And now Les’ skin was warming, tingling as arousal coursed through him. He wanted to see Adam, find out if the blond was the least bit interested in…something. Les wasn’t sure what, exactly, but he burned to find out. Definitely that mouth, but he couldn’t just walk up to Adam and ask him to suck him off—but if he could…
Les groaned and scrubbed his brow harder. He’d kind of worked through the tangled emotions that had slammed into him when he’d first met Adam. Kind of. He wanted the man, and had even started checking out other guys. How he’d been so oblivious for so long… But he wasn’t any more, and though there’d been a few guys who’d made Les’ prick sit up and take notice, Adam was the only one who’d made him ache like this. All want and need, that’s what Les was, and he didn’t necessarily understand why, but he knew it was true and that was all that mattered.
Okay, he liked that even less than Adam working at the Xxchange. But what could he do about it?
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
56
“Hey!” Adam yelped, bobbling the tray of mixed drinks. He glared at the man to his right. Sprawled in the booth, the guy was the picture of sex, his dark eyes lit with dirty promises.
“What?” The man drawled, reaching out and pinching Adam’s ass again. Adam bit
his lip to keep from yelping again as pained heat spread from his butt all the way down to the back of his thighs. “You don’t want me to touch, you shouldn’t dress like a slut.”
Adam thought if this was the crap women put up with, it was a miracle there were
any men left alive. He stepped aside and calmly set the drinks on the table as he tried, again, to explain that the leather shorts and ankle boots were his required work uniform. Not that it shouldn’t be obvious; all the cocktail waiters wore the same damn thing. “I didn’t dress like this for you. All the drink servers have to wear this stuff. That doesn’t give you the right to touch me at all.”
The man leered and shrugged, leaning out of the booth as his big fingers made a
beeline for Adam’s ass. Adam narrowed his eyes in warning and the jerk chuckled as he grabbed a handful.
I need this job, I need
—Adam dropped the tray and spun around, catching the man’s hand and bending it back hard enough to make it hurt. When the customer tried to stand Adam exerted more pressure, only letting up when he was dangerously close to snapping bones. He bent forward and squeezed, a silent threat he followed up with words. “I will break your fucking wrist, asshole.” Adam held the man’s stare until the anger leeched from those dark eyes and fear crept in to replace it. Once he got a nod, Adam dropped the man’s wrist and stepped back. The other two customers at the table looked every bit as shocked as the big dumbass now clutching his wrist to his chest. Keeping one eye on the men, Adam squatted, wincing at the pain in his backside as he did so, then picked up the tray. He stood and hustled back to the bar, unsuccessfully trying to avoid more hands on his ass as other customers placed orders.
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
57
Geesh, and I thought the Turtle was bad! At this rate my butt will be one solid bruise by the
end of the night.
He sidled up to the bar, keeping as far away from any of the customers as he possibly could and set the tray down as he waited for the bartender to head over. Another server—Adam thought his name was Billy—stepped up beside him and gave him a wink.
“Rough night?”
“You could say that,” Adam mumbled.
Billy giggled and bounced on his toes. “I saw you put Randy in his place! That was awesome, man!”
“Randy? Seriously?” Adam glanced back at the perv, who had gone back to glaring at him. Adam gave the man a hard look, wishing it would annihilate him on the spot. Randy turned his head away so fast Adam was surprised it didn’t snap right off his neck.
Billy bounced some more, his head bobbing up and down so that it looked as if the thing was on a spring. “Well, his parents were right to name him Randy ‘cause he is. Pervert.
It was great to see someone finally put him in his place. Of course, since he’s the owner’s brother, you’ll probably get fired but—”
Adam’s heart tried to pound right up his throat and out his mouth as he goggled at Billy. “What? What? Why didn’t someone say something? I wouldn’t have—” Well okay, he probably still would have, damn it. He was not cut out to be a play thing for all these grabby fuckers. Adam groaned, his eyes closing as he dropped his head into his hands. “I am so screwed!”
“Yup,” Billy agreed.
Adam’s eyes might be closed, but he could hear the bounce in Billy’s voice. He risked a peek through his fingers and sure enough, the guy was bobbing like a buoy in the ocean during a storm. That kind of brainless happiness was just unnatural.
Billy grinned, his cheeks plumping up in a way that made him look way too young to be in a place like this. “Randy’s a jerk, but you usually don’t have to actually let him fuck you. A blow job will get him off your case. . Everyone usually gives in, ‘cause once he gets off from someone he loses interest. It’s about the only way to keep your ass from being black and blue.” Billy shrugged as if to say, ‘that’s life’. “You might just want to get it over with.”
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
58
“Oh hell no,” Adam snapped. What kind of screwed up logic was that? Put out or get groped? And why did the other servers put up with it? The tips weren’t that great, and there had to be other jobs somewhere. Maybe.
“Okay,” Bouncing Billy said as the bartender finally headed their way. “But you’ll probably regret it. I don’t think Randy likes being told no, and he looks really mad.”
Too fucking bad for him. Adam didn’t bother looking at Randy again, instead he
caught the bartender’s eye. He opened his mouth to speak but the bartender shook his head and gestured to the hallway leading to the back office.
“Boss wants to talk to you,” the bartender informed him. Adam wondered if he
imagined the amusement in the guy’s eyes. “Apparently he’s gotten some complaints about you roughing up the customers.”
Okay, now Adam was pretty sure that was amusement and…approval gleaming in
the man’s eyes. The bartender shrugged before saying, “Randy is an asshole.” He walked off as Bouncing Billy giggled again.
Adam cut a glance at the other server. What the hell was the kid on? Watching him was kind of making Adam seasick.
“Lowry—he’s another one of the servers, you’ll meet him eventually. Anyway, Lowry told me that Troy—he’s the bartender—and Randy hate each other so much ‘cause they really want to fuck each other but they both think they’re tops. I think Troy is the real top and Randy just isn’t comfortable enough to accept that he wants it—”
“God, enough already,” Adam sniped. If he’d known working at the Xxchange was
going to be like living in a damned soap opera he might not have been so quick to accept the job. “Gotta go.”
“Good luck,” Billy called out as Adam turned and strode towards the office. He was more than a little nervous about meeting with Mr Talbot again. The man had interviewed him, and he’d been dour and stern and obviously wealthy. Dark haired and big, Talbot didn’t speak much, only asking a few questions about what hours Adam could work and his experience in the food services industry. Really, the guy hadn’t even seemed to look at Adam, or maybe it was that Talbot gave the impression he didn’t think Adam was worth a look?
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
59
Well, he’s going to see me now.
Adam would not apologise for trying to protect his poor abused butt. Even now every step he took caused his shorts to rub uncomfortably over what Adam bet were welts on his bottom. Taking a deep breath, Adam tapped on the doorframe of Talbot’s office. The door was open but he didn’t feel right just walking in.
“Come in and shut the door behind you,” a deep voice snapped.
Hearing it, Adam figured he was as good as fired, and that being the case, he didn’t see the need to censor himself. He stepped into the office and reached for the door handle blindly while he locked gazes with Talbot. “Is it safe to close the door?”
Talbot’s glower morphed to surprise, his dark brows winging up his forehead. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Adam found the doorknob and pulled the door partway shut. “Why would I think it
was safe? You growled like a pissed off grizzly. That’s not conducive to me thinking it a good idea to close the door.”
Talbot’s brows rose impossibly higher as he stared intently at Adam.
Now he’s seeing
me, not some brainless employee.
Although, if most of the servers were like Billy, it was no wonder Talbot thought them to be vapid.
Then again, Talbot did the hiring, so what did that say about him?
Talbot finally lowered his eyebrows as he leant back in his chair, steepling his fingers together on the desktop. “I assure you, it is perfectly safe to close the door. I’m not my brother.”
“Well, your brother’s a pervert,” Adam muttered under his breath. He pulled the door almost all the way shut, leaving a couple of inches of space between it and the frame. If Talbot didn’t like it, he could get up and shut the door himself—right after Adam left.
“Have a seat,” Talbot said, nodding at the chair in front of his desk.
Adam crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d rather not.”
Talbot’s bland expression shifted to annoyed. “I said it’s safe—”
“Feels like someone took a whip to my ass,” Adam groused then promptly blushed.
Talbot blinked. “And you’d know that…how?”
Mortified by the slip, Adam started to leave. He didn’t need this crap. Surely he could find somewhere else to work—
“Stop.”
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
60
Adam did, so suddenly he nearly stumbled. He glared over his shoulder at Talbot.
“That was inappropriate,” Talbot admitted, looking almost as embarrassed as he
sounded. “I’m sorry. Was that from Randy?”
Obviously Talbot knew of his brother’s reputation. Adam nodded sharply then turned back to Talbot. “You even have to ask?”
Ruddy stripes appeared on Talbot’s cheeks as he glanced away. “The other servers
don’t seem to mind. No one’s ever complained.”
Was the man dense? Adam thought he must be. He took a few steps until he could
slap his hands down on the desk. Leaning forward, he waited until Talbot met his gaze to speak. “Maybe because he’s your brother and people need their jobs? Do you think that might have anything to do with why no one’s complained? Or maybe it’s because your employees figure they have no recourse—they’re gay men, working in a skuzzy club. They must deserve whatever they get.”
“The Xxchange isn’t skuzzy,” Talbot argued, but he didn’t sound so sure of himself.
“It’s a place where the GLBT crowd can hang out and be themselves.”
Adam figured his eyes rolled so far back he would soon be ogling his brain. “Right.
Because all the ‘GLBT crowd’ are a bunch of horny people who want to screw on the dance floor.” Not that he hadn’t pretty much done that himself a time or two, but Adam also knew plenty of gay men who didn’t—like Nick, and probably Josh. Adam had just been a bit of a slut for a while, although he was trying to reform. He wanted something more, and it’d taken knowing Nick to realise it. “This place is nothing more than a pick-up joint, except the customers don’t even have to leave. They just do what they want wherever they want to, and your brother thinks your employees are his personal playthings. Except for your brother, that’s all well and good, but don’t try to make it sound like the Xxchange is some GLBT
community service centre.”
“It’s a business,” Talbot said. “I give the people what they want.”
Adam snorted and stood up so he could glare down at the bigger man. “Well, your
employees don’t want to be mauled by your brother. They just figure if they bend over for him or blow him he’ll leave them alone.”
“I thought…”
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
61
“You thought what you wanted to because it was easier,” Adam sniped. He was
running out of patience with stupid people. “Look at this!” He pivoted around and jerked his shorts down, giving his boss—probably former boss, he thought—a look at his damaged butt. “Do you think I asked for this?” And if Talbot mentioned the whip slip, Adam was likely going to throttle the man. He heard a hissed breath…from the wrong direction.
Adam’s head snapped up like it was on a marionette’s string. His eyes bugged as he stared at the scowling cop in the doorway. Fuck. The man looked mad enough to rip someone to pieces. Adam, his shorts halfway down his thighs and his ass up in the air, just hoped it wasn’t him.
In the end, Les decided to forgo the shower and change of clothes. As it was, he didn’t get off until after ten. Adam had been at his new job for a couple of hours by then, and Les just couldn’t risk waiting any longer. He didn’t quite think of it that way, rationalising that if he walked into the Xxchange in his uniform, people would think he was there on police business, and therefore if anyone recognised him, they wouldn’t think much of it. However, if he changed and went in street clothes, someone might think he was there looking for exactly what he was looking for—a man he couldn’t get out of his mind, wanted to touch, taste, do all sorts of things with that scared him and made him burn at the same time. While he might have come around to the fact that he wanted Adam, he didn’t particularly want anyone else to know that—besides Adam, of course.
So when Les strode into the Xxchange, his expression locked into that ‘don’t fuck with me or I will rip you apart and shove your bloody appendages in your orifices’ look, the only glances he got were curious and fearful ones, but there were some men who were too…busy, to even notice him. Les was never so grateful for his ingrained stoicism as he was when he entered the club. Every single time he’d gone on a call there, he’d been exposed to things that had shocked the shit out of him. It disturbed him that this time he was more than a little turned on when he caught glimpses of heaving bodies and flushed skin. Even with the music blaring, he could make out grunts and moans, and the scent of sex was strong enough that EX’S AND O’S