Spar & Stone -

Chapter Twenty-One - Hooked

Heathcliff had to give it to Michael. The man had good advice, even if he was bad at following the same principles when he was personally involved. So, inviting him to have lunch and hang out at one of their favorite places was what he had in mind.

"So, how are things in your corner of the universe?" Michael smiled the moment he sat across from him.

"Hey, your advice worked, so all is well. The bunny is yet to be stuck inside a cage and roams freely. I hope you're happy," Heathcliff joked.

"I'm happy if you are," Michael said back with a large grin. "And I'm glad that you're not as overwhelming as you usually are. That means this relationship is good for you. It might just teach you to be more human."

"I'm plenty human," Heathcliff protested.

"Not when it comes to romantic involvements." Michael put one finger up to strengthen his statement.

"That's where you're wrong, my friend. I don't do romantic involvements."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Are you going to serve me that cliché that you only fuck?"

Heathcliff chuckled. "I don't have to. You know I do. And now, before you start berating me for treating Aidan badly, you'll be happy to learn from yours truly that I am actually fonder and fonder of him with each day passing. I don't see myself growing bored with this relationship anytime soon. On the contrary, I don't want to see it end, and I don't even think about that. Hell, I don't even notice handsome men passing by me in the street. What do you say about that?"

"Wow, did you write that speech down and practice in front of the mirror?" Michael laughed and shook his head. "If you stopped noticing sexy dudes passing by, that means that you're in it deeply. I can't wait to see your face when you two will exchange vows."

"Are you applying some sort of transference? You no longer consider yourself a romantic, so instead the entire world should fall in love?"

"Not the entire world. Just you. Now seriously, Heath, not that I don't know the answer already, but I have to ask. Have you never been in love? Like never, never?"

"Of course you know the answer. Feelings feel like complications. What's the point of being gay if you can't be as free as you want to be? It's called the alternative lifestyle for a reason."

"I thought the point of being gay is that you only liked men, and you might even fall in love with them. Sometimes I fail to see your logic, Heath. But I'm at peace. Aidan will avenge me. Keep it up like this, and he'll have you wrapped around his little finger in no time."

"Are you trying to scare me out of liking Aidan?"

"Does it work?"

"No."

"Too bad. I'll still kick your ass if you make him cry."

"I'd never!" Heathcliff protested. "I don't make cute boys cry."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure you leave a trail of broken hearts wherever you go."

"You know that's not true. I always tell guys what to expect from me, so they're never disappointed."

"Then what about Aidan? Why do you feel the need to pester him to the point of making him fall in love with you?

"He's special, and you know it."

"So what does he expect from you?"

"Everything, I hope. The whole enchilada," Heathcliff said while opening his arms wide. "So, now that you're done lecturing me when all I wanted was to share a friendly lunch with you," he added with a small smirk, "let's just eat something healthy."

"Sure. What are you recommending?"

Heathcliff examined the menu and was about to speak when he noticed Michael frowning while looking at something or someone behind him. He turned and looked, too, and saw right away the object of his friend's annoyed stare. A beautiful brunet, walking gracefully into the restaurant, had his eyes on them, as well.

That had to be the dancer, Heathcliff thought and grinned as he stared at the intruder. "Who's that?" he asked, although he already knew.

"My dick's worst nightmare," Michael said through his teeth, in a low voice.

Heathcliff turned back and looked at his friend. "Wow, language, Mikey. What's so bad about him?"

"I'll tell you. Now let's pretend to be civil. He's walking over here."

Michael's frown only deepened and Heathcliff was really curious now. His best friend was never angry at anyone. It was clear that the beautiful dancer had managed to strike a secret chord with Michael, and now he was wondering what that could be.

"Hi," the newcomer said shortly.

"What is it, Jess?" Michael asked with a sigh.

"I've sent you three messages and called twice."

"Hmm, it must have been because I didn't want to talk to you that I didn't answer," Michael said airily.

Was this some lovers' quarrel? Heathcliff pretended to study the menu, but he was all ears. This Jess dude was clearly something special. Michael was never so outspoken, even when he had to deal with unpleasant conversation partners.

From the corner of his eye, he studied the dancer quickly. His profession was written all over him. Even while standing, he kept a graceful pose. He was quite delicate, but only because he was as thin as expected from a male ballerina. Heathcliff noticed the strong wrists in passing. They weren't dainty, as some might have expected, and he was sure the guy was stronger than he looked.

"You're rude," Jess pointed out.

"Jess, I told you. We are not going to go over your routine again. You will have to do the same thing as the others."

"Why? Wasn't I convincing enough?"

There was not one ounce of teasing in Jess's voice or demeanor, but Heathcliff could swear Michael was blushing a little. Just what sort of convincing had Jess bestowed upon his hopelessly romantic friend? Obviously, something that didn't fall quite in the realm of romantic involvements. Now he was dying of curiosity.

"It's not about that. How many times do I have to explain?"

"You know I'm right," Jess said softly.

Heathcliff was freely staring at this point. There was something about this dude. He was not overtly flirty or anything, but, as experienced as he was, he could tell Jess didn't have to be that to convince people of his point of view. Some people forced sex appeal, falling easy prey to vulgarity. But not this one. This one was sex appeal incarnate.

His long fingers were squeezing the back of the extra chair, and although Heathcliff couldn't see what was going on, he could tell that Jess's stare had to be quite intense, set on Michael. In turn, Michael was staring back, and there was a battle of wills going on in there, that Heathcliff wasn't sure who would win.

Michael was usually so affable and courteous. Right now, his eyes were dark, and there was a sort of aggressiveness in how he stood, straight in his chair, his elbows on the table, his fingers linked in front, and a stern expression on his face.

Somehow, that made the man even sexier than he usually was. Heathcliff was mesmerized with the transformation. The two guys he was looking at that very moment were fucking with each other with their eyes, without touching at all.

Maybe a good idea was to break them apart. There was no need for spilled blood in a restaurant catering to vegans. Or other bodily fluids, Heathcliff thought. He could understand now how Michael could have ended up bending the graceful dancer over his desk and giving it to him hard. This Michael with daggers in his eyes could have done that.

"Would you like to join us for lunch?" Heathcliff said politely, using as much of a neutral tone he could muster, without bursting into laughter.

For a second, the two seemed to have failed to hear him. It was like looking at two tomcats fighting for dominance through means of stares alone, and no one and nothing could spoil their concentration.

"Thank you," Jess turned toward Heathcliff, and smiled. "But I'm otherwise engaged. You're Heathcliff Stone, right? The influencer?"

"I'd rather call myself a fitness trainer, but I might go by that as well these days," Heathcliff replied with a smile of his own.

"Your videos are a true inspiration. Not that I follow you," Jess placed a hand apologetically over his chest, "as I must keep with some strict regimens in both terms of diet and physical training, but many of my friends admire you."

"Tell your friends I appreciate that," Heathcliff replied.

Jess beamed at him. "I will tell them that you are just as nice a person in real life as you are in your videos."

The tomcat was gone. This kitten could not have hurt a mouse. Now Heathcliff wondered what chord Michael must have struck with Jess, too. Two perfectly polite people could not be at each other's throats like that without a strong reason.

Maybe that was how attraction worked in some people. And maybe Michael was in for a ride with this wild kitten, after all. He could barely wait to grill his friend about Jess.

"We'll talk more tonight. Are you coming, I hope?" Michael interrupted their exchange of pleasantries.

"If you hope, then I'll come."

"Oh, please, it was just a way of saying. I am your boss, Jess. You must understand. I can't bend to your every whim, no matter how talented you are."

Heathcliff had a clear idea of who was doing the bending and quite gracefully.

"I will convince you, eventually. You'll see," Jess said and pointed a finger at Michael. "Enjoy your lunch," he added and turned toward Heathcliff.

He waited a couple of minutes for Jess to disappear from within earshot. "Is this your hot dancer?"

Michael sighed. "Yes, and, as you can see, he's a total pain in the butt."

"I don't know what to tell you, Mikey. He seemed pretty nice to me. Really charming."

"That he is. Not toward me, mind you. Apparently, he has a beef with me and me only, as I don't allow him to introduce the Nutcracker to our nightly entertainment."

"The Nutcracker?" Heathcliff roared. "In a gay club?"

"I'm just exaggerating." Michael waved like he wanted to get rid of an annoying fly. "It's not the Nutcracker, but something close. He has this obsession that we should bring more elegance and sophistication to our cage dance routine."

"So? Why don't you let him?"

"Do you want to see me go bankrupt?"

"Just one time. Let him. And when he gets booed for not showing off the goods, he'll know why he's wrong."

"I'm not that cruel," Michael replied. "I don't want to see him hurt. This artistic type people usually have egos made of glass."

"So, instead, you're just fucking his principles out of him."

Michael grinned. "Maybe that's what I'm trying to do. I'll hate to see him go, but it may be for the better."

"You can't mean that. There's a real attraction between you two. You should capitalize on that."

"Sex does not equal a relationship, Heath, and you're old enough not to need me to tell you that."

"Neither lack of sex. Seriously, the dude is hot. And you clearly have a thing for him."

"Yes, I do. I feel like I want to strangle him," Michael said with a rueful smile.

"Ah, so he's into choking?" Heathcliff joked.

"Only you could think of some imaginary sexual innuendo while I'm trying to point out what a stubborn prick Jess is."

Heathcliff snickered. "I suppose you know better. About his prick and other things."

"Will you stop?" Michael protested, but his lips were twitching, too. "You better focus on your bunny boy and how to keep him. Nice guys really are in short supply around here."

"Jess is nice, too."

"Maybe before midnight. He's the kind that doesn't even need to be sprinkled with water to turn bad."

"Why? That's when he turns into a gremlin? Or is that an allusion to the wet t-shirt contest night you have during the week?"

"Maybe," Michael replied and smiled secretively.

"You'll make him do that," Heathcliff said.

"I might," Michael admitted. "Come on, let's just order something. Being contradicted by my employees works wonders on my appetite."

Heathcliff was sure Michael was just trying to change the subject. For now, he could let it slide. But he had a feeling that he would hear more about Jess in the near future.

***

Aidan wasn't in the habit of snooping around, but something in the atmosphere at the office was telling him something was amiss. So he decided to move closer to the people gossiping by the water cooler while pretending to be all focused on the materials in the folder he had grabbed from his desk.

"It's normal to make it a competition," one of his co-workers whispered to another.

They were both dressed in the same type of scrubby suit, with thin black ties and dark shirts, and one could make their hair in their shoes. These guys were higher on the career ladder, and the low-entry employees were all looking up to them, even more than to the head of the department. That should have been considered a sacrilege seeing how much their boss enjoyed being considered the best thing that happened to the business world since the invention of the smartphone.

Aidan could not fathom for the world why someone in charge of such a small department that didn't even deal with cutting edge technologies, but just with some so-called healthy drinks, had such big ambitions. What could he hope for? That protein shakes would replace drinking water in the foreseeable future?

"So will there be cuts?" the second copycat character replied.

"No, you know that's not how it works around here."

"No cuts? Ah, damn, nothing feels better than telling someone they're fired," the second guy said with a sigh. "I miss those days."

"In a way, this is worse, for those that don't meet the criteria, of course. Remaining in the same position for two years in a row ... Just imagine how that feels. And it's like a sentence. People who don't get promoted, it's like they're touched by the plague. No one wants to have anything to do with them. It's like failure is transmissible or something. At least, if they get fired, some might have some spectacular comeback. You know, start a business from home, selling socks on Etsy, or whatever. But this, what can I tell you? It keeps them stuck in a swamp of lack of success."

The other laughed. There was something extremely unpleasant in how the man laughed like he made the sounds a hyena would.

"We'll see in a few weeks who the bottom feeders are. They'll remain stuck there for a lot of time. So let's outperform our last season's figures, shall we?"

The copy-paste couple passed by Aidan without paying him one ounce of attention. Of course, from their position, people had to look like ants.

He shook his head. And he thought Heathcliff was arrogant. Despite being naturally pleasant and easy to talk to, he had failed to bond with any of his colleagues. Everyone was engaged in the fight for the bottom line, hence alliances were formed only with the explicit purpose of dragging someone down. Otherwise, friendships seemed to be a rare thing.

So, something bad would go down soon. He really needed to have Heathcliff work for those numbers. He trusted the man, but his boss was a pain in the ass with his demands. Aidan just hoped he would have time to have some growth in sales to show his boss. Usually, he would not worry about being among the last performers in the office, but he wasn't dealing with normal circumstances. He needed to deliver.

***

"Why the long face?" Heathcliff questioned him over dinner.

"Long hours, all that," Aidan replied and waved.

"Come on, bunny boy; I can feel you're upset. Why?"

"Work stuff. Don't worry; I won't keep up this long face for too long," he made a lame attempt at a joke.

"Tell me."

"I'll bore you."

"Try me."

Aidan sighed. "Okay. There will be an evaluation soon, within a few weeks or something."

"And? I assume your hard work will show."

"If only. But thanks for the vote of confidence. Everyone puts in extra hours at the office like they're berserk. Officially, nobody knows about the evaluation, but, in reality, everyone knows everything, or almost. So they are all like busy bees. On top of it all, most of my duties are not the kind to show some palpable performance, unless you include filing and refiling meeting minutiae as something that would bring the company to a new era of prosperity and achievements. The funny part is that, as a newcomer, I'm not allowed," he did the air quotes thing, "to present better performance than certain individuals that are on top of the food chain."

"So you worry you can't fit some Procrustean bed," Heathcliff said while watching him intently.

"Yes, that pretty much sums up my situation. Although, in my case, they won't cut anything, but probably just pull at my bones to make me long enough to fit."

"Focus on what you must do, Aidan. Don't let the others make you lose your focus. I'm sure that, being the hard worker that you are, you'll get over these issues."

"I wish I could say the same thing about me," Aidan said with mirth. "But your advice is duly noted. The best I can do is to focus on what I must achieve. Which brings us to what you can do for me," he joked.

"Anything for my beloved pet," Heathcliff said.

Aidan secretly enjoyed these small endearing allusions coming from Heathcliff. They were nothing but playful banter, and he could live with that. Actually, he thrived on them, as they made him feel like he was truly cared for.

"I won't ask you to be aggressive in the promotion of the product, but somehow to increase the frequency of mentioning it, even if it's just for a few seconds. The more times you repeat something, the more likely people will remember it."

"Okay, it's done. I must say that I'm glad your company uses organic ingredients for the most part. I could not have told from the taste, but even my taste buds might be wrong once in a while. I have run some research of my own on the ingredients, and now I know for sure that the product your company is selling is as good as something like this can be, which is commendable. What else can I do for you?"

The question was casual, but Aidan could tell there was a playful undertone to it. So he cocked his head to one side and said: "Nothing for now, but if you make me hit my projected sales, I promise I'll drop to my knees and suck your cock."

Was that playful enough from his part, too? Heathcliff's smirk told him all he needed to know. His attempts at being playful and funny were, at least, appreciated.

"Should I remind you that you enthusiastically do that anyway?" Heathcliff straightened up in his chair and looked over the table at Aidan.

He gulped. Heathcliff's eyes were no longer twinkling with amusement. They were intense and a bit demanding. "I do that, don't I?" Aidan said and looked down on his plate. "Damn it; I should have kept it as a bargaining chip. I really have no idea what I'm doing. See, I'm not that good."

"I love your blowjobs, Aidan."

Didn't Heathcliff just have a way with words? Aidan could feel the tip of his ears glowing red. "What else do you love about me?"

Oops, not the right thing to say. Heathcliff's eyes were trained on him, hungry, and giving away all that was on his mind.

"I thought about letting you sleep tonight."

"Why?" Aidan cast his eyes down and then looked up.

"Because you're tired, worried, and I just want you relaxed and happy while you're here."

"I am happy while I'm here." The words flew out of his mouth before he could control them.

"And am I glad to hear that," Heathcliff said with a small smile. "Don't worry about your job, Aidan. If worse comes to worst, let's just say that you have friends in high places. Michael was serious about offering you a position at his club. And no, bunny boy, don't smile like that. It won't be as the leading twerker in the house, despite how much, let's say, natural talent you have for that."

Aidan snickered. "His dancers are so talented, aren't they?"

"Ah, so you looked at them much?"