Page 73 of Smart Ass

Ben

Ben found himself singing in the car again.

After all the stress of the past few days, it seemed like things were finally coming together. Evan was home, and Ben had brought him some food and made sure he was all settled in. Ben had gone to visit Quincy, and had big plans for patching up his boo-boos and delighting him with some upgraded parts. The lawyers (who Ben couldn’t quite stop thinking of as the Doms from his club) seemed to have everything in hand for Quincy’s case.

And Ben had woken up this morning in a cozy little ball with a deliciously sore ass, and he was about to go hang out with the spark who was the cause of that sore ass…

Yeah, it was a pretty awesome day.

He sang a little louder, hoping that Max would join him.

That was the one thing he couldn’t figure out. Max supposedly wanted to monitor him all the time. Max was listening to his heartbeat or something. He wouldn’t let Ben fall into bed last night without turning on his tablet to watch him sleep.

And yet… where had he been all day?

It was like they were colleagues at work, lovers in Max’s homemade dungeon at the office… and then nothing the rest of the time.

It didn’t make sense. If Max was so obsessed with him, wouldn’t he want to, like, spend time with him?

Not that it mattered, of course. Ben had plenty of friends. Busy days. It wasn’t a big deal if Max only wanted to scene and work together. Max would probably find his own friends to hang out with once he could meet people.

Honestly, a good work partner and a hot Dom were really everything that Ben could ask for. It was just… surprising.

Maybe a little confusing.

And, kind of frustrating.

“Max?” Ben asked. Because he couldn’t just have a thought without opening his mouth. “Where are you?”

Max’s smooth voice instantly filled the air. “Right here, Ben.”

“Oh, uh, okay.”

Ben had legit test scores showing he was a genius.

“Ummm… yesterday you were singing.” Yeah, there we go. Would it kill him to ask nicely? Maybe throw in a compliment or two? But then it would sound so fake…

“Ah,” Max answered. “Yesterday I was singing.”

Dork. “Okay, you can leave now.”

He thought he heard a little snort, but then Max’s deep voice joined in the song, first on the melody, then with floating harmony, and finally a throbbing bass.

Did he just know every song out there? Ben had all sorts of questions now. Was Max looking ahead in the audio tracks to know how to do all of that? He had to be looking up the words, at least. Or was it just a really good algorithm? How did people harmonize anyway?

Ben barely knew how to hold a tune, but that was still enough to be impressed.

And he could make a damned good rhythm section.

Playing along on the dashboard was enough to push all his worries out of his head. He was almost disappointed when the car pulled into the parking lot, gliding by the gate, as usual, without Ben having to pull out his ID.

Max switched seamlessly to his earpiece once he popped it in. “So, what are we working on today, boss?”

That was hilarious. Ben wasn’t even remotely Max’s boss. At the moment, Max seemed to be working on Ben’s research with him more out of habit or familiarity than anything else. “Do you have your own projects?” Ben asked.

“I have several.”

“Yeah?” Now Ben was truly fascinated. “What are they?” He walked through the door that opened at his approach, and waved vaguely at the receptionist.