Facade

uses an alias to send the tests through.” Nicky didn’t answer right away. It gave Jonas some time to think. All this time since he’d returned from work, Nicky had made him worry that he no longer loved him when the opposite was true.
    Nicky had stayed away from him because he didn’t want to infect him with something and he didn’t know how to tell him they needed to use condoms again for a while. However awkward, Nicky did it to protect him. It only made Jonas love Nicky more.
    Suddenly Nicky shivered. Jonas had slowly managed to get Nicky to relax, and the effects of the alcohol were wearing off.
    “Let’s get you to bed, hey?” Jonas suggested.
    “I….” Nicky sighed as if he needed time to find the right words. “Sleeping next to you is torture right now, Jonas.” Jonas raised an eyebrow.
    “I want you so much, and it gets worse with every passing day.
    I used to go without sex for weeks sometimes and it never bothered me, but after we got together, we—” Nicky’s voice faltered and he sniffed.
    “We were pretty active,” Jonas chuckled. “But we can use condoms for a while, can’t we?”
    “I hate having anything between us.”
    Jonas pulled Nicky closer again. “I know, baby, but we’ll just have to be careful for a while. It’s okay, we’ll make it through. It’ll be just like in the beginning.”
    Nicky nodded, and Jonas felt some of the tension leave his lover’s body. Nicky was still cold, and Jonas managed to persuade him to crawl into bed with him. They kissed and cuddled a bit, but didn’t make love. When Nicky finally fell asleep, Jonas got up again Façade
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    and saw that it was almost dawn. He wrote a note for Tanna, letting her know not to expect Nicky for work that morning, and then got back into bed, cradling Nicky in his arms.
    Although it felt good to hold Nicky close again, sleep evaded Jonas. He realized he was jealous, although he had no right to be. He had the best of both worlds: a lover who adored him and couldn’t keep his hands off him at home, and a job that allowed him to work only a few weeks a year where he got to bed a whole array of men.
    Men who not only looked and felt different, but who liked to indulge their sexual fantasies with him, and Jonas had to admit, some of those fantasies he enjoyed very much.
    Nicky, on the other hand, worked incessantly and had one lover: Jonas.
    So why was Jonas jealous? Why did the idea that another man touched his lover send shivers down his spine? They’d discussed letting Nicky “share” some of Jonas’s experiences, especially after Nicky had shown some interest in Clay and Clay, quite separately, had admitted he wanted a threesome. Jonas’s first thought was that he wouldn’t mind suggesting to Nicky that he be the third man. In fact, the idea had excited him. He’d come close to sharing Nicky with Scott, though Ally had vetoed the idea; yet Jonas wouldn’t have minded that either.
    Jonas realized that he was okay with “sharing” Nicky while he was there, but that what Nicky had done felt like betrayal. Nicky had betrayed the trust they had between them by sleeping with another man on a whim.
    Jonas shook the demons out of his head. It was abundantly clear that Nicky felt remorse, and that it probably wouldn’t happen again. Why would he let something like this spoil what they had together? His relationship with Nicky was the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced and he didn’t want to lose it. Jonas looked at his sleeping lover, the love that had always been between them as strong as ever. It let him relax enough to slowly drift off to sleep.

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    Zahra
    Owens
    THE following weeks were hectic ones. Right after signing the deal to acquire the store, Jonas and Nicky nipped over to London for the medical tests. Jonas got tested along with Nicky, just to help Nicky get over his fear of needles. It hadn’t worked but that hadn’t stopped Jonas.
    Back in Paris, neither of them had time to stress over the test results. Nicky had hired a renowned interior designer for the store and had thrown a major tantrum when the man hadn’t immediately jumped on a plane, so they’d taken a business flight to Milan to meet with him. Jonas, as usual, stayed in the background and amused himself by watching the two men interact. Nicky played the part of the spoiled rotten wild child perfectly and demanded everything be bigger and better than any other store. Andrea Moretti, a short, stocky man who looked