thomas lodge
patreon
Only Temporary - Chapter 01
🕑 Added 2025-02-09 11:00:04 +0000 UTCONLY TEMPORARY
Chapter 1: White Shirt
I met Joshua Dawson in college but we were not really part of the same circles.
We were friendly but we were not friends.
He was spending most of his time with his teammates and hanging around with the popular jocks, while I was better off with the girls and the gays from the drama club.
Still, I had always thought of Josh as one of the decent guys.
I never caught him saying a gay slur and he was pretty faithful to his girlfriend at the time.
When all his mates were fucking around, Josh was staying on his lane.
I am certain that it was not for lack of demands since he was one of the hottest guys on campus.
In all fairness, his good looks were the main reason why I remembered him so well about ten years later.
I had followed what he had become from afar, we had seen each other once or twice in the years following our graduation, but by 2025, I had lost track of where he was.
That was until I had a video call with Sabrina Barthel.
She was the head of internal communications at one of the largest marketing firms in the country, - which is to say, she was in charge of marketing the marketing firm -, and she had reached out to me following my work at another, yet smaller, agency.
I was a freelance consultant helping companies reduce their environmental impact.
Basically, I would spend a few months in their offices advising them and designing tools and processes so they could limit the carbon footprint of their daily operations.
I initially decided to follow this path because I really care about the cause, but I have to say that over the years, I realized that most of the time, companies wanted to "show" their clients that they were green, rather than make substantive changes.
Hence, why I was not surprised that the person in charge of the reputation of the firm was the one contacting me.
Fairly quickly in the interview, I understood that Sabrina Barthel had no interest in the environment whatsoever but she was very into having my name alongside a list of “every action taken by YourVeryBestMarketing (YVBM) towards sustainability” attached to their website.
I was not thrilled by another bullshit mission on the other side of the country so I quoted fees which were well above my usual rates.
Generally, my missions involved temporary relocation for the time necessary to complete the job, which further justified my unwillingness to accept any random project coming my way.
Surprisingly, though, Sabrina Barthel was keen to agree to my proposal right away.
Her only condition was that I would accept a role limited to recommendations and that I should focus solely on “reasonable actions without any significant impact on the company’s budget, processes, profitability, cost-effectiveness…”
In short, I had to accept that I would have no real power of action and be paid a fortune to do nothing.
“Given your rates, we’re thinking a couple months mission should be feasible for us.” She spoke.
Why two months? Why not just one or a full year? I had not even properly assessed the situation and what I would need to do to help them.
I replied that I would have to think about it and thankfully, Sabrina was in no hurry.
She had done what the C.E.O. had asked of her for now, meaning taking the first step in making the company look greener.
I was currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, and the job was in Denver, Colorado.
Being perpetually single - yes, even at 33, I had only had a few short-lived relationships - I had nothing to keep me there.
That being said, Denver would not have been my first choice to move.
I was honestly about to turn down the tempting offer for something more meaningful and closer to home when I stumbled across an interesting piece of information on the company's website.
Or rather, an interesting face!
There he was, head of legal of this nearly 500 employees’ company, Joshua Dawson and his gorgeous green eyes!
I had not seen him in years and I was glad to note that he had matured just like fine wine.
It is so sad when men reach their peaks in college.
Josh was a stunner back then, but he was even sexier now, with the neatly trimmed beard he was sporting, the trendy glasses, and the intentionally messy dark hair.
He simply looked smart and well put together.
Even with his shirt on, you could tell that he had not lost any of his ripped footballer body.
I remembered Josh as being tall, and he certainly still was, but the broad shoulders were even broader, the biceps looked even better, and the pecs seemed ready to burst out of that formal white shirt.
Okay, maybe this was my vivid imagination talking on that one…
Just seeing the official company portrait gave me an instant boner.
They sure knew how to market their staff at the YVBM!
Joshua was the general counsel but he looked like a proper advertising model.
I would have bought anything the man was selling.
I think my pressing hard-on was mostly due to the memory that the picture brought back to me.
Once, at a frat party where I had somehow been invited to, I had found myself in the middle of a beer pong challenge.
Or rather, a strip beer pong challenge, involving half of the football team.
Back then, Josh had deliciously lost the game and shamelessly stripped entirely nude in front of his teammates and dozens of other students.
He wandered around the crowded room, grabbing his cock and balls to hide his junks, but those seemed way too large and meaty to be concealed that way.
We all got a tempting sneak peek.
The naked parade had lasted less than a minute but it had left me with a striking memory and countless hours of masturbation material.
My sexual experience was fairly limited back then which made this moment even more important to me.
If I had any doubt before, I was definitely and one hundred percent gay.
I was still kicking myself for not taking a closer look and pretending to be appalled by the sight like the rest of my class.
I had barely caught his hairy, peachy butt disappearing behind a towel that one of his teammates, probably jealous of the attention Josh was getting, had handed him.
Luckily, I had seen his furry chest on several different occasions, as the football team was known to celebrate their wins shirtless after the games, which was better than nothing.
In all honesty, the shirtless jocks were the only reason I had ever been interested in the sport.
Damn… I wondered if his chest had gotten even furrier now.
He did seem hairy on the website’s photograph.
I searched for Joshua Dawson on the Internet and realized that I was already following him on Instagram but since he was rarely ever posting, he had disappeared from my algorithm.
Unfortunately, there was no shirtless photo in his feed, and his bio mentioned the name of a girl with a ring emoji.
“Jennifer Dawson.”
Lucky bitch!
I clicked on her profile and she looked as beautiful as I could have imagined. She was a blondie, an interior designer.
Let’s be real, married or not, I would have had zero chance with Josh so I had no reason to be jealous of that woman.
Anyway, I did contact Josh to tell him about the potential mission for the company he worked for.
“Hey, Josh! It’s been a while! I hope you’re doing well since college. Congratulations on your wedding! I’m reaching out to you because I’ve been contacted by someone at your company (Sabrina Barthel) to provide consultant services for a few months. I’m currently in Nashville and I was wondering if I should take the job. Could we have a chat about it? Either way, I wish you the best and I see that you’re doing also very well career wise. Congrats!”
I had a little time to make my decision about the job offer so I sent the message and I did not worry too much about it.
I went on with my life which meant scrolling on GrindR looking for hook-ups in Nashville before giving up and falling asleep in front of the Real Housewives of whatever city they were in.
Pathetic? Not really.
I did not have a boyfriend and I was travelling too much to build a solid group of friends but I was in a good place mentally.
I had a better relationship with my parents who I was visiting in Ohio a couple times a year and, more importantly, I was free.
When so many of my childhood friends were stuck in loveless marriages and boring jobs, half of them already divorcing, I was accepting the missions I wanted and bothering myself with a man only when I wanted to.
Sure, the clock was ticking a bit and I did not want to remain single when I would approach 40, but for now, I figured that I had a few more years to enjoy my bachelor lifestyle.
I moved on with my life until about a week later, I had completely forgotten about my DM to Joshua.
I was at the gym when I got the notification that he had replied.
I was still not very much into sports but I was going to the gym to stay relatively fit.
I had to, the world of gay dating is ruthless!
I took a break between my sets and I checked my DMs.
“Dang! Sorry for being so late replying to you, Justin. I don’t use Insta that much. My bad! And for sure, I’d be happy to chat with you about the company and more generally, to catch up. Call me whenever!”
Joshua then added his contact details.
For some reason, my heartbeat accelerated as I read these lines.
Since I had not been called back by Sabrina Barthel and I was not that interested in the offer myself, I had almost totally eluded the opportunity and I was focusing on another proposal I had received in the meantime.
But this changed everything.
Or at the very least, I had to contact Josh to know more.
I almost played the game of not replying right away but then, I remembered that I was not flirting with him and that I had already made the YVBM company wait for too long.
“Hi! I’m at the gym. Can I call you in like 20 minutes? Would that work for you? Thanks!”
He agreed and I was very much distracted for the rest of my session.
It was probably silly but since Josh used to be a superstar in college and he seemed like such an accomplished man now, I felt a bit intimidated.
What would he think about my life?
Would he even remember me?
We had spent four years more or less in the same class, we had always gotten along, but as I mentioned, I would not have called us “friends”.
Well, I guess he did at least somewhat remember me since he had replied to my message.
I showered quickly while I usually liked to wander around the locker-rooms. It was the only gay gym in Nashville and I had had some luck a few times with other members.
It had been a while though.
Last time I had sucked a guy in the restrooms was about three months prior. The dude’s body was very fit but his dick was fairly disappointing.
Big muscles, small dick. Typical case of overcompensation.
I texted Joshua once I was back in the car.
“Hey, ready when you are!”
He called me back almost instantly, except that he did not only call, he was face-timing me.
Shit.
I was just getting out of the shower; my curly hair was a mess. I was wearing a washed-out sweater.
Once again, who cared?
Why did I want to look good for that guy?
I picked up the phone and here he was, Joshua Dawson and his killer smile.
He was calling me from his office, a large bay-window behind him.
The picture on the website was not false-advertising, the head of legal was a ten out of ten look-wise!
The green eyes were still there, as beautiful as ever, and just like I had assumed, he looked even better than he did in his early twenties.
To put it simply, he was a real grown-ass man now.
“Justin! How nice to see you after all this time! How many years it’s been? Ten?!”
“Yes, I think so, about ten years. I guess the last time we saw each other was for the one-year post graduation reunion.”
“Oh yes, I remember, it was a fun time! Well, you haven’t changed!”
He told me with a cocky smile.
“You have!” I replied.
“Do I look that much older? I’ve just turned 34! I thought I still had time before my slow and inevitable decay.”
He chuckled.
Had I been rude?
“It’s not what I meant. You have this big ass job now, and you’re married, and I suppose, yeah, you do look a bit older but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not at all!”
“Dude, I’m trying to keep in shape but it’s not that easy to find the time. Let me tell you one thing, this job is time consuming. You were at the gym?”
“I was but I don’t think I work-out nearly as you do.”
“What makes you say that?”
Oops. That was awkward.
I had just made it obvious that I was checking him out.
To be fair, he was wearing another tight white shirt and his nipples were slightly poking through the fabric.
It was hard not to look!
“I… I can tell that you… I mean, I remember you were so fit in college and… Clearly, this… This hasn’t changed.”
The way I had stammered to say this was the worst.
Was I back to being my 19 years old awkward and nerdy self? I thought I had evolved since then.
“Wait ‘till bulking season starts and you’ll see how I grow these big guns much larger!”
As a joke, he pointed the camera of his phone towards his biceps and he flexed.
Even through the tight shirt, it was quite a show.
What a tease!
“Well, maybe I’ll see that in person.”
Once again, that sounded odd, as if I wanted him to offer me a flexing show, live.
“Yeah, so, you’re considering taking a job at the YVBM? What is it that you do exactly?”
I got more collected and professional as I explained my work, my vision, and my experience.
I had done a full 180 from working in technology and analytics to focus on environmental issues until I had become a freelance.
This was something I was quite proud since after four years, I was finally making some good money and, as I said before, I was able to choose my clients which was a privilege in itself.
Of course, this was mainly permitted by the fact that I was single and able to travel around the country easily.
Something that I explained to Josh as well so that he would not have to ask the dreaded question about my relationship status.
“To be perfectly transparent with you, it didn’t seem like the woman I talked to really cared about the environment. The company has accepted a good rate and, in that respect, that would be a good opportunity but I already know that I won’t be able to make any real change.”
“You may have a point here. Sabrina’s already asked me to give her guidelines on how far she could go in terms of communicating about our so-called “green initiative” and, to put it nicely, embellish our efforts without saying anything which would be considered as lying to our clients and therefore be against the law.”
“No surprise here… It’s not the first time I’m working with similar companies who want me there for a couple of months, implement easy and mostly inefficient processes, and then brag about it and try to put a green label on their products.”
“I work in legal; I’ve seen much worse than that.”
“I bet… Anyway, that’s why I’ve been a bit reluctant to accept the offer.”
“Look, if you want to, we could team up. I could slightly exaggerate the risks we would be taking if we were not effectively implementing the changes we advertise.”
“So then, you’d be the one lying.”
“Not, the risks are there. I would just happen to write them in red and bold in my report.”
“That’s such a lawyer’s trick.”
He laughed.
He was very handsome when he did, which is a very rare quality. Most people look hideous when they laugh, not Josh though.
I bet that his charms had gotten him out of so many situations.
Beauty privilege is a real thing.
“That would be for a good cause though, saving the planet.” He spoke.
“That’s right. I mean, knowing that you work there, I guess it gives me an additional reason to take on the mission.”
“Honestly, Denver is great and there’re many good people at the company. I work a ton but I like it here. If the money is good, you should definitely give this a try.”
I thought about it.
“After all, it would only be a couple of months and with the money I’d make, I’ll then have more time to figure some other ways to actually help the fight against global warming.”
“See! It’s a win-win.”
“Okay, you’ve got me convinced. If the offer still stands, I’ll tell Sabrina that I take it. I’ll just have to find a place to rent for the next few weeks.”
“That should be more of an issue because the real estate market is…” Joshua interrupted himself. “Wait! I have some room at home!”
That was definitely out of the blue.
“What are you talking about?”
“Sorry, I… Maybe I’m thinking crazy here but, it happens that Jen, my wife, just left to go stay at her sister’s place in Salt Lake City for a little while.”
“Really? What is she doing there? I mean, if it’s not too personal of course. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.”
I saw in his green eyes that, for the first time during that call, Josh was uncomfortable.
“No, that’s fine. It’s just… Her sister is going through a divorce and it’s not going very well. She needed Jen’s support to help her with the kids.”
“Oh, I see.”
“It had been in discussion for a while and about a week ago, we decided it was the right thing for Jennifer to be there, at least for a month, maybe a little more.”
“I get it. Well, that’s too bad for your family in law. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s a whole thing only because Jen’s family is really Christian so a divorce is a disaster to them.”
“You’re a Christian too, right?”
“My parents are. I go to Church on Sundays when my wife insists.”
“Yeah, I think I go to church only for funerals.”
“But anyway, it means that I’ve been feeling very much alone in a house too big for myself in the past week so, if you need a place to crash, I’d be happy to welcome you. We have a guest bedroom.”
Immediately, dirty thoughts crept into my mind.
Dozens of images of Joshua in his own home, getting out of the shower a towel wrapped around his waist, lounging in the couch in his underwear, stroking his cock in the intimacy of his bed…
All reasons not to accept his offer.
This would not be very appropriate to go live at a married man’s place when I was thirsting so much over him.
“Sure! I’m down!” I exclaimed.
Sometimes, I am not very good with listening to my reason. You will get much more of that if you keep reading this tale.
“Awesome! Well, that was a fruitful phone call! Much more fruitful than most of the time I spent with those damn lawyers.” Joshua joked.
“You’re sure though? I don’t want to impose myself. Maybe you should talk to your wife first?”
“Why would she care? I’m sure she’ll be happy that I’m not by myself. I mean, I’ll be way less likely to cheat on her if I have a buddy in the house.”
“So basically, I’ll be your cock blocker?”
“Sort of… Hey, not that I would have cheated on her anyway!”
“I know. I was just kidding.”
“Then, it’s a yes?”
“It is a yes! And don’t worry, it’ll be only temporary. I’m sure I’ll find a place to rent quickly but it’ll be nice not to rush this, especially while I’m in another state.”
“You can stay for as long as you need!”
“First, I have to call your head of internal communication. If it works out, you can prepare the guest bedroom!”
Josh winked at me.
“I’m sure it’ll work out. I can’t wait!”
An hour later, I called Sabrina Barthel and then Joshua again and everything was set.
I would be moving the following week.
Once there, I told myself that I could control my libido. I was not a horned-up dog… Right?
