Friends, Sexcapades and Love Affairs Ch. 08

Jared huffed. "Adrian, I swear, someday lightning is going to strike you dead in the middle of a sunny afternoon, and I won't even be surprised. Just tell us already, you lucky ass."

Adrian sighed theatrically, and then he pulled a golden pen out of his jacket. He played with it, putting on a little show.

"Is that a Mont Blanc?" Jared asked and reached for the pen.

Adrian held it high, making Jared lean over the table and fight him for it.

"Am I missing something here?" Mike complained.

Jared sat back into his chair, holding Adrian's pen triumphantly. "This thing right here retails for about a thousand or more."

Mike's eyes grew wide. "Shit. I knew those pens were expensive, but I never really cared to learn how much they cost."

Jared studied it carefully. "Adrian, did you get a raise at work or something? I mean, I know you earn the most of us all, but still, you wouldn't spend so much on a pen."

Adrian puffed out his chest. "It was a gift."

Jared stared at Adrian. "A gift?"

"Yeah. From Edward."

"Did he just give you a one-thousand-dollar pen? Just like that?" Mike asked.

Jared handed Mike the pen so that he could look at it, too. "So, Adrian, you fucked Edward last night." Adrian nodded as his smile grew brighter. "And he gave you a pen. And earlier last night, you fucked a bunch of bottoms. Forgive me if I'm lost, but how the fuck did that happen? And did you cheat on Edward? You're not a cheater!"

Adrian picked his pen from Mike's hands and placed it back carefully into his jacket. "I didn't! I mean, when I fucked all those guys, I fought so hard not to think of him."

Mike snickered. "Adrian's in love, Adrian's in love," he began like a child on the playground.

"I'm not in love," Adrian protested. "It's just that, right now, I like him better than anyone else."

Jared patted Adrian's arm in sympathy. "It's all right if you're falling for this guy, Adrian. We're like a family here, and we won't tell a soul. Your playboy reputation is not in any danger."

"Stop joking, fool," Adrian protested. "I'm not falling for him."

"But how did you get from an orgy to fucking Edward?" Mike questioned his eyes as big as saucers. "And how doesn't that count as two-timing?"

"If you midwives stopped pestering me, I would tell you."

"All right. We're all eyes and ears," Jared said, curious to learn about Adrian's adventures. Mike nodded in acquiescence.

"So I was at this orgy, and all the boys were fine, and I mean, top-notch, you haven't seen in your life a bunch of frigging sexy bottoms like these guys. And I fuck, and I fuck, and I can't come, you know?"

Jared just shook his head and exchanged a few meaningful glances with Mike. "We don't know because we haven't been invited to such parties so far. Our invitations must have been lost or something. The postal services today are unbelievable." He snorted to make a point.

"Anyways, I'm like totally priapic if you know what I mean," Adrian continued.

"Do you know how it's that?" Jared asked Mike.

Mike just shook his head. "Priapic is that thing when your dick won't go down, right?"

Adrian slammed one hand on the table playfully. "Will you two jokers listen already? I have a juicy story, right out of the oven, and you're busy making fun of me."

"Go ahead. You better not be a two-timing prick, though," Jared warned his friend.

Adrian waved. "Once I'm telling you the entire story, you'll understand why I'm not. The thing was I was still pissed at Edward. While at that party, I thought I was completely through with him."

"Although he kept calling you, probably to apologize," Jared offered himself an explanation.

"Stop interrupting," Adrian said. "The problem was that I wasn't really there. I mean, they were fine and sexy, and --"

"Just get over those bottoms, or we'll never hear the end of this story," Jared advised. "If they were so damned special, how come you didn't finish?"

"That's the issue," Adrian said and crossed his fingers. "Under any other circumstances, I would have come like a frigging fountain. But no fucking dice, I'm telling you. None did it for me. None," he emphasized the word.

"Wow," Mike whispered. "Do you have like one of those conditions then? Because you fucked too much?"

"I don't have any conditions," Adrian replied in an irritated, but still playful, voice. "My mind wasn't there; this is what I'm trying to tell you. My mind was at Edward, and each time he popped into my mind, I felt like my balls were ready to make my dick shoot. But I didn't want that. I didn't want to come while thinking of that guy."

"So, what did you do?" Mike asked, leaning over the table, as he could hear more like that.

"I didn't come," Adrian said promptly. "I left with a pair of fucking blue balls and pissed off at myself for still thinking of Edward."

"Hmm, it must be love. Don't you think so, Mike?" Jared turned towards his other friend.

Mike nodded enthusiastically. "Adrian really is in love."

"I hate you, guys," Adrian said matter-of-factly. "Just because a guy has a thing, a pretty strong thing, for a sweet piece of ass, that doesn't mean he's in love."

"We're in our twenties, and we're horny. If we think a guy is sexy, and if we fuck, and he doesn't leave the next day, barely waiting to hook up with others, we're sold," Jared explained.

"That might be your case. I don't judge," Adrian said with a small shrug. "Well, I got home, and Edward was waiting for me."

"So?" Mike asked impatiently, seeing how Adrian wasn't continuing, busy to drink some fresh juice from his glass.

"We had a little chat. And one thing led to another. And I won't tell you anything more because it gets too X-rated for your young ears."

"The story about how you went to an orgy and put your cock in who knows how many sexy asses wasn't X-rated, but you having fun with Edward is. So puzzling are the ways of the dick," Jared said in an exaggerated tone he wanted to sound wise.

Mike laughed out loud at his joke. Adrian threw them both murderous looks.

"I see you enjoy making fun of me. So I guess I won't tell you anything more."

"No, please," Jared begged, putting his hands together in a pleading gesture. "Your adventurous life keeps us all alive."

Adrian sighed like it was too much to bear his friends' shenanigans. "Fine, then. The thing is Edward solved my blue balls situation and swiftly. And, just like that, I realized. My dick wants this guy. And my dick is my best friend."

"Did you hear that, Mike? We're beneath a dick, in Adrian's book."

"It must be a pretty big dick," Mike replied. "So, I guess we can live with that."

"You fuckers." Adrian grinned. "You're just jealous of my success."

"Us? Jealous? Why should we?" Jared said and laughed. "I'm glad to see you settling down, Adrian. It's a start, you know? I'm not saying you're in love, okay, that's a joke, but it's good to try your hand at a relationship. They are not all bad."

"Hmm, and how come you've become such an expert in relationships?" Adrian asked, watching Jared through his eyelashes as if he was suspecting something.

Jared looked down and smiled. "I might have just made it a bit official with Chris."

"Official? Are you two getting married?" Mike asked right away.

Okay, so now he would be the butt joke of his friends, Jared thought. It was his turn, though, so he couldn't be upset. "No, of course not, but we talked about becoming committed to one another, just like in a relationship."

"That sounds nice," Mike said. "It's nice to have someone who likes you like you back."

"So, he's like your boyfriend or something now?" Adrian asked.

For a moment, Jared hesitated. "Yeah," he replied and searched for his glass. After all, Chris had said something else. Whatever, those were only semantics. They were committed now. "Hey, Adrian, how come you didn't mind that Edward gave you such an expensive gift?"

Adrian shrugged. "Why should I mind? The guy is loaded, and this gift is just a token of his appreciation."

"And it doesn't feel like, I don't know, some kind of a way for him to buy you?"

Adrian looked at him, pensively. "I don't see why. I do what I want. He does what I want. So I can let him give me a few gifts if he feels like it."

"I'm thrilled we had this talk," Jared said with a small sigh. So it wasn't so bad to receive gifts, after all. Of course, nothing like an exhibition. That would have been way too much. But maybe he didn't have to be so hung up about it and stop worrying so much.

"I guess that leaves me as the only loser in this group," Mike said with a long sigh.

"What did you do yesterday?" Jared asked.

"I went through quite a lot," Mike replied and looked down.

Jared placed one hand on Mike's shoulder. "You're still thinking of Ryan, right? I guess it would take more than a couple of days without seeing him at all to --"

"I saw him last night," Mike blurted out.

Adrian was the first to express his surprise. "Does this guy have a knack for appearing in the same places as you? You went to the club, as usual, right?"

"Yeah. It's a complicated story," Mike said. "I was about to have a threesome --"

"Mike!" Jared was fairly alarmed. "After everything we both told you?"

Adrian just shook his head in mirth. "I guess Mike is hornier than we think. The shyest ones are the kinkiest. It's just how it is."

"Oh, really? You just went from being used by a bunch of bottoms to falling in love with the best ass ever or something." Jared shook his head. "You don't have a shy bone in your body, Adrian."

"Just let Mike tell us everything." Adrian waved as if his shenanigans couldn't count. "So, was Ryan part of that threesome?"

Mike appeared quite horrified at Adrian's guess. "No! I just went to the club, I saw Jimmy, and then Gino, you know, his boyfriend, came and, it all kind of spiraled from there."

Jared sighed. "You didn't do it, right?"

Mike shook his head. "No. But I got drunk and texted my boss. While drunk."

Jared exchanged a small look with Adrian. Even Adrian, as playful as he was, frowned at that. "Fuck. That's bad."

"Yeah, I know." Mike sighed again. "But the good news is I didn't get fired."

"That's good news indeed," Jared agreed.

"Then what's the bad news?" Adrian asked.

"I'm not over Ryan, and I don't think I'll be soon," Mike said in one go. "He," one moment of hesitation followed, "kissed me."

Adrian quirked an eyebrow. "Then, he must want you, too."

"I'm not up to date with such policies at the workplace since I'm a freelancer, but would it be so bad to date your boss?"

"Ryan thinks so. I mean, I think he thinks so. I ... don't know what to think. It's just like my mind is set on him, and I can't do anything to change that. And we barely know each other."

"You had the guy's cock in your mouth," Adrian said in a philosophical tone, "so you might know him well enough."

"Adrian," Jared said shortly and threw his friend a pointed look.

"What? I'm just trying to make a bit light of the situation," Adrian explained. "Mike, on a scale of one to ten, how much do you want to suck this guy's dick again?"

"Really, is that what --" Jared tried to protest.

"Ten," Mike replied, and this time without one ounce of hesitation.

"Then quit your job," Adrian said promptly.

"Oh, great," Jared intervened. "Is that a real solution?"

Mike seemed to listen intently.

Adrian leaned over the table. "Just think about it, J. The only issue that stands between Ryan and Mike is that they share a workplace. And, of course, that Ryan is the boss. Mike could just say he wants to quit, Ryan offers him a glowing recommendation, Mike finds another awesome workplace, and then they can date."

"I wish I could say something about this plan," Jared said with a small smile. "Adrian, you're still too brutal in your approach. And Mike barely knows this guy, and he tends to," he tried to find his words, "get attached to places. He cannot just quit without knowing that it's for a good reason."

"You keep talking for Mike. Just let him speak," Adrian said.

Mike blushed a little, and Jared placed one protective hand on his arm. "It's okay, J. Adrian is right. You always take my side, and I like it because I'm, well, Ryan said it well, shy and nervous, but I need to find a way to do things without relying so much on you."

Jared remained silent and waited for Mike to continue.

Mike took one deep breath and then said, "I can't quit."

"Why not?" Adrian fired the question at him right away.

Jared knew, this time, that he needed to keep silent.

"Because it's like J said. I'm too comfortable where I am. And I can't quit."

Adrian groaned in exasperation. "Mike, you might need to choose. If your boss doesn't want to cross the line and risk some sexual harassment lawsuit --"

"What sexual harassment?" Mike asked, visibly puzzled.

"He's the boss; you're the employee," Adrian explained. "To outsiders, that may look like he's abusing his position of power to make you, well, suck his cock, or whatever stuff you two might do together."

"He's not abusing anything!" Mike was rightfully revolted, Jared noticed. "I mean, we didn't even know we worked for the same company when we met. And Ryan didn't force me to do ... that thing. It was all on me."

Adrian grimaced and continued. "I know all that. J knows all that. You and Ryan know it, too. But, as I told you, if someone looked at this from the outside, they might jump to conclusions."

"Who would do that?"

"Someone who might want to hurt Ryan and his position as the head of your company."

"Even so, it wouldn't be true."

"It wouldn't. But what if the news that your boss takes advantage of his employees, demanding sexual favors, were to break out, what could you do?"

"Deny it, of course!" Mike said.

"This is also highly hypothetical and improbable," Jared intervened.

"I work in advertising," Adrian explained. "I have seen plenty of nasty things. Competition is not only about whose product is better. And, given how much credit people give today to whatever they read on the Internet, without verifying the facts, it wouldn't be that hard to taint someone's reputation. As for what you say, Mike, you can deny it for all you want, but if your name isn't mentioned, you would just make things worse if you said anything."

"But if what you say is true, then whoever wants to hurt Ryan and his position might just invent something," Jared said.

"Yes, but if those blogs or Twitter accounts, or whatever, were to show some pictures of Ryan holding in his arms a certain someone, whose face would be blurred, of course, with incendiary titles beneath, then they might just get that sheen of credibility that's needed to start a fire."

"Still, such pictures could not prove that the relationship is based on some sort of abuse of power," Jared replied.

"Indeed," Adrian said and accepted the argument. "They could also speak of employees who, interested in getting ahead, have no qualms with throwing themselves at their boss, thus creating a toxic environment at work. In other words, here we have a boss who doesn't mind asking for sexual favors, and, even if he doesn't insist when he's refused, some of his subordinates accept his advances and get raises and promotions because of that. How is that for an argument? The next stop is some class-action lawsuit, provided that whoever would want to do that to Ryan would stoop as low as to bribe some other employees to testify against him."

"Damn, you make one fine devil's advocate, Adrian," Jared said.

Mike appeared to be equally impressed and also a bit panicked. "Then that means that if someone has seen us --"

Jared felt compelled to intervene. "Mike, Adrian is exceptionally good at providing worst-case scenarios, but I don't think you need to worry so much. However, as far as his solution goes, I wouldn't completely give up on it. Are there any chances for Ryan to move to another company, though?"

Mike groaned and covered his face. "I don't think so. He just got here, so to speak. And he's related to the former boss."

Jared patted his shoulder. "Let's try not to dramatize things so much. One thing you can do, Mike, for now, is to see about your work, as usual, and just let nature follow its course."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

"You might not feel so strongly about Ryan as time passes. Of course, you will need to be pro-active. Stop texting him, and do not try to see him more often than is needed. The chances are that your crush will fizzle out. You two have known each other for a week. And you can meet other guys."

"I'm not good at meeting other guys," Mike said quietly.

"J, our friend here has a big-time crush on his boss. I know you mean well, but let's think for a moment," Adrian said. "So, he kissed you? How did that happen after you texted him?"

"He took me home. He told me I could not text him and stuff, and I agreed. But then I tried to delete his number from my phone, and he stopped me. And then he kissed me."

"With tongue?"

"Adrian, really," Jared said. "What matters here, and I believe it's good, in a way, is that Mike is not the only guy still hung up on what happened between them. It looks to me like Ryan likes Mike just as much as Mike likes him."

"J, I know you want to cheer me up, but please don't just say that," Mike pleaded.

"I'm not that saying that." Jared began to feel a little worked up. Mike had such a bad impression of himself, and it wasn't warranted at all. As a friend, he felt compelled to make Mike see himself more as he was, and less how his personal issues told him. "Why would he kiss you? Why would he drop everything on a Saturday night and come to see you? Why would he stop you from deleting his number from your phone? The answer is simple. He wants you."

"And you could quit, get hired somewhere else, and live happily ever after," Adrian concluded.

"I don't have the guts to do that," Mike said. "I'm sorry. You guys are just trying to help me. I'm the missing link."

"You're not the missing link," Jared protested right away. "Give yourself time to see how you really feel. There is no point in complicating things for now. You don't have to quit. And there are two people in this. If he's interested in you, Ryan will have to find a solution, too. This is not only something you should struggle with. All right?"

Mike nodded. He leaned his head into Jared's shoulder. "Thank you, J. You always say the right things to make me feel better."

"And I don't?" Adrian made a sour face.

"You're the action man," Mike said with a small snicker. "I have the bestest two friends I could have in the entire universe in you. It's only because of you that I can function pretty much normally in the real world."

"Nonsense!" Jared protested.

"That's not true!" Adrian said at the same time. "Mike, you're a great guy. Of course, if you need J and me to tell you that every day, we have no problem with that."

"None at all," Jared added. "Hey, how about we play some D&D? I just got a new game I wanted to show you."

"Nerd," Adrian said and snorted.

Mike smiled. J knew what could make Mike feel better, and that was his plan for the day.

***

Jared was right, Mike pondered to himself, as he held the phone and stared at Ryan's number. Ryan should think of something, too, if he wanted something to happen between them, after all. What that something could be, Mike had no idea, but Jared's words had really made him feel a little better.

Having a crush, and on his boss of all people, was the pits. And he didn't want to go out and meet other people. It was enough to have someone as awesome as Ryan to dream about. With a sigh, Mike placed the phone on the nightstand and covered himself to the chin with the blanket. It was easier to dream, anyway.