He has a really valid point. My grandfather, God rest his cold and judgmental soul, would agree with him. For all his faults he really did want his hometown to prosper and thrive. “You know, there’s a charitable foundation in my grandfather’s name and one of our first initiatives will be to give funding donations to local farmers for equipment and stuff. So, if you need anything like that for the hemp farm or to transition to a marijuana farm, you should check it out.”
“We’re good,” Bowen says quietly, his eyes on the dark street in front of us. “Thanks though, for thinking of us.”
I feel like I said something wrong. I don’t want to make him feel like I think he’s not running his farm right or like I’m an arrogant rich kid offering him my pocket change. “Sorry. That might have come out wrong. I don’t wanna seem like some douchebag Daddy Warbucks or anything.”
“Daddy Warbucks?”
“Annie.”
He cocks his head, the moonlight glinting off his pale hair. “The movie?”
“Yeah, the movie too I guess, but I was thinking of the musical,” I reply. “My mom took me to see it on Broadway when I was really young and I freaking loved it.”
He laughs and then leans into me and whispers. “Are you sure no one has figured out you’re gay?”
I laugh too and use my shoulder to give his shoulder a little push. “Fuck off. Musicals are good shit. Well, they can be. But they can also suck. AnywayAnnie, for a seven-year-old who already dug music, didn’t suck.”
“You have an artist’s soul,” Bowen murmurs after we’ve walked half a block in comfortable silence. “I noticed some of the lyrics in your notebook when I grabbed a piece of paper to leave my phone number that first night. They’re good. You should play some of them at gigs.”
“Nah. No way, not until I get some formal training,” I say it before I can think to filter myself. Must be all the red wine. Shit.
“You intend on getting formal training?”
I shrug. “I’ve thought about maybe taking a few classes at the University.”
Or an entire degree.
We stop in front of my loft and I glance down the street. “Where are you parked?”
“Back by V and V.” He grins. “I just wanted to walk you home. You had a lot of red wine.”
“I did,” I admit and pull my keys out of my pocket. “So much that I think I should probably invite you in.”
“For what? A beer or a wine?” Bowen asks.
There’s another rumble of thunder and this time it isn’t so distant. It’s close and loud and angry. Bowen tips his head up to the sky and I take a step closer to him and then stop myself. God I want to kiss him. He drops his head and tips his chin up ever so slightly so our eyes can meet. I’ve got an inch on him, maybe two, but I’m six-two so he’s not exactly tiny.
“So, what are you offering?” he asks again. “Beer or wine?”
“Neither,” I reply.
Lighting illuminates us for a split second. Just long enough for him to see the lust in my eyes. “You said you don’t do repeats.”
I shrug. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Thunder booms, so loud I can feel it in my bones like when I’m standing too close to an amp on stage.
“I should say no.”
The sky opens up and the first big, fat rain drops start to slap our jackets and our faces. Bowen blinks. I shove my key in the door and yank it open, reaching back to grab his arm and pulling him in with me. If he’s going to turn me down, he might as well do it in dryness. I reach for the light in the stairwell, but he bats my hand away. And then I feel his hands on my hips and he whispers three words before his lips crash down on mine. “Ah, fuck it.”
8
BOWEN
Some part of me knows I shouldn’t be here. I’ve done the whole closeted relationship before and it ended badly. I swore after Trevor I wouldn’t ever do that again. And I don’t intend to, I remind myself as my lips crash onto his and my hands find their way to his ass. I’m not the one with the one-and-done rule. That’s him. I can fuck around with him twice and still walk away.
Chase fists his hands around my jacket and yanks me toward the elevator. Blindly, with our mouths still pressed together and his tongue greedily sweeping across mine, he manages to hit the button. The elevator opens and as soon as we’re inside and he’s hit the button for his floor, I press him into the back wall and dare to open my eyes. I break our kiss, making sure to tug his bottom lip between my teeth as I do, and push my cock against his hip. His reaction to the feel of my erection is everything I could ever want. His eyes open at the same time his mouth does and one of his hands leaves my jacket to grip my ass and pull me into him again.
