Final Act

by A R Steele

  Austin had his arms extended, and they pointed ninety degrees up as his back hit the floor. “An incentive for me.” He curled upward until his arms were on either side of Lev, but not touching him. When he reached the peak, he pecked Lev again.

  “I… I think I like this incentive.”

  Even with Austin on the descent, Lev could hear the amusement in his voice. “I should hope so.”

  On this rep, Lev leaned in and deepened their kiss. Austin’s lips were warmer than he’d expected, more yielding. The two silver hoops on his bottom lip were a welcome addition. Lev longed to flick his tongue ring over them. He shivered, barely starting to relax into the embrace.

  Then Austin was gone again. “Four,” Austin counted.

  Lev sucked gently on his bottom lip.

  “Five.”

  A hand on Austin’s knee.

  “Six.”

  Lev slipped him some tongue.

  “And we’re done,” Austin said, pulling his feet from under Lev’s and standing up. “I gotta run for real now. See you later.”

  Seven

  When Austin got out of his car at the Tool Shed that night, he was ready for Lev to give him a piece of his mind. He was looking forward to it, actually. Lev’s flustered sputtering was growing on him. It was getting to be like foreplay for when they finally did hook up.

  But as soon as he got to the door, Jesse called to him from inside. “Yo, A, get in here! We’re talking about changes in the club, Trenton probably wants you.”

  In the main room of the club, Trenton and Brentley were each standing just in front of the stage. Austin had never seen his older brother look so relaxed and well-rested, and Brentley seemed equally content. From looking at them, Austin would have thought they didn’t have a care in the world.

  The strippers were in a circle around them. Austin’s gaze fell on Lev, and Lev narrowed his eyes at him. Even from across the room, Austin could feel how worked up he was getting. Winding Lev up was way too much fun.

  “We’re going to try another new thing,” Brentley said. “The club is going to have partner dances.”

  “Dancing with each other?” Lev demanded.

  “Exactly,” Trenton said. “We want to have two of you on the stage at once. Two will stay on the side stages.”

  Lev put his hands on his hips. Way too cute. “We can’t do that. None of these guys are going to dance with anyone but their boyfriends.”

  “That’s true,” Gabriel said, pulling Ace closer to him. “I would be pretty jealous if any of you guys were to be dancing that close to my man.”

  The others nodded. It seemed that none of them wanted to be separated from their boyfriends.

  “This is something that every male strip club does,” Brentley said. “My market research has shown that customers want to see more than one man at once. It’s not a suggestion, it’s a requirement.”

  The guys murmured and looked at each other. The disapproval was evident.

  “What if we did dance as couples?” Cooper asked, looking around. As the unofficial big brother, he seemed to be speaking for all of them. “I don’t see why we couldn’t. We’re not going to be humping each other on the stage.”

  “I don’t think so,” Brentley said, shaking his head. “The customers aren’t stupid. They would pick up on your sexual chemistry.”

  “I don’t know,” Jesse said, glancing at Shade. “This guy and I have chemistry from across the room. Besides, the customers haven’t even picked up on Lev yet.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Lev demanded.

  Austin had been silent so far, but he couldn’t resist putting in a word to piss Lev off. “You’re a little more flamboyant than the rest of them.”

  Nearly hissing, Lev opened his mouth.

  “It might not be so bad to try out letting them dance in their couples,” Trenton said to Brentley, cutting Lev off. “People aren’t psychic, they can’t tell who’s sleeping with who. After all, no one has found out about…”

  Brentley chuckled. “Good point. Let’s give it a try, since they don’t seem willing to do it any other way.” He turned to the group. “Would dancing with your boyfriends make you all happy?”

  A chorus of yeses filled the room. Everyone but Lev and Lucas seemed satisfied. Austin watched as the two of them looked at each other. Lucas’s boyfriend didn’t work here anymore. He and Lev were going to have to pair up.

  Exhaling, Austin unclenched his fists. His budding jealousy was unnecessary. What, would he rather have Lev onstage with a single guy? He wasn’t about to get up there and take his own clothes off. For a brief moment, he wondered if Trenton would exempt Lev from the partner dancing. If he had a talk with him, maybe…

  No, he was being silly. He shook his head at himself as he walked outside and got in position for the night.

  The first few customers of the evening tried to get in with fake IDs. “You ladies are underage,” Austin told them. “And drunk, to boot.”

  “But we want to come in,” one girl pleaded. “We’re dying to see some hot guys.”

  “Not happening.” He shuffled the IDs in his hand.

  “It’s okay,” the second girl said to the first, taking her arm in drunk affection. “We can stay outside here and look at this hot guy.”

  “Even less likely.”

  Austin stood straighter. These girls were no more than five foot three, which meant he had a solid foot on them – not to mention about two hundred pounds of muscle.

  The two of them shrank back. “Fine, fine, we’re going,” the redhead said. “Can we at least have our IDs back?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Austin held up the fake IDs and snapped one in half, then the other. The first girl’s eyes widened, and Austin had the impression that her friend was about to sob.

  “Those were real Canadian IDs!” one protested. “I’ll call the cops on you, I swear I will.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be real sympathetic to you and your fake ID.”

  “Those cost good money!” the other complained as her friend led her away.

  Austin just shook his head as they left. Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood up straight and waited for the next guests. The velvet rope was still across the entrance, and he wasn’t going to open it for anyone he didn’t approve of. Those girls might have spent money once they were inside, but having underage girls serving was a danger to the entire place. Austin’s job was to protect this place and the people inside.

  Sometime after one AM, the line slowed. Austin shoved his hands in his pockets, where his right hand encountered his phone. He pulled it out despite himself. He tried not to text while on duty, but he’d felt his phone vibrating a couple times tonight, and he had a feeling the messages were from Lev.

  What the hell! was the first one. Then, You’re a fucking asshole.

  As Austin fingered his phone trying to think of how to reply, another group approached, and he shoved it back in his pocket. Austin was fully prepared for Lev to come and yell at him in person at the end of the night. But instead of one angry guy, he got a whole group of chattering ones. The guys were heading over to Ace and Gabriel’s place, even Wright and Yorick.

  “Austin, bro, you want to come?” Ace asked, giving Austin a light punch on the shoulder.

  Austin gave him an inquisitive glance and Ace shrank back, looking apologetic. Austin kept his laughter inside. He loved how he terrified even the strippers.

  He glanced around the group, seeing Lev glaring at him from the other end of the circle. This time, he allowed the smile to turn up his lips the tiniest bit. “Yeah, I’ll go.”

  He moved toward his car, where Lev ran up to him and poked him in the chest. “Hey! I need to talk to you!”

  “Sorry, I’m on my way somewhere,” Austin said, and shut the door behind him.

  Lev would be fine. He’d get a ride from one of the other guys. Austin planned to talk this out with him eventually, but right now he was enjoying torturing him w
ay too much. Lev had the greatest facial expressions when he was pissed off. And yeah, he turned Austin on.

  Austin’s phone buzzed with a new text, but he didn’t bother to look at it. He kept both hands on the wheel. He could see what it said when he got to the party.

  He met the rest of the guys in Ace and Gabriel’s lobby. Lev was already there, as he’d expected. They all went upstairs together, most of them laughing and joking around.

  Lev shot daggers at Austin every time he glanced at him. Austin just enjoyed having his eyes on him. Now that he had Lev’s attention, it would be easy to stand out to Lev. If they were going to do this, Austin was going to leave that kid remembering and fantasizing about their encounter for years to come.

  As the guys descended on the fridge, pulling out beer and snacks, Austin took out his phone and looked at the messages in the hallway. You better answer me, Lev had written.

  Austin flicked his finger over the phone. I was working. He headed into the main room, where Lev was flinging himself onto the floor in front of Cooper and Owen’s feet.

  He stretched out, rubbing against the carpet like a cat. From someone else, his behavior would have been attention-seeking. At this point, all of them were used to it and they ignored him.

  “Have you guys started working on your partner dances?” Cooper asked.

  Ace and Gabriel came in from the kitchen, their hands in each other’s pockets. “Of course. We’re already used to making routines together. We can’t wait to dance together.”

  “Yeah, working on it too,” Shade said. “We need to practice a lot more, though. We keep getting… distracted.”

  Austin jammed his hands into his pockets, barely listening. His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out immediately. What about that last text?

  He hadn’t even seen Lev look at his phone. He wrote back quickly, I was driving.

  He saw Lev jump, which meant his phone was vibrating. But Lev didn’t look at it right away. Cooper had turned his attention to him. “How about you and Lucas?”

  Another surge of jealousy went through Austin as he thought about Lev dancing with Lucas. Of course, Lev was probably hooking up with other guys, anyway. If Austin was going to be jealous, Lev was the last person he should get interested in.

  “We haven’t talked about it yet,” Lev said curtly, and pulled out his phone.

  “Who are you texting so much?” Jesse demanded.

  “Nobody.”

  “What, are you trying to have a Grindr hook-up after you leave tonight? You’ve never been that obsessed with your phone before, and you’re pretty obsessed with your phone.”

  “It’s nothing. If I was going to have a Grindr hook-up, I wouldn’t need to do anything special. The guys are lined up at my door, okay?”

  “Whatever you say, L.”

  Lev gave him a dirty look. That seemed to be all he was capable of doing today. Austin had to laugh at the pissed-off expression on his face. An annoyed Lev was a cute Lev.

  His phone buzzed again, and he looked at it. Don’t fuck with me. You wouldn’t like what I’ll do.

  Austin stifled a laugh. This guy honestly thought he was some kind of badass. What will you do? he messaged back.

  “Hey Austin, did you get a drink?” Ace asked.

  “Not yet. I’ll get one when I want one.”

  “Of course, just figured I’d ask.”

  Austin nodded to him before pulling out his phone one more time. Meet me after this party and find out, Lev had written.

  A twitch went through Austin, and he clenched his fists to keep his cock from hardening. He’d kept Lev waiting for a while now. Maybe it was time.

  Okay.

  Eight

  Damn Austin. Damn him for everything. Damn his smug face and his winding tattoos and his all-too-enticing muscles. Damn his attitude, and the way he thought it was even remotely acceptable to get Lev horny and leave him hanging… twice.

  As soon as Lev saw him in the parking garage, he jabbed him in the chest. He stumbled back immediately, his eyes widening. Austin was like a wall of bricks, enormous and solid and utterly unmovable.

  Trying not to let his shock show, Lev dropped his arm to his side and stood up straighter. “You asshole, what the hell is wrong with you? Were you trying to give me blue balls today?”

  Austin raised his shoulders and slowly lowered them, giving Lev the fakest innocent expression he’d ever seen. “I thought we were just working out.”

  Some men were born to be actors – Lev, for example. Austin definitely was not.

  “You got me all turned on and then ditched me,” Lev said. A crime worthy of a life sentence in his book. Jerking off was nowhere near enough after the torture of rubbing fully-clothed against every part of Austin’s body.

  Lev had logged onto Grindr, but only briefly. The rows upon rows of men had done nothing but frustrate him. Half he’d met, and the other half he didn’t want to meet. By now he knew what they were like, because all of them were the same. They would show up and get their rocks off and then take off – basically, the complete opposite of Austin.

  Something had to be wrong with Lev. He could have any of those men, yet all he could fantasize about was Austin’s massive bulk and surprisingly gentle kisses. Things would be so much easier if he went and fucked a random guy like he usually did. Somehow he had no desire for that anymore.

  “Seems like I’m pretty good at turning you on,” Austin said.

  What the hell was that supposed to mean? Lev bit his lip, then continued his rant. “You trying to tell me you don’t want to get some of this?”

  “I never said that.”

  Good. Lev was actually starting to worry about that, considering Austin had turned him down three times now. “What exactly was so important that you couldn’t stick around and get me off?”

  “I told you, I had to get to the gym,” Austin said calmly. “I needed to get a real work-out in. Then I saw my mom, and – ”

  “You picked the gym over this dick?” Lev huffed even as he pointed at the part in question with both hands. How could Austin pass that up?

  His fury seemed to have no effect on Austin. “I work out every day. I wasn’t going to disrupt my routine for some hook-up.” He paused. “Besides, maybe I didn’t want to be another number on your list.”

  Sputtering, Lev struggled to find words. Austin infuriated him. If he wasn’t so damn sexy, he’d have been even more pissed.

  “And maybe you’ll learn not to be such a brat next time,” Austin said. “You’re not entitled to my cock, and definitely not to my ass.”

  Lev’s voice rose to a pitch, echoing off the walls of the parking garage around them. “You were trying to teach me a lesson? Are you out of your damn mind?”

  With an exhale that sounded suspiciously like laughter, Austin shrugged again. “You deserved it.”

  Lev’s eyes widened, and he straightened up even taller. Unfortunately, that only brought him to about the top of Austin’s shoulder. He had to look up if he didn’t want to stare into a wall of solid muscle. Austin’s chin, sharp and masculine, was just above him. If he wanted to kiss Austin’s lips, which he sort of did, he would have to get onto his tiptoes.

  “I deserved that? I deserved it?” Lev’s voice rose higher and higher. “You’re fucked up, man. We could’ve had a great time together, but instead you got me all worked up and then walked out the door. Who the hell does that?”

  He went on and on like that, letting every thought in his mind come out of his mouth without filtering them. His insides burned with rage as he ranted. He was in the middle of a word when a massive hand clapped over his mouth. “Shut up.”

  Lev took a step back, gaping at Austin now. Nobody told him to shut up. Nobody!

  “You are getting on my last nerve,” Austin added.

  Lev couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Austin had a death wish, he seriously did. So what if he was bigger than Lev? Lev was going to fuck him up.

  A tingle went throu
gh him, but he ignored it. Having Austin talk to him like this definitely wasn’t a turn-on.

  “You’re crazy,” he told Austin. “I’m going to punish you for that comment. I’m going to fuck you. Going to ram you, plow you, fucking pound you right here and now.” His cock was hard, and his nipples rubbed against the fabric of his T-shirt. “This is going to happen. I’m sick of dancing around it. You’re going to suck my dick, and then I’m going to bend you right over this fucking car.”

  Austin’s smirk wasn’t going anywhere. “Is that so?”

  “That’s so, all right. I don’t care who sees. Don’t care if there’s a camera. I’m going to make you regret what you just said to me, take my word for it.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Lev seethed. “You’re going to suck my dick, and you’re going to like it.”

  Everybody wanted his cock. Didn’t Austin understand he was giving him a gift? He could get any guy he wanted, but he was determined to have Austin. Getting Austin naked, feeling the heat of his skin and the beat of his heart, was becoming more and more important. Right now, it verged on an obsession.

  As much as Lev longed to top Austin, he would’ve been down for just about anything Austin wanted to do. He would’ve given up his own ass in a millisecond. Lev wanted him that badly. Maybe it was the frustration of having the hook-up repeatedly dangled in front of him and then snatched away, but he wanted him more than he could recall ever wanting anyone else.

  Austin’s smirk turned to a grin, and Lev took a step back. He might have gone too far. “I know you want this big dick,” he said, continuing along the same times but with his voice wavering now. “You’ve been wanting it since I first sent you a picture. You can’t stand there and tell me you don’t. You… you get on your knees right now.”

  That grin got even bigger, and Austin let out a laugh.

  “Why the fuck are you laughing, bitch?”

  Instead of getting on his knees, Austin’s hands went to his waistband. “Let’s see how big a man you are after this.”

  Lev watched speechlessly as he let down his jeans. He opened his mouth, ready to object and tell Austin again that he was going to be the one sucking dick today. But as soon as he saw Austin’s cock, his mouth dropped fully open and all he could do was stare.