He got into his car and I stood in the parking lot watching until they were out of sight. Strange didn’t even begin to describe my night.
It took yet another turn when I couldn’t find Justin or Matt anywhere. I wandered down to the auto bays, hoping they were there waiting for me. As it turned out, they were there, but they didn’t seem at all fazed by my absence. In the glow of the emergency lights in the corner, I could see that Justin had Matt pressed against the side of his Challenger and his tongue shoved down my friend’s throat. I coughed loudly, and laughed hysterically when they jumped apart like high school students caught making out.
“We were…um…we were wondering where you went,” Justin stammered as he fumbled to unlock his car.
“Yeah, I could see that. Did you think I might be hiding in Matt’s stomach? Because I have to tell you, your tongue was probably just about there.” I chuckled and shook my head. I looked over at Matt, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed about being caught. And maybe a little worried that I was going to chew him out later for fucking around with Justin. Good. It served him right. “I’m assuming you’re going to ride with Justin to the bar?”
“Uh, yeah. I mean, if that’s cool with you.” In the years I’d known him, I’d never seen Matt this flustered. Maybe Justin was good for him. Maybe there was something more to Justin that I hadn’t seen, and he was going to give Matt a taste of his own medicine.
The bar was packed by the time we got there. It seemed that when all the kids went off to do their thing, the parents had all had the same thought. I pushed my way through the mass of purple and white to the bar.
With it being so busy, I had time to watch Michael work. As much as he swore he hated being “just a bartender,” he was damn good at it. He seemed to float from one customer to the next, taking multiple orders at a time and then delivering them with ease. He looked tired, but he was also happy. That much was apparent.
“Hey you.” He slid a napkin down in front of me. “I didn’t think you’d be in tonight.” He looked around, trying to find someone. “I thought you said your buddy was in town.”
I coughed as I considered how to break it to Michael thathisfriend andmyfriend were MIA together. “Yeah, he’ll be here. I think he had something to do first, though.”
Michael’s face twisted in obvious confusion. “But you said he’s not from around here.”
“Oh, he’s definitely not. And you’ll know him the minute he walks in with his designer jeans and tailored sport coat.” I laughed again, and decided to tell Michael what was going on. “Well, and the fact that I’d expect him to be hot on Justin’s heels will also be a dead giveaway.”
Michael groaned. “Dax, I know you’re worried about Justin being the third wheel to us, but do you really think setting them up is a good idea? I know Justin, and he’s not going to be happy with a weekend fling. He’ll be insufferable once Matt goes back to wherever it is that he lives.”
I wanted to lean over the bar and kiss him. That was the closest he’d come to admitting that we were together when we weren’t in the safety of one of our homes or his parents’ place. It proved to me that maybe he was handling all of this better than I thought. And that reminded me of Thomas and the way he did his best to make me feel like a fucking pariah for being who I was. I debated telling Michael about it, but decided that wouldn’t be a smart decision. Not when he still had at least three hours of work and a bar packed four deep to serve.
“I promise, this was not me.” I stuffed my hands into my pockets before I did something foolish. Michael watched me carefully with his head cocked to the side. My Adam’s apple dipped as I swallowed hard. He ran his tongue across the seam of his lips. This was getting out of hand. “You wanna grab me a beer so you can get back to work?”
If he didn’t, I was going to suggest that we head down to the basement to get ready to restock. It’d serve him right if I offered and then stuck to only carrying up cases of beer. Let him work with a hard-on for the rest of the night. Maybe tell him I was going to leave early and I’d be waiting for him.
He set my beer down on the bar, along with a shot of whiskey, and told me to stay out of trouble. As if that’d be a problem. I got lucky enough to find a table near the dartboards clearing out as I wandered aimlessly through the bar and then texted both Justin and Matt to remind them I was waiting for them and wasn’t a fan of looking like the lonely fool in the corner.
I stayed that way for over thirty minutes, the entire time on the receiving end of glaring patrons who wished I’d just get up and leave so they could sit down. If I knew more people, I’d have invited others to join me, but that seemed weird.
I shook my head and sighed when I saw the two of them pushing their way through the crowd to me. Justin in the jeans and flannel he always wore when he wasn’t at school and Matt looking like the out of place city slicker. They were quite the pair. In a different town and a different bar, they’d have been the envy of everyone. As it was, I was jealous over how freely Justin touched Matt and vice versa. That was what I wanted. Maybe if Michael saw that no one gave them a hard time, he’d be closer to believing no one would care about us.
But that bubble burst the moment I saw Thomas Whittaker walk in. This didn’t seem like the type of place he’d normally frequent. He was still wearing a button-down shirt with tie and crisply pressed slacks. The only attempt he’d made to dress down was a white and purple Colts windbreaker.
I pushed away from the table when I saw him flagging down Michael to get his attention. This couldn’t be good. I didn’t get the feeling he was there to relax with a cold one. Such activities were probably too plebian for his pompous ass.
As I made my way to the bar, I tried to figure out what in the hell I was hoping to achieve. I wanted to keep Michael from a confrontation while he was at work, which meant I should stay as far away from Thomas as possible to keep his attention elsewhere. But I also wanted to give Thomas the message that I wasn’t about to let him continue fucking with his daughter’s family. They were finally moving past her death, and he was threatening to send Michael back into his dark hole. The decision was made easy when the man sitting on the stool next to Thomas stood and pushed his glass to the rail.
I slid into the seat before Thomas had the chance, but pretended I didn’t even see him standing there. One thing I knew about men like him was they hated being ignored. Michael flashed that wide, toothy grin when he saw me, but then almost seemed to cower away when he noticed my neighbor.
“Hey, you gonna make me wait all night?” I teased. “Seriously, what’s a guy gotta do to get a drink around here.”
I was laying on the redneck a bit thick, but I figured that was what Thomas expected from me. Maybe if I made him as uncomfortable as he made Michael and Jagger, he’d slink away, back to the rock he lived under.
Michael pulled my beer out of the cooler. As he walked toward me, I could see the pleading in his eyes. He was terrified that I was going to do something to out him. I wouldn’t do that, of course, because I knew the root cause of his fears. Instead, I turned my back to Thomas, pretending I still didn’t notice him, and laid a ten-dollar bill down on the bar.
“Keep the change,” I told him with a quick wink. Rather than turn and head back to the table where Justin and Matt were waiting for me, I settled into my seat and slowly lifted the bottle to my lips.
Michael tensed, his eyes darting toward the table, his lips pursed tightly. I knew he wanted to me to walk away, which only strengthened my resolve to stay right where I was.
“I’d like to speak with you when you’re able to break free for a moment,” Thomas informed Michael. God, the guy was so self-absorbed he really didn’t have a clue how hard it was going to be for Michael to take a break.
“It may be a while, sir,” he responded woodenly. “It may be easier if I call you tomorrow.”
“That’s fine, I’ll wait.” He took a sip from the glass Michael had set in front of him without taking his order. “I’m afraid what I have to say is too important to allow you to avoid hearing. It’s come to my attention that you may be making some questionable decisions regarding your life.”
