“Is someone coming to visit?”
A moment later, a knock sounded at the door. Timid and soft as if the person was unsure whether they should be knocking or as if they were trying to…
Aiden?
I mimicked Hawk’s movements as I got to my feet in a rush and opened the door.
My mouth tugged at one side, a smile trying to make itself known, until he looked around him. Sighing, I did the same, but the rest of the staff had left already.
“There’s no one here that I know of. Everyone stopped by to say good night when they left.”
He nodded, and I stepped out of the way so he could enter.
“Hey, Hawk,” he greeted the dog before glancing back at me.
“Go ahead.”
He dropped to his knees before Hawk, his forehead meeting Hawk’s as he ran his hands over the dog from head to tail. The tension in his body drained away, his face relaxing within moments.
I plopped my ass in one of the chairs in front of my desk. Leaning forward, elbows propped on my knees, I watched the man I wanted as my boy take comfort in the dog who gave me the only solace I could find in the world when life knocked meon my ass. Jealousy bubbled through me, and I swore under my breath. I wanted his hands on me. I wanted him to find that peace with me.
A deep, heavy sigh cut through the air before Aiden turned to look at me. He flopped on his ass, settling his back to the sofa. Hawk, being the trained caregiver he was, lay with his head in Aiden’s lap.
“I want to thank you…” he trailed off, his eyes dropping to Hawk. Aiden’s hands burrowed through Hawk’s pitch black fur as he pet him from head to tail.
“For?” I asked, unable to wait any longer for him to continue.
“For making it good for me. It wasn’t the first time I’d been with someone, but it was the first time I consented, and you made it good for me. I appreciate that more than you could possibly know.”
Rage surged through me at the image of someone hurting him.
“Who?”
“No one important or who matters. I spent years in therapy dealing with the trauma, but I could never bring myself to give that last part of myself to someone. Then there was the kink aspect. That made it a little more difficult because I didn’t want to settle for less than what I wanted. So, I waited. When I got accepted at The U, a friend told me about the club, paying the membership fee so I could join.”
When he stopped, I waited. It felt like there was more. Maybe that was wishful thinking on my part because…
“That gift, it set me on a mission. So, when everyone took off after I moved in, I made a decision. I showered, dressed in theoutfit my buddy Shane picked out, and headed to the club. Once I pulled into the parking lot, though, fear took hold, and I almost didn’t get out of the car. I finally got up the nerve to go inside, thanks to a pep talk from the same friend. Once, in the door, I relaxed a little, but then the boys were nothing like me…”
“Stereotypes suck. You don’t have to be a certain size or age. You don’t have to be giggly, or bouncy, or anything other than the descriptors running through your head. Hell, you don’t even have to be a bottom.”
His eyes widened at the last bit, and I waited for him to ask me to explain, but he shook his head, looked back down at Hawk before whispering, “Anyway, once I took in the boys bouncing around the dance floor, I didn’t think anyone would notice me. Then the nerves set in. I didn’t think I’d be able to go through with it. Then, I saw you.”
I stood, moved to the door, flipped the lock, and came back to him, holding out my hand.
TWENTY-SIX
AIDEN
The snick of the door’s lock sliding into place should’ve put me on edge. With any other man on the planet, I believed in my soul it would’ve, because it always had in the past. PTSD from the times a man had done just that before hurting me was all the proof I needed of that belief, but something about Alex, Sasha… it hadn’t. Not once.
His hand appeared before my face, and I looked up at him. Before taking it, I asked, “Do you prefer Sasha or Alex?”
Without dropping his hand, he responded, “Why do you ask?”
“In my head, I keep calling you Alex, because that’s how you introduced yourself, but I’ve never heard anyone call you that before.”
“I’ll never escape being Sasha Storm. A name the media gave me when they kept reporting how I took the ice by storm when I hit the show, but I’ve lived as Alex since the injury. I like being just Alex.”
