Valentine's Trilogy

No part of this story may be reproduced in any way without written permission from the author. Also please be aware that this is a work
of FICTION where STD\'s do NOT exist, and that the author does NOT condone unprotected sex.

Also much love to my two favourite Jays for helping me to beta this baby, all remaining errors are proudly mine.


The Prequel :: When We’ve First Met


I looked around the jam-packed, noisy nightclub with reservations. The music was a dance beat played at a high-speed velocity – thunderous bass and frenzied electronic notes - the spotlights flickered with an epileptic ferocity. My head began to throb to the pace of the deafening notes, and I tried not to be blinded by the bright lasers. Everywhere around us were bodies of gyrating men. There was not a female in sight; none by birth anyway.

“Who’s idea was this again?” I asked loud enough for my group of friends to hear. There were five of us, all lawyers looking for something different to do after a hard day at the office. Ben had won a lawsuit for this particular establishment, and the owner was so grateful he insisted that we all drop by for complimentary drinks. Ben had figured why not since he’s never been to a gay club before anyway. I had looked at him incredulously… I mean I’ve never jumped off an airplane before but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sign myself up for skydiving lessons. Anyway, three of us had agreed; I didn’t but got dragged along.

“Hey Liam, loosen up,” yelled Chris. “Why don’t we go grab some beers? You three find us a seat.” Grudgingly I followed my friend towards the bar and signaled to get the bartender’s attention. As he ordered us our drinks, the bartender looked him over appreciatively. I looked away in disgust and found my attention focused onto the end of the bar where a man was obviously trying to escape the attentiveness of an unwanted suitor.

I have no idea what prompted me to do what I did next. I was fairly certain that the other man was more then capable of taking care of things himself, but for some reasons I can’t explain, a sense of gallantry hit me and I found myself walking in their direction. I heard Chris yelling at me but I kept walking until I found myself close enough to hear their conversation, even in this loud environment.

“Look, I’m trying to be nice here but I told you I’m not interested.” The blond man sitting at the stool had his wrist caught in the grip of a man with platinum dyed hair. The blond was well built, fairly muscular and no weakling. Mr. Dye-Job, on the other hand, was a scrawny thing that was obviously trying to catch something that was well above his own league.

“Oh come on baby, I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll make you feel so good you’ll be walking around like a newly wed tomorrow.” Platinum man leered and tried to bring the hand in his up to his lips for a kiss. The uncomfortable look on the other man’s face was more then noticeable as he tried to subtly take his hand back.

“I rather you didn’t,” he gritted between his teeth, hidden behind a tight, polite smile.

“Hey buddy,” I interrupted them, giving Platinum my best interrogative stare. “What’s going on here?”

“Back off man,” Platinum sneered, looking me up and down. “Why don’t you go mind your own business.”

I sighed in boredom, thinking how this would make for a really bad movie. Then I looked down at the blond and smiled at him. For a brief moment he looked shocked but then smiled back. “Hun, is this guy bothering you?”

He nodded gratefully. “I told him that I wasn’t interested but he just wouldn’t get the idea.”

“I see.” I reached over to take a hold of his arm and firmly removed the grubby fingers that were wrapped around the wrist. “Listen here buddy,” I said, staring down hard at Platinum. I could see that he was starting to become unsure of himself as he quickly released his hand. “I’m only going to tell you this once so pay good attention to what I have to say. Now, you’re going to leave him alone and stay far, far away from us. You’d only have to imagine what I would have to do to you if I catch you near him again. Look at me and look at you. Who do you think he’s going home with tonight? Do we have an understanding here?” I crossed my arms over my chest, knowing quite well that it made me appear more intimidating, and cocked my head calmly to one side.

Platinum nodded dejectedly, aware that he was bested and stalked off, but not without one last look at the blond man by my side. Once I saw that he was out of view, I looked down at the guy beside me and held out my hand. “Name’s Liam. You okay?”

He nodded and took my hand. “Yeah, thanks a lot. I’m Daniel.”

“You always hang out with choice ones like that?”

Daniel grimaced. “I was trying to be nice, I didn’t want to be rude or anything. But I guess that’s what I should have done to begin with. He just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

I looked around. “Are you here alone?”

Daniel shook his head. “I’m actually here with a friend, believe it or not. He dragged me here to celebrate my birthday, but as it turns out he found himself a new playmate. Unfortunately for me, he’s my ride here so I think it may be awhile yet until I get to leave.”

“You can always call a cab,” I pointed out.

“Liam! Why the hell did you walk off like that? Let’s go already.” Chris handed me two bottles of cold brew and gave Daniel a quick glance. “C’mon, they found us a table. You can bring your new friend if you like. Let’s go.”

“You want to join us?” I asked Daniel.

“No, but thanks,” he declined. “I think I’ll call a cab after all. Thanks a lot for earlier.” I shrugged and followed Chris back to the table.

“Who was that?” Chris wanted to know.

“Oh, a guy was harassing him earlier and I just stepped in, that’s all.” I took a swig out of one of the bottles I held and wove through the sweaty crowds, paying no heed to the stares we both attracted.

“Huh, that so?” Chris looked inquisitively for a moment. He grinned wickedly at me. “He’s kind of cute, but not your usual type though.”

“Fuck you asshole,” I threw at him and seated myself down at the table, Chris laughing after me.

~~~~~

I stared in a semi state of hypnosis as I watched the pen twirl between my fingers. Ryan stopped with his briefing and looked over at me when he realised that I was paying him no attention.

“Hello Liam? Are you there?” He snapped his fingers in front of my face and ignored the glare I pointed his way. “What is up with you? You’ve been daydreaming all day. Wait, let me guess, it’s that blind date that Grace set you up with last night isn’t it?”

If only that was true. Amy was everything a man could ask for. She was smart, funny, and sexy as hell. She was also a lawyer and I found that our conversation came easily, since most of it revolved around comparing case notes. We had a good time with dinner and drinks afterwards. But when it was time for the night to end, I had taken her home and gave her a goodnight kiss that normally should have had me wanting for more. But yet… nothing.

“No, Amy’s a nice girl, but not really my type. There was no spark.” Around and around my pen spun on my finger. Ryan looked disappointed, but I shrugged. “Tell Grace I’m really sorry.”

“No way man. You’re going to have to tell her. She was so sure that this would be the one. Damn, she had your wedding all planned out.” Ryan was laughing at me. “And Amy’s a lawyer too for God’s sakes. Who else would be able to put up with your legal babble?”

I dropped my pen and cocked my head at him. “Shouldn’t you be preparing notes or doing something else?”

Ryan straddled his chair and propped his chin up with a hand. “Talk to me, my friend. Tell Uncle Ry what is going on in that deranged head of yours.”

“Uncle Ry needs to go leave Liam in peace and do some work.”

“C’mon man. Humour me. What’s the problem?”

I sighed, I knew that he wouldn’t leave me alone until I spilled. Problem was, I wasn’t able to clarify it to myself. “I don’t know. Confused, I guess. I mean, Amy should be the girl of my dreams, but I didn’t feel anything for her. I had a great time with her, but I wasn’t… I don’t know…” I waved my hand around in hopes of plucking the right word from the air. “Wowed,” I said thoughtfully. I nodded. “Yeah, I wasn’t wowed.”

~~~~~

As I perused through the aisles of Save-on-Foods, somewhere between ‘canned vegetables’ and ‘dried pastas’ I remembered that I needed to pick up some Vitamin C. Doing a turnabout, I walked towards the pharmacy department and went in search of the pills. As I approached, I saw a tall blond man standing there, holding a small box in each hand. His head glanced from one to the other like watching a tennis match.

“Daniel?” I asked hesitantly.

He turned to see who called him by name and his eyes lit up with recognition. I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were blue. “Hey, Liam right?”

“You shop here too I guess?” I reached over to grab the first bottle of Vitamin C I saw. I noticed that there were two brands of antihistamines in his hands. “Need a little help there?”

“I wasn’t sure which one to get, they both look like they would do the same thing.”

“Then pick the cheaper one.” He nodded and dropped the blue box into his basket.

“Thanks for the help.” This was followed by a moment of awkward silence as neither of us knew what else to say. “Well, nice running into you again,” he finally said.

“Hey, yeah. Same here. See you around,” I finished lamely and walked off towards the frozen section. I frowned as I studied the selection on TV dinners. Why was my heart beating faster then normal? Why did I feel as self-conscious as an adolescent?

~~~~~

“So you up for a game after work?” Ryan passed a basketball from one hand to the other. “All the other guys are in, but we need a sixth.”

“Um, sure okay. What time and where?” I began to pack up for the day.

“In about an hour. At the outdoor court of that school that’s right by where Ben lives. I forget the name, but you know where I’m talking about right?”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be there. I’ll call if I’m lost.”

An hour later, it had turned out that I was the first person to arrive, so I took the opportunity to start stretching. As I began to warm up, I looked out to the track and saw that there was a lone runner making his laps around.

His strides were long and consistent, keeping a fast but steady pace. He must have just completed his last lap as he began to slow down to a stop, bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. When he looked up, still breathing hard, he must have sensed that he was being watched and turned to my direction. I could see his eyes widened, as mine must have, as I recognised him as Daniel.

Daniel picked up a small towel and a water bottle that was lying on the grass and started to jog lightly to where I was standing. A caged fence separated us and he leaned a hand against it, still breathing hard. He was wearing a simple black tee and grey Russell shorts. I tried not to stare too intently at the long lean legs that were showing.

“Liam, we seem to be always running into each other. How are you?”

“Pretty good, just meeting a group of guys out here to play a game. This is actually my first time playing here. And yourself?”

“Oh, I always run here around this time. I actually work here,” he nodded towards the school. “I come out after I’m done for the day before heading home.”

“You teach?”

He nodded again. “Grade 8 English. Look, I don’t want to seem presumptuous, but I wanted to thank you for that night at the club. I was wondering if you’d be interested in having a coffee with me? Or maybe even dinner or something?” He smiled hopefully and my heart fluttered for reasons unknown to me.

“Hey listen, Daniel. I’m really flattered and everything, but I’m not gay. Don’t take this the wrong way but I’m straighter than an arrow and I love women.” I frowned as he looked hurt and I felt guilty.

“Oh? Then what were you doing in a gay club?” he asked confused.

“The owner was a client of ours. We were there by personal invitation.”

He reddened with embarrassment. “I’m s.sorry. I just assumed.” Daniel looked behind me and I turned around to see that Ben and Chris were just arriving. “I better go now. It was nice talking to you Liam.” He turned abruptly and began to jog back towards the school. I wanted to call him back, but I didn’t know what I would have said to him so I said nothing and just turned to greet my friends.

~~~~~

I sank down onto the cement ground and leaned my head against the wire fence, groaning. I clutched the side of my abdomen gingerly as it throbbed. “You asshole, this is basketball, not contact football,” I growled at Ryan. He grinned apologetically and shrugged.

“Sorry buddy, but you shouldn’t have been so close behind me.”

“Damn bony elbow,” I groaned.

“Hey, maybe it’s time we called it quits anyway. It’s getting pretty dark and cold now. You guys want to grab some drinks?” Chris bent over to grab the wayward ball and pulled a sweatshirt on.

“No, you guys go ahead. I think I’m going to rest for a while. I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” I said to them. Ryan wiped his face with a small towel and dropped to the ground beside me.

“I’m with Liam.” We waved at the other four and watched as they drove off. “So what’s going on?” he finally asked when the others drove off.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your head wasn’t in the game. I can tell that you had something else on your mind. Otherwise you would have been able to avoid my elbow. So what’s going on?”

“I don’t know Ryan,” I told him honestly. For the past hour I had found myself thinking about Daniel. I felt guilty for disappointing him, and for some reason, annoyed that I hadn’t accepted his invitation. I was also confused with myself at the way I had tried to avoid admiring his body and looks. “There was this guy that I met when we were in that club, you know about two weeks ago? Anyway, I’ve run into him a couple of times since then, just random occurrences. We never have much to talk about, just ‘hi’ and ‘how are you’ kind of stuff.” I looked over to see if Ryan was laughing at me but he was listening intently to everything I was saying.

“Well anyway, today before you guys showed up I ran into him again. It turns out that he works here and he was just finishing up some laps on the track when I had arrived. He asked me out to dinner and I declined and told him that I wasn’t gay.” I paused as I thought about this.

“And?” Ryan prodded when there was a minute of silence.

“And? I don’t know. That’s what I’ve been wondering. It should be end of story right? But it’s not. I keep thinking about what I said and how he looked when I said it. I think I wanted to say yes to his offer,” it had slowly dawned on me.

“Um, but you’re not gay remember? You’re straight.”

“I know I am. But for some reason I find him oddly… attractive?” I said hesitantly, trying to gauge his reaction.

Ryan looked at me confused. “So… you’re gay then?” he asked me in equal hesitation.

“No, I’m not,” I said firmly.

My friend cocked his head slightly to one side and stared up into the clear evening sky as if contemplating. “You’re not gay, but you find him attractive?”

“Yeah?”

“Alright, let’s try this again…”

“Dammit Ryan. I’m not gay, I don’t like men.”

“So he’s not really a man?” Ryan asked, frowning.

“No, he’s just… Daniel,” I finally answered. Ryan thought about this some more.

“Well, Liam. I’m not even going to pretend I understand what it is you’re trying to say. Think about it some more and once you’ve figured out what it is fill me in on it alright?” He grinned and slapped me on the shoulder, using me as a brace to get to his feet and waved to me as he headed towards his car. I was left alone with my thoughts.

~~~~~

It was a Friday night and I was bored with nothing to do. I drove around the city aimlessly and soon found myself downtown. On impulse, I found parking and walked towards the club where I had first met Daniel. A part of me hoped that Daniel would be there, however slim the chance, but another part of me hoped that he wasn’t so that I wouldn’t have to confront him.

The hulky bouncer smiled and winked at me as he let me in. I smiled tightly and promptly headed towards the bar for a drink as soon I stepped inside. I must have emitted an air of hostility as I noticed that although there were more than a few appreciative looks thrown my way, no one dare ventured to come near me.

I took a good look around with a sense of indifference. I studied the faces around me, looking for someone tall and blond. Someone caught my eye and my heart beated faster as I recognised Daniel. I frowned as I began to make my way towards him, as I also recognised the Platinum blond freak that had Daniel pinned against the wall.

Once I was close enough, I realised that Daniel wasn’t resisting, and was actually giggling when Platinum whispered something into his ear. A stray hand reached back to cup Daniel’s ass and I felt a twinge of jealously and rage.

“I see that you’ve finally come to your senses and dumped that dumb brawny boyfriend of yours, eh sweetheart? Decided that you wanted a piece of Joey after all isn’t that right? Damn, your ass feels so tight, I can’t wait till I bury myself deep into you.”

“Liam? He’s not my boyfriend,” Daniel giggled. It was obvious that he was drunk and totally out of it. “He doesn’t even like me,” he said mournfully, his head swaying drunkenly from side to side.

“Sweet thing, I’ll make you feel so good that you won’t even remember who Liam is,” Joey promised. I felt myself seething as I caught the end of this conversation. Joey was about to learn a thing about forgetting things.

I reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him roughly away from Daniel. “Joey is it?” I asked condescendingly. “Speaking about not remembering things, you seem to have forgotten that I told you to leave him alone.”

Joey sneered at me. “Take a hike asshole, he doesn’t want you. You’re not going to scare me this time; you’re not even his boyfriend. But don’t worry, I don’t mind other people’s leftovers, I’ll still treat him real good,” Joey laughed.

“Leftovers?” I asked calmly, trying hard not to tear him apart right there and then.

“C’mon man, just look at him,” I glanced a concerned eye over at Daniel and was dismayed to find him smiling prettily at the geek by my side, a glazed and unfocused look in those blue eyes. “If it wasn’t for the fact that we’re in a public place, I’d have him on his back with his legs up in the air by now. Don’t tell me you hadn’t enjoyed a piece of that,” Platinum snorted.

To this, I did lose my cool and punched him hard in the nose. People around us stopped to stare, keeping out of the way as Joey staggered around, a hand holding his bleeding nose. “Are you fucking out of your mind?” he screamed at me. “I should call the fucking cops on you.”

“Go ahead,” I shrugged my shoulders. “You’re going to wish you did if I ever catch you talking about him like that again,” I spat at him as I reached out to grab Daniel by the arm. I pulled him roughly towards the bathroom, ignoring his half-hearted protests, and pushed him into an empty stall.

He tried to focus his eyes on me and smiled delightfully when he recognised who it was. “I know you. You’re Liam,” he said cheerfully.

“That’s great, Daniel,” I said as I tried to hold his head up straight. “You want to tell me what you were doing with that ass again?”

A frown developed between his eyebrows as he thought. “I was just drinking. Some nice people bought me some,” he perked up. “Then he came and took me away. His name’s Joey,” he said seriously. I nodded impatiently for him to finish his story. “He’s okay. But I like you better,” he smiled.

“That’s good to know,” I said dryly.

“Are you going to kiss me?” he asked.

“No.”

“Oh,” he looked disappointed. “That’s too bad, cuz I’m going to kiss you.” Before I had a chance to reply, he had touched his lips, albeit clumsily, to mine and had his tongue in my mouth. I felt my body stiffen at first, but then I held nothing back as I melted into the kiss and found that I was easily able to kiss this man back while enjoying it. My arms went to wrap around his waist and pulled his body roughly against mine. I heard him moaning as I intensified the kiss and rubbed my growing erection against his.

He started to play with the buttons on my shirt and I stopped his eager hands. “Wait, not here. I’m not about to have sex in a bathroom stall.”

“You don’t like me do you?” he asked plaintively all the sudden, his blue eyes looking less dazed and more sorrowful.

Regretfully, I shook my head at him. “I’ve already told you, Daniel. I’m not a fag.”

“But you would still fuck me?”

“Yes.”

Daniel blinked and nodded. “Alright,” he accepted. “We’ll go back to your place.”

>>>

TBC... feedback welcomed :)