Call me kitten (boyxboy love) ✓

19. Fake smile

The final show was about to end when we entered the house again. I'd heard the moans and whimpers of a woman all the way out in the garden and when we got inside, a man was untying her from the large wooden cross. Her body was riddled with red markings, and she had a blissful expression on her face. People were talking in smaller groups and the music had been amped up again, the mood in the room was relaxed. Ash asked me I was disappointed that I had missed out on the last show, but I had assured him that I wasn't. The pool house experience had definitely trumped it by leaps and bounds.

"Look at those rosy cheeks," Florian smiled at me when he joined us. "You look like a guy who's feeling like a million bucks."

"Uhm, yeah, I'm doing great, thanks," I said flustered.

Ash placed his arm around me and grinned proudly as he returned the key to Florian. Nicola joined us and we talked for a while until Florian was called away by another guest and took Nicola with him.

"Want me to grab us some drinks?" Ash asked.

"Thanks," I answered gratefully.

I had been so pre-occupied by all that had happened during the evening that I never even realized that I was practically parched. Ash made his way through the crowd, and I was left to my own devices. I stood up from the couch. The energy was still buzzing inside, making it hard for me to just sit there and wait. Besides, I had a hard time actually sitting down due to what Ash had subjected my poor ass to earlier and I couldn't help chuckling to myself. That was my own doing. He did warn me.

I scanned the crowd and started my old habit again, people-watching. Had you met them on the street you would never believe that they attended these kinds of parties, or that some of them liked to be walked on a leash. It was downright captivating, and I wondered if anyone at the office also was into this. The likelihood for that was pretty big.

As I stood there bouncing on my heels, I noticed that the blond guy from the knife show was walking in my direction. I averted my eyes quickly, not wanting him to see that I had seen him. But apparently, he was honing in on me and nobody else. My brain revved up, trying to find a plausible excuse for me ogling him. There was no other explanation than the fact that he had been in my field of vision. And that he had been handling a knife in a very expert way.

"Did you like the show?" he said and now I had to look at him.

He smiled and his green eyes were locked on me. I started to feel uneasy.

"Yeah, it was interesting," I said, as neutral as I could.

"Your face back then tells me you thought it was more than interesting," he said and leaned forward. "I saw your reaction. My name is Simon."

His hand hovered in front of me, and I had a desperate debate with myself whether it was impolite not to shake hands with him. Could I say I was a germophobic? Was he flirting with me? No, he couldn't be. Was he? But he had noticed me in the middle of his own show. I reluctantly shook his hand. Where was Ash?

"Jamie," I replied. "Well, it was quite an intense show, so..."

"You've got a scratch here that you didn't have before, I see. If you want, I can give you a private session later?"

He grazed the band aid I had covered the wound on my arm with and his eyes burrowed deeper. Someone suddenly grabbed Simon's wrists and pried it away from my arm and Ash towered over him. Ash's eyes were dead cold, and he glowered at Simon.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing, huh?" Ash snarled.

Simon smiled apologetically and held his palms up.