“Oh, hey, would you guys be able to come for a lesson tomorrow? I had a cancellation, and I’d be happy to fit you in. Consider it a wedding gift.”
“Yes,” Malik said, so fast that even Jordana stared at him.
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you.”
He shook my hand leaving, and Jordana hugged me. The rest of my day was booked with NYU responsibilities, which didn’t leave me much time to think about the evening and no time to change, so by the time I was on the subway remembering to check my shirt for crumbs from the sandwich I’d eaten standing up while leading a vocal master class, it was too late to do anything about it.
AS I exited the Grand Army Plaza subway station in Brooklyn, my phone buzzed with a text alert. Tonight’s safeword is Duck.
I texted back, I need a safeword? What kind of dinner is this?
Travis responded, It’s for both of us. You better have my back, Nolan. I’ve been on Jordana’s dates before. This is not a drill.
Duck. Got it.
The restaurant was a five-minute walk from the subway station. A group of well-dressed twentysomethings stood outside holding cocktail glasses, but I saw Travis, Malik, and Jordana through the picture window, already seated. I shimmied past the group into the crowded restaurant. I made eye contact with Travis, and he said something to Jordana. They stood up together as I sidestepped the hostess with a smile, gesturing to the table.
“Keelin!” Jordana tugged Travis forward. “This is Travis.”
Travis stuck his hand out. He bit his lip as he smirked.
I tried not to laugh. “I like to start my friendships with a hug,” I said and went for it.
“That’s how he started with us too.” Jordana pounded Travis’s shoulder gleefully, sending him harder into my arms.
As we embraced, I whispered, “I’m so going to get you for this.”
“Can’t wait,” he replied.
Jordana moved to the other side of the table and insisted we sit next to each other, which meant I could keep my leg pressed up to Travis’s under the table and Jordana could gaze at us dreamily as we ate our hummus appetizer. Malik looked pretty damned pleased too, though that could have been happiness from our not revealing we’d already met. Or why.
After the first course, Jordana was ready to talk serious.
About Icon.
That wasn’t what I expected when she waved her fork at me and said, “Now listen here. You have to tell me the truth.” I braced myself for questions about a potential relationship with Travis. Instead she asked, “Are you, Russell, and Paeder still in touch?”
“Absolutely.” I spoke almost before she stopped. “I don’t get to see them as much as I’d like since we all live so far apart, but we’ve got an unbreakable bond.” Travis’s job might have taught him how to recognize a lie, but mine had taught me how to spin one.
“I’m so happy to hear that,” Jordana said.
“Glad to be of service,” I said.
“I read Russell’s producing now?”
“Yeah. He’s in LA. Paeder’s in Dublin and London.”
Jordana beamed. “I have his solo albums. They’re great.”
“Yeah, he’s really dedicated. We’re all happy for him.” I shoved a bite in my mouth, hoping she would give me a break while I chewed.
“I’m starting to wish I’d ordered the duck,” Travis said. “What do you think, Keelin?”
“Hmm?”
“I said I wish I’d ordered the duck. I wondered if you did as well.”
“No, I’m fine.” I’d had the Mediterranean plate.
“I don’t think they serve duck here,” Malik said. He turned to me. “Travis is obsessed with duck. Every time we go out he wants it.”
Jordana said, “I probably shouldn’t ask this, but do you have any pictures of his son? He’s so private.”
“Declan’s at boarding school. Um. I’m sorry. I don’t have any.” Travis poked my leg. I glanced at him. He seemed to be trying to communicate with his eyebrows. After a second, I figured it out. Duck. Right. “Actually, I do think duck would have been better.”
“Did you go to his wedding? He got remarried a few years ago, right?” Jordana asked.
“Jordana,” Travis said, “when did you get a job at Junior Beat? Ease up.”
She grimaced. “Sorry, Keelin. I hope I didn’t overstep.”
“It’s okay. But maybe we could talk about people who are here tonight?” I grabbed the table wine and topped up each of our glasses. “I hope that tonight is the start of a great friendship.”
“Cheers.” Malik raised his glass. Travis and Jordana echoed him. Over the next hour, I learned that Jordana and Malik had met at a bar, that Travis and Malik called themselves “whiskey friends” because they got better with age, about Malik’s job as a sports lawyer and Jordana’s career in interior office design. I told them about my decision to move to New York and study music so I could teach.
“Are you teaching tomorrow?” Travis asked.
“I’m doing a special session with your friends here,” I said.
“Well, I have to work early, so I’m going to call it a night. Can I walk you back to the subway?”
“Sure.”
“Hold on. We’ll come too.” Malik started to get up. Jordana grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down.
“I’m not quite done, babe.”
“There’s not a crumb left on your plate,” Malik said.
“Not. Quite. Done.”
“Malik doesn’t do subtle well,” Travis said. He slipped his arm around my waist. “We’ll see you guys later.”
Malik looked at us. His eyes widened when he figured out what was going on. “Wait, are you guys—?”
“Going to the subway,” Travis said innocently. He handed Malik a few bills. I did the same, and we headed out with Jordana sighing in contentment behind us.
“The subway’s this way. Three blocks.” Travis pointed.
“I know. I came from there.”
“Unless you want to come back to my place?”
“And which way is your house?”
Travis pointed a different direction. I headed that way.
“So you’re coming home with me?”
“I’m not asking for anything. I just want to spend some more time together.”
“Hey.” Travis touched my face. “I would love that.”
“Can I kiss you? Or is this not a good place for gay PDA?”
“Park Slope? I think we’re good.” He squeezed my arms, and I raised up on my tiptoes. Balanced there on the curb, we shared a kiss as the pedestrian clock counted down to the red hand and people hurried around us to cross the street in the final seconds of safety.
“I’m a little drunk,” I admitted.
“I’ve got a couch if you want to stay with me tonight.” Travis put his arm around my shoulders as we started walking again.
“Thanks.”
“I hope Jordana wasn’t too much for you. Um, I mean the whole pushing us together thing.”
I looked up at him. “I’ve felt pushed together with you since I met you.”
“Me too,” Travis said. “Geez, that is such a kid thing to say. I am way too old and mature to be saying shit like that.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
I groaned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No, what? That’s not a problem, is it?” Travis looked worried.
“I’ll be forty in a few months.”
“Okay?”
“Travis, you’d better not be my midlife crisis.”
He laughed. “Forty isn’t midlife, Keelin.”
“If you say so.” Were my knees cracking? I think my knees are cracking.
“Look, if you don’t want to go home with me tonight because you need to recover from the trauma of learning our age gap, I understand, but there’s something you should know first.”
“What’s that?”
He stopped and gestured at the brownstone beside us. “We’re here.”
“So I should come in?”
“In there I’ve got video games, an awesome sound system, a box of wine, and music to match any mood. Plus, my two roommates are away.”
My lips quirked. “Did you say a box of wine?”
“Refrigerated and everything.” He grinned.
I erupted in laughter. “I guess I’m staying, then.”
Unlike my brownstone, which was all mine, the one Travis lived in was divided into apartments. Travis led me up the narrow stairs covered in threadbare carpet. “Try not to touch the banister. It’s one loose screw away from falling off.”
“Noted,” I said. I hugged the wall.
“Get ready to see what $2,500 split three ways gets you in Boerum Hill.”
The apartment opened to a narrow hallway that ran the length of it. He took a right toward the living room. “Do you want to play a video game, watch a movie, listen to music? Sorry I’m babbling. It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone over.”
I inspected the couch before dropping down. “You know what? I like your babbling. I don’t think I’ve laughed so quickly after talking about Paeder. Thank you for getting me out of that tonight. I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on your hint sooner.”
“I’m gathering Paeder was kind of a jerk?”
“You have no idea.”
“You don’t have to talk about it,” Travis said.
“I… kind of feel okay talking about it to you. But I just, you know, not yet.”
“Then don’t.” Travis touched my cheek. “I want to kiss you,” he said.
In a split second, I thought about my conversation with Angie about taking it slow. So, yes, I was hopping into bed with Travis on our second date, but from our first conversation, he’d felt permanent to me—nothing like the one-night stands I’d asked Angie to protect me from. Travis was the real deal.
“I won’t stop you.” I reached for him, and he bent down to meet me as I arched up from my seated position. I didn’t let go when we came up for air. Instead I pulled a little, and Travis crashed down on the couch beside me. I crawled over him. Using my knee, I pushed his legs apart.
When I glanced down at his crotch and licked my lips, Travis said, “Jesus.”
“I’m ready to take this to the next level if you are.” I brushed my hand over his fly.
“So ready,” he choked.
I grinned and shimmied down until I was half on the couch and half off. After nestling my face on his thigh, I kissed him there. Travis moaned. Then I undid his button and eased the zipper down. “Just lie back and enjoy.”
“Whatever you say.”
When I finished, or rather, when Travis finished, I wiped my mouth and pulled his slacks off. Travis helped by kicking off his shoes. I licked him clean and gently put his cock back inside his boxers. He hummed happily.
“Be right back.”
“Bathroom’s that way. There’s a new toothbrush in the medicine cabinet.” He grabbed me for a quick kiss first. “I’m ready to reciprocate.”
I rubbed sweat off his cheeks. “You look ready for sleep.”
“I’m easy.”
I laughed. “I noticed.”
In the bathroom, I rinsed my mouth and christened the new toothbrush. I glanced down at my shirt. It wouldn’t be comfortable to sleep in, but I wasn’t wearing an undershirt, and I didn’t fancy being shirtless. I pulled it off anyway and stared at my chest. It was even paler than my face, and my nipples stuck out as bright pink nubs. I bit my lip as I imagined Travis’s mouth on them. The shudder of need that rose in my groin was enough to convince me to leave it off. I took my pants and shoes off next and walked back into the living room with them.
“Oh boy,” Travis said. He looked like he wanted to jump off the couch when he saw me. I grinned as a flutter of excitement rushed through me.
Travis had stretched out and seemed settled in for the night. “Room on there for me?” I asked.
“Sure, little man.” I rolled my eyes but dropped my clothes on the floor and wedged in. We moved around until we both fit, him with one arm around me from behind, which he brushed over my nipples, surprising a gasp out of me. That left a hand free. He watched my face as he dug around in my shorts and grabbed my cock. I made a little noise. He kissed my temple.
“Hand job before bed?” he asked as he stroked me.
I rocked into his grip. “Mm.”
Travis kissed me again. “I’m going to take that as a yes.”
“You are the smartest.” I rested my head on his collarbone. His breath fell warm and moist on my skin, and his little movements stirred me with affection and arousal.
“I like the noises you make,” Travis said.
“Noises?” I choked.
“Those little grunts and gasps. You sound like you think sex should be a secret.” He stretched his arm across my chest and held tight to my shoulder. “It doesn’t have to be a secret with me, and I can’t wait to show you that.”
“Oh God,” I said.
“If our positions were reversed, you’d hear me scream.”
“Not quite there yet,” I gasped.
“I’ll get you there, baby. Maybe not tonight, but I love having something to work toward.”
“You strike me as a man with a goal-focused mind.” I forced out each word between the grunts he said he loved, as he took me closer and closer to orgasm with his hand.
The sounds, his hands, my slick cock, my gasps, and his breathing filled the room and my ears and my heart. I hugged him as much as I could from my position and grabbed the arm he had wrapped around me, pulled it up to my mouth, and kissed him. He squeezed my legs between his.
Then he squeezed me everywhere, all at once, and I was done. Travis pulled his hand out of my boxers, stickiness trailing after, and wiped it on my leg.
“Whoops, looks like you need to clean up again.” He didn’t seem sorry. “I didn’t plan on this when I invited you over.”
I kissed him. “As I recall, I invited myself.”
AT HALF past fuck o’clock, my phone buzzed. I contemplated not answering, but I didn’t want Travis to wake up because someone had decided to drunk text me. I wriggled to the edge of the couch to reach my slacks. “Mmm, that’s nice,” Travis mumbled. I froze. He pressed against me. “Keep it up, baby.”
“I’m trying to get my phone.”
“Shame.”
“Sorry.” I chuckled. I finally reached the phone.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
I’m at ur place. U home? Door’s locked.
“There’s somebody at my house.” I scrolled to the next text.
Uncle Keelin?
“One of my nieces or nephews. I have to go.” I sat up and grabbed for my clothes and started pulling them on.
“How old?”
“Not sure which one it is, but it’s usually one of the teens.”
“They’re sitting outside your house?” Travis asked.
“Apparently. I’m sure it’s nothing. I get random visits from these kids all the time, but I don’t want them sitting on the front stoop in the middle of the night, you know?”
“Angie’s not there?”
“I’d still have to go.”
“I know.” He sat up behind me. “I wasn’t trying to get you to stay. I just wanted you to think of another option so you don’t have to worry about whoever’s waiting for you. Angie could let them in.”
“She’s back at her place.” I responded to my message, saying I was on my way. Travis got up and left the room. When he came back, he had a bottle of Snapple and a strawberry Pop-Tart in his hand.
“For the road.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you want me to call you a car?”
“That would be great, yeah.” Travis found his phone and got to business while I finished getting dressed.
“I’m really sorry to be taking off like this,�
� I said.
“Don’t be. Hey, the teen center’s open from two to five today. Stop by if you can. I’ll text you the address. Bring whoever’s waiting for you.”
I leaned down and kissed him. “I’ll make it if I can. Thanks for everything. I had a great time with you.”
He smiled. “Me too. I hope we can do it again soon.” His phone buzzed. “That’s your ride.”
“That was fast.”
“I think the guy was already around the corner when I contacted him.” He followed me to the door and kissed me again. “Get home safe.”
“You too. I mean, uh, stay home safe.”
Travis grinned. “Will do. Call me.”
I ran down the rickety, lopsided stairs as fast as I could. I had another text from my unknown guest asking how much longer I’d be. I resisted the urge to ask the driver to break the speed limit getting home.
Chapter Five
A TREE partially blocked the view of my front stoop from the sidewalk where the car dropped me, but I could still see someone’s pristine sneakers and legs stretched out on it as I approached. I sped up.
“Heeey.” A lackadaisical wave greeted me along with a thick Dublin accent.
I stopped short. “Declan?”
I didn’t know if I should be delighted or pissed off to see the lanky blond youth whose face lit up as he stumbled down the steps to embrace me. “Sorry for the surprise, Uncle Keelin. Didn’t know when I’d have another chance to see you.”
Declan was not one of my nephews. I wasn’t sure what Declan was to me anymore. “What are you doing here?” I hugged him back, then held him away from me. He smelled like a bar. His eyes were bloodshot. “You’ve been drinking.”
“Jet-lagged,” he lied. “Dad and I just got in today.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Declan.”
“Fine. I’m drunk,” he said firmly. “Dad’ll flip his shit.”
“I might flip my shit too. You’re fourteen.”
He shrugged, like I wasn’t as big a threat.
“Well, you’d better come inside,” I said.
“Thanks.”
As I opened the door, I sent a text to Travis to tell him I was home safe. Then I dialed a number I hadn’t used in years, so I could tell Paeder that I had his son.
This Is Our Love Song Page 4
