Chapter Thirteen
JASPER EXPECTED the worst part of the week to be going back to mundane life, with college and work and the occasional chat with Vincent, but no. The worst part was constantly getting aroused and not being able to do anything about it.
He could have taken care of it. Vincent wouldn’t know unless Jasper told him, and it wasn’t like Vincent could really do anything to keep him from masturbating. But the few times he actually started to, he hadn’t been able to finish.
The thought of disappointing Vincent killed his boner every time. Not to mention the fact it could be considered lying if he didn’t own up to the deed.
There had to be a good reason Vincent didn’t want him masturbating. He knew Keith or Amber would probably tell him if he asked, but he couldn’t bring himself to let them in on any of the sordid details of his sex life.
So he suffered in silence. Enough that his coworkers at the theater gave him shit about needing to get laid.
By Friday afternoon, he was more than ready for Vincent to tie him up and have his way with him.
His phone dinged with a text as he tossed his bag onto his bed. Jasper was sure Vincent had his schedule memorized, since he’d gotten home from his last class barely ten minutes ago.
Bring any schoolwork you have.
Jasper groaned. Did that mean they weren’t going to be enjoying themselves this weekend? Then again, there’d been several hours last weekend where he hadn’t done anything but watch TV while Vincent worked on his laptop. It’d been surprisingly peaceful.
Really, spending time with Vincent was something he looked forward to. Sex or not.
With a sigh, he turned on his music and grabbed a textbook. He had a couple of hours to kill, and he spent it making notes for the next chapter in his physiology course.
The car arrived at six, and he settled into the back seat with his bag.
It didn’t take long for him to realize they were heading towards the club rather than Vincent’s home, and he straightened in anticipation.
Was Vincent planning something new? Not that he was worried, even if Amber had warned him against jumping in too deep with the new experiences. He could handle a bit of experimenting.
There was an ambulance parked at the corner with its lights flashing when they arrived, and a small crowd had formed on the sidewalks.
Inside, everyone had been kicked out of the dungeon and were lingering near the open bar.
As soon as he neared the sitting area, one of the staff motioned for him and led him upstairs.
“Vincent is handling an emergency at the moment, but he should be done soon.” And then they were gone, leaving Jasper alone in Vincent’s empty office.
Well, so much for this being planned playtime.
He dropped his bag on the black leather sofa and eyed the wall covered with security feeds. Most showed the main floor, with a few on the outside by the doors, but the ones in the center were the private rooms.
He knew there were feeds from reading the membership application, but he hadn’t known Vincent had them in his office.
He skimmed over the screens, but he didn’t see Vincent anywhere.
None of the cameras seemed to show the dungeon.
And since he wasn’t a perv, he turned away and poked around the office.
Not that there was much to it. An expensive desk, a filing cabinet, an aloe plant, and another fluffy one that a quick Google search said was a ZZ plant.
The sofa had a glass coffee table in front of it, and across from that was a small bookcase. Most of the books were BDSM related, but there were also philosophy, poetry, and a few fantasy novels.
He grinned as he spotted a familiar large blue book. He pulled it out and thumbed through Hitchhiker’s well-worn pages. At least Vincent had good taste.
The door opened, and Jasper quickly put the book back, turning in time to see Vincent stalk in. He was pissed. Which probably did not bode well for the weekend.
Vincent paused as he caught sight of Jasper, his shoulders releasing some of their tension, but he was clearly one wrong word from biting someone’s head off.
“Are you okay?” Jasper asked.
“I’m fine.” Vincent’s voice was sharp as he moved to his desk.
He pulled out a piece of paper and shut the drawer with a bit more force than necessary.
“I need you to sign this to be in here. It’s a standard confidentiality agreement, saying you won’t repeat anything about what you see on the cameras. ”
Jasper nodded and picked up a pen, glancing over the form without really reading it before signing. He watched Vincent tuck it away in the filing cabinet in silence.
Vincent’s shoulders were tense again as he shed his jacket and tossed it over the back of his chair. He took a slow breath, finally turning to Jasper and focusing on him. “Have you eaten dinner?”
“Not yet.” He might have been hoping they would have dinner together.
Vincent rifled through his drawer again and handed over another paper. “I’m going to be stuck here a while. With the clusterfuck downstairs, I’m catering dinner for the staff from here tonight.”
Jasper took the paper and inched towards the sofa, trying not to call any more attention to himself.
Not that he was really worried about Vincent biting his head off.
But old habits were hard to break, and older, angry men kicked his flight instincts into overdrive.
He sat on the sofa and studied the menu for a restaurant down the street.
A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door. Vincent made an annoyed sound as he opened it to admit a slender blond woman in a pantsuit.
She closed the door behind her and smiled faintly at Jasper before focusing on Vincent. “The paramedics have gone. She refused to be admitted to the hospital, so they’re going home.”
Vincent made another annoyed sound, then sighed and sat on the edge of his desk. “You’re sure it was an accident?”
“Yes, I saw it myself. She was fine until someone cried out on the other side of the room, and it looked like she instinctively started to get up, which caused the scalpel to cut deeper than intended.”
Jasper winced. Vincent really hadn’t been kidding about people using scalpels and needles?
Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’d rather all the medical and sharp instruments be moved out of the dungeon and to one of the playrooms.” The woman pursed her lips, and he sighed again. “You disagree?”
Jasper spoke without thinking. “It might remove distractions, but it also adds time for anyone to help if something goes wrong,” he said, immediately sinking farther into the sofa when Vincent stared at him.
The woman pointed at Jasper. “What he said.”
Vincent grimaced and rubbed his forehead. “Fine,” he said tightly. “I’m ordering from Lucio’s if you can get everyone’s order.”
“Sure,” she said, wiggling her fingers at Jasper as she closed the door behind her.
Vincent stayed where he was, fingers pressed between his eyes.
Jasper gave up pretending to read the menu and cleared his throat, refusing to back down even when Vincent turned to him. He was still pissy. Great. “Can I help with anything?”
After a long moment of silence, Vincent let out a slow breath and shook his head. “No, it should all be taken care of.” He stood and moved around to sit in his chair, glancing at the monitors and then focusing on his laptop.
When the woman returned with a list of orders, Vincent phoned them in, along with Jasper’s.
The silence was almost deafening, and Jasper only managed to read two paragraphs in his textbook before nerves and curiosity finally got the better of him.
A quick glance at Vincent still showed a furrow of annoyance on his face, but at least he no longer seemed one step away from violence.
“Do you wanna talk about it or something?”
Vincent let out an explosive sigh and slumped in his chair, which didn’t even squeak with the sudden shifting of weight. “Not really. As much as I want to rave about people being idiots, everyone swears it was an accident.”
“People playing with scalpels are idiots?” Jasper guessed, relaxing a bit when Vincent’s annoyance shifted into amusement.
“Far be it from me to judge anyone’s kinks,” he replied dryly. “I wanted to forbid any kind of blood play in the common area, but too many members insisted on keeping it.” He ran a hand through his hair, and Jasper couldn’t help but grin when it mussed up the perfect styling.
He tossed his textbook to the other end of the sofa and moved to the desk. After he’d nudged Vincent’s chair back enough to make some space, he pushed the laptop aside and took its place. “If it was an accident, why are you still pissy over it?”
Vincent frowned at him even as he curled his hands against the backs of Jasper’s calves. “Having to call the paramedics to my place of business isn’t something I appreciate. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to avoid.”
“They knew the risks, though,” Jasper said. “I read the whole membership packet.” No medical equipment was owned by the club but could be bought. Anything used for blood play had to be purchased new or brought in and tagged at check-in.
Vincent’s disgruntled expression was almost comical, but Jasper managed not to laugh. “I think I’m going to punch the next person who says you’re a dick.” Which was probably going to be Matt, but he had it coming.
Vincent blinked at him, his expression shifting into something Jasper couldn’t quite name. “I’m going to be stuck here until we close,” he said, sliding his hands up to rub his palms against Jasper’s knees. “I can have the driver take you home to wait.”
Jasper did not pout. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No,” Vincent answered quietly.
“Damn right you don’t.” With a grin, Jasper leaned forward and kissed Vincent’s nose, then hopped off the desk to avoid making that any more awkward.
He grabbed his book and settled on the sofa again.
“I’ll wait here, then.” At least studying could be done anywhere, and the sofa wasn’t as uncomfortable as its price tag likely suggested.
He dug out his earbuds, put one in, and started his music.
The hours ticked by in silence while he studied. Dinner was delicious and came with a slice of chocolate cake that earned him more than one heated glance when he moaned while eating it. Vincent was called out several times, though not for anything serious enough to piss him off again.
Jasper ended up dozing on the sofa by eleven. Which he didn’t really mind. The office was at least kept cool enough he didn’t stick to the leather.
His phone startled him awake at some point, and he fumbled beside the sofa for it. He answered it with a grumbled, “’Lo?”
“Jasper baby,” came a familiar singsong voice.
Fuck.
Jasper sat up, almost instantly awake and hating it. “You don’t get to call me that,” he snapped, scrubbing at his eyes.
“Oh, baby, don’t be like that,” Shayne cooed, making Jasper grind his teeth. “It’s been ages.”
“It’s been four months.” Not that Jasper was counting.
Shayne made a protesting sound. “I miss you.”
What the actual fuck? Jasper pulled his phone away and squinted at the time. Almost one in the morning. “Are you fucking drunk?”
“Lil bit.”
Jasper rubbed his eyes, listening to the loud music and conversation in the background.
A club or bar most likely. Shayne was always doing gigs in one or the other.
Which had been hot at the time. Everyone fantasized about banging a guitarist, right?
But no one ever warned him about the whole “musicians love their music more than anything and are always emotionally unavailable” bullshit.
The whole attempted drugging so Shayne could share him with some “friends” was the cherry on the shit sundae, and a few hundred miles past his tolerance point.
“Can I see you?”
Jasper would have laughed if it hadn’t been so messed up. “No. And don’t call me again, you absolute cunt.” He hung up as Shayne started to say something, groaned, and flopped back on the sofa. When Vincent cleared his throat, Jasper realized he’d been there the entire time.
Shit.
He dragged himself into a sitting position and looked up.
“We can leave now,” Vincent said.
Oh, thank gods.