Summer Son (13 page)

“It’s hard to get him to sit still for long,” Zane said quietly. “I had to try and pick my moments.”

“These are incredible,” I said. I looked up at him. “Seriously.”

He shrugged. “We never get to work with kids in life-drawing classes. It’s always adults, for obvious reasons. It’s a whole new challenge trying to figure out how to draw a baby. Their proportions are all different.”

There was one sketch of Harrison’s profile, just his cheek and the dimple that said his lips were stretched wide into a smile. To me, it was obvious that this was a picture of my son.

“I’d like to paint him, one day,” Zane said. “You too.”

“You mentioned that,” I said with a smile, reaching out to touch his cheek. “You want to do it with the two of us together?”

“Maybe. I was thinking separately, though,”

“Okay. I mean, sure. I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” he murmured.

Harrison stretched out on Zane’s chest, then mumbled to himself and rubbed his eyes. Zane looked up and gave me a quick grin, then resumed the circular rubbing over Harrison’s back.

“Hey, baba,” I said. “Did you have fun with Zane today?”

He looked shocked to see me and glanced between Zane and me, as if trying to figure things out. I laughed and crossed to give them both a kiss, then went to make us all some lunch. I was hungry.

Chapter 9

“C
OME
OUT
with us tonight,” Zane said, running his thumbs over my hip bones, which made me want to say yes… to anything he wanted.

Harrison was in bed, the apartment was tidy, and I was pretty tired from the stress of the day.

“I can’t,” I said gently. “I won’t get a sitter on this short notice. Plus, Leo’s coming over to drink wine and watch wrestling with me.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he ducked his head to hide it. “Okay.”

I had an idea and went into the kitchen, tugged open my Drawer of Crap, pushed aside pizza menus and paper clips and thumbtacks and a wrench until I found the second set of keys to the apartment.

“Here,” I said, pressing them into his hand. “The little round one is for entrance to the building, and that’s the door key. For when you get home tonight.”

“You’re giving me keys?”

I shrugged and rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah? If you want them.”

“That’s a pretty big deal, El.”

“Not really. You come and go as you please already. It just means I don’t have to get up to let you in anymore.”

Zane looked up from where he’d been threading the key ring onto his own set of keys and grinned.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Have a good time with your friends.”

“They’re your friends too, El. They were probably your friends first.”

I kissed him on the nose, then slapped his ass. “Go on. Git.”

Leo arrived with two massive steaks for us to grill, and I realized how much I’d missed red meat. I was eating too many meals with Zane, and even though his version of a healthy dinner was much greener than mine, I couldn’t deny I was feeling better for having cut all the crap out of my diet. Plus, he was coming up with obscure things that Harrison would eat. Agreeing to his vegan shit was a fair compromise.

I made baked potatoes and salad while Leo dealt with the meat, and I had the chance to catch up with him for the first time in ages. He seemed intent on getting every last squeeze of information out of me with regard to my relationship with Zane… and was pretty damn good at it.

“Does he live here yet, then?” Leo asked as we sat down to watch the show.

“No,” I said. “He spends a lot of time here, though. My place is bigger than his, and if we want to see each other, it’s easier. He puts Harrison to bed for me and everything.”

“Shit,” Leo said. “Even Oliver won’t do that.”

“Don’t.” I waved a fork at him threateningly. “Don’t start on Ollie.”

“Ollie is he, now?”

I rolled my eyes. Ollie was a “friends only” nickname. At work and around his mother, he was Oliver.

“Tell me about Reid.”

Leo’s boyfriend was eleven years older than him and a doctor. They’d met when Leo needed cardiac surgery a few years back. My brother credited Reid with mending his broken heart. Which was sweet, really, even if it was only minor surgery.

“He’s fine,” Leo said. “Working nights at the moment, which sucks, because we hardly ever see each other. We’re like ships passing in the night.”

“When does his rotation change again?”

“Not until next week.”

I made sympathetic noises until they were muffled by a big mouthful of steak.

The drunken text messages started to filter through around ten, by which time Leo and I were working on our second bottle of red wine and I was feeling slightly wobbly myself. If I were standing. Which I wasn’t.

The first text was a
wish you were here
message from Zane, followed by a picture message of him pretending to kiss Lupe. I didn’t mind if he was kissing Lupe, but she didn’t exactly look like she was enjoying it. Then a message from Meg—
Your boyfriend is drunk and pining. It would be cute if it wasn’t for you
.

“Did you know everyone was out tonight?” Leo asked as I checked my phone again.

“Yeah, Zane said. We already had plans, though.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “You should have gone. I would have looked after Harrison for you.”

“Nah. We hardly ever get to hang out anymore.” It was true. When Leo had spare time he wanted to spend it with Reid, which was fine by me. Or he was at work, fiddling around with computers and IT and things I didn’t understand. Being freelance, like me, he took whatever work he could, even if it meant long and odd hours.

“You wanna go meet them?”

“No, Leo, it’s fine. Honestly.”

“Look,” he said, fixing me with his “I know you’re older and bigger than me but I can be assertive too” stare. “I need to go to sleep soon anyway, and I have every intention of crashing here, because I’m not getting the train back to Queens this late. Plus, I’m meeting Reid for breakfast, and it’s closer to get to the hospital from here than my place. So go out. Harrison won’t wake up now anyway.”

“But I don’t know what to wear,” I whined.

I earned myself a smack for that, but I deserved it and went to change into a clean shirt.

“Thanks, little brother,” I said, kissing the top of his head as I passed.

“Anytime. Big brother.”

“You know where the blankets are. Make yourself at home.”

“I’m finishing the wine,” he called after me as I jogged out of the house.

It only took a few minutes to get to the cafe, since I kept on jogging to get there quicker. The bar was busy, but I knew the bar staff, meaning I got served with a minimum amount of fuss and wandered through the noisy, crowded bar to where my friends were gathered in a booth.

“Hey, you’re here!” Meg said, and I grinned at her.

“Yeah. Leo kicked me out. He’s going to sleep, so he said I could come out to play for a while.”

She snorted with laughter. “Zane’s brother is here. Did you know? We’re all on our best behavior.”

“I didn’t know,” I said.

“Apparently he— Actually, that’s his news, not mine.”

“What?” I demanded, but she mimed zipping her lips, and I couldn’t get anything further out of her.

From my vantage point I could see when Zane walked back in from the courtyard—he’d obviously been out for a smoke—with a guy I guessed was Cass. He was taller than Zane and broader, with a shadow of a beard and a crisp white shirt that made his skin look more tanned than Zane’s.

I wondered what his reaction would be to my turning up unannounced, especially if his brother was around and he couldn’t be affectionate with me. But he smiled and pulled Cass down to whisper something in his ear before they got to the table.

I slid out of the booth to let them in.

“Hey,” Zane said, reaching out to squeeze my wrist. “Cass, this is the guy I was telling you about. Ellis, this is my brother Cass.”

Cass offered me his hand, and I shook it. “So, you’re the guy my baby brother is dating, huh?”

I’d been part of this conversation before, when Leo started dating Reid, so it was weird to get it back from the other side. Cass was fairly intimidating too. He was as tall as me and had heavy eyebrows that gave him a permanent frown.

“Yeah,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”

This must have been the secret Meg didn’t want to spill—Zane had finally come out to his brother. Cass nodded at me.

“Take care of him,” he said simply, and then he slid into the booth, where his half-finished beer stood next to Azriel’s. When Cass fell back into conversation with Az, I guessed the two of them had found common ground.

“You told him,” I said as I leaned down to place a small kiss on the corner of Zane’s lips.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “He said he already knew and was pleased I could finally tell him myself.”

“That’s awesome.”

He grinned and nodded and ushered me back into a seat so he could sit on my lap. I wrapped my arms loosely around his waist so I could reach my glass of wine when needed.

“No beer?” Zane asked.

“No. I’ve been drinking wine at home with Leo, and I don’t want to mix or I’ll get a headache.” I filled him in on my evening’s activities with my brother while he insinuated his hands under the hem of my shirt and stroked my belly. “Tell me about Cass.”

“He wanted to know more about you,” Zane said. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been telling him a lot tonight, but I think he was a bit wary about the fact that you have Harrison.”

“That’s okay. I probably would feel the same in his position.”

Zane attached his lips to the side of my neck and kissed over the skin there while I held him tight, even though my legs were going numb.

When he ducked out for a smoke, I twisted around in my seat to where Cass and Azriel were still talking.

“Finally put him down, have you?”

“Fuck off, Az,” I said lightly. “Get a haircut.”

He laughed at that and flipped his dreads over his shoulder. I noticed Cass’s lips twitching with a smile.

“Did you two know each other already?” I asked, reaching for my wine again.

Az shrugged. “Only in passing. Cass works with social services, so sometimes our paths cross.”

“We’re talking shop,” Cass said apologetically.

“That’s okay. Don’t mind me.”

“No…. I need to learn when to leave my work at my desk,” he said. “It’s difficult sometimes. So, Zane said you have a kid?”

“Yeah. Harrison.”

“Too fucking cute for his own good,” Az said, winking at me.

“Of course he is. He’s mine.”

“Does everyone here know each other?” Cass asked with a laugh.

“Pretty much. It gets worse when you realize that everyone has slept with each other too.”

He pulled a face. “I didn’t need to know that.”

“You’re not married?” Az asked lightly.

“No.”

“Girlfriend? Boyfriend?”

“No girlfriend,” Cass said. He smiled and shook his head. “I’m definitely into girls. I’ll leave the boys to Zane.”

“Okay. Hang around here long enough and we’ll set you up with someone. Hey, my sister’s single. Have you met Lupe?”

“Lupe’s the evil twin,” I said seriously.

“There’s an evil twin?”

“Cass. Please,” Az said, rolling his eyes. “First thing they teach you at med school is how to identify the evil twin. Lupe has all the signs. There’s no denying it.”

When Zane came back from his smoke we were laughing, and he raised his eyebrow as if asking to be let in on the joke. This time I decided to keep him out of it and let him sit on my lap again in my own kind of apology.

W
E
STUMBLED
out of the cafe, drunk and carefree and a little bit in love.

“Are you coming home with me?” I asked.

He nodded and gave me his megawatt smile. “Yeah. I want you to take me to your bed and make love to me.”

“No,” I said. “Noooo. Later. I’m going to go home, make you drink some water and take some Tylenol, then go to sleep. Harrison will be awake in a few hours.”

“Nooo,” Zane cried, echoing me. “Okay.”

Leo was sleeping on the couch, covered in blankets, and I shushed Zane even though he wasn’t making any noise as I pulled the living room door closed. He nodded solemnly and held a finger to his lips.

In the fridge I found a few bottles of water and handed one to Zane, along with the promised Tylenol. Then he followed me to bed and crawled into it wearing just his tight, tight, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination boxers.

“Are you sure you won’t make love to me?” he mumbled as he rearranged my body to his liking, concluding with his cheek pressed to my chest and one arm and leg thrown over mine.

“I will,” I vowed. “When it all works properly again.”

He snorted with laughter, sighed heavily, then drifted off to sleep.

When morning dawned only hours later I was woken by the bedroom door opening and the familiar weight of my son being deposited on my chest.

“You owe me,” Leo said darkly. “I’m going out for breakfast.”