“He does.” Thomas whipped his forked tongue across his bottom lip. “He does so beautifully.” He swallowed. “Making him come apart used to make me feel so alive. It’s all sweatyskin, hoarse voice, and straining dick, and he looks at me like I’m a fucking god and a devil all at once…and I blew it.”
“He’s still texting, right?”
“But he’s living it up, putting pictures on his socials and tagging me in them –
“He’s tagging you?” Scott whistled. “He’s trying to make you jealous.”
“Well, it’s working.”
“Did you tell him you’d be at The Frog & Toad on Friday?”
“I did, he said he’s looking forward to it. That was the last message.”
“Good. He won’t be expecting me to turn up with you.”
Thomas frowned at him. “Haven’t you ever thought about settling down?”
“Not really.”
“Not really?” Thomas leaned closer. “That’s not an outright no.”
Scott stretched out his legs. “I had a guy once who hired me to make someone jealous.”
Thomas winced. “You fell for a client, how cliché.”
“I didn’tfallfor him, but he told me all about this guy he liked and how he wanted to look after him.” Scott shifted uncomfortably. “And in a moment of madness, I thought…I thought I’d like a guy like that. I liked how he described the life he wanted with this other guy.”
“What happened?”
“The plan worked. The guy got jealous, and they ended up together, and…we never spoke again.”
Thomas looked away. They didn’t speak for a long time, then Thomas nudged his shoulder into Scott’s.
“I think your ice cream flavour should be called…touch yourself.”
“What?” Scott scoffed.
Thomas shrugged. “I know you like the feel of your own hands. It seems appropriate.”
“Sex toys and control and touch yourself.” Scott shook his head. “They’ll never catch on.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Janice said from behind them. “I’d quite like a taste of both. Even better if they’re together, you know, two scoops in one cone. On second thought, it sounds like a good name for a candle. Sex toys, Control and Touch Yourself.”
Scott stuck out his tongue. “I don’t want to know what that would smell like.”
“It would smell like you two,” Janice replied.
“Thank you for your input, you crazy old bat,” Thomas mumbled. “Now will you not-so-kindly get upstairs and clean…like I pay you to.”
“I was going to get the pump out of the car, but if you don’t want it anymore –”
“Please,” Scott blurted. “I can’t blow up another balloon.”
Janice crossed her arms. “I’ll get it if Thomas apologises.”
Thomas got to his feet. “What?”
“You heard me.”
