Miss Me

by Mel Spenser

  "Sure. For you."

  "Andy, that's pretty generous. I don't want to impose on you, baby."

  "As long as they don't mind being kept awake by my headboard banging against the wall while you're banging me. By the way, don't call me babe or baby in front of them. You'll ruin my manly image."

  Nick laughed and relaxed. He knew things were going to be okay.

  "Thanks for bailing me out on this, baby."

  Andy cringed at the term of endearment.

  "My pleasure." He snuggled closer, wrapping himself even tighter around Nick's limbs.

  ***

  Nick found Andy's street and turned on to it. The entrance to the street had a sign proclaiming that he was officially entering an historic district. Very large old houses lined both sides of the street. He drove slowly, looking for the house number. He couldn't believe that he hadn’t been to Andy's house yet. They'd just always automatically gone to his loft.

  He spotted Andy's red and black Element parked in the driveway of a large brick house with a clay tile roof. The entire front yard was enclosed by a tall, wrought iron fence. He whistled through his teeth. "Man." He waited for a big guy with red hair to get out of the way before he turned into the driveway. The guy turned and frowned at him as Nick drove past. Nick hit the remote that Andy had given him and the gate rolled open automatically.

  When he got out of his car, he heard some pretty ferocious barking coming from the backyard. He couldn't see the source because of the privacy fence. Then he stopped in his tracks. His eyes grew wide as he watched the gate shake violently when the dog on the other side obviously slammed against it with its body.

  "Henry." Nick heard Andy's voice and walked over to the gate.

  "Andy? You back there?"

  "Yeah. Come on in. Put your fingers through the slot and push up the latch. It's unlocked and the alarm's off."

  He heard some serious sniffing coming from the other side of the gate.

  "Are you sure it's okay?"

  "Henry might goose you with his wet nose, but otherwise he won’t bother you."

  The slot on the gate was almost level with his chest. Nick cautiously put his fingers through it. The sniffing from the other side intensified. He felt hot, damp breath on his knuckles. Shit.

  "Andy?"

  "It's okay. Really. Come on in."

  He braced himself and opened the gate. Silence. He poked his head through. Two extremely intelligent brown eyes peered at him from the other end of a very long, black snout. Alert, pointy ears framed the head. He and Henry stared at each other.

  "Come on in," Andy said.

  When no growl or attack came, Nick stepped through the gate and closed it behind him. Henry hadn't budged an inch, but he hadn't shown aggression either. So far, so good.

  He looked past the dog and spotted Andy. Dressed only in baggy cargo shorts that sat low on his hips, Andy was standing at the very edge of what looked like a forty foot pool. He was holding a long pole and skimming the sides of it. Nick took in the sight of the sun shining on Andy's blond, tousled hair, his slim chest, nipple rings and the line of golden hair that disappeared into his waistband. He felt himself starting to get hard. How sad was that? He had a man-eating dog staring him down and he was standing there with wood in his shorts looking at his boyfriend.

  He took a deep breath and walked toward Andy. He heard toenails on the concrete patio following behind him. Apparently, Henry took his job seriously.

  Andy glanced up and smiled at him. "Hi, gorgeous. How'd the presentation go?"

  "Fine. It looks like we're going to get the contract."

  "Great! I'm almost done here. Then we can go inside and I'll get ready."

  Nick watched him as he put the pool supplies in a small brick shed that matched the house. He felt a warm body against his thigh and looked down. Henry was leaning against him. He hesitantly put his hand on the beast's head.

  And, just like that, Henry turned into a goofy dog. His tongue flopped out one side of his mouth. His stubby tail started twitching wildly as he pranced in front of Nick. He danced in tight circles, trying to position his rump at Nick for the best angle for scratching.

  "You're just a big baby." Nick said as he vigorously scratched the dog's back. Henry looked back over his shoulder at Nick with adoration in his eyes. Nick continued to scratch and Henry's leg started doing the motorcycle move. He lost his balance and collapsed at Nick's feet. He rolled over on his back with all four legs sticking up in the air.

  "God, Henry. Show a little decorum." Andy laughed as he walked toward them. He looked at Nick and said, "You've just pissed away months of rigorous training. He'll be useless now."

  "Some guard dog."

  "He probably recognizes your scent from being on me." Andy winked.

  When he realized that the scratching was over, Henry popped back up and stood between them. His tongue lolled out as he grinned up at them like an idiot.

  "Come on." Andy said. "Let's go inside."

  Henry promptly turned and led the way to the back door of the house. When he tapped his nose on a large, round button by the door, a light flashed on his collar and the door hissed open. Once they were inside, it slowly shut behind them.

  They were standing in a large kitchen. An island covered in cobalt blue tiles stood in the center of the room. Andy didn't cook, so of course the room was spotless. On one wall, Nick noticed a large security panel. He frowned.

  "Let's go up and I'll get ready."

  The three of them went up what was obviously a back staircase. It opened onto a long hallway carpeted in beige Berber that ran the length of the house.

  "My room's here."

  They turned into the second doorway that they came to. The room was large with a bowed window. The transom above the window was stained glass and prisms of color slanted across the room. A king-size sleigh bed was to their left.

  Andy gave Nick a quick peck on the lips. "I'm all sweaty. I need to take a quick shower. Make yourself at home."

  "Need any help?"

  He made a grab for Andy's shorts and Andy hopped to the side, out of reach, laughing.

  "Then we'd never get out of here on time. And we do have a plane to meet." Andy said as he disappeared into a room to their right. He didn't shut the door, and Nick could hear the shower start. He and Henry looked at each other.

  Nick walked over to the window. It overlooked the backyard and pool. There was surprisingly very little in the way of foliage. He had an unobstructed view of the entire yard, including the patio. Henry stood next to him, alert, peering intently down at the yard. He heard the shower shut off and turned as Andy came back into the room naked, drying his hair with a towel.

  "You have a nice place, Andy."

  "Thanks. I grew up here. Our parents didn't really want kids. Since they traveled so much, Sandy and I lived here with our grandma. She raised us." He tossed the towel into the bathroom. "Grandma figured out pretty early that I wouldn't be getting married and doing the whole family thing. She left the house to me as a consolation, I guess. She set up a trust fund to keep up the maintenance and for doing improvements."

  "Do you get lonely here?"

  "Oh, Hell, no. I'm around people all damn day. It's nice to come home to the quiet. I may have mentioned that I read a lot. Well, at least I used to, up until about a month ago. Now I have a new favorite pastime." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. "This place used to be full of people all the time. Aunts, uncles, cousins… It was a great place to grow up in."

  "Where's everyone now?"

  "Most of them are scattered around the Houston area and the Hill Country. We really don't see much of each other. You know how it is… We all get involved in our day-to-day lives. That's why we have two big get-togethers here a year. Once at Christmas time, and the other on the 4th of July. It's a long standing tradition."

  Nick sat in an oversized, upholstered chair. Henry offered up his head for some serious petting. Nick obliged. Andy pulled on some clot
hes and ran his fingers through his hair.

  "Oh, you might like this. Come on."

  He followed Andy down the hall to where it opened onto a landing that overlooked the large foyer. The three of them went down the main staircase and turned toward the back of the house. Andy opened a door to an office. A large workstation sat in the middle of the room with a computer on it. A variety of components were attached to it. All four walls were covered with built in shelves that went from the floor to the ceiling. They were two-thirds full of every type of book imaginable. The only area without shelves was the door itself.

  "Wow," Nick said as he stood with his hands on his hips, staring up at the shelves.

  "I wasn't kidding when I said that I read a lot. I'm so pathetic… I work in a library all day and then haunt used bookstores on my way home. On the weekends, usually after a payday, I'll sometimes go further out to used bookstores in nearby towns. Some books I order off of the internet because you can't find them in stores. Many of these here are autographed because I go to a lot of author signings."

  Andy stopped talking when he noticed Nick smiling at him. "I guess I'm rambling again… Well if this doesn't do it for you, maybe you'll like this better." He motioned for Nick to follow.

  He went through the door and then further down the hall. He stopped in front of a set of double doors and pushed them open. "What do you think?"

  They walked into a large room that could only be classified as adult male heaven. A tournament size billiard table dominated one end of the room. A bar, jukebox, poker table and a couple of pinball machines took up the end nearest to them. French doors led out to the back patio.

  "Damn!" Nick walked over to the massive table. He ran his hand over the wide, smooth rail. Wine colored felt covered the slate, and the mahogany-stained wood was intricately carved. A rack of cues hung on the wall, and a tiffany style rectangular shade hung from the ceiling directly over the table.

  "As you can imagine, this room is very popular when we have the big shindigs. We can play while you're here if you want. But I must warn you, I will kick your ass."

  Nick snorted, "We'll see about that."

  Chapter 6

  "There they are."

  Andy straightened from leaning against the rail. He pushed up his glasses and tried to see over the crowd exiting through the security checkpoint.

  A petite, female version of Nick bolted out of the herd. She ran up and threw her arms around him as he lifted her off the floor. Steve, lagging behind, joined them. Introductions were made and the guys shook hands.

  With her arm through Nick's she chattered the entire way as they walked to the luggage carousel. Victoria abruptly stopped and turned to Andy. His eyes widened in apprehension behind his glasses. She reached out, yanked him toward her and hugged him so hard he felt his back crack. "I am so very happy to meet you."

  Andy visibly relaxed, looking relieved.

  "Nick wasn't kidding when he said you were cute." She looked over at Nick and added, "He really does have pretty eyes."

  Andy blushed. God, how embarrassing. He shot Nick a scowl, to which Nick just replied with a huge grin.

  They got the luggage and headed out to the parking structure. "Here we are."

  Victoria laughed at Andy's license plate frame. "Librarians do it in the Stacks, do they?" She read his oval bumper sticker, "Do the Dewey." She gave an unladylike snort. "You really are a librarian."

  "Guilty," Andy said as Nick and Steve loaded the luggage in the back.

  "Geeze…." She fanned her face with her hands. "It's like a friggin' furnace down here. The heat slaps you right in the face the minute you step out of the building. It almost sucks your breath away. I can feel the humidity on my fingers."

  "Don't worry," Andy said dryly. "You never get used to it."

  ***

  The next evening, Victoria and Andy sat by the pool. Nick and Steve were making a liquor run. They had all gone to Galveston that day and were drained from too much fresh air and sunshine. She was curled up in a chair behind Andy, who was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water.

  Victoria studied the back of the man that she knew her brother had fallen in love with. She had no doubt that Nick was crazy about Andy, whether he even knew it yet or would admit it if he did. The two of them couldn't keep their hands off of each other, and Nick had never been one to publicly show affection. If Nick wanted him…well, she loved him, too. He was just so cute with his sun-streaked shaggy blond hair, slim surfer-type body and freckles on his nose. He and Nick were completely opposite each other in looks. She hoped with all her heart that Andy returned Nick's feelings.

  "Wow! Your back is really red," she said.

  "It's the curse of the pasty skinned. There's no in-between for me. I'm either white or red. I asked Nick to come with me to Cancun in a couple of weeks so he could specifically make sure that I don't get sunburned."

  "Oh? Is he going to go?"

  "I don't know." Andy splashed the water with his foot. "He won't give me a direct answer." He looked back at her over his shoulder. "I really wish he'd go."

  They sat there together in silence for a minute.

  "That's a neat tattoo you have. What is that? Some kind of bird?"

  "It's a griffin. My last name is Griffin."

  "Well, duh!" She bonked herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand. "I guess that makes sense."

  Andy laughed and moved up into the chair next to her. Henry was asleep on his pad between them.

  "Thanks for letting us stay here, Andy. It's really very kind of you."

  "Kindness has nothing to do with it, if you want to know the truth. I have an ulterior motive." He paused and she looked at him. "This way I can have Nick in my clutches all weekend."

  She smiled. "You two really seem to like each other."

  "Yeah."

  "You know he's only had one long term commitment. That only lasted about a year and ended badly."

  "He told me a little bit about it."

  "It seemed like a mistake from the start to the rest of us looking on from the outside. But I think Nick was hoping he could finally have some sort of relationship. It's been very hard for him to get close to anyone after what he went through." Andy raised a brow. "I think he was looking for something that just wasn't there." She paused. "I can tell that what you two have is special. He's different with you. I don't want to scare you off, but I've never seen him like this before."

  "You're not scaring me," Andy said softly, looking at the smooth pool surface. Then he frowned. "What has he been through? You said, after what he went through. What happened?"

  “Did he tell you about what happened to him in high school?” She asked.

  “You mean about getting beat up by those guys?” Andy asked.

  “Did he also tell you that when our dad found out the reason that they did it, he beat Nick, too? I was twelve when it happened. I can still hear my dad yelling. He said that he was going to beat the queerness out of Nick. When Nick got out of the hospital, he had changed. Oh, he was still Nick, but he absolutely never showed his preferences again to people who knew him, and he has seldom trusted anyone beyond anonymous one night stands."

  Andy felt sick to his stomach. And not just a little bit pissed off. Nick was so caring and easy going. He couldn't imagine Nick going through something so awful. Especially from his own dad, the bastard.

  Before he could ask more, Henry jumped up, alert. He trotted over to the gate and tilted his head as he listened. Then he gave a little high-pitched whine and started dancing around in front of the gate.

  "We're back," Nick called. Steve carried the hooch into the house. Nick came up behind Andy and put his hands on Andy’s shoulders. Andy laid his hand on one of Nick's and looked up at him.

  "Hi, baby," Nick said.

  Andy winced at the term of endearment and glanced over toward Victoria.

  "Hi, yourself."

  He leaned over and gave Andy a kiss in greeting.
Victoria watched the intimate interchange with interest and smiled.

  They worked the blender overtime that evening, unwinding by the pool and talking into the night, sharing stories.

  ***

  Much later that night, Nick sat sprawled in the large upholstered chair in Andy's bedroom.

  "Man, I'm beat."

  "I had a good time today. I like Victoria and Steve." Andy undid his shorts and let them fall to his feet. He stepped out of them and walked naked over to Nick.

  "You definitely got some sun. Does it hurt?"