Cervena (15 page)

“That’s it. Touch yourself.” I pushed the bedcovers down so I could watch Sasha stroke himself, emitting little gasps and groans. I uncapped the lube and coated my fingers. “Lift your leg.”

He raised his leg and I reached down to touch him, rubbing a slick finger over his hole. He groaned, his body trembling as I circled the puckered skin, applying gentle pressure until he relaxed enough for me to push the tip of the digit into him.

“Oh God,” he moaned.

“You like that?”

“Uh huh.” He stopped moving his arm, and when I glanced over his shoulder, I saw him cupping his balls, tugging on them to drive away his orgasm. I worked my finger in deeper and began to pump slowly, in and out, spreading the lube around. His tight heat gripped me, and I searched for his prostate, massaging firmly when I found it.

“Fuck!” Sasha rolled his head back, almost smashing me in the nose. I propped up my head out of harm’s way and watched his face as I thrust into him more firmly. My cock throbbed impatiently, the tip slick with precome as it slid against Sasha’s ass. I wanted him so badly, but it was his first time, and I didn’t want to spoil it for him by rushing. I withdrew my finger with the intention of entering him again with two, but his impatience gave me pause. “Please, Joel, put your dick in me.”

“You sure you’re ready?”

“Yes.” He rolled onto his back. “How do you want me? Like this?”

“No, turn over again. It’ll be easier for you from behind.”

He turned back onto his side, knee raised. I tore open the box of condoms, scattering them on the bed in my haste. I fumbled in my efforts to open one of the little packets and had to stop and wipe the lube off my fingers. Sasha started to touch himself again while I put the condom on and coated myself in lube. When I moved in behind him and positioned the head of my dick at his entrance, he stilled his hand and took a deep breath.

“Try to stay relaxed.” I pushed forward and felt him open up, but the tight ring prevented me going far. Sasha whimpered and stopped breathing. “It’s okay. Breathe out and bear down.”

“Huh?”

“Push against me.”

He did as I asked, and I slid my cock into him, stopping halfway. I wrapped my arm around him and replaced his hand on his dick with my own. He’d softened and I caressed him, coaxing him back to full hardness while I strained to keep my hips still. My erection throbbed and my balls tightened as I lay there, half inside him, desperate to thrust. Sasha relaxed in my arms, and suddenly I was able to press in all the way, or at least as far as the position would allow. I moved slowly at first, shallow thrusts back and forth until Sasha responded, pushing back onto me until we fell into an awkward rhythm together. It had been too long for me and fucking on my side put pressure on my stupid leg, but I didn’t care that it wasn’t perfect. My only concern was that Sasha enjoyed it and that I didn’t hurt him. And judging from the way he writhed in my arms and bucked his hips back onto me, it seemed I’d achieved that.

“Joel….” His voice was a breathy whine. “Do it harder. I’m gonna come.”

“Jerk yourself off.” I took my hand off his dick and slid it under his raised leg, gripping his thigh firmly to give myself leverage. I thrust harder, thighs slapping against Sasha’s, and he stroked himself vigorously until I felt him clench around me. His cry of pleasure and the feel of him clamping tighter on my cock drove me over the edge, and I pulsed repeatedly, filling the condom. When I was done, I pulled out carefully and disposed of the rubber. Sasha rolled over into my arms and I kissed his damp forehead. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you?”

“I’m a little sore but it was good. So good.” He tilted his head to meet my gaze, and the adoring expression in his eyes stunned me. Heat spread through my chest, and I wondered if he saw the same look in my eyes that I saw in his. I was falling for him, and with him, I had a real chance to be happy. We still didn’t know each other all that well, but time would fix that. I could put all the awful things that had happened recently behind me and look to the future instead.

Chapter Ten

SASHA SPENT
every night with me that week. The other dancers all knew now that we were seeing each other. It was impossible to hide when they headed up to their studios at the end of each night, while Sasha left with me. None of them said anything to me, but I noticed Tomáš teasing Sasha once or twice and my lover’s cheeks flushing at whatever was said.

A few days passed before we fucked again. Sasha begged me several times, but I knew he was sore and wanted to give him time to recover. The second time I guided him to ride me so he could control things. Watching his beautiful face as he writhed on my dick, his features slack with pleasure, increased the intense physical sensation I felt. When he collapsed onto my chest, smearing the streaks of come he’d left there, I held him tight as I slipped from his body. I’d wanted to tell him what I’d begun to feel since that first time, and now I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer.

“I love you, Sasha. I’m in love with you.”

He lifted his head and met my gaze with wide green eyes, the expression in them mirroring what I felt. “I love you too.”

I lifted my head from the pillow to kiss him, openmouthed but without tongues as my lips stretched wide into a happy smile. I’d never felt this strongly. It was clear to me now that what I’d had with Phillippe had been an infatuation. This was the real thing. At the grand old age of thirty-five, I was in love for the first time.

As it was Sunday, we didn’t have to go to the club, and we spent a leisurely morning in bed, only slipping from beneath the covers to make quick trips to the bathroom and to make coffee. Eventually, hunger drove us to shower and dress and go in search of food.

I put together a kind of brunch with eggs, bacon, tomatoes, frozen potato waffles, and toast, and as usual Sasha spread his toast with peanut butter and raspberry jam. When we’d finished eating, he insisted helping clean up the kitchen. The intercom buzzed a moment later.

“Are you expecting a visitor?” Sasha looked at me and I shrugged.

“No. No one ever comes to see me here.” I went to the apartment door and punched the button on the control panel. “Who is it?”

“Joel, it’s Karel. May I come up?”

I glanced at Sasha, eyes wide, before I responded. “What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you, please.” He sounded strangely meek after the last time we’d spoken. He was the last person I wanted to speak to, especially when he was interrupting my Sunday with Sasha, but curiosity got the better of me.

“Come up.” I pressed another button to open the outer door of the building, then opened my apartment door.

“Should I go in the bedroom? Keep out of the way?” Sasha asked.

“No. You’ve every right to be here.”

“Maybe he wants to talk to you privately.”

“Well, then, it’s too bad. You are part of my life, Sasha. If he’s that desperate to talk to me, he can do it in front of you.” I gestured to the living room, and Sasha went to sit down. I waited at the door until Karel stepped off the elevator, then hesitated before walking toward me.

“Hello, Joel.”

I nodded and moved aside to let him enter the apartment. I closed the door before I spoke. “What do you want?”

“I, um….” He sidled to the living room door and glanced into the room, eyebrows lifting when he set eyes on Sasha. He turned back to face me. “I want to speak to you in private.”

“This is about as private as you’re going to get. You can speak to me in front of Sasha or not at all.”

“Fine.” Karel sighed heavily and walked into the room. He hovered in front of an armchair and avoided looking at Sasha. I sat beside my lover on the couch, our knees touching.

“I’m listening.”

“You know what I told you before. I, um, I came to ask you for a favor. I know I don’t deserve one, and I’m sure you’ll probably tell me to fuck off, but I don’t have much choice. So….” He dragged a hand through his hair, then thrust both hands into his coat pockets.

“Go on.”

“I need to borrow some money.”

“You’re asking to borrow money from me. After everything?” I shouldn’t have been surprised. He had that same desperate look about him that he’d had when I saw him last. After what I’d learned, I imagined he’d gambled away the money he’d got from his share of the club and was now in debt again. I shook my head as I waited for his response.

“Look… I don’t want to do this in front of…
him
.”

“I, um, I could go.” Sasha shifted awkwardly in his seat, but I sprang to my feet and held up my hand to indicate he remain sitting.

“You stay where you are. Karel, after everything you’ve done, you come into my home and expect me to send my lover away so you can ask me for money? You practically destroyed the club, treated my boys like shit, and threatened the one I love. Not only that, but I had a call from Vincenc Jankovic recently.”

Realization dawned on Karel’s face and he flushed, taking a step back. “Oh.”

“Oh? How the fuck could you even think about selling my business out from under me, you bastard!”

“I’m sorry!” Karel shouted back. “I didn’t think I had any other choice. These people won’t just let me give them a… what do you call it? An IOU note? They’re not like you and me. They mean business.”

“They’re certainly not like me. And now you have the audacity to come crawling around, asking me for a loan? I’m not stupid, Karel. I’d never see that money again, nor would you. You need to get a reality check and sort this out. Whatever trouble you’re in is of your own making, and hell will freeze over before I give you one more fucking koruna.”

“Joel….” Karel shrugged his shoulders and sighed heavily. “Yeah. I get it. I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry. I just thought… we used to be friends. I don’t have anyone else I can ask.”

“
Used
to be friends. Yes. Until you showed me how little I could trust you. It’s time you left, Karel. I hope this will be the last time we speak. If you contact me again, you’ll be wasting your time.”

“I can see that.” His face went stiff and he eyed the door. “I’m sorry I bothered you.” He glanced at Sasha and gave him a brief nod, then left without another word to me, closing the door quietly behind him.

“Wow.” Sasha rose and took my hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay, babe.” I slid my arm around him and hugged him close. “That man is unbelievable.”

“He’s in trouble gambling again?”

“It sounds like it.”

“What do you think he’ll do now?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care. After what I came back to a couple of weeks ago, I don’t give a shit what happens to him.”

I really didn’t care. I’d thought I knew Karel, and maybe I had once, but he’d turned into a person I didn’t like or want anything more to do with. I did my best to put him out of my mind and enjoy the rest of my day with Sasha. Whatever Karel did now was none of my concern.

I HEARD
nothing more from Karel, and a couple of weeks later, Červenà hosted another of our famous bachelor parties. Although the club was always open to the public, special privileges were given to party guests who’d booked tickets in advance, and this particular group of thirty-six men had flown in from Paris on Friday for a long weekend. Sasha and Kris made up a brand-new cocktail recipe for the party, and the dancers were kept busy all night with requests for private dances. Milos was in his element, and for once I asked the security guy watching the monitors to turn a blind eye when the boy swung his uncovered junk around to please several of his lap dance customers.

I kept an eye on things in the main part of the club, introduced myself to the two grooms, and told them to come to me should they have any special requests. Everything went smoothly with the exception of one of the guests downing too many cocktails and throwing up in a corner close to the dance floor. I merely fetched a couple of cones and a rope from the storerooms and sectioned off the small area for the cleaners to deal with. When I went to my office to take a short break from the noise, I switched on my computer to check my e-mails and see the latest news. The day had been too busy so far for me to follow my usual routine.

The first thing that caught my eye when I connected to my preferred news site was a headline that made me pause and frown. Bold red letters across the screen spelled out a short sentence: “Local businessman murdered.”

I clicked on the article and scrolled down, wondering if I knew the victim. I knew a lot of people through the club and other establishments. Plenty of local businessmen spent an evening at Červenà now and then and had asked me to keep their presence quiet.

“What the fuck?” I gasped as I read the first paragraph of the news report. I read it again just to be sure I hadn’t imagined the name.

“Local businessman Karel Doubrava, once joint owner of popular nightclub Červenà, was found dead this morning in an unoccupied warehouse not far from District 9. Clearly the victim of an execution-style murder, Mr. Doubrava was found with a gunshot wound to the back of his head.”

“Jesus. Who the hell was he gambling with?” I shuddered as I read on, discovering that Karel had been identified by his fingerprints, as no wallet or other items carrying his identity were found on his person. When police visited his apartment they found the place to have been ransacked although no forcible entry had been made. Karel was known to have visited casinos over past months, and it was suspected that he’d been drawn into a more secret and dangerous gambling world, which had resulted in his getting into debt with the wrong people.

“Fuck. He didn’t deserve this.” I sighed and rubbed my temples. The poor bastard must have known he was in danger when he came to me asking for help. Would I have acted any differently if I’d known he was perhaps in fear for his life? He’d always said I was too soft.

“Joel?”

“Uh!” Sasha’s voice startled me so much I almost tipped my chair over backward. My heart raced, and I clutched the edge of the desk to steady myself.

“What happened?” He reached my side and laid a hand on my shoulder. I gestured at the computer screen.