Cast Off (10 page)

Not like he was going to go back and ask for a number now. Nor was he going to ask Davy. He’d chalk it up to his subconscious protecting him from a guy with keeper tendencies. Awesome night, but not seeing Ian again was safer. Rick could get used to Ian’s brand of fucking all too easily, but he wasn’t going to get caught by a keeper in a player’s thong. No way.

The cab pulled up, and unbelievably, it was the same cabbie as the previous weekend. Fuck. There was no mistaking that look. That pitying look.

This couldn’t happen again. Ian couldn’t happen again.

T
HE
line at the café was longer than normal, but Ian didn’t care if he was late to work. Getting spectacularly laid did wonders for his mood. Rick may have run out on him—again—but there was no denying it was the hottest sex he’d ever had. Ever. Some of that Ian could attribute to the newness factor of having a guy in his bed, but Rick just did it for him. They fit together so well, but he hadn’t even gotten the man’s number yet. He would. Of course he would. He’d just have to be patient.

His phone buzzed and he glanced at the line. Probably enough time to grab a call without being rude to the barista at the counter, especially since it was the cute twink today. Pulling it out, he saw Kurt’s name flash on the screen. He frowned and answered.

“Hey, Kurt. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, why?” There was no mistaking Kurt’s confusion.

“It’s just early for you to be calling me, is all.” Ian injected a bit of levity into his tone. “I didn’t think slackers like you got up before noon.”

“Ha, ha. Years from now, people are probably going remember the time I got shot as those weeks I was
slacking
. Besides, I’m hoping to go back to work soon, so I’m trying to get back into a regular sleep schedule.”

“Okay, but it’s still early for you to be calling, whether there’s something wrong or not.”

“Davy gave me shit about forgetting to call you this weekend, so I wanted to catch you before work.”

“Whoa. Davy gave you shit. Never thought I’d see the day when….”

“Oh shut up.” But there was no heat or ire in Kurt’s voice, as he’d known there wouldn’t be. It was such a relief to fall back into the comfortable friendship with his brother, stronger now than ever, thanks to their secrets being bared to each other. “Are you coming or not?”

If it weren’t for how publicly he was having this conversation, he might have said something dirty to the opening Kurt had given him. “Coming to what?”

“My housewarming. Saturday.”

“You’re having a housewarming on Saturday?”

“Yes, we invited everyone at the painting party… oh, wait, that’s right. You snuck out with Rick before we could invite you too. You work fast, bro.”

Damn. Kurt wasn’t going to let him forget that, was he? But he wasn’t ready to admit how much he’d thought about Rick since then. That was a secret Kurt didn’t need to know. Not yet, anyway. Instead, he tried to divert his attention.

“Lots of practice, bro, lots of practice. I could give you some details.”

His brother fake-retched into the phone. “Don’t you fucking dare. Just show up on Saturday, okay?”

“Sure thing.” Ian paused for a moment, but there was no way he could ask Kurt now if Rick was also going to be there. He’d just have to go and hope. Even if Rick didn’t go, now that he and Kurt were talking again, there would be other events to find Rick.

“Good.” Kurt disconnected the call, and with two people still in line in front of Ian, he let himself think about how he might ease Rick’s skittishness. It would be a challenge, since he’d never faced such a problem before.

Someone sidled up beside him and nudged his elbow, disrupting a very explicit vignette, and he scowled at the newcomer.

“Hey, Ian.”

“Oh, hey, Leon.” Ian tamped down his irritation. He shouldn’t be thinking about Rick naked anyway. Last thing he needed was to go into work with a boner. Or to give the cute barista the wrong idea. “How are you?”

“Good, good. You mind if I get in here with you? The line is….” Leon waved a hand at the line of people behind Ian.

Ian shuffled a bit and smiled at his new friend. “Did you have a good weekend?”

“Not as good as you did, I bet.” A raised brow accompanied Leon’s suggestive tone.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? “Um….”

“I saw you at Anaconda. I wouldn’t have thought that was your type of place, but you seemed to find a guy just fine.”

Oh holy hell. Despite the fact he knew other gay guys worked at
Errant
, he’d dreaded the day someone saw him at a club. At least he’d actually come out before it happened, although he hadn’t much been intending to make it common knowledge at work.

“Yes, well.” The person in front of them departed and Leon stepped up to order. Ian hadn’t quite tamed his blush by the time the barista took his order, and this time, there seemed to be a little extra heat in the guy’s smile, which only made Ian’s blush worse.

“Sorry, man, we don’t have to talk about it, but if you ever want company, give me a call, eh?”

Ian had no idea how to respond. He’d never gone to clubs with anyone before. How would that work, exactly? Besides, it wasn’t really his scene anymore. He didn’t know for sure, but he suspected finding dates at Anaconda would have been harder than picking up a straight man there. And he was starting to think he might have outgrown the anonymous fuck stage of his life. Before he could formulate a response for Leon, the guy had already barreled on.

“I’m supposed to work with one of the senior editors this week. Avery. Do you know her? Got any tips?”

Ian let out a small sigh of relief as they headed to the office. This was far more comfortable territory for a guy who’d spent most of his life in hiding. He wanted a gay friend, but letting himself open up to one would have to be a work in progress.

“Avery’s great. She’s a real hard-ass when it comes to work, and always has an eye for which stories will generate the most attention, but if you listen to her, you’ll learn a lot.”

Leon grimaced faintly and Ian laughed. “Don’t worry. She can also be a lot of fun. But trust me, you do your best work for her and she’ll treat you right.”

The elevator opened, depositing them on their floor.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Leon saluted with his coffee cup and darted in the opposite direction of Ian’s office.

Ian smiled. He wasn’t sure if this would end up being a friendship or a mentorship, but he felt good about it, nonetheless.

Chapter 4

R
ICK
toweled off and stared at himself in the mirror. He didn’t look too bad. Still pretty hot. But what was he going to wear tonight? It had to be good.

God. He had to shake off this freakish insecurity. And the butterflies in his belly had to give it a rest. Yes, he was hoping Ian would be at the housewarming, as much as he was hoping Ian wouldn’t be there. This wasn’t the first time he’d arranged a fuck buddy before; there was no reason for all this anxiety. Most of which seemed centered around Rick’s fear that Ian would turn him down. Stupid, really. It was just sex. Great, awesome, possibly stupendous sex, but nothing more. If Ian said no, there’d be other guys, even if Rick was having difficulty finding them lately.

Maybe he hadn’t been fair to Oscar. After all, Rick hadn’t had an actual rotation in a few months. It had only been Oscar, sporadically, for the past few months.

Perhaps, to Oscar, it had resembled a relationship. Still, after the guy got some much-needed sleep, he’d realize he’d been misconstruing things. Rick didn’t know how people became doctors when their trial by fire included months or years of sleep deprivation almost to the point of torture.

Not that Oscar’s schedule mattered to him anymore. Shit. He still hadn’t found out what Ian did for a living. Too much to hope for that he’d be in a uniformed career; the uniforms did turn his crank. Rick snorted. Ian hardly needed any help in that department. But Ian’s schedule would be of interest. He seemed to have weekends off, which was much easier to deal with than shift work. He had to make sure he looked as hot as he could tonight, all the better to tip the scales in his favor. If Ian was drooling, there wasn’t a chance he’d say no to Rick’s proposition.

A faint banging sound snagged his attention from contemplating all things Ian. Was that the basement? He shivered a bit. Maybe he should get a cat, so he could blame any weird noises on it. Still, his basement window didn’t latch properly and as he well knew, a person could wiggle into it.

After tying the towel securely around his waist, he detoured to his closet and grabbed a baseball bat. He spared a second to consider flip flops. The basement floor was concrete and fucking cold, but if he was trying to sneak, he wasn’t going to do it while sounding like a guy getting spanked at fetish night.

Ears alert for anything out of the ordinary, Rick crept downstairs. It wasn’t even dark out, so he wasn’t particularly scared, but more like… cautious. Because the last thing he wanted to do was come home after Kurt’s housewarming, buzzed and possibly with Ian in tow, to find his house had been robbed.

He also really hoped he wasn’t going to have to report a break-in like this.

There were no sounds out of the ordinary for an average Saturday evening, but that didn’t stop the tiny chill of apprehension from raising goose bumps on his nape when he stepped into the basement.

After checking a few places where someone could hide, of which there weren’t many in his basement, he headed right for the broken window. There was something on the floor below it.

He leaned over and pushed it with the end of the bat before he shrieked and jumped back. A squirrel. A dead squirrel. This time, the shiver became a full-blown shudder. At least it was stiff, so it had probably been some roadkill that one of the neighborhood kids thought would make a good joke. At least he hoped so. Surely Oscar hadn’t been that mad about their “breakup.”

Nevertheless, the squirrel had to go. Now.

Grabbing a broom and dustpan, he considered if he should throw it in the garbage, but his garbage pickup wasn’t until Tuesday. There was no help for it. He was going to have to get dressed, take the squirrel out… somewhere. The public trash can two streets over or the patch of shrubbery at the back of the house. Then he was going to have to disinfect that patch of floor and shower—again.

Next week, he was fixing that window.

R
ICK
’
S
finger hesitated over the doorbell. Then he shook himself. Ian shouldn’t have any power over him. He was already here earlier than he’d planned, but he wasn’t sure if that was because he was hoping to avoid Ian or to make sure he didn’t miss him. Or if the squirrel intrusion had just plain freaked him out.

Fuck. This was a party and if nothing else, he was good at parties.

Grabbing the handle, he swung open the door and waltzed right into Davy’s house.

There were a few people milling about in the living room, but he didn’t know any of them. An odd disconcerting sensation bloomed in his stomach. Relief. It had to be relief.

He strode directly for the kitchen, because that’s where Davy would be. Hell, Davy might even spend most of the party in the kitchen, futzing with appetizers and drink mixers. Slaving at their painting party two weeks ago had definitely made a difference. The kitchen, with its brand-new lemon tones, was sunny and welcoming, even though it was getting dark outside.

“Darling, you look awesome.”

Davy turned at his words and smiled. “Hey, Rick. I wasn’t expecting you this early. Guess you’ve got a hot prospect tonight, eh?”

A frown wanted to form on Rick’s face, but he kept his pleasant smile pasted on. Did his friends really think of him that way? Davy had spent ten years in a hyper-isolated relationship with a closeted cop so terrified of coming out that he’d practically kept Davy under lock and key, the last few years of which included never seeing his friends. When the guy died, Davy had found them again, and they’d come together almost like they’d never been on hiatus. Rick had been so pleased Davy had not only found someone new but laid down the law about hiding—as in, he wasn’t going to do it. This housewarming was more a celebration of that than simply Kurt moving in. Did they think he was too shallow to understand that?

“No, hon. Not at all. I simply didn’t want to miss a single crab puff.” Rick grabbed one off the carefully arranged plate Davy held and popped it in his mouth.

Then again, if he kept saying things like that, no wonder everyone thought he was nothing more than a two-dimensional club boy.

He took the plate from Davy and set it on the counter. “Listen, hon, I know I’m rarely serious. And I know I’ve never said this to you, but I’m so damn proud of you. As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t a housewarming, this is about strength. Your strength to stand up for yourself and get the relationship you want and deserve. Kurt’s strength in doing the right thing in coming out, even though he was scared. Even though he thought he’d already lost you.”