Six Degrees of Lust (49 page)

progress was at work. Logan lived for the day when he’d see his

best friend emotionally content, because happiness would follow

soon after.

After the waiter finally took their order of Mango Margaritas,

shots of Patron, ultimate nachos and tortillas with guacamole,

Logan settled back in his seat. The shots of tequila had been his

idea. He wasn’t working the next day and was in the mood to do

some serious drinking.

“I really like this place,” he heard Christian say. “It’s so very

quaint and colorful. Kind of reminds me of some of my favorite

places back home. Our Mexican food is better, but Besitos’ is not

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too shabby.”

“Neither Texas food or the drinks for that matter are better

than ours, love. I do believe I’ve taken you to enough Mexican

restaurants both in NYC and San Francisco to prove that point.”

“Here we go again,” Chris said, playfully rolling his eyes at

Gabi. “We have this argument all the time. She refuses to admit

we have the best restaurants.”

“Where exactly in Texas are you from?” Logan asked, noticing

Chris’s sexy drawl was more present than ever.

“Houston, thank goodness.” Chris smiled. “I don’t think any

other city in the state would’ve been able to deal with me.”

“Chris does his best to hide his drawl,” Gabi said. “The fact

that you are hearing it now means he’s feeling no pain. One too

many Margaritas would do that to a body.”

“I don’t try to hide it! I’m proud of my origins, but it’s been

a long time since I moved out of Texas and only natural for the

drawl to fade some. You should hear how thick it is when I’m

back home for any length of time. Sneaks right up on me.”

The waiter came back with their order and put the drinks and

food down. This time he didn’t try to flirt and his face was set in

a scowl when he offered Gabi some fruity drink Logan was sure

she didn’t order.

“From the gentleman standing over there,” the waiter almost

growled, turning his body in the general direction of the bar.

Logan, Chris, and Gabi followed suit, and Gabi smiled at the very

attractive guy saluting her with his own drink, completely missing

the disgruntled waiter’s departure.

“Here’s to physical attraction and young love,” Chris said

once they all had their drinks in hand. “Make sure you enjoy it

before it all turns to shit.”

“Awww, come on, Chris. Are you depressed over this thing

with Julian again?” Gabi’s tone was dripping with sympathy.

“You know every relationship has its bumps,” she added right

before taking a big swig of her Margarita.

350 Taylor V. Donovan

“Says the woman who hasn’t been on a date since the Clinton

administration.” Christian also took a big swallow of his drink,

only to give himself a brain freeze. Grimacing in pain, he pushed

on his forehead and his chest with his hands.

“That’s what you get for being a smart ass, my friend.” Gabi

winked at Chris, smiled at Logan, and grabbed her shot glass,

motioning for the guys to do the same. Once they were ready she

said, “Bottoms up!” and they all slammed back the tequila in a

perfectly synchronized move. “Fuck, that burned!”

“This thing with Julian wasn’t a bump, love,” Chris continued.

“More like an iron wall, or maybe quicksand…”

Logan put his glass down and threw his head back, enjoying

the heat of the tequila making its way through his system and

thinking how much he liked this girl. Telling her he was best

friends with her ex-husband hadn’t changed a thing between

them.

“That guy by the door has been checking you out, did you

know that?” Chris asked Gabi, discreetly pointing at a nice

looking brunet.

“Well, he’s also been checking out one of the Mariachi boys,”

she replied, and there was no mistaking the disdain in her voice.

“I’ve no interest in guys who don’t know who they are or what

they want.”

Logan’s eyes snapped open. What the hell was that all about?

Going by things Sam had told him and her close friendship

with Christian he had assumed she was accepting and open

minded, but perhaps he’d been wrong.

“I’m pretty sure he knows he’s bisexual, which means he

could want both.” Chris’s tone was stern. “We’ve discussed this

before.”

“It doesn’t mean he can have both! I know bisexual people

are always more inclined to one sex, so they should just pick one

and stay away from the other.”

“And that would make them homosexuals, if they picked,”

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Logan said, not pleased with her statement in the slightest, but

no one would know so by listening to his calm voice. “There’s

nothing wrong with feeling attracted to both women and men.”

“It is when they need both… When they cheat on a woman

with a man… or even vice-versa.”

“In that case I’d say the problem would be the unfaithfulness

itself,” Logan argued, still in a very low voice. “The focus should

be on the reasons why an individual would cheat, not on who he

cheats with.”

“I completely agree with that,” Chris said and Logan could

tell he wasn’t too happy with Gabi’s words either. “Are you saying

it’d be easier for a woman to deal with infidelity if her significant

other cheated on her with another woman as opposed to a guy?”

“Absolutely,” she said.

“I beg to differ, Gabi.” Logan was now convinced he’d been

wrong when he told Sam he believed Gabi would be open to

dialogue. She wouldn’t. Not with this kind of opinion.

“How about you go talk to the other guy then? The one at the

bar,” Chris suggested. A second later Logan felt his hand pat him

soothingly on the back.

“No way am I doing that when you’re all bent out of shape.”

Her eyes full of concern, Gabi leaned towards her friend and

grabbed one of his hands, trapping Logan between them and

completely forgetting about the previous subject at hand. “I want

to be here for you in case you need to talk.”

“I’m perfectly fine, girl,” Chris assured her. “And that guy has

been waiting hours for you to get your sweet ass over there, and

for once I want you to forget about me and my problems and

concentrate on yourself.” He gave her a shit eating grin. “Besides,

I’m in very good company.”

“Okay, then,” Gabi agreed with a smile after a few seconds.

“I’m going to go introduce myself to this guy and rock his world

a bit.” She slowly stood up, so that she could show off her

voluptuous body.

352 Taylor V. Donovan

“Work it, girl!” Chris smiled once again but as soon as Gabi

turned her back on them he lowered his head and groaned. “I

need a fucking cigarette.”

Logan got up and took a pack out of the front pocket of his

pants. He wasn’t a smoker, but he enjoyed having some nicotine

with his hard liquor from time to time. He gestured Chris to

follow him outside and three minutes later they were standing on

the sidewalk.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Chris said when Logan lit up his

cigarette. “And thanks for not getting into it with Gabi. She’s

quite…hardheaded when it comes to the whole bisexuality thing.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He took a long drag from his own cigarette

and studied Christian’s face. “Do you feel like talking about

whatever it is that’s bothering you?” he offered. “What did the

boyfriend do this time?” Now that he’d been friends with Chris

for a bit and knew about the ups and downs of their relationship

he had no choice but to agree with Adam; the dude sounded like

bad news and Chris should dump his ass.

“Nothing new, really.” Although their friendship was recent,

Chris had trusted him with several details of his relationship

with Julian. Whatever had passed between them when they met

at Adam’s wasn’t a fluke. They felt comfortable in each other’s

company and words came out naturally. They’d been speaking

with the ease that usually came with a much longer friendship

from day one. “I never get to see him. He’s always holed up in

his studio, too busy with his work. I broke up with him a few

days ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. He’s a goddamn asshole that was probably cheating

on me.”

“Has he always been this weird?”

“Weird? You’re a psychologist and that’s the best you can

come up with?” He laughed and crossed his arms over his chest,

holding the cigarette between his fingers and seemingly getting

lost in his thoughts. “You know, I’m not entirely sure I have an

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answer for that. I started a relationship with Julian for the wrong

reasons and didn’t really take the time to get to know him well

before I did. That much I can tell you. See, I was falling for this

gorgeous, charming Cajun boy back home. We talked a lot, him

and I, and even though I know he was feeling very confused, he

never avoided me while he tried to figure out what was happening

to him. He was receptive to my attraction and said he’d be fine

with his own attraction for me as well… if only he were gay.

Which he swore up and down he wasn’t, after making out with

me because apparently he’d never been attracted to a man before.

And he’s around gay men plenty, let me tell you.” He took a drag

from his cigarette and shook his head. “Of course me being me,

I had to push things. The time for me to come back to NYC was

getting closer and I just had to know if there was a chance for us,

if he could ever be mine, so I confronted him.”

“Scared him off?” Chris snorted and Logan had to smile.

Granted Chris was very much male, but he looked so feminine

and delicate that the sound seemed out of place.

“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one. Remy… you

know, Cajun boy… He asked me to slow down. Said he needed

time to understand and deal with his feelings.”

“And you didn’t give it to him.”

“I threw a hissy fit, came back to NYC, and refused to take

his phone calls.” He took another long drag from his cigarette

and exhaled slowly, a self-deprecating smile on his lips. “I was

desperate to feel wanted and Julian… lord, he was relentless in

his pursuit of me… like he just had to have me, you know? He’s

openly gay and I decided it was time for me to settle down, to be in

a happy, committed relationship, so I started going out with him.

But, once we had sex, he turned into a completely different man.

Never had time for me and his favorite excuse is this supposed

masterpiece he’s working on. In hindsight, getting serious with

him so soon was a mistake, and I should have broken it off the

minute I felt weird around him for the first time.”

“Weird how?” asked Logan, completely fascinated by

Christian’s story. The psychologist in him was eating the whole

354 Taylor V. Donovan

thing up and screaming for more.

“He has some radical ideas when it comes to guys wearing

makeup, for example. He’s always trying to get me to not wear

any. And he’s also totally against piercings and tattoos. Says

people shouldn’t mutilate their bodies that way.” He shook his

head a little. “Sometimes I get this feeling he hates me. Isn’t

that strange? I know he can’t stand to be seduced by me. He

gives in every time, but only to be in a pissy mood afterward, as

if he blames me for his weakness. I remember this one time I

fell asleep for a few minutes and woke up to find him hovering

over me. He had my belly ring between his fingers, pulling it. I

feared he was going to rip it off. He’ll never admit to it but I’m

positive he hates it because he knows Braxton gave it to me and

there’s a meaning behind it. And that’s another thing. He’s such

an antisocial, ungrateful piece of shit. You know Julian’s yet to

have the decency to stop by and say hello to Brax whenever he’s

come to NYC? That’s so fucked up! It was Braxton who actually

told Julian to submit his work to my gallery in Houston, so he

owes his good luck and fortune in part to Brax.”

“So this Julian is an artist from Texas?”

“Yes.”

“And Brax is your best friend.” He already knew that from

talking to Gabi, but it was the first time Chris mentioned the guy,

so Logan went along with it.

“Braxton Sinclair, my oldest, closest male friend. I actually met

Remy through him. You know, confused boy? He’s the executive

chef in this fabulous restaurant Brax owns.” Christian stubbed

out his cigarette on the trash receptor’s ash tray. “It’s exhausting,

this dating game. And I’ve never been good at picking the right

guys.” Christian shrugged and crossed his arms on top of his

chest. “But I feel… I’m… relieved, you know? Happy to have

ended things with Julian.”

“Are you sure?” Logan asked, concerned for his friend. “And

why didn’t you call me?”

“It was something I had to deal with by myself, you see? I’m