Chapter 28
Mike returned home after an early evening patrol with Amina. He’d enjoyed working with the one non-superpowered member of the team. Her fighting skills were beyond impressive. She would have been an amazing soldier to have by his side in his Army unit. The hero was also fun to talk to. She easily switched from taking down villains to discussing cars—her favorite topic. And they were both bisexual, so they’d high-fived over having that in common.
But he’d missed Aiden’s flirtatious teasing during fights. He missed returning home to eat late night junk food snacks followed by making love. He missed the tug of the leash pulling him close to his lover.
Mike sighed and dropped onto the couch, turning on the TV to a previously recorded football game. He followed the plays and he knew who was up but he didn’t have any investment in either team’s victory. Watching the game was simply something to kill time, while the cheers and ref whistles and sports casters talking was sound to fill the silence of his empty apartment.
The whistle blew for half-time and the announcers faced the camera, ready to break down everything that happened in the first half. Mike stood to get another drink when he noticed an abrupt change to the temperature. It was cold. So cold that goosebumps prickled up on his arms. Instead of heading to the kitchen, Mike went to the hall to check the thermostat. By the time he reached it, the temperature had plummeted so far his breath was fogging the air in front of him.
“What the...?” Mike suddenly realized it would be useless to even bother with the thermostat. The freezing temp was neither a natural occurrence or mechanical malfunction.
A knock came at the door.
“Fuck.” Mike cursed under his breath, the evidence of the rough word drifting in front of him. He knew who it was. Still, he went over and checked the peephole just to be sure. The person he expected to see stood on the other side. Mike opened the door.
“Hey, Frost,” he greeted the superhero while trying not to shiver.
“Mike. Can I come in?”
It seemed foolish to say yes, what with the snow swirling around them and the frost spreading across the ground beneath their feet. Mike stepped back to let them in anyway. “I know why you’re here,” he said when he closed the door.
Frost raised a dark eyebrow. “You do? Go ahead and tell me why I’m here.”
“You’re here because Aiden is your best friend and we broke up.”
“And you think I’m here to bully you?”
Mike flicked a glance to the ice creeping across the glass balcony door. “Aren’t you?”
“I’m pissed,” Frost said crossing their arms over their chest. “And yeah, I could happily lock you up in a block of ice right now for hurting my friend. But I need you to help me understand why you turned down his offer. Was it the suddenness of the ask or are you not interested?”
“I’m interested in Aiden, you know that.” Unsure how much of his and Aiden’s relationship he could reveal, he hedged explaining the reason behind their breakup. “It’s what he wanted from me that’s the problem.”
“Why is it such a struggle for you to submit one way but not another?”
“You know...?”
“Yeah, I know you’re a submissive. Aiden is my best friend. You think I didn’t know he’s a Dom? For that matter I’m a submissive too.”
“I didn’t realize.” It made sense that Aiden and Frost would share that interest with how close they were. He’d simply never thought about it.
Frost’s lips twitched in something close to a smile even as snowflakes continued to swirl around them. “I think you’ll find that D/s dynamics are prevalent on the ACG team. But we’re not talking about me or the team. We’re talking about you. You turned Aiden down because of what? Pride? Societal notions of what it means to be a man?”
There it was again—that uncomfortable flinch from the grain of truth settling under his skin.
“Just because I enjoy submitting in the bedroom doesn’t mean I want to submit anywhere else in my life.”
“But you do want to.”
That bold declaration had Mike’s eyebrows rocketing up to his hairline. “Why would you assume that?”
“Because I’ve seen you. The way you serve him. The way you like when he cares for you. Granted, its only glimpses, but from what I’ve seen, the dynamic the two of you have makes you happy. And yet you’re telling me that you only submit sexually? I don’t buy it. And I bet if you think about it, you don’t either.”
“What about the way he rushes into things? That’s a big issue for me.”
“He rushes into things he’s passionate about. The two of us were practically besties within a day of meeting each other because he liked my vibe. When he doesn’t care he doesn’t bother.”
Mike sank back down to his spot on the couch as he took in Frost’s words. He knew that Aiden didn’t give much of his energy to things that he didn’t care about. And that what looked like Aiden blindly rushing forward was often exuberant enthusiasm for things worthy of his passion. But that didn’t stop him from being afraid that Aiden would leave him. And it wasn’t because he was worried about what would happen to him financially if he quit his job and let Aiden take over. It would suck, but he had the resources, skills, and mental and physical abilities to start from zero if he ever needed to. It was the emotional abandonment that he feared. He’d belonged to very few people in life—his parents who’d died and left him. And his Army unit that he’d been force to leave after his injuries.
