Part Ten Plain Brown Wrapper #3
Joe would have bet his job that the only reason Scott didn’t object was because he heard the order concealed beneath the business-like invitation.
Joe walked across to the man working behind a counter on the other side of the room and took up a position where Scott would be within his line of sight.
While Thomas—the sauna’s resident gossip extraordinaire—babbled away, Joe watched Scott approach the bar.
Freddie, the man working behind the bar that night, had been married and monogamous ever since it was legal; but he wasn’t shy about letting a cute guy know it was only his wedding ring stopping him from making a play for him.
Joe smiled to himself. If seeing himself submitting on a wide screen TV hadn’t convinced Scott that he was stunning in all the ways that count, then seeing the number of guys in the sauna who would make it clear they desperately wanted to screw him the moment they set eyes on him was bound to do it.
There wasn’t a man alive who wouldn’t get a confidence boost from that, was there? Joe nodded vaguely to whatever Thomas was telling him. Tonight was going to lay to rest all of the demons Scott had acquired when he’d first come out of the closet. Joe was determined about that.
Scott politely took a bottle of Coke from Freddie. He turned. His blush was brighter than ever. He looked toward Joe, but Joe told him with a tiny shake of his head that he wasn’t allowed to approach yet.
Scott looked around the room and, still maintaining a death grip on his towel, headed straight to the quietest area.
He perched on the edge of the low slung sofa and clumsily took the top off his drink.
He tipped his head back and poured a good amount of Coke down his throat, as if he was trying to drown his nerves with the sugary soft drink.
Joe bit back a chuckle as a guy approached Scott’s sofa, and Scott promptly choked on his Coke. The guy sat down next to Scott and rubbed his back.
Joe’s inclination to laugh died. He’d planned on a lot of flirting on the part of other men, and a lot of blushing and polite no thank yous on Scott’s part. Touching had not been part of the deal. Any man but him touching Scott was not part of any plan.
Scott scooted away, moving down the sofa to put some space between himself and the guy hitting on him.
Joe felt slightly better about the world when he saw Scott’s reaction, but when the guy moved closer again and stroked his fingers over the hand with which Scott maintained a death grip on his towel, Joe knew that the tour of this particular room had gone on quite long enough.
He arrived beside the sofa just in time to hear Scott stutter out a reply to whatever it was the guy had asked him.
It was difficult to guess what the question had been because Scott’s answer was garbled by nerves, but Scott was making it clear that his answer was no. That was all that really mattered.
“Are you ready to resume your tour, Mr Evans?” Joe asked, with false cheerfulness.
Scott jumped like a puppy caught rooting through the rubbish bin. “Y-Y-Yes!”
The guy on the sofa laughed. Damn it, that was just as unacceptable as the touching. Joe might find Scott’s nerves and blushing amusing, but that didn’t mean other men could take liberties like laughing at him.
He turned away before he forgot what he was supposed to be focused on that day in favour of making it clear that Scott was his by smacking some sense into the other guy. Joe headed for the door on the opposite side of the bar room to where they’d entered, and Scott hurried along in his wake.
“I w-wasn’t encouraging h-him. I’d never b-break your rules about th-th-that.”
Joe paused a few steps into the corridor and turned to face Scott. Scott appeared even more worried than usual.
“I haven’t accused you of anything,” Joe pointed out, gently.
Scott looked sceptical.
Joe walked back to him. “It’s never even occurred to me that you want anyone else,” he said, honestly.
Words only did so much to reassure. They were alone in the corridor and he knew one thing that always helped Scott feel better about the world. He kissed him.
He could damn near feel the fear and nervousness draining out of Scott’s body.
It was probably in sync with the way the blood drained away from his head and rushed to his cock.
Joe smiled to himself as he stepped back.
“But you’re not going to distract me from this tour, no matter how hard you try. ”
Scott parted his lips and was obviously about to protest until he saw Joe’s teasing expression.
“Come on, Scottie.”
He opened a door and stepped back to allow Scott in first.
“The swimming pool is one of the most popular areas in the complex,” Joe said in his best attempt at a detached professional voice. He ran a quick eye over the men enjoying the area.
Two guys were making out in one of the Jacuzzis.
A three-way was taking place in the shallow end of the pool.
As Joe ran an assessing eye over the situation, another man swam over and joined them.
The guy getting screwed was now completely surrounded and obviously enjoying all of the attention.
There wasn’t room for him to drown. No one would have to play lifeguard.
Joe turned his attention back to Scott. He found himself already the focus of Scott’s gaze. It was impossible to tell if he’d even glanced at the guys in the water.
“Can you swim?” Joe asked.
Scott nodded.
“Ever been screwed in the deep end?” he asked, more quietly.
Scott shook his head.
“Something for the bucket list,” Joe said.
Scott didn’t have a chance to answer before a whistle cut through the air.
“Hey, new boy.”
Joe looked over his shoulder and traced the call back to one of the men in the Jacuzzi.
“Want to find out what men really come here for?” The guy offered.
Joe met his gaze.
“If you ever decide to screw where you work, you know you’ve got a standing invitation too, Joe! The more the merrier—especially when they’ve got a cock like yours!”
The moment the man turned his attention toward him rather than Scott, Joe was happy to consider him harmless.
“Maybe next time,” Joe said—just like he always did.
“You said that last time,” the other man in the Jacuzzi protested.
“Yeah, but one day, I’ll mean it and it will definitely be worth the wait.” It was easy talking to someone like that. Joe could do that on auto-pilot. It wasn’t like speaking to Scott, where each word was important and Joe had to weigh each syllable.
Leading Scott away from the guys in the Jacuzzi and out into another corridor, Joe didn’t give them time to hit on Scott again.
Glory holes lined one wall of the passageway. Many were surrounded by one-way mirrors—some of them allowed a man to see who would be sucking him, while the others allowed the man getting the blowjob to be seen without knowing who was on the other side.
Joe caught Scott’s eye. “In most areas, this sauna can compete with any place in the city; but there are one or two activities where we lose hands down to other venues.”
Scott was obviously reliving the same memory that filled Joe’s mind. It would be a different experience for Scott to play with a glory hole in a sparkling, modern building.
Joe was tempted to order Scott to wait there while he hurried around to the other side of the wall and got behind one of the glory holes that would allow him to see Scott when he went down on him.
No. Tonight wasn’t about showing Scott how much he wanted him.
Being wanted by one man would never get his confidence up high enough.
Joe opened another door and once more stepped back to let Scott go first. “Just follow the corridor. You can’t get lost. Keep going. I’ll be right behind you. You won’t lose me.”
The moment Joe stepped into the part of the sauna affectionately nicknamed the labyrinth and closed the door in their wake, almost all the light disappeared from the world. Heat replaced it. It reminded him of some of the stricter religions’ idea of hell.
Hot, dark, full of steam and, just like those same religions promised, it felt like it was home to every gay man who had ever lived.
There was no way Scott could walk through there and leave without knowing just how wrong the first gay men he’d met had been when they told him that no one would ever be interested in screwing him.
Muscular, naked shapes moved around them as they took a few steps forward. Scott came to a complete halt.
Joe stepped up behind Scott. He put one hand on Scott’s shoulder, and the other on his waist. “Do you remember your orders?”
* * * * *
Orders. Yes. Scott had orders to follow. Even if Joe was playing the part of tour guide, every word that left Joe’s lips still represented a command. All Scott had to do was obey. He just had to follow the corridors and trust that Joe would be right behind him.
It wouldn’t be the first time that he’d had to trust that Joe was there and watching over him, even when he couldn’t see Joe for himself.
Scott thought back to the rough, glory hole pub once more. Even naked and horny, the men here weren’t anywhere near as scary as the denim and leather clad guys in that pub had been.
It soon became apparent, however, that the men in the sauna were far more touchy-feely.
Hands slid over Scott’s body. They weren’t threatening. They weren’t hurting him. There wasn’t even the sense that they wanted to do anything that he wasn’t willing to allow. But, they weren’t Joe’s hands.
In the dim lighting and steam, all Scott could see were vague shapes and glimpses of naked skin, slick and shining in the heat. The caresses felt more like invitations than demands, but that didn’t help. Scott knew Joe’s touch, and he knew these caresses belonged to strangers.