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  Joel ordered himself a rum and Coke and Fen wanted a few sips. That’s all he let Fen have, because he knew they were approaching that tipping point of too much, which would start Fen sliding under the table instead of wrapping around a pole.

  “Hey, look!” Fen brightly said as he pointed. “They have poles!”

  On the stage next to the DJ stand, two poles had been erected. One was currently occupied by a drag queen, while a woman writhed around another.

  “Isn’t that a coincidence?” Mads said with a playful smirk. “There happens to be a contest tonight. You know, Fen, I bet you could hold your own with anyone out there.”

  About that time the current song ended and the DJ picked up a mic. “Okay, everybody! Who’s ready for a little poooooole action? Come on up and put your names on the list. We’ll be starting in five minutes!”

  A chorus of cheers and applause rose from the crowd. Mads disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned, she gave Joel a thumbs up that Fen missed because he was currently fascinated by a fish tank behind the bar.

  “What do you think, baby?” Joel asked him.

  “I think I might want a fish tank, Master.”

  Mads snorted.

  Okay, Fen was really gone down the rabbit hole to be calling him that out in the open.

  “I meant about doing your pole dance routine on stage.”

  Fen scowled. “I don’t have any clothes to wear for it.”

  “Yeah, you do,” Mads said. “I got a bestie bitch covered. Well, uncovered. Come on, do it for me, please?”

  “Huh?”

  “Pole dancing. For me. Pleeease?” She batted her eyes at him, making Fen roll his.

  “You guys planned this, didn’t you?”

  “Yep!” She grinned. “C’mon, Fen. I love you, buddy. Do your bestie a solid. You’re going to kick. Ass.”

  “Your video is number one on K&P on Fet,” Joel said. “And it has over five thousand likes. I skimmed through the comments this morning while you were still asleep, and you have a new fanbase. Come on, baby. Please?”

  Fen blew out a breath. “Ooookaaay. Fine.” The fish tank drew his attention again.

  Joel managed to steal his attention from the fish tank and get him focused on him again. “Come on, baby. Let’s go get you changed.”

  Mads led them to the backstage area, where five women and two men were preparing.

  All of them looked way drunker than Fen, including two of the women, who’d stripped down to bras and panties.

  Working together, Mads and Joel blocked Fen in behind a sound equipment box so he had a little cover and held his things as he stripped down and donned the dance belt and bottoms. At least he looked better than the other two guys. One was wearing a pair of tighty whities, and the other a pair of boxers that’d seen better days.

  Fen giggled. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” He handed his glasses and wallet to Mads to tuck into her purse for him.

  “Neither can we, baby,” Mads said, “but I’m damn sure looking forward to this.”

  Fen was the last one signed up, so he ended up having to go last. Mads and Joel were allowed to stand down next to the stage, since they were with Fen, and had a front-row view of the show.

  When Fen walked out onto the stage, he looked a little nervous and gave the crowd a wave.

  Since they were well-lubricated already and fired up by the earlier performers—who frankly weren’t that good, including one woman who basically ground against the pole and tried to french kiss it—they cheered for him.

  The DJ started the music, and it was like Fen went into auto-pilot. Both Joel and Mads were filming on their phones, Joel taking video and Mads still shots, and started cheering him on, lost in the sound of the crowd going absolutely batshit when Fen dropped to the floor for the first part of the routine.

  Mads wore a beaming grin and poked Joel in the arm, obviously aware a very sober Fen would be watching the video later and able to hear any comments they made.

  Joel gave her a gentle fist bump and then whistled at Fen as he started the first pole section of his routine.

  It looked like his boy was caught up in the moment, no bashfulness about what he was doing, either. As the crowd went absolutely in-fucking-sane, it was like Fen picked up their energy and played it back to them.

  That’s my boy.

  Joel had never felt prouder. Okay, so, sure, Fen was definitely over the legal limit. But he wasn’t completely naked, and it wasn’t like it was harming him. He definitely seemed to be enjoying the hell out of himself.

  From the way Joel’s cock was throbbing, and the hungry look on the faces of some of the men watching Fen, he wasn’t the only one enjoying watching his boy spin and climb and work it. Compared to the others, it was obvious Fen had some training.

  Or they were just that much drunker and sucked that much more.

  When the song came to an end, the audience went berserk, cheering and clapping for him. Joel realized he was holding Mads’ hand as the DJ brought the other contestants onto the stage for the voting.

  Using a sound meter, he held a hand over each contestant’s head for cheers and applause to indicate who the crowd liked.

  But a meter wasn’t necessary as the whole place exploded in wild screams for Fen.

  The DJ looked at the crowd. “Guess we have our winner, folks! Congratulations!” He awarded Fen with an envelope and a blue trophy two feet tall with a pole dancing woman on the top. The two runners-up each received envelopes that Joel assumed contained gift cards or something.

  Mads and Joel quickly ducked past the security guy who waved them into the backstage area, where Fen seemed confused by the trophy he held.

  He showed it to Joel and Mads. “Why’d they give me this?”

  “Because you won, doofus!” Mads said, kissing his cheek and taking the trophy and envelope from him so Joel could get him dressed.

  Joel opted to just pull Fen’s clothes on over the outfit rather than trying to wrestle him out of it first.

  Fen giggled as Joel helped him pull his pants on. “I won?”

  “You won, baby.”

  “You didn’t just win,” Mads said. “You killed it!”

  “Are we going back to the room now, Master?”

  “Yeah, baby. We are.” He knelt to help Fen into his shoes.

  “Can I give you a lapdance there?”

  Mads let out a snicker. Joel knew he’d have to tell Fen tomorrow, when he was powering through his guaranteed hangover, that at least Mads was laughing through all of this.

  “You can give me whatever kind of dance you feel like, baby.”

  “Can I slide up and down your pole?”

  “Oookay,” Mads said. “Now we’ve hit the TMI portion of the alcohol.”

  Fen held a finger up to his lips. “Shhh!”

  Joel stood. “You encouraged him,” he reminded her.

  She grinned unrepentantly and shrugged. “I’m a helper.”

  Mads carried the trophy and envelope for them as Joel helped Fen out of the club and down the sidewalk. Their exit was accompanied by another round of cheers, wolf whistles, applause, and both men and women coming up and trying to talk to Fen despite how drunk he now was. Fen was adorably humming the song under his breath, a little out of tune but still cute.

  “He never could hold his booze,” Mads said. “It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about him.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I never had to worry about him doing something stupid with me. I mean, aggressively stupid.”

  “Ewww!” Fen said, then turned to Joel. “She’s cute, but she’s like my sister.”

  “You don’t have a sister,” Mads reminded him.

  Fen sniffled, his expression turning melancholy. “I always wanted a sister.”

  “You are the sister,” Mads teased.

  Joel bristled, but apparently this was a common exchange between them.

  Fen giggled. “Yeah, true. I am the sister
.”

  * * * *

  Despite the alcohol rushing through his system, Fen knew exactly what he was doing, and what he wanted.

  He wasn’t so wasted he couldn’t finally try to get over his fears once and for all.

  He’d pledged his life and love and body to Joel.

  There was one thing he’d never given his man.

  He wanted tonight to be the night. As he wove his way back to the resort with Joel and Mads, he knew he wanted to cross that threshold once and for all. Even if he only did it the one time, he wanted it to be with Joel.

  The elevator stopped at Mads’ floor and she handed Joel the trophy. It was shiny, blue, and the prismatic stripes up and down it fascinated Fen.

  “Oh, here’s his glasses and wallet. And whatever this is.” She handed everything to Joel, then kissed Fen and Joel, on their cheeks. “Text me in the morning and let me know how bad off he is.”

  “You got me drunk, bestie,” Fen accused, although not too seriously.

  He was pretty damn drunk.

  “Of course I did, sweetie. Because you’re so much fun to watch having fun.” She waved at them and the door slid closed behind her.

  Fen sidled up to Joel, squinting up at him. “You’re lookin’ kinda fuzzy, Sir.”

  “Here, baby.” He helped Fen seat his glasses on his face.

  “Oh. That’s better.”

  Joel wore a handsome, playful smile. “Apologies in advance for the hangover, baby, but you looked fucking gorgeous on that stage.”

  “Was I?” He lurched a little when the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.

  “Yes, you were. This is us.” Joel led him out and down the hall to their room and let them inside.

  Fen walked in and face-planted on the bed, his glasses digging in a little. “Ow.” He giggled.

  Okay, maybe I’m drunker than I thought I was.

  Joel helped him roll over and started working on his shoes for him. “Now I see why you only have a sip or two of my beer or drink, usually.” But he still wore that devastatingly handsome smile that could harden Fen’s cock every time.

  “Because I’m a light-weight.” He propped himself up on his elbows. “Fuck me, Master.”

  Joel reached for Fen’s belt. “I will, baby. We’re wearing too many clothes, though.”

  “I mean, fuck me. Really fuck me. I want your dick in my ass.”

  * * * *

  Joel froze, the good buzz he’d been working on driven straight out of his brain and leaving wary alertness in its wake.

  Fen stared up at him with those earnest, gorgeous—completely fucking drunk—eyes of his.

  “That is something that requires a lot of talking before we even think about going there.”

  Fen reached up, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him down on top of him. “I don’t want to talk. I want to fuck. I want your cum inside me, Master.”

  Okay, so there went his hope that maybe Fen was just a little carried away.

  He gently peeled Fen’s fingers off his shirt and sat up, pulling his shirt off. “Oh, my cum’s going inside that gorgeous mouth of yours, baby.”

  “Why won’t you fuck me?” Storm clouds darkened his expression. “Don’t you want me anymore?”

  Oh, shit.

  “Because you are drunk as a skunk right now.” He hooked his finger through Fen’s day collar and tugged. “Who’s this mean you belong to?”

  “You.”

  He captured Fen’s left hand and brought it to his lips, kissing his wedding band. “And who’s that wedding band say is your husband?”

  Fen sniffled. “You, Master.”

  Joel propped his hands on the bed on either side of Fen’s head and caged him with his body. “Whose word is law?”

  Fen reached up and started playing with Joel’s left nipple, forcing Joel to stay focused and not get distracted. “You, Master.”

  “Okay, then. We can talk about this later, if you still want to talk about it later.”

  Fen hooked a leg around Joel’s and started grinding. “But I’m horny now, Master!”

  “We’ll take care of that for you, baby.” He leaned in and kissed him. “But let’s get naked first.”

  “I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.”

  “Then why didn’t you say something sooner?”

  Fen shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Joel suspected maybe it’d been on Fen’s mind, but more as a “why can’t I do it?” versus a “I really want to do it” kind of thing. Because if Fen really wanted to do it, he likely would have mentioned it a while ago.

  “For tonight, sucking my cock will have to suffice. Or I can take care of myself. Your choice.”

  Fen almost looked indignant. “I suck your cock. That’s my job.”

  Joel would be laughing if he didn’t know the deep, hidden well of emotional pain his boy kept carefully concealed from everyone but him. “And you’ll get to do it, and I’ll suck yours, too, if you’ll let me finish undressing you.”

  Fen ground against him again, but then bobbed his head up to kiss Joel. “Yes, Sir.”

  Joel sat up and started helping Fen get undressed. And, later, after Fen lay spent and softly snoring with his face pressed against Joel’s chest, Joel lay there, now completely sober and still wide awake, and hoped his boy wouldn’t be upset with him in the morning.

  Because he could deal with a lot of shit in life, but upsetting Fen wasn’t one of those things.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Fen groaned as he rolled over and it felt like the world wanted to keep rolling.

  Along with his stomach.

  What.

  The.

  Fuck?

  He felt like a dump truck full of manure had run over him, backed up, parked on his head, and emptied its load down his throat.

  “Here, baby.” Joel put a small glass bottle in his hands and closed his fingers around it. Fen recognized it as one of his travel-sized essential oils.

  Cracking the cap on it revealed peppermint, which was exactly what he needed for his hangover. He deeply inhaled, tightly holding on to it, feeling it already starting to work both on his headache and his nausea.

  Memories from the night before washed in. “Gaawwd. What the hell did I do?” he muttered.

  He felt the mattress dip next to him. “Don’t be like that, baby. You were sexy as hell.”

  Fen risked cracking an eye open to stare at him.

  Just to see that Joel wore the sexy, one-sided smirk that even in Fen’s current condition threatened to stiffen his cock.

  “You got me liquored up, Sir.” He took another sniff from the bottle.

  “But you were so adorable. Besides, I only take partial blame. Mads accepts the rest.”

  “She knows I’m not a drinker.”

  “And she knew it was the only way we’d get you up on that stage last night.” He reached over and stroked Fen’s hair. “Wait’ll you see the video. I would have had some massive competition last night if you hadn’t been happy with me as your hubby. Mads thought she’d have to start using your trophy as a battering ram for us to get you out of there. There were some very jealous-looking guys eyeing you.”

  But the smile didn’t fade from Joel’s face, so Fen knew he was joking at least a little.

  Something else swam through Fen’s mind, and he groaned. “What did I do after we got back?”

  Joel’s smile faded. “I had to tell you no. Sorry. I wasn’t going to let you wake up today hungover and hating yourself. Or me.”

  Fen dragged himself up into a sitting position and leaned against Joel. “Thank you, Master.”

  Joel draped his arm around Fen, holding him close. “Baby, my job is to take care of you. I feel badly that I even let us do as much as we did, but you were pretty insistent. I hope that’s okay, or do I owe you an apology and some groveling?”

  “No apology or groveling necessary. I love you.”

  Joel pressed a tender kiss to Fen’s forehead. “I
love you, too.”

  “Although I wouldn’t mind a glass of water.”

  Joel untangled himself from Fen and went to fetch it for him while Fen cupped his hands around the bottle of peppermint oil and took another deep breath, inhaling the aroma. He caught a glimpse of blue and gold and looked to see the trophy sitting on the dresser with an envelope propped up next to it.

  Oh, lord.

  “What’s in the envelope?” Fen called out.

  “I don’t know. We got a little busy last night.” Joel returned with a glass of ice water for him and Fen gratefully took it, sipping it cautiously in case his stomach rebelled.

  Joel walked over to the envelope and held it up. “Want it?”

  “Open it for me, please, Sir.”

  He did. “Oooh, fifty-dollar gift card for Amazon. Nice.” Fen also noticed Joel had his cell phone in hand. After he returned to the bed and sat next to Fen, he texted someone.

  “Mads wanted to know when you were conscious.” He still wore that playful smirk.

  “Why? She want to pour another bottle of beer down me?”

  “No. I think she has a breakfast surprise for us.”

  Sure enough, a short time later they heard a knock on the door. Fen pulled the sheet over his lap, but Joel had donned shorts and went to answer it.

  Mads strutted in—looking as stunning as ever, damn her—and wearing a pink sundress and matching heels. She kissed Joel on the cheek on her way past. In her hands, she carried a drink carrier and three take-out bags and laid them all on the table.

  “How’s the head?” She flashed Fen a grin.

  Fen flipped her a bird before he took another whiff of peppermint.

  Her grin widened. “Love you, too, Fen.” She started setting everything out. “Bagels and cream cheese for you, and peppermint tea. Breakfast for me and Joel.”

  Joel had shut the door behind her and followed her over to the table. “Oooh, nom! Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

  “I wanted to. I know you guys will be leaving soon. Wanted to make sure this one had something in his stomach first.” She brought the hot tea over to Fen.