The House Always Wins - 7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"Okay," Michael said, later that night, "now we get to the more...personal matters. Habits, past acquaintances..."

We had moved from the bar to the sofas, with him sitting opposite from me, and he'd taken off his jacket, loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. He had a snifter of cognac in front of him; I had a can of Cherry Coke, which he had ordered with dinner, eating here instead of downstairs.

"Okay..." I answered, slowly. Oh boy. Not a topic I enjoyed talking about.

"This business with your step-father; I understand that he didn't approve?"

"Understatement."

"I need to know what happened. My mother is a nosy woman. I can't be blindsided by something she knows about you, and I don't. Also, when did you come out, first kiss, how many boyfriends, all that; she loves that sort of trashy novel detail..."

I sighed. "I never came out officially, but I've known that I was gay since I was seventeen. No, sixteen, it was a week before my birthday. I'd secretly been...you know...fooling around with a guy from my school."

Michael nodded.

"My first kiss was with that guy. After him; only two other guys, and the last guy was the one my step-dad caught me with. His name was Jack."

"Right. So you've had three boyfriends. How about sex?"

I shook my head slowly.

"Never?"

"Nope." I blushed at that and looked away before continuing. "Well...we did the obvious stuff, feeling each other up and so on."

"Masturbating?"

"Do we have to do this?" I groaned, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not something to talk about with someone you just met. But since we're going to be acting like we're intimate, I'd like to know whom I'm dealing with. And it's a quid pro quo thing; it will be my turn in a minute. So...?"

"Yeah, we did...that. And..." I made the universal blowjob gesture.

"You're a bottom, I presume?" I felt my cheeks heat up. "It's when you..."

"I know what it is, thanks," I interrupted, looking anywhere but at him. "Yeah, I think so. Never tried it but..."

When I fantasized, I always imagined the guy doing me. Michael smirked at that.

"All right, I get the picture. Well, compared to me, you're a saint. I've had several relationships, spanning from a few weeks to a year. I came out when I was twenty, studying at Harvard at the time. But before that, I was active, secretly of course, at Eton. My first kiss was with a guy named Tom. The last was about three years ago. His name was Simon."

"Three years? Wow..."

"Yes, it's been a while. As I've said before, I'm a busy man. Simon didn't like that. But he's the one I had the longest relationship with, about a year, and the first I ever introduced to my mother. So she may talk about him."

"Right. Okay, you're a lot more experienced as I am and you obviously...I assume...well, anyway, there was something this guy said that I'm wondering about. That guy who came on to me in the bar?"

"What did he say?"

"What is barebaking?"

"Barebacking," he corrected, automatically. "It's unprotected sex. Did that bastard ask for that?"

"Oh...yeah, he did."

"Unless you're absolutely sure that your sexual partner is monogamous, and has no STDs, it's a very bad idea to have unprotected sex. You were lucky I caught you, it seems."

His tone took on a lecture style, and I blushed. It was becoming a standard, these last few hours.

"Did you ever..."

He didn't seem to feel uncomfortable by the question, and answered honestly.

"Yes, but not before we were both sure it was safe; we were tested. And when the relationship was over, I was tested again, just to be sure."

"Why not just use protection all the time?"

"Because it feels more real, and it deepens the bond you have with your partner. And sometimes, passion makes...well, rational thought goes out the window."

Wow...the whole day we'd been swapping details, but it had up to now, always been pretty business-like.

I took a few sips from my Cherry Coke and remained silent. Then he looked on his watch, lifted up his glass and emptied it in one go.

"I think we're about done for now. Unless you have anything you want to ask me, I'll be in the study, doing some work."

"What kind of work?" I asked, curious.

"There are all sorts of things that I don't get done during the day. My life is hectic at times, and the only time to get some things accomplished is when I get up here. As I said, I usually come up around 11pm."

I watched him until the door to the study closed behind.