Buzz Bedazzled Read online

  Buzz... Bedazzled....

  Studs & Steel #4

  Heather Mar-Gerrison

  Kindle Edition

  Heather Mar-Gerrison 2017

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.

  Prologue

  Buzz

  Everyone was hooking up around here – and I didn’t mean just for the night, either...

  Peyton and Kody had kicked it all off – the monogamy thing, that was... They’d been a couple for over a year now and everyone knew they were totally exclusive.

  And then River went and followed suit – now that really was a fucking surprise. He’d been on anything with a pulse for as long as I’d known him. He was everyone’s sweetheart – and everyone’s quick fuck in the bathroom – until he went and got jiggy with his best friend’s boyfriend, Jodie (yeah, not cool...) and wham! True love.

  Not great for Jodie’s ex-boyfriend, Jake but whatever – they seem to have worked it all out between the three of them now... and River and Jodie were getting married next spring.

  Alfie was sorted with Harley the cop – and my brother, Simon was seen in the company of the same mystery man more times than he wasn’t. He just hadn’t gotten around to admitting it to himself – or to us lot – yet.

  Seth and Siobhan were also solid – so... that just left me.

  And I wasn’t bothered really... Well, you know – I did wonder when I was finally going to find my own Mr Right.

  I never expected it to happen on our quietest night of the week...

  I never expected it to be love at first sight...

  And I really didn’t expect it to be a twink...

  Chapter 1 – Quietest night of the week...

  Buzz

  It was Wednesday, the quietest time of the week. The hard-core partiers came every night – there was no denying it – but some nights were definitely quieter than others. To try to combat the ‘dead’ nights, Rob, the co-owner and manager of the nightclub, had introduced themed evenings. Monday was, therefore, quiz night, which attracted a whole different set of clients – the older ones mainly – and they’d stay for a dance and a few drinks and then we closed at midnight, which was quite a welcome change for us all – and the only night of the week that we got some shut-eye before the sun was coming up.

  Tuesday was gaming night – the poker players came then – and no – they weren’t allowed to play for money – just for matches but it didn’t stop the tension in the room. Some of those poker players were really good and I’ve got to admit that I enjoyed watching them play.

  And then Wednesday wasn’t themed at all but was unofficially known as student night – something I really thought we could probably do with making official and I had an idea of ‘happy hour’ or half price admission or something – since they’d made Wednesday’s their own we might as well cash in on the whole thing – students spent a whole lot of money once they’d been given one freebie...

  Simon, my brother, and Alfie, another one of our dancers worked on Wednesdays, so I liked it a little better – being on the door all night wasn’t all it was cracked up to be – so it was always better when your mates showed up. At least they hung around with me on the door for a while but it wasn’t a really happening night, like Thursday through to Sunday. They were the best nights...

  So... like I said, it was a Wednesday, fairly quiet until a group of students turned up and one in particular had had far too much to drink...

  I was bored out of my skull but it wasn’t last admissions time yet... ten more minutes and I could legitimately leave my post and get myself a beer and have a chat with my best mate, Seth...

  My walkie-talkie buzzed in my pocket.

  “Yo,” I spoke into it.

  Seth’s amused voice came through the speaker, “There’s some guy on the dance floor – he’s completely out of control – do you think you could you come and remove him.”

  Oh, God, I needed this like a hole in the head... I counted to ten in my head before I answered, “No problem,” I sighed. God, I hoped he was skinny. I might be built like a brick shithouse but I still didn’t particularly feel like wrestling someone to the door. I liked them to be subservient when I was throwing them out...

  In the bedroom it was a different story, I quite liked my lovers to take control – but to be honest the chances of that happening were so few and far between, that in all honesty, I wouldn’t complain about getting any sort of action anymore...

  I closed the front door and went in search of the out-of-control guy causing a problem on the dance floor.

  He wasn’t difficult to find. He was lying in the middle of the floor, in the shape of a star...

  I had to smile. He was no bigger than River or Alfie and if this wasn’t a Wednesday he would surely have been trampled to death... What the hell did he think he was doing?

  I walked over to him, “Come on, big man.” I said, “Up you get.”

  He looked up to me, batting his eyelashes flirtatiously, “Oh, my,” he murmured, “It’s you.”

  I blinked. Not least because I’d never seen such a beautiful shade of hazel eyes. Trying to ignore how beautiful he was, I focused on the fact that he thought he already knew me. I was pretty sure that he did not... “Have we met before?” I asked in surprise.

  He shook his head, “No,” he purred, “But I’ve seen you before and I would love to know you.”

  My dick twitched in my pants, quite against my will. He was a twink for fuck’s sake. I didn’t fancy twinks! Never had... In fact I usually hated the little fuckers... Alfie and River being among the few exceptions, of course.

  I hauled him to his feet and half-dragged, half-supported his weight out to the door. “Have you got a lift home?” I asked.

  He shook his head and waved his hand in the air in such an affected manner I wanted to laugh, “Oh, don’t worry about me – I’ll find someone to take me home.”

  I didn’t doubt it – but it was late and he was drunk and I didn’t want anyone else taking him home with them and taking advantage of his sweet, trusting nature... I suddenly felt ridiculously protective over him...

  Before I could even start to work out what to do with him, he’d shot out of the door and disappeared. Fuck!

  “Has he gone?” Seth’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.

  “Yeah,” I snapped, “Everything okay, now?”

  He confirmed that everything seemed to have settled down so I stationed myself back at the door.

  It was a chilly night and had started to rain, so the door was shut. I sat down. No one in their right mind was gonna be coming to the club at this late hour... I just hoped the twink had found his way home safely.

  Moments later and I was beginning to wonder. I could hear the loudest voice possible singing outside...

  It was the most amazing voice I’d ever heard and he was singing ‘Chandelier’ by Sia...

  I had to see who owned the voice. It was fantastic.

  I opened the door and peered out into the darkness. It was hammering it down with rain and kind of difficult to see.

  Whoever it was singing, they were swinging around the lamppost in the most flamboyant manner. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him – holy shit! It was the twink from the dance floor. Fuck.

  “Oi!” I yelled, “Get yourself back in here before you die of hypothermia!”

  He shot back across the road as fa
st as lightning and grinned up at me. His smile was enough to melt the polar ice caps. “I thought you’d never ask.” He said as he sat himself down on my chair, crossed his legs effeminately and looked up at me, batting his eyelashes again in a most distracting manner while water dripped off the end of his nose. Goddammit, why was he flirting with me? “What’s your name?”

  As hard as I tried to keep an impassive expression, it was impossible when I looked at him. I honestly couldn’t wipe the grin off my face, “Buzz.” I said.

  He batted his eyelashes at me again, “Well, Buzz,” he said, his voice all breathy and, dare I admit it? Fucking sexy, “it’s a pleasure it meet you, my name is Franz...”

  Well of course it was... He couldn’t have had a normal name, could he?

  Chapter 2 – Take me home...

  Franz

  I couldn’t believe my luck. Nothing this lucky ever happened to me... The planets must have aligned just right tonight or something... I’d been crushing on the bouncer for weeks but I had absolutely no idea how to attract his attention.

  It appeared that getting pissed out of my head and lying in the middle of the dance floor was all it took. Who knew? I couldn’t wait to tell Quentin about all of this – but he’d disappeared off with the muscle-bound Thai guy almost as soon as we arrived and I had no idea where he was right now – although it wasn’t difficult to hazard a guess...

  I was absolutely amazed and delighted when the bouncer appeared above me in all of his muscled glory to collect me – and okay, so he was throwing me out, but what the hell? It was worth it just to lean against his broad chest for a couple of minutes, breathing in his amazing body spray and revelling in his awesome manliness...

  “Have you got a lift home?” he asked, frowning at me.

  Aw, he even sounded worried about me. How fucking cute was that? I shook my head. Waving my hand in the air dismissively, I smiled, “Oh, don’t worry about me – I’ll find someone to take me home.” Please take me home with you... No one else is ever gonna offer. No one wants a flaky drama student...

  He ushered me out of the door and closed it behind me. It was throwing it down with rain and I bit my lip as I stood in the shelter of the doorway. What was I supposed to do now? I didn’t really want to wait for everyone else out here – it was cold and I was hardly dressed for the weather. I was only in my skinny jeans and a tee shirt – and, you know... it was late November... Insisting that I look good rather than being sensible and taking a jacket had never been shown to be so obviously stupid.

  Suddenly the situation struck me as funny and I giggled. Well, there was nothing else I could do now than to wait. I wondered about knocking on the door to see if the big badass bouncer would let me back in – but no. He’d just kicked me out. There was no way...

  Well, I sighed, I’d just practice my latest piece of choreography then. I was doing a performing arts degree and I was doing my assignment on Sia, who I absolutely loved. It would keep me relatively warm and I’d get the practice I really needed...

  I started to sing ‘Chandelier’ and decided I should practice my dance moves at the same time.

  Within less than a minute I was totally in the zone and swinging around the lampposts and practicing my moves in the street, singing at the top of my lungs. I wasn’t disturbing anyone – there wasn’t a housing estate in sight and the car park was pretty much empty.

  The door of the club opened and the beautiful badass bouncer was stood there, looking kind of amused – or rather, bemused... “Oi!” he yelled at me, “Get yourself back in here before you die of hypothermia!”

  I didn’t need telling twice, “I thought you’d never ask,” I said flirtatiously, batting my eyelashes at him and trying to look appealing, “What’s your name?” I was dying to know more about him. He’d been the man of my dreams since I’d first laid eyes on him a couple of months ago when I first came here with the LGBT society from uni.

  He grinned at me and my heart took off at a gallop. Fuck he was handsome... “Buzz.” He said.

  Buzz? Well that was an unusual name – obviously not his real one. Still, there would be plenty of time to work that one out...

  “Well, Buzz,” I said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you – my name is Franz.”

  I wondered what he would think of my very strange name, courtesy of my Grandfather who was also Franz. Although neither of my brothers had really got any better a deal with Eduard and Georg...

  He nodded, “Nice name – now how are you getting home?”

  I shrugged, “I’ll just sit here and wait for my friends if that’s okay with you?”

  Buzz frowned and shrugged, “Where have you come from?” he asked after a minute of silence.

  I blinked, “From the uni,” I waved my hand in the general direction of the city, “– I started back in September. I’m a performing arts student.”

  His jaw dropped, “Fuck – are you only eighteen?”

  I stared at him. Did I look like I was only eighteen? Surely not... I shook my head, “Actually, no I’m not. I re-took my first year of A Levels. I really wasn’t enjoying the course I was on but I left it too long to swap – so I worked for my dad for a year and then I went back to study drama. And then I took another year out once I’d finished my A2’s – I’m actually twenty-one.”

  He nodded. Was that a look of relief on his face? My heart picked up a little, did he actually like me?

  “How old do I look?” I asked, “You’ve made me feel a little paranoid now that I’m a baby-face.” I smiled at him.

  He smiled back. My God. He had the cutest smile ever! He shook his head, “I was just horrified with myself that I hadn’t ID’d you and your friends.”

  I nodded, “Well, I can vouch for them all – we’re all legal.” I winked at him.

  Seconds later they all appeared, “We’re going Franz.” Quentin clapped me on the back, “The guys are going back to uni and I’m off home – are you coming?”

  I shot Buzz a glance, “Actually, I’ll uh, find a taxi or something.”

  Buzz raised an eyebrow, “Really?” he asked as they all disappeared without me, “You’re not going with them? How on earth are you gonna get home now?”

  I took a deep breath and sent up a silent prayer to any god that might be listening, “Actually, I was uh, kind of hoping that I might come home with you?”

  Chapter 3 – Sleepover...

  Buzz

  Holy fucking shit. The cute, drunk, performing arts student with the beautiful eyes was totally coming on to me. What the hell was I supposed to do about that?

  “Fine.” I finally agreed after battling my conscience for what seemed like forever but was probably more like a nano-second, “You can come back to my place if you like – but be warned – my dog, Zac will probably lick you to death and I have a rule about not sleeping with guys that are drunk. You are in the spare room, my friend.”

  He smiled and nodded, “Oh, my God!” he clapped his hands – actually clapped his fucking hands, “I love dogs! What sort of dog is he?”

  I grinned. It was always nice to meet someone who shared my affinity for dogs, “He’s a blue roan cocker spaniel.”

  “Oh, my God!” he beamed at me, his eyes widening as he started to excitedly tell me about his own dog, “I have a black Patterdale terrier called Gumdrop – well, she’s still at my Dad’s, since I wasn’t allowed to bring her to uni with me...” His little face fell and he looked so sad I wanted to gather him in my arms and kiss him better – and suggest that Gumdrop came to live with me and Zac so he could see her every day. Holy shit! What the hell was wrong with me tonight? Had he bewitched me somehow? I eyed him suspiciously. What the hell had happened to me? The twink was totally bringing out my protective side.

  Something, I had to admit, they were prone to do... Twinks to my mind were all about drama – so Franz being a student of performing arts wasn’t exactly a big surprise. I’d spent the best part of the previous Christmas break watching River, Jodie and
Jake destroying each other’s lives – and one particular argument I’d managed to overhear – since everyone seemed to think that a closed door couldn’t be heard through – was carried out right outside the club between Jodie and Jake and I kind of knew then, that they would never recover. I’d caught up with River shortly afterwards.

  He’d been having a drink with Seth at the bar after Jodie and Jake had apparently left. Everything was beginning to fall apart and I guessed that River was only just holding things together over the whole thing, since he’d gone and fallen in love with his best friend’s boyfriend...

  I looked at River, who seemed to be struggling with his conscience, “Everything okay, mate?” I asked.

  He shook his head, “Not really.” He muttered.

  I frowned, “Come on through to the back – I thought I saw Jodie go in there earlier.”

  His jaw dropped, “Jodie’s in there?” he asked, “I thought he’d gone home...”

  I shook my head, “Well, I guess he might have done now – but he said he needed to talk to you earlier – not sure if he’s still there or not if I’m honest,” I frowned at him. He was definitely sleeping with him. I could just tell he wasn’t being straight with me, “so, are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

  He sighed, “Oh, God. I’ve got to offload on someone... You’d better come through with me.”

  Oh, God... He was about to confess all of his misdemeanours to me and I was going to have to pretend that I didn’t know to everyone else. Marvellous... “Give me a minute.” I shouted to Seth to cover the bar and seconds later we were heading towards the staff room. It was empty which would suggest that Jodie had indeed gone.

  I shut the door behind me and looked at River, “So – are you gonna tell me just what the fuck is going on?”

  River blinked, “What the fuck are you getting all shirty about?” he shot back at me, which, I guess I deserved – it really wasn’t any of my business apart from the fact that I cared a lot about River and I really didn’t want him to get hurt through his own stupidity. Something I couldn’t really protect him from, but at least I could try...