“I see,” Dr. Richardson said. “Did Laura and you do it again?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It felt off. Was... unsatisfying.” It was. Despite coming, it had been the least satisfying orgasm in his life. Hollow. Afterward, Sage felt uneasy and dirty, and he couldn’t quite meet Laura’s eyes. She hadn’t said anything, but there had been wariness and discomfort on her face ever since.
“Have you considered visiting him in prison?”
Sage gripped the armrest. “What for?”
“To get some closure, perhaps. How did you part?”
Sage worried his lip. “Not well. He... He ignored me in the last couple of days before my release.” And it threw him off balance. Badly. More than Sage let it show. He had told himself he was glad, but it was strange not to have Xavier’s hands all over him. Xavier hadn’t touched him for two days, but when Sage was about to leave, Xavier grabbed him and slammed their mouths together, the kiss punishing, angry and cruel. Sage just parted his lips, held on and clung. Xavier was actually the one to shove him away with a rough, “Get the fuck out, Blue Eyes.”
The memory made him more than a little uncomfortable. It made his stomach ache.
“Did you feel happy when you parted?” Dr. Richardson asked.
Sage looked down. “Sure.”
“Sage,” Dr. Richardson chided him.
“What do you want me to say?” he snapped, looking up. “That I wanted to stay and spend my entire life being fucked in the ass by my cellmate?”
“If it’s true, yes,” she said calmly, not at all fazed.
Sage laughed, the sound sharp and humorless.
He laughed and couldn’t stop laughing.
“I don’t know,” he said when the laughter died in his throat. “The prison fucked with my head in more ways than one. You have no idea what it was like. He—he was the only thing that kept me grounded. The only real thing. But I hated it. Hated how he made me his thing. I didn’t want it. I was a normal guy. I was normal. I wasn’t the sort of guy who couldn’t sleep without being used by another guy.” Sage felt his cheeks heat up as soon as he said that.
But Dr. Richardson didn’t even bat an eye. “I see,” she said, writing something in her notebook. “Did he... use other inmates?”
Sage pressed his lips together. “No.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Sage smiled crookedly. Because he spent most of the time inside me. “You don’t know what prison life is like. Everyone knows everything. I was the only one he touched.”
Dr. Richardson cocked her head and studied him. “If you ever meet him again, what would you do?”
Sage stared at her. “I... I don’t know. I guess I’ll just ignore him. I’m normal now. I’m back to my normal life. I’ll just ignore the asshole. Not that it matters—I doubt I’ll ever see him again.”
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
* * *
Sage headed home later than usual that evening. It was getting dark already, and he quickened his steps. The district wasn’t the safest part of the city even in broad daylight, and after a year in prison, he still felt a bit uneasy in the dark.
Sage chose to go through the park—it was the shortest way home—but soon enough, he regretted it. The park was dark and quiet, with various lampposts dimly lighting the path. No one was around.
Except he felt watched.
It made his skin crawl.
Sage started walking faster.
His heart sped up when he heard footsteps behind him. He couldn’t walk any faster without breaking into a run, so he kept waking, telling himself not to be ridiculous. A year in prison hadn’t turned him into a pussy, dammit. He could look after himself.
“Hurrying home to your little girlfriend?”
Sage came to an abrupt halt. His blood pressure rose, his pulse skyrocketed and his heart started to pound. He stood, unmoving, as the footsteps approached him.
Then, he slowly turned around.
He was as tall and broad-shouldered as Sage remembered. His dark hair was a bit longer. He was unshaven. It was surreal to see him again.
Xavier stopped a few feet away. Sage couldn’t read his expression well as Xavier’s dark eyes roamed all over him.
Sage crossed his arms over his chest. “How… how did you escape from prison? How did you find me?”
“I didn’t escape,” Xavier said, his expression impossible to read. “And what makes you think I was looking for you?”
Sage scoffed. “Yeah, and our meeting is just a coincidence. Right.”
Xavier lifted his hand and took Sage’s chin, gripping it hard. A shiver went up Sage’s spine. Xavier raised his eyebrows with a mocking smile. “You were just one of several toys I had over the six years I was in prison. You’re nothing special, Blue Eyes.”
Sage opened his mouth and closed it before scowling. “Good. Why do you think I care? We aren’t in prison anymore. It’s over. I’m straight.”