"He's such a bastard!"

Vince smiled fondly out across the dance floor to where Stuart was grinding between the two hottest men in Babylon.

"Yeah." He agreed mildly. "I know."

Alexander huffed. "I saw silver shirt boy first, what a twat!"

Vince hummed in agreement, still watching Stuart.

"I know 'e's a hottie, Vince, but why d'you put up with this shit? Why don't you ever just tell him to fuck off?"

Vince tore his eyes away from Stuart to look at Alexander in genuine surprise at such a suggestion.

"You've clearly never had him!" Nathan laughed from Alex's other side.

"You… you don't understand…" Vince attempted.

"I know, s'why I'm asking. So come on… why?"

"Because…" Vince looked over the crowds towards Stuart again to find him looking up at him. Stuart was watching him. He was writhing his perfect body between those two gorgeous men and looking right into Vince's eyes. Smouldering at Vince, truth be told. Vince gave him a small smile back, as though something secret was passing between them, something only they understood. "Because he's Stuart Alan Jones." Vince said simply. "And I love him."

Alexander snorted and flounced off, leaving Nathan looking at Vince as though he had just announced he was straight. Vince just kept his eyes on Stuart, oblivious to Nathan's amazement. Glancing back at the three men dancing, Nathan watched in confusion as Stuart raised an eyebrow questioningly at Vince, pausing his dancing, his body suddenly frozen, standing completely still in the middle of the dance floor. He held Vince's gaze, one arm around each of his conquests, but with his hands lifted off them, ready to let go. Vince smirked, actually smirked at Stuart. He waited a few agonising seconds and Stuart's boys started to pull back and ask him what was the matter. Stuart's eyes never left Vince's. Nathan glanced between them and gasped as something like comprehension dawned. Stuart was asking. He was asking Vince. Vince just smiled a little more at Stuart and gave him a small nod. That famous, obscene grin spread across Stuart's face. He winked at Vince and gripped the two men tight again, started moving again, head thrown back, eyes closed, thrusting and grinding between them, pushing up towards one and then back against the body of the other. It was the hottest thing Vince had ever seen.

Vince was essentially shy, completely unaware he was just as gorgeous as his best friend, lacking the confidence to just walk up and take whomever he wanted the way Stuart did. And being quite reserved sexually, Vince liked watching. In fact, what he liked watching more than anything, was Stuart. Nobody would understand their arrangement if the two of them were ever to attempt an explanation, but Stuart did not do this just for his own sexual gratification. Stuart also did this for Vince. To impress him. To please him. To show him he had the power over something as powerful and beautiful as Stuart. To let him know Stuart loved him, respected him, because had Vince shaken his head, Stuart would have dropped those guys instantly and returned to his side. Vince knew he would. But he would never deny Stuart his pleasure, his need. Not without very good reason.

Nathan gaped back and forth between the two of them as Vince pressed his groin uncomfortably close to the balcony barrier, obviously hiding a huge erection.

"Are you two?" Nathan began falteringly. "Did you just… Did Stuart just…"

"Mind your own business." Vince replied, smiling. And he looked so happy that Nathan could not help but smile himself. He turned away, shaking his head in disbelief. He knew he had underestimated Vince, but he would never have thought it possible that Stuart, with all his wild behaviour, the king of Canal Street, was under Vince's secret control.

Of course Nathan did not know the full story, how could he. How could he know that Vince sometimes joined Stuart with his shags for threesomes, and not uncommonly foursomes, which Vince actually preferred as there was never a risk of anyone being left out. Usually, though, Vince watched Stuart seduce other men in front of him and then went home alone to wank off over the thought of what he knew Stuart was doing at the very same time. He got off on the bittersweet pain of it all, and the fact that he was the one granting Stuart permission. Stuart had to ask, and he had to say yes, or it did not happen. What Nathan would never know, however, was that on those nights, Vince was not alone for long. Stuart would satisfy his need for the thrill of the chase and his lust for the new, shag the guy blind then chuck him out and call Vince, go home to him, or let him into the loft. And then, with both their fantasies sated, they would cuddle up together in the dark, kissing and stroking and talking for hours, before the intimacy and the love just melded them together, Stuart slowly sinking inside of Vince, holding him tenderly, worshipping him with his body, or gasping as Vince entered him carefully, moving gently, touching him the way only Vince knew how, silencing his moans with his tongue in Stuart's mouth.

What they shared was not fucking or shagging, it was much deeper than that. It was not the lovemaking of a faithful couple either, it was something special, something different. Something which existed only between the two of them. And something which only worked because of their unique understanding of each other. Stuart could not be monogamous, not yet. He needed other men. He desired none as much as Vince, though, which meant he was willing to give up anyone at Vince's command. There was complete trust between them. Stuart was totally honest, would never do anything without Vince's knowledge, or take anyone that Vince did not allow him to. Vince had other men too, whenever he wished. He never asked Stuart's permission, because Stuart did not need him to. Afterwards, he would share his experiences with Stuart over a beer in Via Fossa, just as they had always done, two friends discussing their sex lives. Stuart would laugh mercilessly at his misadventures, and get excited by Vince's descriptions of the times when it was good. Truly, Vince just wanted Stuart, loved him, burned for him every second of every minute of every day, but he also accepted him as he was, and would never try to force him to change. He basked in the awareness that he was the only person on Earth Stuart Jones actually gave a shit about. The only person Stuart's cock touched with an emotion deeper than lust attached. The secrecy surrounding their special arrangement was not a problem for him either. It was private, just for them, nothing to do with Hazel or Nathan or Alexander or any of Stuart's shags. Vince knew he had the best of Stuart, the startling tenderness shown only to him, and the knowledge that he could stop Stuart, if he really wanted to, was enough. That was good enough for Vince.