by A. M. Arthur
The girl he’d flirted with earlier left a decent tip, along with her phone number. He tossed the paper scrap into the bus bin with her dirty dishes. Too bad he didn’t work in a place that catered mostly to gay men; he’d never be bored.
The last customer shuffled off at a few minutes to noon. Jaime put away the massive textbook he’d been reading, then got up to help him bus the last few tables. They worked in silence, but Alessandro’s entire body was aware of Jaime’s proximity—of his height, his body heat, the faint scent of shaving soap and shampoo that still clung to him. They reached for the same coffee mug, and their hands closed around the rim in tandem. Heat burst in Alessandro’s guts, sending awareness to all points south.
Good grief, he needed to get a hold of himself—so to speak.
Shannon seemed intent on ignoring them both. Together they made fast work of Alessandro’s usual tasks, so she let him go at twelve-thirty. Jaime grabbed his messenger bag, and they left out the front so they could collect Jaime’s bike.
“I have to admit, that went better than I expected,” Alessandro said as they walked down the sidewalk.
“Work?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’s that?”
“Wasn’t sure if your sister was going to be weird about Saturday.”
Jaime laughed, and the sound sent warm rumbles through Alessandro’s chest. “Nah, that isn’t her style. She doesn’t hover or get weird unless she thinks I’m being stupid. Even then she just gets loud.”
“I’m glad she seems to like me.”
“She does like you. We both do.” Jaime said that to the handlebars of his bike, so Alessandro couldn’t get a read on his face. And his profile gave away nothing.
Unsure how to respond to that, he asked, “Do you have a lot of studying to do today?”
“Most of it’s done, actually.”
They paused at an intersection. The street wasn’t terribly busy, but they’d reached a point where a decision needed to be made. Jaime’s house was to the left. Alessandro’s house was straight ahead. Both required a decent amount of walking, and Jaime seemed to be waiting for him to make the next move.
“The bus doesn’t come by until three-thirty,” Alessandro said. The tips of his ears burned from a kind of embarrassment he hadn’t experienced since he was a teenager. “You want to come over for a while?”
Jaime grinned. “Yes, I do. What about your car?”
“I don’t think your bike will fit into it.”
“Duh. Are you going to leave the car here?”
Alessandro shrugged. “I’ll come back for it later.”
The silence between them as they walked should have been awkward, but it wasn’t. Alessandro noted the distance from Baker’s Dozen; maybe he could beg a ride back on Jaime’s handlebars. He hadn’t done that since he was fourteen and ended up flying face-first into a ditch when the bike owner came to an expected stop. Said bike owner thought the whole thing was hilarious, until Alessandro yanked him off his bike and threw him into the muddy ditch. He might have kicked him in the ribs a few times.
Not one of his finest moments.
“What are you thinking about?” Jaime asked. His voice, after such a long silence, startled Alessandro.
“Mistakes of my youth, I guess.”
“Oh, right. I’ve heard stories.” Jaime’s eyebrows rose in a question. “Apparently you were quite the terror around here.”
“I was. I’m kind of glad you never experienced it directly.”
“I guess my heart disease was useful for something.”
He nearly tripped over his own feet. Jaime was smiling, but the comment still made Alessandro feel like an ass. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, I know if you’d been in school more, I’d have been an asshole to you, too. I’m glad you didn’t see that side of me.”
“You were angry a lot as a kid?”
“All the time. I didn’t really wise up until I almost didn’t graduate. Actually doing the work was a hell of a lot less scary than the idea of repeating the year. I could deal with being a delinquent, but not with being a loser.”
“I can understand that.”
“Tony’s a lot like me.” Alessandro frowned at himself, unsure why he’d put that out there.
“Your foster brother, right?”
“Yeah. He’s ten, but I see so much of my own rage inside of him, and I don’t know who his friends are that are giving him all this shit he’s repeating.” He filled Jaime in on the getting laid conversation from the previous night, minus a few details.
“Joe and Andy Parsons,” Jaime said. His red lips twisted into a frown. “They have a third brother, Michael, who’s a freshman at some Bible college in Pennsylvania. Their dad’s the minister at the Assembly church west of town.”
“Preacher’s kids. Great.” Alessandro had known a handful of PK’s in his life, and most of them were hellions. They put up an act for their parents and the pious churchgoers, but they were the first to act out once Sunday school was over. “Eunice probably thinks Joe is a great influence on Tony.”
“You disagree?”
“I don’t know the kid, but I know I don’t like some of the stuff Tony’s been repeating. Sure, some of it’s just kids being crude, but I don’t want Tony to get bad ideas about certain things.”
“Like sex and gay people.”
“Right.”
They paused at an intersection, then crossed to the next street. Jaime’s bike rattled along next to them, a pleasant, consistent sound.
“Alè, have you told Tony that you’re gay?”
Alessandro very nearly tripped again. He couldn’t make himself look at Jaime when he replied, “No.” He also braced for Jaime to question the decision.
“Okay,” Jaime said instead.
“You think I should, don’t you?”
“I think it’s your decision, and you’ll tell him when you think it’s appropriate.”
“I really want him to trust me.”
“You don’t think he’ll trust you if he knows you’re gay?”
“I don’t know.” Frustration welled up in Alessandro’s chest, a dark and heavy weight he did not like. “That’s the problem. I can guess how he’ll react to things, based on how I might have reacted at his age, but I don’t really know. I’m afraid I’ll somehow turn him against me.”
“Because you’re gay?”
He huffed. “No, because I’ll say the wrong thing. I’ll say or do something that pisses him off, and he’ll go do something really stupid. That’s what I used to do, Jaime, and Tony is like looking through a window at my own past.”
Jaime watched him as they walked. “Do you think you can change what a jerk you were as a kid by saving Tony from doing the same things?”
How did he do that? Alessandro stopped walking, forcing Jaime to pause and look back. In the gleam of the afternoon sun, their eyes met. Silent understanding passed between them, and all Alessandro had to do was nod. Jaime’s hand jerked, like he wanted to reach out and touch Alessandro, maybe offer physical reassurance. But they were on a public sidewalk, less than a block from Eunice’s house, and instead they walked faster.
They stashed Jaime’s bike on the front porch before going inside. Jaime’s messenger back hit the floor with a thunk, and then nothing mattered but kissing and touching and moving upstairs.
* * *
Jaime stretched his arms and legs, working out the slightly wobbly feeling of being locked in one position for too long. Or just long enough, depending on your point of view. His head listed toward the door Alessandro had walked out of to toss the condom and get a wet washcloth. Jaime clenched his hole and bit back a slight flinch at the hot, angry feeling down there—a feeling he was starting to love.
His life had been about books and studying for years, so naturally he’d spent a lot of time researching gay sex. He’d read about everything from basic vanilla sex, to rimming, all the way through some of the kinkier things that made him shudder
in horror. For a while, he’d had a hard time imagining a dick fitting into his ass, much less someone’s entire fist. And now that he’d had a dick in his ass several awesome times, he still didn’t ever want an entire fist in there. He could, however, get very used to Alessandro fucking him.
Total bottom. He smiled at the empty doorway. He didn’t mind applying the label. It felt right. Alessandro felt right. Especially when he was over Jaime, driving into him, making them both feel so amazing. Maybe one day Jaime would give topping a try, so he could say he had, but right now this worked for him in so many ways.
Alessandro appeared in the doorway like a shadow—a sexy, fuckable shadow with the kind of muscle definition created by hard work and hard times. The same black hair on his head also dusted his legs and left a light trail from his navel down to his dick. A dick that, even flaccid, made his mouth water to taste again. Jaime was staring and it was rude, but he didn’t care.
“Do I have come on my face or something?” Alessandro asked with a sideways smile.
Jaime didn’t even bother looking up to check. “Just admiring the view.”
Alessandro’s chuckle rumbled up from deep in his chest. He came back to bed and held out the warm, damp cloth. “I’d do it myself, but the bus will be by in half an hour and you’re too damned responsive sometimes.” He said it all with a cocky smile that told him the responsiveness absolutely was not a problem.
Jaime took the washcloth and cleaned himself up. He was minding the sticky sensation of lube and the general messiness of sex less and less. He crumpled the cloth in his hand as he sat up. His rear end smarted and he couldn’t hide the flinch of discomfort.
The side of the bed bounced slightly as Alessandro sat down. “You all right?”
“Perfect,” Jaime replied with a grin.
“Did I go too hard?”
“Hell no.” Alessandro needed to stop worrying every time that he’d fucked him too hard. “It’s still kind of new, right? I like the feeling.”
He didn’t look convinced. “We can try the other way whenever you want.”
“I like this way.” He slid to the other side of the bed and pulled Alessandro down into a kiss. He slid his tongue across Alessandro’s teeth, teasing until he was allowed inside. Alessandro had once again proved his love of rimming, and Jaime detected the faint taste of himself, musky but not unpleasant. One day he’d get up the gall to try rimming on Alessandro. He’d love to see Alessandro lose control from that.
Alessandro’s fingers combed through his hair while they kissed. Each time they drifted lower to his neck and shoulders, he raised them, probably preventing him from getting going again. Jaime behaved himself—if gently fucking Alessandro’s mouth with his tongue was behaving. Soon his dick started taking interest in the proceedings, and Jaime pulled back, breathless.
Something bright shone in Alessandro’s eyes, and it dimmed a little when their gazes met. He was still smiling. “You’re dangerous, babe.”
The endearment made Jaime’s heart skip, even though his head told him it was probably a habit, rather than a conscious thought. “You’re kind of addictive,” Jaime replied with far more confidence than he’d ever have outside of bed. They were both naked, but he’d never been safer.
Alessandro’s eyes went soft. “Back at you.”
He glanced at the alarm clock. “I should get going before the bus gets here.”
“You’re leaving?”
“It’s probably easier than you trying to explain me to Tony.”
“He knows we’re friends.”
“I know.” Jaime squeezed Alessandro’s knee. “But he’s also ten and he’s angry. He needs simple, and seeing his supposedly straight big brother hanging out with a guy he knows is queer might confuse him.”
“You think I should tell Tony I’m gay?” The sharper edge in Alessandro’s voice was hard to miss.
“No, Alè, that’s not what I’m saying. You’ll tell him when you’re ready to tell him.”
Alessandro covered his hand. “I don’t want you to think you have to be some kind of dirty secret, that’s all.”
“I definitely don’t feel like a dirty secret, but neither one of us is exactly out here, are we?”
“Not exactly.” Alessandro’s cheeks darkened with an unexpected blush. “When I lived in the city, no one cared. It’s harder in small towns.”
“I guess I assumed you didn’t care that people knew.”
“I didn’t, until Justin got in your face about me. He’s dangerous, Jaime.”
The vehemence in Alessandro’s voice startled him. “Even if Justin found out we’re both gay, and that we’re being gay together, he isn’t stupid enough to hurt me.”
“Don’t count on it.”
Jaime yanked his hand back and scooted a few inches away, his irritation rising. Not irritation at Alessandro specifically, but at their conversation. “Look, I read the news and I’m on Twitter. The world is changing, but it’s not changing all that fast. And after everything Shannon has gone through with my being sick and the heart transplant, the last thing she needs to deal with is a gay bashing, but I don’t want to hide who I am because of a maybe scenario.”
“You went through those things, too, not just Shannon,” Alessandro said darkly. “I don’t want to see you hurt more because of me.”
He sighed. “You didn’t make me gay, you know, so if anyone hurts me it’s not your fault. I lived in fear of dying for so many years, Alè. I don’t want be afraid all the time anymore. I got a second chance at life, so I want to live.”
Alessandro sucked on his lower lip, his expressive eyes displaying a thousand emotions, but none of his stray thoughts. He was quiet for almost a full minute before responding with something a little unexpected. “How about living life in the city this weekend?”
“The city?”
“Saturday night. There’s a club called Pot O Gold. Gay bar masquerading as an Irish pub, with dancing and live music on weekends.”
Jaime’s heart pounded at the idea of going to an actual gay bar with Alessandro. Going out and being seen together by other men. He liked the idea, knowing that no matter who might ogle them, Alessandro would be there with him. Jaime Winters from Perch Creek, who had never had sex until two days ago and was now very eager to make up for lost time.
“Okay, let’s go,” Jaime said.
“Yeah?” Alessandro’s entire face lit up. “Great. I’ll pick you up Saturday around eight.”
“Cool.” Some of his initial enthusiasm died. Would they see each other again before Saturday, or was this his cue to leave?
“You want to come over again tomorrow, after I get off work?”
“Yes.” Jaime didn’t even have to think about his answer. “Very definitely.” He could absolutely fit his schoolwork routines around afternoon sex interludes with Alessandro.
“Great.”
* * *
Riding his bike home, especially with the weight of his messenger bag slung over his shoulder, was a little uncomfortable. But it was worth it. Jaime looked forward to the rest of the week, and he couldn’t wait for Saturday night’s upcoming adventure in the city.
Chapter Ten
Alessandro hadn’t been so excited for a weekend since high school. He used to dream of the last bell on Friday, because it meant sixty-four hours of freedom before he had to walk back into school on Monday morning. Granted, he spent a lot of those hours getting high, getting drunk or just plain getting into trouble, but it was time away from school and the classmates he hated.
He was excited this Friday for all those hours of weekend freedom, but not because he wanted to escape or get into trouble. He’d spend the first few hours post-work fucking Jaime until they both couldn’t see straight, and then tomorrow night showing him off at Pot O Gold. The Pot wasn’t one of his more frequent hangouts, which was why he’d chosen it. He didn’t want to freak Jaime out by having to introduce him to a lot of former one-night stands. A more neutral setting was a goo
d place for Jaime to get his feet wet in the world of gay bars.
And he really wanted to see if Jaime could dance.
Dancing was an amazing kind of foreplay. Bodies rubbing together, pressing close, moving to a beat that pulsed in your spine, dick and balls. Alessandro used to love getting revved up on the dance floor and then going home with someone who’d give him exactly what he wanted, no promises required. Jaime’s lack of confidence in his own attractiveness was incredibly appealing to Alessandro, and it would make him too vulnerable at a bigger club.
Besides, no one was going home with Jaime tomorrow night except him.
Alessandro glanced at the clock on the wall at Baker’s Dozen. Another hour before they closed. Jaime had made a habit of stopping by about half an hour before closing time, so he could help with the cleanup chores. If Shannon had an opinion on it, she had yet to share. Everything about their working environment told him that she fully supported their ill-defined relationship, which officially made her the best boss ever.
He bused two tables he hadn’t managed to clear yet. The brunch rush had died off, leading into the final, quieter hour of the bakery being open. He’d lost count of how many California omelets he’d served today, one of Rusty’s five specials on the board. Only three of the booths were still occupied, and they’d all been served. Even the line at the counter was down to two customers, so Shannon was taking her time chatting as she bagged orders of muffins and cookies to go.
The bell chimed. Alessandro slid the bus bin onto its shelf in the kitchen, then went back into the dining room to greet the new patrons. He stopped short, his back and shoulders tensing. Justin and Terry had taken a table across the room from the other diners, settling in like they meant to stay. Justin was facing the kitchen, and he gave a black look as Alessandro approached.
It took a lot of self-control to not dump the contents of the carafe onto Justin’s lap. “Start off with some coffee?” Alessandro asked in a spectacularly neutral voice.
