So he debated – but the stricken look on the boy’s face was what decided him. The way he’d blushed, the way he’d been affected, the way he was so, so angry, as Ian had once been.
In a quiet, but level and matter-of-fact voice, Ian said, “I was kidnapped when I was twelve and forced into sexual slavery for more than a decade. I already knew I was gay, before that, but then I was forced to be a whore.”
Tenny’s face went very, very blank.
“Before my husband, there was someone else who I cared about…still care about…very deeply. The club saved his life. In that regard, I think they saved mine as well.
“I don’t know how it’s done in other clubs. I think it’s important not to speak about your role with the Dogs in terms of ‘in MCs.’ In this club…” He faltered. He still marveled, at moments. “There is love. Acceptance. A chance to fit in when you haven’t elsewhere.”
Tenny blinked a few times, face betraying nothing, though he’d gone pale.
Ian inclined his head, and sent him a searching look. “It’s that pretty, frightening blond boy, isn’t it? The one who was with you the last time you were here.”
Tenny’s jaw tightened. His chest lifted as he took a fast breath.
“Does he know?” Ian asked, gently.
Tenny’s breath hitched again. “Some. He’s not…he’s amenable. I think. He doesn’tnot…” He broke off with a choking sound, and the air of a man who feared he’d said too much.
Ian knew the “pretty, frightening boy” was called Reese, and that he’d had some sort of paramilitary upbringing.More like an attack dog that a real boy, Ghost had muttered once, in an aside. Ian had never had a conversation with the boy, but he was lovely in his own way.
He hoped he returned Tenny’s sentiments.
“As trite as it sounds,” Ian said, in what he hoped was a comforting voice; he had little experience in dealing comfort. “I think it might be wise – for now – to not worry quite so much.”
Tenny rolled his eyes – still pale-faced, jaw clenched.
“As someone who knows your president rather well,” Ian continued, “I can guarantee you, without a shred of doubt, that Ghost won’t give a solitary damn if you prefer to keep company with men. Even it’s a certain man in particular.” He lifted his brows. “I believe you came to me for reassurance? Let me reassure you, then. The Knoxville Dogs don’t care about your romantic leanings.”
Tenny’s jaw worked a long moment, then he sighed deeply and glanced toward the window, shaking his head a fraction. “Damn,” he murmured. He sighed again, then stood, more slowly this time, and offered a nod. “Right, then. Well.”
Before he could turn, Ian said, “Tennyson.”
It had happened before, when Ian had said his name, and it happened again, now: a quick tensing of his whole body, like he’d been jolted.
“If worries about club culture are holding you back from something, then my advice is to forget them. Take it from someone who knows: waiting, playing games…it only makes you the loser, in the end.” He smiled, wistfully, he knew. He was happy and content, now; in Alec he’d found a partner the likes of which he’d never hoped to. But there were moments, when he dropped by the clubhouse on some business, and his gaze collided with Kev’s, and regret teased with a faint sickness in his belly.
What if.
What might have been.
Tenny seemed to soften a fraction, brows drawing together.
“Be brave, darling,” Ian said. “And if you want to call on me again, feel free.”
Tenny studied him a long second, brow furrowed, then nodded again. He left quietly, without saying thank you – not that Ian had expected him to.
He smiled to himself as he returned to the files pulled up on his computer.
Someone seeking outhimfor advice: the world never ceased to amaze him.
Six
Tenny left Ian’s office shaking his head at his own stupidity. He’d left the clubhouse earlier under the pretense of picking up supplies for tomorrow’s errand to Tuscaloosa, sweat gluing his clothes to his skin, shaking and certain that a visit to Ian was in order. But when he’d stood on the threshold, and seen the dealer/entrepreneur there behind his desk, sunlight bright on his long, straight hair, his elegant, suit-clad form backlit by the window, eyes bright when they’d lifted to meet his – his courage had promptly fled. He’d felt like an idiot. And, worst of all, he’dblushed.
Tenny was no stranger to beautiful people. He’d manipulated and bedded his fair share. Admittedly, physically, Ian was very much his type – but, more captivating than that was the unshakeable knowledge that had slammed into him on their first meeting: that Ian had his own collection of masks. That, like Tenny, he was a master manipulator. And he’d never expected this cultured, refined, gorgeous, flattering, flirtatious, openly gay man with his bespoke suits and his low-lidded looks to be the sort of person the Dogs not only relied upon, butliked.
It had shocked him in a way that nothing else had. Had left him wrongfooted, andblushinglike an absolute tit.
