Iâm pulling on my shoes by the door when the sound of a key slides into the lock. Ava comes in looking harassed, jute bag in one hand weighed down with shopping, and a London Book Review tote over her shoulder. Sheâs still carrying her dance bag too. I take the jute and tote bags from her, carry them into the kitchen, and set them on the counter.
âWas gonna do Assassinâs pasta,â she says as she sets down the other.
âAh, sounds great, but I am on my way out. Tomorrow?â
âSure.â She starts unloading. âWhere you off to?â
The delay in answering has her attention. I donât like lying to Avaâfor a whole multitude of reasonsâbut Iâve found that my life is just easier if I donât tell her when Iâm going to Christianâs. She doesnât like Christianâagain, for a whole multitude of reasonsâand for such a laid-back, non-judgemental person, she gets very uptight and judgy whenever I do.
âOh, right. Heâs rung the bell has he?â Itâs a joke about my Pavlovian response to Christian. Because when he rings, I run, salivating (usually all over his cock) and Avaâs respect for me dies a little more each time.
âI probably wonât be back tonight.â
She levels a look at me at this. Itâs different from the look she gives me when I mention (or donât mention) Christian in a more general sense. This one is laced with pity. âBabe, seriously? Thereâs therapy for this kind of thing.â
Sheâs right. There definitely is.
âBut therapy wouldnât make me come until I see stars, now would it?â
âNo, if it did, weâd all go. But your self-esteem would probably benefit.â
âBabe, look at me. I love myself. Some would argue too much, and with abandon, so my self-esteem is not something you need to worry about, trust me.â I bend to kiss her on the cheek. âSee you in the morning. Donât make Assassinâs without me, okay?â
Christianâs flat is in Green Park which is exactly four minutes on the tube from Warren Street. Itâs convenient. Far too convenient for a man to be living that close to a man he absolutely, resolutely, should not be fucking on the regular. Or at all. But Iâm not moving, and since he has no plans to sell up either, I guess weâll keep doing this as long as we can.
Itâs not love, nowhere near. And thatâs the thing that bothers Ava at heart. Sheâs under the impression that Christian is using me, that Iâm his dirty little secret (okay, I am. Iâm both dirty and a secret, so thatâs fair) and that heâs never going to be able to give me what I really want, which she says is a monogamous, loving, committed relationship. Which yes, fine, I do want. Who doesnât?
Thing is, I also know Iâm not going to get this from Christian. Iâm not delusional. Itâs just that Ava doesnât seem to believe me when I say this to her. She thinks Iâm lying about it, that Iâm in love with him or something. Which Iâm not. I was in love once, I thinkâI was sixteen and he was the year above me in schoolâand it ended horribly for everyone involved, mostly for him since heâs married to a woman and has a set of ginger triplets at age twenty-five, but Iâve been a little terrified to do it again ever since.
But I do want to do it again.
And I will. What I get from Christian is enough to fill that hole in the meantime (yes, this pun is absolutely intended). What I get from Christian on the regular is a good, hard, filthy fucking, and thatâs more than fine with me. Weâre not exclusive, and Iâm free to pursue other things as long as I tell him all about them. If I meet someone who makes my heart do that weird fluttering thing, then heâs told me that I must absolutely pursue it because he doesnât want to hold me back from anything. Especially love.
There just hasnât been anyone like that, yet.
So, all this to say, I donât get the big issue Ava has with two consenting adults fucking each otherâs brains out every now and then, which is all weâre doing.
Okay, maybe I do get it. The complicated nature of it is, problematic, I suppose. Risky. And sheâs worried about the potential fallout, which would likely be cataclysmic. But I think if she just focussed on getting her own brains fucked out every now and again, sheâd be less focussed on my brains, or how they get fucked.
The motion of the tube rutting over the tracks plays havoc with the plug in my arse, so by the time I step out of the station at Green Park, Iâm hard as a fucking pole.
I press the intercom for Christianâs flat and wait. Itâs stopped raining, thank fuck, but the chill coursing over my heated skin has my nipples hard through my light jacket. Theyâve always been too sensitive by far. A slight breeze and theyâre off, standing to attention like theyâre on a bloody protest march.
âHello,â his polite voice comes over the line.
âYeah, hi, Iâm looking to get my hole destroyed by a prominent member of the British government please?â
He chuckles and I hear the door unlock. I practically jete upstairs to the first floor where heâs left his door ajar for me. The TVâs on inside, a news channel playing as always. Christian lives and breathes politics; itâs his life in the very same way dance is mine. Which on some level is sexyâguys who are passionate about things are sexyâbut since I canât stand politics or anything even slightly politics adjacent, for obvious daddy-shaped reasons, it can be a bit of a mood killer for me.
Heâs in the kitchen pouring wine into two glasses. His shirt sleeves are rolled up showing off tanned, strong forearms, and his tie is long gone, chestnut hair mussed from his day. He lifts his eyes to mine and a warmth moves into them I never get tired of. A guy who looks at me like heâs missed me, like Iâm the reason his shitty day just got betterâitâs a heady feeling.
âHey, beautiful,â he says, coming around the counter holding two wine glasses. He takes a sip from his glass and hands me mine. Itâs a rosé, sweet and light like he knows I prefer. Iâm not a huge drinker, except on special occasions, but I enjoy a tipple every now and then and a sweet light rosé will never miss with me.
âHey.â I bend to kiss him. Weâre about the same heightâthough that wasnât always the case, of course. He had almost a foot on me the first time we met, when I gazed up at him with the sort of look heâs giving me now. He wasnât the first guy whose dick I sucked, but he was the first guy who made me realise how much I wanted to suck a guyâs dick. When I was fifteen, Iâd met him at a party and gone on to crush on him for years before I got to have him.
âHave you eaten?â he asks, a note of concern on his face.
âI had a big lunch. Letâs eat after?â
He slides a hand up to my cheek and smooths his thumb across my jaw.
âMissed you,â he murmurs before kissing me again, slow and deep. When he presses the front of his body into me, I feel heâs already a little hard. My butt clenches around the plug, a shiver rolling through me.
âSo, whatâs my gift?â I pull back and take a sip of wine.
He smirks and wanders back into the kitchen. When he returns, heâs holding a small green and gold bag, which I immediately recognise. Itâs from the chocolatier in Geneva who happens to make the best chocolate on the fucking planet. Seriously, I have never put something in my mouth that tastes better than this, especially if the chocolate is wrapped up in a praline and pistachio truffle. I groan and take the bag from him.
âOkay, well thanks. Iâll be off then.â I start to leave before he pulls me back by my belt.
Heâs smiling. âNot until Iâve tasted you.â
I sigh dramatically. âFine. I guess I can hang around a bit.â I wander over to the couch and set the chocolates on the coffee table. Then I down my wine and set the glass next to it.
âI actually have a gift for you tooâ¦â I say as I unbuckle my belt. Iâm so fucking hard now, dangerously so.
Christianâs eyes flare with lust as he sips his drink. âIs that so?â
I shuck out of my jeans and toe off my trainers without removing my eyes from his. When Iâm standing in just my jock, I turn my back to him and kneel up on the couch, spreading my legs and arching forward over the back, displaying myself for him.
âFuck,â he says. It always turns me on to hear him swear like this. Because itâs always for this reason. âLook at youâ¦â
Behind me, the TV catches my attention. âForeign Secretary, Sir Christian Darling, returned from Geneva today after a . Abrahmsen is currently serving a life sentence in HMP Belmarsh for the bombing of theâ¦â
I tune it out. I donât know why itâs still on. Sometimes I think he gets a kick out of it, screwing me while they talk about him on TV. Screwing me while they mention my dad. Alright, I suppose I do too. So yeah, maybe thatâs the main reason I shouldnât be fucking Christian. He not only works very closely with my dad, he is, at least publicly, friends with him too. It was at a party thrown by my dad that we first met.
âYou like it?â I ask, breath turning quick. Fuck, Iâm so turned on.
âVery much,â Christian murmurs from closer behind me. âTake it out and show me how open you are for me.â
A shiver runs through my whole body as I reach down to tug on the end of the silver plug nestled there. I pull it out slowly, each rounded bead slipping past my rim one at a time. When itâs all the way out, I feel him take it from me before he slips his fingers into me in its place. I moan like a whore.
âSo wet and open and ready for my cock.â
âYes, daddy.â
Christian groans and tosses the plug on the couch, then moves to stand behind me. I hear his belt unbuckle, zip pull down, and then heâs fumbling. The blunt head of his cock nudges against my entrance, hot and hard. I bite down on my lip as he pushes the head in just a little. He digs his fingers into my hair and pulls back my head to meet his mouth.
âDid my beautiful boy miss me?â
âYes, daddy.â
âDid you let anyone else fuck this slutty little hole while I was away?â Heâs circling the head of his cock around my hole as I clench, as I try to suck it inside.
âYes.â
Christian groans and releases my hair so he can lean down and get a good look at said hole. His eyes feel hot on it. Then his finger is prodding, pushing inside, pulling at one side like heâs trying to look into it. It drives me insane. Sliding my hand into my jock, I give my dick a few strokes before he grabs my arm and forces it behind my back, fist tight around my wrist.
âNot until you tell me how naughty you were.â
I close my eyes and think back to Alex the waiter. It hadnât been the best sex of my life by any means, but Christian doesnât need to know that. He wouldnât want to.
âHe was big,â I lie. âHe stretched me out so wide I felt it all day at rehearsal.â
Christianâs tongue flicks at my twitching hole, wetting it. âMmmm, this slutty hole opens up so easily for cock doesnât it. Did you let him come inside it?â
âNo,â I say quickly. âOf course not, only you get to do that.â
âGood boy.â He rewards me with another tongue-heavy kiss there before he stands back up, positioning himself behind me. âNow open it for me, let me see what Iâm about to fuck.â
Vibrating out of my skin, I lean my head on the back of the couch and reach back to spread both cheeks for him as wide as I can.
âSuch a pretty boyâ¦â
I groan as he pushes against my rim, once, twice, three times before he slips past and inside. Heâs fat, Christian Darling. A fat, short-ish cock that still overwhelms me a little when I havenât had him in a while, and itâs been almost a month by my count. Hence the plug. But it doesnât take long for my body to open all the way for him, hungry and slutty and desperate. And then heâs fucking me in earnest, pounding me hard against his expensive sofa as my dadâs voice comes on the TV behind me.
Youâd think it would be a turn-off, but itâs not. Itâs hot as fuck knowing his governmentâs foreign secretary, someone he sees every single day, is fucking me into next week while he pulls my hair and I call him daddy.
So Iâm a little fucked up.
Ironically, I blame my dad.
After, we eat pizza (or he does while I nibble on the toppings because Iâm still thinking about Nicoâs comment earlier) on the sofa while I tell him all about Nico Savini coming to LBC and how much Iâm going to make his life a living hell until he jeteâs off back to Italy where he belongs.
âAre you attracted to him?â Christian asks apropos of nothing whatsoever. Heâs studying me as he licks pizza sauce off his index finger.
âHeâs straight as a flagpole.â
One corner of Christianâs mouth twitches. âIâm certain thatâs not what I asked.â
I frown at him, trying to figure out why heâs asking this in the first place.
âI mean, heâs hot, obviously. But heâs such a massive fucking arsehole that itâs hard to see past that.â
Christian nods in thoughtful agreement but says nothing more. I settle in closer to him and he slides an arm around me. Thereâs an old movie on the TV, from the â80s by the looks of it, which he tells me is a favourite of his. Lots of his favourite films and bands and things are from the â80s, which makes sense since he was born in 1982. He couldnât name a single Little Mix tune if someone put a gun to his head. So we donât have a huge amount in common, but youâd be surprised at how little that sort of thing matters when heâs eating my ass like itâs ice cream on a hot summer day.
âSorry I missed your birthday,â he says sincerely, nosing my hair softly. âI do have a gift for you, itâs being delivered this week. I was hoping it would have been here by now.â
âI told you I donât need anything.â
âYes, and I told you I like spoiling you.â
I give him a suggestive look and skim a hand over the front of his shorts. âOh, you do spoil me, daddy.â
âYou know it only works when weâre fucking, otherwise Iâll start to assume itâs a Freudian slip.â
âMore like wishful thinking.â If Christian was my father, my life would be a different kettle of fish altogether.
He pulls back and gives me a horrified look. âExcuse me?â
I laugh, nuzzling his armpit. âIncest joke. Sorry, wrong audience.â
âAnd thereâs a right audience for that?â He chuckles.
âAva perhaps. I mean no one finds incest funny actually, which is a shame. Probably since itâs still illegal, though you and your mates could sort that if you wanted to.â
He laughs. âI donât even know what weâre talking about anymore.â
âKeep up, Mr. Foreign Secretary.â
He laughs but itâs cut off by the sound of his mobile phone. Itâs on the side table near me, so I reach over to get it, chancing a glance at the screen as I hand it to him. His son.
Visibly, his demeanour changes, as though perhaps Leo can see through the phone at what his father is up to.
He answers with, âHey, whatâs up, son?â
Christianâs son is my age and a staffer for the PM. He knows absolutely nothing about his fatherâs sexual preferences. But then, no one does. On the outside, Sir Christian Darling is the handsome, well-liked, and much respected human rights lawyer turned cabinet minister. Widowed at 38 by the death of his wife Stellaâbeautiful, willowy, and blissfully ignorant about her husbandâs attraction to menâfrom a brain injury she got from a fall while skiing. So while thereâs nothing outwardly wrong about what weâre doing, the idea of anyone finding out, especially his son and my father, scares him absolutely shitless.
I get up and leave him to it. Knowing them, it could be a long conversation and none of it even remotely interesting to me. I run myself a bath instead. He has a massive jet tub which I try and take advantage of whenever I come over. Iâm submerged up to my neck and singing to Dua Lipa when he wanders in.
âEverything alright at number 10?â I ask, though honestly, I wouldnât give a shit if the place had been petrol bombed. Preferably with my father inside.
âHeâs worrying about a leaked email,â he says as he comes to sit on the edge of the bath.
âWhy? Did he leak it?â
He huffs a laugh. âNo. He suspects some disgruntled under-secretary. Heâs wondering whether to tell Nish.â
âAlways the under-secretaries,â I tut, sliding under the water a little more. âAre you coming in?â
âI was going to make you some dessert. How many calories do you have left?â
âWell, I worked off a bit when I got here soâ¦â
âClotted cream ice cream, caramel sauce, and a sprinkle of pistachios then?â He stands and comes toward me, leaning down to press a kiss to my head. I think about Nicoâs comment again, then push it aside. Like Iâm going to let that prick ruin my favourite dessert.
âSounds like another orgasm to me.â
He grins. âLet me change first; you relax here for a bit.â I stare after him as he wanders out of the bathroom. Sometimes I do wonder what it would be like if we were a thing; like a proper couple thing. If he could just accept that he liked men and ask me to come with him to some dinner or event. Hold my hand in public and kiss me in front of my father. If he could just tell his son that he enjoyed fucking me. Okay, he wouldnât have to be as descriptive as that, but the general idea.
I donât say any of this lightly because it would be a big deal. Iâd never actually had to come out, it had just been very obvious to everyone that I was a boy who liked other boys. My dad doesnât love it, he doesnât love the dancing either, or the Instagram posting, or basically anything about how I choose to live my life, and he certainly wouldnât like it if I was to announce I was fucking someone twenty years my senior who happens to be a friend of his from work.
So, Ava is right, in that this thing can never really be anything more than what it is. But honestly, I think it works perfectly for us. I like what we have now just fine, I like it a lot. I like Christian a lot. I like that itâs forbidden, and I like knowing it would completely fuck up my dad if he found out. I like the idea of Christian and my dad talking about amendments and PMQs before Christianâs mind wanders to thinking about how tight my arse is, or what it looks like with his cum dripping out of it. Why on earth would I ruin that with something as boring as love and monogamy?
I wouldnât.