Simon... Spellbound (Studs & Steel Book 6) Read online

  He brightened, “And?”

  I smiled, “And he’s really nice. Tall, good-looking. He’s a dancer too...”

  Ted blinked, “A dancer?” he asked, “What sort of dancer?”

  I could feel my face heating up and I giggled, “A pole dancer, actually – and he’s absolutely amazing at it.”

  Ted’s jaw dropped, “You young’uns.” He chortled, shaking his head, “You’d have been lynched back in my day.”

  I nodded. It couldn’t have been easy back in his day for guys like me and Simon and all the others at Studs. I was so glad I’d been born into this world and not Ted’s. “Yeah,” I agreed, “You’re probably right.”

  He smiled at me, “So, are you taking Cyril out for me?”

  I nodded, “I am.” I said, “I thought I’d take him down to the river.”

  Ted sighed, “I’d love to come with you.” He said, “George and I used to love it down there.”

  George was his late partner. They’d been together for more than fifty years when George lost his fight with cancer just two years ago and he still missed him terribly – as we all did – George had been the really flamboyant one of the two of them. Ted was a much more sedate man and now that he was alone, he was almost a recluse.

  “I’ll look into getting you a scooter.” I said, “And then you can come with us.”

  Ted smiled, “You’re so thoughtful, son.” He said, ruffling my hair with his gnarled old fingers.

  I grinned, “So where is the lazy old beast?” I asked, “In the conservatory?”

  He chuckled and nodded, “Yeah,” he said, “Go on through and get him.”

  Chapter 13 – Best walk ever...

  Simon

  I picked up the lead that was hanging up in the hall next to my coat. We’d always had a dog, growing up and Rocky was the latest in a long line of waifs and strays that Mum insisted on bringing home from the shelter where she volunteered one day a week. See, she wasn’t all bad – she was just afraid of gay people...

  Rocky was a nice dog – and I’d gotten pretty fond of him since he’d been living with us on a more or less permanent basis. He was definitely not a pedigree with his mismatched ears and too-short legs and too-long tail.

  He looked up at me with his tongue hanging out and panting even though we’d gone nowhere yet. His tail was wagging happily. “Shall we go to the park?” I asked.

  He looked up at me, his tail going a little faster. Rocky never barked. He just wagged his tail and whined occasionally. He was such a sweet old thing.

  I hooked his lead on to his collar and grabbed a couple of poop bags. I always had a handful of treats in my jacket pocket. Pulling on my beanie hat and my gloves I opened the front door, “Come on then, boy.”

  It was a freezing cold morning. The grass was frosted and crunchy to walk on and the sun was just beginning to get the upper hand through the mist. It was a truly beautiful day.

  I walked down by the side of the river. Rocky zigzagged in front of me on the path, happily snuffling along the hedgerows, smelling goodness knows what, but clearly enjoying himself immensely.

  I liked this walk. We rarely bumped into other walkers, as it was kind of only known by the locals and few of the people around here had dogs – and even fewer wanted to be out at this time of the morning. I cross the bridge and headed for the massive expanse of parkland.

  Letting Rocky off his lead I threw his ball for him with the launcher. He shot off as fast as his little legs could carry his rather bulky body.

  I smiled. There was no way I was leaving home without him. If I did, Mum would definitely have him go to a good home and I wasn’t giving him up for anyone. I’d already decided that if I couldn’t rent somewhere that would allow me to keep him, Buzz and Franz would happily welcome another dog to be friends with Gumdrop and Zac temporarily without putting up too much of a fight...

  I watched as Rocky picked up his ball. “Come on, Rocky! Here boy!”

  But Rocky clearly had other ideas this morning. He looked around at me and then started to run in the opposite direction. He disappeared into the mist.

  “Oh, fuck.” I muttered as I could just make out another solitary figure – walking a much bigger dog than Rocky...

  I started to run. Rocky had an uncanny knack of pissing other dogs – and their owners come to think of it – off. He just believed wholeheartedly that he was universally adored... He really wasn’t.

  “Sorry!” I shouted to the guy. He had his back to me and was trying his best to untangle his great big bear of a dog from Rocky. “Rocky! Come here!” I tried my best to sound commanding.

  “No, really – it’s not your dog’s fault, Cyril’s a total pain in the arse – he just thinks everyone wants to be friends...”

  He turned and my eyes just about popped out of my head, “Oh, wow! Hi.” I said, forgetting all about Rocky and Cyril momentarily.

  “Hi.” His lips curved up in the sexiest grin, “I didn’t realise it was you – are you some sort of secret sprinter in your spare time? You made it across that field faster than Usain Bolt!”

  I chuckled, “Nah, I didn’t.” I felt a little embarrassed that he’d seen me belting after the dog like a man possessed.

  He was still smiling at me, though.

  “Wanna walk together?” I asked before I could even think how he might take it.

  To my surprise and delight, he nodded, “Sure,” he said, “is this your dog?” He nodded towards Rocky.

  I nodded, “He will be when I adopt him officially. We’re fostering him at the moment. But I’ve kind of fallen in love with him.” I chuckled, embarrassed to admit that the dog had wormed his way into my heart.

  Bailey smiled, “Yeah, I know what you mean – old Cyril here is actually my neighbour’s dog – but Ted’s getting a bit old and he can’t walk him far enough anymore. Cyril’s a big old boy and as lazy as he is – he needs a lot of exercise.”

  I could see that. He was fucking huge. “What sort of dog is he?”

  Bailey grinned, “He’s a cross between a greyhound and a Newfoundland if you can believe anyone would be so damned stupid to think that would ever be a good idea – so he’s a very fast, very big, very furry beast.” He laughed, “Look at him – he knows I’m talking about him.”

  I laughed. The dog very definitely knew he was centre of attention. He was prancing around like a horse doing dressage.

  “You were great the other night.” Bailey blurted out, surprising me, “Meeting my dads and everything...”

  I blinked, “Uh, thanks.” I smiled at him, “They’re really nice people – and so is Laura.”

  He chuckled, “Yeah, she’s great – most of time – when she’s not trying to hook me up with psycho guy.”

  I laughed, “Yeah, she seemed to like me though – so I think you’re safe from her doing that again in the immediate future.”

  He grinned at me, “Well, thank God for that.”

  I fell into step beside him and we started to walk together, “Are you working tonight?”

  He nodded, “Yeah, you are too, aren’t you?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, I’m in tonight and tomorrow, I’ve got Saturday night off, but I’ll be back at work Sunday, unless you wanted to do something together on Saturday...?” I held my breath. Would he want to?

  He nodded, his eyes lighting up, “That would be great!” he said, “We can arrange it later – between your dance sets.”

  “Great.”

  He leaned into me, “I really missed you last night – it wasn’t the same without you there.”

  I bit my lip. I should really tell him that it was Darcy’s eighteenth birthday last night and that was why I was absent but I hadn’t even mentioned having a sister, never mind celebrating her eighteenth. It wasn’t like we were exclusive or anything, but I really wanted him to be my boyfriend. Only trouble was, I knew I wasn’t being honest with him about my life and to ask him out; to ask him to be my boyfriend when I couldn’t even be hone
st with him about the relationship I had with my parents was stupid. I needed to move out first. Then, once I was safely out of their reach, I’d come clean. I’d tell him all about them and then I’d ask him to be mine.

  I must have been silent for longer than I realised because he’d stopped and was looking at me enquiringly, “Penny for your thoughts?” he teased.

  I rolled my eyes, “They’re not worth jack shit.” I replied, “I’m sorry. I was miles away.”

  He smiled, “Yeah, you were.” He agreed, “Because I asked you to kiss me and you just carried on walking.”

  My jaw dropped, “Fuck!” I exclaimed, “My bad! Come here!”

  I shot back towards him and gathered him up in my arms. He felt so damned right pressed up against me like this. I could forget that I had the weight of the world pressing down on my shoulders when he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. I bent my head and our lips met perfectly together.

  I slid my tongue into his mouth and brushed it against his. God I could kiss him forever and never get tired of the way he made me feel.

  I pulled away reluctantly, “Kissing you is like being high.” I said.

  He chuckled, “Been high a lot?”

  I shook my head, “Nah,” I said, “Once or twice – I prefer the high I get from kissing you – there’s no come down from it. I feel great for days afterwards.” I blushed a little at the admission, but it was the truth. Every time I so much as thought about him, I felt great.

  He stroked my face with his fingertips, “I know what you mean,” he murmured, “I feel the same way.”

  We carried on walking and got back to the road. Bailey was going in the opposite direction to me, “Well, I guess I’ll see you later then – and we can arrange that date.”

  I nodded, “Definitely.” I agreed, and went home with a spring in my step that hadn’t been there before.

  Chapter 14 – Asking a favour...

  Bailey

  “Morning Buzz.”

  Buzz grinned at me, “You are aware that it’s gone six in the evening?”

  I chuckled and nodded, “Yeah – but I only had a bowl of cornflakes, like half an hour ago.”

  He laughed, “Fair enough.” He said, “What happened to you last night?”

  I frowned, “Last night?” I asked, my stomach clenching with anxiety. Fuck. Had I missed something important? My stress levels went into overload almost instantly. “I was here, working. Why? Where should I have been?”

  Buzz shook his head, looking slightly alarmed at my reaction, “No, no,” he said, “I didn’t mean to worry you – I just assumed that you’d have come to Darcy’s birthday party.”

  Who the fuck was Darcy and why was he looking at me with that frown? “Uh?” stared back at him blankly. He’d totally lost me.

  Buzz’s frown deepened, “Our sister, Darcy.” He said, “She turned eighteen – we had a big family party...” he trailed off, realisation dawning as he could see I was completely clueless, “Oh, my God. He didn’t tell you, did he?” He went red in the face.

  “I didn’t even know you guys had a sister.” I said, feeling mortally embarrassed that I knew so little about Simon. Why hadn’t he mentioned having a sister when he met mine? And why hadn’t he mentioned the party? Had he taken someone else with him?

  “Who did he take with him?” I asked.

  Buzz scratched his chin, his frown deepening as he tried to figure out what was going on with his brother, “No one.” He said, “He was alone – I just figured you had something else on. I honestly thought he’d have asked you to come.”

  I shook my head. I thought things were pretty good between us – but now it looked as if things were pretty non-existent between us, “No,” I said shortly, “I wasn’t invited.” It hurt to think that he hadn’t even considered inviting me. As far as I knew, he wasn’t seeing anyone else and I was beginning to get hopeful about the two of us going the distance – exclusively – but this kind of proved that I was just getting ahead of myself – story of my life – look at the way things turned out with Nathan... Still, I wasn’t about to show Buzz how much it bothered me. I had my pride... I swallowed, “I guess Simon’s just not that into me to ask me to meet the family.” Even though I’d totally introduced him to all of mine already. Was I too eager? Was that the issue?

  Buzz took a deep breath, a frown on his face, “I don’t think that’s the case,” he murmured, “because he never stops talking about you when he comes to mine.”

  I frowned. I had no clue what the fuck was going on with Simon. “Could you maybe ask him?” I asked, wincing at the way my voice sounded. God, could I be more needy?

  He didn’t seem to notice. He just nodded, “Leave it with me,” he said, “We’ll get the root of the problem. Simon’s always been a bit socially awkward – and Mum and Dad aren’t the easiest guys to be around, either...” he trailed off, “Leave it with me.” he repeated.

  I’d kind of already assumed that Simon wasn’t out – but he’d never said one way or the other if his parents were on board with his sexuality or not. If they were – what the hell was the problem with taking me home?

  I really didn’t know how to broach the subject. It wasn’t as if we were really a couple or anything. A handful of dates, a few nice kisses and a cheeky blowjob followed by a promise of a whole lot more (that had never materialised) and a family barbeque didn’t make us the next big thing. But I really wanted us to be – that wasn’t likely however if he couldn’t even ask me to his sister’s eighteenth birthday party...

  *

  It had been a couple of days and Buzz hadn’t enlightened me as to what was going on with his brother, something that I really thought he should have sorted out by now and I can’t deny it, I was definitely sulking.

  Richard wasn’t one for allowing any of his kids to sit and stew.

  “What’s up with you?” he asked, throwing a cushion at me.

  I scowled back at him, “Nothing.”

  He raised an eyebrow, “Well, call me anything you like but I’d suggest that something is bothering you. Is it Laura – is she setting you up on dodgy dates again?”

  I shook my head, “Not since I told her where she could shove her good intentions, no.” I said with a smile. Laura had been so pissed off with me over not liking her choice of guy for me – until she met Simon and then she’d been as enchanted with him as I was.

  Richard nodded, “So?” he probed, “What’s the problem.”

  I sighed. I was going to drive myself insane if I didn’t talk to someone about Simon’s weird attitude towards me. “It’s Simon.”

  Richard frowned, “Your closet superhero?”

  I nodded, “Yeah – but I don’t think he’s really in the closet...”

  “But?”

  I smiled, “But I’m guessing his nearest and dearest are either totally oblivious to his sexuality – or totally against it – and my money is on the latter.”

  Richard sucked in a sharp breath and shook his head, “Are you sure he’s really the one for you?”

  I nodded. Simon was everything I’d been looking for – but I couldn’t deny that it hurt like hell that he wouldn’t introduce me to his parents. What the hell was the problem? Buzz didn’t seem to have a clue and he was his brother. He and his boyfriend Franz had gone to the family party together – so why not ask me? What wasn’t good enough about me? Was it because I was fostered? Nah... That would be ridiculous.

  Richard gave me a stern look, “Listen, mate.” He said, “You have to talk to Simon about this?”

  I felt my face reddening. I’d never been one for confrontation. I nodded, “I know I do.” I said, “I just don’t want to.”

  Richard smiled and patted my shoulder, “You’ll get there.” He said, “You always do.”

  *

  I locked the car, took a deep breath and headed towards the club.

  I didn’t particularly want to confront Simon about the fact that he never invited me home but at the
same time, I didn’t want to be his dirty little secret. I was proud to have him as my boyfriend and I wanted him to be as proud to have me as his.

  I pushed the door open. Buzz was nowhere to be seen, which was a little weird since he seemed to be here all of the fucking time but that was least of my worries. I wanted to see Simon – and I wanted to deal with this right now – before I lost my nerve.

  Chapter 15 – Withholding the truth...

  Simon

  I’d just walked into the club for my shift, kind of desperate to see Bailey. I felt horribly guilty for not telling him about our little sister’s eighteenth birthday party. I’d battled with myself for weeks beforehand, wondering if I should just show up with Bailey – who my parents would immediately see was as gay as a picnic basket – and ride out the storm, or to go alone. In the end I’d totally bottled it and gone alone, much to Darcy’s disappointment because I’d told her all about him and she’d been dying to meet him.

  The party had been really nice for Darcy – and Buzz and Franz had seemed to have a good time but it had been as boring as fuck for me. I had no one really to talk to. Darcy was all about her friends and Buzz and Franz had spent the majority of the time in the kitchen away from everyone else. The worst of it was that Mum and Dad had spent most of the night away from the whole party. They probably wouldn’t have even noticed Bailey – until he started to thread his fingers through mine, which was something he did quite a lot these days – and I fucking loved it.

  I really needed to talk to him. I needed to tell him that I was a hopeless closet case and to let him go and find someone who wasn’t trying to hide who he really was for the sake of his parents...