Page 25 of Not Your Golden Boy

“Good job, Harry,” Maggie pronounced with a nod, then made a show of looking Nikky up and down. She seemed to note his still red nipples in particular. “Very good job.”

“I should get dressed,” Nikky mumbled before dashing back down the hall and out of sight.

The ladies laughed. Harry knew he shouldn’t, but he laughed with them before saying, “I thought the two of you didn’t like dick.”

“We can appreciate an attractive human form,” Maggie said with pretend offense.

“I don’t mind looking as long as he keeps his dick to himself,” Laura added, then reached for one of her own scones.

Harry snorted with laughter as he brought the rest of the breakfast things to the table. “You two are menaces.”

“We’ve never pretended to be anything but,” Maggie said, taking a piece of bacon and biting into it with relish.

It didn’t take long for Nikky to return, fully dressed and hastily groomed, and to take a seat at the table. By then, Harry had brought everything out from the kitchen, and although he hadn’t planned to entertain three other people for breakfast, with the scones there was enough food for them all.

“I apologize for these two,” he said, leaning closer to Nikky, like the two of them were conspiring about the couple while they enjoyed their breakfast. “They barged in here with housewarming cake when I moved in eight years ago, and they’ve acted like this is their second home ever since then.”

“Yes, but we’re fabulous neighbors,” Laura added, her wrinkled cheeks going pink with pride. “We bake, we host parties, and we know where to acquire the very best cannabis.”

Nikky’s growing smile dropped suddenly. “None for me, thanks,” he said, then stuffed his mouth full of toast.

Interesting. At least Harry didn’t have to worry about keeping Nikky away from drugs. Someone was sure to offer them soon, if they hadn’t already. He wouldn’t have put it past Albion to make sure something strong was slipped to Nikky as a way to control him if he put up too much resistance to the plans he had. Past experience had taught him Albion wasn’t above that shit.

“Oh, so you’re a teetotaler, are you?” Maggie asked, studying Nikky carefully. “That wasn’t what it looked like in the pictures we saw of you from last night.”

Deep red splashed across Nikky’s gorgeous face. “You saw those pictures?” he asked with a look that made him seem every bit the naïve young man that had Harry’s blood pumping.

“My dear, anyone with access to the internet saw those pictures,” Laura said.

A slight shift came over Nikky, and he sat straighter. “What did you think?” he asked, eyes eager.

Maggie and Laura exchanged a look. “We thought that you appeared to be enjoying yourself immensely,” Laura said.

“Particularly when master Harry here had his tongue down your throat,” Maggie added with a smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes. The use of the word “master” was deliberate, and not in the archaic sense of the head of a household.

“I did have a good time,” Nikky said just as Harry opened his mouth to defend him. “I’d never been to a place like that before.” He paused slightly, then asked, “Did seeing me there change your opinion of me at all?”

Harry leaned back in his chair. He saw what Nikky was doing. He also saw that Nikky would be disappointed.

“It most certainly did,” Maggie said, smiling. “It improved my opinion of you immensely.”

“We didn’t think you had it in you,” Laura said, then winked.

It took everything Harry had not to laugh. He was inclined to agree with the ladies, and with most of the comments he’d seen under all the posts online. He could also see from the hint of desperate disappointment taking over Nikky’s face as he tried to be polite with Maggie and Laura that their observations weren’t what he wanted to hear.

“So it didn’t turn you off?” Nikky asked on, shoulders dropping and eyes lowered as he gathered scrambled eggs onto his fork. “It didn’t make you think twice about whether you should be following me?”

The question sparked something in Harry that didn’t fit with the teasing mood that had been building around the table. Following. Instinct whispered that Nikky wasn’t talking about social media followers. He knew the industry well enough to know following a celebrity could be way too literal.

“On the contrary,” Laura said with a wide smile, not catching the undercurrent of Nikky’s question. “It’s made me even more curious about what you do next. And that’s saying something, considering I’ve always considered men superfluous at best.”

“Yes, but he’s gay,” Maggie pointed out, gesturing to her mate with a piece of scone, her bangle bracelets jingling as she did. “He’s one of us, not one of them.”

Harry smirked, but his humor over the situation had taken a backseat to concern over why Nikky had asked his questions the way he had and why he looked like it had rained on his birthday.

“So it didn’t work,” Nikky said, deflating even more. “Going to that club and taking all those pictures didn’t work.”