Eros Rising Read online

  Logan’s eyes narrowed, his mouth curving into a calculating smile. “I know what you want. You can do it, you know. When we get home.” He leaned closer, voice dropping to a rough whisper. “I know how much you love it when I scream for you, baby. I love it too.”

  Scott tuned out the murmuring crowd of onlookers and stared at Logan, into those eyes he’d have done anything for once upon a time, and all the anger drained out of him. He was sick of playing out this same scene over and over. Confronting Logan with his latest flirtation, only to be faced with Logan’s pathetic excuses and justifications. It always ended the same way—Logan bent over the end of the bed, white-knuckled fists bunching the covers, stifling his cries in the mattress as Scott’s well-used strip of supple birch drew hot red lines across his naked skin.

  Scott hated that part more than the arguments, more than Logan’s small but painfully frequent infidelities. He hated how much it excited him, and he particularly hated the person it made him become.

  “I can’t do this right now.” Without another word, Scott turned and walked away.

  Logan ran after him, spouting the usual insincere apologies and hollow promises. Scott shook off his grasping fingers without so much as a glance. Predictably, Logan didn’t follow him through the front door into the cold January night. Scott was glad of it. Right then, he’d be perfectly happy if he never laid eyes on Logan again. He flagged down a cab and climbed in, leaving Ganymede’s Grotto and Logan behind.

  He was halfway home before he remembered the bar tab he hadn’t paid. Keegan had run his credit card, but Scott had never signed for the tab.

  It took him a minute to realize the tab provided an automatic excuse to go back. To see Keegan again. The thought lifted his sagging spirits and he smiled.

  Chapter Two

  Keegan watched the blond man out of the corner of his eye as he wiped down the bar. Larry? Lonnie? He couldn’t quite remember. Scott had told him the asshole’s name, but it had gone right out of his head.

  Whatever the man’s name was, he sure as hell didn’t deserve someone as hot, as intelligent, as fun and as just plain nice as Scott. The jackass was still with those two sluts Cameron and Dave, pressed between them in one of the private bays. Keegan shook his head. Some people didn’t know when they had it good.

  He glanced up at the clock. One forty-five. The bar area would be closing in a few minutes, meaning everyone except members who’d rented a room for the night would have to leave. Keegan chuckled to himself, childishly pleased that he would get to kick out the Cheater and the Sluts.

  He waited another ten minutes, then sauntered over to the shadowy booth where Scott’s worthless boyfriend—Logan, that’s his name—had his tongue down Dave’s throat and his hand up Cameron’s shirt. Keegan cleared his throat and the three of them jumped apart.

  “Closing time.” Keegan jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Out.”

  Dave and Cameron wished him good night and left like good boys, arms around each other. Logan got up and stood there looking bereft.

  “You deaf or what?” Keegan said, not bothering to keep the contempt out of his voice. “Time to go home. If he’ll let you in, that is.”

  Logan’s expression turned stormy. “Mind your own business.”

  Keegan crossed his arms and gave Logan a curious look. “Are you really as stupid as you seem?”

  Logan flushed a dangerous shade of red. “What?”

  “It’s just that you have a great guy,” Keegan continued, ignoring Logan’s clenched fists and snarling lip. “He’s not only incredibly hot, he’s nice too. I gave him an opening and he turned me down. Said he was with someone. No one, least of all you, could ask for better than that. And look how you act. So I figure you’re stupid.”

  “Shut up!” Logan hissed. “You can’t talk to me like that.”

  “Funny, I don’t seem to be having any trouble.” Keegan smiled. “Get the fuck out of here, asshole. See there, I just did it again. Easy as pie.”

  For a second, Keegan thought Logan was going to hit him. Part of him looked forward to it. He itched to punch the man right in his chiseled jaw. He was disappointed when Logan elected to point a warning finger in his face instead.

  “Listen here,” Logan growled. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you can’t get away with saying things like that to me.”

  “Sure I can,” Keegan said cheerfully. “You’re a lying, cheating waste of space who obviously can’t see when he’s got a good thing, and I don’t like you.”

  Keegan watched with amusement as Logan gaped like a fish. What the hell does Scott see in this jerk?

  “Well, at least I don’t get naked for a room full of perverts,” Logan spat, eyes glittering triumphantly.

  Keegan burst into laughter, which Logan’s slack-jawed confusion did nothing to dispel. “You mean like you?” he gasped, wiping tears from his eyes. “Listen, if that’s all you got, you might as well give up now. I’ve heard a whole lot worse than that from a whole lot better than you. And now, we’re closing. Leave, before I call the cops.” Keegan turned his back on Logan’s sputtering fury, letting him know in no uncertain terms that he’d been dismissed.

  Logan’s hand whirling him around was a surprise, but he managed not to show it. He cocked an eyebrow at the man. “You got something else to say, asshole?”

  Logan smiled, looking for a moment like a shark. “You said you came on to Scott. Well, be glad he turned you down. You don’t know a goddamn thing about him.”

  “True,” Keegan agreed amiably, plucking Logan’s fingers from his arm. “But I know one thing. He can sure as hell do better.”

  “And I suppose you think you’re better.” Logan shook his head. “You come have a good look at my back tomorrow morning, then tell me you still want him. I don’t think you could handle it.”

  Keegan watched Logan storm out the door. The man’s words brought back things he’d much rather forget. Things that still had the power to shake him deep down, even after eight long years. He shook off the uneasiness, reminding himself what Logan had been up to for the past several hours. He’d clearly say or do anything to make himself out as the victim. Shoving the dark memories back into his subconscious and dismissing Logan’s appalling behavior from his mind, Keegan turned back to his work.

  Within half an hour, he had the bar sparkling clean, the floor swept, the bottles wiped down and put away and the dirty glasses in the dishwasher. He counted the drawer, put all the money and credit card receipts in the special zippered bag, and headed into the back office to stash it in the safe for Earl to deposit in the morning.

  That chore done, Keegan locked the office and switched off the lights at the bar. Yawning, he headed for the staff entrance in back, calling goodbye to the night kitchen staff on the way.

  The service door through which the staff entered and exited the club opened onto a narrow alley in back of the building. The door remained locked from the outside and open from the inside. Every staff member had a key, enabling them to come and go at all hours. While the bar area closed between two and ten a.m., the private and group sex rooms, viewing rooms and dungeons remained open twenty-four hours a day for members who had reserved them ahead of time.

  Ganymede’s Grotto might be a sex club, but it was a classy one, with a rigorous screening process for potential members and a high standard of service. Keegan figured he could do a lot worse than tend bar and strip to a G-string for a friendly, appreciative audience. He even got health insurance in this job. He’d sure as hell never had that when he made his miniscule living jerking off for the peep shows in Charleston.

  The people at Ganymede’s Grotto were good to him. They treated him like family. Or rather like family should treat each other, something else he hadn’t really known before coming here. In return, they got Keegan’s complete and unhesitating loyalty. It was a mutually beneficial relationship.

  Inside his tiny one-room-and-a-bath apartment situated above the club, Keegan
stripped off his work clothes, unwound his long braid and headed into the bathroom for a shower. As he soaped himself, his thoughts drifted to Scott. He’d never met a man quite like Scott before. Big enough to be intimidating, but with an aura of gentleness that drew Keegan like a magnet.

  Closing his eyes, Keegan cupped his balls in one hand, rolling them between his fingers and picturing Scott’s face in his mind. Great big chocolate-colored eyes, with the sort of long, thick lashes that girls go crazy for. High cheekbones. Jaw sharp enough to cut glass. A nose that was slightly crooked like it had been broken at some point. And God, that mouth, sweet and sinful and tailor-made for long, slow kisses. Keegan moaned, imagining those soft lips wrapped around his cock.

  He hadn’t meant to jerk off. He’d intended to shower and go straight to bed. But the mental image of Scott sucking him off was too much to resist. He took himself firmly in hand and went to it, putting his back against the tiles and pumping his shaft hard.

  It wasn’t long before the familiar tingle began to spread through his groin and down his thighs. He shoved two fingers in his ass and came with a cry, picturing Scott’s prick buried balls-deep inside him, Scott’s hands caressing his body.

  He managed to shut the water off before his knees buckled. Sitting sprawled on the floor of the tub, he had to laugh at himself. “Keegan, my boy, you really, really need to get laid.”

  It was all too true. He hadn’t been with anyone in months, not since the last one-nighter had gotten a little out of hand. He grimaced at the memory. He hadn’t realized until too late what exactly the man wanted to do. Keegan had suffered a full-on flashback when the man attempted to tie him to the bed. He’d evidently kicked the man in the face then run all the way back to the club in his underwear. To this day, he couldn’t remember doing that. He’d learned of it later, when the man came to the club to complain to Earl about Keegan being dangerously unstable. Earl, predictably, had thrown the man out and told him never to show his face again unless he wanted to go to prison.

  Keegan privately thought the man had gotten off easy, considering. Earl Queen, the owner and manager of Ganymede’s Grotto and a substitute father to Keegan, had been livid when Keegan showed up in his office that night, half-naked and incoherent with pure blind panic. After determining that Keegan wasn’t physically harmed, he’d stormed around the room threatening the man with the most hair-raising tortures imaginable. Then he’d hugged Keegan so hard he could barely breathe and called him “son” and sworn he’d rip the liver out of the next person who did such a thing to him.

  Keegan had felt more loved and protected at that moment than he ever had. Eight years ago, he thought with a grim smile, it would’ve confused him no end. He would’ve been looking for a way to sabotage it, because being cared for had been so foreign to him at that time. Now, he accepted Earl’s fatherly affection as the gift it was, and returned it in kind.

  As always, thinking of his past made Keegan’s guts churn. Shaking off the memories, he clambered to his feet and grabbed his towel. He wandered back into the main room, squeezing as much water out of his hair as he could before weaving it into a loose braid. He collapsed naked onto the bed and was sound asleep within minutes, a contented smile on his lips.

  * * *

  Earl waylaid Keegan the next afternoon the moment he showed up for work.

  “Keegan,” he called from the half-open door of his office as Keegan passed by. “Come in here for a mo, darling, I need you.”

  Keegan veered into the office and grinned at Earl. “What’s up?”

  Earl flashed a wide smile, bright blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “Two things, beautiful. First, don’t call the customers assholes, even if they are. Second, there’s an absolutely stunning man waiting for you at the bar. He’s not a member, but I let him in anyway because, honey, if you’ve got a chance at that, far be it from me to ruin it for you.”

  Earl spoke in his usual breathless rush, long fingers toying with the iron gray hair that still hung thick and straight to his shoulders. He wore a charcoal gray suit paired with a pale pink shirt and a blinding fuchsia tie. A pink carnation was pinned to his suit jacket. Looks like a gay gangster, Keegan thought affectionately. Earl might live up to his last name a bit too well, but he’d taken Keegan in when he had nowhere else to go and Keegan loved him fiercely for it.

  “What’s his name?” Keegan asked. “Is it Scott Jasper? He’s probably come to pay his tab from last night. He forgot before.”

  “Yes, that’s his name,” Earl confirmed, nodding. “And now that you mention it, I believe he said something about a tab.”

  “That was Scott’s partner that I called an asshole,” Keegan continued, guessing at who he was in trouble for insulting, “and he really is one. He was making out with Dave and Cameron, right in front of Scott. If he ever shows his face here again, I’ll think of something worse to call him. I’m sure as hell not apologizing.”

  Earl tapped his nails against the desk, his features schooled into his best approximation of a stern face. Keegan wasn’t fooled. He was a damn good bartender and an even better stripper, the customers loved him, and Earl knew it.

  “It’s a good thing for you that I love you like a son.” Earl sighed and waved a languid hand in the general direction of the bar. “Go on, go talk to Studly.”

  “I’m going.” Keegan started toward the door, then turned and frowned as something occurred to him. “Hey, Earl, how’d you know I called that guy an asshole anyway?”

  “He called to complain earlier. Said he was withdrawing his application for membership because the help here is substandard.” Earl rolled his eyes. “Good thing, too. It saved me the unpleasant task of turning him down and having to nod sympathetically through the resulting tantrum.”

  Keegan laughed. “Not that I’m complaining, but why were you gonna turn down his application? And for that matter, why’d he even apply without Scott?” Keegan’s eyes went wide. “Or did Scott apply too?”

  “Because his credit history is dismal, I haven’t a clue and no.” Earl grinned, eyes sparkling. “Not yet, anyway. I’m counting on your irresistible charm to lure him in.”

  “Earl, you’ve got to let go of these delusions about me,” Keegan said, shaking his head. He leaned against the doorframe. “You know what, I wish now that I hadn’t said those things to Logan. I wish I’d been nicer.”

  Earl clutched at his chest. “Is this true? Am I actually hearing Keegan Rourke express regret for one of his legendary tongue-lashings? Oh my God, the world must be ending.”

  Keegan nodded solemnly. “If I hadn’t pissed him off, he wouldn’t have withdrawn his application, and you’d have had to turn him down. You would’ve let me watch, right?”

  “Darling, I could cheerfully strangle you some days, but then my life would be dreadfully dull.” Earl made a shooing motion with his hands. “Now go away, I’m busy.”

  Laughing, Keegan shut the office door and strolled out to the bar. Charlie was tending, leaning across the bar on his forearms and talking with a couple of the regulars who’d stayed the night. Not many members came to the club before five or six o’clock, but there were generally a few who wandered out from their overnight rooms to the bar as soon as it opened.

  Keegan stopped in the shadows for a moment, drinking in the sight of the man perched on the barstool. Scott looked even better than he had the night before. Low-slung black jeans clung to his slim hips and hugged the tight curves of his ass. The muscles of his arms and chest strained against his snug red T-shirt, big enough to make Keegan’s heart thump without crossing the line into freakish. Keegan licked his lips.

  As if sensing his scrutiny, Scott turned and pinned Keegan with an intense dark-eyed gaze. Keegan grinned and walked toward Scott, hoping the man couldn’t see how flustered he felt.

  “Hi Scott,” he said, relieved when his voice came out nice and steady. “Earl said you wanted to see me?”

  Scott smiled, that sweet lopsided smile that lit up the r
oom. “Yeah, I did. I hope I’m not bothering you or anything.”

  “Not a bit.” Keegan stepped closer and leaned an elbow on the bar. He was close enough to smell Scott’s cologne, something soft and spicy that made him want to bury his face in the man’s neck and just breathe him in. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m afraid I forgot to pay my tab last night. I came back to pay up.” Scott let out a tense little laugh. “So, I guess I need to sign the credit card slip, huh?”

  “Mm-hm,” Keegan mumbled, not really paying as much attention as he should. Scott’s voice, deep and rumbling yet almost touchably soft, was doing terrible things to his concentration. “I left it in the cash register.”

  Keegan scooted closer under the pretense of shifting his weight to his other foot, and was rewarded by a rosy blush rising in Scott’s cheeks. “Okay,” Scott said, a bit breathlessly. “Should you…um…go get it? The slip? For me to sign, I mean.”

  “In a sec.” Keegan stuck his hands in his pockets, thinking Scott might not appreciate being felt up right then. “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but I like you and I feel like I need to tell you the truth. Last night after you left, Logan—”

  “Don’t bother,” Scott interrupted, his smile fading. “He didn’t come home until two-thirty. I’m betting he didn’t spend all that time at the church confessing his sins.”

  “I’m sorry, Scott,” Keegan said softly.

  Scott shrugged. “I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, really.”

  “You mean he’s done this before?” Keegan had no trouble believing that.

  “He usually just flirts, but I’ve caught him kissing other guys a few times. This is the first time he’s cheated on me with two at once, though.” Scott grimaced. “Aw, hell. For all I know he does it all the time and I’m just too stupid to notice.”