But did I tell him? Would it be worse for him to think I didn’t pick up on the fact that he was gay, or tell him there was something about the way he dressed and carried himself that had me curious?
“I’m just giving you shit, Collins,” he teased after letting me sweat for a minute. “I can practically hear the gears grinding in your head. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t care either way. A lot of people have their assumptions about why I’m still single no matter how many girls try to get with me, but I’ve done a pretty good job trying to stay under the gaydar.”
Michael looked our way and Justin held up his nearly empty bottle to signal that we were just about ready for another round. Personally, I was ready for something stronger. Justin watched Michael carefully, keeping an eye on where he was as he continued to speak. “But with him, I never had any clue. Not a single one. And trust me, there are plenty of guys in this town I know are just a bit crooked. They’ll swear they’re straight as a new arrow, but they have no problem getting their dick sucked by a dude. Never thought Michael was one of them.”
“It’s not like that.” It offended me that he’d imply Michael was simply desperate enough that any warm hole would do the trick. Yes, I’d thought it myself, but I had a vested interest in making sure I’d considered every single possibility when it came to Michael’s intentions.
Justin held up his hands in surrender. “Woah, you might want to chill it there. If you don’t, everyone in this bar is going to figure out what’s going on,” he warned me.
Fuck. That wasn’t at all what I wanted. It was actually why I considered not coming down tonight. And now, there was already one person who knew without Michael’s consent. Dammit, I was screwing this up again.
Michael was getting closer now, so Justin leaned in. He draped an arm over my shoulder and I got the feeling he did that on purpose. He was trying to goad Michael into telling him the truth. I had no clue how tight they were in the past, other than I now knew they weren’tthatclose, and that bothered me. The two of them had drifted so far apart neither of them could see the subtle little things they did to try and rile the other one. Michael by getting all protective and possessive, Justin by preying on that and toeing the line between being friendly and flirting.
“For what it’s worth, I think it’s good. I think he’s always been so set in how he pictured his life working out that when it didn’t, he let himself drown,” Justin said quietly enough that only I could hear him. He also spoke quickly, hoping to finish before we were interrupted. “Maybe what he needs is to have everything tipped upside down. I highly suggest taking the neat little box he’s always tried fitting himself into and burning it. I love him like a brother, but he needs this.”
Michael placed the second round on the bar hard enough that foam erupted from the mouth of Justin’s bottle. He seriously needed to calm the hell down.
“Are you taking a break soon?” I asked when he brought back Justin’s change.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should be able to in about ten minutes, but I don’t get an official break. I’m the only one here tonight and it’s been busier than usual. I have a ton of shit to get done unless I want to be here until sunrise.”
Damn, I couldn’t remember seeing him wound so tight in a while. And although he could be a moody bastard sometimes, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him quite this irritable. Most of the times, his go-to moods were pensive, self-deprecating, and wrung out.
I looked down the bar and saw that there was only one person whose drink was anywhere close to empty. A plan began to form in my mind. It could be crossing several boundaries, but I was tired of him snapping and didn’t want him wasting time here when we could be together. “Go ask that guy if he needs a refill. Then, meet me down in the basement,” I instructed him.
Thanks to having been here once and seeing the bartender from last night restocking, I knew where everything was stored. I wanted a few minutes to help him unwind, then we were going to get to work.
“You’re not an employee,” he pointed out.
“No shit,” I quipped. “But you’re short-staffed tonight, and if you don’t get caught up, you’re going to wind up pissing off someone who’s not used to dealing with your ass.”
That made poor Justin choke for a third time that day. If he wasn’t careful, I was going to get him a sippy cup to help with that little problem. Michael blanched.
“Oh Jesus, give it a rest, Underwood,” Justin scolded him. “Not everyone knows what I do, but they’re going to if you don’t calm down. Excuse me if I thought it was funny in a completely immature way.”
“You told him?” Michael turned his attention to me. He looked hurt. As though I’d betrayed him.
“Man, you must’ve forgotten how little I miss,” Justin countered, drawing Michael’s eyes back to him. “I know it’s been a while since we hung out, but if you remember correctly, I was the one everyone came to when they wanted the good gossip confirmed or debunked because they knew I’d be able to figure it out pretty quickly. You used to say it was one of the best things about being friends with the weird, quiet kid in class.”
This wasn’t my intention, but as I saw Michael relaxing a bit, I decided this was the best way tonight could’ve gone. Michael needed to be reminded of what he’d left behind. He also needed to see that people weren’t going to hold his past behavior against him. He was worthy of forgiveness.
“So yeah, it took me all of about forty-five seconds to figure out you and Dax are doing the nasty.” I considered denying that we’d done anything more than talk, but no one had a right to the details of our relationship. He lowered his voice so no one overheard us. “I’m cool with it. You also know better than to think I wouldn’t be. After all, you were the one who caught me blowing Terry Haberman in the shed behind my parents’ place.”
“I’d actually forgotten about that,” Michael admitted. “Look guys, as much fun as all of this is, I really don’t want to talk about it here.”
“Good, then meet me in the basement like I told you to,” I reminded him. “If anyone comes in, I’ll have Justin shoot me a text message. No one will ever know.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Michael protested.
“Actually, it’s probably the best idea he’s had all night.” Justin flashed a wicked grin. Whether or not Michael knew I was planning to help him relieve a bit of stress, I had no doubt Justin knew exactly what I was hoping to accomplish down there.
