Shifting Gears (Crossroads Series Book 2) (5 page)

“I think you’re sleeping with the wrong people. Let me guess, you’re a heartbreaker? You never want to settle down and everyone you’re with falls madly in love with you? You seem like the type.”

Before Landon could reply, the waiter approached them. “I’ll take fries and a Corona,” Rod told him. Greasy food and beer was exactly what he needed.

“I want a burger and something dark.” The waiter went through their dark beers with Landon. Once he chose, the man walked away and Landon continued where they left off. “What do you mean I seem like the type?”

Hell, he shouldn’t have said anything. Rod shrugged. “Gorgeous, confident, nice.”

“Those qualities make me a heartbreaker?”

“Maybe.” He leaned back in the booth. “I’m not trying to bust your balls. I’m just trying to figure you out.” Which honestly was a bit of a surprise to him. Rod loved people, loved to talk, but it was rare someone interested him the way Landon did. He had this quiet urge, a faint whisper inside him that wanted to get to know Landon better. Not just superficially, which should have set off a shit ton of warning bells. Rod was good at ignoring things when he wanted to.

Landon let out a deep breath and now he could tell the guy was getting a little frustrated. “There’s nothing to figure out.” He leaned back against the brown booth seat.

“I just don’t believe in love. Look at the fucking divorce rate and tell me how anyone can. It’s a lie people try to sell you. I don’t believe people are capable of completely giving themselves to someone else. See? Nothing exciting. I’m just a cynic.” Landon didn’t look as relaxed as Rod thought he wanted to. He had his right arm stretched out, his thumb tapping on the table. His dark eyes had a far off look to them, his voice rough, irritated. There was more to it than he shared, and damn it if Rod didn’t want to know more. Who was he to dig into Landon’s pain? He was just the guy who sold him lube and told him about a job.

So he leaned back as well and wondered if he pulled off the relaxed look he thought Landon sought. “Again, what does love have to do with sex?”

“Nothing, I guess. Not always. If I downloaded a hook up app right now, met some guy in a hotel and fucked his brains out, that’s one thing, but it’s different when you know someone. There’s the possibility for all the other shit to get in the way.”

Rod sighed. He guessed he could see where Landon was coming from. “I get what you’re saying. It’s not that I don’t believe in love. I look at people like Bryce and Nick and I have to believe. Hell, they’re fucking crazy about each other. They’d never been with men before. They changed their whole worlds for one another, but I know how to draw the line. I know that’s possible for them, but it’s not possible for me. So yeah, I agree in that I don’t see some guy falling head over fucking heels for me, but I also don’t let that get in the way of getting off.”

“You said falling for you.”

“Huh?” Rod asked.

“You said you don’t see a man falling in love with you, not the other way around.”

Rod hadn’t realized that’s what he said, but he also didn’t doubt it. He didn’t believe someone would fall in love with him, and he was okay with that. “So? We were talking about you and how you have this whole thing backward.”

“Who says I’m the one who has it backward?”

“I believe I just did.”

The previous tautness in Landon’s body seemed to have disappeared. His right arm was loose beside him, his hand maybe in his lap. His shoulders weren’t tense, and his eyes sexy and playful like they were those times Rod had seen him in the store.

With the left side of his mouth slightly tilted up, he leaned forward. “Yes, you did.” The waiter came back and handed them their beers. When he walked away again, Landon held up his glass. “Different strokes for different folks, I guess.”

Rod clanked his glass together with Landon’s. “For you, I guess. I’m not satisfied with just stroking. I want the real thing, thank you very much.”

“What am I going to do with you?” Landon took a drink of his beer, his eyes holding Rod’s the whole time.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” He took two long swallows of beer, that little whisper inside him hoping that Landon stuck around long enough to figure something out.

Landon sat on a stool as he looked at the engine of the bike in front of him. It was a nice bike, but it had a bent crankshaft, which wasn’t good.

“How’s it going?” Bryce walked up to him and stood on the other side of the bike. Landon had been working with him for two weeks. He liked the guy. He was funny, smart, and knew what he was doing when it came to bikes.

“The customer isn’t going to be happy, but it’s nothing we can’t fix. We just can’t fix it for cheap.”

Bryce nodded. “All that matters is that it can be fixed.”

“True.”

Bryce looked behind Landon and Landon saw a pleased smile spread across his face. “Hey, baby. What are you doing here?”

Landon turned around to see a tall, dark-haired man he assumed must be Nick. He’d heard plenty about the guy but had yet to meet him. He met Bryce at the back of the bike and Bryce leaned in pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

“I came to see you. I brought you some food.”

“Potatoes?” Bryce asked.

“Of course.”

They kissed again and then Nick’s eyes landed on him. “Oh, hey. You must be Landon. Bryce and Rod have both told me about you. I’m Nick.”

He held out his hand to shake, but Landon showed him the grease on his. Nick just shrugged. “Are you kidding me? I’m with this guy. A little oil from a bike is nothing new to me.”

Landon chuckled. Yeah, he guessed not. He stood, wiped his hands on his work pants and then shook Nick’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” Only now he was wondering what Rod had said about him to Nick. Knowing Rod, it could be fucking anything. Maybe he really didn’t want to know. No, who was he kidding? He wanted to know. It excited him that he never knew what to expect from Rod, or what would come out of his mouth.

“Nice to meet you too,” Nick told him, just as Bryce grabbed his hand and tugged.

“We’ll let you get back to the bike. I have something I need to show Nick in my office.” Bryce winked at Landon and he let out a loud laugh. Yeah, he bet Bryce had something to show Nick, and he had a feeling Nick would like seeing it.

The two men disappeared down the hallway, and all Landon could think about was his conversation with Rod last week. Maybe Rod had been right. He really needed to get laid. On the one hand, his reasoning for not sleeping with Rod made perfect sense…but on the other? The other he was just fucking torturing himself, dangling something he wanted in front of himself and then denying himself that very thing.

He wasn’t into that tease and denial.

He wanted Rod.

But he enjoyed their growing friendship too.

He couldn’t stop focusing on Rod. The man had taken up residence in his brain and it was starting to drive Landon a little crazy.

About forty-five minutes later, Nick said goodbye as he snuck out of the office. He hadn’t made any fucking progress since he’d disappeared with Bryce, so he forced thoughts of Rod out of his head—thoughts that shouldn’t be there in the first place—and focused on the bike in front of him.

Landon finished out his workday, washed up in the bathroom, and then got on his bike, ready to go home…only he didn’t feel like going home. Shanen was going to be there while she discussed wedding plans with their mom. Sure, he could sequester himself in his bedroom, which happened most of the time, but that’s not what he did.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled up in front of Rods-N-Ends. It was pretty sad that he had nowhere to go other than a sex store to hang out with the guy who owned it.
Can I really not find somewhere else to go, or do I want to be here?

Rod was busy with customers when Landon got inside. He wandered around by the front registers feeling like an idiot for being here. What did he expect to do? Hang out with Rod half the night, while the guy flirted and sold dildos to people? This was a stupid fucking idea.

“Look who it is,” Rod said when he made his way to the counter.

Landon nodded at him, letting him finish ringing up the customer. When the guy left, he told Rod, “I just thought I’d come by and say hi.”

Rod had his black eyeliner on again. He had to admit, he’d never been into a guy who wore make-up before. Not that he had a problem with it at all, to each their own. And not that he was into Rod either because the guy was his friend. His friend who made no secret of the fact that he wanted Landon to fuck him, and who Landon was also fiercely attracted to, but his friend all the same. Still, he found himself oddly happy that Rod wore the black eyeliner today.

“Hi.” Rod smiled at him and leaned against the counter. “Miss me or avoiding your house?”

Shit. Rod had gotten good at reading him. “Both?”

“I’m wearing you down, Landon Harrison. Sooner or later you will be mine…at least once. I don’t ask for much. I only expect one night.”

Landon opened his mouth to argue with him, but Rod cut him off. “Oh. I almost forgot. I have something for you.” He bent down and rifled around in the cabinet beneath the cash register.

Less than a minute later he stood and handed a box to Landon. He opened it up and said, “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

“What?” Rod looked at him with puppy dog eyes, as though he was innocent. “I’m just trying to help. And it’s not like I went out and specifically got it for you. When companies make new products they sometimes send us a sample. No one used it.”

“It’s not a new product. I have a FleshStroke at home, thank you very much.”

“Yes, but this one is new and improved. It’s even more realistic. Feels just like a—”

“Yeah, I get the point. You don’t need to explain it to me.”

“I’m just trying to help.” Rod grinned and the motherfucker had Landon smiling too.

“I don’t need your help. Plus, I prefer a hand.”

“I have two of those as well.” Rod held his hands up.

They both started laughing. Landon’s gut hurt, he laughed so hard. Jesus, the man was crazy, and damned if Landon didn’t enjoy that about him. “What the hell am I going to do with you?” This wasn’t the first time he’d muttered those words to Rod, as though he had to do anything with him at all.

“You’ll get tired of me sooner or later.” Rod winked at him, but something about the curve of his lips, and the sudden dullness in his eyes, told Landon that he really believed that. It was the first hint of real vulnerability he’d seen from Rod.

“Nah, you keep things exciting. You’re a good friend. That’s why I won’t fuck you, remember?”

Rod sighed. “Thanks for reminding me.” Just then the door opened and more customers came in. With a straight face, Rod looked right at them. “Welcome to Rods-N-Ends, your orgasm headquarters. What can I do for you today?”

Landon nearly had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

***

They played cards. It was a deck with penises on them that Rod pulled out when Landon continued to hang around. In between customers, they played poker and Gin Rummy on the counter.

Around eight, Landon ran across the street and got them both a pizza for dinner. It was a weekday. Rod’s help had left a while ago, leaving just Landon and him when he didn’t have customers.

He was surprised that Landon seemed to plan on spending his entire evening at the shop, but he wasn’t disappointed. At eleven on the dot, Rod turned out the “Open” light and locked the doors.

“I should probably head out,” Landon told him.

“You don’t have to.” He didn’t want Landon to leave. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Maybe that’s why he wanted to have sex with Landon so badly. Well, besides the fact that he was sexy as hell, but for Rod that would put things in perspective. People knew Rod was up to fuck, so they often fucked him and then that was that. He was used to screwing people and then being on his way. He wasn’t really used to having someone refuse to sleep with him, because they valued his friendship. It made waters…murky for him. Like he couldn’t see through things to know the outcome and he didn’t like that.

Landon sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It makes me feel like shit, but I almost fucking hate going back to that house every day. I’m pretty sure that means I’m an asshole.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Actually, it does. My mom and Shanen are both so happy to have me home. Things were never easy growing up, but there was never a time in my life that I doubted my mother’s love for me, so yeah, the fact that it’s hard to be around her makes me a dickhead.”

Every single part of Rod wanted him to ask Landon why—why things hadn’t been easy on them. Why he hated going home, but then, did he really want to open that can of worms? Did they really want to trade sob stories about their childhoods? Rod sure as shit didn’t want to talk about the daddy who hated everything that Rod ever was. Rod had put this behind him a long time ago. He had a feeling Landon wouldn’t want to have a heart-to-heart about it either.

“Well, I happen to like dickheads. They’re fun. You can come hang out at my place, if you want.”