Out Of The Shadows Read Free

breath.
    “Shouldn’t tease, Jai,” Tony murmured in his ear.
    Turning in his arms and kissing him, Jai grinned. “Who’s teasing?”
    Tony’s finger hooked into Jai’s belt and led him off the dance floor, toward the end of the bar. As they passed the bartender, he nodded to them, his gaze lingering on Tony for a long moment. Jai shook his head. The guy checked Tony out every time he saw him but had yet to make a move, even though Jai was pretty sure that Tony would say yes. The thought was brushed away as Tony glanced about quickly before pulling Jai into the cloakroom. Backing them between the coat racks, into the shadows, he pulled Jai against him, closing his mouth over Jai’s. Jai’s hands stroked down his back before settling on his arse and Tony sighed happily. He reached down between them to cup Jai’s erection through the soft leather trousers he wore. Jai pressed into his hand, thinking that he should have worn looser fitting clothes; his trousers were growing uncomfortably tight.
    The sound of footsteps alerted them seconds before a man in the club’s uniform of black and white came in. Both of them froze but he didn’t see them moving across the room and picking something up and leaving. Tony snickered softly as he left, resting his forehead against Jai’s.
    “Think we should get back to the others?”
    “I suppose,” Jai said reluctantly. One hand to the back of Tony’s head, he pulled the man in for another kiss before they went back out into the main club.
    As he walked past the bar he stopped, turning. He could have sworn he recognised the man seated on one of the high stools at the far end. Suddenly, the man turned, his eyes widening in horror as his gaze settled on Jai. Abandoning his drink, he fled.
    “What the…?”
    Tony was also looking toward the bar. “Who’s that?” His eyes widened and he grinned. “Was that the bloke you’ve been chasing? I thought you said he wasn’t into this scene.”
    He’s not , Jai thought, watching Dane disappear out of the door.
    “Tony, I’ll catch up with you in a minute,” he said as he pushed through the crowd to follow. “Don’t mention this to the others, okay?”
    “Dane?”
    Just outside, Jai caught up with Dane, grabbing his arm to stop him from running.
    “Let me go, please,” he begged, his voice trembling.
    Jai shook his head. “Dane, calm down. I just wanted to say hi; I thought I’d recognised you. Listen, Dex is inside with a few friends; you could come and join us if you wanted.”
    “No!” Dane squirmed out of his grip and began to back away. “Oh, God, you can’t tell him you saw me.”
    Dane’s uneasy glance slid to the bouncer on the door and Jai took his arm again, steering him out of hearing range.
    “If that’s what you want, then I never saw you.” Dane nodded. “But whatever is going on, you know you can talk to me, don’t you? Any time, just give me a call.”
    As soon as he released Dane’s arm, the man turned on his heel and walked away; he couldn’t have moved much faster if he had run. Jai watched him leave before going back inside. What the hell had Dane been doing in a gay bar? Well, he could think of a few things, but none of them fit with the straight-laced—emphasis on the straight —image of Dane he had in his head. There was definitely more to it than that; Dane had looked too worried about Dex finding out he was there when Jai mentioned it.
    “What was all that about?” Tony asked as he got back to the bar.
    Jai shrugged his shoulders. “Thought I recognised someone, but I was wrong.”
     
    * * * *
     
    The following day, Jai was already at his desk when Dane slipped quietly through the door. Jai attempted to speak to him a couple of times, but Dane carefully avoided him, not even meeting his gaze. Eventually, as they left for the day, Jai cornered him. He waited until everyone else had gone and they were alone in the office.
    “So, are you going to avoid me forever?”
    Dane kept