Jack Hamilton

Apologies for the delay in posting this part, I got a little distracted moving into a new house. But finally, here it is, the final chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Feel free to let me know any thoughts and feedback at matterotica@hotmail.co.uk

Once again, thank you for al the love and support throughout the story, it's been truly wonderful to see how much you have enjoyed this story.

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Chapter 20

SIX MONTHS LATER

Jack sat in the same chair he always chose. As was often the case, he was reluctant to start talking as Dr Stanton looked at him expectantly.

Getting no response from the eighteen-year-old, Dr Stanton relaxed back in his seat and smiled warmly. "Well why don't we start off easily, Jack. Why don't you tell me how you're feeling today."

Jack sighed. His eyes were fixed downward, concentrating intently on his own thumbs as they moved around each other. He never knew why he always found this so hard. Every week his sessions started like this, a reluctance, avoidance even, but always he opened up to the man and every week felt a little better for it. "Okay I s'pose," he replied with a shrug, eyes still down.

"Go on," Dr Stanton urged him.

Jack let his eyes flick up for just a moment at the Doctor, before going straight back down. He shrugged again. "Nothing... bad has happened. I guess that's a good thing."

"It is," Dr Stanton replied with a nod. "So tell me something good that's happened this week," he requested.

"I... erm..." Jack started, then froze. Squeezing his eyes closed for a moment, he took a deep breath and looked straight at the Doctor. "I spoke to my Dad, properly, about... the things he does... you know, for fun."

"Tell me more," the Doctor urged gently.

Jack let his eyes wander round the room. He was getting used to Dr Stanton's office. It was specifically designed to be comforting, he thought. It felt like a nice place, completely different from the sterile white blankness that made up most of the medical centre's rooms. What he liked the most was the range of seats available. He had sometimes wondered whether there was a reason for it, perhaps some psychological test by the therapist where he could gain an insight into a patient's mind simply by the seat they chose. Or perhaps not, perhaps the Doctor simply had eclectic taste and liked variety on his décor.

"I didn't tell him how I knew, or that I was in there with him that time, that didn't feel like something that would make him feel at ease talking to me about it," Jack said, wondering if the Doctor could tell it was more to avoid his own embarrassment. "But I said I knew him and Davis used the club. I mean, Davis explained some of it to me before, that Dad went because he enjoyed doing things with men, but wanted to remain happily married, but I kinda wanted to hear Dad explain it himself."

The Doctor was nodding along, giving occasional sounds of approval or understanding.

"Apparently he had known he was bisexual since him and Mom met. He'd always been honest about it with her about it and as they went along, they decided to let him explore that side of himself, but with her knowledge. Apparently Mom said she'd rather let him do those things and be happy than suppress them and end up in a miserable marriage. Turns out Mom's into some stuff too, but I think that's a conversation for another day. Davis started going with him not long after he turned eighteen, after he told Dad that he was bi-curious too. I was quite relieved to find out they don't do stuff actually WITH each other, it's like one of the rules of their group."

Jack paused, realising how much he had been talking. He smiled. Dr Stanton just had a knack of bringing it all out of him. Their rapport had taken some time to build, but now that the trust was there, Jack truly appreciated it.

"And did you tell you Dad about your own sexuality?" Dr Stanton asked gently. He knew it was a tense question. It had taken Jack quite some time to come to terms with it himself, initially truly despising himself for even thinking about it. Now though, he had finally begun to be able to refer to himself as bisexual, even if it was only inside that room and maybe to a few others he truly trusted.

Jack nodded. "Dad laughed," he said with a grin. "He said it's gotta be hereditary. We joked about whether or not Willis was gonna be bi too! It was nice though, he did the usual stuff you hear about with these things, told me he loved me anyway, said I'd always be his son, hugged me. It was... honestly, it was mostly a relief."

"I'm glad you've taken that step and I'm especially glad it went so well for you. Does it put you a little more at ease with yourself?" the Doctor asked.

Jack shrugged, looking thoroughly remorseful. "In a way, yes, you know, it's a weight off my shoulders to have told him, but in another way... it's worse!"

Dr Stanton, shifted slightly in his seat, eyes narrowing slightly. "How so?"

"Well being..." Jack paused, sighed then steeled himself to go on. "Being bisexual and... and knowing it's okay, that it's not wrong or disgusting or unacceptable... it just makes me feel worse that I spent so long hurting other people for it. I think... maybe the reason I let myself become that way, why I let myself so willingly accept the role of... of... school bully...I think it was because I could see part of myself in them and... and..." Jack's voice cracked and the words stuck in his throat.

"It's okay Jack, you're doing well. Don't force yourself to go on if you're not ready," the Doctor said empathetically.

Jack cleared his throat, nodded and insisted, "No, I'm okay!" He say up in his seat and took a few deep breaths, calming himself.

"I could see that side of me in them and I was so scared of it that I just let myself lash out at them. I... I hurt people because it was easier than dealing with what was inside!" Jack said. He knew that if he had reached this conclusion, then Doctor Stanton was likely already aware of it too, he was the professional after all, but he had always been encouraged to say the things he was thinking in their sessions. Simply saying the words was often a step in the healing process.

The Doctor remained silent a little longer, allowing Jack to calm himself once more. He had quickly learned that pushing Jack too hard when he was making progress like this often undid the good work. In fact, he rarely had to do much of anything at all, once Jack began opening up in a session, he would generally just keep talking himself through his issues. He finally broke the silence. "So with that in mind, Jack, I was wondering if we could touch on something you mentioned several weeks back. You've done really well so far and I think you've got a good understanding of your own actions by now, but you did mention before that you thought, at least on some level, that you deserved the things that were done to you? Could you maybe think about if those feelings have changed?"

Jack folded his arms and stared down at the ground, letting his mind run back over the things Elliott, Ben and the others had done to him. "They were right!" he said in barely more than a whisper.

The Doctor looked concerned at the comment but remained silent, letting the young man continue to process his thoughts.

"In a way, at least," Jack added. Arms still folded defensively, he forced himself to look up at the older man. "I mean, they were right to stop me. I was out of control, I was hurting other people as much as I was hurting myself. But... how they did it... that was wrong!"

Doctor Stanton nodded his understanding, prompting Jack to go on.

"I mean, I gotta admit that in a lot of ways, I've come out this side of things... I dunno, not happier, but at least... more myself and in the long run I'll likely be stronger for it, but they were still wrong. They shouldn't have done what they did!"

By the time the session finished, Jack felt emotionally drained. He wandered out of the medical centre almost in a daze. So distracted by his own exhaustion, he barely heard someone call out his name from behind him. He looked round and his face lit up.

"Wait for me!" Felix called after him, running up behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked, grinning broadly.

"Thought I'd surprise you. You always say how you can feel a bit weird after you've seen the doc, so I figured I'd come and see you. I thought you might wanna do something, but even if you just wanna go home, some company could be nice!" Felix explained with a sweet smile.

Jack leant towards him, kissed him on the cheek with a quick "Thank you," then wrapped his arms around him. Since his ordeal ended, Felix had been a rock for him. He had been there when nobody else was, listened when there was nobody else to talk to and probably seen Jack cry more times than he would ever care to admit. Jack had eventually shared with Felix the details of what had been done to him. Doing so had been almost as helpful as talking to Dr Stanton about it. That meant that aside from a medical professional, he was the only person who knew everything that hadn't been directly involved in it. It helped cement the growing bond between the two young men.

Despite the circumstances that had taken Jack to the club in the first place, he had actually continued going there willingly, but almost exclusively with Felix. Their shows together on the stage always drew a large crowd, mostly as they quickly progressed past simply stripping and put on a much more erotic show than most of the other dancers were willing to. Jack had been a little more cautious about his activities in the 'other' areas of the club. He had taken part a few times, again normally paired with Felix, but they were much less often.

"So whadda you wanna do?" Felix asked, strolling down the street with his arm casually around Jack's shoulders.

Jack had been initially uncomfortable with Felix's tendency towards physical contact, especially when they were in public, but by now he had gotten used to it and found the twenty-one-year-old's touches strangely calming. "Can we just go grab a drink. I don't think I'm up to much else!" Jack said, smiling but clearly tired.

"Sure thing," Felix said happily.

There was a coffee shop just a few minutes walk from the medical centre, so the two young men slowly made their way there. Jack had been ordered to take a seat as soon as they arrived. Before he could even say what he wanted, Felix had already said it. Jack just smiled and relaxed... for a few minutes at least. As he let his gaze wander around the room, his eyes fell on an unpleasantly familiar figure.

"There ya go," Felix said cheerfully as he placed Jack's drink down on the table. He frowned as he saw Jack's expression. "Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly as he sat down.

Silently, Jack raised his hand and pointed. Felix looked where Jack was pointing, seeing a somewhat bulky young man, sitting with his back to them. "That's Bryce!" Jack said, visibly shaken.

"Come on," Felix said, standing up, "We should go!"

Jack refused his head, remaining in his seat. "No. I..." he started, pausing to take a deep breath. "I don't wanna spend the rest of my life scared I'll run into one of them again!"

Felix glanced round at Bryce, barely concealing his anger. After he had found out everything that had happened, he had first wanted to go and kick their asses and after that, insisted Jack report them to the police. Jack had somehow managed to convince him to do neither.

"They're not worth the trouble you'd get into if you hurt them," Jack had told Felix at the time. "And I don't think they're a danger to anyone else, so reporting them to the police won't do anything other than bring it all back up!"

Felix had accepted Jack's argument at the time, but that little seed of anger had remained inside him and he could feel it growing now that one of the culprits was nearby. He couldn't believe anyone would ever want to hurt Jack. It didn't matter that his new friend had explained what a vile person he had been in the years leading up to it, and Jack had been most emphatic in expressing his own guilt. To Felix, the 'punishment' had been infinitely worse than the alleged crime.

Sitting reluctantly down, Felix looked at Jack and asked, "So is this the first time you've seen him?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. That night in the park I just walked away, blocked their numbers, unfriended them on facebook and moved on. After my brother told them to stay away, they did!"

There was a sudden laugh from across the room, one that both delighted and terrified Jack at once. He recognised it as Ben instantly. He leaned to the side and just about made out a slight flash of ginger on the opposite side of Bryce.

"Ben's there too!" Jack said, now beginning to shake.

"You sure you don't want to go?" Felix asked, tilting his head sympathetically.

Jack shifted forward in his seat as if to stand up. "I'm gonna go talk to them," he said nervously.

"Want me to come with you?" Felix asked with a concerned frown.

Jack smiled. Felix really cared for him. Sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve it. He was past the point where he believed that the things that had been done to him had been deserved, but it was much harder to come to terms with the things he had done to others over the years. He still felt at times like having someone as wonderful as Felix in his life was entirely unfair considering all the nasty things he had done. Other times, like this, he simply allowed himself to be glad to have him there. "Thanks, but... I need to do this on my own."

"Well I'm always here if you need me!" Felix said, gently grabbing Jack's hand as he stood.

Jack looked down at the hand holding his own, then at Felix and chuckled. "Yeah... you are, aren't you!" He moved away, heading towards Bryce and Ben. "Hi guys," he said quietly as he got near to them.

Ben stared, open-mouthed at Jack's sudden appearance while Bryce shifted in his seat, replying with a nervous, "Hey Jack."

"Mind if I..." Jack said, gesturing to an empty seat at their table.

"Sure," Bryce said, pushing the chair out with his foot.

Ben continued to stare silently.

Jack sat down and looked back and forth between the two teens. "So how've you been?" he asked. It was strange talking to them again. The things they had done to him had been the most traumatic things he had ever been through, but at the same time they had changed his life, mostly for the better.

"We're... we're good," Bryce replied shakily. "How... how are you?"

"I dunno, ask my therapist!" Jack said with a snigger. It was definitely meant to be a joke, but he knew it had not come across that was as he saw the troubled expressions on the faces of the other two.

"Jack, we're... we're really sorry..." Bryce started.

"Save it," Jack said, surprisingly warmly. He actually felt himself smiling. "I know you're sorry, you all are. Same as I know you're aware that what you did was wrong, so I don't need to hear that."

"Then..." Bryce started, unsure how to ask his question without sounding rude, "What do you want?"

"I dunno, I just..." Jack started, but found himself slightly distracted by the ongoing open-mouthed stare from Ben. "I was..." again he felt Ben's eyes burning into him. "Oh for fuck's sake Ben, you look fucking ridiculous!"

Ben was shaken from his shock by the comment, closing his mouth and sitting back in his seat as Jack and Bryce both burst into laughter. The younger boy soon joined them.

"Seriously, Jack, how are you doing?" Bryce asked as the laughter died down.

Jack pouted for a moment, tilting his head to one side then the other as he contemplated the question. "I suppose... all in all... not too bad really. So how about you guys, what are you doing here?"

Bryce and Ben looked suddenly awkward. "We're just hanging out. We... erm... well after you... we just started spending more time together."

"Wait, is this a date?" Jack asked, shocked.

"Erm... I mean I'm single now so it could be..." Ben said nervously, glancing at Bryce.

"It's just... we're just hanging out!" Bryce added.

Jack smirked, sensing the awkwardness. "Wait, what about Elliott?" Jack felt a little concerned as he saw the downcast expressions that washed over the other two teens.

"We broke up," Ben said quietly. "Well... he dumped me. Things have been... tough between us. He just got... I dunno, he got so down and nothing we did helped and eventually he just stopped seeing any of us, even me. Then the other day, he just dumped me, by text message!"

Jack felt a momentary pang of guilt, followed by a surge of annoyance at himself for feeling that way. Although he took no pleasure in Elliott's misery, he found no joy in it either.

"None of us have even seen him for more than a month!" Bryce added.

"Oh," Jack said, not sure how else to respond. "How are the others?" he asked, trying to avoid thinking about Elliott. He had often thought about the injury he had caused to Aaron, but his estrangement from the group meant he couldn't really look into it.

Bryce smiled, immediately recognising the question for what Jack really meant. "Aaron's good. Great actually! He totally recovered from the injury, you'd never even know he was hurt... aside from not being on the team any more!"

"Oh!" Ben said suddenly, grinning, "But he did get a scholarship for college. I dunno what it was, some award about coping with diversity or some crap like that."

"Some crap like that?" Jack asked, smirking. "Clearly paying attention to all the details then!"

"Hey, all I know is he's going to college, do I need any more than that?" Ben asked with a playful shrug.

"Danny's good, but totally over-protective of Aaron now. It's kinda sweet really!" Bryce explained. "Lincoln's... still just Lincoln. Don't think he's been with a guy since... you know... it all ended, but I reckon if he ran out of girls he'd no trouble hitting on all the guys at school too!"

Jack smiled as he listened. He had dreaded this moment, seeing the others, he had built it up in his mind to be some horrific ordeal that would plunge him right back down into the darkest depths of his most depressed days. Instead, he felt wonderfully unburdened by the conversation. "So did you end up taking my place as Captain?" Jack asked. Once again, it was meant to be casual, but came out sounding a little more pointed.

"Erm... well, since it looked like you weren't coming back, I was considering it, but then..." Bryce started, but paused, looking at Ben.

Jack turned to face the boy, who grinned. "Well, you know what you told me about the Coach, about him wanting his Captain be the guy in charge of the whole school... I kinda warned Bryce about it."

"So you didn't do it?" Jack asked, looking round at Bryce in anticipation.

"Actually... I did!" Bryce said with a smirk. When he got a puzzled from from Jack, he elaborated. "Ben came up with an idea. Basically... he bugged me!"

"You what?" Jack asked, looking at the boy in shock.

Ben shrugged casually. "It's no big deal. We just managed to record the Coach basically telling Bryce he needed to bully the gays and keep the minorities in their place!"

"You blackmailed him too?" Jack asked, staring in amazement.

Bryce chuckled and stared at Jack, a slight hint of sorrow in his eyes. "No, we... learned our lesson with that one. We took it straight to the Principal."

"He got fired!" Ben said happily. "Then arrested! Child endangerment, abuse of power, they got him on all sorts of crap!"

"All sorts of crap?" Jack mocked the boy again. "You really have an eye for detail!"

"Hey!" Ben snapped, feigning annoyance. "We took the dick down, isn't that enough?"

Jack smirked and nodded. "I guess it is," he said, standing up. "Look, I'm here with a friend and I should let you two get back to your date, but it was..." he paused, realising what he was about to say felt entirely true. "It was nice to see you!"

"Yeah, you too," Bryce said happily.

"See ya guys," Jack said, giving a small wave as he headed back towards Felix.

"See ya Jack!" Ben called after him.

Jack paused for a moment, staring at Felix who was playing with his phone while sipping his latte. He smiled. Six months ago, this guy had been a stranger, an auditioning stripper in a club he had been forced to attend. Now here he was, Jack's best best, his confidante... his world. He took another few moments to watch him before returning to his seat.

"You okay?" Felix asked as Jack settled back down.

"Yeah," Jack replied, looking thoughtful.

The insightful young man could see something else in Jack's eyes too. Their friendship hadn't been long, but it had been intense and he had gotten to know Jack pretty well by now. His eyes widened slightly as he reached a possible conclusion. He quickly glanced round at the table Jack had just visited, then back to Jack.

"What?" Jack asked with a frown as Felix grinned.

"Nothing," he replied elusively.

Back at the other table, the mood seemed more than a little downbeat. "He seemed like he's doing okay," Ben said with a weak smile.

"Yeah," Bryce said, looking pensive.

"Still feel bad about it?" Ben asked quietly, leaning across to sneak a look at Jack for just a moment.

"Of course I do," Bryce insisted. "He was right, ya know, that night in the park. I kept making out I was helping him, but I was still part of it, I still did those things to him!"

"You gotta stop beating yourself up over it. Sure, you didn't take it far enough, but you really did try to help him. That's more than any of us did. Besides, it looks like Jack's getting past it, why can't you?" Ben asked, frowning.

Bryce shrugged. "I dunno. I guess... I just feel like if I'd done things differently... perhaps me and Jack..."

"But you didn't!" Ben interrupted sharply. "You didn't do things differently. You did what you did and you gotta live with it, same as we all do. Now you gonna wallow in self pity, or get on with your life?"

"When you put it like that, I guess I gotta move on. Speaking of which... Jack's question before, is this... a date?" Bryce asked nervously.

Ben leaned to the side and glanced at Jack again, then looked Bryce up and down. He let out a gentle sigh and replied, "I guess not!"

Jack knew Dr Stanton would have a lot to say about what he was about to do. He could almost hear the older man's words echoing round his head in their next session, but he had to do this anyway. Ever since bumping into Bryce and Ben, he had been distracted by the knowledge of what he had to do.

He waited a few seconds after pressing the doorbell and watched through the frosted glass as a figure approached. The door swung open. "Oh my, hello Jack!" Mrs Farnsworth, surprised to see th youngster on her doorstep.

"Hi Mrs F. Is Elliott home?" Jack asked nervously.

The woman looked concerned at the mention of her son's name. "Yeah he is. But he may not want to see you. He's... I don't know... he's shutting everyone out," she explained.

"I might... be able to help!" Jack said. "Do you mind?" he asked, gesturing to the stairs behind her.

"Of course," she said, stepping aside.

Jack walked past her and headed up the stairs. As he got to Elliott's room and considered knocking, but as he had never done it before he just opened the door and stepped inside. The room was dark, curtains blocking out the daylight.

"Elliott?" Jack asked. He thought he could see a body on the bed but without turning on the light it was hard to make out if it was definitely a person.

"Go away!" a voice snapped angrily from the bed.

"Elliott, it's me... it's Jack!" Jack said, taking a step closer.

The body shot up in the bed, clicking on the lamp. Elliott blinked, eyes adjusting to the light. "Jack, is it... is it really you?"

Jack looked round the room. It was an absolute mess, something he had never seen before from the ultra-neat and organised Elliott. The young man himself looked dreadful. Being blonde, he didn't get the same heavy stubble that Jack or some of the other guys at school had, but he was visibly unshaven, his hair a greasy mess, dark circles under his eyes, dressed only in boxer shorts.

"Elliott, what are you doing?" Jack asked, shaking his head.

"I hurt you!" Elliott said weakly, sniffing back the beginning of tears.

"And I hurt you too!" Jack replied, sitting on the side of the bed. Seeing the state his former best friend was in, hearing the obvious pain in his voice, it almost overwhelmed Jack who felt tears of his own forming.

"Jack, I... I deleted all of it, it's all gone. I'm... I'm so sorry!" Elliott said, bursting into helpless sobs.

"So am I!" Jack said, leaning into Elliott, holding him tightly.

When they parted, Elliott leaned back and Jack stared at him for a moment, then his eyes dropped. He placed his hand on Elliott's lower leg, getting a slight gasp from him. Jack slid his fingers slowly upwards until they came to rest on the scar just below his knee. Looking up again, Jack looked thoroughly remorseful. "I wish I was still that guy for you!" he said, his voice cracking. "But I'm not."

"I know," Elliott said, sniffing as he nodded. "But do you think there's a chance... we could try to be friends again?"

"I'd like that!" Jack said with a warm smile, taking his hand from the scar and placing it onto Elliott's.

Felix was sitting in the dressing room of the club. He had been chatting with a couple of the other dancers, but his attention had been fixed on the clock. Jack was late, which was very much unlike him. Punctuality had always been one of his young friend's better characteristics. When he saw the door open and Jack appear, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Excusing himself from his conversation, he dashed across to greet Jack.

"You're late. Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"I need a hug!" Jack said, leaning forward to rest his head on Felix's shoulder.

Felix wrapped his arms around Jack and squeezed. "What's up?"

Jack sighed, feeling some of the stress melting away as he felt Felix's arms around him. It was amazing how he could do that. Just being near him made everything better. "I went to see Elliott!" he said, barely louder than a whisper.

"Oh my God!" Felix said, suddenly pulling away, eyes wide with shock. "What happened?"

Jack shrugged as he headed over to put down his bag and start getting ready for their show, his friend tagging along close behind. "We talked, we cried, we hugged, more talking, more crying," he said casually.

Felix stroked Jack's bare arm as he pulled off his shirt, getting a warm smile in response. "Everything sorted now?"

"Fuck no!" Jack said, shaking his head. "Gonna take a lot more than one conversation to put things right, but... well it's a step in the right direction as Doc Stanton would say!"

Felix looked towards the stage door, where the act due to go on before them had just headed out. "You don't have to go on if you're not feeling up to it. I can go solo!" Felix offered.

"Nah," Jack said, placing his hand on Felix's hip and staring him in the eye. "I need this!" Their eyes remained fixed for several seconds before Jack turned away to finish preparing. Even though he had been eighteen, and officially legal to work there, for a few months now, Jack had continued wearing his mask. He still liked the anonymity of it. It seemed strange to him that he could still feel terrified of being exposed, yet love stripping on stage. Something seemed different today though. He stared at the mask in his hand, but placed it down before heading towards Felix.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Felix asked, nodding to the mask.

Jack shook his head. "Nope. Fuck it. Let them see me!" he said with a grin. It suddenly seemed silly that he should even be bothered about hiding. So much of the last six months had been spent obsessing over what had happened and why. Quite often his mind went back to that very first night, the way he had gotten naked and ended up in servitude to the others simply because he was scared to be seen. That had been their weapon against him, it was how they had made him their slave. They had the power, but it was power he had given them.

That was power he would never allow anyone else to have. Seeing Ben and how upset he was over his breakup with Elliott, remembering the pain he had caused Aaron, thinking back to the hurtful things he had said to Bryce that last night in the park. So much pain and suffering all because he had allowed his nudity to be used against him. Never again!

As Isaac announced their show, the club erupted into loud cheers, excited to see one of the most popular shows. Jack and Felix always managed to put on a show that was overflowing with pure sexual excitement, although they rarely did anything directly to each other, mostly they just played off of each other, almost flirting.

Tonight though, something felt different. As they danced around the stage, gradually removing more and more of their clothing, Jack's touches lingered just a few beats longer, his movements targeted more at Felix than the crowd.

Once they were down to just a thong, they moved together in the centre of the stage. As Felix stood there, back to the crowd, hands behind his head, Jack moved in front of him. The audience could see Jack's hands on either side of the other man's body, gradually sliding down his sides until they reached the two tearaway parts of Felix's last remaining item of clothing. Peering over the other stripper's shoulder at the crowd, Jack shot them a cheeky smile and yanked the thong off, tossing it aside.

As the crowd cheered, Jack let his hands slide round, cupping Felix's buttocks. He let their bodies press together, much more firmly than usual, rigid cocks touching.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Felix whispered in his ear.

"Something I should have done a long time ago!" Jack said with a grin. He stepped out from behind Felix and moved in front of him.

In perfect synchronisation, the two men span round, coming face to face again, but this time with Jack's back to the crowd. Felix repeated the actions Jack had just taken, teasing his hands down his sides before ripping away the thong.

Both men were now naked, but remained partially concealed. This was where Jack went totally off script. They were supposed to separate, move opposite directions across the stage, teasing the crowd with their rear nudity a little longer before revealing the front. Instead, Jack span on the spot, revealing his erection to the entire club, much to their delight. As he did so, he leant back against Felix, letting the back of his head on the other man's shoulder.

Reaching back with one hand, he turned Felix's head towards his own, then pressed their lips together.

"Jack..." Felix gasped as their lips parted.

"Felix.. I love you!" Jack said, completely ignoring the crowd of men cheering for his naked, exposed body.

Felix smiled and laughed. "No you don't!" he said, kissing Jack again. He danced around him, showing his ass off to the crowd, then leaned again and whispered in Jack's ear, "You get like this with me every time you're trying to avoid something else!"

They moved apart for a moment, kneeling by the side of the stage and allowing the baying men at the front to grab a quick feel of their naked bodies.

"I'm not trying to avoid anything!" Jack insisted as they moved together once more.

"Yes you are. Now finish the routine, have a think then go do something about it!" Felix insisted. He pushed Jack away, the younger man having missed his cue in the music.

Jack kept thinking about Felix's words. Even as their performance grew increasingly erotic, hands on bodies, lips on cocks, orgasms building, Jack's mind raced. What could Felix mean?

The show built to its final end with both men allowed themselves to be stroked to climax by the eager hands of their spectators and Jack was still none-the-wiser. Sweaty, breathless and covered in the remnants of cum that their audience hadn't managed to catch, the two retreated to their post-show shower.

"Okay, what am I trying to avoid?" Jack demanded after a few minutes of awkward silence.

Felix chuckled. He had truly hoped that his young friend would have figured it out on his own, but one thing he knew all too well about Jack was that if you wanted him to figure something out, you had to literally spell it out for him.

Jack's hands were shaking. He hated Felix. Why did he have to tell him about it? He could have quite happily never realised and gone the rest of his life without out... or so he thought. The more he considered it now though, the more sense it made. He had healed a lot in the past few months, but one gap remained, one hole in his life that he hadn't even realised needed to be filled until Felix forced him to.

For the second time that day, he was standing on a doorstep, waiting for an answer that part of him hoped would never come. Had his heart beaten any faster, he worried it might have exploded when he saw the door opening.

"Don't say anything!" Jack insisted as soon as the door opened. "I just need to say this and I'll go away. I made your life hell, you destroyed mine, you tried to help me and I just threw it back in your face. I know it makes no sense and I know I should hate you too much to ever even consider feeling like this, but I don't hate you, I love you. I think... I knew it then too, but I just couldn't bring myself to accept it. But now I can and I love you and I know I've probably left it too long so I've probably ruined it but..."

Bryce lunged forward and placed a finger to Jack's lips silencing him. "Stop talking!" he said gently, then grinned. "I never thought I'd say this, but... I love you, Jack Hamilton!"