“I’m glad things worked out for you and Josh.” His soft words reminded me that he had been nursing some frustrations that morning also.
“No luck with gamer dude?” I asked. I was shocked to hear that Kyle had started playing video games to pass the time once we broke up. Some guy he talked to online grabbed his attention and Kyle couldn’t get him out of his system. Kyle wanted to meet the guy in person, but the guy disappeared before Kyle could mention it.
“Not yet, but I’m not giving up.” Kyle smiled, but I noticed that his normal twinkle wasn’t present in his eyes.
The waitress, Daniella, brought over the carryout bag with my order in it. After I paid her, I turned back to Kyle and patted him on the shoulder. “I hope everything works out for you.” And I meant it. He was a good man who deserved to find happiness.
“See you around,” Kyle told me before he placed his order with Daniella.
Josh was nowhere in sight when I walked into the salon. I noticed that his two partners in crime were also missing, so I suspected there was a pow wow of some sort going on. I didn’t think they’d go upstairs in the middle of the day, which left the small kitchenette in the rear of the salon. As I approached the room, I picked up a piece of their conversation.
“Babe, we would’ve told you if we knew that asshole had returned to town. We’d never let you get caught off guard like that. How in the hell did we not know he was back?” Meredith asked. “Are you okay, Jazz?”
“I…”
“Fucknugget! Fucknugget! Fucknugget!” Josh’s blue macaw squawked at the top of his lungs. I thought it was funny when I first taught him that word while I was recuperating at Josh’s house from my concussion. Then Savage started to squawk it nearly every time he saw me and it wasn’t so funny, especially when I was trying to spy. I decided to start working with him on new words.
Josh poked his head around the corner of the kitchen. “Surprise!” I held up the brown sack of food. “Hungry?”
Josh chewed on his bottom lip while his eyes raked up and down my body. “Starved.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the food or me.
Damn Gabriel Wyatt and all his manly yumminess. He distracted me to the point of insanity. I was more addicted to him than Andrew Christian underwear and that was saying a lot. Hell, it had only been a few hours since his dick had been inside me and I was already jonesing for more.
“I’m out of here.” Chaz grabbed Meredith’s elbow and tugged her behind him.
“You never let me have any fun,” I heard her tell Chaz, which was opposite of how it really was. Meredith was usually the one pulling Chaz out the door so that Gabe and I could have alone time.
“Mmmm, that smells good.” I finally got a whiff of the food inside the carryout bag and my brain focused on something besides sex. “What did you get me?” I held up my hand to stop Gabe when he started to answer. “Let me guess.” I sucked air into my nose dramatically and said, “I smell beef and mashed potatoes. That could be several items from the menu.” I took another sniff and thought I caught a hint of honey glazed carrots. “Mmmm. You ordered me the pot roast dinner.” I smiled at him triumphantly.
“You’re good,” Gabe said. He pulled me by the back of the neck and dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “So damn good.”
I snatched the bag from him and set it on the table. “None of that or I’ll lose my focus. Don’t force me to ban you from the salon during business hours.”
Gabe snorted as he took a seat. “Feed me and then I’ll get out of your hair.” Gabe smiled widely at his pun before continuing. “I won’t even act like I want to take you up the stairs and peel off your clothes so I can kiss every inch of you. Nope, that’s the furthest thing on my mind when you stare at my lips like that.”
I was so close to saying “take me right now,” but my growling stomach beat me to the punch. I unpacked and distributed our food then dug into the heaping pile of roast beef, gravy, and mashed potato heaven. “You didn’t get country fried steak?” I asked.
“You’ve ruined me,” he replied. His answer brought a smile to my face just like it did every time I asked the question and he answered in the same way. My country fried steak is the bomb! “Had an interesting morning, but I’m sure you’ve already heard all about it at the Come In and Gossip.”
It was a good thing I hadn’t taken a bite of food because it would’ve fallen out when my mouth gaped open. Did he just mock my salon? “Oh, no you didn’t!” I clutched my chest with one hand and tried to look affronted.
“Oh, yes I did.” Gabe didn’t look a bit guilty for slandering my precious business. I would’ve been pissed if it hadn’t been the God’s honest truth.
“Yeah, I heard about the bust before you were even on the scene,” I confessed.
“Jesus,” Gabe mumbled around a bite of his buttery roll.
I pointed my fork at Gabe and said, “Leave him out of this.” He smiled because it was the same exchange we had after sex the first time. “How big is big?” I asked. The leering smile on his face said his brain was still back in his bedroom on that cold, fall morning when I rode him like a bronco. “The drug bust,” I prompted.
Gabe pinned me with a stern look. “What I tell you stays confidential.”
“Goes without saying,” I replied saucily. My clients might be full of gossip and chatter, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t keep a secret. I was damn good at keeping secrets. Besides, Gabe wasn’t telling me that Mrs. Jenkins switched laundry detergent or Mr. Hopkins stared a little too long at Mrs. Mayweather’s ass in the Sac-N-Save parking lot. He was trusting me with something that could jeopardize his career. “Wait.” I held up my finger when he started to talk. I got up and looked to see who might be lounging in the sitting room while waiting for their appointment. I had clients with hearing so acute they’d make the CIA envious. The sitting room was empty, but I shut the door in between the rooms for good measure.
“Huge!” Gabe said once I returned to my chair.
“Yes, babe, but what about the drugs?” I couldn’t resist teasing him.
I thought Gabe was going to get up and strut like a peacock from my praise. “Almost as huge,” he replied with a grin. Then he leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Seriously, we’re talking a street value of a hundred thousand dollars or more. At first we thought maybe ten or twenty thousand, but it came back with a much higher value once we logged the evidence into the system.”
“In a high school locker?” It was staggering to think that a kid in the school had the connections to gain access to a drug stash that size. “Whose locker was it?” I asked, even though I knew he wouldn’t tell me.
“I don’t know and I wouldn’t tell you if I did.” Gabe said exactly what I thought he would. “I’ll let your three o’clock appointment tell you. I’m sure they’ll know before I do.” I was too hungry to comment on that snarkfabulous remark.
Who the hell was I trying to fool? “Just for that, I refuse to be your confidential informant.” My response was met with a snort that I did choose to ignore.
I looked at my watch and saw that I didn’t have much time before my next appointment arrived. I buckled down and ate the delicious lunch Gabe bought me. The small gestures of his affection meant more to me than if he bought me a fancy Michael Kors watch.
“That was so good, but now I need a nap.” I rubbed my belly and said, “Carb City.”
“I have an idea of how you can work some of it off later,” Gabe said, reaching for me. “I still haven’t seen your attic studio.”
I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t shown him my pole dancing studio yet. I didn’t think it was performance anxiety because I had competed in competitions, but then again, none of the spectators were Gabe. They were faceless people where he was my… something. What he thought mattered to me more than I ever thought I’d allow again.
“Soon.”
Before he left, Gabe pulled me to him and pressed his forehead to mine. “You can trust me too, Josh.” At
first I wasn’t sure what he was talking about then I realized that he probably caught part of what Meredith said to me. I figured he probably caught onto the shock I felt when I heard Billy’s name in the shower. Hadn’t he told me that my face gave away my thoughts?
“Soon,” I repeated. I owed him the truth of my past, especially since it was still a minefield he tiptoed through. I worried that he would think less of me for allowing myself to be treated the way I had.
“Fair enough,” he whispered before he dropped a sweet kiss on my lips. “Just so you know, nothing you say will make me like you any less.”
“Thank you for lunch. It was very sweet of you,” I told him when I walked with him back out to the salon.
“It’s your late night and I don’t want you hangry.” Gabe stopped when he reached the door. “I thought Buddy and I might stop over around eight with pizza. I might even throw in a foot rub afterward.”
I nearly moaned out loud because his foot rubs were fucking amazing. I sprung wood every time he dug his thumbs into my arches. Just thinking about it was enough to make me uncomfortable in a room full of clients. “Go, go now.” There wasn’t any venom in my words, only laughter.
I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before I shooed him out the door. When I turned around to go to my station, I saw that every eye in the salon was focused on me. “Y’all go about your business before I add extra onto your bill today for the free show we just gave you.”
Gabe and Buddy showed up promptly at eight like he said they would. He picked up two pizzas because our choices of pizza on some nights were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. I wanted the Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple and he wanted everything except mushrooms on his, including anchovies. Yeah, I totally made him brush his teeth afterwards; no way I was kissing his fishy lips.
I learned right away that somethings required a lot of work. There was more manscaping to consider when I was showing off my dangly guy bits on a regular basis. Gabe liked my smooth balls, plus I didn’t want him to get sac rash on his face from my scruffy nuts when he went down on me. We had schedules to juggle so that we got to see one another, and the debate about whose turn it was to sleep over at the other’s house. I had to make sure that Gabe’s favorite snacks were in my cabinets and he made sure to keep my shampoo and styling products on hand for me. Most importantly, and the only source for any serious debate, was the television shows we watched.
I was convinced there was a football game of some sort on every single night and, of course, that was what he picked to watch on his nights. I wanted to watch reality television where they fought and bitch-slapped one another. Neither of us like the other’s choices, but we compromised. We were mature and shit. On that particular Thursday night, I lay on the couch with my feet in Gabe’s lap and pouted a tiny amount because it was his night for television and of course there was a football game on, which meant I missed the new bitch-slapping premiere that was also on. At least I recorded the show and could watch it later.
Ugh, I would’ve been miserable if it hadn’t been for the way those guys looked in their tight pants. I tried to find the positive in every situation, and those pants were it. After an hour or more of staring at asses, I finally noticed the shirt thingies they wore. “Oh, those shirts are hideous. Who picked out that shitty brown color?”
“They’re called jerseys, babe,” Gabe replied patiently. “The team owner picked them in honor of the team’s name. They’re called the Browns.”
“Ugh, where is this team from? That color is just… I can’t even.”
Gabe rolled his eyes as if I was just too much for him sometimes. “Um, Cleveland.”
“Oh.” Oops. I had no idea about sports teams beyond Cincinnati or Dayton and my knowledge of those teams were sketchy at best. I pulled my foot out of his hand and held up the other for him to work his magic on.
The game lasted way longer than I had energy for so I crashed hard somewhere around the third period, quarter, or whatever it was called. Gabe shook me lightly when the game was over and told me that he and Buddy were heading home.
“Stay,” I said sleepily.
“Are you sure?” Two consecutive overnights in a row was something we hadn’t done yet.
“Yep.”
We stripped down and climbed beneath the sheets of my bed. Oddly, I couldn’t go back to sleep once I cuddled up next to him. I blamed the brief chill I felt while stripping down, but I knew it was because I wanted to unburden my heart to him. There was something about the dark that made confessions easier.
“Billy Sampson was the first guy I gave my heart… and other parts to,” I said softly. I felt Gabe tense beside me. I figured it had more to do with hearing that I had entrusted myself to someone so hateful than learning I hadn’t been a virgin. “He was a bullying prick even back then, but I learned one day after school that the hatred he felt was more towards himself than me–or so I had convinced myself.”
“I can’t imagine it went well,” Gabe said softly. He pulled me tighter against him as if he could protect me from the hateful memories of my misguided youth.
“He was like Jekyll and Hyde.” I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “When we were alone he was almost kind and caring, but when we were at school he still picked on me. In fact, he was worse after we had sex. I think it was easier for him to blame me than to accept that he liked boys. He made me promise not to tell anyone about us and I didn’t. I think a part of me was actually afraid of him and what he’d do to me if I talked about us. I didn’t even tell Chaz and Meredith about him until after he moved away.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“Not with his hands,” I answered. “He was just cruel and I put up with it for almost a year. I foolishly thought he was the best I could do. He started dating a popular cheerleader our senior year. I didn’t know if it was to keep people off his back, or if he tried to convince himself he was straight, or was bisexual and didn’t want to admit that either; I just knew I hated seeing them together. Billy told me that she meant nothing to him and that they weren’t having sex. He promised that things would change for us once we graduated high school. I believed him right up until the girl got pregnant.”
“Ouch,” Gabe said.
“Yeah, and of course, in this town I’d heard it through the rumor mill before he had a chance to tell me himself. Hell,” I laughed harshly, “I doubt he would’ve told me had I not confronted him about it.”
“I’m almost afraid to find out.” Gabe slid his hand into my hair and rubbed my scalp.
“He told me that I had never been important to him and he never had any intention of being with me beyond the fucking.” The memory still hurt, but time and wisdom changed it from a sharp, stabbing pain to a dull one. “As bad as he sounds, he wasn’t the worst of the losers I trusted. If you’re a really good boy I’ll tell you about my first year of college.”
“College?” Gabe asked.
“Don’t sound so damn surprised.” I pinched his nipple. “It’s downright insulting.”
“Ouch!” I couldn’t see him in the darkness, but I felt the sheets moving as he rubbed his aching nipple. “I wasn’t trying to insult you. Damn!” He paused for a second and then asked, “What was your major?”
I prepared myself for his reaction. “Accounting.”
The bed shook from him laughing so hard. “What? Why?”
“It’s a story for another night,” I told him. There was no damn way I was telling him anything else that night. My pride had taken enough blows.
“Oh, come on.” The pout in Gabe’s voice eased the tension in my body.
“Not tonight, darling. I have a headache,” I said primly.
“Oh yeah?” Gabe took my words as a challenge.
I didn’t even bother pretending that I didn’t want to feel him inside of me. I opened my arms and my soul so that his goodness and light could fill me, banishing the remnants of my past until all I felt was him. It was quite some time later when Gabe
collapsed beside me and pulled my sated body to him. I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel the solid thumping of his heart beneath my hand. “You matter to me, Josh.”
Had I not already loved him then, I would’ve fallen so hard.
“This is some crazy shit,” Adrian said the next morning at the station. “I just can’t get over the street value of those drugs.” He rubbed his hand over his face and exhaled a heavy breath. “We’ve never had a bust that size in this town, or even in Carter County.”
“I can’t believe we have no clue who put them in the locker,” I responded. “I find it awfully damn convenient the camera equipment isn’t working. How long do they think it’s been offline?”
“They’re not sure,” Adrian replied. “It’s hard for me to imagine the drugs have been in that locker for long. If I’m a drug dealer and I hand off a stash like that to a pusher I’m expecting the money to come rolling in right away.” Adrian shook his head in disgust. “You have a lot more experience with drug busts coming from a big city like Miami. What do you think?”
“It’s hard for me to believe a dealer is going to trust a high school kid with that kind of volume. We could be looking at a mule, but the same doubts apply.” In my experience, drug dealers only trusted teens to sell a little at a time. They had to turn in their cash before they could get more. Did that mean one of the adults in the school was involved? I had more questions than answer at that point.
Captain Reardon approached our desks with his long purposeful stride. “I hope you miraculously crack the case today. I have a family dinner tonight and I’ll never hear the end of it,” the captain said before he returned to his office. It was the first time he ever said anything about his personal life in front of me. It was a testament to how much the drug bust weighed on his mind.
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