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Anything.
And yet, I was getting what I deserved, and that was a painful joy I wouldn’t ever be able to articulate to anyone.
I washed my hands and dried them, then stared at Albion, waiting for his next orders. In a way it was nice not to have to think too much, but again, I wasn’t about to tell him that. I caught sight of my flushed face in the mirror, and my blond hair was plastered to my head with sweat. I grimaced. Ah, yes, that wasn’t very flattering, was it? I started messing with my hair, and Albion huffed.
Yeah, he probably didn’t care one whit what I looked like.
“Today,” Albion snapped at me again, dark eyebrows low over his serious brown eyes. He glanced at himself in the mirror, adjusting his tie, and I wanted to do it for him or tell him he already looked perfect—but, of course, I didn’t.
I should hate Albion.
Over the past two weeks—after I’d signed a contract here at work, which put me directly under his supervision—I’d started to wrestle with the squirmy spot in my belly that took pleasure in being told what to do.
It wasn’t fair that the first time in my life I’d truly gotten something I enjoyed—constant supervision and direction—it was apunishment.
Oh, and the man holding my reins seemed to hope I would die and not make it to work. He gave me the same look he did every day, like I was making his life hell by simply existing.
“Let’s go,” he said, then strode out into the hallway.
I followed him to his office and waited outside the door—I wasn’t supposed to go in unless he expressly invited me. I’d found that out the first day of this new arrangement. Part of me wanted to step inside the door and see what he would do, but I suspected he had something even worse than the bathrooms waiting for me if I actually pissed him off.
A frisson of excitement punched through me, the urge to act up strong, but this was my job. Albion could ask Mr. Guidry to fire me, which I absolutely couldn’t afford. I had nowhere to go if I lost my apartment, no family to save my ass. My brother was the only one I had, and he wasn’t doing any better than me. In fact, he was doing worse because he was working the back of the house in a restaurant. I gave him money for the meds he needed to get by.
Sighing, I firmed up my jaw and waited.
Albion came out of his office and locked the door behind himself, and I followed him from the gray brick building into the parking lot. He didn’t say anything but pointed to the passenger-side door of his pretty black Ford, and I got in the truck.
“Where are we headed?” I asked, buckling my seat belt.
His nostrils flared, and I wasn’t surprised when he ignored my question.
Not long later, he parked the truck outside a small coffee shop, Cosmic Corner, on the edge of St. Loren’s Business District. The café was located near the community college, so it was often swamped with students. I noticed several people from Albion’s team through the wide front window as we approached the entrance. They were already inside gathered at a round wooden table and comfortably talking to each other.
Rainbow flags were draped at intervals on the walls and between those were photographs of local folks. I’d never been able to figure out who they were. The coffee was excellent, and lots of people, who were probably on their way to class, mobbed the order counter. Before Albion opened the door, he whirled toward me in a cloud of cologne that made my head swim. My confused dick plumped and poked at my boxers.
Albion pointed at a nearby bench along the front of the building. “You can get yourself something and sit there. I don’t want you listening in on this meeting.” His eyes burned with the same impatience that had lived in them since I’d signed on the dotted line.
I knew he liked Mr. Guidry, and he’d been pissed off about the way Xadrian had treated Mr. Guidry and his boyfriend Maurice—and all three men would be even more furious if they knew that Xadrian was gay himself. He’d caused so much trouble for Maurice and Mr. Guidry about their relationship out of pure spite. It had been the only thing Xadrian could think of to try to rile up conservative people in the office against Mr. Guidry. And now here I was dealing with the consequences of a scheme I’d never been behind.
But Albion was right.
I should’ve said something early on. I should’ve chosen my loyalties better. And now I was enduring the fallout alone. I slunk over to the bench and sat there, not bothering to get lunch because I wasn’t hungry. I knew the meal would be business expensed, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to go inside, and my gut churned as I watched everyone else through the window.
No one wanted me in there.
Humiliation squirmed through me, and Albion caught my eye as he sat down at a table inside and nodded, as if he was pleased to find me exactly where he wanted to see me. A bolt of pleasure and heat slid through my gut, and I called myself a thousand names for it. This man didn’t like me. He didn’t want me to be happy, and he didn’t care if I did everything he said.
There would be no rewards at the end of the day—not that there had been any with Xadrian, either. But that was beside the point. I sighed and hung my head, kicking at the sidewalk with the tip of my shoe. My cock tingled, and I ignored it.
Albion wanted to punish me by having me sit out here alone—maybe. Or maybe he really didn’t want me to hear any of the work stuff they were discussing because he didn’t trust me.
Blazing heat brushed through my insides at the idea that I was being punished. I groaned and closed my eyes. I loved that thought, but at the same time it was hollow simply because there would be nothinggoodafter it.
There wouldn’t be any “good boy” or “you’re beautiful today” or “come over here and bend over.”
No, it wasallpunishment.
I crossed my arms and leaned my head back against the wall. I could quit, but I couldn’t take the risk of doing it without another job lined up. There weren’t many places around here I could go with my degrees that the boss wouldn’t already know I’d worked for Mr. Guidry—none, precisely. Mr. Guidry would talk to any prospective employers whether or not he was supposed to by law. That was just how things went around here.
