Page 4 of Not the Punk

Kay had worked with me to get to the barbeque and surprise Saxon. I enjoyed doing crazy things like that, and I was dying to see my friend. Kay opened the door and pulled me inside his house. “Ohmygawd. I thought you’d never get here. Everyone’s out back.” He hugged me and tugged my arm, directing me to follow him through his house and out the sliders.

When we were outside, Kay called out, “Everyone! You remember Colten Tovy, Saxon’s friend?” Everyone greeted me warmly, but I still felt slightly out of place. These guys were rock stars, and I was nobody. But Saxon was at the grill, bebopping to the music that was blaring as he flipped burgers, and he wasn’t bothered by it at all. He was even kind of funny, since the music was metal, which normally required headbanging, but he was dancing around, bobbing his head, like it was a pop tune.

“What up, bro?” I called out over the music.

He nearly dropped the meat back to the grill. “What the fuck? Colten!” He hugged me tight. “I missed the fuck out of you. How are you here?”

“Thank Kay for that.”

“Mmm… sneaky Little.” He peered around me at Kay who was grinning like a shark.

But over Kay’s shoulder, I saw the other man I wanted to see. Joe Young. He’d gotten under my skin, and I’d hoped we could explore this connection between us. This was my chance.

“Got you, Daddy!” Kay laughed like a loon, and Saxon pulled him into a big hug.

“You did for sure. Amazing surprise. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Do you need anything while I’m out here?”

“Can you grab a few more beers to put in the drink fridge? I keep giving mine away.” He shrugged and pulled his last one out, handing it to me.

“Thanks, dude.”

“Be right back.” Kay skipped off inside the house, leaving me alone with Saxon.

I admired how great my friend looked as if he were truly in his element. “You look happy, dude.”

“I am.” I could tell by the gleam in his eye that he really was.

“You ever miss firefighting?”

“Nah. I like designing rooms, and it’s keeping me busy. I do miss the people, man. You’ll have to tell everyone I said hello when you go back. When are you going back?”

“Day after tomorrow. It’s not long enough, but I didn’t have to take vacation.” We often had several days in a row off after working a few days straight. We lived in the firehouse on those days, which was a home away from home, and Saxon was right about the people. They were like family. “You should come visit, you know.”

“I will and soon. The guys are going on tour, so when it hits the West Coast, I’ll pop in.”

“Bring your Littles. Everyone will get a kick out of meeting Kay.”

“Yeah, it’s cool having a rockstar boyfriend. And he’s a Little. Who knew? I’m glad Donny can keep him company when I’m not around, at least most of the time.”

“I don’t know how you juggle both of them.”

“Eh…it makes it easier since they’re already so close. Oh, hey. Can you grab me another bottle of Barbeque sauce out of the fridge inside? And maybe help Kay with the beer? He’s taking too long.”

“Sure.”

Kay was putting the bottles in a bucket to haul them outside when I walked in. “Saxon needs more sauce, too. How about you get that and I’ll grab these.”

“Oh, thanks.”

As I took the bucket from him, I noticed a coloring book page with Joe’s name on it hanging from the fridge. It was a cute lion with a butterfly flitting around, but the drawing used big, bold lines and left plenty of space to color between them. “Kay, did you make this picture for your band mate?”

“Nope. Joe colored it the last time he was over.” That didn’t mean Joe was a Little. Did it?

“Oh.” I was pretty sure he was only humoring his Little friends. Right? Only… “Is he over a lot?”

“Yep.” He bumped into me with a sly smile. “Come eat.”