11. Jace Holloway

Chapter 11

Jace Holloway

I read Theo’s text message and immediately got hard under my desk.

“Yes,” I replied

“Good boy. Meet in the steam room at nine tonight.”

Fucking hell, did he want me to melt into a puddle of cum before I even got to him tonight? I fisted my rock-hard cock through my jeans. Thankfully, it was already six o’clock. I didn’t have long to wait. I let go of my needy dick and refocused my attention on the case files that sat open on my desk. I was onto something with the link between Gio, Valdoni, and what appeared to be some kind of blackmail ring. The image was becoming clearer, but I was still missing vital pieces. What did any of this have to do with Nevermore? And why was the killer targeting these people? Was there some casual link, or was there something that ran deeper?

A knock on my office door made me sit up. “Come in.”

It was Benji Morrison, another detective here at Stonewall. He’d been very friendly to me since the day I started here, offering to grab drinks and give me a little briefing about the agency and its history. We clicked pretty well. He was another gay man, born and raised in Jersey before he moved to New York following his husband as his Broadway career was beginning to take off.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way Benji had hoped and dreamed they would.

Two weeks into being here and Benji’s husband was murdered in a botched robbery attempt.

That had happened three years ago, and it clearly still affected Benji to this very day. He had a haunted look come over him when he brought it up to me. We had already been three vodka tonics in, so there was a little more emotion pouring out of him than I assumed he expected. His eyes had gotten teary, and his lower lip twitched. The dam was close to breaking that night. It was difficult to see but did instantly make me feel closer to Benji. Like I understood him on a level that went further than work acquaintances.

Death was a certain thing in this world. Some were touched by it in more ways than others, but no one ever escaped it. I understood the dull ache that persisted after someone you loved deeply was no longer around. It was in the urges to pick up the phone and call, hoping to hear a voice that you were beginning to forget the sound of. In the memories that rose up after passing by a restaurant where you celebrated their birthday, a theatre where you saw a movie with them, a park where you sat to enjoy the sun and the breeze.

All of it gone. Never coming back. No matter how many tears were shed or prayers were made.

Death fucking sucked. It helped to connect with someone who understood that on the same level as you did.

Benji leaned against the doorframe. He liked to go to the gym during lunch breaks, apparent in the way his biceps looked extra pumped in his blue polo shirt, his chest a little beefier. He was objectively hot but wasn’t my type. Which was good—it would mean our friendship was kept simple. “Wanted to see if you were down for drinks tonight? I found a cool new spot in Hell’s Kitchen. I think Mason and Tisha are joining.”

“Ah, man, I’d be down, but I just made plans with someone.”

“That’s fine.” Benji’s crooked smile caused a dimple to form. “This anyone that’s worth talking about?”

I leaned back in my chair. I matched my friend’s smile. “Possibly. Still trying to figure that out.”

“Really? Where are you guys going?”

“Chained,” I said, not shy about bringing up the bathhouse. There was a camaraderie amongst gay men when it came to things like that. Some may have judged, sure, but most understood the carnal urge to fuck and get fucked, and what easier place to do it than a watering hole made for exactly that?

“Hot,” Benji said. “Clearly, he’s a romantic, huh?”

That got a belly laugh out of me. “Obviously. If he doesn’t have a bouquet of roses with him, then I’m going to be pretty upset.”

“More like a bouquet of poppers.”

“That too.”

Benji chuckled. “Well, have fun tonight, then. We can all get together some other time.”

“Thanks, Benji. Maybe this weekend.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Benji knocked on the doorframe and gave a wave over his shoulder as he left my office. The door shut behind him.

Only had a couple more hours left to kill before tonight. Shouldn’t be too hard.

I looked down at the growing bulge between my legs. Thinking about Theo was enough to get me going.

Spoke too soon.

Steam filled the hot air, creating a curtain of thick mist that obstructed most of the view. Someone was getting railed to the left of me. The sound of their moans, of skin slapping against skin, echoed around the space. I walked over the warm, wet wood. It creaked under my sandals. The steam appeared to part for me as I moved through the room. Men were sitting on the benches, most of them jerking off, some giving a helping hand to their neighbors. A few were on their knees, groaning around mouthfuls of cock.

It didn’t take me long to find my target through the fog.

Theo Glass sat with his legs apart, his arms resting behind him on the wooden bench. His head was cocked, his lips turned upward into a hungry grin. A man sat next to him, a hand massaging Theo’s tattooed thigh, as if he were petting the snake that wrapped around his muscular leg.

I wasn’t the jealous type. I was in a fucking bathhouse, after all. But seeing this man so close to Theo’s stiffening cock unlocked a possessiveness in me that I hadn’t realized I had.

Theo brushed the man’s hand away as I moved toward them. I licked my lips. Didn’t even say hello before I leaned in and sealed my mouth against his. My hand went to the back of his neck. I swirled my tongue around his. He tasted like sex and wine. The flimsy towel around my waist fell to the ground. My cock was exposed, growing and pointing at Theo like a compass.

“Why didn’t you greet me like this in the coffee shop?” Theo said when we broke for air.

“Trust me. I wanted to.”

“Do it next time. I want to cause a scene with you.”

“I’ll do whatever you ask of me.”

“Good,” Theo said with a wicked grin. “Then drop to your knees and suck my cock.”

There was an edge of command in his tone that drove me fucking wild. My knees hit the hot, wet wood. The seats in the sauna were tiered, so I was at the perfect level to lean in and tongue Theo’s cock. He was still soft but quickly swelling and already a mouthful.

I loved feeling him get hard in my mouth. It was the reward I craved after a long day of work and stress. I placed my hands on his knees and slowly sucked on him. He dropped his head back against the wall. A look of pure pleasure washed over him. The man next to us began to jerk himself off.

I pulled back, kissed Theo’s thigh, moved down to his balls. I took one in my mouth and sucked, moved to the other. His cock throbbed against my face. He grabbed the base and gave my cheek a few slaps. I smiled up at him.

Christ, this man was hotter than sin. All sense of inhibition sizzled away with the heat of lust that consumed me.

“That’s it,” Theo said as I took him back into my mouth. “That’s a good boy. Please me. Take me down to the back of your throat.”

Again, I did as I was asked. I pushed down, opening my jaw, his taste filling me as his cock pressed against my tonsils. I gagged. He held my head down. Saliva filled my mouth. I swirled my tongue around his cock, the moans rising up from him only spurring me on. I could barely breathe. I didn’t care. His pubes were against my nose, the scent of his musk making my head spin with desire.

He finally allowed me to pull back. I gulped in a breath, continuing to stroke his wet cock with both hands. His body was something to be worshipped. I wanted to kneel at his altar all night.

But Theo must have had other plans. He put a hand under my chin and lifted me back up to his lips.

“Come, let’s go to a room. But let me taste myself on you first.”

His tongue slipped into my mouth. I swallowed his groan of ecstasy, my dick throbbing with a need to be inside him. The man next to us reached his climax, coming all over his chest with a series of loud grunts .

“God, I taste good.”

“You do,” I said, already drunk off this man’s energy. “I can’t get enough.”

Theo stood, grabbing my cock in his hand and stroking me. He motioned toward the exit of the steam room. We walked through the cloud of mist, out into the dark red lights. I followed Theo past a series of different rooms, some with their doors closed and others open. We walked by a room full of chains with a swing in the center. Someone was getting their hole wrecked by a huge bull of a man, the swing helping add momentum, his legs up in the air.

“Damn,” Theo said, a hand on my lower back. “He’s going to have fun walking tomorrow.”

We continued on before we stopped at a closed door. Theo grabbed the key hanging from his wrist but then paused.

“Stand right there,” he said to me.

Theo dropped to his knees. We were still in the dim hallway. There were three men watching us, standing to the side. One had his hard cock in his hand, stroking, eyes glued to us. The other two were fondling each other.

I looked down, catching Theo’s gaze as he licked the tip of my cock. Something about this performance made me so fucking horny. I wasn’t a huge exhibitionist and normally preferred going into a private room before anything happened, but apparently not when Theo was involved. I wanted the world to watch us. It made this moment hotter than any porn I’d seen, hotter than any sexual moment I’d experienced up until now .

“Like that?” I asked Theo in a low growl as he lapped at my precum. The public nature of this had me leaking like a broken faucet.

“I do. And apparently, so do you,” Theo said.

“Take it in your mouth.”

“Like this?” Theo opened his mouth and wrapped his lips around my stiff length. I groaned, dropped my head back against the wall. One of the men to my left gave a low “fuck yeah” as I started to thrust into Theo’s mouth.

His tongue worked my cock, soft and wet and warm. He cupped my balls, squeezing gently, eyes turned up to me. Another man stopped in the hallway to watch. We were beginning to draw a crowd.

What was it about Theo Glass that turned my world inside out? What was it about this man that had me throwing all caution to the wind? It couldn’t have just been pheromones, couldn’t have just been chemistry. There was something else that tied us together, though I couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

Then again, I was a detective. I would figure it out sooner rather than later.