Balls in a Vice

My throat had gone dry.

My first kiss, my first crush, my first fuck, was standing in the room looking at me with those ice-cold eyes I could have sworn I had fallen in love with.

I couldn't speak. Luckily Dara jumped in for me, raising her arm to indicate Robert to everyone still sitting saying;

"Marketing guys you'll recognize Mr. Leeves of Lee Enterprises here to be your team leader when Alex isn't around."

As everyone turned to look at Robert, Dara twisted to me and quickly slapped me under my chin, effectively making my mouth close with an audible 'clack'. While everyone else had been looking at Robert though, he had been looking at me. A cruel twist of his lips let me know he had seen and was aware of every thought in my mind in this moment. I felt naked, but soon my duty to this team bubbled forth from me and before I knew it I was directing everyone like a real team leader.

"So for today I'm going to get us all to split into our respective groups, Marketing with Leeves, Engineering with Gabrielle, Architecture with me. We'll meet up again in a few hours to collaborate. And just so you all know; Ms. Pierce here is the real boss." I joked with a bow to Dara before taking my team to the largest table in the centre of the room with my name on a small plaque at the top.

I laid it flat before getting everyone to sit around it.

"Okay so you guys are my main focus group here. I need us to be as comfortable with one another as if we had all seen each other naked, so everyone strip off the masks and let's get down to the real us because we're not going to make history if we're not all in." A few of them looked frightened and others had an air of respect about them so I knew I'd have to work a little harder to break down their walls.

"I'm Alex, my biggest fear is rejection and my defining moment was ..." I had to stop myself, I had almost said I was gay out to all of them. My defining moment was when I had come out to my friends and family; when I knew who was true and who was not, it was imprinted on my mind for ever, but sharing that now, here, when I was supposed to be the keystone of this operation, it just didn't seem appropriate.

"My defining moment was when I was asked to do this I think." the table laughed and then we went around and everyone shared something;

"I'm Moneen. My biggest fear is heights, as you can tell I haven't looked out one of these windows yet." The table laughed again, "And my defining moment was when I found out I was pregnant."

"I'm Jeremy, my biggest fear is failure and my defining moment is when I first saw the Vatican." Agreement flowed around the group.

"Je m'appelle Claudé, ma plus grande crainte a ma coupure de voiture en bas dans les heures d'affluence, et mon moment définissant devrait est quand Julie a consenti à m'épouser."

(My name is Claudé, my biggest fear is having my car break down in rush hour, and my defining moment would have to be when Julie agreed to marry me.)

Julie beside him giggled and covered her mouth, unknowingly showing the ring on her fourth finger there. "Je m'appelle Julie." she rolled her eyes with a 'duh' look before continuing, "Ma plus grande crainte est des araignées et des souris, et mon moment définissant était quand j'ai été demandé d'être une partie d'une équipe avec l'Alex Givet infâme!"

(My biggest fear is spiders and mice, and my defining moment was when I was asked to be a part of a team with the infamous Alex Givet!)

I almost fell off my chair when half of the team sighed or jealously said they wished they had used that as their answer. How the hell had I become so popular?! True I had designed several buildings around the world but really? Was he this popular already?

The team continued on;

"I'm Randolph, my biggest fear is purgatory, and my defining moment was exploring Jerusalem." I tried not to feel uncomfortable about this answer, but couldn't help it when Randolph chose to look straight at me as he said it. I was suddenly glad for hiding my sexual orientation, at least for now.

"I'm Onua, my biggest fear is running out of ramen in the world," the table laughed loud and hard, "My defining moment was winning an award for a building I designed in Japan." I nodded approvingly, Onua was my equal in every way and I knew now there was no animosity for me getting the team leader position between us.

"My name is Tyler, but please call me Quinn, my defining moment was the first time I met my partner, we were both in Times Square for New Years Eve when our eyes met from across the courtyard, and we just... knew." Almost everyone 'awwe'd. I smiled, a little disappointed in myself for not having the balls to do what Quinn had just done, and started to listen to his biggest fear when suddenly my eyes caught those ice-blue ones from across the room and the only noise in my ears was the rushing of blood as my heart skipped into double-time. Robert just smirked and looked back to his team, diving straight back into conversation.

I tried to listen to Stacy's and Bruno's introductions but their words flew by as I tried to figure everything out.

How did this man still make me feel like a teenager? In one moment he had me hard for him, and another he make me want to sink into depression. And he had only be reintroduced into my life again for an HOUR.