His friend was watching him and had an expression Calen couldn’t define. Happy wasn’t the right word, but it was an open, pleasant expression. “I have no problems with that at all. I’ve always been versatile and the idea of bottoming forever was frustrating. The whole ‘Doms don’t bottom’ mentality is stupid. Hello, prostate, duh. It feels good as long as you do it right.”
Calen wasn’t sure what to say. He’d been prepared for more of a reaction. “Yup.”
Brent laughed and shook his head. “Some subs are as bad as Doms when it comes to that idea. I’ve met a few who were convinced you weren’t a sub if you wanted to top.”
Calen nodded. Giving Brent’s hand a squeeze, he knew it was time to finish the discussion. Brent had already guessed part of it, anyway. “I’d been in the scene a few years when I met Clark. I thought things were going well. We’d started to click and while we were still learning about each other, he seemed nice. And he was submissive but not so much so that I expected him to have an issue with what I wanted. When I told him, he was surprised. Dom meant top to him and we’ll just say the discussion didn’t go well.”
That was an understatement.
To Clark, the idea that Calen wanted to bottom meant he wasn’t a real Dom. Clark had accused him of simply playing the role of a Dom and had actually asked him if he didn’t want to admit he was a sub. When Calen denied it and tried to explain, Clark had gone off on him, telling him that he was ashamed to admit who he really was. Calen hadn’t been able to make him understand that to him, the two things wereverydifferent. One was a physical preference and one was who he was inside.
“I’m sorry about that, Calen.”
Calen shrugged, not sure what to say. “It was a long time ago.”
“That’s why you were so hesitant to take things further after the club. I can understand why you’d be worried. They’re separate things to me though.”
“You seemed reluctant to push things too.” Calen looked over at Brent, more confident now that he knew his friend wasn’t going to walk away.
“I’ve had terrible luck. It’s made me a bit gun-shy. If there’s a dick in a hundred miles, I’ve dated him or at least talked to him. And with the occasional nice guys, we aren’t looking for the same thing. I loving being able to give up control in the bedroom, and I’m really more of a lifestyle sub in that respect, but I have no desire to even be in charge once in a while. But that’s scared off some Doms because they either wanted complete submission all the time or to only play occasionally. I don’t fit neatly into what they expect. So I can understand where you’re coming from.”
“And it was probably hard to read me.” Calen knew he hadn’t made it easy for Brent to see what he’d been thinking.
Brent laughed. “Oh yeah. You always said you were looking for something serious when it came up in the past but you never dated anyone for long. I wasn’t sure what was going on.”
“Are you sure about what’s going on now?”
“I think so. What about you?”
Calen let Brent see all the wicked thoughts that were going through his mind. “I’m very sure.”
Shaking his head, Brent smiled. “You’re going to turn into one of those dirty old men one day.”
Calen laughed. “Are you sure I’m not there yet? I could chase you around your desk at work trying to pinch your butt and making dirty jokes.”
“You might be right. I’m not going to encourage that at all. Come on. You ready to head back to my place? You owe me another movie and one of those brownies.”
“Brownies, yes, but why do I owe you another movie?”
“I missed that spy movie entirely. I have no idea what happened. This time, you’re going to keep your hands to yourself and I will pick the movie.”
“Bossy little subbie.” But he smiled, letting Brent know he didn’t have a problem with the plan. Cuddling up to Brent sounded perfect, even if he had to keep his hands to himself.
“And don’t forget it.”
“I can already see I’m going to have to get creative with your punishments.” Calen watched as a shiver raced down Brent’s spine. “And isn’t that telling, subbie. I think we need to talk about limits tonight too.”
Brent was biting his lip and looking forward, avoiding Calen’s eyes. “Do not make me hard. No more talk of that in public. You’re going to get us arrested.”
“Oh, someone likes punishments.”
“Calen!” Brent’s frustration was clear.
“What kind of punishments? Does my subbie like to be spanked?” Calen wasn’t going to let Brent put him off. This conversation was much more fun than the one they’d been having, and he figured he deserved a reward. Making Brent nuts would be the perfect way to treat himself.
“Calen!”
He wondered how far he could push Brent before he either fessed up to what he liked or he got frustrated enough that Calen would get to punish him. Tonight looked like it was going to be better than he expected.
