Page 30 of Coming Clean

“Yes, but they don’t fuckthem.”

David seemed to considerthat. “Mostly true, but… You’re really going after a straightguy?”

“He’s not straight.” Jeremyinsisted. “No straight guy looks at another man the way he lookedat me. Can you just trust me not to be an idiot?”

“In most areas, yes. Inthis, not so much. I mean seriously, a Marine? It could only bemore clichéd if he were a cowboy.”

Why couldn’t David justtake his word for it? “It doesn’t have anything to do with hisbeing a Marine.”

“Right. He got those abs byjust lying around.”

“Damn it, David.” Jeremywanted to throttle him.

“What I meant about thisbeing like high school is that after you gave up on the girl thing,you started crushing on all the wrong boys.”

Jeremy thought about Tony.David was right about how poor his choice of romantic obsessionshad been back then. “I was an idiot back then. It was highschool.”

“You really want myhelp?”

Jeremy scowled at him. “I’mnot sure, now.”

“You know I’ll help nomatter what I think of your plans, but I thought you hated all thatmilitary shit.”

“I don’t hate the military.I hate government decisions that send our military into placeswhere we are going to do more harm than—”

“Blah, blah, blah. I’llhelp you, okay? And I’ll be here to get drunk and eat chicken withyou if this goes all to shit.”

“Thanks.” Jeremy couldalways count on David, even when he was being an ass.

“You’re not going toprotest? No declaration that this relationship will lastforever?”

“No. We’re really not inhigh school anymore. Maybe I just want a hot fling.”

“If you were into casualfucks, you wouldn’t sit home in your garret writing love poems allweekend,” David insisted. "You’d be out there getting blown in thebathroom like a proper gay guy.”

“Seriously, where do youget this stuff from?”

“Movies?”

“What sort of movies areyou watching?” Most of the films Jeremy had watched with gay menwere depressing as hell and too artsy to involve bathroom-stallfucks.

David ignored him. “Haveyou got a plan?”

“I thought I’d returnConnor’s supplies, since I don’t know if he’ll come back for themor send someone else. I don’t know where he lives but I figured itwouldn’t be too hard to find that out.”

“And he’ll see you on hisdoorstep, realize how much he wants you, drag you inside, and fuckyour brains out?”

“Umm… something likethat.” Wow. Thisis a stupidmove.

David gave him a once-over.“You’re going to need a different outfit.”

“I wasn’t planning on goingover there tonight.”

“He might send someone topick up his bag early tomorrow, and then you wouldn’t have a planat all. It’s tonight or never.”

Was David trying to get himto chicken out? “Fine, but I would’ve thought you’d want me to putthis off.”

David grinned. “Hell, no. Igave you my opinion and you ignored it. So now I’m going to tellyou how to do this right.”