He isn’t being judgmental, he’s being cute. I kiss him quickly and pivot, taking his hand off my waist, putting it in mine, and leading him back to the sofa we vacated earlier. The salty breeze holds a slight chill, but the booze and emotions flying around my chest are keeping me warm. Before my butt even hits the rattan seat, Landon has ordered me another Beach Bum and Grady a beer. “This is what I love about you. One of the many things,” I announce as he drops onto the love seat beside me. “You don’t judge me, and you don’t try and change my mind. You’re open to all my ideas.”
“Good or bad. For better or worse.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” He smiles, but then his gaze slides to the stage.
When I follow it, I find Grady standing at the back, leaning casually on the brick wall behind the stage. He’s smiling as the lead singer stands in front of him, awfully close, like the band is still playing and they have to lean into each other to hear. But they don’t. Interesting.
“I guess that’s the guy from Grady’s hometown.”
Landon takes a beat before shrugging. “Guess so.”
“You know this is a gay bar, right?”
That gets him to pull his pretty blue eyes off Grady and onto me. He nods. “Yeah. I figured it out.”
I stare at him. He shifts in his seat and raises an eyebrow. “You think I care?”
I shake my head. “No. You’re morally liberal as fuck. I knew that even before you said you were open to a threesome. With a guy. I wouldn’t be with you if you were homophobic, FYI.”
He takes a long, slow breath and doesn’t say anything until the server has placed our new drinks in front of us and Landon closes out the tab. “That whole conversation was hypothetical. And it was also a million years ago. Why are you suddenly hyper-focused on it?”
His shoulders are relaxed. His eyes are soft. But there’s the slightest drop of aggravation in his tone. I reach for my drink and make sure to ghost my fingertips along his thigh as I do. “Well, I think Grady would… could be interested. I mean, I think he… swings both ways.”
I tip my head toward the man in question. He and the singer are hugging now. It’s almost a bro-hug except the singer cups the back of Grady’s head the way you would a lover, and then he whispers something in Grady’s ear. There is no way his lips don’t brush Grady’s skin. He’s too close.
Grady pulls away casually, gives the guy a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, and then turns to see who’s watching. “And he doesn’t want anyone to know, but I think he might be okay with us knowing.”
“Angela, do not question this man about his sexuality,” Landon cautions firmly. “It’s none of our fucking business. And if he is, which I doubt, and he is trying to keep it private, then as his friend and teammate, you damn well can bet I’m going to let him.”
“Relax. I’m tipsy but I’m not a buffoon,” I promise, then take a sip of my drink.
Landon seems to relax beside me. We watch Grady as he makes his way to us. The crowd has thinned with the end of the music, but there are still a few people milling about, finishing their drinks and flirting with each other. Grady grabs a retro lawn chair and turns it around, then straddles it, leaning his chest into the back and reaching for his beer. He holds it up to me, and we clink glasses. As he takes his first sip, I casually ask, “So you’re good friends with the lead singer, huh?”
I can feel Landon’s eyes like a hot poker, but I don’t look his way. I’m not breaking my word. I’m not going to go there… but I can lead a horse to water. Grady can decide whether to drink or not. Grady nods as he swallows. “Yeah. Known him since… man, I think like ninth grade.”
“He grew up in your hometown? Silver…?”
“He moved there in ninth grade. From Chicago, of all places. His dad worked in finance, and the bank he worked for transferred him to run our little Silver Bay branch.” Grady smiles at the memory. “Jason is not a small-town dude. Wasn’t even then. And he isn’t athletic, so Silver Bay was a bit of a rough ride for him. Every guy in town plays hockey.”
“He’s a really good singer and musician,” Landon remarks and rubs his palms on the sides of his pants.
Grady nods again. “Yeah. He’s super talented, just not in a way that was appreciated in rural Maine. But he lives in New York now and makes a solid living off touring with the band and freelance graphic design. He’s happy and I’m happy for him.”
“Girls didn’t eat that shit up in Silver Bay?” I question, playing with the little paper umbrella poking out of my half-finished drink. “Girls in California love a cute guy with a guitar. Or a surfboard.”
Grady lets out a breathy chuckle that literally sets my ovaries on fire. I try not to picture him doing that in my ear while Landon goes down on me and Grady plays with my nipples. Oh hell. I’m wet. “I think some girls in Silver Bay might have been interested in that type of guy. Especially one as talented as Jay. But… Jay wasn’t interested in girls.”
Bingo! I quickly shoot Landon a pointed stare. Grady catches it. “You both obviously figured out this is a gay bar.”
I nod. Landon doesn’t, which leads me to believe they’ve already established this at some point. Maybe while I was dancing. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean the band is gay. I’m not gay and I’m here.”
“Jay has been dating the bassist for two years. They live together,” Grady explains, and puts his half-empty bottle on the table. “I’m not spilling secrets. It’s common knowledge. He’s out. Anyway, I come and see him when we happen to be in the same city, or close, because his parents left Silver Bay and he never comes back.”
“Must have been hard being gay in rural Maine. I mean, I don’t mean to assume, but like you said,jock is the only acceptable form of teenage boy out there, and he wasn’t,” I muse and stir my drink with my umbrella. “San Fran was a great place to grow up that way. Very accepting. Lots of artsy kids and no one cared if you were gay.”
“Angie, you can be a jock and be gay,” Landon interrupts suddenly, making me blink. I go silent so the only sound is the clank of the melting ice cubes in my glass as they spin around. “You act like he wasn’t into sports because he was gay.”
