by Katsura
Mikhail
watched
the
proceedings
cheerfully.
Fergus nodded. "Yeah, he went in the same time as me, so this is a big day for him. Not only as he is out, but he did his time." He smiled and leaned back in his seat. "Doing your time is a badge of honour. Like a coming of age."
"Aha." Mikhail sipped his drink, seeming to find it all fascinating. "So, if you will forgive me, it is a criminal's rite of passage?"
"That's exactly it." Fergus nodded again and lifted his own glass to his lips. "He will have respect now even though he is really still just a kid. He proved himself.
Just like others proved themselves to be...well..."
He glanced at Judas who now stood behind Vinny, his arms around Vinny's shoulders as they both watched Rasputin probably have his arm broken in several places by the skilful Cain. "Let's just put it this way. If you don't do your time no one trusts you. It gets people thinking that you pulled some low move or talked to the cops to get a deal."
"A plea bargain?" Mikhail also looked over at Judas.
"Yes. Something like that." Fergus smiled, drawn to Mikhail's blue eyes that were still so clear and sharp, even in this dim light. He wanted to kiss Mikhail, but although Fergus's father knew that he preferred the company of men to that of women and had learned to accept that fact, Fergus would never have kissed a man in front of him. Or in front of anyone else for that matter. Mikhail was still listening intently so Fergus continued with the conversation to take his mind off the thought of how the other man's lips tasted.
"You will always have that air of doubt hanging over you, and you'll be treated with the suspicion you deserve."
"You mean Mr MacGregor...?" Mikhail began to speak, but Fergus got to his feet and looked across the room unable to hold back a look of annoyance when he saw Hugo there.
Fergus sighed and glanced back briefly at Mikhail as he began to walk off. "Do excuse me for a moment Mikhail." He strode through the cheering crowd to the other side of the bar where Hugo stood, sipping wine from a large glass, his eyes shielded by dark sunglasses. "What the fuck are you doing here? You know I don't like you to come to things like this."
It was true. This was not a new development. Once Fergus and Hugo had become more than just sex buddies, Fergus had made sure that he kept the boy as far away from anyone else as he possibly could. Hugo should have known better than to just turn up like this. Fergus gripped Hugo's thin upper arm with little regard for any pain that this caused him, and he pulled him over towards the door.
"I don't want to stay at home all day!"
Hugo shrugged his arm free. "It's a party. I don't see why I can't enjoy it just like everyone else. Look! My darling father-in-law is even here. I should go over and say hello. It's only good manners, and you know that I am a stickler for those." It seemed as though he was about to wave to Big Callum, who despite his acceptance of his son's sexual preference never extended
his
tolerance
to
even
acknowledging Hugo's existence. Fergus forced his hand down before he could do that then snapped his fingers in the direction of Ewan, who came immediately through the crowd from his station at the door. Hugo looked Ewan up and down and then gave an obvious shudder. Ewan didn't seem to care about Hugo's reaction to him and stood awaiting instruction.
"Ewan," Fergus spoke in a voice that invited no argument, "please ensure that Hugo is put into a taxi."
Ewan nodded, watching Hugo as though he expected him to follow him.
"Well, at least let me finish my drink?"
Hugo lifted his chin and Fergus could see the arrogance there that had first attracted him.
But he felt no such attraction right now.
"You can drink in the fucking house like you normally do." Fergus turned again to Ewan. "Ewan, please escort Hugo to the door."
Ewan took Hugo firmly by the arm and led him to the door. Fergus didn't wait for the protest and moved through the crowd again. Aware that Hugo might resist the enforced departure, he didn't return immediately to the table but instead walked over to Vinny and shook his hand.
However, he still watched Hugo from the corner of his eye.
It was dark, so he couldn't be sure, but Fergus had the horrible impression as Hugo struggled with Ewan at the door, that his gaze was fixed firmly on Mikhail.
Fergus quickly shook this thought off as paranoia. He was being stupid. Hugo had sunglasses on so not only did this obscure his eyes but probably his vision too.
Suddenly a meaty hand slapped down on Fergus's shoulder and likely shortened his height by a good few inches in the process. His father stood by his side smoking a cigar.
"This is a good night, Fergie. The blond guy is a fucking psycho."
"The blond guy?" Fergus gave an involuntary glance back at Mikhail who still sat politely sipping his drink at the table.
"He means The Legend." Judas grinned and hugged Vinny tighter. Judas appeared a little worse for the drink, and Vinny laughed and looked quite star struck.
"Yeah that is a legendary fist that he has right enough," Fergus nodded, relieved.
"That's not why they call him The Legend." Judas snorted and he seemed about to say something further on the matter, but then he glanced at Big Callum.
"And how are you, bitch?" Callum laughed, his eyes narrowed.
"Can't complain, Mr Campbell." Judas lifted his chin with a smug expression.
"Good in fact. Good to have my main man here back."
He ruffled Vinny's hair as far as the braids would allow, and Vinny laughed, looking somewhat touched.
"Yeah." Callum smiled. "Good to have you back, Barney."
He wandered back to his seat and Judas and Vinny burst into peals of laughter.
"Barney?" Vinny snorted. "And there was me feeling all special! He doesn't even know who the fuck I am!"
"Fuck!" Judas chuckled helplessly and leaned on him. "Your da is going senile, Fergie. You'll be promoted in no time at all."
"Fuck you," Fergus snarled at him, but Judas didn't look bothered at all and just pulled Vinny towards the bar again.
"Come on, Barney, let's get rat arsed!"
Judas sat on a bar stool and grasped Vinny's hand.
"Yer rat arsed already!" Vinny laughed and allowed himself to be pulled onto Judas's lap.
Big Callum looked over at them with a derisive expression on his face as he talked to the men at his table.
Fergus took a quick glance around the room to be sure that Hugo hadn't sneaked back in before he returned to his own table. He sat down and immediately apologised
to
Mikhail.
"Mikhail...I
abandoned you. But you have my full attention now, I promise." He smiled and let his fingers brush discreetly against Mikhail's wrist.
"Who was that? The thin young man who was removed?" Mikhail's fingers rubbed lightly in a small circle on the surface of the table.
"Oh. No one important." Fergus smiled and looked up at the ring to see Rasputin hit the deck for the very last time.
* * *
After what had turned out to be an entertaining evening, people began to leave in groups or alone. Mikhail lingered in the doorway while Fergus, who had to hang back to pay the girls and the fighters, watched him with a smile. It was obvious that Mikhail was waiting not to go home but perhaps to be invited back to the quiet comfort of the private room, and Fergus hastily shoved notes into the girls' hands so that he could take him there without any further delay. Yes it had been a good night, but there were certainly one or two ways to make it even better.
"Fergie." Callum once more used that technique he had of grabbing someone's attention. His hand slapped down on Fergus's shoulder and knocked him out of the dirty little fantasy that he had been having about what he wanted to do with Mikhail when he got him alone.
"Dad..." Fergus smiled. "Thanks for coming. It meant a lot to Vin
ny."
"No problem. The boy deserved a good turn out." Callum looked over at Judas, who was having what appeared to be a tongue wrestling match with one of the girls in a quiet corner of the bar. He held her close with one arm and stuffed ten-pound notes down her bra to her drunken amusement. "That man is a fucking joke."
Fergus nodded. "He sure is."
Judas had lifted the girl to sit her on the bar and she draped her arms around his neck and let her legs rest around his waist, one hand clutching a half empty bottle of champagne. She threaded the fingers of her other hand through his hair and kissed him as though she had lost a week's wages down his throat.
"Bold as fucking brass." Callum growled low and shook his head slowly with an expression of disgust. "Fucking nerve to show his face here at all."
"I'm on it, Dad." Fergus patted his father on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
"Good." Callum snarled and put on his coat. "Making a fucking show of himself as usual. There's more than one of us want to leave a little reminder on his face for him. See if the birds go for him so much then." He laughed, low and humourless, watching as Judas and the girl passed them to leave, the girl being practically carried as she was now so drunk.
Judas winked then gave a little salute as he got to the door, and he still held the girl tightly so that she didn't fall.
"Night, Mr Campbell," Judas laughed.
"Barney sure appreciated that you honoured us with your presence."
Callum took a cigar from out of his pocket and he lit it, fixing Judas with a firm stare.
"The boy done good. I notice things like that."
Judas laughed and nodded as though he hadn't heard him at all. He then lifted the girl up and proceeded to carry her over his shoulder. She giggled and made a feeble show of protest as he carried her off towards a waiting taxi, watched by both of the Campbell men, neither of whom even cracked a smile.
* * *
Mikhail lay back in the darkness. His fingers slipped to Fergus's hips and his nails raked restlessly across the tight flesh there in an attempt to draw him fully inside. With no light on in the room, all he could make out was the other man's hair falling over the silhouette of his face as he bowed his head, and somehow this lack of visual stimulation made Mikhail feel everything so much more intensely. There was
also
something
furtive
about
darkness, something forbidden. Each deep thrust inside his blissfully bruised body was felt by every single cell of him as an explosion of illicit pleasure.
"Ah...ah..." Mikhail slid his hands up Fergus's sides to his waist, keeping them there and arching his back. That was what Fergus wanted as his strong hands had skimmed to Mikhail's rear to lift him and spread him more.
God, it felt so good to be with a man like this. A gentleman in the boardroom, a brute in the bedroom. Mikhail parted his legs more, willingly, wanting to take all of Fergus, to feel that entire hot hard cock surge powerfully inside of him.
Fergus let out a guttural groan and dug his fingers into the flesh of Mikhail's ass.
So okay, maybe no gentleman.
Who needed a gentleman anyway?
Fergus suddenly thrust his hips faster as Mikhail's muscles contracted fiercely around his cock. Still keeping Mikhail raised with one hand, Fergus swiftly used the other to stroke Mikhail's swollen shaft, and his thumb began to slip over the wet, sensitive head, causing Mikhail's hips to twitch helplessly.
Mikhail's hand flew to join Fergus's and entwined
with
it,
pumping
almost
feverishly with it. His thighs trembled as he felt himself swell more against those solid fingers, felt the slower yet more rhythmic movements of the other man's hips, and then he gave in to the waves of a shuddering climax. In the darkness, Mikhail imagined Fergus's finely muscled chest become coated with the spray of cum that erupted from him. The second release spilled lower and cascaded down over their tangled hands.
Mikhail turned his head to the side, his fingers still locked with Fergus's, but his concentration now focused on the aching hardness that was gliding to and fro deep inside him. The soft pulsing that felt so much a part of him that it really could have been, indicated that Fergus had spilled too. Mikhail gloried in the sensation of that wonderful hot emission flowing within him. He closed his eyes and imagined it flooding every part of him. Filling him until it leaked back down over Fergus's still rigid cock and spread on the sheets beneath them.
He groaned softly and his thighs relaxed as Fergus slumped against him, spent from his orgasm. They lay still for a moment, breathing heavily and still moving their wet fingers together as though the digits were beings in their own right, striving towards some further climax.
Wet and smooth over the strong and expert fingers, wet and smooth against the thick gold band of Fergus's wedding ring...
Mikhail felt Fergus tense a little as though just realising something, and he let his hand slip away from Fergus's hand and allowed it rest against his chest instead.
"I should have told you," Fergus spoke, his voice still a little ragged from the sex, and Mikhail leaned closer to nuzzle his neck and inhale his musky scent.
"You didn't need to tell me anything," he replied softly, kissing the sweat soaked skin. "Truly, don't you think I didn't realise already?" He'd been well aware that Fergus was married. Weren't they all? The wedding ring was one of the first things to catch Mikhail's eye on their introduction at the brothel. That and the handsome man's fine physique. It was a habit he had developed over the years, to look for the wedding ring, and attractive men like that were always already taken. And of course he would go looking for the kind of sex that he maybe couldn't get at home. It wasn't a crime. It was an old story that Mikhail had seen played out time and time again.
"No." Fergus bowed his head and caught his lips in a soft kiss. "I don't want you to think that I don't have feelings for you. It's over. My marriage, I mean."
Mikhail shook his head. He really didn't want to hear any of this. All of the things that men said to justify infidelity.
"No, please. You don't owe me an explanation." He stroked Fergus's cheek.
"I am a man of the world, you know."
"But you don't understand," Fergus protested.
Despite Mikhail only being a man of his own world, he did understand and he placed a finger against the other man's lips to shush him. Mikhail understood only too well. There were no such things as love or loyalty. Only moments like this, if you were lucky. A fleeting glimpse of tenderness after the hot abandon of sex.
Fergus parted from him and sat up, turning on the little lamp that now partially illuminated the room, and he wiped a tissue across his chest.
Mikhail watched him with a slightly sad expression. The light had broken the spell and the wiping tissue had completely ruined the moment. They could have lain there in darkness, bathed in each other's scent for a little while longer, but no. He was going to be treated to the whole "my wife doesn't understand me" speech.
"I know you say I don't owe you an explanation, but I feel that I do." Fergus shifted to sit at the edge of the bed and he reached for a glass of water and lifted it to his lips taking a long drink of the cold liquid. He didn't look at Mikhail as he continued, as if he was ashamed of what he was saying. "That young guy in the bar, the one who was thrown out? That's Hugo.
My husband." He sighed deeply and Mikhail watched him with concern.
"When I met him he was eighteen. I was working on this job with a few guys from up north, and it seemed like any other job at first. Just a robbery, plain and simple.
Ripping off some brewery. It wasn't my usual thing but I was doing a favour and making up the numbers. I never really knew many of the guys, and we all wore ski masks. It suited me that way. All I wanted was to do the job, get my cut and go. But something went wrong." He laughed and shook his head. "Why does there always have to be a fucking h
ero, eh? Well anyway, this guy was mouthing off, telling us to fuck off and waving an iron bar around, and I don't know how it happened but next thing I know is he is making a swipe at me. It would have hit me too but out of nowhere one of the others pinned the guy to the floor and blew his fucking face off. Just like that...boom!"
He made a shooting motion with his fingers, the fingers that had been until recently
pleasing
Mikhail
in
such
wonderful ways.
"Well, I don't know how we got out after that, but we did and when we got into the back of the van that we were using, the guy who saved my life pulled off his mask and I saw his face for the first time. It was Hugo. He was grinning and I was staring in disbelief at how young he was and how without thinking he just took the guy out.
One of the others told me later when I waited for my cut, that Hugo was minted.
His family were titled even, and he would come along on jobs and not even bother taking his share. He did it for fun, and according to the guy, he was brutal as hell."
Fergus turned and laughed. "It will maybe surprise you, but I was straight then. I had never even considered being with a guy, and in fact I was always winding Jude up about how he was bisexual. We all used to call him Queen Bitch." He smiled. "But that night, I ended up going back to Hugo's flat with him and...well, I just never left.
He was crazy and intense, but I had never met anyone like him. He was possessive too. I think he did all the crazy sex stuff so that I would stay there with him, and it did work. I stayed. Then of course I was working on the job with Jude when it all went pear shaped and the gist of it was, we both knew that I was facing a very long stretch."
He laughed once more, only with no humour this time, just with an expression of disbelief, and Mikhail reached for his hand. Saying all of this must have been difficult for him although probably a little cathartic too.
"It seems mental now." Fergus squeezed Mikhail's fingers, "But somehow we thought it was a good idea to get married.
I don't know if I asked him or if he asked me, but it never mattered. We got married in a civil ceremony a week before I was put away."