Again, Mike waited quietly as Aiden pulled in a deep breath and gathered himself before beginning his story.
“Soon after I realized I liked domming men in the bedroom, I realized that I also wanted to be the one to take charge in other areas of my relationships. I don’t mean I wanted a full-time submissive. What I wanted was someone who would let me take charge and let me care for them. Maybe D/s light,” he said with a soft laugh. “Finding lovers who were on board with me domming them in the bedroom was easy. Getting those same guys to submit outside of it was a different story. They couldn’t accept that I wanted to be the caretaker. And worse, they wanted me to give up dancing.” A hint of bitterness crept into his voice. “Because casually dating a stripper is hot. But when they started thinking long term, it was time for me to clean up my act.”
“That sounds like a direct quote,” Mike said.
“Not far off from one. Anyway, I went through several of these failed relationships. The worst was a guy who decided to show his displeasure at my refusal to quit stripping with his fists. A group of dancers from some of the nearby clubs saw him assaulting me and came to my rescue. They beat his ass with their heels and makeup bags until he took off. I never saw him again. After that experience I started learning how to fight. At first it was only to protect myself. But it pretty quickly turned into protecting others in the Playground—paying forward what those dancers did for me. That’s how I became Stardust.
“The night you showed up at the Fabulous Fox, I’d just sworn off dating after yet another guy tried to get me to exchange the stage for a ring. That’s part of why I was so prickly with you all the time. You’re my type and I was attracted to you. But I’d already sworn that I wasn’t going to go down that road again because I knew it would end badly. Lucky for me, you were impossible to resist.”
“That’s a lot. I’m sorry. If I’d known —.”
“No. It was my responsibility to share that with you but I didn’t. And even if I had, you still didn’t do anything wrong in expressing your honest feelings to my out of the blue offer. I went into our relationship half expecting it to turn out like all the others. So, when I saw a hint that I might be right, I nuked us. Turns out I was extremely wrong.”
“Thank you for sharing that with me. It really helps me to understand what happened in that argument.”
Aiden leaned over and rested his head on Mike’s shoulder.
“I promise I won’t ever put you in a confusing situation like that again.”
“I believe and trust that you won’t. We can work out what relationship roles mean for us another time. For now, let’s lay down. You need to rest.”
They laid back down, this time Mike on his back and Aiden draped across his chest.
“I messed this up before. And I’m groggy and in pain and probably not saying it right this time either. But I’m going to say it anyway. It’s clear that you aren’t happy with your job. What can I do to help you with that?”
Mike thought that Aiden said it exactly right this time. He took a moment to come up with the best answer.
“It’s true, I’m not happy with my job. But I do like the company.”
“Maybe you can do something else there. I know you can’t walk into HR and asked to be reassigned, but if you pitched a new position for yourself and really sold why you’d be best for it something good might happen. What would you do there if you could have any job you wanted?”
Mike stared out the bedroom window for a few moments while he thought. An idea suddenly came to him—one that surprised him with how much he liked it. “Remember that influencer I had to release?”
“The problematic asshole?”
Mike laughed. “Yeah, him. Maybe I could take his place and become an in-house influencer. I know how to do all the activities he does on his channel and I’m former military which our customer base will appreciate. I think I’d be happier with a role that lets me be physically active outside rather than indoors behind a desk all day.”
“And you’ll look amazing on camera so that’s a bonus. I think that’s a great idea! You should go for it.”
“If they say yes, I’ll have to spend time learning what it takes to work both behind and in front of the camera. Since the role would be experimental, they might put it on a lower pay scale. The company might not even consider the role a full-time position. Either way, I’d take a substantial pay cut. Or Marin might not go for it and decide to let me go instead.”
“The offer to move in here and let me help out financially still stands.”
“I want to,” Mike quietly admitted.
Aiden gently rubbed Mike’s chest as he whispered his question into the dark that surrounded them.
“What’s holding you back?”
Mike thought about it. Whatwasholding him back? Archaic beliefs about who did what in a relationship? What did it matter as long as he was with the one he loved? That’s what he wanted more than anything—a place to belong. A home. He could have that with Aiden. He just needed to let go of old beliefs and reach out to take it.
“Nothing is holding me back. Not anymore. I’ll move in with you.”
Aiden breathed a soft, happy laugh against Mike’s chest. “Welcome home, Beefcake.”
