words. I’d made him happy, given him enough to reaffirm we were friends, but my mood tanked. I’d never been in this situation on all fronts. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like lying or scrambling to make sure I wasn’t saying the wrong thing.
And the day didn’t get any better.
Before I had a chance to figure out how to “date” Asher instead of casual conversations like strangers at events, Mother called to tell me I was expected at their house this Friday night for dinner. The worst part was telling Asher.
“That’s okay,” Asher said when I told him. We hadn’t made official plans for Friday night, but I’d assumed we’d be seeing each other.
“It’s not okay. I’ll make it up to you.”
He softly chuckled. “I know you will. But really, it’s finals week, so I’m gonna be pretty worn-out anyway.”
I slouched into the oversized chair in my living room and balanced my scotch on my knee, hating that he was taking the news this well. What should be a relief was more resentful he hadn’t pitched a fit, hadn’t demanded I drive to his campus to see him right this second.
Not that that would be a good idea. Did it say more about my feelings for him that I’d wanted him to, or his for me that he hadn’t?
“Classes going okay?”
“Yeah. Nothing’s too hard yet, but I want to keep doing well, you know.”
“That’s good. A good GPA will help when you’re shopping for an internship.”
He groaned. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
I grinned and relaxed my head back. “I’ll help. I’ve been through it, so I can let you know where I messed up.”
“You? A mistake? I don’t believe— Oh, hang on.” He must’ve lowered the phone because the conversation on the other end barely came through.
“What happened?” Asher asked.
The response was too low.
“Is he okay?” Pause. “Yeah, I get it. Of course I’m cool with it, as long as the RA doesn’t notice him.” Chuckle. “Yeah, he is.”
“Sorry about that,” Asher said to me.
“It’s fine. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. You remember Percy?”
“Of course.”
“Apparently, he had a run-in with his family, who haven’t treated him right, and doesn’t want to be alone. Dorian, a friend of his, was askin’ if I was okay if they crashed here tonight.”
“That’ll be a tight fit.”
“Nah. Percy’s tiny. Dorian’s roommate’s an asshole, and mine is gone a lot. Makes more sense they come here.”
So badly, I wanted to suggest he give them his space and spend the night with me, but I didn’t.
Still chaffed over him so casually accepting my canceling of our plans, I didn’t want my emotions to come out as desperate or obsessed.
Maybe I was rushing things in my mind, wanting too much too soon, but it was definitely too risky.
Everyone in my building knew not only me but also my parents.
“What about the studying you need to get done?”
His laughter pulled at the corners of my lips, wanting to give in to that lighthearted sound. “I’ll get it done at some point. So dinner at your parents’,” he said. “That sounds like a horrible way to spend your evenin’.”
I huffed at the understatement.
“You can’t get out of it?” he asked.
“I could, but honestly, it just makes matters worse,” I told him and reminded myself as well. “Mother isn’t the type to be ignored. It’s easier to just go, and then I’m off the hook for a few weeks.”
“I get it.” Asher sighed, and at my prompting, he said, “Would you … Would you ever let me introduce you to my friends and family? I promise they’re acceptin’. I don’t keep people around me who aren’t.”
I wanted to say yes, but deep-rooted fears kept me silent.
“See?” he huffed. “That’s why I wasn’t gonna say anything.”
“What? I didn’t say no.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“Ash—”
“No, it’s fine. I agreed to the secret thing. I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
I downed the entire contents of my glass to keep from saying the first thing that popped to mind, then settled with, “I’ll think about it, Asher.” It was all I could give him.
“Okay,” he said in a small voice. After a moment, he added, “Since I won’t get to see you Friday, I’m expecting a grand date to make up for it.”
“Hmm.” I grinned, the liquor helping realign my mood. “Why don’t you give me some hints as to what you’d consider a grand date.”
“Well, considerin’ how breakfast went on Sunday, I’m gonna go with whatever gets my hand down your pants.”
I jolted, dropping my glass onto the plush rug under my feet. It didn’t break, and being empty, only the ice ball rolled out. “Shit,” I hissed and picked it up with Asher laughing in my ear.
“Didn’t expect that, huh?”
“Certainly not. I thought you might ask to go to the mall and build a bear. Isn’t that what kids do?”
“Maybe, but then I wouldn’t want to make my old man walk all the way from the car to the bear shop.”
“You deserve a spanking for that, Seducer.”
“Careful, Flirt, I might like that.”
I sighed and palmed my growing erection. “Me too.”
“Did it get you hard?”
“You know it did.”
Something rustled through the speaker, and when he spoke again, his voice had deepened. “Will you send me a dirty picture, something I can use until I see you again?”
“Hmm, I can do that. But maybe I should make you wait for it for being a tease.”
Asher groaned. “So mean, Mr. Dorset.”
“Will I get one in return?”
“Of course. I want to keep you happy.”
“You do, Asher. You keep me happier than I deserve.”
With the newness of the situation and how deeply I was out of my depth, the classic dick pic would have to suffice. After work the following day, I went home, left my suit on but unfastened my pants enough to get my dick out, and jerked off.
It wasn’t easy holding the phone, readying for the money shot, so I changed tactics and made a video of it instead. With most of my torso and lap in the shot, I paused on the moment I exploded. Streams of come ran down the hand holding my flushed, hard cock, all while surrounded by my Armani suit.