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  “Wait, are we still working on it?”

  “Yeah. If he doesn’t want our services, he’s going to have to come right out and say it.”

  “Make sure you tell Keith about him.”

  “Oh, I stopped by and had a chat with him on my way back to the shop.”

  Keith wasn’t just a friend and fellow boat mechanic, he was also a “friend in common” from the Suncoast Society munch group.

  And the reason he’d met Fen in the first place.

  Barney grinned. “Oh, well, then. Keith’s probably already told everyone to turn their backs on the old fuck.”

  “Probably.” Joel ran a hand through his hair. “I have a feeling his slip rent is going to triple in price, too.” One of Keith’s slaves ran the marina office and was in charge of the boat slips. The marina usually had a long waiting list of people who wanted to rent, especially for larger vessels like that one. If the guy left, the slip would be filled by the end of the day, if not the next hour.

  “Good. Porter’s youngest son is gay and he doesn’t put up with bigoted shit like that. Should’ve told him we couldn’t work on his boat right away.”

  Joel smiled. “Oh, we’ll work on it now. But, gosh golly darn, wouldn’t you know the part we need will turn out to be on back-order. He was hoping to go out early next week. Afraid he won’t be able to.”

  Barney laughed. “That’s a good one, boss.”

  “I thought so.”

  But as the day continued and Joel thought about it more and more—on top of what he’d learned about Mads—he struggled against his growing anger.

  Not just anger, but outright rage. To the point that he ended up having to leave the shop and go take a walk, just to…move around.

  It was that, or want to punch something.

  Or someone.

  How dare someone think less of Fen as Joel’s spouse just because he was a guy and not a girl!

  He found himself heading next door to talk to Keith again, who, fortunately, could step away for a few minutes to chat. They walked out to the parking area where they could talk in private under the shade of a jacaranda tree.

  “What’s up?” Keith asked.

  “You’ve been out for a while, right?”

  “Yeah?”

  “How do you deal with fucks like that guy this morning?”

  Keith shrugged. “Depends on the circumstances. I rate situations on a sliding scale from blowhard-assholes to might-try-to-hurt-me-or-my-pets. Guy like that, he’s probably a bigot, but he’s mostly harmless in terms of physicality. More effective to kill him with kindness. You’ll likely never change his mind.”

  “I just hate someone like him thinking less of Fen.”

  “But he doesn’t even know Fen. He’d feel like that about anyone, honestly. You’re missing the larger picture. He assumed your ‘wife’ was an extension of you, not a separate person with a unique identity. His life of rich, white cis-het privilege—or assholery, but I don’t know him well enough to gauge that—has blinded him to that very same privilege. If you’d told him you married a cute woman, he’d probably have tried to get you to engage in some ‘guy talk’ about your sex life and live vicariously through you. That’s what those assholes do. Especially the old, rich, straight, cis-gendered white ones.”

  Joel blew out a long breath. Before meeting Fen, Joel had gone to great lengths to conceal the fact that he was gay, especially after the bullshit Johnny had put him through back in Alabama. Only his sheer loneliness had forced him to finally start reaching out to others he hoped were safe, like Keith and their mutual friend, Leo, a welder who did a lot of work for the marina.

  It wasn’t until meeting Fen and not wanting to keep his gorgeous guy a secret that he’d really started facing this issue.

  This was something he’d intellectually known he’d be dealing with, but fortunately had avoided in large part, so he was still working his way through processing the emotions about it.

  “So I should let it go?” But that…grated at him. If Fen was a woman, the guy would have likely stood there an hour talking to him.

  Why am I taking this so personally?

  “There’s not much to do about it. Either let it go, or tell him you’re not working on his boat, and good luck to him finding someone else who’ll do it. Because no one else in this area will cross the marina when they tell them no, they won’t give them permission to come on their property to work on his boat. Porter Ingalls can be a clueless jerk sometimes, but he knows you’re good at what you do and how much people like you. He’s going to side with you every time. He won’t give any of the other mechanics permission to slide in and work on-site on the guy’s boat and screw you out of the job just because the customer’s a bigot. Plus, he hates homophobes.”

  Keith was right—Porter Ingalls was a good man. He protected his favorite mechanics, fishing guides, and other service vendors, whether their shops were located on the marina property or not. Unless a client needed something done and the others couldn’t handle it, Ingalls was very stingy in approving outsiders to work on-site.

  It wasn’t even a pay-to-play situation, either. Ingalls had built his business on a rep of being fair and honest, which summed up the man himself quite succinctly. It was also another reason why this marina—and the four others Ingalls owned nearby—all had extensive wait lists for boat slips.

  Porter had also attended their wedding and given them a lovely card, along with a cast-iron griddle.

  Joel slowly nodded. “Okay. You’re right.”

  “I think it’s admirable you want to stand up for your boy’s rep, but it’s not like he insulted Fen to his face. I mean, had he done that, then game on, motherfucker.”

  Keith smiled. “But we’re always going to have to deal with assholes. We can’t escape them. They’re everywhere. Fortunately, they seem to be a literal dying breed. But we’re going to need to strike a balance between getting by and flipping tables. At least here in Sarasota. I don’t like that compromise, but I can’t pay my bills with principles.” Keith studied him for a moment. “This feels like it’s bigger for you, somehow.”

  “Yeah. It kinda is.” He thought about what Fen had told him of Mads’ story. About how many years he himself had to spend closeted as both gay and kinky before moving to Florida, and even then it’d taken him years to finally grow comfortable with being more open.

  “I’m just…trying to learn how to deal with it, I guess. This is new territory for me.”

  “I’m here whenever you want to talk about it.”

  “Thanks.”

  After leaving Keith, he took his time walking back to his own shop on the other side of the marina’s sprawling complex.

  Yeah, he’d had plenty of experience swallowing his tongue back in Alabama. He’d had to. It’d literally been a matter of life and death, in some cases.

  Now…he didn’t want to hide in a closet. Not with his new life, his new husband—his new happiness.

  What he wanted to do was make the world a place where those he loved and felt closest to would be safe.

  Unfortunately, he knew that was a far bigger task than he could ever accomplish, no matter how much he wanted to. And he despised feeling helpless, especially where his boy was concerned.

  Didn’t mean he didn’t want to try.

  Chapter Five

  Fen waited until he arrived at work to text June.

  Sir is very enthusiastic about me taking more pole dancing lessons. ;)

  She replied less than an hour later.

  Want another lesson tonight?

  Like she read his mind.

  Are you available to talk right now?

  She called him a minute later. “Yesss?” He could hear the smile in her voice.

  “I was wondering if Scrye could send Joel info on where to buy one of those poles and how to install it?”

  She laughed. “Going all-in, are we?”

  “Let’s just say I think I found Sir’s new favorite thing.”
r />   “Excellent! May’s going to teach tonight’s yoga class, if you’d rather work on pole with me.”

  “That’d be great, thank you. Can I pick a song for us to develop a routine to?”

  “Sure. Let me guess, you want to create a custom routine for your Sir?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So how sore are you?”

  “Pretty sore, but in good ways. Nothing I can’t deal with. A few bruises.”

  “You’ll have even more after tonight.”

  “Not like that bothers me. I’ve had worse.”

  More laughter. “I know what you mean. We’ll get you up to speed tonight and over the next week, so we can shoot a new video for promo next weekend. We’ve already had nearly five hundred views on the studio’s website. You’re popular.”

  That number shocked him. “Wow.”

  “Right?”

  “Oh, next weekend we’ll be out of town. And I might have packed some more appropriate workout clothes for tonight’s lesson.”

  June giggled. “A Speedo, she asks, trying to sound innocent and hopefully sounding not at all lecherous.”

  “You’re good. I mean, I have booty shorts, too, in case you have more conservative students.”

  “Nah, the Speedo is fine. It’ll just be you and me. Long as it holds your bits in so you’re not dangling. Not that I haven’t seen your dangling bits at one of the private parties, but you don’t want to hurt yourself. Most women usually practice in a sports bra and some sort of tight bottoms.”

  “I brought the dance belt.”

  “Cool. That’ll help.”

  “I guess I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Oh, eh, Scrye might be sitting in to watch. That won’t bother you, will it?”

  “Not at all. I have a feeling if Sir can get out of work early he might be asking me if he can come over.”

  “Of course he can, since it’s a private lesson. The more the merrier.” She snorted. “Well, you know what I mean.”

  Fen giggled. “Yeah, I do.”

  After saying good-bye, he ended the call and refocused on his work.

  Except…his mind didn’t want to stay focused on work today. It was a good thing he was only in the prep stage for a couple of projects.

  What he wanted to do was come up with the perfect song to develop a routine for.

  He texted Mads.

  Another pole lesson tonight. I need a song. June’s going to help me put together the perfect routine to dance for Joel.

  His bestie didn’t let him down. Mads texted him a link to a YouTube video five minutes later. It wasn’t unusual for him to listen to music while working, so he made sure to plug his earbuds in before hitting the play button.

  “Butterfly” by Jason Mraz.

  And it was…perfect. Sassy, sexy, and actually included a reference to pole dancing. Didn’t matter it was supposed to be about a man and a woman, it was still perfect. And he had the song on his phone, too.

  She knows me too well.

  He texted her back.

  I love you!

  She replied a few minutes later.

  ;) Love you, too. Bestie’s always got your back, babe.

  Leaving in his earbuds so he could listen to music while he worked, he texted the link to June, who replied a few minutes later.

  DAMN, boy! :) This is going to be a hot one. See you this evening. If you want to come in earlier, I’ll be here all afternoon. I’ll put together a simple routine for you.

  Hmm. He’d have to think about that, about going in earlier. He could skate out of work a little early tonight since he’d been putting in so many late evenings lately.

  I’ll let you know this afternoon if I can.

  With that settled, he forced himself to focus on work and not on imagining the hunger Joel would wear as he watched him dancing to that particular song.

  * * * *

  At lunchtime, Jake and Ben crowded in the opening to Fen’s cube and wore identical playful grins.

  Fen popped out an earbud. “What?”

  “What, my ass,” Jake softly said so no one else could hear. He turned his phone around to show Fen what they’d been watching.

  The Facebook video.

  “You’ve been holding out on us, buddy,” Ben teased.

  Both men—husbands—were good friends and also members of the Suncoast Society, and the reason Fen had met Joel in the first place.

  “My first lesson was last night.”

  Jake’s eyes bugged. “That’s after your first lesson?” He looked at Ben. “I think I want you to take up a new hobby, boy.”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “I’m not as bendy as he is, Sir.”

  “Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. Let me rephrase that—you are taking up a new hobby.”

  Fen sat back, grinning as Ben stared at Jake before finally giving in. “Yes, Sir,” Ben grumbled.

  “Talk to June,” Fen said. “Hey, give it a try. You’re going to hurt like hell the next morning, though. I’ll warn you now.”

  “How’s that any different than the standard Sunday morning in our house?” Ben joked. He hooked a thumb at Jake. “Maybe that’s the only thing that’ll save me from it, is me getting bruises he didn’t get to put on me.”

  “You wish,” Jake said. “I’d like you to at least try it.” He stared at his phone. “June might have full classes before she even thought she would at the rate this video is making the rounds. She uploaded it to Fet and posted a note about it in Venture’s group to advertise her classes. You’ve hit K&P.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah.” He pulled up the page on his phone and showed Fen.

  Sure enough, on the Kinky & Popular highlight page, there was Fen, in the top five most popular videos on the site, next to some of naked women in various forms of bondage or sex acts.

  The video already had over six hundred likes, and several dozen comments about how sexy and hot he looked.

  Fen’s cheeks heated. “Damn.”

  “Is that a good damn, or a bad damn?” Ben asked.

  “It’s a surprised one.” He remembered to keep his voice low. “I mean, McMannis won’t care. It’s not like I’m naked. Anyone on Fet already knows I’m kinky.” He studied the caption in her post. “She didn’t identify me, and there’s not really any closeups of my face. I thought you saw it on Facebook.” Then again, most of his Facebook friends also knew he was kinky.

  “I saw it there, too, but then I saw June’s message on Fet.”

  “I hope Joel’s not going to mind that.”

  “You want to grab lunch with us?” Jake asked. “We’re heading out.”

  “Sure.” He saved his project and followed them, shooting Joel a quick text.

  Lunch with J&B. June posted the video to Fet. Hope that’s okay, Sir.

  Joel texted him back a few minutes later.

  She texted me to ask if it was okay and I said yes. 3:)

  Okay, then. Fen stared at the text, especially the little devil’s smiley.

  I hit K&P.

  He was climbing into the backseat of Jake’s car when Joel called him.

  “No shit?”

  “Yeah. No shit.”

  Joel laughed. “That’s awesome!”

  “She said I could come by earlier today, if I wanted to, for a longer lesson.”

  “Then by all means.”

  “And Scrye might watch.”

  “Again, I’m fine with that.”

  “She doesn’t have a problem with you watching, if you want to, since it’s a private lesson.”

  “I’ll try to get there. Depends on how long my last job of the day takes. If I do, maybe we can grab pizza or something before we head home.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “I need to run. Say hi to Ben and Jake for me. Love you, baby.”

  “Yes, Sir. Love you, too.” He ended the call. “Sir said hi. And said he gave June permission to post the video to Fet.”

  Ben positively cackled from where he rode shotg
un. “I cannot wait until the next private party. You are going to be asked to do a demo, I can tell already.”

  “I’m not used to being the center of attention like that.”

  He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, either.

  The irony did not escape him. Obviously, if Joel was okay with it, that was what mattered most to him. Making Joel happy was one of the key things his life revolved around. Because in return, it’s what Joel did for him. Joel was his dream come true.

  Literally.

  But being the focus of countless, random, faceless others? Even like this?

  It was a new feeling. When outside his comforting coccoon of familiarity—both in situations and amongst people—he was used to keeping his head down for the most part, not making waves. In his own corner of the universe, yeah, he was unabashedly open and free, even a bit of a show-off, but that was under his own control.

  Drawing the wrong kind of attention to himself in the wrong circumstances could prove deadly, and that was a lesson he’d learned the hard way growing up.

  Like poor Mads had.

  Still…

  He wouldn’t deny it was a nice ego boost while scrolling through the Fet comments.

  And he’d received more than a few appreciative comments on Facebook, too, although those were all much tamer in substance than the ones on Fet.

  Even his mom and dad had both clicked the heart icon on the Facebook version.

  His older brother, George, had clicked on the heart icon and left a comment.

  Maybe I need to have you take Onna to class with you, bro! ;)

  Okay, now his face really heated up. He could handle his friends teasing him, or even taking classes with him, but he wasn’t sure how sexy he could be if his sister-in-law was in the class with him, no matter how much he loved her and got along with her.

  I hope I didn’t make a mistake by posting that.

  Chapter Six