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“Hell, yes! Built him a cage in my stables, keep him there now and then. He likes it.”
A cage. That was interesting. “Well, then, please, let me tell you about our other project.”
We took Memphis into the house after telling Xen and Joel where we were heading. Joel waved like Xen had, a quick one, before he got back to laughing with the tattooed man.
Damon started pasta, and I watched him closely, as I was very picky about my pasta, but soon, speaking with Memphis took all my attention.
“We go to a club most weekends, up in the city called Chaps. It’s a good place, with good people. Most o’ of our friends are there when we show up.”
“I’ve been there,” I told him. “A few times. We didn’t get to the state often in the past, just a few times for business. Not until our friend made it here and decided to go feral on us, living in the woods.”
“I lived in Austin, as you know. Plenty of fun there, but Denver’s an all-right place. Good people. Made good friends there. And o’ course, met my Xen.”
He was living his dream, and mine seemed so much more reachable, hearing him speak about it.
“I didn’t want nothin’ ta do with relationships. Jus’ broke up with a man, good man, but we didn’t mesh. Then that little fucker and me, well, we were only gonna do a scene or two, and I said it, up front, but then…well, I’ll tell ya, it weren’t a week and I was already so stuck on him, couldn’t pull us apart with a crowbar. When it’s right, it’s right.”
Damon was frying some meat for the sauce and looked over his shoulder at me, and in his eyes, I saw it. Joel had done the same to us. “We…met Joel through our friends. He was shy at first, like nothing I’ve ever seen. Then, once he got a little used to us, that shyness walked right out the door and now we can’t keep him quiet most days.”
“He’s a sweet young man, could tell that right off.”
Memphis without the hat, still gorgeous, and when he spoke about Xen, his eyes shined like he could barely contain his love for the guy.
“Xen, he had some troubles. Mama left him at a goddamned park when he was ten. Found out, that’s how he got the name. They had a clock at their house with roman numerals on it, instead of reg’lar numbers, see, and I guess he liked that thing. When the cops asked him his name, then his age, you know how they can be, all those questions, throwing out to a kid that was traumatized, well, he wrote down the X for the number and then E-N after it where the name should be instead of where his age went. He was just confused, but they started calling him Xen, and he liked it. Thought, well, he didn’t want to be Matthew anymore, so he’d be Xen instead.”
Damon left the stove and stood by my chair, his voice cracking as he said, “That’s fucking awful.”
“Was, yeah. He’d said some things to her, bad things, and he figured that’s why she left ‘im. Weren’t true, o’ course, she was just that way, a selfish bitch, excuse my language.”
“No, I agree,” I hurried to say. “He’s come a long way, then.”
“Hell yes! Do you know that my friends up there, friends I knew all the way back to Texas, they started a comp’ny for fancy sex clothes and such, and they got my boy to design his own lines of ‘em?”
“Which company?”
“You might-a heard o’ it. Slutae, spelled all funny like.”
“Slutae?” Damon asked, laughing. “S-L-U-T-A-E?”
“That’s the one!”
We’d heard of it, yes, it’s where we bought most of our supplies. Their lube alone was epic. “You know the owners?”
“Oh, yeah, good old boys from Austin too. Isaac and Ferris. Met ‘em at a club, you know. We’s all Doms so we didn’t mesh, but we got to be friends. They moved to Denver ‘fore I did. Got other friends that model for ‘em, do other jobs there at the comp’ny. It’s become a family thing, kinda.”
“Small world,” Damon said, getting back to the meat before it could burn. “We were just looking on their site a few nights back, imagining what to get for Joel.”
“Xen, there, does the graffiti line. All those designs on the underwear, they’re his.”
We’d been looking at one of those lines that night, daydreaming of how hot Joel would be in them. “They’re beautiful, really. You must be proud.”
“Prouder ‘an hell. It helped him a lot, workin’ there. He is an artist, o’ course, and used to be real bad about paintin’ on buildings with no permission. That cured him o’ doin’ that. Still does it, but now people pay ‘him ta do it.”
It suddenly felt like we had celebrities in our home. Memphis told us stories about their courtship, and it was exceedingly short, but it did give Damon and I reason to hope that maybe we weren’t rushing. Joel had, to quote Memphis, sunk his teeth into our hearts. There was no way around it. He was ours.
Chapter Ten
After Xen and Joel came inside the house, Memphis greeted Xen with a kiss, which prompted Damon and I to do the same with Joel. Damon kissed him sweetly, caressing his knuckles over Joel’s face, then it was my turn, and I gave him a deeper kiss, holding his head in both of my hands.
