Suited to Violence
A cold wind brushed by their faces as they kissed. It made Lawrence all the more aware of how his skin burned underneath Bastien’s fingers. They brushed by the side of his neck, then they bent to half-caress his cheek, only to move again and trap his jaw as if their owner wanted Lawrence to open his mouth wide and swallow him whole.
They were doing plenty of swallowing if Lawrence intended to be crude. Bastien’s tongue was in his mouth, and he was sucking on it only to feed his back, without worrying for a moment that he might end up without enough air to breathe.
In his usual dealings, Lawrence wasn’t a particular fan of kissing. It served as a prelude, but he was usually eager to get to the next phase, which he considered the more pleasurable part.
With Bastien, it was different. Everything was different. Once they burned through the phases of their attraction, nothing would remain, and Lawrence wasn’t ready for it to end. So he was making it last, kissing Bastien without allowing another thought to bother him except his need for this beautiful man who should have been on the top of his list of people he shouldn’t even dream of fucking.
Bastien moaned softly, clutching at Lawrence’s hair as if he wanted to pluck his partner bald.
“We are so crazy,” he whispered. His breath was coming in short, and it was the sexiest sound Lawrence had ever heard.
He let his fingers drop at the base of Bastien’s neck. He knew what to do, or better said, his fingers knew by themselves without any conscious input from him. Slowly, he undid the next button.
“Are we going to undress here?” Bastien asked him, amused. “I thought of inviting you to my room later.”
“I’d like a short preview,” Lawrence said, “if you don’t mind.”
“You saw me naked. Actually, I thought you might soon get fed up with me nude in your room.”
“That’s an impossibility,” Lawrence said, diligently proceeding to unbutton Bastien’s shirt until he had enough room to sneak one hand inside. The undershirt posed little resistance, and his hand landed on Bastien’s chest, where he wanted it to be.
“How so?” Bastien asked, adjusting his position to allow himself to be caressed and teased.
“My only worry regarding your nudity and presence in my room is related to my academic performance.”
“I saw you studying. You’re capable of paying me no mind,” Bastien teased him. He leaned forward and stole small kisses from Lawrence.
“Through unmeasurable efforts, I assure you.”
“You have such a sweet tongue on you, Sir Galahad. Ah, that reminds me, if I’m Helios, who are you in this neat little scenario you’ve built in your mind? Don’t tell me you’re--”
“The reckless Icarus, of course,” Lawrence replied. He wouldn’t lie to Bastien about such things. When everything was said and done, he wanted to have no regrets besides the inevitable ones.
“Oh.” Bastien pulled back. He caught Lawrence’s upper arms in his hands. “I have no intention of making your wings melt.”
“You wouldn’t even know it,” Lawrence replied. “Do you believe the sun wanted to cause Icarus any harm? It was all Icarus’s fault.”
“You,” Bastien said softly. “We don’t live in a fairytale.”
“I call that a myth.”
“It takes an intellectual effort to distinguish between the two, and I don’t care for it. I’m not a faultless party, Bear.” His voice was the most tender when he called him that of all the nicknames he’d given Lawrence.
Words that could be so easily misinterpreted.
“No one is truly faultless as long as they’re involved.”
Bastien laughed. “A philosopher or a diplomat? Which one are you?”
“The one who wants to do this,” Lawrence replied, kneeling on the gravel.
There was no need for words. He had gotten into his head that he wouldn’t allow Bastien to be the giver without receiving, and while he’d ask a lot more from him later, Lawrence intended to do his part of giving.
His technique couldn’t have improved overnight, especially given the lack of practice. But intention had to compensate for what he didn’t know. Bastien appreciated it and took it upon himself to stroke his cock, which Lawrence had pulled out after a short battle with Bastien’s dress pants and belt.
“Are you sure?” Bastien asked, his voice low and eager.
Lawrence confirmed by placing his lips over the crown and sucking it into his mouth.
“What if I like it too much?”
The only thing Bastien was allowed to worry about was not liking it at all. That was on Lawrence’s mind, especially since his previous attempt had not been so well received.
One could call it a silly ambition, but Lawrence wanted to wipe away some of the sorrow Bastien had experienced tonight, unwilling prey to his own memories. That wasn’t his role to play. Even so, he wanted it more than he’d wanted a lot of things in his life.
He struggled for a bit. Bastien was, in his opinion at least, normally endowed for his height and body frame, which made his efforts seem a bit disproportionate to the outcome he intended to achieve.
As long as he focused on the technique, he didn’t have to wonder what it meant for him to kneel in front of a man and take his cock in his mouth. Desires from his past, nebulous like ghosts, came rushing back. Had he wished to do this before? He didn’t remember. His prior sexual experiences had a convenient habit of inviting themselves out as soon as he got close to Bastien.
And he did like it. He enjoyed it, even. A sensation of satisfaction he couldn’t describe filled him as his mouth worked harder. The solid member in his mouth, the way it pulsed, alive and the very definition of a man, made him drool and want more of it.
“So sloppy,” Bastien teased him.
Lawrence stopped. He hadn’t realized it, but he had been making strange sounds while sucking Bastien’s cock, and his saliva had to be on the heavy side.
“I like it,” Bastien said, his voice dropping low and sexy.
Lawrence could swear his own cock was weeping in the confines of his underwear and pants. If Bastien allowed him tonight to sink inside his body, Lawrence knew that, without the shadow of a doubt, he’d have the sexual experience he’d compare all the others in his life to until the end of days.
With that thought in mind, he decided that he could endure the delicious pain he suffered through right now.
“Do you want me, Bear?” Bastien asked, his voice barely a whisper now.
Lawrence had no intention of letting go of the tasty treat in his mouth to reply, but he increased his efforts, figuring that it would be as good as any answer.
“Come here,” Bastien pleaded with him.
Lawrence didn’t dare to disobey. So he got up, still holding Bastien’s cock and stroking it. He felt Bastien’s hand covering his as their lips came together again.
“I want to feed you,” Bastien confessed in an eager voice.
That was hard to believe, if Lawrence understood the euphemism correctly, since it had been Bastien who’d stopped him earlier.
A soft breath and tension followed, and he held Bastien through it. When his partner brought his wet fingers to his lips, Lawrence understood.
“How is it?” Bastien asked, laughing as he shared his release with Lawrence.
To show that he meant it, Lawrence caught Bastien’s hand and sucked two fingers into his mouth.
“Well, I’m lucky that you took off your gloves, I suppose,” he joked.
“I wanted to feel your face,” Bastien said. “Although I did notice how closely you looked at my hands when I had the gloves on. I couldn’t decide whether you have a suspicious passion for such things, or you were really worried about my ability to keep us from ending up wrapped around a tree. Which one is it?”
Lawrence kissed and licked Bastien’s fingers, ignoring his question on purpose. Under any other circumstances, he would have thought that tasting another man like this would put him off, but apparently, he liked it if it came from the Sun King himself.
“I’d love to taste you, too,” Bastien said.
“That would be no novelty,” Lawrence replied. “You already know how mine tastes.”
“Oh, well, let’s pretend that I don’t feel in the least affronted by such a blunt refusal.”
Lawrence held Bastien’s wrist and leaned forward to nibble at his lips. “Will you let me fuck you?”
“I thought I was too obvious. And you, as well. You bought condoms, and I invited you to my room. Are we inept at sending the right signals, or is our communication lacking in a different way?”
“It helps to have extra assurance,” Lawrence said.
Bastien pressed himself hard against him. “I’ll give you all the assurance you need. Although it’s been a while.”
Lawrence didn’t need Lukas’s ghost in bed with them tonight. “Think of it as your first time. Because it is. With me.”
“You are so demanding. I enjoy it,” Bastien admitted. “Are you certain that your erection will not indispose you? It will be hours until we return.”
“I’ll live,” Lawrence said. “Should we join your friends?”
“We will wait for them outside. I am not one for crowds, and loud music is not my version of having a good time. Unless you want us to go in, of course. Your wish will compel me.”
“I want to be with you,” Lawrence said.
“Careful there,” Bastien said with a soft chuckle. “I might believe that such admissions on your part extend beyond this night.”
They did. But Lawrence wouldn’t say it out loud because it would be absurd, impossible, and against the purpose of his investigation, which he needed to remind himself of regularly.
***
The resort town often welcomed wealthy guests, so Bastien’s Porsche didn’t stand out, at least not as much as the other two cars their group had come in.
They sat with the lights off, the classical music station playing on the radio, unobtrusive and companionable. Bastien held Lawrence’s hand, and they kissed slowly. It was so easy to imagine they were alone in the world with their eyes closed and their lips locked together.
The sound of something breaking made them stop at the same time. Bastien turned in his seat, and Lawrence had to crane his neck to see.
A group of people had burst through the doors of the disco, spilling into the street. At first, Lawrence couldn’t understand what was going on until he realized that a fight had broken out. The doorman must have had them removed from the premises, but it looked like the entire disco’s clientele was now pouring out of the building.
“Ah, damn it,” Bastien breathed out.
“What are you doing?” Lawrence said once he understood Bastien intended to get out.
“I must get the twins. They are not at all suited to violence.”
“And you are? They have the others with them.”
“Yes, I know, but—Lawrence, please unhand me,” Bastien said imperatively. Lawrence was holding him back, one arm wrapped around him.
“They are throwing bottles and who knows what else.”
As if they needed any further confirmation that chaos was breaking loose outside, a beer bottle smashed against the hood of Bastien’s car, sending small glittering shards everywhere.
“The keys are yours,” Bastien said, pressing them into Lawrence’s hand.
“Wait,” Lawrence managed, but that was all he could get out.
Bastien sprinted out of the car and headed toward the melee. Lawrence cursed as he moved into the driver’s seat. The streetlights made the fight seem like a scene from a movie featuring the living dead. Only that these living dead wore expensive clothes and outrageous hairdos.
He didn’t like it one bit. How did Bastien believe he’d find the twins in that mess? Lawrence pursed his lips and was about to get out when he saw Bastien coming with Felix and Ali in tow. He was gesturing at him to get the engine going, while Anton was already at the door of his Countach, Abelard sliding over the hood to get to the other side. He couldn’t yet see Norris and Viv anywhere.
Lawrence revved the engine. The sooner they were out of there, the better. But the Porsche didn’t like its new owner and shot out of its parking space too fast, taking Lawrence by surprise.
He pressed the brake hard, and the car froze. He got out and pushed the seat forward to make room for the twins to climb in the back.
“Are you two all right?” he asked, as Felix and Ali bundled themselves in the back with scared, gloomy faces.
“Bastien, look out,” Felix shouted, making Lawrence turn, as well.
Too late, it seemed, because a stray bottle flew toward them. Bastien ducked in time, but Lawrence wasn’t fast enough. The bottle brushed by his forehead, making him stagger slightly.
Someone shouted an obscenity close by. Bastien, who caught Lawrence’s arm to steady him, released him and walked away.
Lawrence brought a hand up and felt his brow. He’d get a nice bump out of it for sure. That wasn’t important.
Bastien was heading toward a group of people, from which the bottle must have come. Lawrence didn’t have time to react or even say a thing as Bastien pulled back his fist and planted it in one man’s face, making him drop to the ground.
His companions shrieked and hurried to tend to their fallen friend. In the meantime, Bastien turned on his heel, straightening his jacket.
To Lawrence’s relief, he was quick enough to reach them.
“Inside, Lawrence,” Bastien ordered.
Sound command. Lawrence handed Bastien the car keys and obeyed without a word.
Felix turned on the light. From the backseat, Ali hurried to baby him, pressing his handkerchief against Lawrence’s bump, which did nothing for his pain.
Lawrence watched Bastien with one eye since the other was covered by Ali’s arm. The Porsche peeled into the road at breakneck speed.
Bastien’s face was cut in stone, and his eyes looked deadly as he stared ahead.
“Does it hurt, Lawrence?” he asked.
“It’s not serious.”
“We will see about that.”
Wasn’t everything just swell? His night of seduction seemed compromised.
***
“That is not how I imagined I’d end up in your room,” Lawrence said to lighten the mood while Bastien pressed a cold cloth to his forehead.
“Hold still,” Bastien said. “Do you feel dizzy?”
“No. I told you, it’s not serious.”
Bastien nodded. “Good. Hold it like this,” he said, surrendering the ice wrapped in cloth to his patient.
He moved around the room, taking off his jacket and shoes and storing them away. Then he knelt at Lawrence’s feet to take off his boots, too.
“I think I’m not an invalid,” Lawrence remarked.
“True. But we need to make sure no one asks about your bump tomorrow. Tonight never happened.”
“Too bad. That means I will have to suck your cock again like it’s the first time. Ah, maybe it’s not so bad,” Lawrence joked.
Bastien grinned and pushed Lawrence onto his back, straddling him.
“Why did you do that?” Lawrence asked.
Bastien’s lips twitched. “No one hurts one of mine without paying for it.”
Was that true? Bastien protected the others on occasion; that much Lawrence understood. But according to Ali, he had done nothing to find out who murdered Lukas. Wasn’t that a contradiction?
“Do you have them?” Bastien asked, taking Lawrence’s silence as agreement for his earlier behavior.
“What?”
“The condoms,” Bastien said.
“I’m injured. Do you expect me to perform?” Lawrence joked.
Bastien angled his head to give him a teasing smile. “You are the one who said it wasn’t serious. Are you changing your tune, my dear innocent bystander?”
“Ready if you are.”
Bastien stretched over him like a cat and stole a kiss. “So brave, knight-errant. Very well. Do you believe you can keep yourself entertained while I bathe?”
“Without a doubt.”
Lawrence wrapped one arm around Bastien and held him in place.
“It would help if you let me go.”
“I don’t know. I enjoy having you fuss so much over me.”
“I’ll fuss even more once we’re both naked.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes. Don’t doubt your Helios.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Bastien grinned and pulled himself from their embrace. The Sun King was, indeed, adept at holding his own, and while Lawrence did allow him to get away, Bastien wasn’t a weakling. Under his affable demeanor, there was a man capable of violence, as Lawrence had witnessed tonight.
He rolled on one side and watched Bastien on his way to the bathroom. That was quite a sexy behind if his experience had taught him anything.
***
Bastien’s absence should have been the best opportunity to search the room for signs of Lukas’s past presence, but Lawrence preferred to remain in place, holding the cold cloth over his bump. If the guy who’d thrown the bottle had been more precise, he would’ve been having a worse time now.
He abandoned his remedy on a nearby tray. Bastien’s room had many little treasures, such as a tiny refrigerator and a first aid kit. Lawrence buried his face in the pillows and inhaled, but they didn’t deliver Bastien’s scent as he had hoped. Everything here was kept in pristine condition to the point that it erased bits and pieces of the room’s inhabitant.
Although he could hardly understand why, he felt sorry for Bastien. His sympathy, surely, had nothing to do with how the Sun King himself had stood up for him. That was an error in judgment to begin with. Whatever Bastien had done, he’d done for the twins’ sake. Ali and Felix were his childhood friends; it was only natural that he’d hurry to their defense.
His eyes closed, he recalled the incident. Bastien had walked toward the noisy group with purpose. He had punched that man in the face without showing one sign of hesitation. And he had walked back without seeming to worry for a moment that they might attack him from behind.
Like on the piste, Bastien performed his choreography as if it had been ingrained in him. That dash of recklessness, however, made Lawrence believe that, under the surface, a real person lurked.
But who would he be making love to tonight? The affable, minutely designed leader of the Golden Circle, or the real Bastien Hawthorne?
TBC
@Geoffrey - yes, indeed, their connection grows stronger...
@Derek - fate will play a role... and yes, Lawrence really finds it difficult to get some time alone with these guys all over him all the time :D
@DavidB - ah, so you have your guesses... very well, we will see if you are right by the time the story ends!
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