John’s voice echoed in his head as he touched himself, beautiful and erotic. It only took him a minute to come.

Zack’s orgasm was completely unsatisfying. He stroked himself through it, catching his come in his hand. When he was finished, Zack let his head fall back against the cold wall and thought, I am so fucked.

“All right, Hall, spill. You’ve stalled long enough.”

“Really, Lex, there’s nothing to tell. He’s just a regular dude. Granted, one who happens to spend his evenings calling sex hotlines, but who are we to judge?”

Alexa dragged on her cigarette before responding, “I don’t buy it. The guy called you every night this week. He refused to speak with anyone else when it was your day off, and he stayed on the phone with you for hours. You can’t be having normal phone sex. So tell me, what’s he into? Is it horrible? Is that why you won’t talk about it? Is it too weird to even speak of?”

Zack puffed irritably on his own cigarette. “He’s not a freak, I swear. He’s a regular guy.”

“Does it involve toys? Baked goods? Phallic produce?”

“Alexa, seriously, he’s into some power play, maybe even a little exhibitionism, but otherwise he’s totally vanilla. He’s kind of like a perpetual first-timer.”

“How does that even work?”

Zack made a vague gesture toward himself. “He wants the Boyfriend Experience. He always asks me about my day, how Ziggy is, if I’m enjoying myself when we role-play, that sort of thing. It’s sweet.” Zack cleared his throat. “You know, if you’re into that sort of thing. He wants companionship.”

Alexa looked thoughtfully up at the streetlight they were standing under. It bathed her triangular face in waxen yellow light. “I dunno, it sounds like he’s trying to woo you.”

“No,” Zack objected. “Nothing like that. He’s just talkative is all. Or maybe curious. I think he comes from money.” Zack affected a terrible upper-crust accent and said, “He’s probably unaccustomed to consorting with the lower classes.” He held an invisible monocle up to his eye. “I say, old sport, fancy a trip to the bordello?”

Alexa snorted. “Come on, Zack, be serious. It wouldn’t be the first time a client got overly attached to one of us.”

“Well, Colette told me I have to give John whatever he wants, so I’m guessing that’s her plan.”

“Jesus, she’s really invested in this client of yours. Or, at least, she’s invested in keeping his money around. I wouldn’t be surprised if John totally falls for you.”

Zack snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“No, seriously, with you giving him the royal treatment, it’s a matter of time. Plus, your fake persona has this sexy, dangerous vibe to it. Like Wesley Darkling is going to star in the next big action movie. No doubt your client is eating it up. Out of curiosity, how’d you pick that name?”

“Wesley was a guy I had a crush on when I was a kid, and Darkling is from some poem I read in college.”