by JC Holly
The terrified man jumped into his car and peeled out of the parking lot, only just making the turn. Luke stood and watched until the man was out of sight, then grinned and turned back to find his staff behind him grinning just as wide.
“I love doing that,” he said. “Talk about stress relief.”
The phone in his office rang and he picked it up. His smile was stolen when he heard the voice on the other end.
Johnny.
Chapter Eleven
Brandon hung up the call with Luke and tossed the phone onto the kitchen table with a clatter. Apparently Johnny had finally gotten in touch and wanted to meet with Luke that night. Brandon wasn’t worried that they would end up back together, but it did mean that his own night with Luke would have to be postponed.
If anything he sympathized with Luke. Brandon had seen his share of breakups, and some of them pretty messy, so he knew what Luke was going through. The last thing the guy needed was Brandon complaining about a broken date.
“As for this Johnny guy, though,” he muttered, “I can hate him all I like.”
A knock at the door had him turning his head, then smiling when Delilah called through the letterbox for him to open up.
“I’m freezing my stylishly clothed ass off out here!”
“It’s not even cold,” Brandon replied as he let her in. “Barely below sixty five, surely.”
“That’s cold enough for me, thank you very frickin’ much.” She stepped past him and made for the lounge. “Where’s my favorite cat?”
Spike came running once he realized who was calling him, and Brandon left the two alone while he poured a couple of coffees and grabbed the Danishes from the fridge that he’d bought for his and Luke’s date. No point letting them go stale.
“So you heard, then,” Brandon said as they settled onto the couch with their drinks.
Delilah shrugged. “You know me. Font of knowledge. Don’t worry about it, honey. I’ll tell you how it’ll go if you like?”
He smirked. “Clairvoyant, too?”
“I’m all things to all men. Even the ones who prefer cock.”
“Yeesh.” He batted her arm in a way that made him look far more camp than he’d intended. “Go on, then. Impress me.”
Delilah put her drink down, then flicked her hair back. “Well. Luke will sit in wait for Johnny, who will turn up late because he always turns up late to everything. The scumbag will go for the puppy dog eyes, pouting lip, and ‘I didn’t mean to trash your place’ speech. Luke will stand there, all folded arms and square jaw and see right through it, like he always did.” She rolled her eyes. “How they lasted so long, I don’t know.”
“And then what will happen?”
She chewed her lip for a moment, then nodded once. “One of two things. Either Johnny will go straight for the ‘I was an idiot to cheat’ speech, or he’ll choose the ‘you made me do it’ version. Either way Luke will get pissed off, wonder why he ever bothered meeting with the guy, and then kick him out for the second time in a week.” She grinned. “Then he’ll admit his undying love for you and bang you senseless while I watch.”
Brandon groaned. “You had me right until the end, Dee.”
“Worth a shot. So, feel better?”
“I honestly wasn’t feeling that bad in the first place. I was a little peeved about Johnny being the reason I don’t get to see Luke tonight, but I understand that this needs to be sorted out.” He sighed. “This is why I usually wouldn’t bother with someone who’s in the middle of a breakup.”
Delilah squeezed his hand. “Honey, Johnny is the one who seems to think he’s in the middle of a breakup. As far as Luke is concerned it’s done with and he’s moved on. Tonight is all about Luke hammering that point home.”
“I guess you’re right. And there are other days to see Luke.”
“Of course there are! Hell, he practically does no work at the garage most days, so he’s as open as you are.” She patted the back of his hand. “You’ll be back together and drenched in sweat and semen in no time.”
Brandon just shook his head.
* * * *
Johnny had told Luke he’d be at the house by six. Luke glanced at his watch as he finally smelled the man heading to the door. Quarter to seven.
“Punctual as ever,” he muttered as he walked over to let the man in.
Johnny’s hand was halfway to the door when Luke opened it.
“That always freaked me out,” Johnny said. “Can, uh, can I come in?”
Luke tried not to glare. The meeting was going to be harder than he’d anticipated. As soon as he’d picked up the man’s scent, his fists had clenched in anger. Now that he was standing before him, Luke had to force himself to not slam the door in his face.
“Sure,” he said, gesturing to the lounge.
Try as he might, he couldn’t bring himself to offer him a drink. He closed the door and walked over to where Johnny stood. The man looked the same as when Luke had last seen him. That shouldn’t be surprising, or even comment-worthy, given how short a time ago it was, but already it felt like another lifetime ago.
Johnny ran a hand through his mop of brown hair and glanced around the room. “Looks bare without my stuff in it.”
Luke shrugged, his arms folded. “I was never one for excess stuff. Where are you staying now?
“I’m back with the folks until I find a place. You know what the property market is like around here.”
He nodded. “Why did you do it, Johnny? Why my garage?”
The man stared at Luke for a moment, but couldn’t hold the gaze and soon switched his attention to the wall behind him.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. I was heading that way, on my way to…” He swallowed. “To, uh—”
“To the other guy’s place,” Luke finished for him.
Johnny nodded. “Yeah. Well, I was passing the garage, and I just got so angry at the whole thing. Had to take my anger out on something, you know?”
“No, I don’t, and I know anger. A shifter’s rage is that much closer to the surface, especially in the first few years, and I’ve never so much as kicked someone else’s garbage can.”
“Well I guess you’re better than me,” Johnny snapped, his eyes intense for a moment. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just pissed off, like I said. It’s tough.”
“Our relationship has been dead for a while,” Luke said. “We both know that. It was going to happen sooner or later. The breakup, I mean, not the—”
“Cheating,” Johnny said, cutting Luke off.
“Yeah, that.”
Luke bit back the questions he had about the infidelity. He wanted to know why Johnny did it, how long he’d been seeing the latest guy for, and when he first started fooling around, but it wasn’t important. It would only make the conversation even more awkward than it already was.
“So,” Johnny said after a long moment of silence passed. “Did you tell the police it was me?”
“Wanted to, at first. You really made me angry, Johnny.” Luke shook his head. “But it wouldn’t solve anything. Besides, you didn’t leave any evidence behind even if I wanted to report you. The police are hardly going to view scent as proof.”
Johnny smirked. “I guess. Thanks, though. It’s not something I’m proud of, and I wish I hadn’t done it. I’ll pay for any repairs, of course. Can we just get past it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Yeah. You know.” Johnny shrugged. “Forget it all and start over.”
“Start over?” Luke frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You and me.” Johnny stepped forward, closing the gap between them. He placed his hand on Luke’s bicep. “I miss you.”
Luke took a step back. “That’s not what this meeting was about, Johnny.”
“I know that. It’s just that now that I’m here, I realized what I left behind. You.”
“You have to be joking.”
Johnny frowned. “Why? We had a great ti
me in the beginning. Remember? We were always laughing and going out and having fun.”
“Yeah, and then it slowly turned to crap when we realized we had nothing in common.” And you started sleeping around on me. Luke rubbed at his stubble. “You remember that part too, don’t you?”
“Sure, but we could fix it. We’ll… We’ll pretend we’ve never met before.” Johnny grinned. “First dates lead to first nights, and the first time is always the best, right?”
Luke shook his head and walked toward the door. “No, it’s not going to happen, Johnny.”
Johnny didn’t follow, but his smile disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. “Why not?”
“Why not?” Luke laughed. “Because you cheated on me at least once, and for a more than just a quick fuck, and then trashed my fucking garage!”
Johnny shook his head, his arms now folded like Luke’s. “No, there’s something more. Something you’re not telling me. I could always read you, Luke.” His eyebrows shot up. “You’ve met someone else.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, and apparently Luke’s reaction was all Johnny needed to confirm it. His mouth dropped open.
“Are you serious? You’re fucking some other guy already?” He threw up his hands. “I’ve been gone less than a week and you’re already in someone else’s bed!”
“Says the guy who was fucking someone while we were still together!” Luke roared back. “You can’t say a damn thing, Johnny.”
“Oh, I can say plenty! Who is he?” Johnny advanced, his fists clenched. “Is he a shifter too?”
“It’s none of your damn business who he is,” Luke growled. “Get out.”
“Oh, so it’s not a shifter, then.” The man smiled, though it was twisted. “I wonder how he’ll react when he finds out.”
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Luke stepped forward and pushed his index finger against Johnny’s chest, stopping him in his tracks.
“You say one fucking word before I’m ready to tell him, and not only will the police know you did the garage, but I’ll plant something to make sure they put you away for it.”
Johnny’s eyes widened for a moment, then he screamed a string of obscenities at Luke, before dodging around his finger and storming out the front door, slamming it hard enough to rattle the glass in the panes.
Luke flung open the door again, fully intending to pursue the man to make sure he’d not tell Brandon, but made himself stop. In Johnny’s current mood, anything Luke said would likely only make matters worse.
It took a good ten minutes of sitting on the couch before his hands stopped shaking from anger, and another ten before he considered himself calm enough to think things through clearly. He just couldn’t understand Johnny’s attitude. Them getting back together was clearly never going to happen, so why try?
Maybe the guy just wanted stability again. That almost made sense. After all, the guy had a house and someone to come home to. Now he had neither. Still, were those worth a terrible relationship to him?
If Luke took that to be the reasoning, then Johnny’s anger at finding out Luke was seeing someone was understandable. After all, that was the final nail in the coffin. Johnny knew Luke well enough to know that he’d never dump one guy specifically to get with another.
The threat as the man left was what had gotten Luke most rattled, though. He’d fully intended to tell Brandon about his nature, and soon, but if Johnny found out who Brandon was and got to him first, that could destroy what Luke had with Brandon.
With a sigh he picked up his phone. “I guess I’ll just have to tell him first.”
Chapter Twelve
The evening with Delilah went by too quickly, and before Brandon knew it he was bidding her a good night and trudging up to the bedroom. Luke called as he was settling in for the night, and suggested they meet the next day. He’d sounded a little off, but Brandon had expected that, given the meeting between him and Johnny. Still, he went to sleep safe in the knowledge that Luke was still interested in him. He hadn’t realized how much that thought had been bothering him.
Nine hours later the sunlight woke him, and he crawled back out of bed and made straight for the kitchen to quiet his rumbling stomach. The fridge was low on all his favorites, since he’d not been grocery shopping in a while, but he found enough ingredients to throw together a half-decent omelet. The coffee machine gurgled as he fried, and by the time one was finished, so was the other.
Luke had said he’d call again at some point in the morning, and Brandon figured it would be early. He knew from personal experience that meetings with recent exes often led to bad sleep. Or make up sex, he thought with a grimace. In this case, at least, he knew that hadn’t happened.
In the meantime he had plenty to occupy himself with, including a few articles he could be working on, so he left his plate where it was and headed into the lounge to bring the laptop to the much brighter kitchen, so he could work while he ate. That was the theory, at least. After ten minutes he found himself browsing video sites instead, laughing at the antics of cats. Drawn by the occasional meow from the computer’s speakers, Spike appeared at the other end of the table and stalked over, tail high.
“This is where the money’s at,” he told the cat. “Videos of you being loopy. I should quit the writing thing and get a camcorder instead.”
Spike kept his opinion of the idea to himself, instead trying to get at the omelet on Brandon’s plate. He shooed him away with a wave of a hand then turned his attention back to the laptop, flipping from videos to a local news site.
Prominent at the top of the page was an article on Luke’s garage. While nothing he didn’t already know would be written about, Brandon clicked it anyway. The photo used had the shutters rolled up to hide what Johnny had written on them, but the smashed window and door were plainly visible, as was Luke, who stood in the shot with his arms folded and a frown on his face.
“Well hello there, cutie,” Brandon muttered, smirking. “Going my way?”
As suspected, the article didn’t reveal anything that Luke hadn’t already told him, but Brandon read it anyway. He did note that there was a statement at the bottom saying that the police had found nothing so far to tie the break in to anyone. Honestly, Brandon half hoped that they would find something, and that Johnny would be put out of the picture entirely for a while.
“I guess today isn’t my lucky day, eh, Spike?”
Fate decided to prove that wasn’t the case, and his phone sprang to life with a call from Luke.
“Hey,” Brandon swallowed the last of his coffee. “I was just looking at you.”
“Looking?” came the low voice that made him shiver. “Have you taken up stalking?”
“You’re on one of the local news websites. Has a picture of you lookin’ all sexy.”
Luke chuckled. “Ah. Well how about we meet up later, and I’ll pose for you.”
Brandon grinned. “Sounds great. I need to head to the store first, but how about we meet at the garage later? Say lunch time?”
“Sure thing. You can make me lunch, and then I’ll…thank you.”
He felt his cheeks begin to warm. “I like the sound of that. Assuming the thanking doesn’t involve cards or flowers.”
“Nope. No cards, no flowers. No clothes, either.”
“Then I’m definitely looking forward to it. See you soon.”
As soon as the call was ended, Brandon jumped to his feet and headed upstairs to shower and change. The sooner his shopping was done, the better.
* * * *
Luke pulled up to his garage a little before lunch and dashed from his parking space to the open back door in a vain attempt to stop the torrential rain from soaking him through entirely. Droplets of water marked his trail as he made his way onto the main floor of the garage.
Mark and Carl were working today, and both greeted him as he made a pretense of checking their work. He really didn’t need to. They were both excellent workers, but he felt
he should act the boss on occasion, even if he didn’t really feel like one.
“So how did the meeting go?” Carl asked, as he slid underneath a car on a trolley.
“Started off okay, but turned to shit pretty quick.”
“Always the way with exes, in my experience,” the man replied, his voice muted slightly by the car.
“Lucky you’ve got Chris, then,” Luke said. “He’s a great guy.”
“Oh, definitely. Damn rusted brackets…” There was a clunk as the man “adjusted” something. “And of course, if you ever tried to steal him, I’d kill ya.”
Luke laughed and kicked the man’s exposed boot. “I’d expect nothing less.”
“Don’t worry about Johnny,” Mark said from behind. “There’s not much he can do, is there?”
“You mean other than tell Brandon about my blood?”
“Ah.” Mark scratched at his short hair. “You think he would?”
Luke sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know. A few months ago I’d have said no way, but the guy’s not who he used to be. He threatened it last night, but I told him if he did I’d have the police all over him for trashing the garage.”
“Think that’ll keep him quiet?”
“I hope so. Certainly seemed to give him pause for thought last night. Who knows if it’ll last, though?”
“I suppose that leaves you with only one option, then.”
Luke nodded. “I need to tell Brandon first. And we all know how well that can turn out.”
Both men murmured their agreement. Any shifter who had had more than a couple of relationships since their change knew how quickly the revelation could sour a relationship. Most people weren’t willing to accept that the supernatural existed, much less that the person they had just met was part of that murky world.
“Still, it could go great,” Carl said as he slid out from under the car. “Usually did for me, before I met Chris.”
“True.” Luke opened a car door and sat down, wrinkling his nose at the scents of dust and body odor. “I’m at about a fifty-fifty ratio, I think.”
