The Law of Attraction

Alec snatched his hand away, glancing around to make sure nobody was paying them any attention. “It’s fine.” His voice was acid, and two patches of colour burned on his cheeks. “Don’t flatter yourself, Mr Piper. Your arse isn’t that special. I simply thought it might be convenient. My mistake.” He picked up his wine glass and drained the contents before standing and pulling on his coat. “I’ll see you on Monday morning. Goodbye.”

Ed watched as Alec stalked away, his broad shoulders military straight. The door swung shut behind him, and he was gone.

Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, Ed let his head droop. He stared at the rings of condensation that his drink had left on the glass table. “Fuck,” he muttered. Had he messed up his chances of succeeding at this job before he’d even got started? He hadn’t done anything wrong, but working with Alec might prove impossible. Maybe he could ask for a transfer to a different team…. But he couldn’t do that without an explanation, and they might not need a temp anywhere else. No, he was just going to have to keep his head down, get through the next few weeks, and avoid Alec as much as he could.

CHAPTER FIVE

Alec hesitated in the street, debating hailing a cab. His whole body was aflame with humiliation and anger. He put his head back and stared into the murky darkness of the city sky. The air was freezing, and a few tiny flakes of sleet stung his face. He took a deep breath and exhaled a muttered, “Fuck.” He felt a little better, so he did it again, louder this time. “Fucking, fuck!”

He set off on foot. If he got tired of walking, he could grab a cab a little closer to home, but this way he might stand a chance of burning off some of the irrational fury boiling in his veins.

The anger was directed at himself, not Ed. How could he have been so stupid? Even if Ed had said yes, it would have been a disaster. Alec had spent years keeping his private life utterly separate from his work. It would be madness to change that now. Thank fuck Ed had his head screwed on, because Alec appeared to be thinking with an organ a few degrees south of his brain.

Arriving at the corner, he paused. One way would take him into the darker streets towards home, the other led towards the bright lights of a district where there were plenty of gay bars and clubs. Places where Alec knew he could click his fingers and get laid ten times over if he wanted. He needed something to try and obliterate thoughts of Ed, to erase this temporary insanity that surged through him like a fever.

The decision made, he turned away from home.

Half an hour later, he was still nursing a single shot of whisky and had lost count of the offers he’d turned down. He was normally fairly choosy, but this was ridiculous, even for him.

There was nothing objectively wrong with any of the guys who’d tried to get his attention tonight, other than the fact that they weren’t Ed. Yet none of them raised even a tiny spark of interest, no matter how attractive they were. Alec was already mortified enough by his actions this evening without adding to it by failing to get it up while some pretty boy sucked his dick. Sighing, he drained his glass and shook his head at the latest twink to sidle up and try to catch his eye. The guy shrugged regretfully and moved on.

If only Alec could do the same with Ed.

The next week passed in a blur of paperwork, meetings, and mind-numbing exhaustion as Alec threw himself into his current project with even more manic energy than normal. He worked his usual long days, went to the gym most evenings after work, and passed out around midnight every night. Yet inappropriate thoughts of Ed still crept into his consciousness, and even into his dreams.

Still furious with himself for letting his guard down, Alec dealt with his anger by taking it out on Ed in the workplace. Always a hard taskmaster and critical of any weakness shown by graduate trainees, Alec was even more ruthless with Ed. He gave him seemingly impossible amounts of work: piles of paperwork to sort and manage, agreements to draft and proof, contracts to review.

Ed rose to every challenge.

He was good; Alec had to admit that. Probably one of the best temps he’d seen in years, but he was damned if he was going to tell Ed. Instead, like the shoemaker in the old fairy story, he kept increasing Ed’s workload, wanting to find the point where he’d break.

On Wednesday evening, James called him out on it.

Ed had worked late that day, not leaving till after seven. Then, just as he was putting on his coat to leave, Alec had given him another massive pile of paperwork to check.