Discovering Dalton(41)

“You choose. I'm easy.”

“Easy, huh? I hope not.”

Dalton smirked. “I'm not drinking Raki.”

“That’s what you think.”

“I have standards.”

“Ah, a man with standards. I love those. I get to lower them dramatically over time.”

Dalton laughed as they walked side by side and Troy tried to quell the desire to reach out and touch him. This wasn’t going to be anything other than friends. He’d made a rule for himself and he was keeping to it. Dalton said he was coming out of a relationship too, so both of them were on the same page. Besides, Troy wasn’t about to cock up things with a client. Drinks and stuff was fine, but fucking them, no way. There was a line Troy didn’t cross, and despite how much Dalton called to him, he was determined to ignore it and not mess up what could be a great friendship by complicating it with sex. It would be a first for him, but why not try something new?





Chapter 25



Troy was captivating. Dalton couldn’t come up with another less romantic term, so he was going with that. Ever since he walked into Living Ink and saw the photograph hanging on the wall, he’d been hooked on Troy, and that was even before he knew who the guy was. Okay, so it was the ink work which he’d started to look at, but all too soon his gaze travelled over every inch of the body so perfectly captured on the print.

Looking across the small, round table at Troy as he ordered another round of lager, Dalton took in his features again, this time noticing how his profile looked in the setting sun, how his olive skin tanned all over covering his flesh with a honey colour, one which made Dalton wonder how it tasted and if he would taste as sweet.

A random thought popped into his head, like how long it would take him to trace the outline of his expansive ink work from his shoulder to his ankle with his fingertip, or his tongue. Dalton had to lean his leg over his knee so he could hide the growing bulge there. Instead, he looked at Troy’s eyes. The colour was an unusual mix of blue and darker green tones which made Dalton want to turn his head and take a closer look at them.

This wasn’t a date. This was friends getting to know each other, and Dalton may have been taken in by Troy's good looks and easy nature, but it was the depth of emotions within him which had sunk their teeth right into his jugular and sucked him deeper. Troy was filled with a type of deep hurt Dalton had never experienced, but mixed within the pain was anger. It burned through Troy like liquid fire in the shop and Dalton was intrigued enough to spend more time with the dark-haired man.

Troy looked over, that sexy smirk always playing on his full mouth, bright green eyes full with questions. “So, Dalton. You're from Manchester, I can tell by the accent, classier than the usual, but it’s still there. Where you call home?”

“Home?” Dalton played with the label on his bottle as he averted his gaze from Troy. “It’s not really home anymore, but I live not far from here.”

“I'm guessing it was shared between you and the ex?”

“Yeah. Now it’s over, I'm thinking about moving. I like it closer to the centre. It feels more… me?” Dalton laughed to himself because he had no idea who or what he was. “I just like the feeling I get from around there.”

“I live not too far from the centre. It’s a good place. I mean, it’s much better now. Ten years ago that area was shit, now it’s up and coming and the price has tripled despite the recent housing crash. Not that I‘d sell it.”

“My ex hasn’t asked me to sell, but we both paid the mortgage so I feel like I'm holding her and the new guy up if they want to buy anywhere.”

Troy’s brows hit his hair line and Dalton faltered, wondering what he’d said which was wrong. “Her? Your ex is a her?”

“Yeah.” Dalton frowned a little. “Why is that a big deal?”

“Because… because of you and this—” Troy motioned between them both. “And the twink I saw all over you a couple of weeks ago right in this pub.”

“Oh…” Dalton paused, wondering which to go with first, then went with the last part. “You saw me that night?”

Troy blushed, a difficult thing for his olive skin to do, Dalton was sure. “Yeah, well, of course I did. You were all brightly lit up in the pink Ralph Lauren polo and that blond who was all over you shone like the sun. How could I not notice you?”

“Where were you? I'm sure I'd have noticed you.”

“Sitting well out of your eye line which is why I got to stare at you without you noticing.” Troy grinned and Dalton chuckled, liking the fact Troy took notice of him.

“I'm glad I caught your attention.” Dalton took a drink, and then looked into his eyes. “About the ex.”

“Yes,” Troy said slowly.

“We were married for ten years and just broke up.”

“Right. So you're bi?”

“I guess so.” Dalton had no idea what was going on. All his life he’d considered himself straight, never really considering men as an option, but there had been moments where he had become excited by men in porn and he’d taken more notice of the men around him than he probably should have done. But he’d never laid back and jerked off to them or thought about trying things out with a man, but then he didn’t really do that with women either. He just thought of his cock in some tight place and jerked off to that. “Does it bother you?”

“I'm not sure.” Troy took a long drink of his beer, then looked back to Dalton. “If we were dating, which we’re not.”

“No.” Dalton smiled back at him.

“Then yeah, it would bother me. I’ve dated bi men before and got burned. I'm not into women at all, so the possibility of sharing or taking turns doesn’t appeal to me. One guy, I really liked and we dated for six months, he was bi. Turned out he had a girlfriend in Sheffield and was seeing us both. Not that either of us knew. The other guy was always hiding too. He wasn’t out. Him I'm not sure about. I could never decide if he was bi or if he was just too afraid to say he was gay and liked fucking the occasional woman to prove to his mates he was normal.” Troy shook his head, wavy brown hair falling over his left eye.

“I'm not looking to hurt you in any way, Troy.”

“Yeah, I know, but neither did they and it happened.”

“This isn’t like that.”

Troy blew out a big breath and smiled. “Yeah, okay. So, are you just sort of realising something about yourself?”

“You could say that. I was monogamous to the point I didn’t even think about anyone else while I pulled off. It was just me and her.”

“And I'm guessing things got… what’s the word…”

“Things got shittier the longer we stayed together, if that’s what you mean. We drifted apart. Sexually amongst other things.”

“And as soon as you break up, what? You dive straight into men for a change?”

Dalton picked up on the snark and the hint of pain in those words. He leaned over, resting his elbows on the table and looking into Troy’s eyes. “No, I didn’t. This is all… It’s all new and not new if you know what I mean. I like you. I knew as soon as I turned around and saw you standing there that I wanted you.”

Troy licked his lips, then looked over Dalton’s shoulder, breathing a little too fast and Dalton smiled, enjoying how he reacted.

“It didn’t even cross my mind what sex you were, I just saw you and enjoyed how I reacted to you. Since I’ve been single, which isn’t long, I’ve not really been around women. No reason why. I'm not deliberately staying away from them and I'm not seeing men as an option because I've been hurt or anything. It’s just how things have turned out. Was I freaked out when I realised I enjoyed men? Yeah, sure, but what freaked me out was the fact I was mad at myself for missing this part of myself for so long. I’ve spent days going over and over my whole life until now, trying to see if I’ve been scared or hiding, or if I've always felt like this. I can't pinpoint anything. I can't see any moment that sticks out, so I gave up looking.”

Dalton took Troy’s hand and gently tugged it. “I'm not like the other men you’ve seen, and I'm not saying things will ever go down that route either, but I know no matter what, I would never want to hurt you like they have, Troy. That would be the last thing I would ever want to do, which is why I'm so confident this is just friends right now. It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you or touch you, it’s because of those reasons why I won't. Until I know where my head is, I won't risk bringing anyone else into it.”

Dalton smiled wider when Troy eventually relaxed and nodded, his eyes showing more light in them and that cute frown disappearing.

“So, can I ask a few personal questions?”

“Yes.” Dalton knew where this was going and sat back, taking a drink.

“You say this is new, and you’ve not been single long. How long?”

“About a month ago, but it’s been over for longer.”

“Okay, wow. Super short single life. Rebound relationships are the worst. I’ve been there, done that. So thanks for stepping back and being so honest. Can I ask another?”