Tean shot a look back at the street, but Jem was nowhere in sight.
“Uh,” the young man said with obvious impatience.
Without any better ideas, Tean found himself stepping forward.The narrow opening between the doorjamb and the young man forced Tean to turn sideways to avoid making accidental contact.Somewhere farther back in the house, music was playing—Tean didn’t recognize it, but it sounded frantic, synthesized, with a rhythmic pulse and repeating vocals.He got a glimpse of the front room—a corduroy sofa, a paisley recliner, glass-topped coffee and end tables, a floor lamp with a hand-painted shade featuring an eagle in flight—and then a cloud of scent rolled over him: cinnamon, and then something else, dark, rich, like flowers and leather and warm skin.
“I’m—” he began as he turned.
The young man was already there, stepping into his space, hands running down Tean’s chest.When he reached Tean’s khakis, he began tugging loose the DWR shirt.“You’re way cuter than your picture,” he said as he slid one hand up under the shirt.“And you’re fast, too.I just finished getting ready.”
Tean’s brain tried to do several things at once: explain that there’d been a mistake, move backward, grab the young man’s wrist.The combination overloaded him, and instead, he found himself rooted to the floor, distantly aware that he was saying, “Um, um, um—”
The young man’s free hand began tugging on his belt.
“No,” Tean finally said.He lurched backward, hit the sofa, tried to slide around it, and banged the back of his knee on the corner of the end table.“Ow!Wait, hold on, stop!”
The boy stared at him, hands still in the air.“Oh my God, are you okay?”
A rap at the storm door made them both turn.
Eyebrows raised, Jem leaned against the door.
“No,” Tean said.“It’s not what it looks like.”
“I don’t even know what it looks like,” Jem said through the glass.
“Well, it’s not that,” Tean said.
“Actually, it looks like you two were about to boink, and then your trick knee gave out.”To the boy, Jem added, “Mind if I come inside?”
“Uh, yeah, I mind,” the boy said.“What the hell are you doing?Hey, I said—”
But Jem was already opening the door, and he stepped inside with an apologetic smile.
“Bruh, get out,” the boy said.“Both of you!I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but if you don’t get out, I’m calling the cops.”
“We’re not here to fuck you,” Jem said.“Well, at least, I’m not.”He gave Tean a pointed look.
“I’m not either!I just—he—” Tean tried to come up with something better—and caught himself tucking his shirt back in—but all he could manage was “I didn’tdoanything.”
“I leave you alone for five minutes.”
“Jem!”
“What the fuck is going on?”the boy asked.
“Are you Kazen, no Y, Shumway?”Jem asked.
The boy frowned.“There’s a Y in Shumway.”
“No, not—” Jem blew out a breath.“Never mind.Are you Kazen?”
“Yeah.”A moment later, he seemed to remember to ask, “Who are you?”
“Jem.And this is my boyfriend, Tean.”
Kazen’s face filled with outrage.“You told me he was okay with it!”
“I didn’t tell you anything,” Tean snapped.He adjusted his glasses and then, unable to stop himself, ran his hands through his hair.“And this is not sex shaming or being sex negative or anything against sex, but you really need to be more careful about letting strange men in your home.”
