Wrestling for Top: Part 5

Excerpt

Wrestling for Top, Part 5
Jack Stevens © 2016
All rights reserved

Terry and Doug spent the best part of the following morning not talking about what had happened in the dungeon. Mark had gone on ahead in his camper van to cross the border into Switzerland and secure their next booking. With Baz, Jonesy, and Eric chatting blithely about everything and nothing as the rest of the posse drove to meet him in their mini coach, the older man and the younger sat in uncomfortable silence. When they stopped at a service station and the guys hopped out, Terry and Doug pointedly remained behind, the moment to talk having obviously arrived. Even so, a couple of minutes passed before either of them could bring himself to speak, and just as Terry had decided it was ridiculous and he was going to open the conversation, Baz leaped back into the bus and the moment was lost. It was only when they came to the second service station after having crossed the border and stopped for lunch that Terry and Doug finally found themselves seated at a small table in a café. Baz had gone in search of the video games he loved, and Eric and Jonesy haunted vainly for what they called a ‘proper English breakfast’.

This time, it was Doug who went first. “You’re a twat!” he said.

Terry opened his mouth to instantly rebuff the comment and closed it again. He had been a twat. “Thanks,” he said at last. It could have been sarcasm; it could have been genuine gratitude for Doug’s having got him out of a messy situation.

“Do you have any idea what those two could have done to you?”

Terry shifted on his seat. Sitting for too long was literally an uncomfortable reminder of Dieter’s handiwork.

“Those two are into some serious deep shit. It’s a nasty scene.”

“You seemed to be enjoying it right enough.” The words were spoken before he had thought them through, and Terry regretted them instantly. But they were out now, and his pride was too stung for him to take Doug’s haranguing without some comeback, deserved though it was.

Doug went very quiet. That was never a good sign. “What do you mean?” he asked eventually.

“We… I… saw you. Afterwards. I thought you might have needed…rescuing.”

Doug sat, staring into the cup of milky coffee in front of him. “It had to be…sorted,” he said finally.

“Yeah, they both looked well and truly ‘sorted’ by the time you’d finished with them. Especially Kurt. Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so ‘sorted’ in my life.” Terry leaned in closer to the man he’d thought he’d known so well. “So, are you into that scene? Y’know, dungeons and…”

“Don’t! Just…don’t go there, Terry.” Doug picked up the coffee cup, clasping it as if for warmth, and Terry was astonished to see that his hands were actually shaking. “In the past, I got…involved with things I wish to hell I hadn’t. That’s how I knew what those two last night were like. That’s how I knew what had to be done.”

You could have walked away. You didn’t have to fuck them. Showing unusual wisdom, Terry stayed silent.