Wayward Son (16 page)

Mikey kicked off his shoes at the door, as they’d always done, and padded over to flop down on the overstuffed sofa. He’d spent many evenings on that sofa over the past few years, first in the dive of a place where he and Kitty lived when they first started rooming together, while she was still in college, and then here, which was infinitely better, though still far from luxury.

He looked around the room, somehow surprised to see nothing seemed to have changed, though it was only a month since he left, so he didn’t know why he would’ve expected anything to be that different. He’d only taken his personal stuff with him, having no need for the furniture and such since he was moving into Riley’s fully furnished apartment. That meant there were a few bare spots on the walls where his art had hung, but some of it remained, including a drawing of Ursula he’d done for Kitty the first time she auditioned. The colorful image still hung on the wall next to the television, right above the shelving unit that held Kitty’s collection of Disney films. It had been their mutual love for Disney films that brought them together, Kitty on the musical side and Mikey on the animation side.

“Okay.” Kitty interrupted Mikey’s perusal of the living room, breezing in carrying two oversized glasses filled with pale green liquid and rimmed with salt. She set one down in front of Mikey and then sat in the side chair she preferred, lifting the glass toward Mikey. “Let’s toast to liquid courage, and then you can spill your sordid story.”

Mikey leaned forward and picked up his glass, lifting it to tap the edge against Kitty’s. “To sordid tales,” he said before taking a healthy sip of his drink. It was strong, as if Kitty would make anything that wasn’t, but he swallowed and let it burn through him before taking another sip.

“All right, mister.” Kitty curled her legs under her in some configuration Mikey never had been able to figure out. He wasn’t sure legs were supposed to bend that way. “Let’s have it. Start at the beginning, and don’t leave out any of the dirty little details.”

Well, there was no way Mikey was giving Kitty a play-by-play of Saturday night, but he took one more sip of his drink and set it back on the table. “You remember Sliding Waters?”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Yeah, of course. It’s where we met, silly. How could I forget it? That was, what, seven years ago?”

“Eight,” Mikey replied. “But you know I worked there the year before too, right?” Kitty nodded. “Well….” Mikey paused, not sure how to go about bringing up the lawsuit. He sighed and just spit it out. “Some woman is claiming that I molested her daughter at the park that summer.”

Kitty almost choked on her drink. “What the fuck?”

Mikey sank back against the sofa cushions. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember the name on the paperwork at all. I mean, it’s only got the mother’s name, not the girl’s, but I didn’t know the names of most people who came to the park anyway. A few who bought season passes and were there almost every day, but that was mostly teenagers. And even then it was rarely more than first names.”

Kitty shook her head and took another slug of her drink. “So back up and tell me exactly what happened.”

Mikey reached for his own drink, needing another hit before he went through the story for what felt like the umpteenth time. “I got suspended from my job, for starters,” he said. “I was still in the probationary period, and the lawsuit showed up on the background check they ran.”

“That can’t be legal,” Kitty put in, and Mikey shrugged.

“Maybe. I don’t know. They did an advanced check because I’d be working with kids. Anyway, there’s this guy… well, there’s these two guys, actually.” Mikey’s face heated, and he stumbled ahead. “Cory and Jimmy. They’re… they’re really nice, and Jimmy has a law degree, so he called some people, and then Riley’s friend Evan’s father is a lawyer, so I went and talked to him about it. And then Mr. Day—that’s Evan’s dad—he found out that the lady who filed the lawsuit used to work at Dad’s church. I figured I should come talk to him about it, so here I am.”

He took another long sip of his drink while he watched a dozen expressions cross Kitty’s face in about fifteen seconds. “Okay, so… are you sleeping with two guys?”

Mikey nearly spewed margarita everywhere. He started laughing. “Oh my God,” he forced out. “Everything I just told you, and that’s what you latch on to?”

Kitty gave him a massive side-eye. “Last I knew you could hardly look another guy in the eye, and getting you to go on actual date was like pulling teeth. And then your face turns beet red when you mention these two. Of course I’m gonna want the whole story there!”

“Oh Lord.” Mike lifted his glass and swirled around the couple of ounces of liquid he had left. “I think I’m gonna need more alcohol for that.”

“Done and done!” Kitty tipped up her own glass, drained it, and then waved for him to do the same. “Drink up, babe. And let’s get some dinner ordered, too, so we don’t end up too trashed before we talk all this shit out. I know!” She bounced in her seat. “Let’s do pizza! Deep dish with everything!”

“Except anchovies!” They both burst into laughter at the shared joke, from one of the first times they’d ordered pizza after moving in together, not realizing until the pizza arrived that the place down the street had anchovies as a topping. Even after they’d peeled the fish off the top, every bite carried the briny taste along with it, but they were hungry and broke enough that they ate it anyway. Mikey shuddered at the nasty memory.

Kitty jumped up and grabbed their glasses. “I’ll get the drinks and call in the order. You pick the music!”

Mikey was still grinning when he pulled his phone out of his backpack to pick a playlist. It vibrated in his hand, and when he unlocked the screen, he saw he had eight text messages and four missed calls.

Shit. Apparently the Atlanta crew had figured out he’d gone missing.

His finger hovered over the text message icon. He knew he needed to check in, but he sure didn’t look forward to the response. He finally sighed and pulled up the list to find two from Riley, two from Jimmy, and four from Cory.
That sounds about right
, he thought.

He considered his options. If he texted Cory, he’d get another call immediately and probably a flood of texts. Jimmy would be worried and probably stern, but he’d be more likely to respect a request for some time. Riley would likely have the same reaction, but Jimmy would get Cory calmed down faster.

Jimmy won the mental coin toss. Mikey clicked on his message list.

Hey honey, where’d you run off to? Riley said you aren’t home, and Cory said you aren’t answering your phone.

That made Mikey feel guiltier than he did already.

The next message was more abrupt:
When you get this, you’d better answer it. You’ve got people freaking out a little.

Mikey sighed and typed out a quick text:
I’m fine. In Orlando. Talked to my dad and his lawyer. Staying with my friend Kitty. Will check in soon, promise.

He sent the message and switched over to turn on the Bluetooth to connect to Kitty’s wireless speaker. He pulled up his playlists, looking for the “Disney faves” set Kitty had put together for him right after he got the phone. The music was comfort food for their ears, and he sure needed some of that.

A minute later his phone buzzed again, and he checked the message.

Gonna spank that cute little butt for running off. I’ll be down there tomorrow. Better call YOUR lawyer before you talk to your dad’s any more.

Great. More drama. Mikey rolled his eyes, closed out of the text messaging app, and started up the music just as Kitty returned with refilled glasses. She did a double take when she looked at him.

“Did I miss something?” she asked, settling back into her seat to the opening strains of “Circle of Life.” “Bad news?”

Mikey shrugged and set his phone on the table. “I kind of left Atlanta without telling anyone,” he admitted. “I figured I’d call before they figured out I was gone, but they figured it out sooner than I expected. I sent Jimmy a text, and now he’s gonna fly to the rescue or something.”

He rolled his eyes, suddenly exasperated. He didn’t need Jimmy to hold his hand. He could handle things just fine on his own. But before he could get up a good head of steam about it, Kitty let out a soft “oh!” sound. He looked over to see her with her hand to her chest. “That is so sweet,” she exclaimed. “Coming all the way down here just to be sure you’re okay?”

That pulled Mikey up short, and he remembered what Jimmy had told him. It wasn’t about treating him like a kid. It was about wanting to help him because Jimmy cared and about Mikey learning to accept the help people wanted to offer him.

He took a deep breath and blew it out, then took a big drink of his margarita. “Yeah,” he finally said. “It’s kind of hard to get used to, you know? I mean, I’ve never even had a boyfriend, and suddenly I’ve sort of got two of them, and the whole thing’s kind of confusing.”

“You aren’t kidding.” Kitty leaned back and sipped her drink. “So tell me about them. Are they already a couple? Are they hot? Have you had sex with them? I want details!”

Mikey laughed. “You aren’t getting that much detail. You know I don’t kiss and tell.” He cut his gaze at her. “Much.” She laughed at that, and Mikey relaxed, curling his own legs up under him. “Jimmy’s older. Like, late thirties, close to forty. I don’t know
exactly. Cory’s a few years younger than him. They’ve been
together for a while, but they like to, well, play, I guess. They’ve had threesomes with other men sometimes. Not anything serious. They’ve said I’m different, that they want more than just some fun, but I don’t know.” He shrugged. “They’re really nice, and they haven’t pushed me or anything, but can anything like that really work? Three people in a couple?”

Kitty lowered her glass to rest on her leg. “I know some people who have
four
in a relationship,” she said, almost whispering, as if someone might overhear. “It’s two men and two women, and they all live in one house together. I met one of the women at work. She’s a stage manager for one of the shows, and she’s really great. We got to talking during a rehearsal, and I guess since I didn’t freak out when she said she was bisexual, she decided to tell me the whole story.”

Mikey was torn between not being nosy and wanting to know every detail. “And it works for them? I mean, have they been together awhile?”

“Almost five years, she said.” Kitty shrugged. “I don’t know all the details—who sleeps with who or whatever. But they all have some kind of relationship, more than just friendships, I mean. She called it a group marriage, even though they can’t all get married, of course.”

“Wow.” Mikey let his head fall back against the sofa cushion. “Well, I guess if they can handle four, we could manage three. It’s just….” He shrugged. “It seems like people would get jealous or fight for attention or something.”

“Maybe,” Kitty agreed. “But you have more than one friend, right? And they don’t argue over who gets to spend the most time with you. The only difference would be that you’re also sleeping with these guys.” She gave him a wicked grin. “You are sleeping with them, right?”

Mikey’s face heated, and he took a large sip of margarita to try to cool off. “Um, well, kind of,” he admitted. He stared into his glass. “I mean… to start with it was just sleeping. For real. Cory and Jimmy, they don’t live together full time. It’s kind of complicated with their jobs and all. Cory lives closer by, so I’ve spent more time at his place. And I slept over a couple of times. But Saturday night….”

He tried to figure out how to talk about Saturday night. So many memories flashed through his mind, from Cory in his full Coco Lamé regalia to Jimmy’s voice breathing naughty words in his ear to the way it had felt to have Jimmy inside him while Cory held him. He shook his head and took a deep breath.

“Saturday night was the first time we were… together.” He gathered his guts and looked Kitty in the eye. “It was my first time. Period.”

Kitty’s eyes widened. “You’d never…. I thought you slept with that guy last year, what was his name?”

“Gary.” Mikey shrugged. “No, we fooled around and got each other off some. But we didn’t have sex.”

“Oh, screw that.” Kitty waved a hand. “You had sex. You just didn’t have intercourse. Not the same thing.”

“All right, so we had sex but didn’t ‘have intercourse.’” Mikey made air quotes with his forefingers, though he didn’t let go of his glass. “Saturday night was the first time I had a dick inside me. Clear enough?”

Kitty giggled over her glass. “Clear enough that you’re already drunk? Yeah, I think so.”

Mikey flushed as he realized what he’d said. “Well, you said you wanted details,” he muttered, taking another healthy swig of margarita. If he was going to be drunk anyway, he saw no reason to slow down his imbibing.

“So you slept with them,” Kitty summed up. “Then why’d you run off and leave them? Did it suck?”

Mikey snorted. “Only in the best ways,” he said. “It was… fuck. It was amazing. Jesus. I’m getting hot just thinking about it.” He was too. He needed to not think about it for a few minutes, or he was going to be seriously uncomfortable. “I just… I needed to do this myself. I’m twenty-five fucking years old, and I need to grow up and handle this myself. You know?”

Kitty snorted. “That sounds like your parents talking. Not that I don’t get it,” she added hastily. “I’ve been trying for years to get my parents to let me be an adult, but it doesn’t make any difference. I’m not buttoned-up and right wing like them, so they’re gonna treat me like a rebellious teenager who can’t make my own decisions until I’m fifty.”

“Yeah.” Mikey swirled his drink. He hadn’t really thought about it from that angle, but it made sense. “You know how long it took to even move out on my own. And when I finally came out to them, they brushed it off like they thought it was a phase.” He smiled then, slowly, and Kitty leaned forward.

“Uh-oh,” she said. “That look makes me nervous.”