THE GENTLEMEN'S CLUB James Written by Lady Poetess egiggles at moose-mail.com /~bbp Please do not reproduce on any website without permission. This story has no resemblance to anyone dead or alive. ONE Dr Christian Jack Coulson was working late. To the others walking past and looking into his office through the windowpanes, this wasn't unusual. The men and women who worked for this unnamed organization had no lives outside the cause - to conduct research and development methods and weapons that would give old Uncle Sam an edge when it came to domestic and international security. This was one group that wouldn't hesitate to bend the rules to attain a goal. But tonight, Chris' fingers flew over the keyboard as he keyed in some last moment relevant pertinent coordinates into the deceptively simple looking computer. No one would have suspected his underhanded masking of his online presence using an encryption method he had developed himself. Tonight, as was every night for the last year, "Dr Jack" had been covertly working on his own project. He was a rare genius - he was only twenty-three, but he could teach doctorate programs in universities for biochemistry, organic chemistry, and computer programming and software development. Since the age of seven, he had been trained to serve this Organization, and served them all his life he had. But he was by no means loyal - he wasn't disloyal either, but he was a man who cared only for himself. He was very well aware of his own failures when it came to team work and socializing, and no one knew more than he that the Organization would be the only place where he would be safe, be useful to, and not be considered a freak by other people. Footsteps coming. Chris quickly initiated auto-save and shutdown of his computer, and just in time too, as Charles Hu, his ambitious colleague, walked in without any announcement. Charles made no secret that he coveted Jed's position as assistant to their department head, but Jed didn't take it personal. Everyone here wanted to stab someone else in the back, anything to avoid being left at the bottom of the hierarchy and deemed dispensable by the administration. People who were deemed dispensable were literally dispensed with. "Hyde is back." Charles said in a sneer. It made his handsome face smug and unattractive, but Chris kept that to himself. "He's injured." Chris got onto his feet at once. "How is he?" he asked even as he grabbed for his coat. "Always the caring Dr Jack to the Mr Hyde," the other man said, repeating an often-used joke around the place. "He's shot in the chest, but Raymond has taken care of the worst. Hyde's asking for you though." As always, Charles seemed to say with his look. James Hyde was their best scientific achievement. He was the ultimate super soldier, the first successful attempt to create a human being from the petri dish while manipulating his genes so that only the desired traits manifested in him. When Chris started out in the lab, he became Hyde's guardian in a way, taking care of the man's comforts and briefing him about his assignments. Hyde would be away on some covert operations, and his success rate was one reason why Chris and the rest were working to develop more super soldiers. But so far Hyde was the only one that could survive past the six-cell stage. He was now twenty-eight years old; the product of advances in gene cloning methods that started and kept under wraps long before the world learned of a sheep named Dolly. Chris had tried to keep Hyde at a distance, but Hyde was too valuable not to be indulged. He had orders from Operations to actually be Hyde's friend since he was the only person Hyde seemed to be genuinely fond of. Dr Jack and Mr Hyde - the joke soon spread like wildfire. Chris didn't like Hyde getting close to him, because emotions were dangerous, especially emotions tied to someone like Hyde. Maybe that was why he was working on his covert project. One flaw with Hyde was that he required a daily dosage of chemical stabilizers to keep his metabolism from going out of control and tear his systems apart. If Chris' formula worked, he would have created the ultimate stabilizer that would finally allow Hyde to live like a normal human being. Hyde could even flee this place if he wanted to, and Chris betted that the man would. Hyde loved movies and books. He had always wondered aloud what the experience of watching a movie in a theatre surrounded by strangers or better still, a play at Broadway would be like. Chris knew all this because it was he to whom Hyde confessed his longings. He didn't design this stabilizer, a year of hard work, because Hyde's look of longing cut him in a way he never understood, nor did he design it because Hyde seemed to be a man who deserved to be free. Chris wanted to be trapped here, because he was safe here, but Hyde was slowly bristling to experience more to life than the sanitized recreations they provided him. Hyde lived in his luxurious apartment, just two floors above Chris' own. Operations provided them all with the finest of luxuries - books, movies, computer games, exotic cuisine, and more to keep them living like kings. But not once did they forget that they were living on borrowed time and charity - one fuck up and they were history. Chris was too good to fuck up, however. Hyde, on the other hand, was slowly getting there if he didn't control his dissatisfactions. Somehow, Chris didn't want to see Hyde fuck up. He reasoned that it was because Hyde was the pride of his lab, nothing more. It would never be anything more. TWO "Eat these pills, drink more water, and sleep early." Chris gently arranged the pillow behind a bemused Hyde's head so that the man could be more comfortable. He smelled of antiseptic, but he had just changed Hyde's bandages after biting his tongue when he saw the wound. "You're lucky you can heal faster and better than us mere mortals. How can you be so careless?" he couldn't help scolding even when all his senses called him to stop. "If fucking up is the only way to get you to come to me, I will gladly fuck up again and again," Hyde just said. "I miss the times when we would watch TV together or argue over anything, the news, books, music, life, any fucking thing. Now you just show up to brief me or to give me my med. I miss you, Chris. I lo - " "Oh please," Chris quickly said, desperate to avoid listening to Hyde. "It's just biology. You believe yourself to be attracted to me because I'm the only person you see on a daily basis. It's like those ducks imprinting themselves on the farmer because he's the first creature they saw when they hatched out of their eggs." "Or Stockholm syndrome," Hyde anticipated Chris' next diatribe. "Yeah," Chris said, deflated. "And you'll be happy to get some guys to come over and service me if I want to have sex." "Yeah." Hyde lifted his upper body to look at Chris, and gently but firmly brushed off Chris' hands that were trying to get him to lie back down. He didn't let go of Chris' hand though. "I was sixteen years old when I met you, Chris. I've known people - other men and women around here - before but I don't feel about them the way I feel about you." "It's not - " "Then what the fuck is it?" Hyde asked. "What the fuck is this, that when I was lying there, thinking I was dying, my thoughts were about you and how I wished that we could have done something good together. It is the memory of your rare smile that keeps me going, Chris, and I feel really good because it is me who made you smile. Tell me, what the fuck am I feeling?" "James, please understand, we can't do this. This will endanger both our lives." "You call me James." Trust that idiot to fixate on that, Chris thought in frustration. "We cannot care for each other, James, I mean, Hyde. If Operations perceive that as weakness on your part, you will be dispensable. I am more dispensable than you are, and if they see me and you as some liability on my part..." "It's too late then. I'm already caring too much for you." "Then stop caring. You can do anything, you can fucking well do this too." "The day I stop caring will be the day I willingly let step on a land mine. You think I love it here? I'm just a soldier, Chris. It's you who see me as a human being. I think I started caring when you sneaked a copy of Voltaire's writings to me. And all those nights when you came into my room just to spend time with me? I care, Chris. I fucking care." "I am under orders to befriend you. You know all this. We've argued about this before. Why are we doing this again?" "Because I love making you flustered." Hyde grinned, a roguish smile that had lulled his victims into trouble. "Because I love you." "No." Hyde growled playfully and pulled Chris down to him. Chris moved so that he avoided touching the bandaged wound - oh yeah, the man cared despite his protests - but he also placed his palm on Hyde's bare chest and shoved. "Let go of me." Hyde just kissed him in response. Most to Chris' dismay, Hyde was a fucking good kisser. Hyde always maintained that Chris was to blame though, because Hyde hadn't kissed anyone but Chris. He hadn't even fucked anyone but Chris, even though paid whores were always available should they wanted sex in this place, because he never wanted anyone but the man. They were guys that he had lusted after before Chris, but none had compelled him to try to act on his lust until this handsome, golden, and reluctant angel of a man walked into his room one night, twelve years ago, to befriend him, a lost and lonely boy. He deliberately kicked off the sheets off his lower body so that his engorged erection, obvious even through his briefs, could brush against the juncture of Chris' thighs. Chris ground down on the tip of the fast moistening bulge despite his reservations, just as he weakened and opened his mouth to let Hyde's tongue slip in and conquer him. Maybe Chris wanted to push away, but his palms on Hyde's nipples soon began massaging his sensitive erect buds. "I love you," he whispered as eased the other man down on the bed. Chris seemed to regain his sanity then. "No," he protested weakly. "Hyde, we can't do this. Please." The genuine fear in Chris' eyes stopped Hyde even when the effort almost killed him. "Chris," he began to protest. "Yes, James, I care," the other man admitted finally. "I want this as much as you, not just because you're so fucking gorgeous, because you're also... well, yeah, you're one sexy package and one good friend as well. Maybe if we've met in other circumstances..." Bitterness, rare bitterness, pooled in Hyde's heart as he tried to remain cocksure and confident before Chris. "I know. I've always wanted to live some other life than this one, remember? I always wanted so badly for us to be free so that I can make you love me." Chris hesitated. But, he thought in resignation, looking at Hyde, maybe some things shouldn't be hidden away. "You don't have to make me love you. I think I'm already there," he said. There, he'd said it. At that moment, it seemed as if all those lonely hours of cold solitude had melted in the warmth that burned in Hyde's eyes at Chris' declaration. At that moment, this - Hyde, Hyde and he - seemed like the rightest thing in his existence. Hyde touched the other man's lips. "You mean that?" "Yeah. No lies, James. Not now when I'm such a wreck." Chris hesitated, as if he was debating with himself, before continuing. "But I know of a way you can get that life you want so badly. You just have to be patient," he whispered in Hyde's ear. Instinctively Hyde knew this was something that would cause the other man a lot of problems if word got out. He could have laughed then. If the man wanted Hyde to stop caring, this latest surprise from him would only have Hyde willingly let the chains of his devotion to Chris tighten around him until he was beyond rescue. He pressed his aching cock against Chris' ass, hoping that the man would take mercy on him, as he kissed the other man once more with feeling. And finally, after some hesitation, Chris' trembling hands pushed down the waistband of Hyde's briefs. "Wow," Chris just said. Hyde looked down at his erection. "What?" he asked, reaching down to collect the inch long string of moisture threading from his cock slit and rubbing the moisture on Chris' lips playfully. Chris licked his lips, his eyes still locked at Hyde's cock. He was definitely excited though, not afraid, and the proof throbbed in Hyde's hands when he unfastened Chris' jeans. "All those excess testosterone in your body have its benefits," Chris said finally. Hyde just laughed. Chris' hands cupped Hyde's balls. Then he closed his mouth over the heavy fleshy sacs and Hyde gasped in delight as Chris began mouthing and sucking on his pendulous balls. The contents of his balls seemed to boil at such intense tonguing, and his cock ached as it jutted forth from the thick bush of dark wiry curls at the base, an imposing tower of pure virility. Then Chris was enveloping that thick cock as best as he could in his mouth, and Hyde cried out as pleasures he couldn't even fathom until now wrecked him to his very core. He straddled Chris' head and gripped the headboard of the bed as he began pumping his cock into that lusty mouth. It didn't take too long - his balls seemed to explode in a fiery eruption of molten cream, spurting his copious fluids into Chris' mouth. His harsh broken moans contrasted with the powerful image of male virility that he was as he arched his back and thrust deep into the other man's mouth, causing the man to gag slightly even as semen spilled from the corners of his mouth. Concerned about the sounds Chris was making, Hyde reluctantly withdrew his still pulsing cock from Chris' mouth. He was still coming, and his ejaculate splattered all over the man's face and neck, until after what seemed like a full two minutes of powerful orgasm, Hyde collapsed beside Chris, his still half hard cock spurting one last time onto the other man's thigh. He looked at Chris, and chuckled. Not only was he born to be an all-time super dick machine, he was also designed, it seemed, to produce an unusually large amount of come each time he ejaculated. Chris was a mess. Hyde's semen was all over the other man's cheeks, overflowing from his mouth, on the man's neck and torso, all the way down Chris' crotch, a trail of semen that followed the track of Hyde's wildly ejaculating cock moving off the man's mouth and down his body. "I'm so sorry," Hyde said. He really was. "The next time I'll - " Chris chuckled. He touched his face, and chuckled louder, before lapsing into full-scale laughter. Hyde joined him, somewhat nervously, because he knew he hadn't actually given the man any pleasure. He tentatively licked at his own juices at Chris' face. He made his way down the man's body, kissing and suckling, before taking his first cock into his mouth. He was pretty okay for a first timer, Chris later admitted. Hyde grinned at the compliment. THREE Chris carefully placed the vial in his lab pocket. There - it was done. Once injected into Hyde's body, Hyde would never have to depend on the daily dose of stabilizers again. That was, if this serum worked right. He hadn't tested it yet. He didn't dare to. He also didn't want to lose Hyde. How selfish of him, but he had never claimed to be a saint. "You have it?" Hyde asked that night as Chris walked into his room. Chris handed him the vial and the syringe. That was when Hyde knocked him down. Chris never saw that coming, and the world went black. "Sorry to do this to you, love," Hyde said when Chris regain consciousness. "What the hell just happened?" Chris looked around him. "We're on a train." "Yeah. We're leaving Operations, you and me." Hyde lifted his arm and rubbed at the still raw syringe mark. "And so far your serum seems to be working. I've gone almost a day without those pills and I'm still alive." "Where are we going?" Maybe later his emotions would sink in. Right now, Chris was dazed from the fact that he was actually in a train. "Can I trust you?" Hyde chuckled humorlessly. "Of course I can," he answered his own question. "You offered me a chance at freedom on a silver platter. I'm meeting up with a friend. He'll help us get out of the Organization's claws." "Has it occurred to you that I want to remain behind?" "Why? After I'm gone, they'll - you don't expect me to go, do you? You expect me to stay behind like you." Hyde sat down across the dirty carriage from Chris. They were in a carriage used to house barn animals, if the stench was any indication. "I can't stay behind, Chris." "I want to go back." "Why?" "I'm scared," Chris confessed. "I've never lived anywhere else. I'm a freak, James. I'm too smart, I don't function well with people, and top it off, now I'm a refugee from the most dangerous organization in the country." "I'll take care of you." Chris looked outside at the world speeding past him. "We probably won't live to see tomorrow." "Probably. I had to take care of a few guys on our trail. Just be glad you didn't see it." "You hurt?" Chris asked, staggering unsteadily to move to sit beside Hyde. "Not a scratch. I'm better than Superman." Hyde's white teeth gleamed in the dark, as did his striking brown eyes. His muscular arm closed around Jed's shoulders and Chris rested his cheek on his man's chest. "We'll be okay." "Even if we die tomorrow, I think it's worth it, just being here with you." Chris pushed his hand under Hyde's shirt to feel the man's powerfully muscled torso. "And I love you." Hyde's look at that was heartbreaking even to a man such as Chris. "I love you back," he said, his voice breaking slightly. "Fucking hell, Chris, I love you. You know that, right? I love you too damn much, I - " He placed his finger on Hyde's lips, hushing him before kissing him. He pressed his fingers and dug painfully into Hyde's muscular shoulders as Hyde playfully nibbled on his Adam's apple. He was pressed with his back against the wall, lifted off the floor and supported entirely by his butt and hips balanced on Hyde's hips. Their clothes littered the floor, Hyde's jeans around his ankles, and they both moaned as Hyde slowly pushed his cock up into Chris' anus. He was so wet and slippery with his own pre-seminal juices that it eased his engorged entry, but Chris was too small, and it was like fucking a too-small, too-hot furnace. Hyde gave a short upward thrust of his hips, driving a few inches of his cock into the other man's ass, and held Chris firmly, their sweat-slicked chests pressed against each other, as Chris convulsed into a powerful orgasm. Trembling as he tried to keep control of his boiling lust, he gave another upward thrust, sending the man into another bout of frenzied pleasure. He grinned - hell, he could get the hang of this! One more thrust and then he couldn't hold back. He gave a cry, muffled through gritted teeth, as he poured himself into Chris. There was so much of him that he felt his juices pouring down their thighs, plastering the hairs of his crotch and intertwining them with the hairs around Chris' anal pucker. "I love you," Hyde gasped once more, before his knees wobbled and he had to lower Chris back onto his feet. Chris just placed his palm over Hyde's chest, a simple gesture that soothed Hyde's raging fever. They slept that night, Hyde's shirt covering as much of Chris as Hyde could make it. Jed waited, unmoving, until he heard Hyde's snores. Hyde let his guard down around the man, calmly and blindly believing in Chris love for him. How na‹ve, and how unforgivably stupid, really, Chris thought as he reached for the weapon Hyde carelessly placed within both their arm's reach. "So you're gonna shoot me after all?" Hyde's quiet voice startled Chris. Chris just aimed the weapon at Hyde. "My loyalty is to the Organization. You are a traitor. It is my duty to take you in." Hyde made a sound of disgust. "You're a coward." "Shut up," Chris said angrily as he tried to keep his hand steady. "You don't understand." "What don't I understand? You are choosing the Organization over me. You are terrified of trying to live a life outside that damned place." Hyde chuckled humorlessly. "I guess in the end, I'm not worth it huh? Fine, kill me, because I am not going back there ever again." "You have ruined my life! They'll never let me go back unless I bring you back in. And I can't live out there, I..." Chris bit back his confused panic. "You taught me all about the outside world back there, but I think in the end I know much more about it than you," Hyde mused. "Guess you will have to kill me then. It's a pity." This time real pain crept into his voice. "I guess one night will be all I can really have of you." Chris lowered the weapon. He wanted to believe Hyde so badly. "How can I - " "You can. We can. Together," Hyde said, slowly taking the weapon out of the other man's hand. Chris nodded lifelessly. "You two ready?" The rat-faced man grinned crookedly at the two men after he pushed open the train door. "Hello," he said to Chris. "You must be the amazing Chris Coulson. Hyde here talked too much about you whenever we bumped into each other. I'm Reynaldo. You read RL Stevenson's Kidnapped before?" "Yeah," Chris answered warily. "Think of me as Cluny. The both of you are going to be running for your lives." He said it as if he found it very amusing. "And that is the most ridiculous story I have ever heard," Brian Littrell exclaimed. "I know the Organization, and they will never let you get away like that. I would personally hunt you down myself were I still in charge." James Hyde just smiled enigmatically. "You're not in charge anymore." He rose to his feet and pulled his jacket tighter around his well- muscled frame. "Brian, you wanted a story, and I gave you one. Whether or not you believe it, I don't really care. They know Chris and I are here, and they won't bother us - or you." "I've never known them to be so generous," Brian said skeptically. "They are when Chris still has the formula of his serum in his head," James said. "The perfect bargaining chip." Brian watched the man make to leave. "Will I see you again?" he couldn't help asking. "Perhaps," James said. He flung a card at Brian who caught it easily and looked at it. "You're kidding," Brian said, his tone incredulous. "See you around." With that, James walked towards the exit. Brian looked down at the card, shook his head, and smiled as he tucked it in his shirt pocket. He gestured to Rupert for another drink.