“Gay?” he said, his lips twisting.
“Yes,” Vlad said. “I thought the brat bewitched him. Roman was straight until he met Luke. That’s why I helped Luke return to England behind Roman’s back.”
“It’s not that surprising, you know,” Sebastian said mildly, a little amused by the thought of Luke bewitching a man like Roman Demidov. It was obvious Vlad still subconsciously subscribed to the belief his homophobic uncle had instilled in him—that being gay was a contagious disease. Sebastian tried not to take too much offence. He knew that such deep-rooted beliefs weren’t easy to let go of.
“Luke is very pretty and cute,” Sebastian said. “He’s the perfect twink. He’s exactly the type that can be attractive to straight men. I doubt Roman would have been attracted to...say, someone like me. He does strike me as a mostly straight man.”
“You’re not exactly ugly,” Vlad said gruffly.
Sebastian chuckled. “Thanks, but I’m not cute like Luke. I’m also tall and pretty built—”
“Your face is more beautiful than Luke’s.”
Sebastian’s mouth fell open. He blinked several times, unable to believe he’d heard that right.
“I’m handsome, not cute,” he said, clearing his throat a little. “I don’t look remotely feminine or cute. That’s what I meant. If you find my face attractive, it doesn’t mean a mostly straight man like Roman would.”
There were several seconds of tense silence.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not exactly straight,” Sebastian said carefully. “Surely you’ve realized that by now? I’d say you’re far gayer than Roman is. He barely pings my gaydar—he’s the perfect example of a straight man turning gay for one man—but you...”
“I’m not gay,” Vlad said, very slowly, grinding out every word.
Sebastian thought for a moment before propping himself on his elbow and looking down at Vlad. He couldn’t make out his expression in the dark. All he could see was Vlad’s wide, muscular chest, rising and falling.
Sebastian tried not to stare, but it was hard not to. Fuck, he didn’t understand what was going on with him. He had seen a lot of beautiful bodies in his line of work and was mostly desensitized to them by now. He rarely stopped and stared at them. Why did he suddenly feel like he was sixteen all over again? The embarrassing truth was, his body was completely fixated on Vlad. It tensed with awareness when Vlad was close, his skin tingling and hypersensitive to everything Vlad did, as though he were a silly teenager who had just discovered sex.
Sebastian gave himself a mental kick, told himself to stop acting like a schoolboy with a crush, and said, “Okay, let’s say you aren’t gay. Are you going to pretend you didn’t like the sex yesterday?”
He watched Vlad’s Adam’s apple bob up and down. “It was a mistake. You said so yourself.”
“Yeah, of course it was a mistake, but that’s not what I asked,” Sebastian said mildly. “Didn’t you like fucking me?”
“What kind of question is that?” Vlad said harshly. “I came, didn’t I?”
Sebastian drummed his fingers over his own thigh. “Orgasm is just a physical reaction to stimulation. I don’t have to tell you that not all orgasms are equal.”
“Blyad, what do you want me to say? That I liked fucking you?”
Sebastian noted with interest that Vlad’s accent got thicker the angrier he got.
“I—” he started, but Vlad cut him off.
“You know what I think?” Vlad sat up suddenly and leaned toward him, his hand burying in Sebastian’s hair and yanking his head to the edge of the bed, closer to Vlad’s so that their faces were inches apart.
Sebastian swallowed, his mouth going very dry and his cock hardening again.
“What?” he whispered.
“You keep saying it was a mistake, that I’m a worse mistake than Fletcher, but you can’t let it go. You keep trying to make me admit how much I want you. Why do you care? Are you that conceited?” Vlad tugged at his hair, pulling Sebastian’s face closer. “Or do you have a crush on me or something?”
Sebastian felt his face turn warm.
“I think you do,” Vlad said, pressing his forehead against Sebastian’s. “I think you actually want me to fuck you again, but you’re too ashamed to admit it. You want to provoke me into fucking you and then put all the blame on the bad, mean Russian.”
“Screw you,” Sebastian hissed, his anger coming back in full force. He wanted to hurt Vlad. God, he wanted to hurt him so badly, wanted to make him eat his words and completely humiliate him.
“You can’t even own up to your own actions,” Sebastian said, breathing hard against Vlad’s mouth. “You know why you’re worse than Fletcher? He was a teenager. You’re a grown man. You’re fucking pathetic—”
Vlad shoved him back and slammed their mouths together.
Sebastian bit him. Vlad growled and bit his lip back. Sebastian bit him again, wanting to hurt him. God, it was pure madness, the anger clashing with heady arousal and making his head spin with contradictory wants. He wanted to kill Vlad, wanted to strangle him, wanted to fuck him and be fucked, hard and dirty, until neither of them could remember their names.