Page 115 of The Blame Game

Dom could argue that it was his love of hockey and his desire to win that made it different but in the end, maybe not. Maybe they both sold their bodies in different ways and what was he doing being such a judgmental prick about this?

“No, I guess not,” he admitted with a sigh.

“I had sex and it felt good, and people paid me well for it.”

“I paid you well.” I am paying you well now, he thought.

“Yes.” Shea met his gaze, challenging him.

A thousand questions crowded Dom’s tongue, choked his voice, made his words feel impossible to force out, so he remained silent.

“Over the years, my feelings about my sexuality changed. I look at men differently now, I enjoy sex with them, so, honestly, I don’t know what to call myself,” Shea said eventually. “I suppose bi is the closest but I’ve always … you know, for years I thought about my life after I was done working as an escort and I assumed it was a woman I’d end up with.”

“Oh.” Dom swallowed hard. “That’s—I didn’t realize that.”

God, he’d spent this whole time thinking Shea was just like him but he wasn’t. And not that it mattered … or did it? Did that change things?

Did Dom want them to change?

He felt odd and shaky, like he’d been flattened into the boards and couldn’t quite get enough oxygen in his lungs.

He knew that things had been different since the fire. It had felt different between them, and he’d started to think about Shea being more than someone he paid. More than someone who was convenient and safe.

And he’d thought things were changing for Shea too. But maybe he’d been wrong.

Did it mean something that Shea had told his family that he was bi or was that simply a coincidence?

Maybe Dom had imagined that things had changed. Or maybe they’d only changed for him.

He knew the logical thing to do was to ask Shea about it, see how he felt. See if maybe he wasn’t completely alone in all of this.

But what if Shea said no? What if he said they should stop seeing each other?

Then what?

“Why did you tell them?” Dom asked. “Your family, I mean.”

“It felt like the right time,” Shea said simply.

“Well, did it go okay?” Dom frowned.

“Yeah, you know, everyone was surprised but ultimately pretty supportive. It went better than I expected but it was probably pointless.” Shea laughed and there was something odd and bitter in it. He didn’t look over at Dom at all.

“Pointless? Why?”

“It’s … look, it’s not important. Forget I said anything.”

Dom scowled. He was pretty sure it was important but he wasn’t going to force Shea into talking about something he didn’t want to discuss.

“Oh. Well, I’m glad it went well,” he said.

Shea gave him a half-hearted smile. “Yeah. Thanks.”

A thousand questions crowded Dom’s tongue, but the cum had dried on his skin, pulling it tight and making it itch.

“I should … I should probably get cleaned up and head home,” Dom said. He needed some time to digest everything that they’d done. Everything Shea had said. What that all meant for the two of them.

Shea turned to look at him. “You sure? You can spend the night, if you want. I’m sure Audra will be happy to walk you out again.”

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