“I want you to come over for dinner,” Mickey ground out. “Okay? Great. It’s settled.”
“Wait, what?”
“Dinner. My place.”
“With you and the old man?”
“My grandfather, yeah.” Mickey sighed. “And you will be on your best behavior, do you understand me?”
“Oh, will I?” Roger sounded delighted.
“Yes.”
“Hmmph.” Roger fidgeted for a moment and went still. “You’re really serious, aren’t you?”
“Wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t.”
“You like me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.” Mickey didn’t see the point in denying it.
“I like you too.” Roger sounded apprehensive now. “I’m not… I’m not good at this.”
“Neither am I.”
“But I do like you. I really like how you fuck me, and you’re an amazing kisser. You’re seriously hot when you’re fucking people up. You have a pretty awesome spanking swing too. Oh! And I don’t think you’re that ugly, seriously. The no hair thing? It’s kinda hot.”
“Thanks.” Mickey rolled his eyes. “It’s alopecia, you dick.”
“Alo-what now?”
“Alopecia. It’s why I don’t have any hair.”
“Or eyebrows? Or like any pubes?”
“That’s all fuckin’ hair, isn’t it?” Mickey huffed. “It’s an autoimmune disorder. My body attacks all my hair follicles like they’re germs or something.”
“Fuck. How’d you get that?”
“Just lucky, I guess. Started losing it when I was a kid.”
“Aren’t there… I dunno, some kinda treatments?”
“Tried some. Never worked.”
“Well, hairless or not, I still like you. You make me feel… well…” Roger moved again, cuddling in closer. “You make me feel safe.”
That was new.
“Safe from those Luchesi fuckwads, safe from Salvatore, even safe from myself.” Roger sighed. “I don’t exactly have a good history of making good decisions.”
“Like Salvatore?” Mickey ventured. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to open up this conversation, but he was curious.
“Everybody talks about these mafia guys bein’ willing to take a lil’ somethin’ for a lil’ somethin’, okay?” Roger rolled away. “And I tried working for them legit. I tried busting safes, boosting cars… but it was never enough for them. I just ran out of shit to sell ‘em. Until Salvatore asked me for that little somethin’, and I said fuck it. I thought, how bad could it be?” He made a buzzer sound. “Surprise! It was really fuckin’ bad.”
Mickey turned onto his side and reached for Roger. “Hey, come here.”
“Why?” Roger’s voice cracked as if he was going to cry. “So you can tell me what a fuckin’ idiot I am? Call me a stupid fuckin’ slut?”
