Shawn Lane - Car Wash 1 - Car Wash (6 page)

Michael slid the door open and stepped back into the apartment. Kevin stood leaning against the kitchen bar, his arms crossed defensively in front of his chest.

“Need any help?”
“I told you before, no.” Kevin just stared, his gorgeous blue eyes solemn. Hardly seemed like the same guy who’d just been begging him.
“What are we having?” Michael decided to act casual. He already knew he needed to tread cautiously against this particular aspect of Kevin’s personality. He’d known it before when Kevin was a teen. He’d already become reacquainted with it since meeting up with Kevin recently.
“Chicken and mushroom pie.”
“Yum. Sounds good.” He was trying to lighten the mood, but it seemed pretty clear Kevin wasn’t going for it. The man just continued to stare at him. “Okay, spit it out. The surly act is starting to get to me.”
Kevin nodded. “Okay. Did you pay the rent on my apartment?”
“Yes.” He saw no reason to lie about it. He’d pay the rent again.
“Why? I can’t afford to pay you back.”
“I didn’t ask you to,” Michael responded. “I didn’t want you to worry or stress out about it, Kevin. I knew it was bothering you.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t even pay just the back rent, but a month in advance. What’s going to happen after that when I can’t afford it again?”
Michael didn’t think this was the time to tell Kevin he hoped he wouldn’t need the apartment anymore because he’d be living at Michael’s place. Kevin didn’t seem like he’d be very receptive to the idea at the moment.
Instead he said, “Don’t worry about that right now.”
“Easy for you to say,” Kevin muttered. He sighed and relaxed his stance just a little. “How did you make that happen so fast, anyway?”
“I went to law school with one of the partners there.”
“And what about the car wash? What am I going to do if the new owner doesn’t want me to work there or whatever? I don’t want to be out of another job.” He was almost pouting and, if Michael wasn’t afraid of Kevin’s reaction, he would have kissed that pout right off his mouth.
“Well, actually I have another job for you anyway.”
The blue eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You did office work before you were laid off, didn’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“My firm needs office help. It’s just mail, filing and doing computer work, but it will definitely pay you a lot more than the car wash. You can start Monday. Until you can afford transportation, and by that I mean a car not a motorcycle, you can ride with me.” Michael waited for the fireworks. He could practically see sparks shooting out of those intense eyes.
“And now you’re telling me, like you can, not to get another bike?” Kevin asked, his voice very neutral.
Somehow the calmer Kevin was a little more bothersome. “I’m not telling you that you can’t get a motorcycle, I am strongly advising against it. I told you, they aren’t safe. Before I got into family law I did some accident work and most of my cases involved motorcycle accidents. Whether they were the fault of the rider or not, they mostly ended badly.”
Kevin shifted from one leg to the other, but otherwise kept up the calm façade. And Michael knew it was fake. He could see the emotions churning in Kevin’s eyes.
“I don’t wear suits.”
“You won’t have to wear a suit. Just business casual. No ratty jeans or shirts,” he said easily. Michael smiled. “And you wouldn’t have had to worry about losing your job at the car wash. I know the new owner pretty well.”
Kevin moved away from the bar and took an almost menacing step toward him. “Okay, what? What does
that
mean?”
Michael decided that perhaps now hadn’t been the time to divulge that information, but, in for a penny, in for a pound. “I’m the one who is purchasing the car wash.”
“What the fuck?” The calm shattered and the dramatics arrived. Kevin’s fists clenched. “Why? Why would you do that, Michael?”
“I didn’t want you working for that scumbag.” He shrugged. He couldn’t believe, frankly, it wasn’t obvious.
“Oh, my God, what are you, some kind of stalker freak?”
Michael winced.
That
hurt. “No.”
“Well, I’m not Cinderella and you sure the hell aren’t my fairy godmother. You can’t just wave your magic wand and make all my problems go away.”
“I don’t see why not.”
Kevin had been pacing back and forth in front of the kitchen bar, but now he stopped right in front of Michael. “If you aren’t a stalker then what do you call it? You paid my apartment, you bought where I worked, and now you want me to work at your firm. What? So you can keep an eye on me?”
He nearly rolled his eyes at the drama, but fought against it. “I told you. I paid the rent because I didn’t want you to stress out and worry about being homeless. I want you to work at my firm because it’s a better job and it pays more. There’s nothing nefarious there, Kevin.”
“What about the car wash?” Kevin bit his lip.
“I didn’t want you working for Lewis. He wanted to make you have sex with him for money.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
“
What
?” Okay, now his own calm, reasonableness slipped a bit.
“It’s the same thing, isn’t it? You’re basically paying me to sleep with you. It’s just wrapped up in a prettier picture. The apartment, the job, all of that. You’re trying to buy me. Like I’m your kept boy.”
That threw him for a loop. He’d never imagined in a million years Kevin would view it in that light. He’d thought their attraction, their relationship—wherever it was going— had been mutual. He’d taken for granted since Kevin wanted him before, he still wanted him now. But now that Michael thought about it, he had been pursuing Kevin pretty hard and Kevin had been just letting it happen.
“I see. I hadn’t realized you would feel that way.” Michael turned away, gathering his composure. He was used to being in control. Liked it that way. He wanted everything in his life to fit neatly, the way he imagined it should. For just a moment he’d thought Kevin could be part of it.
He could feel Kevin watching him, but the other man didn’t say anything else.
He finally turned back to look at Kevin. “I’m sorry. I guess I have been pressuring you. I was under the impression you wanted to have sex with me.”
Kevin opened his mouth, but only a squeak came out.
“I never meant to imply you were obligated to because I was buying you things and offering you a job. What was the first night then? Did you think because I bought you dinner you had to have sex?”
“No, no. Michael, that’s not—”
“Or were you still playing out your fantasy from when you were fifteen? You wanted to finally say you’d slept with me?” He was floundering here and he knew it. “What happened, Kevin? Was I not as good as you thought I’d be?”
“That wasn’t what I meant at all. You know I wanted you. I still—”
“Well, forget it,” Michael cut him off. “It’s over.”
“What?”
He nodded. “You heard me. I don’t want you thinking you have to put out. You’re right, I was being just like old man Lewis.”
Kevin grimaced. “I didn’t really mean that.”
“Yeah, you did. I don’t want you believing I think you’re a boy toy. Look, I still want you to take the job at the firm. I’ll even still give you rides there until you get some transportation. You’d have to take too many buses otherwise. But that’s it, okay? Nothing else.” His stomach was knotted and he felt bereft, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He couldn’t force Kevin to want something more with him. Hell, maybe he was starting to feel the way Kevin must have felt when Michael had rejected him.
Kevin stared at him, his mouth hanging open. “You-you don’t mean that.”
Michael swallowed. “I do. It’s over, Kevin. Let’s keep things strictly business between us.” He glanced at his watch. “In fact, I should go. Thanks for the offer for dinner, but I’ll have to pass.”
“You can’t do this.” Kevin shook his head. “You can’t just turn it on and off like that, Michael.”
“Yes, I can,” he insisted. “Listen, we were moving way too fast anyway. Or at least I was. I was pushing you and trying to make you be with me when you didn’t really want to. I get it. Now that we’ve got it out of our systems—”
“Out of our systems?” This time Kevin cut him off. “You think I’m out of your system now? Is that what it was to you? Getting the stupid kid who had a crush on you out of your system? Me, too, huh? I just wanted to bed Michael Bennett the stud, right?”
“Maybe.”
“God, you’re such a prick sometimes.”
That
really
hurt. “You said yourself I was trying to pay you for sex.”
“I said a lot of shit. I was pissed, okay? If you actually think about it, you know very well I’ve been with you because I wanted to be. But now that we had a fight you just cut your losses?”
Michael nodded. Maybe it was for the best. He’d been pushing the whole thing too fast. Maybe he had been trying to buy Kevin’s affection.
“Fuck you, Michael. If I’m so unimportant, then you’re right. It is over. Get out.” Kevin crossed his arms and turned his back.
Automatically his hand went out to touch Kevin, but he dropped it again. His head was still swimming and his heart pounding too hard. He didn’t know what to think or what to do, but he guessed he needed some time. He moved toward the door and twisted the knob. “I’ll come get you Monday at seven forty-five.”

“Are you sure you want to be here?” Gabby asked him, reaching across the table to grasp his hand.
Kevin blinked and gave her his best fake smile. Really he didn’t know why he hadn’t gone into acting. He’d been good at it in drama class.
They’d decided to go to dinner after Gabby’s shift at the car wash. She’d even come by to pick him up and her mom was watching her kids. So, great, now he was dating chicks. Okay, so he wasn’t
really
on a date with Gabby.
“Of course, I do,” Kevin lied. He knew where he wanted to be on Saturday night and no offense to Gabby, but it wasn’t with her. “I’m sorry. I’m sort of preoccupied.”
She nodded. “Boyfriend trouble?
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” Man, he sounded really pathetic. No wonder Gabby looked unhappy to be having dinner with him. He picked up his menu and forced cheer into his tone, “What are you going to have?”
“I’m torn between the enchiladas and the chile relleno.”
Kevin let his gaze wander to the waiter walking past their table. He wore tight black pants and a short Mexican-style coat embroidered with peppers and chilies. Unfortunately, even though the man had a fine ass, Kevin didn’t even perk up a little.
“I think I’ll go with the shrimp fajitas.”
Gabby popped a chip covered in salsa in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. “I thought you were seeing someone. No?”
“It didn’t work out.” He’d gotten the words out without choking on them. He was pretty proud of himself.
The waiter stopped by and they ordered their food.
Kevin reached for his margarita and took a large sip. “You wanted to tell me some big news?”
Gabby smiled broadly. “Yes, I met the new owner! He came by the car wash today and he’s going to make me the manager. Can you believe it?”
“You saw Michael?”
almost came out of his mouth like a desperate plea, but he stopped himself in time, and said instead, “Wow, that’s great, Gabby. I hope he’s giving you a big fat raise.”
“I am getting a raise. He said I knew the car wash better than anyone, having worked there so long. God, he’s so much better than Lewis. I can’t wait until the change is completed.”
“Yeah, it’s too bad I got that other job.” He gulped down the rest of his margarita, ignoring the pain in his head from drinking something icy so fast. He wanted another one. No ten more. Anything to dull the pain of being the biggest idiot on the planet. One day he’d learn to keep his mouth shut.
“Are you kidding? That is so cool. I’m so happy for you, Kevin. Everything is working out for both of us.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You start Monday, huh? Are you nervous?”
Only nervous that he wouldn’t make a total fool out of himself and jump Michael and beg for forgiveness. “Nah, I can handle it.” He stopped the waiter and held out his empty glass. “Can I get another one?”

Kevin decided to wait in the parking lot of his apartment building for Michael Monday morning. He felt since Michael was picking him up for the job it was the least he could do.

He’d spent Sunday evening trying to pick something to wear for his first day. It made him a bit girly, he guessed. He chose a plain brown pair of slacks and a white button-down shirt. Total geek clothes as far as he was concerned. At least he’d re-touched the red streaks in his dark hair. He probably shouldn’t be wearing the little crystal stud in his nose or the small gold hoop in his ear either.

Michael probably timed it to the second.
The car glided to a stop next to him and Kevin opened the
door.
“Good morning,” Michael said.
“Morning.” Kevin slipped into the seat and snapped the
seat belt.
Michael gestured to a paper cup with a lid. “I bought you
coffee. I don’t know if you like it sweetened or with cream, so
I got the packages and you can make it the way you like it.
There’s a breakfast sandwich for you in that bag, too.” Kevin glanced down at the fast food bag at his feet. A
lump formed in his throat. Even now Michael was trying to
take care of him. “Thanks.”
“I’d appreciate if you wait until we get to the office
though. No eating or drinking in my car.”
“All right.” Kevin looked out the window as Michael
pulled out of the parking lot. “Isn’t this really out of your
way?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s tone chilled him and Kevin hugged himself. For
a moment the humiliation and loneliness from when he was
fifteen reared its ugly head. He pushed it away as best he
could. He didn’t want to go down that road again. He’d gotten
past that, hadn’t he?
“You look nice,” Michael said into the awkward silence. “I look like a dork. But I guess it’s better than the car wash
smock.” Kevin sighed and leaned back. “When I worked at
my old job I used to spend a lot of money on clothes. I went out a lot to this gay bar in West Hollywood. I don’t go there
much anymore.”
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “Well, transportation’s an issue. I could
probably get some people to pick me up I guess. Most of that
crowd doesn’t know I lost my job though. Most of them don’t
much care. It’s not like they were good friends or anything.
Anyway, I didn’t usually have to pay for drinks because a lot
of guys would buy them for me whenever I went there. To be
honest I didn’t always like the way I acted while I was there.”
Kevin toyed with the hem of his shirt, feeling stupid for
sharing all this information with Michael considering things. “Yeah, it’s best you stay away from those kinds of places.
Guys are looking for an easy lay and they’ll slip stuff into
your drinks,” Michael said. “I don’t like the idea of you going
there.”
Kevin decided it was definitely time to change the subject.
“You didn’t tell me how much this job would pay.” “How much did you make at the car wash?”
“Minimum wage plus tips.”
“And at your old office job?”
“Sixteen an hour.”
Michael nodded. “Okay. How about twenty an hour.” “Twenty?” Kevin repeated.
“Not enough? How about twenty-two?”
Kevin’s mouth fell open. “For filing and inputting and
stuff?”
“Twenty-five? Whatever you want, Kevin. Just tell me.” He closed his mouth and looked out the window again.
“Twenty’s fine. Maybe I could look for a motorcycle this
week. They aren’t as expensive as a car and you won’t have to
keep giving me rides. Besides, I still have my pink helmet.” The corners of Michael’s mouth curved up. “Pink?” “Uh-huh. It’s dramatic.”
“That it is,” Michael agreed.
Kevin waited for Michael to make another comment about
how he shouldn’t get a motorcycle, but this time Michael
remained silent. Oddly enough it depressed him further. Yeah,
he was definitely an idiot. He’d thought for a moment when
Michael brought him breakfast maybe the man did care about
him and maybe there might be a chance they could talk about
things and see each other again.
Stupid
.