Welcome to Blissville

by Walker, Aimee Nicole

  “Welcome to our home,” I said to Jonathon. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too.” He looked over at Gabe and smiled wryly. “No wonder you turned me down. Twice. Your man is adorable.”

  “Wait until you eat his food,” Gabe said proudly like our guest had commented about something as docile as the weather and not propositioning him.

  I turned away from my guests, intending to make my way to the kitchen to start carrying food to the table. I pinned Gabe with a glare that let him know I wasn’t happy that he left out the parts about Slick Silver trying to steal my man. I was busy planning my retaliation tactics when his arms snaked around my waist and pulled me back against his chest.

  “Don’t spit in his food,” Gabe whispered in my ear.

  “It was your food that was in jeopardy, not his,” I confessed, although I’d never do anything so tacky. I turned in his arms so that I could look up into his beautiful eyes. The thing was, I knew Gabe was a good-looking guy and when you added in his personality and character, he became devastatingly sexy. I couldn’t blame Oversexed Silver, or anyone else for that matter, from wanting a piece of my man. I just didn’t like being caught off guard in my home. “I’m planning more devious ways of torturing you.”

  “Ohhhh, the chair and cuffs again?” he asked hopefully. Someone cleared their throat, letting us know Gabe wasn’t as quiet as he probably intended.

  I leaned closer and pressed my lips to his ear. “Much worse, baby. Think restrained hands and a cock ring that won’t let you come no matter how badly you ache.” I couldn’t get the image out of my mind once the words left my lips and I knew for sure that I’d be making a special stop to purchase a cock ring on my way home from my interview with Channel Eleven in Cincinnati.

  Gabe closed his eyes briefly and whimpered softly. “Evil,” he said, but his wicked smile told me how much he loved the idea. His confident gaze said he could take whatever I dished out, but we’d just have to see about that. I took his smile as a challenge; one I would not fail.

  “Should we leave?” Meredith asked good-naturedly.

  “Speak for yourself. I’m not leaving here until I get some of that ham.”

  I tore my eyes away from Gabe and turned to look at Kyle. I was so dialed into Gabe that I hadn’t heard the doorbell ring. “You made it after all,” I said happily.

  “You sound a little too eager, Sunshine.” Gabe peered at me through eyes that were narrowed into slits, as if he just learned that I was the one fighting them off instead of him.

  “I hope you wore pants with an elastic waistband on them,” I told Kyle. “I bought a second ham just for you.”

  “Yeah?” he asked hopefully. “These jeans might be a little too tight.” Chaz was standing behind Kyle and doing his best not to stare at his ass, but failing miserably. “I should’ve worn maternity pants like Chandler on Friends in the Christmas episode.”

  “It was Joey and Thanksgiving,” Chaz said suddenly, then turned bright red.

  Kyle turned to face Chaz, who luckily had shifted his eyes upward in time, so Kyle didn’t catch him ogling his ass. “Yeah, it was Joey at Thanksgiving.”

  “Let me help you get the food on the table while it’s still hot,” Meredith suggested. She grabbed my arm and tugged me away from Gabe. “You have some serious explaining to do. I feel like I’m in an episode of a soap opera or something.”

  “Yeah,” Chaz hissed from behind us. “What’s up with Striker Ramoray in there?” he asked, continuing with the Friends theme.

  “Or maybe it’s Nate with a brain transplant like Dr. Drake Ramoray,” I replied sarcastically before I changed my voice to a pleading tone. “Come on, guys. Gabe found out about him during his investigation into Nate’s death. I very well couldn’t blab his secrets.”

  “So much for besties before testies,” Chaz said with an exaggerated eye roll.

  Meredith and I burst into raucous laughter, earning the stares from everyone else. We laughed until we had to lean on him for support. I was so happy to see that he hadn’t lost his sense of humor due to the awkwardness of having Kyle there. Chaz began repeating some of Drake Ramoray’s best lines as we carried the food to the table.

  I was even happier to see the smile on Chaz’s face when Kyle joined in on the fun. I glanced over at Gabe, and he winked playfully at me. I thought that maybe my scheme wasn’t so harebrained after all. I puckered up my lips at him in a mock kiss, but he need not think I forgot about the bomb Silver Ramoray dropped on me.

  Relationships were not new to me, I mean, my ex-boyfriend had joined us for Easter dinner for Christ’s sake. Believe it or not, and I was sure that Josh fell into the or not category, I didn’t have dudes flashing their cocks at me all the damn time or propositioning me. Was I supposed to tell Josh about that stupid shit? Was he supposed to tell me every time a guy sized him up like he was thinking about trying Josh’s ass on for size? I had seen it with my own eyes so he need not pretend that guys didn’t find him attractive. I trusted him, and I didn’t need to hear how other guys wanted him.

  Josh was new to relationships and just because something didn’t bother me didn’t mean that it wouldn’t annoy him. It wasn’t my place to tell him what should or shouldn’t be an issue for him, but I could assure him that it made no difference how many guys wagged their cocks in my direction. I had the one that I wanted. Although I’d been in relationships before, I had never been in one with so much at stake. Josh was my be-all and end-all, and I wouldn’t risk fucking it up. So, if he wanted me to tell him every time I rejected a dude, I’d do it.

  Although, I’d gladly take the punishment he was cooking up for me. He wanted to see how many times I could make him come before I busted a nut and I was up for that. Thankfully, Kyle showed up and provided the distraction I needed to get my mind off sex with a house full of people, two of whom were new to our little circle.

  Josh and his two cohorts giggling in the kitchen made me smile, and I was happy that Chaz recovered from his initial shock at seeing that Kyle had shown up. It tickled me when Kyle and Chaz started saying lines from a TV show to one another. Maybe Josh was onto something with them.

  The smells coming from the kitchen had me salivating so much that I almost missed how Emory kept glancing at Jonathon with a worried expression on his face. I wouldn’t say that I put a lot of stock in psychic phenomenon, but Emory clearly believed in it. Did he see something? Was Jonathon in trouble? I wanted to ask, but it wasn’t exactly the right time or place.

  Josh made enough food to feed more than twice the number of people who arrived for dinner. His fancy china was pretty, but I wished the plates were bigger and held more food. Kyle elbowed his way to the ham, not caring who was in his way. I noticed that Meredith lingered around the food longer than normal and thought it was odd until I saw her glance to see where Chaz and Kyle sat. Normally, Meredith sat across from Chaz, but it looked like she was hoping Kyle would sit across from him instead. She was wrong; Kyle sat directly next to Chaz. She did a happy little shimmy that she thought no one saw until I chuckled softly. She took her normal seat, Emory sat beside her, and Jonathon surprised me by sitting next to Emory. The seat on the other side of Kyle was empty, and I wondered if Josh had schemes to fill it on the next holiday gathering.

  Meredith said grace, as she did every Sunday, and everyone dug in. God, the food my man could make was out of this world. No one had time to do any talking for the first few minutes because we were too busy shoveling food into our mouths. We acted like cavepeople, grunting our appreciation for Josh’s efforts.

  Emory recovered his manners first and said, “So, how did the two of you meet?” He looked at Josh and me, so I knew he was talking about us. Josh was the better storyteller, so I gestured for him to tell it.

  “Once upon a time, a boorish, brute for a detective walked into a salon owned by a sweet and sensitive man.” Meredith snorted, earning a brief glare from Josh. “Detective Tall, Dark, and Dickish had
stopped by to ask the sweetheart questions about a crime he potentially witnessed.” We all listened as Josh wildly embellished our first encounters, although I noticed he didn’t mention the time he came to my house with cookies and rode me like I was his favorite carnival ride. I didn’t add anything or correct him until he said, “I was trying to fight the assailant off when Gabe came to my rescue. He hollered for the man to freeze, but he kept pushing the knife closer to my chest. Gabe shot the mirror, and it pulled my would-be killer’s attention off stabbing me long enough for Gabe to shoot him.”

  “I didn’t shoot your mirror,” I said to Josh.

  “Sure you did,” he said. “I heard it shatter seconds before you shot Oscar.” It was good that Josh could finally say his name. He had refused to learn anything about the guy for months, hoping that his nightmares would fade, but it didn’t help.

  “Sunshine, I didn’t shoot the mirror. It must’ve already had damage to it because it just shattered.”

  “That can’t be right,” he said, skeptically.

  “Stop and think about how many gunshots you heard. The responding officers took my gun from me, and only one bullet was missing from the clip.”

  Josh sat in his chair and thought for a few seconds before he said, “There was only one shot fired. The mirror shattering was very loud, but it wasn’t anything close to the noise the gun made when it went off. How the hell did the mirror just shatter?”

  “I can’t answer that. I just know I didn’t shoot it.”

  “Huh,” he said.

  “One of your neighbors was killed?” Emory asked, going back to the case that brought us together.

  “She lived in the house you’re renting,” Chaz said automatically then froze when he realized what he’d said.

  Emory nodded somberly. “I knew something bad had happened there because I could feel the residual negative energy in the house.” Emory’s cheeks pinkened when his words had everyone’s attention. “I’m just sensitive to stuff like that,” he said.

  “Tell us about yourself,” Josh said to Jonathon, trying to divert attention away from Emory.

  Silver was too busy staring at Emory to answer him right away. Finally, he looked at Josh and said, “Well, that’s not an easy story to tell.” I could tell he was searching for something that he could share.

  “Another time perhaps,” Josh said, saving him. “How are things going at the club?”

  I could see the tension fade from Silver’s frame, and he began to talk about the club. “I’m more excited about my revitalization plans for Cincinnati. I bought the club because it meant a lot to Nate, but I thought a better way to memorialize him was through improving the city he loved so much.”

  “Wow,” Emory said softly. “That’s a wonderful thing to do.”

  Silver winked at him and said, “I have my moments.” His expression and tone of voice said that he wouldn’t mind having a moment with Emory later. I couldn’t get a read on what Emory was thinking.

  The conversation turned to less emotional subjects and ended up back on the show that Kyle and Chaz could quote from memory. The funny thing was, I had no clue that Kyle loved that show so much. He was a man I spent three years with and sometimes I felt like I didn’t know him. He was different with Chaz, and I liked what I saw. He laughed and teased more than I could remember him doing in the past. The Kyle I had known was more aloof and serious. Although, Kyle probably saw sides to me that he had never seen either. It was plain to see that we weren’t meant to be together as a couple, but I was glad we could be friends.

  There was after dinner drinks followed by coffee and dessert. Josh packed up leftovers for everyone to take home while Meredith and I cleaned up the kitchen. I expected the conversation to lag a bit as the evening grew on, but it didn’t. Emory and Silver talked about the different places that they’d lived, but I noticed that neither of them talked about what they did while in those locations.

  “What brought you here after living at all those fabulous places?” Chaz asked.

  “I’m researching for a book that I’m planning to write,” Emory told him. “I like it here, although I’m a little worried about the number of homicides in a small town.” He was completely unaware that Silver’s brother was one of the deaths in our county. “What did I say?” he asked when everyone grew quiet.

  “My brother was one of the guys killed here,” Silver told him.

  “Oh damn,” Emory said. “I’m so sorry, Jon.” He placed his hands over Silver’s.

  Jon?

  “It’s okay, Emory.” Silver smiled softly and turned his hands over to squeeze Emory’s before he pulled them back. He rose from his chair and said, “I should be heading back to the city. Gabe,” he said looking at me, “thank you for inviting me to dinner.” He turned to Josh and said, “Dinner was magnificent. Thank you so much.” His words of gratitude couldn’t disguise the sadness I heard in his voice.

  “Anytime,” Josh told him. “Have a safe trip home.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” I said, rising to my feet.

  Silver didn’t say anything until we reached the back door. “You have an amazing guy waiting for you upstairs,” he said. “I am sorry that I disrespected your relationship with my flirting. It won’t happen again.”

  “Thanks,” I told him. “I’ll be in touch if I learn anything else.” Silver nodded his head and walked out the back door.

  I turned and found that Emory had come downstairs too. “Man, I feel terrible that I ran your friend off, Gabe.”

  “You didn’t run him off,” I replied. Jonathon Silver wasn’t the kind of guy anyone ran off. “His loss was recent, and he’s still coming to terms with things.”

  “Still, I didn’t help matters any,” Emory said.

  “You can’t be blamed for what you didn’t know, Emory.” I tipped my head to the side and debated on whether I should ask what I was thinking or let it go.

  “Go ahead and ask me,” he said.

  “Did you have a vision or something when you shook Silver’s hand?”

  “Yeah, you could say that,” he replied wryly. “He wasn’t in danger in my vision, if that was what you were concerned about.” It was what worried me, so I didn’t press for more information. Besides, the telltale blush on his cheek spoke volumes. “Thank you for a lovely evening,” he said. “I’ll see you around the neighborhood.”

  “Take care, Emory.”

  Back upstairs, the vibe in the room was more relaxed. Someone had loaded up Friends on Netflix, and Chaz and Kyle were busy talking World of Warcraft in between reciting their favorite lines in the episode they were watching. It looked like they were getting more relaxed with each other’s company. Friends and World of Warcraft; I guess relationships were built on less.

  I sat down on the couch next to Josh, and he curled into my side. As much as I loved having our friends over, I hoped they wouldn’t stay too late since some of us had to work the next day. Josh had his big interview for the wedding series with Channel Eleven, and I figured he wanted a good night of rest. Meredith tagged out pretty early, but Chaz and Kyle seemed unaware of the time or that they were keeping us awake. Me anyway; Josh had fallen asleep against my shoulder.

  As happy as I was for them, I was ready for them to go home. Other than throwing Kyle and Chaz out, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I must’ve conked out too because the next thing I knew, Chaz was nudging my shoulder and waking me up.

  “I’m sorry that we stayed so long,” he said sheepishly. “I lost track of time.”

  “It happens,” I told him. “Don’t worry about it.” I slid out from beneath Josh and laid him on the couch so I could lock up downstairs.

  When I returned upstairs, he was in our room getting undressed. “Never doubt my matchmaking skills again,” he said sleepily. “I know what I’m doing.” He slid beneath the sheets and patted the mattress for me to climb in too.

  I tossed my clothes in the hamper and slid in next to him. “Sunshine, we need to tal
k about this thing with Silver.”

  “No sweet talking your way out of your punishment,” he said. He nestled closer to me, and I knew he wasn’t angry.

  “I’ll take your punishment, but I want you to know why I didn’t say anything about him or Paul’s advances…”

  “Paul too?” he asked, lifting his head off my chest.

  “Listen, Sunshine. I didn’t tell you because it didn’t mean anything to me.” I repeated my thoughts earlier to him about the swinging dicks; he wasn’t amused.

  “I guess it’s okay as long as you’re not swinging yours around too.” I couldn’t see his eyes in the darkness, but I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was rolling them. “That’s why I’m going to put a ring on it.”

  That had my drooping eyes opening wide. Was Josh still talking about a cock ring or something more?

  I don’t know why I was so nervous about the interview for something I wasn’t sure I even wanted, but since when did I always make sense? I was a complicated person on my best day and an annoying shit on my worst. I wasn’t sure what the hell to wear for my interview. Did I want to look like hip Jazz with a graphic tee and dark jeans that made my legs look a mile long, something a bit campier perhaps, or something classy like dress pants and shirt complete with suspenders and bowtie? I chewed on the corner of my thumbnail while I looked at the three different outfits I had laid across our bed.

  “Don’t look at me,” Gabe said when I asked his opinion. “You know I’m no good at these things.”

  A frustrated growl escaped my throat. “I want to look professional, but cool at the same time. Are the tie and suspenders dorky?”

  “Sunshine, you wouldn’t look dorky in any outfit. You’re one of those guys who can pull anything off.” Gabe came over to the bed and stared down at my outfits. “Today is about making a good impression, right? You want to come across as a successful business owner who knows his shit, yes?” I nodded. “I’d go with this sexy bowtie and suspenders number for today. You can always wear something more casual when you’re styling hair for a segment. You’d want to be comfortable and not feel hindered by clothes in that situation.”