22. Volt #3
Volt chuckled. He was pretty sure that he carried Wallace somewhere, even if it was only a few steps across the room, nearly every time they saw each other. “I can’t help myself when you’re so small and cute.”
Wallace’s grin got even bigger. He’d stopped trying to argue about statements like that, and it made the Daddy part of Volt immensely satisfied.
“So, movie?” Wallace asked brightly. He had to be aching with arousal—Volt had felt the bulge of his stiff cocklet through those sexy leggings—but he didn’t look upset at all.
Another box checked on a list that Volt hadn’t even realized that he had.
Wallace was so fucking wonderful. Worthy of everything that Volt had thought and overthought since they got together.
Volt needed to trust him more.
He needed to believe that what they had was real and stop worrying about Wallace taking all of his shiny new self-confidence and finding somebody better. Richer. More human.
Wallace had built him a dance studio.
“Let’s go,” Volt agreed, swinging Wallace back into his arms and striding down the hall with only a little groping of that voluptuous ass.
They returned to the living room, where the slate gray couch was every bit as uncomfortable as it looked.
But it didn’t matter when Wallace sat down right beside him.
Volt squeezed him close, pleased beyond measure when Wallace immediately relaxed against him.
He was such a delicious armful. Really the only person who Volt would want to be here with.
“You want the local internet password?” Wallace asked, proving again how thoughtful he was. “Everything’s connected.”
Volt could access the internet from anywhere with cell tower reception, but having access to the smart devices in a space made him feel immeasurably more secure.
Wallace held up his phone for Volt to scan the image code, and Volt let the buzz of the apartment pop into his awareness.
Television, streaming services, chefbot, cleaning bot, temperature regulation, a laptop and two tablets, window shades, two of the overhead lights, and an electric toothbrush.
For an heir to the Orbit empire, Wallace actually didn’t have a lot of tech at home.
Still, having access to all of this was another level of trust.
And even if Wallace had read about this in one of his how to date a spark blogs, it meant that Wallace wanted Volt to feel at home here.
And Volt had no idea how much he’d needed that. It wasn’t something anyone he’d dated had done for him before.
Volt really needed to get this conversation over with. Even though he knew Wallace would like the outcome.
Well… maybe after the movie, since Wallace was already starting it.
Volt let himself settle back to try and watch. It looked like an interesting movie. The heroine was being dramatic and indecisive, the bold hero kept dashing in and out of the scene with his own agenda—damn, were these old films sexist—but Volt couldn’t get his mind to really focus on the plot.
By the time the credits were rolling, he figured he’d caught maybe five percent of the content. But he couldn’t make himself sit through another one now that he’d made his decision.
“So, creampuff,” he began, stroking one hand down Wallace’s side.
“Yes, Daddy?” Wallace looked up, content and relaxed.
“I wanted to talk with you about something.”
Wallace pulled away, his whole body tense. “Yes?”
“It’s not bad,” Volt assured him. It was probably very good. Which made it even weirder that he felt so awkward about it.
“Okay?” Wallace prompted, still nervous.
“I was thinking that I want to leave sex work.” Volt would have held his breath if he had any breath to hold. Instead, his fans were whirring and his processors racing, though they weren’t calculating anything useful.
He’d actually already made the decision, and Angel had taken him off the website and the roster a few weeks ago.
Even before that, it had felt increasingly weird, and he’d kept making himself unavailable.
So he hadn’t technically been doing sex work for months now.
He wasn’t sure why he was so worried about Wallace’s reaction or why he’d taken so long to blurt it out.
Clearly, it was one of those spark things that didn’t make any sense. Something subconscious or whatever.
Either way, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to move, wouldn’t be able to think, until Wallace replied.
Wallace just nodded, though, looking thoughtful. “Are you sure? You know I wasn’t asking you to do that. Unless you’re really thinking about a new career.” His face brightened. “Hey, we could try to figure out this whole new job thing together!”
Volt exhaled in a woosh. He hadn’t known what the right response was, but this was it.
Wallace wasn’t crowing that he’d gotten his personal whore to leave the profession for him.
He wasn’t expecting Volt to continue on in his role as sex-provider, just now without pay.
He wasn’t even asking about what it meant for their relationship, though of course there would be some implications.
He was just treating it like a career change, and Volt loved him for it.
He pulled Wallace up against him. “I have no idea what else I want to do. And I’m still committed to Prism and Angel and Magnolia, at least for the foreseeable future. They really need me there. I’ll just be happier focusing on the more administrative side of things.”
“You won’t miss it?” Wallace asked.
Volt shook his head, absolutely positive about this now.
“Nope.” At first he’d just told himself he wasn’t in the mood.
But after he’d let Wallace touch him, to bring him to pinnacles of ecstasy that he hadn’t even known were possible with just those shy, untrained hands and that sweet, willing mouth, he’d never be able to make himself really engage with the customers.
It was like comparing a generic beach painting to the scent of the salty spray and crash of the waves as he dove headlong into the ocean. The two acts might both be called sex, but they weren’t even in the same category.
“Does it change your schedule?” Wallace asked.
Volt wanted to kiss him. Such a simple, mundane question. “Not really. It’s still better for me to be there as much as possible.”
“But can I come visit more often?” Wallace asked. “I’ve kind of tried to stay away during working hours, unless you invite me over at a specific time.”
Volt hadn’t even realized that, though it made sense. He couldn’t imagine, from where he was sitting now, how horrible he would have felt if he’d been with someone else when Wallace stopped by. Though, now he understood why Wallace hadn’t invited himself over more often during the renovations.
Volt knew that he’d been committed exclusively to Wallace—both emotionally and physically—for weeks now, but Wallace had actually never had that reassurance in return.
God, his boyfriend was fucking amazing.
“Yeah, I guess you can,” he agreed. “I mean, really. Just come over any time.”
Wallace gave him a shy smile. “Can I admit that this makes me really happy?”
“Oh?” Volt asked, shielding the last little bit of his heart. He wanted Wallace to be excited about their new level of commitment, but he didn’t want it to be all about that at the same time.