Sunset Park (11 page)

The apartment was empty when I arrived, but David had been working on it all day. He’d finished unpacking, and he’d even invaded my space and put away the rest of my clothes. I felt like I should be irked by him rummaging through my things, but I couldn’t deny that I kind of liked it. He was the only person who went out of his way to do random things that he knew would either make my life more convenient or happy. And I’d begun returning the favor. Going to the store after work, cooking for both of us, and I’d even started using a vaporizer so the apartment wouldn’t reek of weed when I smoked. Things were getting quite domestic.

Stripping off my work clothes, I made a mental list of things to do to loosen the kinks that had coiled in my system during the day.

Shower. Smoke. Food. Music. Once the list was checked off, I could decompress. Maybe even enough to kick back with David.

My hope of relaxing was quickly dashed. Once the rush of water from the shower ceased, I heard voices on the other side of the bathroom door—two male, one female. Damned David. He’d brought home
friends
.

The gnarls of tension that had just eased out of my body after thirty minutes of standing beneath the hot water, returned with a twinge of annoyance. I had two options: leave the apartment as fast as possible, or not make an attempt to hide how mad I was that I had to keep up my work persona in my own home.

The voices got louder. The woman laughed. I listened by the door, trying to gauge whether they were leaving or settling in for a while, and nearly slipped on the wet floor when someone knocked.

“What?” I growled.

“I have to use the bathroom!”

“Too bad.”

David kicked the door. “I have to pee!”

I cracked the door open. We glared at each other, and I jerked him into the bathroom with me.

“Why are there people in my house?” I hissed, locking us inside. “I’m in a bad mood.”

David squeezed past me, his bare arm sliding against my wet one in his rush to the toilet. I averted my eyes and glowered into the mirror. Listening to David take a piss wasn’t part of my plan, but it happened anyway.

“It’s my house too,” he said. “And they wanted to see the place. I’m not going to become a recluse just because we live together now.”

“You’re not a recluse if you live with me.”

“So you should be my only friend?”

Yes
, I thought spitefully.

He flushed the toilet and turned to me, exasperation evident in the pursing of his lips. It was irritating, but his appearance put a damper on my desire to throttle him. He was dressed for the beach—trunks that didn’t even hit midthigh, a tank top, and flip-flops. His bare skin was flushed rosy in some places and tanned in others. I bet he smelled good—like sunlight and salt water.

“I guess someone had a good day. Must be nice.”

“Oh please.” David shoved me out of the way and washed his hands. “You’ve worked for eight hours and you’re already bitter.”

“That job sucks.”

“You haven’t even really started it yet.”

“I don’t have to. It’s an educated guess. I kept expecting to find someone hanging from a bathroom stall or to go postal and whip out a semiautomatic.”

“You are so dramatic.”

Outside the bathroom, someone was playing horrible music. The kind of stuff better suited for Starbucks than the living room of a guy with too much attitude and too little patience to wade through the keening wails of pseudocountry singers in order to get to his room. My expression must have gotten stormier because David dropped the lecture and leaned against the sink. He didn’t seem to mind that my dick and balls were covered by a scant few inches of terry cloth.

“Don’t be mad. They want to meet you.”

“That’s their business.”

“C’mon, Ray.” David smiled all charming and sweet, his brown eyes opening up wide. “I fixed up the whole apartment. Don’t I deserve to have some fun?”

“You could have had fun with me.”

He opened and closed his mouth, not knowing how to take my statement. I wasn’t even sure how to take my own statement. I’d meant we could have ordered in and chilled with a movie, but now that he was looking so uncertain, there were other ideas popping up left and right.

More experimenting. Kicking back with him settled on my lap. Figuring out if I just liked nurturing my oral fixation or if I wouldn’t mind him tugging my dick while our tongues slicked together. And maybe his tongue could glide down lower. See how that felt with another man.

The kid is a gold medalist at deep throating.

I stepped back to give David room to vacate the premises. He did it with halting steps.

“Just—just try to be nice.”

“Whatever.”

Standard response. I couldn’t think of anything more when every neuron in my brain was focused on keeping my dick from springing up beneath the towel. David rejoined his people, and I worked on yanking a comb through my hair. The tugs at my scalp killed my growing hard-on, and by the time I finished, it was safe to face David’s friends.

A tall woman with wavy auburn hair was joined by the equivalent of a walking, talking Ken doll. He was probably a few years older than me, had black hair that reached the nape of his neck, piercing blue eyes, and some serious bone structure. He was also ogling my goods like he’d never seen a half-naked Puerto Rican before. Maybe he hadn’t. Or, judging from the beaded rainbow bracelet around his wrist, maybe he just liked the view.

“David wasn’t kidding,” the woman commented.

“Karen!”

“It’s true!” she said, unabashed. “We’ve been dying to meet you, Raymond.”

“Yeah?” I looked away from the Ken doll and approached the corridor leading to my room. “Why’s that?”

“David talks about you all the time.”

“I do not….”

I wheeled around. The Ken doll’s eyes were riveted on my tats, especially the cursive scrawled along the side of my torso.

“What’s he say about me?” I asked. “Good shit?”

“All good shit,” Karen reassured. “He considers you a close friend.”

“He better.”

David looked relieved, and I wondered what he was so worried about. What else would she have repeated?

“I’m Oliver,” the Ken doll piped up. “Everyone calls me Oli. I’ve known David for a couple of years.”

“Oh.”
Good story, bro. Don’t care.
I backed toward the corridor. Oli’s eyes slid down my chest, paused on my abs, and centered on my towel. The dude wasn’t even trying to be subtle. I bit back a smirk and turned away without bothering to say good-bye.

“Feel free to come back and join us,” Oli called after me.

I didn’t reply, but I was in the sanctity of my room for all of three minutes before David barged in. No knock, no call at the door. He just intruded as if he had an existing, open invitation. It served him right that I was bare-assed naked.

“Jesus.” David turned away quickly. “I thought you’d be dressed by now.”

“So sorry. I didn’t know your majesty would be gracing me with your presence.” I slid into a pair of boxer briefs and snapped the elastic to signal it was safe for him to look. “What can I do for you?”

“Are you going to come out?”

“Nah.”

“Why?” He nudged the door shut with the back of his foot. “They want to get to know you. And there’s food.”

“What kind of food?”

“Sushi.”

I made a face. “That’s what you’re bribing me with?”

“I got you fried rice and spring rolls.”

“What about soup?”

David’s mouth curved up into a smile. “Yes, darling. I know your order by heart. Especially since you’re phone phobic.”

It was tempting. Free food that I wouldn’t have to prepare. “Can you bring it to me?”

“Raymond!”

“David,” I mimicked, rifling around in a drawer and pulling out a pair of cotton shorts. “Stop trying to make me like your stupid friends. I don’t make you hang out with mine.”

“You don’t, but I want to. I like your friends.”

“I don’t even like my own friends.”

“Liar.”

I shook my head, put on the shorts, and turned to jam my phone into the dock. Operation drown out annoying humans and get lit was in full effect until David came up behind me and rubbed his face against the back of my neck. I’d been right. He smelled like suntan oil and the ocean.

“Please?”

“The cute kitten shit only works if you’re an actual cat or if I’m getting some ass.”

David buried his nose in my hair and wrapped his arms around me. “Come on, Ray….”

The pleading and warm touches reminded me of how nice this evening could have been if we were alone, which only made me more resentful of his need to drag other people into the equation. “Unless it ends with your dumb Ken-doll friend sucking my dick, you can forget it.”

David stopped nuzzling me and went rigid. “Are you joking?”

“Should I be? He’s hot.”

He dropped his hands and backed away. “Okay, then.”

Turning, I caught the flash of irritation that crossed his face. “What? You’re the one who said I should experiment.”

“And you think he would experiment with you? I don’t think so.”

“Why not? I’m not good enough for him? He seemed to like what he saw.”

David’s flush darkened, and he turned away. “If that’s the way it is, then you should come out and try to make it happen.”

“Fine. Maybe he likes boricua dick as much as you do.”

David froze with his hand on the doorknob. “Fuck you, Raymond. You’re a real asshole.”

“Thank you.”

He stormed out and I stared after him, more pissed than was reasonable considering I’d started it. But his doubt only made me want to try. Not bothering with a shirt, I trailed behind him and plopped down in an armchair near Oli, who was sitting on the rug. He looked up at me with a big, bright Crest smile.

“I heard you started a new job today,” he said. “Did you like it?”

“No, but it’s a job.”

I scanned the containers of takeout on the coffee table. It wasn’t immediately obvious which ones were mine, until David shoved a couple of them to the edge of the table without looking at me. His movements were so sharp I thought he was going to throw it on the floor. Even Karen looked at him oddly.

“That’s how I feel about my job sometimes.” Oli leaned forward to grab my soup. His shirt rode up in the back, flashing part of a tattoo. It looked like the tips of black, tattered wings. “I’m a programmer. I spend my day working on software for a startup that’s making other people rich.”

I took the soup and shot a look at David, who seemed quite fascinated with his chopsticks.

“At least you get paid decent,” I said. “I don’t feel bad for you.”

“I get paid okay, but I probably could make more at another company. Sometimes I think about going back to school to take some business related courses, but….” Oli shook his head. “Working through a degree the first time wasn’t fun, and I would never have time for night school, let alone homework.”

The comment made Oli considerably more attractive. Even if he was a whining-ass white-collar piece of shit. “I’m with you there.”

“College is important,” David said testily. “Especially for kids today.”

“College is a scam.” I pointed my spoon at him. “Aren’t you the one always bitching about your loans?”

“And aren’t you the one always bitching about your lack of a job you enjoy?” David stabbed his sushi, still not looking up. “If you went to school, you could choose something else.”

“That’s not always true,” Oli argued. “A lot of people I know are still in the red when it comes to salary versus loan payments, and it’s even worse for people your age. It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”

“I’m not talking about your moronic friends who went to Ivy League colleges to major in philosophy. I’m talking about—”

“Judgmental much, David?” Oli raised an eyebrow. “Don’t forget, you went to an Ivy too. For teaching. You could have gone to a state school.”

“David likes to be fancy.” The look David shot me was full of venom, but I grinned in response. “Don’t front. You know it’s true.”

“Go to hell.”

“Whoa, okay, boys.” Karen seemed to regret having agreed to dinner at our apartment. She was casting bewildered looks at David and more furtive glances my way. “Why don’t we change the subject? For example—Raymond, I heard you were waving the Q in the LGBTQ.”

My self-satisfied smile morphed into a sneer. “You can’t keep my business to yourself, can you, David?”

David flinched. “I didn’t—”

“Gossipy little fuck.”

“It’s not gossip if I’m talking to my close friend, okay?” If David had been pink before, now he was on fire. “Goddammit, Karen. Now he’s upset.”

“I’m sitting right here, you jerk-off. Don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room.”

“Calm down.” Karen made the time-out gesture with her hands. “It’s fine. It’s my bad for bringing it up. I didn’t realize you were uncomfortable with it. If you’re going to be angry, be angry with me. It was thoughtless.”

These people were out of their damned minds. Maybe on their planet it was okay to discuss their business in front of strangers, but not on mine. In my world, things like that were private. If David repeated everything I said to his ridiculous friends, I would be saying a lot less. And if I had to preface every statement with a warning to not share it with others, there would be no point in talking at all. I was torn between returning to my room and pouring my soup over his head.

“I’m sorry,” David said, a note of pleading in his voice. “I was just—it was….”

Oli patted my knee. “Don’t fret. I was questioning until I was eighteen. Then I realized dick was amazing, went wild, and have been a practicing pansexual for the past decade. Back then, the glory of Grindr would have helped in my quest to delve into the unexplored side of my sexuality. All I had were AIM chatrooms.”

“What the fuck is a Grindr?” I asked, still glaring at David. He shrank away from me with a pained expression. “Sounds like something I use to grind my weed.”

“It’s an app men use to hook up with other men. Kind of like Tinder.” Karen didn’t look intimidated by my mean mug in the slightest. “You can get it on your phone. These two are on it all the time.”