“It’s different. You loving Jonah wouldn’t hurt someone or ruin the chance they’d been aiming toward all their lives. I can’t do that to my dad.”
The door opened, and Jonah walked in, giving him a bright smile. “Rico. It’s been a while.” He set his soft-leather briefcase down, his eyes lingering a bit longer on Gideon’s face. “I’m glad you came by to keep Gideon company.”
Gideon stood but bent down and spoke softly so only he could hear. “Why not talk to Jonah? He could help you see I’m right.” He left to join Jonah, who’d entered the kitchen to pour himself a glass of wine. The two men interacted perfectly together, Rico mused, watching them kiss hello. Then again, he and Adam had as well in Texas, but Rico wasn’t certain he had anything more than a pure physical attraction to Adam. After all, what the fuck did he know about relationships and love?
Excruciatingly conscious of being the unwanted third, Rico stood to leave. “Okay, you guys, I gotta run. Gideon, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He waved at them from the front door.
“Wait, don’t you want to talk to Jonah?”
“Nah. You two have a good night. Bye.” And before Gideon could protest further, Rico left.
The illuminated dial of his watch read eleven o’clock, which certainly wasn’t too late to go hang out. He hopped in a cab and headed back to Red Hook.
“Right here is good.” The cab pulled up in front of Leary’s, and Rico paid the driver and stood on the sidewalk. Physically he was tired and wanted nothing more than his bed, but realistically he knew it would be another sleepless night. He pushed open the door and entered the bar, and once again Dale was working.
“Rico, how’s it going? Where’s Adam?”
Irritated, he slid onto a barstool. “I don’t know. Why’re you asking me?” He gestured to the taps. “Can I have a beer, please?”
Dale’s brows rose, but he said nothing, and soon Rico sat sipping his beer, searching the room until he caught sight of a guy standing by the edge of the dance floor alone, swaying his hips to the music. Eyeing his tight little butt in skinny black jeans, Rico couldn’t imagine a better way to drive all thoughts of Adam out of his mind, and taking the beer with him, he wandered over to the back, leaning against the post, watching him.
Up close, the guy looked a bit younger than him but cute as hell with wavy brown hair hanging to his shoulders and some kind of inky black eyeliner smudged around his lashes. Rico caught his eye and grinned, and the guy’s face lit up. He walked over and stood close.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
He could do this again. “I’m Rico. Wanna dance?”
“Jasper, and yeah.” Rico put down his beer and took the drink out of Jasper’s hand, setting it next to his own. “Come on.” They walked onto the dance floor, where to Rico’s surprise, Jasper slid both arms around his neck, plastering himself onto Rico. Musky cologne filled Rico’s nose, and he sneezed. He wasn’t used to such a heavy scent. Adam used aftershave sparingly, and even then it was a light, lemony fragrance. Annoyed at himself for thinking about Adam again, Rico held on to Jasper tighter and closed his eyes, swaying to the music.
“You move great.” Jasper nuzzled his neck and sucked the skin there, which Rico normally found erotic but for some reason tonight found irritating.
“You move fast.” But he ran his hand over Jasper’s butt and gave it a squeeze.
“When I see what I like, there’s no reason to wait.” As if to prove his point, Jasper kissed him, and Rico, despite wanting this very thing, froze. Oblivious, Jasper thrust his tongue into Rico’s mouth, and though Rico forced himself to kiss the man back, it was…wrong. The tongue in his mouth tasted sharp with tequila, not malty and sweet like the beer Adam favored, and his lips were too full and wet. Jasper’s narrow, lithe body didn’t fit with his. Rico missed Adam’s firm warm lips and strong shoulders under his hands. The hard ridge of Jasper’s erection pushed at his thigh, and Rico knew if he wanted to, he could take Jasper by the hand, walk out the back, and in five minutes they’d be humping each other in the dark alley.
“Whoa.” He stopped kissing and dancing and set Jasper back a step. “No need to rush.”
“Do you wanna get off or what?” Jasper pushed the hair out of his eyes. “I’m not looking to date you. It’s only sex.”
And gazing into Jasper’s hot eyes, Rico knew it wasn’t really him Jasper wanted. Rico could’ve been anyone and Jasper would have wanted him.
“Not tonight. Sorry.”
“Your loss.” Jasper squeezed his crotch. “I give awesome head.” After flashing Rico a cocky smile, Jasper sauntered over to where Rico had put their drinks down, picked up his glass, then walked back to the foosball table to talk to the guys playing.
Abandoning his beer, Rico walked back to the bar. Dale’s eyes bore into his, and Rico girded himself for a lecture he neither wanted nor planned on listening to. Recalling those hard early years in his uncle’s diner when his father would complain he was wasting his time cooking and not going to law school, he wrapped himself in a stony facade as he approached the bar.
Undeterred by his grumpiness, Dale brought him a fresh beer then leaned a hip against the bar, settling in, it seemed, for a nice cozy chat.
“I thought you and Adam had something special going on, especially after that kiss on the dance floor. You two were hot as fuck.”
Refusing to take the bait, Rico said nothing and sipped his beer.
“Oh. So it’s like that. Well, I’m not surprised. He probably got tired of waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass.”
Whether it was exhaustion, the beer, or his own fucked-up mind, Rico grew tired of Dale’s talk.
