Leather and Lust - Chapter 2: Sir Snow

“Harrison, hello!” Sir Carter Snow says as soon as he sees me, sitting in his usual table at Cafe Flore, his favorite meeting place. He’s been reading the New York Times on his iPad, sipping an espresso (“No cream. Goodness, why would anyone ruin perfectly good espresso with cream?”) and watching the eye candy in the Castro.

He stands to give me a warm hug and I catch a whiff of his signature Murray’s hair grease, such a classic scent of petroleum and musk. Plus, his silver hair always looks perfectly in place. He’s wearing a black tee shirt with the insignia of a local leather contest and faded Levi’s with perfectly shined leather boots. I wonder what lucky kid got to do that for him. It hasn’t been that long since I saw X last, but as soon as he embraces me I realize that I missed him, really missed him, and just being near him makes me relax. Sometimes I think it would be easier if I could just go back to what we had before.

“Hello, Sir,” I offer, gesturing to the chair next to him.

“Join me!” He says. His booming voice turns heads in restaurants like this, even on the outdoor patio where the busy traffic of Market street muffles everything. I slide into the hard, metal chair and fiddle with the fork on the table, touching the tines to the pads of my fingers. “So! What’s been happening? It sounded like something serious when...