“I should be thanking you,” I countered. “You’re the one who bought it. All I did was put it in the oven.”
“Boy, learn to take a compliment when it’s offered.” I dipped my head and reached up, pinching my bottom lip. With my gaze fixed on the floor, I didn’t see his movement until it was too late. I jumped back when Jack swatted my hand away from my face.
“Don’t do that,” he scolded.
“Why does it matter if I fuck around with my lip? I used to have a piercing there and sometimes I still reach up to fidget with it. It’s easier to think when I have something to do with my hands.”
Why was I telling him all this?
“Why did you take it out?”
“Huh?” I picked up my fork and scooped a bite into my mouth. Eating was a much safer activity. If my mouth was full of food, I wouldn’t spill my entire pathetic life story to him.
“The piercing,” he clarified. “Why did you take it out? I bet you were hot with it.”
I scrunched my nose up. Hearing Jack use such plebian words, was as hot as it was strange. He struck me as a man who had a large vocabulary and liked to show it off.
“Something funny, boy?”
“Not at all,” I lied before taking another bite. Chewing gave me time to decide how much to reveal. Might as well lay it all out so Jack would understand I was a mess. “And, I took the piercing out before a family birthday party earlier this year and lost it.”
“You lost it?” Jack sighed and shook his head.
“Don’t act like that’s so hard to imagine,” I scoffed. “You saw what my place looked like earlier today. It didn’t get that way overnight. Yes, I lost it. I set it down somewhere and couldn’t find it when I got home. I would have gone to buy a new ring, but then shit started going south with the band, money got tight…” I waved my hand in the air. He could figure out the rest of the story on his own.
“Would you ever put it back in?” Jack narrowed his eyes. When he ran his tongue through the seam of his lips, I momentarily forgot he’d asked me a question. I was more interested in what had him looking ready to lunge over the table and devour me for dessert.
“I might. It all depends on where I get a job. A lot of places aren’t thrilled about employees with facial piercings.” Just one more thing to add to the list of reasons I dreaded job hunting. I wasn’t the most conventional guy, and I didn’t want to cut my hair, toss out my eyeliner, or never feel the sweet agony of a piece of metal piercing my flesh just so I could pay the bills.
“Eli doesn’t have a problem with piercings or tattoos,” Jack pointed out. “Did you call him today?”
“No, but I did talk to Jordan a little bit. He said Eli had some appointments, but I should stop down there tomorrow afternoon.” And wasn’t that a wonderful conversation. To his credit, Jordan didn’t give me hell for being stubborn for so long. He knew I had to come around in my own time. Or, in this case, with the proper motivation.
“That’s good enough.” I sat up straighter, my lips involuntarily turning into a grin. I was practically preening. “I know it wasn’t easy for you to admit to Jordan that you needed his help. I am proud of you for doing it anyway.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled, quickly shoving another bite of food in my mouth. The conversation faded off again, but it felt more natural this time.
Once both of our plates were clean, I neatly stacked them in the center of the table. I wanted to be closer to Jack, so instead of standing, I half crawled, half scooted around the table. Jack groaned. When I looked up at him, he was trying to adjust himself.
“Don’t get used to me crawling around on all fours,” I warned him. “I already told you, I’m not a puppy.”
“And I think you shouldn’t totally count it out until you try it,” he replied. “But, you’re right, I don’t think you would be a good puppy. You’d get into far too much trouble. That lifestyle isn’t one that’s ever appealed to me anyway.”
I could have easily joined Jack on the couch, but I was comfortable on the floor. I leaned against the couch, my shoulder brushing Jack’s leg. He reached down and started combing my hair with his fingers again. My eyes drifted shut and I let out a hum of contentment. “What are you into then? Because something tells me store brand vanilla sex isn’t your favorite.”
Jack barked out a laugh. “Store brand?”
I shrugged. It was the best I could come up with in the moment.
“You’re right. I am far from vanilla. Sometimes, I wish I could go out and have sex just for the sake of getting off. It would definitely make life easier.”
“So why don’t you? Even if you’re typically into whips and bondage, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a raunchy one-night stand.” I knew that very well. I’d built a good life on jumping from one bed into the next. Sometimes more than one in a night, but that wasn’t something I wore as a badge of pride. Those were some of my lowest moments, encounters I hope Jack never found out about.
“If all I want is to get off, I have my own hands, as well as a sizable collection of toys.”
“We’re coming back to that,” I quickly interrupted. Jack smiled, giving my hair a tug. “I mean, if everything goes well and you don’t run out of here before the night’s over.”
“I’m not the one we need to worry about running, Slade.” He bent down, kissing the top of my head. “My brother and I are similar in a lot of ways. Both of us like to take care of our partners.”
