Page 16 of Stone Temptation
Seth, the town’s prime gargoyle weaver, entered the club as I handed my latest customer his gin fizz.
Since when did he come here?
He spotted me, lifting a hand adorned with too much gold jewelry. Two gargoyle knights in black suits and shades flanked him. I stared as if slipping into a trance, following his movement.
“Hey! Hello?” said a voice to my right, followed by the sound of snapping fingers.
What did he want? He never visited me at work. Not once. Was he even here for me?
“Hello?” the voice came at me again.
We’d already performed our monthly routine of playing chess at the gargoyle tower, him sucking me off by the time we reached checkmate. Our next appointment wasn’t until the night before New Year’s Eve.
Did he want to break the pattern?
This thing between us wasn’t ideal. A part of me would love something more than temporary euphoria, though the rest of me knew I couldn’t get it up for anything more than hot, sticky indifference. And Seth provided me with this strange release—strange because I always seemed to zone out after climaxing. Had done for the past three years.
A blend of light fear and simmering desire enveloped me. My feelings for Seth were a complicated web. He’d saved my life three years ago at Crab Cove the night I lost Finn, stopped the newly cursed Finn from breaking my protection and ended the salivating monsters watching on from the sidelines.
I remembered those parts, but not what happened to Finn’s protection. Seth told me my brother gave it up by mistake as we rowed on the beach. Which made it my fault, the rusty claws of guilt forever taking chunks out of me.
But why? My brother might be hotheaded, but he wasn’t a fool. Unless our argument really did get the better of him, putting himself in danger to spite me.
Oh, God. I couldn’t deal with that.
My parents blamed me for Finn, refusing to talk to me. That really cut deep, especially since they’d always made it clear I wasn’t the favored son. More like a disappointment who failed university and partied too hard as a teenager.
Nothing I ever did was good enough. But screw it. My brother loved me.
I owed Seth for saving me and getting Finn into the terror house. He held it over me, though, reminding me he’d call in a favor one day.
Maybe tonight was the night.
Crap.
Customers bowed in respect, some of them shaking his hand. But his eyes stayed on me, his prey under strobe lights.
I kind of liked being the prey, unless he wasn’t here for me. I didn’t always have to be the main character.
My cock twinged, getting ready to be claimed by those wet lips.
“What’s his problem? Shittiest barman I’ve ever seen!”
“Too right he is.”
A man. A woman. Customers. Angry customers.
“Hello?” Fingers snapped in my face.
The man broke my view of the gargoyle, waving his hands aggressively.
“What…” I mumbled. “What?—”
“Customer service, skidmark!”
Skidmark?
“How about delivering it?” the woman added.