Finding Eden (21 page)

Danny spun around in Melissa’s and Denise’s arms, the two of them still clinging to him in their enthusiasm. He grinned at Jason, who managed to squeeze past the cheering fans in their row to make his way to them. “You made it!”

“Yeah, I had an emergency. Sorry I’m late.” Jason gave Danny a wide grin, showing off deep dimples, making him look much younger than he was. “Exciting game.”

“Did you see that?” Danny shouted, his excitement and the general buzz of the crowd making him loud. “Did you fucking see that? That was amazing! He’s a rock-star quarterback!”

“He’s really quite good,” Jason agreed, still grinning. “But I bet he hates all the attention.”

“Oh yes, he does, very much so. He used to sneak away after games in high school. He does the same thing now.” Danny turned back to watch Paul leave the field. His coach was on him once he hit the sidelines, his hand on Paul’s shoulder. He was talking to him, but Danny got the impression he was doing more than talking. He was protecting him from the enthusiasm of the other players.

Sure enough, with Gatorade in hand, Paul was able to sit in relative quiet, gathering his strength as the kicker took the field. “I think Paul’s coach knows what’s up with him to an extent. I’ve noticed he keeps people off him.”

“What
is
up with him?” Denise asked.

“He’s shy,” Danny lied and then turned back to Jason. “I haven’t introduced you. Jason, this is Denise and Melissa.” He leaned into Melissa and waggled his eyebrows. “Jason’s a doctor.”

“Awesome,” Denise said, leaning over to shake Jason’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Jason.”

“Likewise,” Jason said, shaking her hand “How do you know Danny and Paul?”

“They’re at USF with Paul. I met them at a sorority party the first week of school.”

“We’re not in a sorority anymore,” Melissa said, soft enough for only Danny to hear, and then sat down, a strange sadness showing on her beautiful face.

“What?” Danny turned from Melissa to look back at Denise. “What happened?”

Denise shook her head, her eyes wide as she gave Danny a look that clearly said to drop it. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Tell me what happened?” Danny pressed, ignoring Denise’s warning look. “I told you to tell me if—”

“You’re being rude to your new friend.” Denise gestured to Jason, giving Danny a wan smile as she leaned into him and whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”

An uneasy feeling settled in his gut, but Danny attempted to let it go, seeing Melissa’s cheeks pink beneath her tan, her eyes downcast in a show of embarrassment. The kicker made the field goal and the crowd broke out into a fresh surge of excitement when they finally pulled into the lead. Distracted by the new exhilaration, he decided not to make a scene in front of Jason. Danny sat down, gesturing for Jason to sit next to him.

“So Paul’s the quarterback.” Jason looked out to the field, pushing a pair of glasses Danny hadn’t seen him wear before up on the bridge of his nose, giving the game genuine interest. “How very stereotypically perfect for him. I suppose he’s the star player.”

“Pretty much.” Danny laughed. “I guess it is pretty stereotypical, ’cept when it so
isn’t
. Last week for example.”

“All is not what it seems. Intriguing.” Jason’s gaze darted to Denise rubbing Melissa’s back. He leaned back and raised his eyebrows at Danny. “The beautiful people have problems too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jason shook his head, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. “I hated your crowd when I was in high school. I hated it more when I was in college.”

Danny’s frown deepened, the hair on the back of his neck going up in defensiveness. “What crowd is that?”

“The popular crowd, the cool kids, polished and pressed spoiled brats like you three or insanely talented and perfect jocks like Paul,” Jason explained, his features dark as if reliving unpleasant memories. “You know, the beautiful people. The ones the rest of us spent half our adolescence hating and the other half wishing we could be more like.”

“They’re not brats.” Danny’s eyes narrowed at Jason. “You don’t even know them.”

“I know their type.” Jason leaned past Danny to speak to Denise. “Denise, Danny told me you drive a Mercedes. Would you recommend it? I was thinking of picking one up.”

“I don’t drive a Benz,” Denise said, looking at Melissa. “Mel does. She likes it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Jason turned around to lift his eyebrows at Danny. “My mistake.”

“Which model were you looking at?” Melissa wiped at her cheeks suspiciously, looking relieved for the distraction. “I drive a CLK 320, but it’s a convertible, kind of a chick car. Danny’s E55 AMG is a real masculine car, very sexy. If you’re a doctor, you’d probably like it better.”

“My daddy just bought me a new BMW Z3. It’s unisex.” Denise went on conversationally. “You can drive it if you want to test one out. Unless you have your heart set on a Benz.”

“I’m open-minded,” Jason said, as if considering it and not just making a point before he turned back to Danny. “Maybe you could let me test-drive your car. That is if you’d let one of the little people behind the wheel.”

“You made your point, asshole,” Danny said, his eyes narrowed. “Why are you always so fucking critical?”

“Was I being critical?” Jason asked, his brown eyes wide with mock innocence.

“This is part of your game, isn’t it?” Danny asked, the realization hitting him all of a sudden. “You’re different. You piss me off on purpose. Making me angry is fun for you.”

Jason wrinkled his nose, the guiltiness and mischievousness showing in his eyes as he grinned. “Maybe.”

“Oh my God.” Danny laughed. “You are such a freak. I think you’re worse than Paul.”

“I could probably give him a good run for his money,” Jason agreed, looking to be enjoying himself as he turned back to the game. “So explain to me what’s going on.”

“Haven’t you ever watched a football game?”

“Not once.” Jason shrugged as if he hadn’t just admitted to missing out on one of the crucial all-American past-times. “Being here certainly points to the first signs of a very serious midlife crisis. I’m overcompensating for being an outcast people like you wouldn’t have looked twice at in high school. So sad. I see therapy in my near future.”

Danny smirked, studying Jason sitting there in his pressed slacks. The first few buttons of his blue, long-sleeved dress shirt were undone, making it obvious he had just abandoned a tie, and was trying to loosen up. He had come straight from work, and looked like a doctor today with his glasses on. His short brown hair was neatly styled, showing off a boyishly handsome face he’d probably never grow out of.

“I would have looked at you,” Danny assured him.

“I doubt that.” Jason gave him a dubious look. “I was a geek in high school.”

“You’re a geek now.” Danny reached out to push the bridge of Jason’s wire-rimmed glasses. “Where were these before?”

“I wear contacts sometimes,” Jason said, leaving it unsaid that he wore them when he stopped being a doctor and became a very sexy sexual slave instead. “I’m guilty of vanity on occasion.”

“I like the glasses.” Danny’s smile grew broader. “I wouldn’t have just looked at you. I would have taken total advantage of you in high school.”

Jason laughed, looking behind him to see if anyone was listening before he leaned back into Danny and whispered, “I would have let you.”

* * * * *

None of them felt like partying after the game.

Danny wasn’t real sure when those drunken, youthful get-togethers started to seem stupid and juvenile. A few months ago he would have enjoyed those parties on some level. Now they felt like a tremendous waste of time.

Danny nursed his beer, pondering life and the path that lead him to this moment, sitting at the kitchen table in a hollowed-out home enjoying the contented silence with a unique collection of misfit friends.

“So what happened with the sorority?” Danny finally asked Melissa as a distraction against his own problems. “Why the long face?”

Melissa looked up at Danny from her place curled into Denise across the table from him. “It just didn’t work out. We didn’t blend.”

“They’re bigoted assholes,” Denise added, her dark eyes flaring with fury. “We’re better off.”

“They can’t kick you out of a sorority for your sexual orientation,” Paul offered, nursing his own beer as he leaned against the kitchen sink. Freshly showered, wearing a pair of jeans and a football jersey from high school, he studied Denise and Melissa in concern. “I’m pretty sure there are rules in place to protect you from prejudice like that.”

“Paul’s right,” Jason added, a bottle of water in hand. He sat down next to Danny. “You could file a complaint.”

“Fuck ’em,” Denise said dismissively. “We don’t need them.”

“And those fraternities wonder why I refuse to join,” Paul said with a roll of his eyes. “I got better things to do with my spare time.”

“Like what?” Danny couldn’t help but ask, feeling a devious smirk tug at his lips as he looked up at Paul. “What’d you like to do with your precious spare time? Do tell.”

“Whatever you tell me to.” Paul smirked back, his light eyes molten as they met Danny’s across the kitchen. “Pleasing you is what I live for.”

“Whoa.” Denise turned around to look at Paul in shock. “When did you two become an item? How’s that even possible? I thought you were straight.”

Danny was too busy coughing over his beer to respond, having not expected such a blunt and obvious answer.

Paul was also floundering, seeming to realize his mistake as a blush crept its way up his neck and he lowered his eyes rather than answer. They were still finding their footing with this new element to their relationship and Danny was starting to discover the slightest misstep left them both exposed. The feelings between them were too raw and tangible and it made them extremely obvious.

“Come on, Paul,” Jason said, coming to their rescue as he stood from his seat at the table. “I want to take a look at your back before I go. You really shouldn’t have played tonight.”

“I think it’s okay,” Paul argued, looking relieved by the distraction. Arguing with Jason over his injuries was starting to become comfortably routine. “I feel good.”

Jason snorted. “Yeah, that’s a reliable gauge.”

When Paul and Jason left there was an uncomfortable silence in the room as Danny felt two sets of eyes on him. The questions hung thick in the air and he could almost hear the gears in their brains turning as they tried to piece the clues together.

Melissa finally settled on, “What happened to Paul’s back?”

“That’s not a nice story,” he said bitterly, knowing it was unlikely he’d ever be able to speak about nearly losing Paul over something as stupid as pride. Danny was still fighting to come to terms with his mistakes and his stomach churned at the memory of Paul nearly dead at Arty’s. “There’s not enough beer to give me the strength to talk about it.”

“But you’re together,” Denise went on. “You’re a couple now?”

Danny hesitated, rolling the beer between his fingers. “I don’t think
couple
is the right term.”

“Then what are you?” Melissa asked curiously.

“I love him.” Danny knew that one thing, if nothing else. “What else matters? I’ll be whatever label he needs me to be.”

The girls didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. Maybe they had their own demons because they left him alone. They didn’t pry for more than he was willing to give. They simply sat there with him while he went back to thinking about the strange pathways of life and contemplating his place in the world.

Chapter Eight

“Danny.”

Danny looked out to the lake, studying the moonlight sparkling on the surface rather than look at Jason. “I know what you’re gonna say.”

“You know it’s getting out of hand,” Jason said as he stood next to Danny, smoking a cigarette. “You stop thinking when you’re with him. It’s obvious.”

“I’ve left his back alone,” Danny said defensively. “I haven’t touched it.”

Jason winced. “Yeah, but the rest of him is starting to match.”

Danny felt his cheeks heat. “I’m working on it. I got it handled, I really do. It’s just new and exciting and he’s so fucking responsive. I might get a little carried away but I’m getting better at controlling myself.”

“That’s a lie. If anything I think you’re getting worse.”

Danny growled under his breath, wanting to be pissed at Paul for getting naked whenever someone told him to, knowing he stripped down for Jason to inspect without thinking about. He wanted to be pissed at Jason and his determination to constantly point out Danny’s mistakes by putting Paul under the microscope. But the truth was, Danny knew the only one he should be pissed at was himself. He stewed silently, unwilling to admit to anyone, even himself, that he was way in over his head.

“What if I found a Domme to mentor you? She could train you,” Jason offered, his voice soft and concerned. “Paul would still be yours. You wouldn’t have to let her play with him if you didn’t want to.”

“I dunno.” Danny took a long drag off his cigarette and turned his head to blow out the smoke. “I don’t think I’d get along with a Dominatrix. I have serious issues with all of them after what happened to Paul. Those bitches would’ve just let him die.”

“He’s a big responsibility,” Jason said, sounding desperate. “And you’re still so young.”

“I can handle it. I don’t need help. If he needs pain to keep him centered and happy, I can give him that,” Danny said, knowing it not only felt like a lie, but sounded like one too. “I’ll figure it out.”

“I have a friend. She’s an amazing Pro-Domme, one of the most respected in the country,” Jason started, sounding hesitant even as he said it. “If we ask nicely we might be able to convince her to take you on as an apprentice. You could train to be a professional Dom, someone who is capable of handling a sub like Paul.”

“So that’s what you think I should do with my life?” Danny snorted, turning to look at Jason in disbelief. “I should be a professional asshole.”

“You have the aptitude for it.” Jason shrugged. “And what else are you doing?”