The Other Side - 7. Chapter 7

Jason pulled up to Samantha’s building Saturday night. She had been nervous about having Jason see what a hole she lived in, but finally decided that he had more than likely gone through his own slumming when he first moved to the city.

By the time she buzzed him in the building, she had changed her clothes four times, finally settling on a simple black dress. Not too revealing, but still showing off her best assets.

“Wow, Sam, you look great.”

“Thanks, Jason.”

“Shall we go? I made reservations for eight.”

He took her to what he said was his favorite restaurant and over wine and seafood he entertained her with stories of growing up in Atlanta.

She kept looking for the flaw. There had to be something, Jason was good looking, gainfully employed, had a great sense of humor and seemed to be completely taken by her. He was perfect, there had to be something she was missing. In her experience, if it looked too good to be true than it was. If everything else was perfect, well then, he had to be bad in bed, have a small dick, something.

“I have a bottle of Chardonnay chilling back at my apartment,” he told her over desert. “Would you think me too forward if I invited you back there for a glass?”

“I’d love to,” she said.

******

Seth walked into The Forum Saturday and quickly scanned the crowd hoping to see Cole. Not seeing the blond right away he decided to make his way over to the bar for a drink.

“Chivas, straight up,” Seth said to the barkeep.

“I’ll take you ‘straight up’,” a voice whispered in his ear. Seth felt the hot breath on his neck and smelled the enticing cologne.

“Hey,” he said turning around to see Cole smiling ear to ear.

“I was hoping you’d be here tonight,” the blond said putting his arms around Seth’s waist, pulling him closer.

“Are you high?” Seth asked with a chuckle. “You are. You’re high, aren’t you?” This Cole was completely different from the one he shared a drink with the other night.

“Yeah,” Cole answered with a silly grin. “Come on, come dance with me.”

“Okay, hang on,” Seth said as he slapped a couple bills on the bar and downed his drink. “What are you on anyway?”

“X”

The love drug. Seth smiled. “Yeah?”

“Ever done it?”

“Oh yeah.” Seth let Cole lead him to the dance floor and to a crowd of men that were obviously Cole’s friends and just as high as he.

“Hmm, nice,” one of the guys said eyeing Seth up and down.

Cole pulled Seth close again in a possessive gesture. They danced like that for a few beats then Cole slipped out of Seth’s embrace and made his way over to one of his friends. Seth felt his jealousy rise as he watched Cole whisper something into the man’s ear. Seth continued looking on as Cole’s friend nodded, then pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Cole. Then blond then danced his way back over to Seth with a wicked grin across his face. Once he was back in front of Seth he popped something into his mouth and stuck out his tongue so that Seth could see the white pill resting on the tip. Then Cole grinned and moved in to give Seth the ecstasy in his kiss.

A few songs later Seth began feeling a warmth in his groin that spread up his torso and down his legs. Seth moved in a little closer to Cole grinding against him.

“Oh yeah,” Cole said. “You’re feeling it now.”

“Mmmm,” Seth groaned. “Let’s go somewhere.” He felt a need, a desire to be naked and inside Cole.

“It’s too early to go home,” Cole said. “But we could go to the back room and take the edge off.”

Seth nodded, his cock so hard he thought it might burst through his jeans. Cole took his hand leading him through the maze of men and down the dark hallway into the small dank room that reeked of sweat and sex. He pushed Seth up against the wall and sank to his knees. Cole undid Seth’s jeans and pulled out his cock. “Ah, I knew you’d have a beautiful dick,” he said before sliding it between his lips.

******

Saturday night Toby decided he would go back to Mary Jane’s. He had written Chase off after Tuesday night, but he wasn’t going to sit home and stew about it. San Francisco was a big city, plenty more fish in the sea.

Toby hadn’t been at the club very long when he spotted Chase making his way over.

“Hey,” Chase said. “Where have you been? I thought you were going to stop by this week.”

“I did,” Toby said. “Tuesday.”

“Tuesday…” Chase pondered. “Oh, I crashed early on Tuesday.”

“Yeah, I know.” Toby turned and started to walk away.

“Wait. Hey, Toby, what’s wrong?” Chase asked taking Toby’s arm.

“You don’t remember do you?”

“Remember what?”

Toby rolled his eyes. “Tuesday.”

“No, what happened? Did I see you?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Listen, Toby,” Chase tried to explain. “I had been up for three days when I crashed. If I said or did something, I’m sorry. I really don’t remember.”

“Yeah? Well…” Toby started.

“Come on,” Chase interrupted him grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the back of the club. “I have something for you.” Against his better judgment Toby followed.

Chase walked up to the man guarding the back door. “Ten minutes,” he said. The bouncer nodded and swung the door open.

“Is he going to let us back in?” Toby asked as they passed through the door and into the alley.

“Yeah, he’s a friend.”

Chase led him down the alley a few feet and then ducked into a recess. He pulled out a ball of tin foil and what looked like a plastic tube from his pocket.

“What’s that?” Toby asked.

“Crystal. We’re going to smoke a little of this rock.”

Toby watched as he flattened out the foil with the white rock balanced on top. He held the hollow tube in his mouth as he held a lighter under the foil with his other hand. Chase flicked the lighter and then began inhaling the white smoke through the tube as it rose from the rock.

After filling his lungs, he passed the tube to Toby, who noticed it was a gutted ink pen. Toby inhaled the sweet smelling smoke and felt the immediate effects. Suddenly there was peace… euphoria… perfection.

“Wow,” he sighed as he handed back the pipe.

Chase chuckled. “No shit.”

Toby knew right then that he always wanted to feel this way. He would spend the rest of his life trying to get back to here.

“Let’s go dance,” Chase said taking Toby’s hand and leading him back to the door.

After a short series of knocks the door swung open for them to enter.

Toby noticed the lights on the dance floor were a little brighter, the music a little clearer, the men a little sexier. Everything just a little better than it had been a few minutes ago.

“Come on,” Chase said and pulled Toby out onto the dance floor and into his arms.

******

Sam grew quiet on the ride over to Jason’s place. She couldn’t remember the last time she was uncomfortable about going home with a guy, maybe back in high school. She had thought Darin McAllister was dreamy back then. Had she been apprehensive with him? She wasn’t sure.

“Having second thoughts?” Jason’s voice pulled her back to the present.

“No. No second thoughts, but…” she shrugged.

“What?”

“A little nervous maybe.”

“Ah. I promise, I’m no boggieman.”

She smiled at him, he had completely misunderstood her; thinking she was afraid when that had nothing to do with it. At least not in the way he thought. It was just all so perfect she knew something had to go wrong. Nothing ever worked out like this in her life, only in storybooks.

“Here we are,” he said as he pulling into a parking garage.

How much money do you have to make to live here?She thought. He helped her out of the car and led her to the entrance where the doorman tipped his hat. “Good evening, Mr. Anderson,” the man said as he opened the door for them.

The lobby looked more like something you would see in a hotel than an apartment building. Samantha tried to not gawk as they walked through. Jason knew she was from the Midwest, she didn’t need him to think she was a hick as well.

As they rode the elevator up to the ninth floor she found herself disappointed to not see an attendant there to push the buttons. Maybe he doesn’t work the weekends, she thought with a smile. They stepped out of the car and walked down a short hall to Jason’s apartment.

“Wow,” she couldn’t help herself as they walked in. The apartment was gorgeous. It was an open loft like design with everything in shades of gray and accented with deep maroon.

He motioned to the sofa, “Make yourself at home. I’ll get us some wine.”

I could get used to this, she thought as she took a seat and looked around the spacious apartment.

******

“Last call for alcohol,” the DJ at The Forum announced.

“They’re getting ready to close,” Cole said.

“Let’s move the party to my place,” one of his friends suggested. Seth had been introduced to them but by then he was too high to care about names.

“You guys go on,” Cole said. “I think I’ll catch a ride with Seth.” He turned to Seth. “You’ll drive me home won’t you?”

Seth’s face lit up with a loopy grin. “Yeah.”

Cole’s apartment was a ten-minute drive from the club. To Seth, it took forever.

“Come on,” Cole said after he directed Seth where to park. They raced to the door. Cole arrived first and pushed in the code, holding the door for Seth to slip through.

Once in the apartment they began removing clothes leaving a trail on the way to the bedroom.

******

“Come on, Toby,” Chase said pulling him toward the door.

“Were are we going now?”

“Home.”

Toby stopped in his tracks. “Not yet, I want to dance some more”

“The club is closing, silly. We have to leave.”

Toby blinked, “Really? Wow, it can’t be that late, can it?” He honestly didn’t think he’d ever been so high.

“Yeah, so let’s go back to my place and fuck,” Chase said pulling again on Toby’s arm.

Toby grinned. “Yeah, okay.”

******

When Sam opened her eyes the next morning the first thing she saw was Jason’s dark hair on the pillow next to her. Augh, she thought. If I’d known I was staying over I would have thrown a few things in my purse. I just hope I don’t scare him with my first thing in the morning face.

She slipped out of bed as quietly as she could and padded to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror she decided the damage wasn’t too bad. She found a brush to run through her hair, then some mouthwash and she figured it would have to do.

“Morning,” Jason said as she crawled back into bed.

“Morning,” she sighed and snuggled into his offered embrace.

“Do you have anything planned today?” He began kissing her neck and nipping at her ear lobe.

“No. No plans.”

“Good. We can spend the day right here then.”

******

The first thing Seth was aware of was the killer headache. Didn’t drink enough water last night. He tried to open his eyes but the room was too bright. Who opened the window shades? Wait. Whose bed am I in? Oh yeah. Cole. He ran his hand over his face. Seth hated dealing with the morning after. Always so awkward. He glanced over at the sleeping form next to him. God, he is so beautiful. Seth considered slipping out before Cole woke up, but that seemed rude. Since he didn’t leave the night before he would simply have to face the awkwardness of the morning.

He slid out of bed and went to relieve his bladder. He considered crawling back into bed but instead decided to see if he could find any coffee to make.

He found his way to the kitchen and sure enough a coffee maker sat on the counter with coffee and filters in the cabinet above. He got the java started and opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water.

“Oh,” Cole’s voice came from behind, startling him. “You’re still here.”

“Yeah, ah, I was just getting some water. But, I’m on my way out the door.” It was obvious Cole was ready for him to be gone. Seth understood, he was the same way. He hated having tricks sleep over and then want to hang out the next day. But for some reason, he had hoped it would be different with Cole. He hadn’t even realized it until just then.

Cole nodded. “I’m gonna jump in the shower then. You’ll lock the door on your way out?”

“Yeah, sure.” Seth took a swig of water as he watched Cole retreat. How many times had he used those very words on random guys in Green Bay? And why did he feel disappointment and resentment at being dismissed now?

He finished off the bottle of water and glanced at the coffee maker, now with a half full pot. He frowned as he went to retrieve the rest of his clothes making sure to lock the door on his way out.

******

“Seriously, Chase. Douglas O’Donnell is unbelievable. They are so cut throat. They pile on work and you don’t dare complain, even to each other ‘cause if they even think that you might not make it there they send you packing. They let three people go in my department just last week.”

“Well, here’s your answer.” Chase said holding up a little packet of meth. It was mid-Sunday morning and neither man had slept yet, or felt anywhere close to sleep. “I’m serious,” Chase continued. “A little bump of crystal before I go into work and I’m on top of my game all day.”

“I don’t know. I was pretty wasted last night.”

“Well, sweetie. You don’t get wasted before work. You just take a taste. Honestly, it doesn’t take much. How do you think I handle being a clerk for the law firm? Do you have any idea how many hours I spend looking up case files and sorting briefs? Those lawyers put in eighty to a hundred hours a week. We clerks are expected to keep up, they don’t want to pay us for too much overtime or else we’d be expected to work those hours too, but still I usually put in sixty to seventy hours a week. And this,” he held up the crystal again, ‘is my edge. Most of the clerks and a good share of the lawyers use it too.”

“No way. The lawyers aren’t doing meth.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Honey, you really have been out on the farm too long.”