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“Jackson,” I cut in, clenching my jaw as I set my wineglass down a little more forcefully than I should have. “This conversation is over.”
“Why do you think you keep feeling so unsatisfied with the boys—sorry, I mean the men you date, Uncle Cal?” he asked, completely unfazed. “Ever stop to think you’re simply dating guys who are too old for you? Guys who aren’t wired to submit?”
I snorted. Too old? “My last boyfriend was thirty-eight, Jackie. That’s a perfectly reasonable age.”
It was six years younger than me, and sixteen years older than my know-it-all nephew.
Jackie raised that eyebrow again. “Exactly. So about twenty years too old for you, eh?”
I opened my mouth to deny the ridiculous statement, but Jackie wasn’t done.
“But even if any of your exes had been the sweet young thing you really want, you know they’ve been all wrong for you. I swear, every single one of them has argued with you just for the sake of pushing your buttons, and this last one hated it when you tried to take charge the way you like. In fact, didn’t he call you ‘overbearing’ when you two finally broke up?”
Yes, and my most recent failed relationship hadn’t been the first man I’d dated to accuse me of that particular trait… or to be right about it. I hadn’t realized how closely Jackie had been paying attention, though. Unless I was the one who had overshared. But for as different as Jackie’s experience as an out gay man may have been from mine, I couldn’t regret that. I’d always felt a responsibility to answer his questions as openly and honestly as I could. The brat may have driven me crazy at times, but I loved him. I’d still ease his way in this world in any way I could, whenever I had the chance to.
Although, maybe that didn’t need to include quite so much transparency about my love life in the future.
Jackie smirked. “You’re not denying it, Uncle Cal.”
Because, once again, he wasn’t wrong.
“We’re not talking about this any further, Jackson,” I reminded him, pulling his full name out of my arsenal again to emphasize that I meant it. I did like to be the one in control, and I was taking charge here and laying down the law.
My statement did nothing to wipe the annoying smirk off his face.
“Hell, I had your tastes pegged back before my voice even changed,” he said, picking up his wine glass and swirling it without drinking. “You think I wasn’t looking at some of the same guys who caught your eye back then?
I clenched my jaw, then forced it to relax. “I would never look at an underage boy that way.”
Jackie laughed, shaking his head. “I know, Uncle Cal. That’s not what I meant. But you like ’em young and pretty, and I’ve always liked them a bit older. Back when I was just figuring myself out, the ones who were young to you were the hot older guys to me, you know? But please, don’t even try to sell me on the lie that you don’t like to be the one in charge in the bedroom. Even if you refuse to be my guest at the club, I know you too damn well to believe that.”
I looked around for our waiter with the intention of flagging him down and getting the check. I’d told Jackie the conversation was over, and I meant it. I wasn’t going to acknowledge what he’d said about the aesthetic I was attracted to, and as for his suggestion that I find someone who wanted me to order them around, I figured that was colored by his own taste for the BDSM lifestyle.
I didn’t judge him for that, but it wasn’t for me. Yes, I may have been a controlling, bossy asshole in the business world and in my day-to-day life. It was a large part of the reason for my success. But as Jackie had just pointed out when he’d brought up my most recent failed relationship, I’d never found that particular trait of mine to work well in the bedroom.
“Just imagine,” Jackie said, leaning across the table with that annoying smirk still plastered on his face. “What if you could be with a boy who wanted the same things you do? What if you could have everything you’ve ever secretly wanted, Callum? Imagine how good it would be if you stopped holding yourself back and let yourself go after what you really want for once.”
Oh, he thought he could turn the tables on me with that mocking I-can-use-your-full-name-too, business? The brat couldn’t ruffle me. I’d gone head to head with the CEOs of multi-million-dollar international corporations and come out on top.
And if I’d rather focus on Jackie’s ballsy audacity than on what he’d actually said, that was my prerogative, because if I actually did let myself imagine it…
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” Jackie asked, eyes sparkling. He held my gaze as he finally quit playing with his glass of wine and finished it off.
No.
Yes.
Maybe.
That didn’t make it right, though. I shifted in my seat again, my slacks becoming uncomfortably tight.
“Quit frowning,” Jackie said, winking. “There’s nothing wrong with a healthy imagination. Think about it, Uncle Cal.”
What, the kid could read my mind now? I narrowed my eyes at him. If he could, it served him right. He was the one planting ideas in my mind. Fucking Gen Z. They had such a sense of entitlement toward the world, as if they deserved to have every whim satisfied. They couldn’t be bothered to be ashamed at even the most depraved of their desires.
“I’d rather not.”
Jackie laughed. “Oh, pull the stick out of your ass. We both know you’re not the type to like anything up there.”
